Boss OD-3 | The Most Underrated Overdrive Pedal?

Wampler has replicated this specific pedal and created their own versions like the Pinnacle, Sovereign, and more. They have been inspired by this pedal and have crafted their own variations.

OD-3 and BD-2 is a great combo!

Got one from 97,yellow box,best natural full bodied overdrive,big bottom,the way i like it,can do Angus on a whim,amazing with the strat,tf?!!
Purchased new in early 2010's in a store i'never been to,tried it and was told it's been dustying for years,it was written in stone i had to take it.
Curious to get a Malasyia-made to compare.Salute

Why people open their mouth and doing strange things while they playing guitar?

The answer to the thumbnail is 'yes'.

The OD-3 is not a simple diode clipping circuit like the old Boss SD1, Ibanez Tube Screamer or the legendary DOD 250 still used by Yungwie. The OD-3 includes 3 gain stages driven by OP amps in JFET configuration. That's why the Boss OD-3 can do soft clipping overdrive with such rich warm tone and increasing all the way to high gain with natural compression which never loses its fat tone natural picking dynamics which make each note jump out of the speaker, as if solo notes want to run away ahead of your fingers. There is much more refined technology going on inside an OD-3 than in any other Boss drive pedals.

Have some technology force me to throw away my boss ds1 .before this time 2years. Thailand.

great tone, warm, growly and pleasing. but the bd-2 is more dynamic

That is THEY overdrive sound I have always had in my head! I have wasted thousands on boutiques when all along it was a non MIJ Boss.

I've owned well over 250 different Overdrive pedals and have tested a few hundred more. Everything from $50 pedals to $350 boutique pedals. I have yet to try an Overdrive pedal that I like more than my BOSS OD-3 OVERDRIVE. It's just amazing. I don't know what it is but no other Overdrive pedal does it.
By the way, I too have the Fender Blues Junior IV Western with the Eminence Cannabis Rex speaker. But I'm really considering swapping out the speaker for something less bassy and with a bit more presence.
OD-3 fan since day one (yeah, ive been using it since it first hit the market in '97).

Best tone I ever heard was an early 2000s ebony frett board SG faded into an OD-3 into a 1 watt 50th marshall JCM 2000. I want to say it was a KoT into a Dumble or something, but I'd be lying - it was an OD-3.

Is it true bypass? does it color tone when not used? Thanks. Also curios about the Turbo OD2.

I've had this pedal since the late 80's and chose it because it just had the best tone playing through a clean amp.

What about þe MXR Diſtortion +? I’d ſay it is arguably more underrated.

Surely the warmest Boss OD and among the warmer ODs out there

I went into a music store in the late 90s and tried every overdrive box they had in the store. To my ear the OD-3 was the most transparent, and it was the one I bought.

Ive got 2! I have a practice of stomping a pedal off/on in my chain to make it clear to me if that particular ped is vital for the tone: this BOSS OD-3 just adds warmth to the tone! Apparently the FET stages do that job! after OD-3 I have a cheapo Dolamo D-8 for bass: cuz the OD-3 really enhances low middle freqs, not exactly the bass, and the Dolamo has Excuisite bass! a late golden nugget Ive found is the Boss Dyna Drive, which just gives a strat neck pup JAZZ dark definition tone, after the forementioned pedals...

my chain: simble-fenderengagerboost/eq-od3-dolamo8-inca kola-dynadrive-nuxhorseman-bossod1x-ZOOMG2(for eq/reverb).........................

The Boss OD-3 was the first pedal I ever bought. A dozen overdrives later (SD-1, Blues Driver, Soul Food, TS-9 etc), the OD-3 always makes out back on the board. The tone is much warmer than the SD-1 and just feels better on the ears. OD-3 is more bassy and full, like playing a big amp.

BECAUSE it is so underrated I was able to get one a few years ago for a ridiculous price.

I have it. My parents bought it for me when I was just getting started. I thought it sounded like shit. Fast forward 25 years, I dug it out, blew the dust off one day and plugged it in and had a nice Eargasm. It's a lovely pedal.

My mum is always commenting I make those faces while playing guitar. Funny that Jack is making exactly the same.

Thanks for that demo, Jack. I really appreciate it!

I've been wanted to get this pedal for some time now. I have done my research and I think it'll serve me well, just have to pull the trigger! Thanks for the video!

There is a top end compression that has great chime for arpeggios and open string drone runs.

Boss OD-3 is smooth as butter! I just recently discovered this pedal by a friend's recommendation. Beats out all the boutique overdrives that I have tried. Very underrated pedal.

That it works so well from boost to max gain is one it’s most impressive characteristics.

Great demo Jack

Well done and cool playing too.

Oh, it’s good. But I still love the ODR-1

I always say that. Thnks for the video! 🤟🇧🇷

I tried hard to avoid using what everybody else uses. So I got a lot of pedals, including an OD3.

This way it took me decades to find out that nothing comes close to a SD1 into a Marshall...

That being said, when playing into a clean amp using only gain from the pedal: OD3...with a SD1 pushing it 😄

This was the first overdrive pedal I bought--I run it through a Blues Jr III with a Vintage 30--and while I'm always thinking of trying out other pedals i can't find anything wrong with this one to justify spending more on another. It's that good.

That pedal blows about 90% of the overdrive pedals on the market away! Indeed, it is a sleeper! However, i think you need to try the “Octonaut Hyperdrive” by Interstellar Audio! I’ll just say this… mind = BLOWN!

I believe the OD-3 is basically a blues driver pedal but using FET transistors instead of opamps like in the BD-2. Think Orange Solid State Crush amps having been opamp based but converted to JFET based in the latest super crush 100 for more authentic tones. I believe the OD-3 was slated to replace the blues driver as it was the improvement. But since sales were so good for the BD-2, they left it in the lineup.

I absolutely loved my OD-3! In fact I was recording with P90s, into an OD-3, into a blues Jr. and the engineer and producer said "That is the PERFECT overdrive tone!" I told them what I was using and they acted deflated. Awesome and lame in the same moment.

I think instead of generic, you mean the OD-3 is the platonic ideal of an overdrive pedal. And I agree with you, it’s a fantastic pedal. The OD-3 gives me in spades what all the blues breakers, OCD, and Nobels never quite got right, imho.

Boss has always been "boutique" to me.

Hi Jack, love your videos I never miss one of them 😁😁😁

I’m still a bd-2 dude.😎
Thank you for avoiding the clickbait game.

First! (Love your videos btw).