Boss DS-1 Mod

Re: Boss DS-1 Mod

Sorry that it doesn't work well for you. It's not for everybody. Try it through a real amp. It sounds a lot different than that. Also, try it while hitting an already slightly to moderately overdriven amp, like a Plexi. It really shines in that situation.

It would be nice if you spelled my named right. It's not like it wasn't there in front of you on the site or anything...LOL. ;) :)

Neck or bridge pickups or both?
 
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Re: Boss DS-1 Mod

the first two clips are replicated, the last one is through my Vox on clean. I honestly don't mind my DS-1 sounding like that. It's nice to have something differant, it didn't turn into the holy grail that I thought it would be, though. And, I'll fix your name.

I run an epi les paul with a JB bridge and 59 neck, that was both bridge and neck pickups. I actually found that I don't get as much sustain out of the DS-1 as I did before... but the tone has more gusto to it. I was wondering if the lack of sustain is just part of the minimal mod. I'm considering doing your full on all out mod to try and get the absolute best sound, but I'm a touch skeptical of using LEDs in place of the standard Diodes. I was wondering, if I used a 1n914 in D4 and D5 I'd get a bit more... tubescreamey tone... but, I guess that TS-808 I'm building is for the tubescreamer sound.

I have to say, I've never heard my vox sound more bluesy than what your mod got me, though.

oh, and I'll fix your name.
 
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Re: Boss DS-1 Mod

It's not a holy grail, I can assure you of that....LOL. After messing with the thing for a while and making loads of changes, I found that those 3 changes make a pretty big change to the sound in filling it out some. The decrease in sustain could be due to it, I haven't really noticed. The 1N4001 diode is a little warmer sounding, a softer clip so that could be it. You could toss the stock diode back in and see how that is.

LED's are crunchier and have a higher clipping threshold so they won't clip as early as 1n914's or germaniums. In fact, the diodes in there now are in the 1n914 family so changing to them won't really do much.

The tubescreamey tone is more than just the diodes, but also the placement of the diodes. In the TS-808 and it's bazillion variants, the diodes are in a soft clipping arrangement (in the feedback loop of the opamp). In the DS-1, it's what is called hard clipping because the diodes are in direct line of the signal.

The mod you should try is the last one listed there and even check out more of the mods that Brian shared in Premier Guitar Magazine. There's some cool stuff there.

That pedal is just a really good platform for modding. Mine is about shot. A few solder pads are lifted though I've been able to keep it working with some jumper wires (the old fashioned way). I want to start with a clean slate and get another one to do a few changes to.

BTW, be careful with the heat on the PCB. Those solder pads lift pretty easy.

I'd like to hear it with just the neck and just the bridge pickup. I rarely ever hear anyone else's clips of my stuff. It's so much different hearing it when another person is using it.
 
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Re: Boss DS-1 Mod

sounds like an amp breaking up with Erik's mod. The Stocker sounds more like... well a DS-1, which is a pedal, which is what it sounds like...

For some reason the youtube video page is in some other language, and I have no idea why. I'm not using an IP proxy...
 
Re: Boss DS-1 Mod

well, I think I'm going to mix the Indy Guitarist's vintage with your minimal... but I'm wondering what the "modern" and "vintage" are an analog to. The JCM one kind of entices me, but at the same time frightens me... I think at this point, I'd lean more towards the "vintage."

Also: I'll try and get recordings of the differant pickups through your pedal mod on my vox. I just listened to the youtube thing, turns out I didn't put up the vox recordings, but I'll do it tomorrow. I'll make sure and get some of the best sounding recordings I can out of it.

And... how do I make the LED brighter? I put a green one in there and it's kind'a weak.

(in case you can't tell, I got a lot of free time down here at school... so, I'm in the process of building a TS-808, just split the JB in my paul, am modding the DS-1, getting parts together to build a "Lil' Gem," which I'm thinking of building into an old crate amp that's busted, planning out how I'm'a mod my Epi Valve Jr. when I get it and build a cabinet for it out of an old squier bass amp... so, yeah... free time. Haven't been on this forum for a while, but now I'm brewin' a storm.)
 
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Re: Boss DS-1 Mod

ErikH said:
....
The mod you should try is the last one listed there and even check out more of the mods that Brian shared in Premier Guitar Magazine. There's some cool stuff there.
....
Click to expand...

Definitely! I tried the JCM type mod from Premier Guitar (with the extra gain), and I love it. It's the only heavy distortion I use anymore. I read Erik's page when researching this stuff, and it prompted me to try out the mod. Then I sold my other distortion pedals.

I messed around with tons of different diode and LED combinations on a breadboard, and I really like using two 3mm yellow LED's for clipping the signal. They're crunchy but not over-the-top like red LED's can be, and cleaner and more open than diodes.

R13, R17: 1k
C3: 0.033uF
C2, C5, C8, C9: 1uF
D4, D5: 3mm yellow LED
 
Re: Boss DS-1 Mod

To get the LED brighter, you need to fiddle with the limiting resistor, R35. It is 3.9k stock. Try lowering it to 2.2k. That should brighten it up a little more. Keep in mind, the brighter it is, the more current (mA) it'll use and that in turn will drain the battery faster. You could also put a superbright in there without changing R35 and get more brightness with little current.

