Well, it is a classic. A sound of an old tube amp on the verge of breakup. It is a successor of a Boss OD 1, the first overdrive in a compact pedal that Boss ever released in 1977. Since SD1 was introduced it has been used on countless stages by countless guitar players due to its beautiful sound. Not many guitar sound effects were used that extensively as SD 1.
Very pleasant, very transparent tubey sounding. It sounds very good with solid state amps as it gives them a tube feel. But it is with tube amps that it really shines.
The downside, if there is any is the lack of gain. This is not a stompbox that will cover numerous sounds and gain stages with endless sustains, not a “one size fits all” type of a pedal. It is a slight overdrive, transparent and very responsive, but in various combination with the other gear the posibilities of this pedal seem endless.
Back off the drive at around 9 oclock, cranck the level and you get a nice booster. Use it with a tube amp that is on the verge of a breakup to help push the tubes a little, set the drive around noon and it becomes your “Pride and Joy” (if you pair it with a Marshall type tube amp and use it this way, the sound is unbelievably close to the mentioned song ). Or you can put it in front of the another dirt box (distorsion or an overdrive) if you want more gain but still retain the nice character of the SD 1. Countless ways to use a single pedal.
The only downside in my opinion is the tone knob. Turning it counterclockwise (around 10 o clock and less) a lot you get a lot of bass in your tone that is not clearly defined but tend to become muddy and cut the treble too much, while turning it clockwise (3 o clock and more) you lose too much bass and some mid range. The sound depends on your amp type and amp settings a lot (which is a good thing) but the pedal doesn’t offer a large palette of tonal colors, so once you find the sweet spot (which is usually between 10 and 2 o clock regarding the tone knob) you better leave it there and adjust the drive according to your needs. This pedal is not heavy in mid range, so a separate EQ that would allow to fine tune the mids would (as always) come handy. But then again, simplicity is often an advantage and not the weakness.
If you need a lot of gain and long sustains, this pedal will not meet all your requirements and is not the pedal you can solely depend on. But you can use it with another distortion or an amp with gain cranked to shape the sound. If you need subtle blues overdrive, a unique booster and a transparent sound, you might go with it.
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Review by
Fila, April 22, 2010
I explained in my post what is missing in sound quality (lack of versatility) which is in close relation with features (lack of separate EQ). Sometimes you do miss the option of pushing the midrange and as you add the bass you sacrafice some mids and trebble and vice versa. Nevertheless, this is a classic pedal for the classic guitar sound.