NPD Boss SD-1 from 232cap

Thing is beautiful next to my dusty pedals. Can't wait to try it with the wiz.
 

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Great pedal; either newer or vintage they just WORK. And, Art is a great seller to deal with.
Congrats!
yeah. I heard that they asymmetrical clipping vs tubescreamer (what i have liked forever with my amps). Everyone has said sd-1 with marshall is the shit. But i looked down on it cuz it isn't boutique. But I have a "marshally" wizard. So what the hell. As soon as i can get my fret hand numbness to go away, I am going to try this bitch out.
 
yeah. I heard that they asymmetrical clipping vs tubescreamer (what i have liked forever with my amps). Everyone has said sd-1 with marshall is the shit. But i looked down on it cuz it isn't boutique. But I have a "marshally" wizard. So what the hell. As soon as i can get my fret hand numbness to go away, I am going to try this bitch out.


Your hand has gone numb?
 
Your hand has gone numb?
unfortunately. I was doing lowbar squats the other day and it activated a ganglion cyst in my wrist, i think. Old man problems. I have worked with my hands my whole life: Oilfield, electronics, Framer, Plumber. My body is a trainwreck. lol. I was just trying to play some scales and couldn't even get the gmaj to work. I could drive my pinky into the fretboard hard as shit, but i look down and there is no string depressed...I missed the goddamned string. lmao. I am taking a break for now.
 
I played it finally. I was fighting my hand a bit, but overall I have a few thoughts

Negative: the pedal is loud. Like a lot of static introduced into an otherwise quiet amp. When I stomp my Ts808, much quieter.

Positive: I think I can turn the preamp gain up higher with the sd-1 and still retain the tightness that I want on palm mutes. With the gain that high, the powerchords are just beautiful. I feel like I am being surrounded by great sound just blooming around me.

I need to play it more. I will record it for everyone to make up their minds also. I didn't a/b them. but i need to set that up as well to be fair. I just got a little disappointed by the weakness of my ring finger. But all in all. Not completely sold on the pedal. But it does sound great cranked with the preamp gain up that high...It is interesting to say the least.
 
Really -- even the newer ones sound good?
My 86 version is the cats ass...but the MIT stuff is still decent, IMO. It's a different tone but not in a bad way...the 86 seems to have better clarity and is a touch quieter. I've read though, that the most recent version is improved over the older MIT stuff. But I haven't tried one yet. I did have a SD Waza here for a little bit, it seemed to match how my 86 sounded.
Can't go wrong with any version in front of a Marshall, IMO. Sure, there are better pedals out there but the SD1 + a Marshall just works.
 
I played it finally. I was fighting my hand a bit, but overall I have a few thoughts

Negative: the pedal is loud. Like a lot of static introduced into an otherwise quiet amp. When I stomp my Ts808, much quieter.

Positive: I think I can turn the preamp gain up higher with the sd-1 and still retain the tightness that I want on palm mutes. With the gain that high, the powerchords are just beautiful. I feel like I am being surrounded by great sound just blooming around me.

I need to play it more. I will record it for everyone to make up their minds also. I didn't a/b them. but i need to set that up as well to be fair. I just got a little disappointed by the weakness of my ring finger. But all in all. Not completely sold on the pedal. But it does sound great cranked with the preamp gain up that high...It is interesting to say the least.
Buy an MXR Smartgate and stick it in the loop set on the Hiss only setting, problem solved.
 
yeah. i am thinking of using a gate with it. I am going to put my pedalboard together to try some things. It is a cool pedal for sure, and deserves to be tested.
 
What's the position setting on your tone knob? Always wondered how people use these things.

I remember seeing a Gray Moore pedal board review on YouTube and his tone settings were at 8-10 o'clock for his dirt pedals, either a TS-9 or a Boss DS-1-- really dark yet somehow he managed to get tone that cut.
 
What's the position setting on your tone knob? Always wondered how people use these things.

I remember seeing a Gray Moore pedal board review on YouTube and his tone settings were at 8-10 o'clock for his dirt pedals, either a TS-9 or a Boss DS-1-- really dark yet somehow he managed to get tone that cut.
When I got my 72 Tremolo I was double boosting with the SD1 and OD1X, but it was SO bright I turned the tone on the SD all the way down. Still, it was super bright. Eventually I moved the SD off and used a cheap Ultimate Drive which works even better. But Marshalls are so bright that you can still cut with the boost pedal EQ turned totally dark.
 
What's the position setting on your tone knob? Always wondered how people use these things.

I remember seeing a Gray Moore pedal board review on YouTube and his tone settings were at 8-10 o'clock for his dirt pedals, either a TS-9 or a Boss DS-1-- really dark yet somehow he managed to get tone that cut.
on the ts or this i put the tone on 3 oclock. I like bright. and this isn't as bright as my ts, so i turned up the presence and treble on amp also.
 
Hear me out for a minute. This might clear up the lack of brightness.

Get some Q-tips and a few rags and put some rubbing alcohol on them and clean out the jacks and all of your cable ends. This is an often overlooked thing. Pedal and cables can have slight corrosion or metal particles on them which can cause crappy connections. If the Q-tips and rags don't come away dirty, I'd be really surprised.
 
The SD1 should be quite like any other overdrive.
I like the tone knob at 9-10 o clock with an amp, and 11-13 with another amp/cab.
 
Hear me out for a minute. This might clear up the lack of brightness.

Get some Q-tips and a few rags and put some rubbing alcohol on them and clean out the jacks and all of your cable ends. This is an often overlooked thing. Pedal and cables can have slight corrosion or metal particles on them which can cause crappy connections. If the Q-tips and rags don't come away dirty, I'd be really surprised.
This is really helpful, man. Thanks for the tip. I thought you were going to be an asshole and tell me to clean out my ears. Probably should give that a run as well, lol. But i will keep this in mind. This was nowhere near being on my radar.
 
What amp are you running it through? I keep my tone straight up since it’s neutral there. Don’t turn the level all the way up - turn the level all the way up and then back it off very slowly, you’ll find it will come to life between 9-10 (level, not o clock) and as you approach 10 the tone falls apart again and gets darker.

I keep my drive high, around 1pm.
 
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This is really helpful, man. Thanks for the tip. I thought you were going to be an asshole and tell me to clean out my ears. Probably should give that a run as well, lol. But i will keep this in mind. This was nowhere near being on my radar.
🤣

Cleaning jacks and cables is really overlooked. Constant direct metal on metal contact. Spinning cables, push in/, pull out, etc. even if it doesn’t make an audible difference now, it keeps things clean. Granted, I only do it once a month or so. Ain’t nobody got time for that. 🤣
 
What amp are you running it through? I keep my tone straight up since it’s neutral there. Don’t turn the level all the way up - turn the level up and then back it off very slowly, you’ll find it will come to life between 9-10 and as you approach 10 the tone falls apart again and gets darker.

I keep my drive high, around 1pm.
Oh. I turned the drive off. But the amp I have it through is a W800. It is a brother of the hollow piece of wood sounding amp that you played, lol. I tried it with the drive around 11 and it sounded nice, but just the pedal itself is pretty sweet sounding. But yeah. I have a straight 4x12on the floor, so i adjust the eq to what i hear in the room/recording to try to get a good balance of the bright and dark that you hear in the room vs close mic.
 
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