Boss DS-1 mods.. again :)

[T.C. Madison]

i want to mod my ds-1
my friend will do it for me but i dont know what mod to do..
some suggestions?
something versatile?
links, youtubes anything...

thanx

[rangercaster]

what don't you like about it ??? are you modding it just to mod it ??? do you want more/less gain, higher highs, lower lows, more/less mids ??? we need something to work with here !!!

[telechaser]

I did a Monte Allums Rectifier mod on mine. I actually modded it twice, the second being a triple rectifier mod. I modded most of my Boss pedals, why? Because it's fun. I haven't done any for while now. Check the Monte Allums (www.monteallums.com) site. There are other like Keeley, etc..

I heard the MIJ (Made in Japan) is so good no mod is needed. But I haven't heard or tried one.

[SackvilleDan]

I've owned three DS-1s, stock Taiwanese, stock Japanese (black label, black screw) and a Taiwanese Keeley Ultra / SEM DS-1.

Stock DS-1 sounds okay. Not great, terrible for high gain. Nice push for a clean Solid State amp though.

Japanese DS-1 is tonally very similar to the MIT, with a much lower noise floor. Almost no hiss, great in that sense. Still a very buzzy (read: harsh gain) pedal. Can get raunchy (in a good way) if set right.

Keeley DS-1 sounds nothing like an original DS-1. Fantastic pedal. Great mid to high gain pedal! I run this my my Analogman TS9 and Paul Cochrane Tim pedals. It stacks very well also!

See if you can try a modded DS-1 out first, you may not like it, and mods are a pain to undo. Alternately, buy an already modded DS-1 and leave yours stock! There's no such thing as too many dirt boxes! I know, I have... nine.

[leonard d rock]

i've tried almost all the mods found online for the ds-1. however, i think for everything you like in a mod, there's also a corresponding downside. but maybe i didn't really do it right since others rave about the different mods. here's something i tried recently: solder a low value capacitor across the two clippping diodes D4 and D5. the result will still be the same ds-1 sound but a little less harsher, and more smooth drive. you'll have to use a ceramic cap since you have to solder it on the solder side of the pcb, not on the component side. this is actually the same as in the keeley sem-ultra mod but i don't change any other component except add that cap.

ldr.

[czech-one-2]

i love my MIJ ds-1 stock into a very clean amp. its the perfect classic rock or angry blues pedal for me and it loves being goosed by a ts9 or compressor. they are quieter and warmer than the taiwan pedals.there is a MIJ mod out there that aims to bring a stock Taiwan ds-1 to MIJ specs. although the old chip is not available as far as i know.
or find an early MIT ds-1,they are almost identical to the mij for less money.

[AngelStrummer]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that I really like the stock DS-1, despite the critisism (constructive, I dare say...) I'll get. I bought one as a spare for my OD-2 last year and I think that the key is getting the tone knob dialled in right. For your average Tele, between 10 and 11 o'clock works well.

It's not the greatest pedal around, but if you can play, it does the job just fine.

[ibodog]

Think these are the instructions I followed when I did mine last year:

http://www.geocities.com/overdrivesp.../keeleyds1.htm

[T.C. Madison]

thanks for links and all
i just wanted to do something new and cheap :D a change of some kind..
but maybe i ll buy new amp after summer and see how my ds-1 works with it and then decide
thanks again!

[11 Gauge]

Originally Posted by AngelStrummer

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that I really like the stock DS-1, despite the critisism (constructive, I dare say...) I'll get.

The stock DS-1 isn't that bad, and IMO most of the mainstream mods for the pedal go overboard, IMO. Most offer more gain, more of this, more of that, blah blah...

The problem with the LED's for clippers mod IMO is that while you get a huge volume boost, the op amp slams the rails so hard (at saturation) that the thing can sound terrible. JMO.

If we are talking shortcomings to the stock pedal, I categorize them as such:

- not enough midrange

- overly compressed tone and can be hard to get very high above unity gain

- too much nasty stuff in the upper frequencies

The midrange issue is fairly easily fixed. Simply increase C11 (stock value of .022uF), and decrease C12 (stock value of .1uF). Just go in small increments, increasing C11 first.

The compression/limiting can be reduced by giving D4 and D5 just a bit of a nudge. I personally like using the 2 outer pins of an ordinary NPN bipolar transistor (the collector and emmiter) in place of the 1N4148's. And I'll typically push the threshold just a little higher by using Schottky barrier diodes (BAT41, BAT42, etc.) in series with the "transistor diode."

The upper frequency nasties can be tamed by increasing R9 (stock value 22 ohms), but you'll have to increase R6 (stock value 100K) as well. They're both responsible for biasing Q2, which drives the op amp into oblivion (when modded, especially) at higher drive settings, IMO. The popular mod of late on the 'net is R9 upped to 1K and R6 to 150K, IIRC. But bipolar transistors are pretty flexible regarding biasing. Note that by rebiasing Q2 cooler that you'll lose gain as well as the top end splat. This can be counteracted by reducing the compression at D4 and D5 further than described above, but LED's may be going overboard.

I know that the above reads like a novel, but if you break it down, it's very minimal changes. Do them one at a time and stop when it sounds good.

[czech-one-2]

I know that the above reads like a novel, but if you break it down, it's very minimal changes. Do them one at a time and stop when it sounds good.[/quote]

not really 11guage,much appreciated here.
i may try the r6-r9 mod.i like everything else about my ds-1

or would a simple small value cap across the diodes accomplish the same thing?

[leonard d rock]

Originally Posted by czech-one-2

or would a simple small value cap across the diodes accomplish the same thing?

if your referring to the clipping diodes d4 and d5, you can do the following and get good results: keep the stock diodes then a 47pf cap across them will make the sound "creamer or smoother" but still distorted which to my ear sounds like a marshall.
if you change d4 to a LED then add the 47 pf cap across you get a louder, creamier sound which can almost clean up to heavy drive tones, like having a sd-1 and a ds-1 in one pedal. at least to my ears its sounds good.

ldr

[11 Gauge]

Originally Posted by czech-one-2

or would a simple small value cap across the diodes accomplish the same thing?

The problem with the bleeder cap across the diodes is that the "damage is done" already by the time that you get to the clippers.

The first transistor is biased way too hard, IMO. Rebias it cooler and you can leave most of the caps alone. Maybe even all of them.

[czech-one-2]

well i did the r6/r9 mod,as well as trying a 3mm led in place of one of the silicone diodes.
none of which sounded very good in my pedal,pretty drastic change too.
so i guess my mij ds-1 will remain stock,it really sounds perfect as is.

[leonard d rock]

started playing with the ds-1 again and heres what i did:

1. clipping diodes returned to stock

2. 47pf cap across clipping diodes

3. C12 replaced with a 223 cap- what is the value of this?

4. C11 replaced with a 103 cap- again, what is the value of this as i'm not an electronics guy

ldr

[Bhallguitar]

Have any of you heard the Analogman mod for the DS 1? He did such a great job on my TS 9 I'm sure it would rock. Also what about the differences between that and a Keeley modded DS 1 ?