What makes this pedal great? Boss OD-1
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- Опубліковано 1 чер 2023
- In this video, we dive into a bit of pedal history, legacy and circuit characteristics of the Boss OD-1 overdrive pedal, how it is related to the tubescreamer (both ts-9 and ts808), the boss sd-1, od-2, and od-3.
When I was a kid, I wanted a cranked Marshall amp like my guitar heroes had, but tube amps weren't as common or affordable as they are now. My first amp was a Kingston solid-state, which was sort of the normal type of amp for a kid starting out then.. Later, in my early teens, I upgraded to a Crate G40 and swapped my Ibanez chorus pedal for this exact Boss OD-1 with a friend of mine, Joe Sherfick.
The OD-1 was a game-changer in the world of overdrive pedals though.. There was nothing quite like it around, and most “dirt” pedals were fuzzier rather than having that tight overdrive sound. It did have a major flaw though many thought -It didn't have a tone control. So Ibanez added a tone control, but had to use symmetrical clipping because Boss had a patent on their asymmetrical clipping style and came out with the tubescreamer.
Boss came back with the SD-1 in 1981 though, which was very similar to the Tube Screamer, which…. was quite similar to the OD-1.
Fast-forward to '85, Boss released the OD-2 to replace the OD-1. Oddly, they changed the circuitry completely, making it sound entirely different. They did add a high-gain turbo mode, though. But in 1997 Boss introduced the OD-3 with different circuits yet again, and a great overdriven sound.
Sure, the OD-1 has some limitations, such as a bit of a mid-rangey tone, no tone control, lack of bass, and a slightly funky power supply requirement that doesn't always work with standard 9V DC power supplies. It's also been referred to as a "one-trick pony," but I like it!
Despite these limitations, the OD-1 was revolutionary for its time. It introduced asymmetrical clipping and it’s a platform for those into modding and building pedals.. You can modify it easily to add more or a different style of gain, more or less bass and treble, or even add an entirely different EQ section.
Without the OD-1, we wouldn't have had the Tube Screamer or the many versions of that circuit. More importantly, we wouldn’t have the great tones captured on numerous recordings by some of our favorite guitarists.
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The Boss OD-1 was my first pedal. I absolutely loved it! I still remember the smell of the pedal and how excited I was to have this beautiful light yellow metal box to expand my range of sounds, using a 1982 Fender ‘Dan Smith’ hardtail Stratocaster and a Peavey Classic VT 212. I used this setup in a metal band (imagine that!) and I even got many compliments on my sound. Nobody believed it could work. I had no idea, I just used what I had.
All of this has to be 40 years ago. Man, I wish I could go back in time and relive it all again. ❤😊
I have this same pedal I bought new when it came out. Really made my Marshall half stack come to life. It toured around the USA in the 80s and got beat to hell from road life. It's 40 years old and still works like it was new! Things were just made better back then. The 80s were truly the best days of my life too. Rock on brother!
When Brian demos pedals he does it in a way that leaves you in no doubt whatsoever regarding the differences between A and B or A, B and C. Clear, succinct and hugely informative 👍
The BOSS OD-3 OVERDRIVE is my favorite of all time overdrive pedal. And I've owned over 250 different overdrive pedals, from cheap production to expensive boutique. The BOSS OD-3 is just amazing.
I concur….I have two and they are fantastic sounding
You make me want to buy one and I will my friend
@@doppyjavier303
It's subjective. It works for me and my style. I play Strats and Teles with single coil pickups and it seems like they work well together. I know other guys who hate it. Me personally, I've never found another overdrive that goes with me so well.
It is beautiful.I have a modded one too.😊
Since I only really ever play through Fender amps, the OD3 is definitely my go to overdrive. Some people say it doesn't stack well, and I kind of agree, however a Klon running at low-ish gain into an OD3 is heaven to me. It's a glorious tone. You just can't set the Klon too high, maybe around 11 o'clock where the tranny is just starting to do its thing.
That all said, I also put the OD1 right up there on par with the OD3 but with British amps. The OD1 into a Marshall is fantastic for getting HUGE crunch. It also does something to the low end on a Marshall to keep it from ever being flubby. I just love the clarity and note separation the OD1. And I'm one of those guys that does believe the 14 pin does have a bit better sound than dual quads.
