# what is BOSS’ mildest overdrive?



## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

OD3, Blues Driver?


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

vadsy said:


> Blues Driver


That's what I heard.
I have an OD2 that I just turn the 'drive' way down for a nice crunch.


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

I’m with you, OD3 with the drive all the way down for me. Volume push interacting with other pedals usually gets things there. 

I started this conversation with a friend yesterday and we didn’t really arrive at a conclusion


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## bzrkrage (Mar 20, 2011)

FBM-1


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

The Super Overdrive SD1 for me.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

This is from the Boss Guitar Effects Guidebook, Vol. 17, 2002. Given the publication date, there may well be other things in their stable that fall a little more to the lower right-hand corner than what is seen here. The SD-1 is shown as a smidgen less "smooth" than the BD-2.
The gain of both of these pedals can be easily reduced a bit to make them less saturated at milder settings.


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

Chito said:


> The Super Overdrive SD1 for me.


Me too, and Mark's chart agrees as well. Capable of *almost* pass through 0 net effect. At gain 0 volume up as a booster, it will cut a hair of bottom but add focus/clarity.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

While looking through my files for the chart, I stumbled on an older document from Robert Keeley's pedal mod days, on his mods to the BD-2. I'm happy to post it if anyone wants it.


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## reckless toboggan (Mar 9, 2019)

Chito said:


> The Super Overdrive SD1 for me.





keto said:


> Me too, and Mark's chart agrees as well. Capable of *almost* pass through 0 net effect. At gain 0 volume up as a booster, it will cut a hair of bottom but add focus/clarity.


These. No contest. SD-1. Least gain, very smooth.

You could almost leave this as an always on in its max gain setting, and not really hear that much of a difference.


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## bzrkrage (Mar 20, 2011)

mhammer said:


> While looking through my files for the chart, I stumbled on an older document from Robert Keeley's pedal mod days, on his mods to the BD-2. I'm happy to post it if anyone wants it.


Yes please! Pm if you don't want to go public.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I don't think Robert would mind. He has left the mod business behind long ago.

**************************************************************************

*Blues Driver Tube Mod*
*Starting in December of 2001 I started to toy around with the Blues Driver. What I liked was the amount of gain that the pedal had and the complication they engineered into a fuzz tone pedal. They worked hard to come up with a complex tone. What could I do? Just little things...but, after a while I found that several of my changes were adding up to a wonderful improvement in the tone! Cool! What I do is change many capacitors and resistors to fine tune the sound. I change the input capacitor to allow more of the natural bass from your guitar through. That helps with the weak bass problem. The value is changed from 0.047uF to 0.1uF, metal film,. I change the the value of capacitor on the Tone control to make it not so thin sounding when turned up. It evens out the response of the control. I change the value from 0.018uF to 0.033uF, then switch in a 0.068uF cap for the Phat switch. I then change 6 electrolytic capacitors capacitors to tantalum for increased smoothness and a little higher quality sound. Tantalum caps are less brittle sounding and a little more linear. Lastly, the old 2nd order harmonic increase trick!!! I change diodes to make the clipped signal a little more asymmetrical. Guitar players love even ordered harmonics. They sound best!
All-in-all the pedal sounds much better than before. There is a definite increase in the sweetness or saturation of the clipped signal. It has more sustain. It is a little less fuzzy or cranky sounding and much more tube-like in tone. Best of all with the ceramic caps changed to silver mica, there is a drop in the background noise level.*
*Changes as of 12/24/02*

Boss BD-2 Blues Driver Mods

This is not all-inclusive in what can be done to the Blues Driver. It is meant to give an idea of where the tone can be improved or changed. All of the changes are subtle but when packaged together offer a nice improvement.

D3 - Change this 1SS133 to a different (1N4002) diode for asymmetrical clipping. This adds second order harmonics. This adds to the tube type sound. I like the sound of this change.

D7 and D10 - Change these diodes from 1SS133 to 1N4002. More second order harmonic distortion. Although the change is slight, I like it. We actually take out one of the two pairs and replace it with a single 1N4001.

C1, C7, C6, C12, C13, and C15 - Change this electrolytic capacitor to a 10uF tantalum. Tantalum capacitors sound better than electrolytic capacitors. I like these anywhere there is signal coupling at this high a value. Tantalum capacitors are easy to find in this range.

C14 - Increase input coupling capacitor value to 0.1uF for increased bass response from your guitar.

C100 - Here is where we can affect the tone control. I prefer a little more lower-midrange and bass frequencies through the tone section. You can increase the lower frequencies by increasing the capacitor value to 0.033uF. Install a switch to add a 0.068uF cap in parallel with this value for the Phat Mode!

All ceramic caps changed to Expensive Silver Mica (Available through Antique Radio Supply or Digi-key). This is what makes our mad sound so good. A noticeable reduction in noise. An increase in the smoothness and no harshness left. This type of upgrade is not found in anyone's mods. The best sound is right here.

Copyright by Robert Keeley

December 2002

Feel free to distribute or copy to your web page and email me any contributions.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

reckless toboggan said:


> This. No contest. Least gain, very smooth.
> 
> You could almost leave this as an always on in its max gain setting, and not really hear that much of a difference.


Personally, I prefer the OD-1, which has the identical clipping stage, but follows it with a fixed treble cut, instead of the variable tone control on the SD-1.


