https://guitarnoise.forum/from-here-to-there/boss-overdrive-sd-1/ Guitar Noise Discussion Board en-US Thu, 04 Jun 2026 02:49:42 +0000 wpForo 60 https://guitarnoise.forum/from-here-to-there/boss-overdrive-sd-1/paged/2/#post-256772 Sat, 28 Jul 2007 01:02:36 +0000
Yep, everybody is fascinated with "scooped mids" where you shape your EQ like a smile or letter V. This will get you a very Marshall stack like tone. This tone is very good for rhythm guitar or when playing alone. But as soon as you start playing with a bass player you will get buried. No matter how loud you turn your amp, you will barely be able to hear yourself. You are playing the same frequencies as the bass. :x

And forget about playing lead with scooped mids, nobody will hear your solo at all. I see this problem with live bands all the time.

I think where the big problem comes from is recordings. Oftentimes on recordings the guitar will sound very bassy. But this is a recording, all instruments are highly compressed to have their own slot in the mix. It is not really a realistic sound, listen to any of your favorite bands play live and they will sound much different. And often on recordings people are mistaking the bass for guitar anyway.

Let the bass play the low end. The electric guitar sounds best in the mids. Boost your mids, cut your lows and highs a little. Your tone will cut right through the mix, and your bass player will be happy that you are no longer hogging his frequencies. :D

Here is a good example of boosted mids, Slash on Sweet Child O Mine. Slash uses Celestion Vintage 30 speakers in his cabs, a speaker known to emphasize mids and attenuate lows and highs. That's why he cuts through so well. And listen to the rhythm guitar, no super mid-scooped tone there either.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-AYAv0IoWI]]> From Here to There Wes Inman https://guitarnoise.forum/from-here-to-there/boss-overdrive-sd-1/paged/2/#post-256772 https://guitarnoise.forum/from-here-to-there/boss-overdrive-sd-1/#post-256635 Fri, 27 Jul 2007 14:02:09 +0000
Great minds think alike...

I love all three. I have the SD-1 settings at Level:4, Tone:5, Drive:4. I don't have an amp of my own other than a little practise amp (see above reason!) but through my brother-in-laws Marshall Valvestate something-or-other those settings give me a great sound that I might describe as a 'bark' when playing rhythm or a 'growl' when playing lead. I love it anyway.

I believe the TU-2 is a must have for any person playing electric string instruments. There is no better or easier way of keeping yourself in tune IMO, although I'm sure some would have other ideas. My EQ is the Danelectro one that I got years ago on Wes' recommendation. Cheap as 'Chips :wink: and works perfectly.

Interesting what you say about mids cutting through Wes. I have already discovered through trial and error that less is more when it comes to gain but my biggest issue sound wise is still being able to hear what I'm playing properly. Everyone else always complains that the guitarists are too loud and yet the guitarists always say that they can't hear themselves! Now I think about it is makes perfect sense as I also have my EQ set to be a (lop-sided!) smiley face.

Next time I play with the band I'll try out the kind of settings you guys have put here and blow them all away! Cheers!]]> From Here to There gjbrake https://guitarnoise.forum/from-here-to-there/boss-overdrive-sd-1/#post-256635 https://guitarnoise.forum/from-here-to-there/boss-overdrive-sd-1/#post-248784 Mon, 18 Jun 2007 21:00:09 +0000
http://www.bossarea.com/loadpage.asp?file=boxes/sd1.xml

This info may be in the manual that comes with the pedal, I bought mine used, so I don't have the manual. I tried the settings they mention for mild overdrive and it sounds pretty good. Level: 6 Tone: 4 Drive: 4. The other setting they mention doesn't sound good at all. But I turned the Tone down to about 4 with the same settings and it's better. Any more than 4 or 5 on the Tone knob and it just sounds too "trebley"]]> From Here to There jwmartin https://guitarnoise.forum/from-here-to-there/boss-overdrive-sd-1/#post-248784 https://guitarnoise.forum/from-here-to-there/boss-overdrive-sd-1/#post-248250 Fri, 15 Jun 2007 00:39:37 +0000
Those are just my favorite settings, glad you tweaked them a little to your liking. I do boost the far left slider, adds a little warmth to the tone. The 2nd slider on the left can cause the most problems, crank it up and your tone will get very muddy and boomy, some even say "farts". Sorry, but that's the term.

Next practice use these new settings and I bet everyone will complain that you cranked your amp up. 8)

Your amp is just as loud as it was, but now your mids are cutting through and everyone can hear you. :wink:]]> From Here to There Wes Inman https://guitarnoise.forum/from-here-to-there/boss-overdrive-sd-1/#post-248250 https://guitarnoise.forum/from-here-to-there/boss-overdrive-sd-1/#post-248127 Thu, 14 Jun 2007 07:10:41 +0000
+5, -10, -5, +7.5, +10, +5, 0

I may tweak it some more, but I love the tone. Especially with the tone on my OD set at about 3 o'clock and the drive at between 10 and 11 o'clock. And if I turn both pedals off, I get that lower warm tone which is nice for certain situations (my amps treb is just past 4 and pulled for a "bright" tone with the bass knob at almost 7. Just a touch of reverb and my presence is at just past 8.

I'm starting to really like my tone. I'm so happy you turned me onto boosting my mids. You're right about me getting drowned out sometimes. I'll try these settings at Fridays practice. It feels like it's going to really cut through.

Thanks!