The slow zoom-in with melancholic piano music at 7:27 is great. Never thought a man breaking down the shortcomings of an OD pedal could bring a tear to my eye, lol.
😂
I loved the OD2 into a JCM800.Then the OD2-R.
The OD3 is totally magnificent.
Thank you for a great video.
Always love these demonstrations featuring great sounds with a spark of history and knowledge thrown in there. Really enjoyed this! 🤘⚡🎸
Excellent video Brian….I have always enjoyed your pedals. These videos are straightforward, to the point and full of great info.
Always learn something from Mr wampler ! Thanks and keep those pedals coming :).
The Boss OD-1 is the 50’s LP Jnr of overdrive pedals: simple, yes, limited, yes, but bags of attitude!
I love the thoughs on the first gear we had as a kid! Great video!
This is interesting. For a few years in the late 80s and early 90s I used an SD-1 as my only pedal, played a ton of gigs with it. I'd never even tried a Tubescreamer, but if I understand Brian right, the SD-1 was basically a Tubescreamer with asymmetrical clipping. Now I also didn't know asymmetrical clipping from a hole in the ground, but I liked what I heard with the SD-1 enough to keep using it for four years or so.
Now fast forward to today. Still never owned a Tubescreamer, but a while back I bought my first Screamer style pedal, a Walrus Audio Warhorn. It has a two band EQ (move over Bad Monkey) and a switch to select symmetrical or asymmetrical clipping. Guess how I always run it? But I had no idea until this moment that I'm basically recreating that SD-1 sound from thirty odd years ago. What I don't know is if back then had I compared it with a Tubescreamer I would have preferred the SD-1, or if years of gigging with the SD-1 made me now prefer asymmetrical clipping.
I had a TS9 for years before I got the SD-1. I was never very happy with the TS. I finally picked up a SD-1 and finally found a mid boost that I like.
It turns out that I also prefer asymmetrical clipping.
Take my money, Brian! I can’t wait for your take on another classic circuit! I love all of your stuff!
Thanks Brian for the in-depth history and information. 👍
Thanks for another informative presentation, the BOSS SD1 with the Fromel mod that includes the 4558 chip is one of the best sounding OD pedals I’ve had.
Love these videos Brian. I have an OD-3, only really use it at home with a Red Knob Fender Champ 12, sounds great to me!
I didn't know that difference existed about inverting vs non inverting op amps. Always a wealth of information, and a great guitar player to boot. I'm gonna have to try and find some reading on this. Ty Brian.
Thanks for helping me understand a bit more about the difference in sound between inverting and non inverting op amp gain stages
I liked the orig circuit the best. It, with the added gain, was awesome. Didnt like the other versions - so now I need to find an orig OD-1. Thx Brian, this was a great vid, as always
Thank you for this video! The OD1 had a sparkle that made it stand above the rest especially when you added the EQ. Never heard the Turbo variant… like that a lot.
Brilliant vid! Explains why I like one vs another type.
I love learning from your videos, thank you so much! I didn't know that about the power supply requiring 12 volts. I have an old Boss CE2 and always ran it from a 9 volt power supply but noticed that it never sounded as nice as from a 9 volt battery.
The sound was thin by comparison and the LED never shone as brightly either when working from the power supply. I had assumed it was something related to the my power supply.
Oh and just wanted to say that your guitar from your childhood picture looks super cool! Rock on!
Great video! Love that "more gain" OD-1 mod!
Great video Brian. Some big tones there. Very tasty.
Hope this series continues
Love those early Boss gain pedals. Thank you for the video, Rick- I mean Brian.
Still remember you from Harmony Central’s forums circa 2001-5. Great show, dude!
I was known as TexGtr on there!
As someone who started breadboarding in the past few months and learning how it all works, these videos are just so interesting to me. I made my first TL071 work yesterday!!! I can see why you like OpAmps. There’s a certain sound to it, very crunchy and gainy
HI M.Brilliant Wampler, great video. I Still use my ''How to modify effects pedals'' book to this day (bought 15 years ago).
