Boss Pedals OverDrive-ology

Controls - Level, Mode : Standard / Custom (Phat), Tone, Gain.

My absolute favourite OverDrive - where I love both Phat and Freak Fuzz Modes - I don't believe there were very many Freak-Fuzz Modded BD-2 - compared with the Phat Mod - but they do crop up every now and again - I've had a few opportunities to acquire another backup - but not felt the need yet. This is beautiful low-end accentuated and richly textured crunchy overdrive - with a sort of Marshall flavour when somewhat cranked. It has the most stunning guitar volume cleanup too of any overdrive. And several players use this as a pristine hi-fidelity boost with the gain all the way back, and a little lean into the volume. This pedal is beautifully richly textured - and still my favourite ever overall overdrive tone. I have several edition of the BD-2 and myriad evolved clones, mods, and adjacent varieties - as I've mentioned in my Blues Driver-ology article!

Controls - Level, Mode : Standard / Custom (Phat), Tone, Gain.

The Waza Craft Blues Driver is based on the Keeley Phat Mod too - but doesn't have quite the same degree of punchy low end frequencies, nor quite as rich a texture as that favourite of mine. The BD-2W is rather more of a refined take on the Phat Mod BD-2 with a slightly more neutral character. I prefer the extra visceral quality of the Freak Fuzz / Phat Modded Blues Driver as above!

Controls - Level, OverDrive.

I've spoken at length on this blog about how I still want to secure an original 14-Leg / Raytheon RC3403D Chip / Long-Dash edition of the 1977 original. There just don't seem to be any pristine copies of that pedal left, and the somewhat weathered and worn editions are still going for ridiculous money - so this is not a challenge that's going to be solved any time soon.

In the meantime I've got in the Pettyjohn ODI - which is a 2-Band EQ OD-1 style circuit - using twin rare JRC4558 chips, and otherwise the same NOS components as the original 2nd Edition (8 Legs). I also have the Drunk Beaver Pedal Drop #19 - the Khelnytskyi OD - which uses a 14-Leg MC3403 chip - which is an NOS equivalent to the RC3403 chip in the very original OD-1's. I always really wanted an original OD-1 style circuit but with extended EQ - which I have on both these pedals. The original 14-Leg chip gives a fuller and more rounded flavour - with a little more low-end action too. It just sounds and feels better than the later variants

Controls - Level, Low, High, Drive.

This is the one of the 3 I don't yet have - an MDP 2-Band take on the OD-1 - with more amp-like dynamics. While I've always found the feel of those 'X' series pedals a little odd - I find it tricky to describe - they are capable of some great tones - but don't always react as predictably as you might perceive. I'm definitely in line to get one of those some day - and I will feed back with more intel at the time - I've not come near one of these for many years now!

Controls - Level, Tone, Drive, Turbo / Remote : Off / On.

This one beefs up the response of the original. There were some issues with balance and articulation of the first edition - where Boss kind of rushed through the OD-2R version as an improved / fixed take on that circuit. I think this is the only time Boss issued an official 'Revision' for one of its circuits. It basically takes the core OD-1 profile and somewhat turbo-chargers / beefs that up a couple of levels!

Controls - Level (Drive Level), Drive (Drive Gain), Phat Mod Switch : Stock / Phat, Tone, Compression : More / Stock / Most, Boost / Drive toggle Footswitch, Boos Gain, Boost Level.

This is a fantastic answer somewhat underrated Boss drive still - although every bit as good as the OD-1 really in most ways. Its output is not quite as satisfactory as the BD-2 for me - but it's still a truly fantastic overdrive - particularly in the Twin Drive Modded Japanese Edition that I have. It was a really fluke that I snagged one of those - where I bought it second-hand from an American collector who had acquired it on Yahoo Japan. You get a lot of pedal action on Yahoo Japan and Mercari - where the Japanese really get the pick of those Mods - but where some of those do find themselves in global circulation - I see a few of these 'Twin Drive' Mods every now and again on Ebay, and even more rarely on Reverb.com they do then to sell though rather quickly - and his is the only 'available' one I've encounter to date on Reverb.com - they're normally already sold when I discover most of those!

Controls - Level, Tone, Drive, Color.

I'm not exactly sure what happened to my copy of this - it's buried somewhere within my archive - and I've struggled to find it in recent times. It's a really decent duality OverDrive / Distortion - where I prefer the gainer side really - to me it has a lot of similar DNA to the OD-1 - but split across 2 different gain stages.

Controls - Level, Tone, Drive.

I think this one sat on the cusp of the BOSS COSM and MDP modelling technologies - as either one of the last COSM pedals - where we have 3 other COSM types in this selection - the Combo Drive and 2 Fender Collaborations. I've always considered this to be one of the earliest MDP varieties - when that was kind of in its prototype face. It's a somewhat under the radar pedal nowadays - and can also be considered something of a predecessor to the OD-1X.

