Marc Morfei
Poster Extraordinaire
There is consistently great love around here for the Boss SD-1. Have have an OD-3, and like it pretty well for what it dopes. What's the difference between the two? I have watched videos but it's hard to tell.
Boss SD-1 or OD-3
- Thread starter Marc Morfei
- Start date
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Rarely have I come across a topic that hasn’t been touched on here already 
www.tdpri.com
Boss Overdrives - OD3 vs SD1
anyone know what the main differences between the boss OD3 (overdrive) and the SD1 (super overdrive) are? any opinions? preferences? i've been hankering after something with a different flavour to my TS9 for a while now and tried both of these out (among others) yesterday. here's my initial...
www.tdpri.com 
Guitarteach
Doctor of Teleocity
OD3 is a great pedal.
Marc Morfei
Poster Extraordinaire
excellent, thanks.Rarely have I come across a topic that hasn’t been touched on here already
Boss Overdrives - OD3 vs SD1
anyone know what the main differences between the boss OD3 (overdrive) and the SD1 (super overdrive) are? any opinions? preferences? i've been hankering after something with a different flavour to my TS9 for a while now and tried both of these out (among others) yesterday. here's my initial...
JustABluesGuy
Poster Extraordinaire
The SD-1 is a “mid boost” very similar to the Tube Screamer, but but better IMO. I prefer it’s asymmetrical clipping, and it doesn’t roll off as much bass. The mid emphasis is more pleasant to my ears as well. Like the Tube Screamer, it is mean to push a tube amp for solos and to cut through the mix with the mids.
The OD-3 doesn’t have the mid hump like the SD-1 does. It’s more of a full range OD. It has a very amplike OD to my ears. For example, I would never run a TS or SD-1 as an overdrive into a clean amp. I would however use either one to push an amp into overdrive. They can also be used to in front of an OD-3 to push it much like they would an amp.
thats the story
plus i can say that if you play humbuckers you can boost the driven amp more nicely with the od3
and if you play singles you get better boost with sd-1
An SD-1 works great into a Twin Reverb clean, if you have the eq knobs at 5. There’s plenty of bass and a mid scoop, especially when you’re playing loud, and the SD-1 pretty much turns it into a Marshall sound.
Willie Johnson
Friend of Leo's
OD3 is like a souped-up Blues Driver, right?
Guitarteach
Doctor of Teleocity
It has a flatter, more even response.
It works great into a clean amp and is not nasal like a tube screamer /SD is used into clean.
Ben Harmless
Poster Extraordinaire
There was actually some discussion of this awhile back, but it may have been a BD-2-titled thread. I have both, or all three pedals. They're wildly different. The SD-1 is roughly a Tubescreamer with a different clipping diode configuration. The OD-3 is its own beast. It can be used as a booster like an SD-1/Tubescreamer, but it's got enough clipping to qualify as a distortion pedal in its own right, and can be used as such in front of a clean amp. It's got a good response to volume-knob rolloff. A kind of a sleeper pedal, in my opinion. When I was young, I used a BD-2 for my main sound, but had to crank the bass after the fact. No so with the OD-3.
Still, it retains this kind of Boss-ish sound, which is a little sharper and a little more crunchy than you'll find in the distortion on master volume tube amps. Boss pedals don't tend to sound quite like one family of amps or another, they just do their own thing. That's fine, but if I want to emulate say, a Marshall JMP, there are pedals that capture a lot more of the nuance of that amp. You can see this in pretty much all the Boss/Roland demos - it's usually some dude shredding at mega-gain and sounds... good... but just somehow less natural - which I recognize is a completely subjective term here.
All that said, the average human being watching a band in a bar isn't really going to care about the difference, and if you're playing well and a guitar player in the audience notices, he or she is just going to think "nice - sounds good."
Still, it retains this kind of Boss-ish sound, which is a little sharper and a little more crunchy than you'll find in the distortion on master volume tube amps. Boss pedals don't tend to sound quite like one family of amps or another, they just do their own thing. That's fine, but if I want to emulate say, a Marshall JMP, there are pedals that capture a lot more of the nuance of that amp. You can see this in pretty much all the Boss/Roland demos - it's usually some dude shredding at mega-gain and sounds... good... but just somehow less natural - which I recognize is a completely subjective term here.
All that said, the average human being watching a band in a bar isn't really going to care about the difference, and if you're playing well and a guitar player in the audience notices, he or she is just going to think "nice - sounds good."
My buddy has an OD-3 and a Blues Driver, I have played (his) both, and it is probably my bias towards using my BD-2 ( always ON) since about 1998, I just preferred the less-bassy (clearer EQ?) tone, and dynamics from the Blues Driver. Just going from clean to a nice breakup from a Fender or other amp, using guitar Volume knob.
The OD-3 I think, had a thicker, more sustained breakup, which would be a good thing for many, just not for me.
- a lot of Marshall folks seem to love pairing up the SD-1 with their amps.
( just my unofficial sampling of comments here over the years).
So 3 good Boss pedals
you can work with- win-win-win!
Tone Quest
Friend of Leo's
Had an SD-1 for quite a while. Is a great pedal.
codamedia
Poster Extraordinaire
In general, and IMO...
Some dirt pedals are great platforms for creating usable tones! That's where the OD-3 comes in. Others don't sound as good on their own, but are fabulous at driving/boosting other pedals and amps, that would be the SD-1. That said, both of these pedals are fairly flexible in that regard.
Actually the SD-1 cuts MORE bass than a Tube Screamer.
JustABluesGuy
Poster Extraordinaire
My bad. I was thinking of the OD-3. I prefer the midrange placement (it sounds less “nasal” to me) and the asymmetrical clipping of the SD-1.
Thanks for the correction. I don’t want to confuse people by posting incorrect info.
JustABluesGuy
Poster Extraordinaire
I think the Boss website mentions the similarities. There seems to be some point where they were basically the same. I think I read that the Blues driver is a derivative of the OD-3 or vice versa.
I have heard they are similar and share some history though I have never tried a Blues Driver.
Lies&Distortion
Friend of Leo's
I hear that "nasal" tone from the OD-3 and (less so) from the BD-2, on my SS amp and have never used either for long. The SD-1 sounds better for me. Never played either with my tube amp much. If I don't like a pedal into my Pathfinder, I rarely like it into a tube amp.