Great description of a groundbreaking pedal, Brian! I bought one early on (late 1970s) for the single note solos to add sustain and stand out like my tube amps did when very loud with some sort of preamp driving the bejeezus out of it. That was a 66 Bandmaster with a Gibson Skylark driving it. Ouch! The OD-1 allowed me to get a similar sustain at wedding band volume with a Polytone 104 or a Peavey Bandit. So me and my friends who bought the OD-1 were looking for a non-fuzzy single note sound a la Santana at any volume. BTW I still have the OD-1 and take it on gigs once in a while.
Great seeing you Brian!
You are great guitarist Sir, wonderful tone too!
The only pedal channel worth watching. Brian, I would love you to take a look at the Pearl OD 05. I think its eq circuit was a bit ahead of what others offered at the time.
Thanks for covering the phase inverting vs non phase inverting opamp stuff, I have found that the clean blend of screamers and klons always bug me, the keeley gex2 sounded amazing except for the clean blend, I definitely preferred the inverted sound when you hit it with more gain
I play low-output three single-coil strat into SD1 (boost) then through a OD3 (main) and that's so heavenly drive tone. Work so well both backing and solo.
It was the booster of choice for Jake e Lee in the 80's, for gain and bass management. L.A. metal sound staple
The SD-1 adds Sustain, for days, and it opens up the Harmonics of Tube amps, turns any tube amp into a Rock Monster
its the number one choise for playing through Marshall Plexi's and Hiwatts
Love my OD-1! I never cared about the lack of a tone control, I'm honestly more bothered by the momentary LED. I've literally forgot the pedal was still on when I needed to play clean and soft!
Yep, still got mine
Use to push a stereo Galion Krueger 250rl with it
Other band’s guitarists would ask how I got that sound
You can hear every note but it still sings
This is in the day when Mesa rectos ruled the clubs
Lots of mush
I think it's limitations are a big part of it's appeal, to me at least. Good to hear someone pointing out the power supply funkiness. In a modulation Boss pedal of a similar era, I like it and in the old days would use old batteries in the studio to kind of soften the tone in a CE3. In the OD1 it's better on fresh batteries
Please keep doing these. And on more Boss pedals too 🙂
Thanks for the demonstration Brian! Out of all the pedals in the video, I preferred the original OD-1! Yes, I liked the addl mids!
The others, esp. the Tube Screamer seemed to add too much bottom.
I think if I was using an OD-1 in my rig, what I'd do was EXACTLY what you said in the later part of the video and MOST guitar players miss from their rigs, and that is, add say a 10-band EQ and voice and tweak the tone to where you want it!
Excellent video and great explanation of the Boss OD 1!
Hopefully Brian Wampler will come out with a version of this classic pedal with a powerful 3 band EQ section and an extra gain toggle switch! 🙏🏻🔥🤟🏻
You mean the "WOD-1", right ? : ) There is likely a market for this as this pedal has a following.... it will be even better when Brian puts his spin on it to up the versatility , something that allows a little 'extra'. 3 band EQ could be the ticket !
@@schlep4730 🙏🏻
Yes, please make this.
I absolutely adore my 1980 OD-1. The LED stays on when the pedal is engaged on mine, and I know not all of then do that, so I got lucky. To me it just sounds more open and wide-ranging than a Tubescreamer but still boosts the mids in a pleasing way. Also, to my ear is has less clean blend than a Tubescreamer. I want to buy a backup, but they're sooo expensive on Reverb.
Great video Brian. 👍🏻 🎸
Very good infos... and killer tones!
Good enough for Jerry Garcia, good enough for me. He used the OD-1 and 2 after primarily playing the MXR Distortion +.
Thank you for teaching us!
It is one of my favorite overdrive pedals and I prefer it over the SD-1. However an additional EQ-Pedal can be useful.
There are two issues of the OD-1. One of them - the first - used a 3403 quad opamp, with opamp input and output buffers. The second issue used a 4558 dual opamp and the more familiar transistor input and output buffers. Like the TS9, it reduced gain in the clipping stage for content below 720hz. Unlike the TS9, it used a fixed filter instead of a variable tone control, and also went for asymmetrical clipping. The perk of that diode complement resulted in a hotter output at modest drive settings - something the TS9 struggled with. I built myself a clone of the first issue and rather like it. Of course, never content to leave well enough alone, I added a 3-way toggle to give me stock, more bass, or more bass with less treble. The filter they chose was well-chosen, but sometimes you want a warmer tone. But a solid meat and potatoes drive pedal.
