Boss DS-1

Best distortion on the market – Joe Satriani. Steve Vai. EVH. Countless others. There's no disputing the king of distortion pedals. I've been playing guitar for 30 years now and having worked in the industry for many of those I've tried everything I've been able to get my grubby mits on and you know what? I've ended up right here, where it all began because the DS-1 is smooth, it's fat, it's as dynamic as they come, it's got perfect range, it can be used as a sustainer, it's Angus Young in a box and it pushes an old Marshall over the edge. Of all the pedals I've played over the years, this, my friends is the holy grail. There are only so many ways you can make a distortion pedal and this is the first and the best. Think about it. You have an input, which basically passes through volume, tone and gain pots or 'variable resistor' there is a basic EQ the pedal is set to, and there is a gain section normally using diodes to clip which then sees the signal output to amplifier. No need for any other gain pedal (although being a guitar player I still have more than my fair share..) responds great through a nice amp, not nice through inexpensive junk or straight through PA. Your amplifier is paramount to any possibility of sounding good but that's a whole nother book entirely.

Love it

Boss DS-1 – The DS-1 is probably the definitive distortion pedal. I was talked into a Fulltone OCD by the salesman, cost me $200, three days later I took it back and swapped it for a DS-1. Cost $64. Don't get me wrong about the OCD, it's a good, safe buy, but it just didn't cut the mustard for me. It sounded a bit monotonous, too thick and middle of the road, and doesn't have the hard edge distortion of the DS1.

The DS1 has many flavours, and through my 130W valve combo sounds great. What it's got that the OCD doesn't is crunch. If you want crunch, you can get tons of it. If you don't, you can dial it out by dropping the treble. Up the bass for a thicker sound again. It's a very versatile pedal that any guitarist should have.

If you've got a tranny based amp, it will probably sound thin. Honestly, if you're serious about your sound you shouldn't be using trannies anyway. Get a good valve amp second hand. I drive a Boss Blues Driver in front of it and that creams up the sound. When I want hard edge I kill the BD2.

For the price, nothing compares. You can play around with various sounds for ages and like every nuance that comes out of it. I don't drive it past 3 on tone or distortion as it will get noisy at that level. Versatile Nothing I can think of.

Sturdy but weak sound – It's a good beginner pedal for distortion. It's cheap, and it will last forever. I've had this for 4 years and it's still in perfect condition - it's like a brick. However over this time I realised that especially at maximum distortion, the sound is really thin. It's great for providing distortion to sounds like punk rock, but for other genres you may want to invest in a pedal with a fuller sound. cheap, easy to use, sturdy, distortion is pretty thin,