Boss’s overdrive pedals have become world-renowned for producing excellent tones at affordable prices.
Not even the purest of pedal snobs will avoid the humble Boss pedal. For 40+ years, Boss’s line of rugged, compact and simple stompboxes have stayed at the forefront of contemporary music, with some of their pedals even inspiring entirely new genres and styles of playing.
| Features: | Boss OD-3 | Boss OD-2 |
|---|---|---|
| Price: | £95 | £91 |
| Weight: | 15oz | 13oz |
| Versatility: | Good | Good |
Boss OD-3
Not all good overdrives need flashy names, according to Boss. The Boss OD-3 Overdrive pedal is a simple guitar effects pedal that gives a meaty overdrive effect at an agreeable price.
The forefather of the OD-3, the OD-1, could possibly be the first mass-produced overdrive guitar pedal ever. At least it was the first to have “overdrive” as its title, rather than “fuzz” as a lot of overdrives in the ‘70s were named. After the success of the OD-1, a few different editions followed, seeing even more popularity.
In ‘97, the OD-3 was introduced and has since remained the same, which shows just how well thought of the pedal is by guitarists.
Tone
The Boss OD-3 overdrive pedal produces a smooth, warm saturation without any excess harshness, even when it’s maxed out. The pedal keeps a dynamic and transparent tone as well.
Whether you prefer to play the blues, hard rock, or pop will matter very little. The Boss OD-3 overdrive pedal offers the kind of saturation that works in any setting, especially for lead guitars.
With a good pickup and tube amplifier, you can even get some mean metal tones out of it. When it comes to pickups, higher settings call for humbuckers, since single-coils get buzzy.
Performance
Compared to Boss’s BD-2 pedal, the OD-3 gives better clarity and overall higher quality of sound. The pedal doesn’t have the gutted low end that Tube Screamers and their copycats produce.
Boss BD-2
Since the creation of the BD-2 pedal in ‘95, it has been a staple for blues guitarists all over the world.
It’s a great solution to getting Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Clapton tones in a stomp box.
Although the BD-2 has earned plenty of critical acclaim over the years, it seems to be talked about less and less by guitarists today.
Boss’s BD-2 is the standard choice for blues players who want to achieve a modern or classic blues tone. Getting crunchy and loud tones is also possible if you want to emulate the vintage tube amp sound.
Design
The build quality of the BD-2 is great, with its enclosure being magnificently simple & effective design, and the controls are well labelled & easy to read.
Performance
Boss’s BD-2 pedal gives advertised organic and transparent drive. The BD-2 is a quite versatile pedal and is used to manage onstage volume, to drive the end of a tube amplifier, or a distortion pedal on its right, along with a variety of low-to-moderate distortion sound.
Sound
Turning the gain and volume at around ten o’clock and tone at twelve gives you the advertised organic, transparent drive. Once you pass twelve o’clock you get to Tube screamer gain levels and get sustaining, sweet but punchy tones along with guitar volume clean-up!
Conclusion
The OD-3 is a no-nonsense overdrive pedal that gives a high-quality, transparent yet thick and hot tone at a reasonable price. If your go to genre is rock or blues, then the OD-3 is an excellent pedal.
Boss’s BD-2 should give you everything you need as an overdrive pedal and more. Enough sustenance for controlled feedback and enough mids to cut through the mix while also having flexibility to clean up with the guitar’s volume. The BD-2 is very versatile because of its fuzz and boost capabilities.