Great demonstration, thanks. 😉
It's a rather simple device that turns my 50 watt JCM 800 into a fire breathing beast. I used it all through the 80s/90s and it is still my go to.
I've been using the SD-1 and the BD-2 for 25 years. I can do almost any style with 'em.
I still have mine from the before times. I bought mine after a ds1 tone stack bypass experiment failed. It's never too far from the current board
Besides my limited understanding of eletronics, i Always be amazed with tech info and sound samples, very nice to hear this gem. Still, make me realize everytime how much I love my Boss od3 and my recently aquisition Boss Os-2
Boss pedals just are a part of all our history's, I think we have all had some type of boss product at some point in our life's. Great video Brian 👍
Have to agree. Could've built a all bought used Boss board. But ended up changing around some other pedals. But what did stay on my board since the day it's built. A Alchemy modded Blues driver and a Indyguitarist modded CH-1. Indyguitarist is B Wampler before he made his own. While I haven't actually gave him money I do have his work represented. Have a dB-1 buffer/ boost and the Indy pedal. The Boss chorus is as good as I will ever need and knowing is been cleaned up from stock makes it a win/ win for me.
Boss back in the late 70s early 80s was what everybody else where chasing. They had the strong hold on the market at that time. They never wavered and continue to innovate and lead the industry. Where would we be without boss? I too believe most everyone has had a boss pedal at some point or still does and there’s no shame in doing so. I think I have three or four pedals but I have had one of the multi effects pedal and have a switcher unit that rocks and a Katana 100 watt amp head that is a beast. I have embraced the boss in my daily life and boss has been with me from the start of my guitar playing and musical journey. I’ve never really thought about it like that before. Peavey too has always been in the mix. lol pun intended… 👍🎸🤓🌎☮️❤️
@@gsbguitarsgsb679 yea I still have and use my boss tuner from the early 90's...and after years of distortion pedal addiction...I always find myself going back to the metal zone because that's what I started with as a kid.👍🤘🎸
The only Boss pedal I've ever bought was the AW-2 Auto Wah. It offers a nice selection of wah effects, but has always had a high level of background hum. So Boss have unfortunately made some duds 🙄😞🤷🏻♂️
SD-1 is so fabulous sounding
I always loved the nasal sound of the OD-1
I just designed my first distortion pedal from the ground up. I skipped the tone control as well. I feel that if you have tone controls on your guitar, amp, and possibly on other pedals, then that is plenty of tone controls. Also a tone control saps some of your sound even when it is totally "open".
I found one of those exact Kingston amps at a local antique mall recently, never heard of them so I had to grab it.
It's only been recently that I started embracing the idea of stacking gain stages, so of course I got a few clones in order to get a taste of some classic circuits, that includes a SD-1 and a TS-808. Both of them sound pretty similar, I wouldn't be able to clearly discern which one is which, especially in a mix. However, the interesting part is as a player you can definitely «feel» the different clipping style. I found the SD-1 is what better suits me (I couldn't imagine using an OD-1 without the flexibility of the tone control), it works great for mid to high gain rhythm playing, it never gets too compressed. However the TS-808 (or TS-9) symmetric clipping I would say works slightly better for solo playing and much better for high gain stuff. How they both felt on the same amp with the same gain dictated how I played. So for the listener they might be interchangeable, definitely not for the player.
Thanks for your content
if i recall correctly your name is Tyler, right? if so , thanks a bunch Tyler :D
i started getting into making some analog guitar circuits some years back but i never had any confidence because every element added raised so much more questions , and it just made me
usually i'm pretty handy and i'm pretty damn good with computers, so i figured i could see thorugh the logic, but i guess i just saw too many bears on the road because of not really understhanding the underlying implications
turns out, you just gotta burn up a resistor or 2 on a voltage divider using a high potential power source, to understand you should've limted them with some higher value resistors to limit the maximum amperage enough to not let any differential between the 2 make them one-use only props for purple smoke generation, you need to fail a couple of times to really understand how resistors can limit things, and prevent others from burning up , when your intuition intition may tell you that using too high values may cause more energy to go into the cap, which is true whenenough it's allowed to go through, there's a reason ald A/B (or A+B) amplifiers usually ahve a shit tone of parallel resistors of the higher 2 or 5 watts grade, load distribution, and a little bit of redundancy, because it doesn't completely live or die by 1 dying (althought the incerased load will exponentialle cuase the others to pop) so it all depends on how you chain the bastads.
