I've sinced changed my mind about the Boss DS-1; it's not a bad distortion, if you've got it loud. I've sinced set mine like Kurt Cobain did his (level: all the way up; tone: set around 11 o'clock, distortion: all the way up), and it sounds pretty good. Only, it's prone to major feedback, but that's what the on/off switch is for.

Example of good DS-1 usage: Nirvana's Bleach album.