Boss SD-1W
A great improvement over an already excellent design.
Boss Waza Craft has been a very welcome addition to the Boss line of pedals and the Super Overdrive SD-1W is no exception. The history of this pedal is also quite interesting. It all started with the Boss OD-1, released back in 1977. It was one of the first pedals to simulate an overdriven amp, rather than being another fuzzbox. Maxon used the circuit as inspiration for the most popular pedal of all time - the Tubescreamer. In 1981, due to popular demand, Boss added a tone control and the SD-1 was born. The pedal has been in production ever since. Fast forward to 2014 and we get the new and improved SD-1W.
The SD-1W is a medium gain overdrive pedal. It is excellent for adding a bit of texture to a clean tone or pushing a slightly overdriven amp into saturated lead tones. It is particularly good at helping the guitar cut through the mix of other instruments. It won’t get you into distortion territory, but it will compliment your other distortion pedals. Placing it after a DS-1, for example, will help you get a tighter, more articulated sound.
The Standard mode is essentially a recreation of the original SD-1. You still benefit from an improved buffer, lower noise floor and higher quality components, however. Placing the SD-1 and SD-1W side by side, I can barely hear any difference. If you pair it with a distortion pedal, the lower noise floor is noticeable, but I can’t say I have ever had any issues with the original either. Nor has the Edge, Jack White, Kirk Hammett and an endless list of other famous guitarists.
The Custom mode is cool and I actually prefer it (slightly!) to the standard mode. You get a bit more gain, although still not enough to bring a clean amp to distortion. There is more bottom end and a little bit of compression and sustain.
Boss pedals at any price point are built extremely well and the SD-1W is no exception. It will happily withstand gig after gig for years to come.
Bottom Line
At £120 it stacks up well against similarly priced pedals. I would take the Boss SD-1W over an Ibanez TS-9 any day, although the Tubescreamer is also an excellent value pedal. Given that Waza Craft is supposed to be a “no expense spared” range, the SD-1W is priced very well. The only issue is that it costs more than double of the standard model. You could buy both the Super Overdrive and the DS1 Distortion and still have some money left over. Moreover, if you were not a fan of the original, it is unlikely you will enjoy the Waza Craft version. However, if you were already a fan, but just want a little bit more from your SD-1, the SD-1W is an excellent choice!