Sunday, March 9, 2025
GuitarGuitar Effects

Boss Overdrive Pedals Explained OD-1/OD-3/SD-1


Boss Overdrives: We all love them, right? However, there is commonly some confusion among the masses regarding the guitar pedals that are aptly named “overdrive” in their line – the Boss OD-1, OD-3, and SD-1. Is the OD-1 and the OD-3 the same? Nope. Remotely? Nope. Is the SD-1 just an OD-1 with a tone control? Nope. All different from each other, but all great sounding!

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#Boss #Overdrive #Pedals #Explained #OD1OD3SD1

Originally posted by UCdVrg4Wl3vjIxonABn6RfWw at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMpE7o0_6JA

42 thoughts on “Boss Overdrive Pedals Explained OD-1/OD-3/SD-1

  • wowww

    voy a hacer mis comentarios en español

    gracias por el video
    primeramente por haberte tomado el tiempo y despues por la informacion tan valiosa

    gracias

    me quedo muy claro la diferencia tan a fondo de tu videos

    muchas gracias señor

    Reply
  • Basically with a hifi amplifier, the OD-1 and SD-1 will normalize a single coil, and the OD-3 will normalize a humbucker. I got to borrow one of those 80's OD-1s back in the 90's and I absolutely hated it with my humbucker and Crate combo, but with my cheap Ibanez in the dual position into the OD-1 into a Silvertone 1482, I was drowning in an undertow of mids but the way the OD-1 pushed the 1482 was glorious and so different from any other experience that it was downright inspiring. Chewy, like a good piece of beef jerky, soft but also very tough with a never-ending smokey spicy flavor, that's how I'd describe that tone. Hell, it was more than just tone, it was an environment, an ecosystem, a biome.

    Reply
  • Love your videos Brian, thank you for making such interesting and useful content. Its a bonus that you also make great pedals. The Belle might be my favorire OD pedal of all time.

    Reply
  • I feel like the OD-1 just packs a bit more punch than the SD-1. I want that 1987-1989 Garcia Tiger snarl/roar

    Reply
  • I have no idea which pedal my friend had in school (1984) but it was definitely a yellow Boss OD. It sounded amazing through his little portable Marshall amp. Easily giving octaves and overtones…
    Any idea which of these it would have been ? The year might answer that but I don't know, and I can't ask him since he passed away 35 years ago.

    Reply
  • Thanks for the demo mate,im getting a new Gibson les paul but dont want to keep splashing out too much on pedals,Might not buy any

    Reply
  • Asymmetrical clipping (very powerful), excellent footswitches (reliable) The pots for most pedals "float' on heavy wire not attached to the circuit board (easy maintenance).

    Reply
  • Funny that somehow the graphic does not translate to what i'm perceiving. OD1 is midrangy but sound "fuller" to me, and the OD3 which is flatter just sounds thinner. SD1 sounds like a compressed OD1.

    Am I the only one hearing this? ????

    Reply
  • I have the Marshall dsl40cr 1×12 combo. At 53 my journey has brought me to this amp with the od3. The tone I now have is what I’ve been chasing my whole life. The two best choices I’ve made for guitar tone are Marshall and Boss od3. (GE-7 in loop is a big deal too) I cannot express in words how great this pedal sounds. I can’t believe this is achievable in my room and this is just life now every time I turn it on. Pure joy

    Reply
  • Good morning, after viewing the clip I'm more likely to buy myself the od3 but I have another option it's the od-2r. I know about the drive it produces, a much higher gain, my question is is od2 built on the same concept the od3 is or its another concept. Does the tone sound like a od3 or closer to od1

    Reply
  • I didn't get it, you told us the SD-1 was not like an OD-1 with tone control, but when you showed the circuits they looked very very similar to me. To be fair, I have very little knowledge on the subject.

    Reply
  • They honestly are all good in their own way, I still to this day love my Taiwan made SD-1 and swear by it as an all round OD pedal.

    Reply
  • The SD1 has too. much frequency high end. My overdrive on my amp is so much better.

    Reply
  • I remember I had the SD-1 pedal and a 25W Epiphone amp back when I was a teenager during the early 90s. The amp also had an overdrive setting and I combined both effects and the result was simply amazing. I loved the tone so much until a moron broke my amp 🙁

    Reply

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