Oops! I did it again...

[Dave Locher]

Fell off the wagon. Started sniffing around on eBay last week, "just looking."
Long story short, an MXR Badass '78 Distortion will be arriving in my mailbox soon.

In my defense, a thread on this forum reminded me that I have never, ever played a DS-1 and this to me seems like the one to try.

I will report back once I get a test drive.

 

[EmiAba]

Re: Oops! I did it again...

never say never!! congrats.

the 78 distortion is quite different from a DS-1, and I prefer the 78 distortion over the boss pedal. It seems less synthetic to my ears. Anyway, let us know your impressions..

 

[NegativeEase]

Re: Oops! I did it again...

I just sold a bunch of pedals. It was hard to let my children go, but in order to be in an Airstream full time -I gotta make choices

 

[Blille]

Re: Oops! I did it again...

Fell off the wagon. Started sniffing around on eBay last week, "just looking."
Long story short, an MXR Badass '78 Distortion will be arriving in my mailbox soon.

In my defense, a thread on this forum reminded me that I have never, ever played a DS-1 and this to me seems like the one to try.

I will report back once I get a test drive.

That’s crazy. I always thought it was everybody’s first or second pedal. Glad you are fixing this.

You may have to get an actual DS-1 to compare. Maybe two, Taiwan and Japan.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Oops! I did it again...

Finally got our other guitar player to cease and desist on the Metal Zone. He put his 78' Badass on his board.

The drummer said "Hey - could you roll back the gain a bit?" He did, and OMG - EPIC MEGA-TONE!!!!! Definitely a cool pedal.

I may/may not be correct in this, but I believe that the 78' is modeled on the very early first run (like changed early in first production year) DS-1 models. Not that keep on on such things.

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Oops! I did it again...

That’s crazy. I always thought it was everybody’s first or second pedal. Glad you are fixing this.

You may have to get an actual DS-1 to compare. Maybe two, Taiwan and Japan.

Don't be my co-dependent!

Nope, when I first learned there was a magic box that could make my guitar sound "that way" I went with a friend to a tiny little strip mall guitar shop. They had a Tube Screamer, a DS-1, and a Ross Distortion. My bud said a mutual friend had the green one and it sounded horrible. So no TS. The proprietor tried to sell me on the Boss but once I noticed it was made in Taiwan or Japan (dunno, around 1983?) I figured just get the Ross because it was a lot cheaper. Keep in mind, they were in sealed boxes behind a glass counter. No "try before you buy."
Used that Ross for a couple years and then switched to amps that made their own crunch. Never touched another dirt pedal until a few years ago. Now I buy a couple (or more) a year and just keep flipping.

Epic mega tone would be nice! We shall see. I'm apparently very tough to please.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Oops! I did it again...

Cease and desist on the Metalzone?
Blasphemy!

Sent from my Alcatel_5044C using Tapatalk

 

[Blille]

Re: Oops! I did it again...

Don't be my co-dependent!

Nope, when I first learned there was a magic box that could make my guitar sound "that way" I went with a friend to a tiny little strip mall guitar shop. They had a Tube Screamer, a DS-1, and a Ross Distortion. My bud said a mutual friend had the green one and it sounded horrible. So no TS. The proprietor tried to sell me on the Boss but once I noticed it was made in Taiwan or Japan (dunno, around 1983?) I figured just get the Ross because it was a lot cheaper. Keep in mind, they were in sealed boxes behind a glass counter. No "try before you buy."
Used that Ross for a couple years and then switched to amps that made their own crunch. Never touched another dirt pedal until a few years ago. Now I buy a couple (or more) a year and just keep flipping.

Epic mega tone would be nice! We shall see. I'm apparently very tough to please.

Lol

In retrospect it's crazy that you chose between an 80s TS, a JP DS-1 and a Ross.

Have fun! FWIW I have a DS-2 I keep for nostalgia that I never use in case you want to borrow it.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Oops! I did it again...

My first dirt box was a Washburn Stack-In-A-Box. It DELIVERED!!!

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: Oops! I did it again...

I have a Boss Super Distortion Feedbacker and Boss Super Feedbacker Distortion.

