Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive-- Best bang for the buck!

      This is a review for one of the best bang-for-the-buck pedals of all time, from the world's biggest name in stompboxes, Boss.   It's been around since 1981 and has remained the same since, the SD-1 or Super Overdrive.   It can be had for around $50.00 from a huge number of dealers worldwide.
     First of all, despite the low price tag, it's still a Boss.   Which means it comes in a high quality, bulletproof enclosure with an excellent on/off switch.   It's not true bypass, it has the same low-impedance buffer that all Boss pedals share, but that's still okay-- in bypass mode you still get a decent tone that will drive a long line of pedals with minimal signal loss.  
     It has three knobs-- one for level, one for tone, and one for drive.   With all three knobs at noon, it provides a fairly transparent mid-gain overdrive, with just a hint of the unaffected signal mixed with the gain so as to provide a fairly uncompressed sound.   The lows stay almost intact, the mids are slightly boosted, and of course it's brighter than the unaffected tone.   The effect is fairly touch-responsive and note-clarity is good.    With the tone knob at different settings, the pedal can be set for darker or brighter tones, with good results at all settings.   With the tone at noon, this pedal offers an overall tone very close to the baypassed signal, more so than just about any other pedal I've tried personally.   With the drive set low and the level set high, you can get a very usable clean boost sound.   On a setting like this, the pedal is excellent for adding a little bit of oomph to an already overdriven tone.   With higher drive settings you can get grittier tones with more sustain, but even at the highest settings, the pedal is still just a medium gain pedal.   Don't expect metal or high-gain tones out of this thing.
     Another great way to use this pedal is to place it before a higher gain pedal, like a Boss DS-1 or OD-3, or just about any other fuzz/distortion/overdrive, and running both pedals at once.   It can provide a fairly transparent boost to the second pedal and with the right settings on both pedals, the resulting tones can be truly inspiring.   Considering that an SD-1 and a DS-1 together only costs about $100.00, and an SD-1 and an OD-3 is only $130.00, buying two Boss pedals to use together can still cost less than a single pedal by another manufacturer.   The sounds I've gotten running an  SD-1 with the level and drive at noon and the tone at 10-11:00 into an OD-3 with all three knobs at noon are truly great, with the nuances of each pedal contributing to a overall excellent tone when combined.  
     About the only drawback to the pedal is that there's a slight bleed-thru of the overdrive when the pedal is in bypass mode.   It's only noticeable on higher drive settings, but it's still there.     If you're real picky about you clean tones this is a definite drawback.   It can be modified to correct this problem if you like the pedal but hate the bleed-thru, however.
     There are may modifications available for this pedal, anything from true-bypass to symetrical clipping to differences in the tone and gain structure.    Just look it up on the internet and you'll know what I'm writing about. 
     It's an excellent pedal for both clean amp settings and overdriven amp settings and really is great if you want a fairly uncolored, low to medium overdrive.   Although it's grittier than a Tube Screamer, it's got a fairly smooth, tube-like sound, maybe from it's assymetric clipping and many well-known guitarists still choose this pedal over expensive Boutique pedals.   It's probably the best-selling overdrive of all time and has been a favorite since 1981.  Check it out, at only $50.00 you can't go wrong.