Boss DS-1 Distortion Pedal Review

In this post, I will go over the Boss DS-1 Distortion Pedal. This pedal has been widely used by a variety of big named artist - Steve Vai for example. Of course, they are modded version of this Boss pedal, but the basic tonality is still there. It is hard to review pedals, especially distortion pedals, because sound is subjective and everyone has their own opinion of what "good" sounds like. I will give you my take on this classic distortion pedal and hopefully you will agree with my opinion. If you do, feel free to chime in and add information to the comments section - and if you disagree, please feel free to let me know why.

The Boss DS-1 Distortion pedal is easy to use, consisting of tone, level, and distortion knobs - all right on the front of the pedal. The level knob is a “set and forget” knob that simply matches the effect volume to your guitar’s pickup volume. The tone knob, like the tone knob on most effects pedals, cuts or boosts the treble in your signal, and the dist knob dials in the amount of distortion that will be applied to the guitar sound.

The DS-1 distortion is a transistor-type distortion. If you are looking for a ballsy, tube sound then this is not the pedal for you. This pedal can give you a crunchy, chunk distortion or the classic fuzz sound if you set it just right. This pedal is especially good if you combine it with another good distortion pedal or your amps distortion. You will probably not like the all of tones you get, but you will find a few that are useful. Remember, by itself it sounds thin, but coupled with another distortion you can get some nice sounds.

Like most Boss guitar pedals, this one is built like a tank. I would have no problem with dropping mind from a high place on a concrete floor. You can either power it by a 9-volt adapter or your classic 9-volt battery. I would recommend using always the power adapter for any pedal!

I think that this is a great pedal for a beginner or if you are looking for more out of your amps distortion. You won't get a great warm tone out of this pedal. If that is what you need, look elsewhere. You can get a very nice crunch sound of this pedal. Also, you can get a nice sustain if you add this pedal on top of another distortions. But for $40, what more could you expect from the Boss DS-1 Distortion Pedal.