Boutique OD’s v Boss OD’s etc

ICBM

Samgb said:

The real question is why do i currently have 4 drive pedals on my board(all of which i like very much in isolation): Boss SD1W, BD2W, JHS Morning Glory, Tube Screamer Mini BUT i have them all set up so that they sound as close to one another as possible?

I concluded last night that i am mildly f$#ked in the head and should flog 3 of them for something new. Which i can then try and make sound like something else i like.    

I loathe myself.

Do you stack the SD-1 into the BD-2? If not, try it... you may go off the idea of selling them .

Or it sounds like you need an Angry Driver .

Roysterdoyster

I have a Boss Blues Driver and a Prince of Tone and recently added The Dane. In my mind I was always going to keep the Dane & The POT, and off load the Boss. But alas, doing ABC comparisons I actually liked the Boss more than I thought. The Dane has been sacked! I didn’t like the drive. There I said it! I’m as bad as the next guy for falling for the hype of anything, but all that glitters....etc

Also for what it’s worth I set the 3 pedals at similar levels, turned my back on the pedals, got my son to switch them and then I played and tried to see if I could tell which one was one. I got it wrong more times than I got it right. Depending on what I played sometimes made it easier to tell, but sometimes harder. Bottom line is (for me anyway) that the differences in these things are subtle at best. Don’t be thinking that one will sound a bazillion times different than the other. 

If you played them to a non guitar nerd, they would undoubtedly say “are they all the same”

It’s quite cheap of course to try them. Buy secondhand, try them out, and if you dont like them, you’ll not lose much if anything. 

(Id be so much more amazing though if I had a Greer Lightspeed...  

Musicman20

Roysterdoyster said:

I have a Boss Blues Driver and a Prince of Tone and recently added The Dane. In my mind I was always going to keep the Dane & The POT, and off load the Boss. But alas, doing ABC comparisons I actually liked the Boss more than I thought. The Dane has been sacked! I didn’t like the drive. There I said it! I’m as bad as the next guy for falling for the hype of anything, but all that glitters....etc

Also for what it’s worth I set the 3 pedals at similar levels, turned my back on the pedals, got my son to switch them and then I played and tried to see if I could tell which one was one. I got it wrong more times than I got it right. Depending on what I played sometimes made it easier to tell, but sometimes harder. Bottom line is (for me anyway) that the differences in these things are subtle at best. Don’t be thinking that one will sound a bazillion times different than the other. 

If you played them to a non guitar nerd, they would undoubtedly say “are they all the same”

It’s quite cheap of course to try them. Buy secondhand, try them out, and if you dont like them, you’ll not lose much if anything. 

(Id be so much more amazing though if I had a Greer Lightspeed...  

I absolutely love the Boss Blues Driver.....

Marktigere1

Samgb said:

The real question is why do i currently have 4 drive pedals on my board(all of which i like very much in isolation): Boss SD1W, BD2W, JHS Morning Glory, Tube Screamer Mini BUT i have them all set up so that they sound as close to one another as possible?

I concluded last night that i am mildly f$#ked in the head and should flog 3 of them for something new. Which i can then try and make sound like something else i like.    

I loathe myself.

How do I feel then?

I have BD2W, DS2, DS1 and SD1.

I stack SD1 into BD2W and the DS2 (not at the same time, I'm not that stupid)

If I want a deeper lead I stack the DS1 into the BD2W or DS2 (Turbo mode)

Works for me but then if you look at the pedalboard thread and see my board, you are forgiven for thinking I'm over 40, have no idea about guitar tone, have never tried any other brand of drive other then BOSS and that I have closed off my mind to suggestions and shout lah, lah, lah, lah, with my fingers in my ears every time someone suggests trying something new

Most of the above is not true by the way. (apart from the pedal order)

Cheers

Mark

lasermonkey

Although I'm generally a fan of Boss pedals (modulation and delay in particular) I've never heard a Boss dirt pedal I've liked. I'd probably go so far as to say the BD-2 is the worst I've heard. I found it to be harsh and brittle sounding, with a particularly nasty note decay.

