Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive Pedal

Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive Pedal Overview

The SD-1 Super Overdrive is a classic Boss Pedal that’s remained unchanged since its original release back in ’81 and has dominated the market ever since.

The SD-1 is perfect for beginner guitarists looking for their first pedal, intermediate guitar players wanting to push their playing further and advanced players who wanted legendary tone.

In a nutshell, the SD-1 pushes your guitar amp beyond its comfort zone, adding more crunch, enhanced dynamics, increased sustain and more warmth. You can use it as a smooth/responsive sounding overdrive or as a boost. The SD-1 is known for its extremely transparent sound, which perfectly maintains your guitar’s natural tone and its positive interaction with your amp.

Boss are legends in the pedal world, even introducing the very term “overdrive” in 1977 with their very first compact pedal, the OD-1. The SD-1 is an evolution of the OD-1, taking the exact same asymmetrical clipping circuit and adding a tone control. The very core of the SD-1 is already been passed down to multiple generations of guitar players, spanning a wide variety of genres. Everything from Rock, Pop, Jazz, Funk or even Skiffle has used an SD-1.

The SD-1 has been a mainstay in the pedal market for over 40 years, largely down to its simplicity and versatility. As well as using the SD-1 as an Overdrive, its transparent tone perfect translate to use as a Booster.

When plugged into an SD-1, try pushing the level knob to the max, whilst keep the gain on zero. Place the SD-1 at either the beginning of your pedalboard’s signal chain or directly into your amps input to push the envelope of your frontend tone. Alternatively, you can plug the SD-1 into your Effects Loop, which acts perfectly as a solo boost for lead playing. Use the tone knob to find the sweet spot of your desired guitar tone and tune it to the environment you are in. You can then use the gain knob to subtly add a little more “break-up” and sustain - this is a hidden secret of the SD-1!

The SD-1 has been such an important pedal for guitar players that Boss has released a few variations of this timeless classic.

The Boss SD-1 is the standard Super Overdrive that’s been in production for over 40 years, seen on countless pedalboards across the globe and is the same as it was when released in 1981. The SD-1-4A is a celebratory limited release to mark 40 years of this iconic pedal - also, it’s black and has a chrome battery dial! The SD-1W is a boutique version of the SD-1, rebuilt from the ground up by the same engineers. It has premium components, a selectable custom circuit with a more modern voicing and is made in Japan.

Whichever SD-1 variant you choose, an incredible guitar tone is guaranteed.