I tried, yellow, green, red, and even a superbright blue LED as clippers. I like the red the best. Red/Yellow combination wasn't bad. Dual Reds gave it a Rat type of feel. Changing just one to a red LED is pretty cool.

The next DS-1 I mod is going to have sockets in D4/D5 so I can swap clippers as often as I want. I'll prob socket a few other places as well.
 
Re: Boss DS-1 Mod

I mixed and matched Erik's mods with some other random mods and my favorite clipping section for the DS1 and I LOVE it.

I can have the gain on 10 and use the volume pot on the guitar to get a nice enough clean sound! It's real nice to hit a preamp with added gain and boost too.

Though Erik I gotta say I have no idea which of your component changes I did, sorry :laugh2: but I really like it. It's a proper rock machine, very rich sounding.

My clippers are a red 3mm LED in series with a Zener diode, and a 1N4148 on the other side. I alwyas do assymetrical on the DS1 for some reason, all my favorite configurations are.
On the Carl Martin Hot Drive and Boost I have a 1N34 on one side, and a FET in series with 1N4001 on the other, or something like that. On the SD1 that Lu_B has now there's also a mix of 1N34 and 4001s.
 
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Re: Boss DS-1 Mod

I've heard Erik's DS-1 in various states of Mods over the years and it always sounds pretty good to me :shrug:

IME, plugging any kind of OD/Distortion pedals into Line6 gear is always an absolute tone fiasco. As mentioned, plug it into an actual tube amp (or a Vox Modeller which takes pedals pretty well).
 
Re: Boss DS-1 Mod

I wonder if I still have any of those clips. I'm pretty sure they got backed up to my server before the hard drive crash. At least I hope so. :onder:
 
Re: Boss DS-1 Mod

yeah, I just recorded the vox with the pedal. Took a while to find a good setting, and I really like the tone, I just don't like the lack of sustain I get from it. It's not a tone that I'd really use all the time (I honestly can't think of a time I'd use this tone at all, actually) but it does sound good once you spend enough time with it to dial it in. Just not my cup of tea. I'm thinking the India Guitarist mods would be more my style.
 
Re: Boss DS-1 Mod

IMO, the DS-1 is the best overdrive on the market. But as I've said before, I don't use it as a stomp on for distortion, stomp off for clean kind of pedal and neither does Joe Satriani.

The way I use it is to plug it into a great tube amp and then find a tone and level on the DS-1 that allows you to leave it on all the time and go to clean by reducing the volume control of your guitar to about 5 or 6.

When I plug mine into my late 50's Fender Deluxe and use my '54 Tele I can get great Led Zep I tones. Really, really good.
 
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Re: Boss DS-1 Mod

Sounds pretty good through the amp. The tone control could stand to be rolled back and a little but of lows added in, but the gist is there. I don't get why the sustain for you is less with the mod. I hadn't noticed that myself when I did the mod.

That's the beauty of these things, different for everybody.
 
Re: Boss DS-1 Mod

ErikH said:
Sounds pretty good through the amp. The tone control could stand to be rolled back and a little but of lows added in, but the gist is there. I don't get why the sustain for you is less with the mod. I hadn't noticed that myself when I did the mod.

That's the beauty of these things, different for everybody.
Click to expand...

It does sound a lot better through the actual amp than through the toneport. It sounds good, but like I said. It just ain't my cup of tea. I'll probably solder and resolder junk in this thing until it's either dead and gone and I'll buy another one for next to nothing and do the same or I get the tone I want... actually, I don't know what tone I want, I'm pretty much planning on doing stuff to it until I find a tone I like.

oh, and the tone control was at about 2 or 3.
 
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Re: Boss DS-1 Mod

ok, so I spent a good deal of time playing with my vox and my hansen modded DS-1. And I dialed in an awesome sounding fuzz. If I run the vox as clean as I can get it (which isn't too hard) and then set the DS-1 up right, I get this tone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HbNUbGT33A

I also found a sweet spot with the pedal, where I can get just a little teeny bit of break up, but an all together sweet boost without fuzzing, overdriving or distorting it very much. It's hard to explain, the tone is clean, but there's a bit of break under it, not from the speakers or amp, either, from the pedal itself, but it sounds so natural.

I gotta say, I didn't believe at first, but it just took time playing with it to get some sweet tones from it, way better than a stock DS-1.

Kudos, Erik.

also, please forgive the terrible playing. Lead guitar isn't my forte...

PS. that's the JB split
 
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Re: Boss DS-1 Mod

Very cool. That sounds really nice. It's got nice breakup but still clear.
 
Re: Boss DS-1 Mod

yeah, I'm actually really stoked about this pedal now. The problem before was that I was using it like a stock DS-1, when in fact, it's a whole new monster.

Thanks for the awesome, easy mod, man.
 
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