PFAllen2

To each there own. As I age, I'm becoming much less bothered about these discussions.

I listened to an interesting podcast Tone Talk with Analog Man Mike Piera. He mentions that some of the newer builds of long established Boss pedals are now surface mounted components and are no longer suitable for his mods.

Regardless of your view on mods, while the enclosure may remain the same, the internals evolve. He also made some comments about why certain Boss pedals are voiced to suit a particular regional market ie Japan and that voicing may not be to other regions taste.

EricTheWeary

PFAllen2 said:

To each there own. As I age, I'm becoming much less bothered about these discussions.

I listened to an interesting podcast Tone Talk with Analog Man Mike Piera. He mentions that some of the newer builds of long established Boss pedals are now surface mounted components and are no longer suitable for his mods.

Regardless of your view on mods, while the enclosure may remain the same, the internals evolve. He also made some comments about why certain Boss pedals are voiced to suit a particular regional market ie Japan and that voicing may not be to other regions taste.

The story as I remember it was that the original Boss compact pedals were all voiced to work with the Roland JC  series, so sometimes a bit odd when plugged into a Marshall,etc. 

If I was looking at amp in a box type pedals I'm not sure what Boss would have to offer me there but otherwise why not. I have my boring story now about the Blues Driver...I tried one in a shop and thought it was horrendously shrill, I saw someone using one on a gig and it sounded pretty awful and then I played a gig where the other guitarist had two pedals one of which was a Blues Driver and so I thought it would sound crap.But it sounded great, I guess he used his ears rather than turning everything to noon and expecting it to impress him. Really nice guitarist ( part of the sales team for Laney/ Headstock at the time) - I think sometimes good guitarists are less bothered about gear than us mediocre ones.            

Th4fonz

I think you need to just get your favourite boss and put it up against your favourite boutique pedals of choice and weigh them out pros/cons.  I Generally like to look for the best in what ever category it is and save myself les hassle in buying 10 before eventually buying the one I would want from the beggining.  The Duellist is worth every penny to me because theres so many tonal options on it and they all sound great.  If it was just a one setting pedal with no tweakability then I would not pay that kind of money for a pedal.

Grocer_Jack

I generally like Boss - I think the BD2 is very good and versatile although I found it didn't get along at all with AC-30s.

I've had SD-1, OD-2 and DS-1. All decent and useable. I'd probably have one or more of those on my board now if I hadn't been fortunate enough to try a DigiTech Bad Monkey about 15 years ago. Absolutely cracking pedal and I don't think I've done a gig or recording session without it since I first bought it. In fact I used to stack two of them.

I've had loads of more upmarket drives too, but nothing really fancy, as the thought of spending a couple of hundred quid on one, when my BM was £25 used makes me a little seasick. I do rate Barber for general purpose really versatile overdrives and the Direct Drive and Gain Changer are money well spent.

I also have a soft spot for amp-emulation pedals and I think the situation is pretty much the same, my Joyo AC-Tone (£25) absolutely kills the wretched Wampler Ace-30 that I had briefly, likewise the Joyo American Sound vs any number of expensive tweed pedals. The Wampler Black 65 though - great pedal.

Any road - I've gone off the beaten track here a bit. But suffice to say Boss are....boss in my book. Great design, no funky extras that aren't useful and decent, useable tone. And they're cheap, so you can check em out without the GAS-Cognitive Dissonance-Buyers Remorse-Flip at a loss cycle.

A friend tells me I'd like an OD-3. Never tried one, so I'm on the look out.

pintspiller

Get the most expensive one you can afford at the time of purchase.

Johnnyseven

lasermonkey said:

Although I'm generally a fan of Boss pedals (modulation and delay in particular) I've never heard a Boss dirt pedal I've liked. I'd probably go so far as to say the BD-2 is the worst I've heard. I found it to be harsh and brittle sounding, with a particularly nasty note decay.

Have you tried one though rather than just heard them?

BBBlues

I don't know why anyone would need to discretely classify pedals into "boutique" and "not boutique". 
There are hundreds of options, all at different price points. Try out a range which you can afford, then pick the ones you like.