Jim]]> From Here to There MrJonesey https://guitarnoise.forum/from-here-to-there/boss-overdrive-sd-1/#post-248127 https://guitarnoise.forum/from-here-to-there/boss-overdrive-sd-1/#post-248076 Thu, 14 Jun 2007 01:08:43 +0000 I then run to the EQ, which is also just a bit louder than normal operating level with the mids slightly cut and the highs and lows slghtly raised (I konw, typical smile config). Scooping your mids does sound good for rhythm guitar, you get that classic Marshall type tone. But this setting is lousy for lead guitar, when you play with a bass player you will get drowned in the mix. Even cranked loud you will barely hear your guitar. Go see live bands and you will see this problem over and over again. If you want your lead guitar to be heard you need to boost your mids.

I like to push the far left slider on an EQ up to about 5 decibels boost. But I pull the next one down about -10 decibels. The next is about -5, the next about +5 (mids), the next (mids) boosted about 7.5 decibels, the next boosted about 5, the next flat. Now that is just me, everybody likes their own tone. But these tone settings work great in a mix, you will not get drowned by the bass or even mix with it. By itself it is not bassy, but you already have a bass player in a band. You want your own slot where you can be heard. And when you solo you want to hear it distinctly. The way to do this is boost your mids.

Lots of players want this super low tone. But in a band situation is does not work. Your bass player will bury you, you will barely be able to hear yourself. Let the bass player play the lows, play the mids, that's where guitar sounds best.

Just my 2 cent, your milage will vary. :D

Wes]]> From Here to There Wes Inman https://guitarnoise.forum/from-here-to-there/boss-overdrive-sd-1/#post-248076 https://guitarnoise.forum/from-here-to-there/boss-overdrive-sd-1/#post-247872 Wed, 13 Jun 2007 03:37:07 +0000
Settings-wise, I'm still looking for the perfect settings. One thing I never change is the Tone, I keep it at the 9 o'clock position. Any more than that and it sounds horrible. Level, I go between 10 o'clock and 1 o'clock and Drive I used to keep cranked up at 3 o'clock, but I'm finding more and more than I'm liking it at the 12 o'clock. Especially for blues. But I still crank it way up to play Boston.

I don't have the EQ pedal or any other pedal for that matter. I'm playing through a Peavey Nashville 112 80W amp (it's actually a steel guitar amp, it's on semi-permanent loan from my grandfather). Like someone said, turn your guitar up to 10, 11 if it you got it.]]> From Here to There jwmartin https://guitarnoise.forum/from-here-to-there/boss-overdrive-sd-1/#post-247872 https://guitarnoise.forum/from-here-to-there/boss-overdrive-sd-1/#post-247709 Tue, 12 Jun 2007 17:31:09 +0000
Thanks for the response. I'm still new at these pedal things. It was just a couple of months ago that I bought my first pedal (EQ). Now I have enough that I was able to make myself a little pedal board. It turned out pretty good, by the way. I even have a small piece of luggage which I use as a case.

Yeah, I noticed that I don't care for the tone knob on the pedal much. My amp has a great, warm, clean tone, and the tone knob on the pedal makes it sound much cheaper. I love the pedal with the gain turned up aobut a third of the way and the volume just a bit louder than normal operating level. I then run to the EQ, which is also just a bit louder than normal operating level with the mids slightly cut and the highs and lows slghtly raised (I konw, typical smile config). This allows me to do a solo with either the clean slightly boosted or with the OD slightly boosted. And if I really want to stand out, I hit them both.

I'm still looking for that perfect "Blues" setting, but I think I'm getting closer. I'm looking for warm and smooth with a bit of a rough edge. Let me know if you have any ideas.

By the way, I do love the tuner pedal.

Regards,

Jim]]> From Here to There MrJonesey https://guitarnoise.forum/from-here-to-there/boss-overdrive-sd-1/#post-247709 https://guitarnoise.forum/from-here-to-there/boss-overdrive-sd-1/#post-247566 Tue, 12 Jun 2007 01:07:27 +0000
Yeah, they are designed to be powered by the TU-2 tuner. I own this tuner, really love it, I also have the daisy chain. I believe it will power up to 7 additional pedals. And they do not have to be Boss pedals, I have used it for many different makes like Danelectro, Arion, DOD, Behringer and others, works great for all of them.

I think this tuner is a good value, it is very durable. I have owned mine about 5 years and it has taken a beating. It has been kicked around and even had beer spilled on it, still works great. It is super easy to see in the dark, and the mute feature is great. Nothing worse than somebody tuning their guitar between songs. :roll:

I have never used the Boss overdrive but have always heard good things about it. The main thing about overdrives and distortions is to keep the gain down some, especially when playing at volume. Everybody has their own idea of great tone, but if you listen to professional recordings you will realize that they really do not use much gain at all. It is usually just a barely broken-up tone just past clean. These are the tones that really cut through in live situations and do not sound mushy or get drowned in the mix.

But heh, you gotta crank the gain sometimes. :twisted:

Have fun with your new pedals.

Wes]]> From Here to There Wes Inman https://guitarnoise.forum/from-here-to-there/boss-overdrive-sd-1/#post-247566 https://guitarnoise.forum/from-here-to-there/boss-overdrive-sd-1/#post-246621 Thu, 07 Jun 2007 04:25:13 +0000
I have been waiting ever so not patiently for about a week for this OD pedal to arrive. It finally showed up today while I was at work. Well, I couldn't wait to get home to try it out. I already have the boss EQ pedal, so I also ordered the Boss power chain so I can hook up like 7 or 8 pedals with one power supply (which I bought with the EQ pedal). Well, when I tried to hook everything up, I found that I couldn't. All of the connectors males. I thought there would be a female receptor to hook it all up. Well, what Boss failed to make clear was that you needed another pedal to link the rest of them together. So, I'll keep a long story short, but I just got back from Guitar Center with my new tuner (and $100 poorer). So now I have three pedals. Man, that just seems like a lot of money just to tune a guitar. :cry:]]> From Here to There MrJonesey https://guitarnoise.forum/from-here-to-there/boss-overdrive-sd-1/#post-246621