also, i had to find out the hard way how resistors can caps relate to their filter ferquencies and how they need to be matched and how that explains the extreme variety of caps being used for filtering the same frequencies by the resistors they use, espeically when cahining in series is a tough bitch, once i started understand ng that better , i got somewhere
you showing some more simple circuits that were designed for guitars, led me to making my first functional op-amp booster/overdrive on a single rail DC adapter.
now i'm working on a modular guitar patching thing where i can split out 1 input to 4 opamp buffered copies, which i can then route with banana plugs to several flavors of pre-amps, with their own gain stages, to then be routed to a 3-band mixer EQ individually, to mix them back with the other splits (using a 16 buck pre-fab 4 channel mixer module, because i can't be arsed with all the maths of the linear->log20 decibel scale of how we perceive audio and thet potential headaches of tweaking that when i can fine a good solution for that lol)
it's modular, but only as much as i really need it to be
i feel like i still need to have 2 mixable outputs too to individually route, so it's basically an Y splitter to 2 amps, but on crack
imagine routing 4 buffered copies in nearly any permutation of mixing ratio (there's till contention on the overdrrive "slots"), to 2 individual outputs as you please lol
also, i want to have a send-return and some minor degree of VCO control on that bitch.
but man your work really did me a solid explaiining simpler circuits to give me just enough understanding to start doing it, if i ever make a pedal that's any good, i'll be sure to send you one from the Netherlands ;)
this is a great shootout! btw the waza version of the SD-1 is fantastic
Nice, deserves more attention!
Need one of these videos for the Electric Mistress and the Boss CE-1 (the CE-2 is good, but I really like the CE-1's sound, and it's odd-ball BBD chip)
none sound "bad" they are just different, great video as always..
I always wanted to play with an OD-1. I love the SD-1 and TS-9. SD-1 is more transparent at lower volumes and more Marshally and boost dirty amps harder. The TS-9 does a better thing to bass frequencies and is king for power chords with humbuckers.
I had a Boss OD1 back in the 80s. When I gave up playing in a band for some years, I sold the OD1 for a couple of bucks. I wish I hadn't. 😞
Great video! I had an original OD1 but it had the smaller chip, 6 pin? Spunded good but a bit tinny, not enough bass. Gets that Marshall crunch happening though, especially using a Fender amp.
I put the OD1 right up there on par with the OD3 as best ODs ever. I tend to use my OD1 with British (el34/el84) amps, and the OD3 for Fender 6v6/6L6 style amps. But you can't go wrong with the OD1 into anything really. It's basically perfect IMO. It also stacks very well with basically any other overdrive.
I love what it does to the low end on a Marshall to keep it from ever being flubby. Amazing clarity and note separation. And I'm one of those guys that does believe the 14 pin does have a bit better sound than dual quads.
Since I only really ever play through Fender amps nowadays, the OD3 is usually my go to overdrive just because I don't like taking my OD1 out for one, but in a live setting I just think the OD3 works a bit better with Fenders. Some people say it doesn't stack well, and I kind of agree, however a Klon running at low-ish gain into an OD3 is heaven to me. It's a glorious tone. You just can't set the Klon too high, maybe around 11 o'clock where the tranny is just starting to do its thing.
Always preferred the BOSS midrange (OD-1 and SD-1 mainly but somewhat the others have that upper mid thing going on) to the Tubescreamer midrange especially on edgy or crunchy amps. Always liked asymmetrical clipping.
Same here. Asymmetrical clipping sounds more amp like to me. I’ve had a TS for years, but use SD-1 when I need a mid boost. I mostly use the OD-3.
Solid-state amps were a relatively new thing on the pro level in 1977. Tube amps were the norm in 1977! Very few amps were "solid-state" at the time, perhaps LabSeries and some old Voxes but they were rare. I was 19 at the time.
Roland JC....
@@olivergiles6731 oh really? I didn't know it was
I love the OD 3 myself.
