Wide range of tones, 2 pedals in one, solid as a rock
Disadvantages:
Overdrive could be better
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
I bought this around a year ago when I was just starting out on electric guitar after years of being an acoustic player. When I saw this I thought "Excellent - two quality pedals for the price of one!". But thats not quite the case.
As the name suggest, this Boss pedal gives you both overdrive AND distortion. You have 4 knobs to play with - volume, tone, gain, and overdrive/distortion. The first 3 of those are found on virtually every pedal in history, so I shan't explain those. The overdrive/distortion (O/D) is quite cool though. Turn it fully anti clockwise, and you get pure overdrive. All the way clockwise gives you pure distortion, and setting it to anywhere in the middle gives you a mix of both.
The distortion is great on this thing - very much like the Boss DS-1 in tone, it will suit just about anything you want to play that needs some real noise. With the gain turned all the way up, its a beast of a sound. Rating - Excellent.
The overdrive by itself though is a little disappointing - it just lacks depth, warmth, and sounds a little artificial. If it wasnt a Boss, I would have expected that type of sound, but since it comes from one of the best pedal makers in he market, I had hoped for more. Its not awful by any means, but if youre just after an overdrive pedal, you should perhapslook elsewhere like the Boss Blues Driver which is a brilliant stand alone overdrive producer. Rating - satisfactory.
Mixing the two sounds together in whatever ratios you like can yeild some cool sounds, but I always find myself veering towards the higher distortion settings because theyre just more satisfying tones.
Ease of Use? You turn knobs to your preferred settings and stomp on it - doesnt get much easier than that.
Reliability? Boss pedals could be run over by a tank and survive. Very rare to have one of these break down.
Recommended? Well, yes - definiately if youre on a budget. If you can only afford one pedal to do both jobs, then you'll be very happy with this. If I were buying again though, I'd buy a different pedal for each job. I'd recommend the Boss DS-1 for distortion and Boss BD-2 for overdrive.
Oh yeah, and per all Boss pedals, this thing eats batteries like crazy. Make sure you unplug your guitar from it when its not in use or you'll spend a fortune on 9v's! Better still, get a mains powerpack.
More details
Sound Quality
Good
Range of Sounds
Good
Range & Quality of Features
Good
Look & Feel
Excellent
Instruction Manual
Satisfactory
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