Ah, the OS-2 - I think a lot of people turn the 'color' knob full on one way or the other, and then complain that the overdrive isn't as good as their favourite overdrive, the distortion isn't as good as their favourite distortion, so therefore it's a worthless thing that doesn't do either of the two things it does particularly well... ...Those people are totally missing the point, because the combined blend of mid focused soft clipping overdrive and scooped, razor sharp distortion is actually a very effective combination that gives incredible definition and note separation in an otherwise quite heavily saturated guitar tone - and it's also the most practical and cost effective way to do this job, by far... and it does it well because it compromises on the individual overdrive and distortion sounds in order to make them compliment each other a lot better when they are mixed together. which is why the overdrive is VERY midrange focused, and the distortion is VERY scooped and buzzsaw-like... Try running your favourite overdrive, and your favourite distortion, in parallel - go on. what's that? It's not easy to rig up? you need to buy some more gear in order to do it, the parallel splitter unit alone costs more than the OS-2?... Are you starting to see my point?
This is a very overlooked underappreciated pedal. I think Boss gets a totally raw deal most of the time. They only made perhaps the very best chorus ever.
almost sold good pedals again but not! Behringer OD300 has the samish features of this Boss with a slightly darker approach ( I use it for jazzy bluesy touch, goes well with others...) for 20€s! plastic, but so is my pick...I never realized they are so close and its easier to fin d reviews on the Boss one...Boost for Birdsburg!!! ((and Georg Malmsteen off course...!)) K : )
It's a great pedal! It depends on how you dial/mix and listen. You can simulate any preamp sound; a versatile pedal capable to play any genre. I used and been using it for years! After all, the bottom line is your playing anyway.
... once again you confirmed me that we have the same tastes speaking of guitar pedals - as in case with the Strymon Sunset - yesterday I bought the OS-2 , since last year I realized what a great pedal is - yes, the overdrive setting at 9 o'clock is the the greatest for a lot of cases, also for Yngwie ' s tone! ... Blessed be, my friend !
Elmo you are awesome! Love the humor and the review. I'm searching for the perfect distortion pedal. I own the OS-2 and am not sure it is what I really need. The search continues.
For an overdrive/ distortion pedal,this is a killer"stand alone" type of pedal. Yes, I know that there are better,but there are worse just the same. Good demo video. Great playing,,,lets you hear the high and low string tones.
This pedal is versatile depending on how you dial the knobs. It can emulate any distortion and overdrive pedals...or any amp types. The color knob is the key. You can make it sound like a booster, fuzz, crunch...and bluesy overdrive. Rectifier tone for metal?...yes! (w/ the color knob @ 3:00. The amp you use also matters with the overall sound. Great demo by the way. Thanks!
I am a bit late, but I like to recommend you the Catalinbread Katzenkönig. It's similar to the OS-2 in combining two pedals, a Tonebender style Fuzz and a Rat style Distortion. Got me hooked, but I wil also try the OS-2 soon. I want to know if it can be a booster like the SD-1, too, your otherwise very profound demo unfortunately doesn't say much about this or I missed out on that.. Then I might put it on my board for more versatility. By now there is an OD-3, DS-1 and the aforementioned Katzenkönig that are putting more dirt to my AD30 dialed in at the edge of break up.
LOL, I am listening to your videos on the same Yamaha Mini amp you have bro! I have that, the C, and the gigbag and will add the X soon as I love those little amps!
While watching your videos you kept reminding of someone but I just could not figure out who. I got it now. Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. Talk about an entertainer.
Can you have too much of a good thing ? As far as combined overdrive and distortion is concerned the answer is definitely yes. As far as Elmo is concerned definitely no ! More is more with Elmo :-) .
Elmo, your Stratocaster sounds so heavy. When I try to play heavy through my strat it’s very noisy. It does Hendrix and Stevie Ray awesome but I have to switch to the Les Paul to do heavy stuff like you’re doing.
I never......eVer........ tire of these videos the play is pure crazy great sooOpoo gracious just love it the emulsion sound of that heady bubbling riff mmmm beauty/shared facebk& google post
Electric Guitar And thats the way it should be because no distortion/overdrive pedal sounds good with a Fender type clean sound.So first you make sure that you dial in the amp so it sounds good with no distortion/overdrive on and thats usually with a little bit of a crunch.So what Elmo is doing is actually more relevant then any other demos ive seen with this pedal.