Controls - Controls - Level, Fat (Lows), Muscle (Mids), Drive.

This is for sure one of my favourite Boss gain pedals - in effect their take on the Big Muff sound - but rather more adjacent than any kind of derivative clone. The EQ controls here are a little odd - which Vitalii at Drunk Beaver improved on a number of his takes on this circuit - including the Mykolaiv Grunge and Seattle Driver. This pedal was brought out to offset the lower Metal Pedal sales with the advent of Grunge - while ionically Nirvana's Kurt Cobain used Boss DS-1 has one of this core tone components - so Boss was kind of already covered for grunge as such. The PW-2 never took of alas and remains the Boss pedal with the shortest manufacturing history - in fact considerably less than a year in the end!

Controls - Level, Bass, Treble, Sound : Clear > Crunch > Drive.

The BC-2 Combo Drive (Vox AC30) and ST-2 Power Stack (Marshall Plexi) both came out at the same time - where I've always thought that the MDP Combo Drive was more successfully authentic in delivering the core source tones. While neither of those are quite top-tier - while I do quite like the timbre and texture of the Combo Drive - but I have superior takes on that format. Decent, but certainly not top-tier!

Controls - Level, Tone, Drive, 5-Star Germanium Mod : On / Off.

Most of Robert Keeley's Mods where BD-2 Phat adjacent - which largely beefed up the output profile of those original circuits - and gave them more low-end and overall range. The Keeley Mod of the SD-1 is my favourite - while I do also like the SD-1 Waza take - there's less of a gap between the output quality of Keeley and Boss Waze Editions compared with some of the others. The SD-1 is many a player's favourite overdrive - being based on the original Asymmetrical OD-1 circuit - but with a smoother output profile - to more closely match the Symmetrical Soft Clipping of the Maxon / Ibanez Tube Screamer. It typically delivers more harmonic texture than its green cousin!

Controls - Level, Mode : Standard / Custom (Phat), Drive, Tone.

And this is the more expanded take on the SD-1 - which does sound decent - but as in most of these situations - I prefer the Keeley Modded Editions over the Boss Waza ones - which includes BD-1, DS-1, MT-2 and SD-1 varieties - where I of course own both of each! If you like slightly more low-end and verve - then go with the Keeley Mods - the Boss Waza Craft Editions offer more subtler enhancements!

Controls - CRUNCH } Level, Tone, Drive, LEAD } Level, Tone, Drive, Mode / Remote : Crunch / Lead / Crunch <> Lead.

This is another one (like the Power Drive) that I usually include in my Boss Fuzz roundups. Where for me the Lead Channel on the SD-2 does a particularly tasty / refined take on a Rat - much more satisfying for me that the 1981 Inventions' DRV, and with a smoother delivery than the raspy ProCo Rat original. Everyone loves the Lead Channel - while most feel that some improvements could be made to the response of the Crunch channel - which just pales in comparison to its gainier channel! Just the Lead Channel makes this one of my favourite every Boss Drive / Distortions. Where I've always associated this with a sort of refined Rat sound - but not everyone agrees with me!

Controls - Presence / Middle, Bass, Treble, Level / Gain.

One of 3 Fender Collaborations from 2007-2009 - FBM-1 Fender ’59 Bassman, FDR-1 Fender ’65 Deluxe Reverb-Amp, and FRV-1 '63 Fender Reverb. The Bassman was the amp that birthed the Marshall lineage, great sounding with decent harmonic texture, and some low-end thump. This is a great take on that very early amp classic. This is another COSM dsp modelling - which weren't all equally potent - while this Boss x Fender collab was something of a triumph at the time - with all 3 sounding really decent.

Controls - Level / Gain, Treble, Bass, Vibrato / Reverb.

One of the most enduringly successful and popular amps of all time - here beautifully rendered in pedal format with the full feature stack - including Vibrato modulation and onboard reverb. Boss definitely got the formula right with its 3 Fender collabs - where very few of the COSM projects were quite as successful. Still requires a little due diligence on the dial-in - but you get some really wonderful output textures with this pedal overdrive / preamp!

Controls - Treble, Bass, Low Cut : Flat / Low Cut 6dB / Oct, Volume.

I was unsure where to place the Boss FA-1 FET Amplifier - it's kind of OverDrive adjacent - in being more an always-on preamp - with no footswitch. I decided not to include it in the official above selection and visual - Boss for sure doesn't classify it as an overdrive - even thought it's capable of some exceptional overdrive tones.

Probably best looped into a switcher - so you have some control over its deployment. I don't have the Boss original - but have several enhanced pedals based on the same circuit - including the JHS Clover, Drunk Beaver (Boba) FET OverBooster, and Audio Blend's Edge EQ Preamp!