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## reckless toboggan (Mar 9, 2019)

mhammer said:


> Personally, I prefer the OD-1, which has the identical clipping stage, but follows it with a fixed treble cut, instead of the variable tone control on the SD-1.


Yup.

The type and frequency of tonal cut or pass, and the use or not of a variable tone control, is totally dependent on what you want it to sound like through the amp you choose and with the guitar you choose.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

I use this for a very natural transparent overdrive.


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## CathodeRay (Jan 12, 2018)

@ 1:40 BD-2 vs OD-3 compared at lowest gain.


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

CathodeRay said:


> @ 1:40 BD-2 vs OD-3 compared at lowest gain.


that right there is why I dig the OD3. fattens up and bumps the lead line, single note parts when surrounded by a full mix


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

mhammer said:


> This is from the Boss Guitar Effects Guidebook, Vol. 17, 2002. Given the publication date, there may well be other things in their stable that fall a little more to the lower right-hand corner than what is seen here. The SD-1 is shown as a smidgen less "smooth" than the BD-2.
> The gain of both of these pedals can be easily reduced a bit to make them less saturated at milder settings.


I find this chart surprising. throwing 'Super' in front of it made me think along the lines of 'Hyper' so of course I thought it was gonna sound like a metal zone. interesting to see it on the chill side


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

Sd1 or BD2. OD1 would be glorious


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## Doug Gifford (Jun 8, 2019)

reckless toboggan said:


> You could almost leave this as an always on in its max gain setting, and not really hear that much of a difference.


Why would you do that?


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

vadsy said:


> I find this chart surprising. throwing 'Super' in front of it made me think along the lines of 'Hyper' so of course I thought it was gonna sound like a metal zone. interesting to see it on the chill side


Boss pedal names are not always the most descriptive. The SD-1 _can_ provide a somewhat intense tone if dimed, which is why I suppose its oval extends out a bit. Underneath it is a Tube Screamer with a slightly higher clipping threshold, so it is capable of a milder tone as well. That said, however, when set to their mildest settings, I'd rank the BD-2 as softer and smoother of the two.


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## reckless toboggan (Mar 9, 2019)

Doug Gifford said:


> Why would you do that?


Lazyness.


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## CathodeRay (Jan 12, 2018)

vadsy said:


> that right there is why I dig the OD3. fattens up and bumps the lead line, single note parts when surrounded by a full mix


I was thinking I'd prefer the BD2 at low gain, but I gotta agree. I love that OD-3 tone at lower gain; more character and some raspy asymmetry.


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## dradlin (Feb 27, 2010)

OD-3 is an underrated pedal.... Boss’s best and can hold its own in many circles... IMHO of course.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

dradlin said:


> OD-3 is an underrated pedal.... Boss’s best and can hold its own in many circles... IMHO of course.


I looked at your work on Facebook. Wow! You are the real deal. Very nice work.


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## Alex (Feb 11, 2006)

CathodeRay said:


> @ 1:40 BD-2 vs OD-3 compared at lowest gain.


great way to a/b. I only went through the first 5-6 minutes but confirms to me what the pedals were meant for - The BD sounds “better” at boost/low gain levels with a nice sweet top end and the OD3 shines when getting into mid to higher gain levels.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

vadsy said:


> that right there is why I dig the OD3. fattens up and bumps the lead line, single note parts when surrounded by a full mix


I am surprised how similar they sound overall, but I also have never really tried either at really low gain. Cool video. I'd basically just describe the blues driver as 'softer' which could be a desired thing for some people. They both sound nice though.


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## tdotrob (Feb 24, 2019)

This thread is awesome and has me searching the net for an SD-1 and OD- whatever for my board.


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

tdotrob said:


> This thread is awesome and has me searching the net for an SD-1 and OD- whatever for my board.


I'll sell ya mine PM incoming.


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## chuck_zc (Dec 6, 2009)

You can do a simple mod on the SD1 (1 resistor) to bring the gain down to a sparkling clean. Change R5 to a 10k. I tried it. Works really well


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

chuck_zc said:


> You can do a simple mod on the SD1 (1 resistor) to bring the gain down to a sparkling clean. Change R5 to a 10k. I tried it. Works really well


Depends what schematic one is looking at. I'm looking at the Boss service manual diagram. I believe you are referring to the 4k7 ground leg resistor, which is designated/labelled as R6 in that drawing. Yes, making it 10k will change the gain range from a min of 8x and max of 221x to a min of 4x and max of 104x. It also shifts where the low-end roll-off begins from 720hz down to 338hz, for a "fuller" sound, mild enough to use on a baby's bottom.


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## Arcane (Oct 14, 2012)

My vote would be for the OD1 followed by the related SD1.

I have owned and made several OD1s and they always have been my favourite.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

With good reason.


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

OD-3 with little to no drive works pretty well. I use one for a clean boost in my rig. I use a BB-pre for a dirty boost. I have never been able to bond with the BD-2 for whatever reason.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

My vote for the BD-2w. This pedal has been one of the best at responding to pick dynamics. I evaluated this pedal along side Keeleys Phat mod pedal. Although at the time I kept the keeley and sent the BD-2w back that was a mistake and I'll likely get this pedal in the next month. 
I used the SD-1 back in the 80's\90's and it was a favorite at the time. A while ago I picked up an 80's SD-1 from someone fairly cheap but it wasn't as good as I remember it. It was quite noisy.


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