what is the word on the boss ds-1 pedal (unmodded)

[eddiewagner]

hi friends, i have the boss me-70 for home use. and i find a lot of liking in the ds-1 setting of that thing, turns me into a mick-marsish-twanger. would it be a good idea to buy the real pedal for my live-board? it will run into an old pro reverb. the pedal is not so expensive, so it might be worth a try. i read very mixed reviews on harmony central. that means: confusion....

[chisa]

they are cheap pedals and very easy to mod if you don't like the sound so you may as well try it out.

fwiw i think they sound a bit fizzy, but you may be after that sound.

[Ivan]

Great classic pedal for hard rock. Does sound a bit fizzy but that's it's sound.

Don't listen to those people who tell you Boss pedals suck, those are just booteek snobs. Play it and judge for yourself.

[czech-one-2]

good for heavy blues too.......ala gary moore

[eddiewagner]

i just found that folks do this to it: "Find D4 and D5 and remove them(cut them off,or unsolder them if you want to reverse the MOD)This will give it more crunch and tone."
anyone tried that? eddie

[dalandan]

hey, give a listen to the visual sound distortion comparison. it sounds very similar to the roger mayer voodoo1 IMO. but that's the keeley modded DS1. maybe not what you're after. the keeley mods are very simple to do if you're handy with a soldering iron.

the stock one was okay. didn't like it much for anything but a modded one is very good!

[franchelB]

but then I grew up listening to rock music from the '50s all the way to the '90s, and it nails the '80s hard rock sound!

Now that it's been modded, I love the pedal even more because it has more of a '70s "Texas overdrive" sound.

[Brandon mac]

i use one in my practice rig and with a little dialing in of the amp (crappy peavey classic chorus 2x12) and dialing the pedal just right it comes as close to the tone of my marshalls as you could expect from a solid state amp.

[eddiewagner]

hi friends, the pedal just got here and it delivers perfectly. a fat grunting sound that is perfect for my stuff, great for the slideguitar. easy does it.

[badmelonfarmer]

Originally Posted by dalandan

the stock one was okay. didn't like it much for anything but a modded one is very good!

+1

sums up my views on the DS-1

[eddiewagner]

took it to the rehearsal last nite and i will try to get rid of it a.s.a.p. all the good stuff that happens in a home-environment with the pedal is gone under live circumstances. no clarity, no definition, no nothing. just mush under all settings. back to the beautiful sparkle-drive again.

[Tele-Champ]

Originally Posted by eddiewagner

hi friends, i have the boss me-70 for home use. and i find a lot of liking in the ds-1 setting of that thing, turns me into a mick-marsish-twanger. would it be a good idea to buy the real pedal for my live-board? it will run into an old pro reverb. the pedal is not so expensive, so it might be worth a try. i read very mixed reviews on harmony central. that means: confusion....

When I first bought mine, I loved it. Now I can't seem to get a decent sound out of it (Like another poster stated: fizzy sounding).. Don't know what happened there...
I'm thinking about a Marshall Gov'nor now.. Heard one that sounded pretty good...

[badmelonfarmer]

Originally Posted by eddiewagner

took it to the rehearsal last nite and i will try to get rid of it a.s.a.p. all the good stuff that happens in a home-environment with the pedal is gone under live circumstances. no clarity, no definition, no nothing. just mush under all settings. back to the beautiful sparkle-drive again.

I would recommend getting modded as it is fantastic with the keeley mods

makes a big difference, personally I have never liked it stock, but modded it sounds so much better.

Cheers

BMF

[Verne Bunsen]

Originally Posted by eddiewagner

...the pedal just got here and it delivers perfectly. a fat grunting sound that is perfect for my stuff, great for the slideguitar. easy does it.

Wait for it.... wait for it...

Originally Posted by eddiewagner

took it to the rehearsal last nite and i will try to get rid of it a.s.a.p. all the good stuff that happens in a home-environment with the pedal is gone under live circumstances. no clarity, no definition, no nothing. just mush under all settings.

Bingo!

I loved my DS-1 in high school, but as my "sonic pallette" developed, I just couldn't like it any more. As you say, no clarity or definition, I don't find its sound very appealing these days. I've never played a modded one, but I've never heard a bad thing about any of the popular DS-1 mods so I think it would be worth looking in to.

[Ben Harmless]

I love my stock DS-1 in a very specific way.

...With the gain all the way down.

It still leaves you with a decent amount of crunch, but about about 1/4 on the gain knob, and it does begin to lose a lot of definition.

That being said, I don't use it live. In fact, I don't use any pedals live save for my tuner - so why can't I stop buying them?

[TY]

IME, thd DS1 only sounds good into an already dirty amp to drive it over the top. Into a clean/cleanish amp it is very buzzy and artificial sounding.

[czech-one-2]

Originally Posted by TY

IME, thd DS1 only sounds good into an already dirty amp to drive it over the top. Into a clean/cleanish amp it is very buzzy and artificial sounding.

not really, at least not my Made in Japan model.
but like Ben i set the distortion at about 8-9 a.m and the tone is around there too.

[backalleyblues]

I bought one as a backup to my Rat... kinda ehh, didn't really care for it, and as soon as I got my Rat back (an original '86 small box) the DS-1 made it to my pedal pagoda temple... sold it a couple months ago when i dismantled said temple...

Never tried a modded one, I guess I'm one of those guys who either likes something the way it is, or gets rid of it...

Franc Robert

[mattyj]

I used to use my DS-1 when I was a bass player ... I'd stomp on it and strum power chords in the heavier parts of the songs in my grunge band (back in the mid-90's)... I'm not sure if all the low frequencies did any damage to the pedal, but I like mine.

I've recently dug it out again, and in the right settings, I' love it. Gain down low. Tone down low, volume up high. Seems to sound better with my Sheraton than my tele, but when I run my Bad Monkey into it, it fattens the tele up nicely.