ZenOvertone

The OD3 is possibly the best of the bunch IMO, with a pretty smooth drive sound easily available.

monquixote

ZenOvertone said:

The OD3 is possibly the best of the bunch IMO, with a pretty smooth drive sound easily available.

And I have one for sale

monquixote

Grocer_Jack said:

I also have a soft spot for amp-emulation pedals and I think the situation is pretty much the same, my Joyo AC-Tone (£25) absolutely kills the wretched Wampler Ace-30 that I had briefly, likewise the Joyo American Sound vs any number of expensive tweed pedals. The Wampler Black 65 though - great pedal.

In fairness they are Chinese clones of Tech21 pedals.

Samgb

ICBM said:

Samgb said:

The real question is why do i currently have 4 drive pedals on my board(all of which i like very much in isolation): Boss SD1W, BD2W, JHS Morning Glory, Tube Screamer Mini BUT i have them all set up so that they sound as close to one another as possible?

I concluded last night that i am mildly f$#ked in the head and should flog 3 of them for something new. Which i can then try and make sound like something else i like.    

I loathe myself.

Do you stack the SD-1 into the BD-2? If not, try it... you may go off the idea of selling them .

Or it sounds like you need an Angry Driver .

I have the SD1 into JHS into TSmini into BD2. And then a Spark Mini at the beginning of the board. Its not that them thats the problem. It's me. I started off with them all set differently to play nice together and then i realised as time went by i had tweaked them all slowly to sound the same(ish).

If i had to get rid of them and just choose one i would be happy with just the Morning Glory and a boost tbh. In the low gain mode it covers most of the ground the BD2 does and then the higher gain mode is killer.

Samgb

lasermonkey said:

Although I'm generally a fan of Boss pedals (modulation and delay in particular) I've never heard a Boss dirt pedal I've liked. I'd probably go so far as to say the BD-2 is the worst I've heard. I found it to be harsh and brittle sounding, with a particularly nasty note decay.

I only like it as boost/v mild od  - i agree that there is something brittle in the higher gain range. Low gain it is sparkly and nice

ICBM

Samgb said:

I have the SD1 into JHS into TSmini into BD2. And then a Spark Mini at the beginning of the board. Its not that them thats the problem. It's me. I started off with them all set differently to play nice together and then i realised as time went by i had tweaked them all slowly to sound the same(ish).

I'm very surprised you can get the SD-1 and the BD-2 to sound at all similar - they have very different gain structure and EQ.

Try the TS Mini at the start, then the SD-1, then the BD-2, with each one set for slightly more gain the the previous one - that should give you a good range of different and stackable sounds. (I don't know where the JHS goes, I know nothing about it.)

Samgb

ICBM said:

Samgb said:

I have the SD1 into JHS into TSmini into BD2. And then a Spark Mini at the beginning of the board. Its not that them thats the problem. It's me. I started off with them all set differently to play nice together and then i realised as time went by i had tweaked them all slowly to sound the same(ish).

I'm very surprised you can get the SD-1 and the BD-2 to sound at all similar - they have very different gain structure and EQ.

Try the TS Mini at the start, then the SD-1, then the BD-2, with each one set for slightly more gain the the previous one - that should give you a good range of different and stackable sounds. (I don't know where the JHS goes, I know nothing about it.)

I am being facetious. I know they don't sound alike i just realised i set them all up to kind of do the same thing; mild overdrive, enough treble to make them sparkly rather than dull, loads of volume. They all do that in different ways but it did make me think why not get rid of 3 of them and just use one plus a boost? 

The JHS is a Bluesbreaker clone with an extra high gain toggle switch for a more 70s Marshall sound.

I will try your tip about the order though thanks. I dont particularly like the BD2 when it gets gainy but i am willing to be proved wrong.

JD50

BBBlues said:

I don't know why anyone would need to discretely classify pedals into "boutique" and "not boutique". 
There are hundreds of options, all at different price points. Try out a range which you can afford, then pick the ones you like.

What does boutique even mean anymore?
Pedals made in small numbers?