Boss sd-1 or mxr zw od ?

[Geiri]

Ok dudes,

I need some help with this one. What I want to do is to dirty up channel two on my mk IV and with the same settings on the od push the lead channel into a little more liquid territory.

Which one is the better for the job ?

I used to have a zw od to liquify the fluid gain on my stilletto and it was great for that but I have never tried the boss.

Please help

Thanks

Geiri

 

[screamingdaisy]

The GT-OD is a modded ZW-OD. It has more gain and bass on tap, but with the gain on zero it's a nice boost that has less low end cut than the stock ZW-OD.

As a bonus, it has a jumper switch hidden inside it that takes it back to the stock ZW-OD sound.... which is much thinner and brighter by comparison.

 

[Geiri]

Thank you daisy

bright and thin is not what I had in mind. I did not know that the gt was this cool. I'll be cheking that one out.

 

[Geiri]

Daisy

you just made me buy the **** thing :lol:

I had never given this box a second glance but after scorching the net I bought one.

Thanks for the tip.

Geiri

 

[droptrd]

The ZW is more trans parent than the SD1. The one I had was very noisey too. Its not a bad OD but I personally like my SD-1 better. I modded the hell out of it though. Stock, I bet they are close. Im willing to bet the ZW is based on the SD1 since thats what he used back in the day. Ive never compared circuits though.

This probably doesnt help much.

 

[Luison]

I always had a SD-1 since the 80's and I like the sound it's very clear and highlighted the midrange, recently bought another SD-1 but I hear some differences in the sound agains the 80's SD-1 but still both sound good!!! Another good recomendation it's the Ibanez Tubescreamer or the MXR Distrotion III

Mesa Boogie Single Rectifier Series II
Egnater 2x12 Cab Celestion Elite 80
PRS

 

[Chris McKinley]

Friends don't let friends play unmodded stock OD's. Just sayin'.

 

[94Tremoverb]

Friends don't let friends play unmodded stock OD's. Just sayin'.

?

What is it with this mod thing? Some sort of snobbery about not playing a "mass produced" pedal?

Plenty of stock pedals sound *great*, and thousands of classic recordings were made with them. (Same with stock amps, and stock guitars.)

 

[droptrd]

Whats wrong with wanting modified pedals?

 

[fishyfishfish]

Nothing really wrong with modding pedals or wanting them. My friend does nothing but mod pedals, amps, washing machines, just about everything that has a power cord he will mod to get what he seems to be the "Best" out of it or improve it.
What I found is that 9 times out of 10 only HE can hear the difference, so I just politely smile and agree.
That being said I like the SD over the MXR

 

[edmiller9999]

The SD-1 is a great pedal for my tastes (although I prefer the Mesa lead channel these days.) I'm sure there are other OD's that sound slightly better but, I guarantee you, they do not cost thirty-nine bucks! I let my rhythm guitarist borrow mine and I can't seem to get it back.

 

[Chris McKinley]

There are two reasons for modding pedals that quickly come to mind:

1) It can be done cheaply. I can take a $39 SD-1 and with about $12 worth of parts, make it sound as good or better than any boutique OD available at any price. Just saved myself about $1-200 right there.

2) Far more importantly than the price, I don't have to settle for what some corporation decides my mass-produced tone is going to be. I can make it be what I want.

Sure, most of the classic rock songs were recorded through stock Marshall and Fender amps, but if Randall Smith had just accepted what was mass produced instead of tinkering with it to find the sound he likes, we wouldn't have Mesa amps, the Mark's or the Rectifiers that changed Marshall's dominance of recorded rock music over the last 20 years.

 

[droptrd]

The thing about modding is all it does is enhance the pedal. Its very difficult to make say an SD-1 into something else. Its still going to sound like an SD-1

 

[Chris McKinley]

That's overstating it a bit IMO, droptrd. It may be difficult, relatively speaking, but it's just a collection of electronics. It's really not all that hard to change an SD-1 (or any other pedal) so that it sounds nothing like the original pedal. It all depends on how much modification you wish to make. In fact, the SD-1 in particular is known for its ease of modification and is often used as a jumping off platform for lots of wildly different mods.

The best mods, however, do follow your description in that they start with as close to the sound you want as you can find, then make the least invasive tweaks necessary to get exactly what you want.

 

[94Tremoverb]

The thing about modding is all it does is enhance the pedal. Its very difficult to make say an SD-1 into something else. Its still going to sound like an SD-1

Not true. You can make an SD-1 into a Tube Screamer quite easily - TS-808 or TS-9, depending on which exactly components you fit. (One of the big commercial modders offers this as a ready-made conversion, I can't remember which one, maybe Keeley.) OK, this just proves how similar these two pedals really are, but it certainly means you can make the SD-1 into something else. In fact, most of the "Tube Screamer family" overdrives are nearly identical in overall layout, with only component value differences, so it should be possible to build any of them, or new variations, on an SD-1 board. That isn't to say they all sound the same - those component differences can make a big difference to the tone.

I 100% agree with Chris McKinley about what you can do with an SD-1, but what I don't quite get is this thing that you read everywhere that *only* modded pedals are worth having. Just because they can sound good (different) modded doesn't mean the stock version is no good. By all means try the Keeley, Analogman or whatever modded pedals, or mod your own, but why not start with the stock version? They're much cheaper, and they're just fine as they are. If you then find things you don't like about them, change them. My stock SD-1 sounds perfect to me, at the moment. If that wears off I'll maybe think about modding it.

 

[Chris McKinley]

RE: "Just because they can sound good (different) modded doesn't mean the stock version is no good.". You're right, it doesn't. When I say such things, it's at least partially capricious. The reason I do is that modding is something I encourage everyone to at least try, since without it, your only option is whatever the manufacturer hands you. Plus, to most of us, the modded versions sound sooo much better that it's not even close. It's rare that a corporation just happens to stumble on exactly the custom-tailored tone that a given player is dreaming of, but it it's happened, count yourself lucky. You've saved yourself time, effort and lots of cash.

 

[droptrd]

The thing about modding is all it does is enhance the pedal. Its very difficult to make say an SD-1 into something else. Its still going to sound like an SD-1

Not true. You can make an SD-1 into a Tube Screamer quite easily - TS-808 or TS-9, depending on which exactly components you fit.

Well, thats not that much of a stretch. The SD-1 isnt very far from a TS to begin with

 

[THTH]

The thing about modding is all it does is enhance the pedal. Its very difficult to make say an SD-1 into something else. Its still going to sound like an SD-1

Please don't mod an original MIJ SD-1 or tube screamer. The value of the pedal will NOT be enhanced. Choose current manufacture if you want one with mods. I really get bummed when I see old quality pedals or amps that have been surgically destroyed.

 

[droptrd]

The thing about modding is all it does is enhance the pedal. Its very difficult to make say an SD-1 into something else. Its still going to sound like an SD-1

Please don't mod an original MIJ SD-1 or tube screamer. The value of the pedal will NOT be enhanced. Choose current manufacture if you want one with mods. I really get bummed when I see old quality pedals or amps that have been surgically destroyed.

This is true.

 

[94Tremoverb]

Just a word of warning about the modern MXR pedals, which I forgot earlier - I've come across more than a few with failures of the PCB surface-mounted components, that are unrepairable for your average tech (including me). The Boss SD-1 still uses traditional PCB construction with 'stand up' components, and is easily both mod-able and repairable. That would be more than enough to swing it for me.

But as droptrd said, please don't hack up an old MIJ one. There are more than enough new ones to go around, and they're cheaper anyway.