Biyang Max Distortion DS10
- Thread starter HarveyTBirdman
- Start date
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11 Gauge
Doctor of Teleocity
Take a look at the two "vertical canister" caps that are "between" the LED's and the right hand pot.
One of those two will be a 4.7uF cap (C1?), and the other will be a 2.2uF cap (C4?).
The 2.2uF cap ties to a 47 ohm resistor in the Rat, and I think I see it to the left of the canister caps in question.
That means the bottom of the canister caps in question should be 4.7uF (C1?). To the LEFT of it should be a 56K resistor that SHOULD BE A 560 OHM resistor to be 1:1 with a Rat.
Those tiny multi-band metal film resistors are hard to read, but 47 ohm will start out with yellow/purple/ ... / ... and 56K will start out with green/blue/ ... / ...
It looks like the culprit is the lowest of the three resistors to the LEFT of the two vertical canister caps. The two resistors in that part of the circuit are also tied together at one end, and I can see a trace clearly connecting them.
Or perhaps it would be easier to say that the culprit resistor is the lowest of the three TO THE RIGHT OF THE CHIP.
To be clear - THERE IS NO 56K RESISTOR IN A RAT. So by unsoldering one leg of the resistor in question and measuring it, you can VERIFY this with certainty.
Now - 560 ohm resistors are a little unusual at your local corner electronics store (e.g. Radio Shack). A 470 ohm resistor will be fine IMO. The bass will be slightly stronger, but not a deal breaker. Alternatively, you can put a 100 ohm resistor in SERIES with it, and orient them to make an upside down V at their junction.
Radio Shack should have the above sizes in both 1/4-watt and 1/8-watt. IMO, neither metal film nor carbon film is really critical, but get whatever they have in stock.
Also, a 680 ohm resistor can be used with negligible difference.
The resistor in question ties to one of two "high pass filters" (not to be confused with the Rat's filter control), and it's the LOW high pass filter - it allows bass to be mixed in at a lower gain level. With a 56K resistor, the filter will have a gain that might as well be zero. With 560 ohms, it's about 1/12th of the other filter with the 47 ohm/2.2uF combo. So whether it's 470 or 680 ohms isn't so critical - you get a little more or less bass at about the same ratio (1/10th to maybe 1/13th), and it isn't subsonic - it's around 60Hz. The ratio thing is just for illustrative purposes, and isn't really an accurate explanation, but should give a rough idea of what is going on...
Yeap - just what you said, it is labeled R8. It was 56k according to my multimeter. I put two 1k resistors parallel in place of R8. Sound verification - tomorrow afternoon. Too be honest, I didn't like the stock DS-10 at all, sounded like a cheap transistor amp, kinda thin, without any "juice" in the sound.
Long story short - sounds better now
Awesome.
Can somebody check my work,
http://www.diyguitaramp.com/rat.html
correcting from 56k to 560 ohm should make the pedal fatter/more bass, and less gain?
Sun Of Ra
TDPRI Member
I have the ds-10. Didnt think much of it until I was gonna sell it. A friend came over and ran through all the sound options in it and I fell in love with it. He thought nothing of it. Ive learned that with dirt pedals I prefer for someone else to run through all the tonal and dirt options while I just sit and listen to really "hear" and compare.
Cool. I just bought a used DS-10 for next to nothing, thinking I would replace the R8 resistor if I didn't like it stock. But I DID like it without any mods... Still, I decided to see for myself if it could still be improved, so I took the resistor out... and quickly put it back in, 'cause it turned out to be the correct value already! So, probably the people at Biyang noticed and corrected their mistake...
While the pedal was open, I sanded off the graphics though. Looks much better now!
Still, I decided to see for myself if it could still be improved, so I took the resistor out... and quickly put it back in, 'cause it turned out to be the correct value already! So, probably the people at Biyang noticed and corrected their mistake...While the pedal was open, I sanded off the graphics though. Looks much better now!
Just got my DS-10, opened it up, and it came with the correct resistor in R14- fixed at the factory. Incidentally, I had an original LM308N from an old rat pedal, and compared it with the Biyang supplied LM308AN- and they sound exactly the same. (I left the old 308N in place anyway). This pedal allows you to change the IC chip, quite conveniently.
I used to own the big boy but same design, GFS Brownie Classic, but sold years ago, as it was big and heavy ( sounded great, versatile) and needed $$
Am now thinking about getting the little Biyang and revisit this pedal.
Questions please:
- Can I ( when needed) dial in a strong distortion with the Gain knob that is NOT dependent on where the pedal Volune control is set? I just don't want a huge Volume jump when engaging the distortion.
- I'm not expecting it to clean up completely, but does distortion 'back off' a bit, more in an OD direction if I do set Gain knob low, like 1/3 or less ?
Thanks!
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