Boss DS-2 Turbo Distortion Pedal Reviews

For the price you can't go wrong with this one.

This pedal is an absolute beast. If you're a fan of Kurt Cobain from Nirvana or John Frusciante from RHCP, then this pedal is a no brainer. IMO, this is way more versatile than the DS-1 and to my ears sounds better. Mode 1 is similar to the DS-1 where the mids are scooped and Mode 2 is great for leads where it adds mids. Mode 1 is Kurt Cobain and Mode 2 is John Frusciante as said by the Youtuber Dave Simpson. Great for rock, grunge, and even metal. The pedal does get quite noisy when you turn it on so keep that in mind. I roll down my volume knob or turn it off when the pedal is not in use. OVerall, this pedal is classic. If you're thinking about pulling the trigger, don't hesitate bc it'll be worth it.

1 - in standard mode, not turbo mode, this pedal is instantaneous "More than a Feeling" and others from that album.
2 - again in standard mode not turbo, this is an excellent sound for many Industrial riffs, specifically for example all of Gary Numan's later catalog - from "Exile" and on, so not necessarily the brasher sounds of Ministry.

I analogize distortion tones to sawblade teeth; the Revv G3, Boss DS1, are in the brasher area as the larger more chaotic teeth of a woodsaw; this DS2 is the epitome of smooth, think of the tiny teeth of a hacksaw sawing a metal pipe.
I use a DS2 for Gary Numan, I'd use a DS1 for Nirvana or Greenday.

lastly: it looks exactly like a shortbus. having ridden in one for years i am instantly at home.

I am very pleased with this pedal! It has plenty of sustain and some sweet harmonics! Also love the folks at Sweet Water!

This pedal sounds so nasty. Like there isn't a better way to describe than just downright nasty. The ability to have a range of distortion sounds, sharp and loud vs dull and deep, is amazing. Some of the sounds I've been able to get so far are so mesmerizing, I could use this thing for hours.
I've been able to get some Zeppelin sounds, RHCP, Nirvana, Wolfmother, and even a little bit of bluesy tone. This things sound cuts through the air and I really noticed a huge difference between the pedal's distortion and my amp's distortion setting. Pedal is way better.

Did research on this particular pedal before I bought it so I already knew I would enjoy it. Sales Engineer(Mr. Hoffman) processed my order super fast, arrived within 2 days! Packaged professionally by Sweetwater team. Excellent customer service and expectations were across met! Satisfied customer and overall thrilled with the product

Versatile pedal that goes well with any pedalboard.

Looooove this pedal!! Did my homework, read reviews and considered all options. BOSS is the boss. And you cannot go wrong with my new BFF, SWEETWATER.com.

I was looking for a great distortion pedal and I finally found it! This pedal is great for blues, grunge, rock, hard-rock and can even dip into metal. I love the Turbo I & II setting. The Turbo I setting is a lot like a DS-1, but the Turbo II pushes up the mids and makes the distortion more gritty which is great for punk and alternative music.

Hands-down this is my favorite distortion pedal on the marked. Get yours at Sweatwater today!!!

This pedal is just freakin awesome. I got it a few weeks ago and i've been getting really good Red Hot Chili Peppers sounds out of it. One thing i gotta say is BUY THE ADAPTER. It really eats through batteries quick. I've already gone through 4 and I've only had it 3 weeks

this pedal has a pretty wide variety of uses for different genres of music

This is the best pedal for playing rock music. Anyone who plays guitar should have one of these. I am able to produce virtually any kind of distortion with this pedal. Many famous guitarists use this pedal on their pedalboard. Joe Walsh, John Frusciante, and many others rely on this pedal for their main distortion.

However, I would not recommend just this pedal for death metal. If you wanted to play death metal with this, I would suggest a Boss Super Overdrive pedal to put in front of this. The Super OD is available here on Sweetwater.

I use this pedal to play pretty much anything. If you are questioning yourself about buying this pedal, go ahead and buy it. You will not be sorry.

This was my first ever pedal. I was gifted my uncle's old 1993 DS-2 about 8 years ago. I have used it since then (I have used so much, and it is so old, that the switch doesn't work anymore and I haven't gotten around to change it). It sounds great! It is rather versatile, you can really get a lot of sounds from this.

The cool thing of the DS-2 is having two flavors of distortion on one pedal. I prefer setting I rather than II, because I feel that it is better for gain stacking with other pedals. The truth is that both sound great and can be used in different scenarios. It is super versatile! You can use it as a slightly dirty boost, a fuzz, a distortion, or an overdrive. What I really like to do is set the DS-2 for a low gain sound, and then hit it with an overdrive or a fuzz. It gets big and agressive!

The only reason that I'm giving this 4 stars instead of 5 is that it doesn't quite get the tone in my head. But that is completely based on my own preferences. Although, it does nail the 90s rock sound!

You can't really go wrong with this pedal for the price!

I wanted to like this pedal, I really did. Then I got it. This is a great distortion pedal,... If you like buzz. It should be renamed the buzz factory. Can I tolerate it for practicing? Yes,... And surprisingly it sounds good with my bass- but I would not gig out with this thing (on guitar). Pinch harmonics do NOT come out, even with the turbo setting. It's far too fuzzy. Three stars because it sounds OK/is easy to use/can be useful for practice and bass guitars. Sweetwater was great to deal with too so that's always a plus.