ShortScale.org

I was at my local Book Off yesterday and saw that they finally had a few pedals in, and among them was the Boss Super Overdrive. I've been wanting to get an overdrive pedal for a while, and it was either this or the Pigtronix Polysaturator (which was also at Book Off) but I decided against that one, because it was $70 and I hated the form factor of it (both jacks on on side, the footswitch too close to the knobs). Plus, Dean Wareham of Galaxie 500 and Luna swears by the SD-1, so I figured, why not? Well, not only did it come with the box, it came with all the original factory papers, including the year's catalog of pedals, which is how I figured out this is from 2005. And it's brand new and unused too, not a sign of wear on it, I love it.

It even still has a Roland battery still in it! I'm not sure it would still be any good though, after over 10 years of sitting in the box.

Got an SD1 last week also. Been fed up with the TS9 for the last few months, and this has been the perfect remedy. Seems to have more volume, more gain, and the tone knob seems more responsive. Think the Ts9 is maybe more transparent, but I like the sound of the SD1.

just borrowed fran's recently. i found it thinned out my signal and cut too much bass while adding a midrange graininess to my vox that i couldn't shake off (not AS much as a TS though). it's supposed to be a mainstay for vox amps (that lad from radiohead uses the combination) so maybe i just suck

George wrote:just borrowed fran's recently. i found it thinned out my signal and cut too much bass while adding a midrange graininess to my vox that i couldn't shake off (not AS much as a TS though). it's supposed to be a mainstay for vox amps (that lad from radiohead uses the combination) so maybe i just suck

If you suck George I must do too, I can't get them to work for me either.

George wrote:just borrowed fran's recently. i found it thinned out my signal and cut too much bass while adding a midrange graininess to my vox that i couldn't shake off (not AS much as a TS though). it's supposed to be a mainstay for vox amps (that lad from radiohead uses the combination) so maybe i just suck

try different guitars with different kinds of pickups and maybe try rolling the tone knob where you normally wouldn't..

I've been singing the praises of these. After years of searching I've ended back where I started wondering why I thought these weren't good enough... great pedal.

I like them through Fenders....it was a staple of Metric's (James Shaw) early tone from Live it Out/Old World Underground (useless trivia, about a band that only myself and canadian teenagers probably care about)

Honestly, I think it was this demo, the tone from 0:00 to 1:15 really sold me

[youtube][/youtube]

Also @Nick I love metric, I got one of their CDs at Book Off as well in the dollar section once, I love it.

Yup, Metric is great. Galaxie 500 is legendary. I never tried an SD-1 but might have to at some point.

Only have Synthetica, but I absolutely adore it. Great album.

The only actual standalone OD pedal I have it the Boss OS2 Overdrive/Distortion. The OD side sounds about the same as the video here. It's always difficult to tell properly on youtube videos tho.

I have been thinking about getting a new OD that goes with the cleaner sound I prefer these days. I did have one of those Cool Cat ones and really loved it (it was in my effects bag that got stolen). Going by your review on here I think I'll have to give one of these a try in person.

Thomas wrote: Going by your review on here I think I'll have to give one of these a try in person.

They're like £25 second hand too, so really easy to try with the added bonus of the usual Boss tank like build quality.

Must say though, at practice last night it was colouring my sound more on the mustang than it did on my egc. So yeah, ODs do seem to be very dependent on individual set up.

Handy tip. That's a keen price too.

yeah, the standalone boss drives are always pretty good with fender amps in my experience, but i can't get them to work with a vox (boss od3, bd2, os2 and sd1 now ruled out), which happens to prefer clean(ish) boosts, which happen to be useless with fenders. interesting learning experience. i only play strat type guitars though.

George wrote:yeah, the standalone boss drives are always pretty good with fender amps in my experience, but i can't get them to work with a vox (boss od3, bd2, os2 and sd1 now ruled out), which happens to prefer clean(ish) boosts, which happen to be useless with fenders. interesting learning experience. i only play strat type guitars though.

What is your main guitar George?

my "bratomaster" which is essentially a low output strat with a jazzy trem

George wrote:my "bratomaster" which is essentially a low output strat with a jazzy trem

Nice...Is it standard scale, and did you build it yourself or have it built?

I fancied a Jaguarillo when they came out... was waiting for the price to drop but when it did I'd just bought my Yamaha SG so it never happened.