Boss OD-3
One of the most versatile drive pedals.
£99 at amazon.co.uk | £105 at thomann.com
Boss released the OD-3 in 1997. By that time they had quite a bit of experience building overdrive pedals. Despite the name, the OD-3 is actually most similar to the Boss Blues Driver BD-2. It is a rather transparent overdrive, which was surprisingly rare back in ‘97.
The layout is pretty standard. You get level, tone, and drive controls. The versatility of this pedal, however, is incredible. If you set the drive to the minimum setting and keep the level and tone in the middle, you get an almost completely unaffected signal. That is a great start as you can safely add the OD-3 to any setup you’re already happy with.
Keep the drive close to 0 and you can use the OD-3 as an excellent boost pedal. Place it in front of an amplifier on the edge of break-up and enjoy a smooth overdrive with lots of sustain. This setup works particularly well to tame the sharpness of single-coil pickups. You can also combine it with another overdrive or distortion pedal to thicken up your tone. The entire range of the tone control is very usable as well. It doesn’t really ever get too muddy or too thin. This alone can justify a spot on your board for the OD-3, but there is more!
The OD-3 can be a great source of overdrive on its own, paired with a clean amplifier. You won’t quite get full-on distortion from it, but it gets pretty heavy. If you mostly play clean, but need a bit of drive for a chorus or some lead parts, the OD-3 will do the job. Furthermore, it will clean up very nicely, as you lower the output volume on your guitar, similar to a cranked valve amp.
You can also use it for gain stacking with other overdrive or distortion pedals. I quite like it in front of a Friedman BE-OD or an already distorted amplifier. This will thicken up your tone quite a bit. Turn up the tone if it gets too muddy. Works particularly well with single-coil pickups.
Bottom Line
There is very little this pedal can’t do. It works great with both single-coil pickups and humbuckers; it sounds great together with other pedals and almost any amplifier. You can use it as a clean boost or a thick overdrive. The fact that it doesn’t really have a signature sound is likely why this pedal is very underrated. Kind of like a compressor, nobody has built a unique tone around the OD-3, which is why the likes of Tube Screamers and KLONs tend to be more recognizable.
The OD-3 might just be the most underrated Boss pedal. At £99, nothing really comes close to the sound quality and versatility of this overdrive. It is also very easy to dial in a great guitar tone with it, as all the knob ranges will sound great! Just keep in mind that it is a very transparent overdrive, so don’t expect it to transform your tone!