They're the same circuit. MIJ DS-1 plus you can hold the pedal down and make one note "feedback" or sustain endlessly which is super fun for psychedelic solos or noisy rock or drone.

That specific distortion is so useful for so many things.

 

[Zombiwoof]

Re: Oops! I did it again...

Don't be my co-dependent!

Nope, when I first learned there was a magic box that could make my guitar sound "that way" I went with a friend to a tiny little strip mall guitar shop. They had a Tube Screamer, a DS-1, and a Ross Distortion. My bud said a mutual friend had the green one and it sounded horrible. So no TS. The proprietor tried to sell me on the Boss but once I noticed it was made in Taiwan or Japan (dunno, around 1983?) I figured just get the Ross because it was a lot cheaper. Keep in mind, they were in sealed boxes behind a glass counter. No "try before you buy."
Used that Ross for a couple years and then switched to amps that made their own crunch. Never touched another dirt pedal until a few years ago. Now I buy a couple (or more) a year and just keep flipping.

Epic mega tone would be nice! We shall see. I'm apparently very tough to please.

That Ross Distortion is a slightly tweaked MXR Distortion+, I have a brown US-made one from back then and it sounds really good, a bit warmer than my vintage Distortion+. Ross is back in business now, and they have reissued the brown Distortion pedal.
Al

 

[Mincer]

Re: Oops! I did it again...

I have a Boss Super Distortion Feedbacker and Boss Super Feedbacker Distortion.

They're the same circuit. MIJ DS-1 plus you can hold the pedal down and make one note "feedback" or sustain endlessly which is super fun for psychedelic solos or noisy rock or drone.

That specific distortion is so useful for so many things.

I had the Super Feedbacker too...what a fun little pedal. You can really make it sound like feedback at any volume.

 

[Blille]

Re: Oops! I did it again...

Ross is back in business now, and they have reissued the brown Distortion pedal.
Al

I would say "the grandkid of Ross is using Ross' brand (maybe without right) and selling clones"

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Oops! I did it again...

Mine was black, made in Taiwan maybe? Pretty sure I bought it new for $20 circa 1983 or '84. It worked pretty well for me except the bypass was horrible. Horrible! I wanted my clean tone brighter than the crunch and it was the opposite: muffled cleans and piercing dirt. No tone knob either. If that thing had been true bypass or buffered I probably would have kept it forever.
I don't recall how much the DS-1 was but it would have been much better for my needs.

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Oops! I did it again...

Seller didnt ship until yesterday afternoon, and used USPS First Class so I patiently wait...

 

[Blille]

Re: Oops! I did it again...

Mine was black, made in Taiwan maybe? Pretty sure I bought it new for $20 circa 1983 or '84. It worked pretty well for me except the bypass was horrible. Horrible! I wanted my clean tone brighter than the crunch and it was the opposite: muffled cleans and piercing dirt. No tone knob either. If that thing had been true bypass or buffered I probably would have kept it forever.

Completely agree. I bought a US one and did the true bypass mod, which is trivial. I ended up selling it and getting a DOD 250 then I got a 250 reissue which worked best for me

 

[Francois]

Re: Oops! I did it again...

I have never, ever played a DS-1

Same for me up to last month... I should really have bought it before.

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Oops! I did it again...

Got a little sumpthin' in the mail today!
First impressions: nice thick, tight distortion that sounds better with some guitars & amps than others. Looks great, has massive volume on tap, good range of gain although not as super high as I expected, but could really benefit from a separate bass and treble knob.
All my guitars are maple neck 24 3/4 scale. Two have super distortion humbuckers in the bridge and they sound great through this pedal. It gives really good clarity along with the grit. But the third is a 9k paf-style with a roughcast A8 swapped in and that guitar sounds lousy through this pedal. It has too much bass (or low mids?) and too much treble at the same time. Tweaking the single tone knob just emphasises one of those two problems even more.

But the overall sound is good (better than the Super Badass I bought and sold a year ago) and I like it better than my RAT clone so I'm keeping it. I will continue to experiment and may end up using it as a boost into a dirty amp.

One weird design choice: the piercing blue "crunch" LED is on whether the pedal is on or off, at least when using an adapter? I actually prefer the sound with it off but how odd is it to have an always-on light on a pedal?