ds-1 mods

My ds-1 is a little too tinny for me, what are some good mods to do?

Thanks

anyone?

Deleted

Yes, yes you would.

I've tried a few mods and my favorite is the Monte Allums Recto Mod. It fixes the tinny EQ of the stock pedal, and makes for a very versatile distortion. Still pretty compressed, though.

I prefer it to the Keeley SEM/Ultra mod. I don't like the Ultra's LED clipping, but that's just me. The Keeley is a bit more dynamic and louder, with more chunk, less squish. However, I put a distortion on my board so that it WILL squish, so I prefer the Recto mod. (For chunk, I use an overdrive.)

The Allums mods cost a bit more, because you have to buy the kit from Monte, but they are worth it. You get all the pieces you need (no shopping around for individual components) and good instructions. I don't recommend going for the optioned-up versions with extra toggle switches. I think adding mini-toggles to Boss pedals makes them too fiddly and less reliable. The Recto Mod DS-1 has plenty of usable range (both EQ and distortion) with just the usual three pots.

Here's what I did to mine:

R9 – 100R
R13 – 2.7 K
R17 – 22K
C3 - .027 uF
C7 - 200 pF
C8 – 1 uF
C14 – 10 uF
D5 – 1N4001

Most of these are culled from 11 Gauge's recommendations posted here. The exception is the 4001 diode, which actually lowers the clipping threshold. I left D4 stock and tried several different diodes in D5 - LED's are cool at the lower end of the gain range, but get really splatty when cranked.

If you do everything above except the diode you'll basically have a DS-1 that's still a DS-1 but not so harsh and thin.

Plus - all those components should be available at the Shack.

thanks!

Start with R9-100R and R17-22k. It may be all you need.