Boss DS2

[Stephen_42]

TL:DR - I've just ordered a DS2. Good idea? Waste of money (well Amazon vouchers)? Something in between?

I decided I needed a distortion pedal. Or an overdrive. Couldn't really decide which - I only really play at home and I've only just started dabbling with effects, so working out what I wanted was half the battle. I didn't want to spend a lot (~£50 budget) and a DS1 or DS2 seemed the most generic thing to go for, so a sensible first dip / benchmark. For sake of £2 difference, I went for the DS2.

I know people have strong opinions both ways on them, so I'm interested to hear what people here think? It'll be going into a 12W practice amp. Retrospectively, it might have made more sense to post this before pulling the trigger but never mind - it will at least make lockdown 2.0 more fun!

[Shadoweclipse13]

I've never played a DS-1 or a DS-2, so I can't say for those specifically, but I've always felt that playing gear that's cheap, that you might have low expectations of, or just straight believe you won't like, is fun because there's nothing holding you back. You aren't trying to find good sounds or hoping that you'll like it, you just play. I've ended up liking unexpected gear once or twice that way.

[HNB]

I like the 1 and 2. Pedals don't have to be super expensive to be good. There are many artists who like to use boss because if you have one break on tour, you can easily grab a replacement at a local store. Loads of boss pedals are good.

[Ceylon]

I used to have a DS2 when I was getting started playing and I liked it just fine. It didn't have lots of character but it bridges the gap between Muff-esque fuzz and distortion pretty well, and at the time I was all about grunge and alt-rock so that suited me fine. I wouldn't mind having one now either.

[soggy mittens]

ds-1 and ds-2 are the most vanilla sounding distortions I've ever heard beyond the cheap crap copy pedals, but they have their place. Lot of great music has been made with them.

[Stephen_42]

Vanilla is exactly what I'm going for to start with - "why make 100 flavours if you can't get vanilla right?" being my logic. Plenty of time to experiment with other things in future.

Sounds like I've made a sensible choice - looking forward to it arriving!

[Nick and the Noise]

I think it's a great first distortion pedal (mine was a Big Muff with Tone Wicker). I think I would like a DS2 more than a DS1 - it's sounds ever so slightly fuzzier, although the DS-1 is "the classic". The turbo mode on the DS2 sounds a bit too middy I think, I don't know if it's usable.

[budda12ax7]

Sounds good, but you just need to mess with it and add it gently to your amp...

[andy_tchp]

Never understood the bad rap the DS-1 gets/got.

Yes it only really does that one thing, but if you can't coax good sounds out of it...it's probably not the pedal's fault.

I really like the compression/sustain they provide.

[HNB]

There is something to be said about being able to make awesome music with simple inexpensive gear. Like said above, plenty of great music recorded with a ds or a plain muff.

[Acidhouse]

I have an old beat up DS-1. I like what I can get out of it. It’s not an expensive or boutique pedal but it was one of the main contributing pedals for the album Nevermind.

[Pacafeliz]

TEH KURDTZ

But yeah, in fact, I love both the 1 and 2 models.

[s_mcsleazy]

I'm actually a big fan of ds1/ds2/os2 pedals. Especially the os2. They always sound super cheap but in a good way. Except the os2. That's honestly a secret weapon for me. It's a ds1 and a od2 in one pedal with a blend knob. It kinda smooths out the harshness of the ds1 and can sound super heavy

[Jan Deal]

I owned a DS-1, but I could never get a tone I liked out of it. No amount of tweaking could get it past sounding okay. I'm not one to knock BOSS pedals though, they usually do what they are supposed to do and are pretty bullet proof.

[loveinathens]

I quite like the DS2 on both guitar and bass. My current bass rig is an HM2 running into a Boss DS2, and it's a pretty stupid sound.