Great video, thanks
In the mid nineties I traded a piece of grill cloth for an OD1. The switch needed cleaning. Did that. Ended up trading it for a 1971 Twin Reverb!!! $7 for a nice, working Twin!
I have 65 pedals on my board and yes I use everyone and secondly I use it live. The Boss OD-1 is perfect for a Semi. It does not increased the honk all Semi guitars have. I can use it on my Strat for my clean. I like a lot of Strat bell like chime and this doesn't steal it, but warms of the Strat, fills it out and gives some sustain.
I owned 2 OD2s! GOOD pedal!
Very inspiring Brian, tnx...
I do actually try to better understand schematics and electronic behind pedals, after I build some of popular clones.
Can you suggest where to find this mods of OD-1 you show here?
Tnx again...!
Like the SD1 best of all !
This is the best overdrive pedal of them all, wish they would do a waza version
The OD-1 is the first pedal I ever bought and it’s still my favorite all these years later. I’m still waiting for the reissue or the Waza.
Brian I get the strangest feeling you're gonna invent an od 1 remake with a bass n troubled knobs and maybe symmetrical clipping switch. Lol. That's kool.
Nice soulful playing! Can I have all of them please? 😀
Early on I assumed your shirt said Star Grounded. Good vid, as usual.
says "stay grounded" and used to have a ground symbol on it but it's since wore off. Comfy shirt though! 😄
That pedal sounds SO good with a tube amp on the edge of breakup; I really regret trading mine off!
Damned if the new guitar store in town didn't have one... I snatched it up with a quickness!
I’m sure not everyone will agree but having played almost everything out there I think most overdrives sound more similar than different, there are so many factors and variables that affect the final sound. And it really comes down to experience to get the sound you like. And in live band mix can you really identify what pedal someone is using?
Ok, you wanna say you're putting out a clone of the Boss od1... Much welcomed!
I recently built an OD1 clone from BYOC and I found EXACTLY what you're saying to be true. It's a great pedal but it's very mid forward and when you're using a mid heavy amp (mesa badlander) they don't play great together. It's phenomenal in front of a mesa dual rec though. Also, I did the EXACT mod you're talking about to one of my SD1 today. I just got a 1982 SD1 and I modded it to take a 9v supply. It's a diode and a resistor (I know you already know) and I left the originals taped to the case. I'm not selling it but still, it's completely reversable.
Using an OD-1 with a vintage Vox AC-30. and am happy to say it sounds like a small planet colliding onto the face of the earth!
Great video. But it just goes to show me that using the Boss EQ is the best pedal to get more gain and still shape the sound.
It’s my secret weapon although I tell everyone I play with 😂
Oh, non-inverting op amps are tight!. Actually, would lean toward inverting for lead and non-inverting for rhythm
My favorite way to use an OD-1 is to back the gain all the way off and boost the level to suit. Obviously with another drive pedal. Peace ☮️
OD sounded bext. 😎👍👏💯🎸🎸
Make a Wampler version with all the possible mods shown here, please? 3-band EQ and an inverting and non-inverting opamp mod. 09:30 🔥
Love the sound of that extra bass mod; if I could stick a clean blend on that (the OD-1 doesn't have _enough_ clean for my taste; and no, I don't play bass) then I'd be very happy.
Shame I don't know how to mod and am too dyslexic to read a circuit. Ah well. Hint hint at a new product, I guess. Hint hint.
I like the OD 1 best.
Sounds like the sound Donny Iris used in “Leah”.
I remember the Crate days.
I love the way the LED is momentary - ie doesn't stay on when the pedal is on!
Great video Brian, what makes the BD-2 what it is? Is it truly original or based on another pedal of some sort, thx !
It’s quite original! I’ll do a blues driver episode soon
@@wampler_pedals Look forward to that, it's been a staple on my board for the past 4 years, and have tried many others. Love to get my hands on a Hot Cake at some point. I play primarily VOX amps and hear the Hot Cake is a stellar match with single coils
Nice vid. Is that the Brent Mason loaner Strat?
yep! 😊
Back in the days where I had hair, I ran an OD3 in front of my bass amp.
I thought it sounded good on bass until I realized it didn't.
Does sound good for guitar, though.
Great video! By the way, is that the Brent Mason Strat?
It is! I love it!
Cool! Sounds awsome :)