Boss DS1 Red LEDs in D4 and D5

[donahue]

Hey guys, A long time ago, a friend of mine was into modding pedals, and said he'd mod my DS1 for me for free. He assured that I would like the end result. Its a $25 pedal so I said "what the heck, why not." So without questioning the exact mod he did, I agreed.

Anyway, I didn't really know what he did to it, and out of curiosity I cracked it open today to see. He replaced D4 and D5 with two red LEDs. I did some research to see what that does and didn't really come up with anything except, its a sort of "loud" mod?

This may seem like a stupid question coming from someone who has owned said modded pedal for a while, but what does that mod do exactly?

I like the way the pedal sounds since the mod, but its been so long since I played it stock, I forgot what it used to sound like, if that makes any sense?

[Chickenwings]

Re: Boss DS1 Red LEDs in D4 and D5

pretty common thing to do actually. LEDs have more headroom before clip than the regular diodes and they tend to clip a lot more smoothy, so yove probably noticed more volume output and lezz cut and buzz. Leds seem to sound more tube like to my ears than the stock diodes. I have tried leds in all sorts of overdrive/distortion pedals and i even replaced the clipping diodes in my musicman amp to give it more smoothness and headroom.
I like Leds in combination with stock diodes, because the whole point of a ds1 is to get hard clipping, but you can do all sorts of other mods to the tone section to get more mids, more gain or whatever. Its all fun and easy to do and it all reversible if you dont like what you find. I reckon the ds1 is cool with 2 leds, but really becomes a whole new pedal - if you dig it then great!
A lot of people use just one LED in the ds1, or sometimes they will use one led on one side and two other assorted diodes on the other. I put leds in a tubescreamer a long while back, and while they dont really start clipping until the gain is really high, they did trabsform the ts into a killer boost pedal because it kept the basic tone structure of the ts with a lot more output and smoothness.
Plenty of free info in the net about various things you can do to a ds1.

[super rad stuff]

Re: Boss DS1 Red LEDs in D4 and D5

i forget exactly what i did to mine regarding d4 and d5, but in one spot i've got two diodes in series instead of the original stock single diode, and in the other spot i've got a diode in series with a small red LED. that, along with the other mods i did to mine, turned the pedal into something completely different from what it used to be. it sounds great though.

[donahue]

Re: Boss DS1 Red LEDs in D4 and D5

LEDs have more headroom before clip than the regular diodes and they tend to clip a lot more smoothy, so yove probably noticed more volume output and lezz cut and buzz.

Thanks guys, very informative. Yes gibson175, thats exactly the difference it seems to had made. A lot louder and smoother. I havn't really used it much lately, but I'll more than likely keep it how it is, cause its a bit more of a beast since the mod.

Also, if I ever sell it, I can now describe what was done to it, and better describe the tonal difference it has. Thanks again!

[pinto79]

Re: Boss DS1 Red LEDs in D4 and D5

ratherdashing replaced the same diodes in one of my DS-1s with White LEDs and it's a screaming monster now. He changed a few other things too, but I don't remember what exactly.

Enjoy your pedal!

[super rad stuff]

Re: Boss DS1 Red LEDs in D4 and D5

http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2008/Feb/Boss_DS_1_Mods.aspx

http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2008/Feb/Boss_DS_1_Mods.aspx?Page=2

i did the jcm-style mods listed here, along with the LED and changing c-1 to a slightly higher value cap(couldn't tell you what value though). sounds good too:3

[Mr 9finger]

Re: Boss DS1 Red LEDs in D4 and D5

I've never gotten along with the DS-1, but then again, I've never tried a modded one either. I may have to give one a try again and see how it pairs up with the amps I have now.

[James Rock]

Re: Boss DS1 Red LEDs in D4 and D5

I've never gotten along with the DS-1, but then again, I've never tried a modded one either. I may have to give one a try again and see how it pairs up with the amps I have now.

The modded one can sound quite different while alot of the clipping character is retained in some mods the tone is usually quite different not as nice as some marshall designed pedals but modded ds-1s can get good stack in a box tones

[denzeten]

Re: Boss DS1 Red LEDs in D4 and D5

The only thing I wanna do with my DS1 is add more volume. What should I do?

[Pierre]

Re: Boss DS1 Red LEDs in D4 and D5

I used to replace one with a LED, and the other by a Germanium diode. It really made the pedal much, much more responsive to the volume knob. I've modded a lot of unrelated ODs and Distortions to the same config (including a Carl Martin Hot Drive and Boost I opened up).

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Boss DS1 Red LEDs in D4 and D5

When I was modding DS1s the question sometimes was symetrical or asymetrical clipping? I used to go with something like an IN4002 and something different like a silicon diode(From memory)...Same goes for the Tube Screamers,SD1,etc...By tweaking the diodes,it not only changes gain,but also the overall feel and the way the pedal reacts while overdriving..In some pedals I just didn't care for LEDs,but in something like say a Crunch Box,I did..Depends on the circuit.

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Boss DS1 Red LEDs in D4 and D5

I used to replace one with a LED, and the other by a Germanium diode. It really made the pedal much, much more responsive to the volume knob. I've modded a lot of unrelated ODs and Distortions to the same config (including a Carl Martin Hot Drive and Boost I opened up).

Asymetrical clipping..

[ArtieToo]

Re: Boss DS1 Red LEDs in D4 and D5

There's a bunch of clips over on Monte Allums pedal mods page, where he uses the red LED trick quite a bit.