Real owners lean toward the Boss BD-2 Blues Driver: 64% of 167 owners recommend it, vs 33% of 57 for the Boss DS-1.
Verdicts aggregated from Reddit, enthusiast forums, and YouTube owner comments — affiliate reviews excluded. Sample sizes differ; judge accordingly. How we score
The Boss BD-2 and DS-1 are both cheap, long-serving Boss dirt boxes that owners keep on their boards for years and often name as a first pedal. BD-2 owners lean on its versatility, clean boost through gritty crunch to near-fuzz, and how it cleans up with the guitar's volume knob and stacks with other drives, with complaints centered on thin, shrill highs and a crackle or fizz on the decay at low gain. DS-1 owners prize it for pushing an already-cranked or breaking-up tube amp into something huge and its range from metal leads to single-coil rhythm, but a vocal minority calls its EQ too scooped and bass-cutting, its tone-knob sweet spot narrow, and its sound weak alone into a clean or solid-state amp. A player wanting a dynamic, do-most-things overdrive that responds to touch leans BD-2; one who mainly wants to slam a driven tube amp for an aggressive, cutting lead leans DS-1. The decision hinges on whether you want a versatile overdrive or a distortion built to feed a cranked amp.
“the Blues Driver beat all of them. The most organic drive I've heard in a pedal.”— @jonny1251 on YouTube
“LOVED my bd-2 and ds-1 when i was in high school”— @jonwanrocks on YouTube
“Mehhh. I have the Waza version, and I can hear the same fizziness - which some may like but I don't.”— @RPSartre01 on YouTube
The Boss BD-2 and DS-1 are both cheap, long-serving Boss dirt boxes that owners keep on their boards for years and often name as a first pedal. BD-2 owners lean on its versatility, clean boost through gritty crunch to near-fuzz, and how it cleans up with the guitar's volume knob and stacks with other drives, with complaints centered on thin, shrill highs and a crackle or fizz on the decay at low gain. DS-1 owners prize it for pushing an already-cranked or breaking-up tube amp into something huge and its range from metal leads to single-coil rhythm, but a vocal minority calls its EQ too scooped and bass-cutting, its tone-knob sweet spot narrow, and its sound weak alone into a clean or solid-state amp. A player wanting a dynamic, do-most-things overdrive that responds to touch leans BD-2; one who mainly wants to slam a driven tube amp for an aggressive, cutting lead leans DS-1. The decision hinges on whether you want a versatile overdrive or a distortion built to feed a cranked amp.
Owners point the Boss BD-2 Blues Driver at blues and rock players wanting a versatile always-on drive, and guitarists who clean up with their volume knob.
Owners point the Boss DS-1 at players pushing a cranked or edge-of-breakup tube amp, and guitarists stacking it to boost other pedals.
The most-cited downside of the Boss BD-2 Blues Driver is produces an audible crackle or fizz on the decay when the gain is set low. For the Boss DS-1, it's eQ is criticized as too scooped, cutting bass and sounding thin, nasal, or fizzy rather than full.