Boss DS-1 vs SD-1, what's the difference?

For the longest time I ignored these pedals, just because they're "the mainstream option". But recently I acquired these pedals to give them a try and they turned out to really impress me.
Both the Boss DS-1 and Boss SD-1 are really cool pedals. They make totally different types of distortion through their different methods of clipping the signal. In this video I demo each pedal through an orange OR15 head and Orange PPC112 with a 12" Celestion Vintage 30 speaker.
I recorded audio with an sm57 on the cab, and a rode video mic pro on the camera. When playing the guitar, I reduced the camera mic audio level -18 dB to give a clearer impression of what the sm57 picked up.
This is just a simple tone test, keep in mind that ultimately your guitar will be heard in a mix with drums, bass guitar, vocals, and other instruments, so real life jam & performance applications will differ. This video is not meant to give an exhaustive list of every parameter setting, just a quick run down of the pedals.
I hope some of you find this video helpful!

Your friendly neighbourhood guitar teacher
Levi Bulloch

Some questions this video addresses and attempts to answer:

What's the difference between the Boss SD-1 and Boss DS-1?

what is distortion?

what is overdrive?

what overdrive pedal should I get?

is the ds-1 good?

Some other ways this video might be described:

Boss DS-1 vs SD-1

Distortion vs Overdrive

Guitar Pedal Demo

Guitar Pedals

Boss DS-1 tutorial

Boss SD-1 tutorial

[Urizen]

I love stacking those two. They just work perfectly together. SD-1 gives that warm tube amp-like midrange, while DS-1 delivers the balls.
DS-1 cuts through the mix like a knife, while SD-1 makes the sound fuller.

[soundsofianlory]

Great demo, thanks Levi.

I have just ordered the overdrive to pair with my proco rat. I'm aiming to boost the solos whilst playing live.

I'm grateful for the demo of the stacked sound during solo playing and demonstrating the mid boost during this process. Just what I was looking for.


Now fully reassured on my purchase.. thanks again. 👍

[ushnicyuvnikof]

The DS-1 is really sick, it's really good! The SD-1 is a Screamer of sorts, you can use it as a dirty boost into a tube amp, that's what it is best for.

[rmedzoyan]

Critical Correction. The DS-1 is indeed usable and was widely used for 80s “Metal, ” or what was called “metal” prior to “Master of Puppets.” We’re talking about an era when Heavy Metal was Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Dio era Black Sabbath, RR era Ozzy, Saxon, Def Leppard, Dokken, early Queensryche, Scorpions etc. The heavier, faster, metal of Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax and Megadeth, were still considered extreme, and not always welcomed by many metal fans. Read Metallica’s Damaged Justice Tour ‘88-‘89 program. The written narrative by Mick Wall very eloquently describes the initial reaction of early 80s metalheads to the then new more primitive, less melodic, punk-influenced form of metal. Many metal fans of the early 80s outright rejected punk rock as an unskilled noisy genre. Metal fans were particular about the musical chops of their heroes, and the hardcore punk bands just couldn’t cut it. Ultimately Metallica and peers proved everybody wrong, they developed as musicians and songwriters, while mainstream metal devolved into formulaic hair/pop/metal.

[scrivo]

Got both of these, the DS1 is good, the SD1 is great!!

[MattHoulihan]

thanks man just ordered the overdrive great vid

[logveri]

So far I think sd1 (overdrive) is great. You would recommend sd1 for some emotional soloing?

[robkhold]

I'd just go with a Maxon OD-9 before these two. I have an SD-1 but use it only for home.

[soundsofianlory]

Great demo, thanks Levi.

I have just ordered the overdrive to pair with my proco rat. I'm aiming to boost the solos whilst playing live.

I'm grateful for the demo of the stacked sound during solo playing and demonstrating the mid boost during this process. Just what I was looking for.


Now fully reassured on my purchase.. thanks again. 👍