Spina DS-1...this is a long one!

[the guy who invented fire]

Well, even though I said I was not gonna mess with it last night after work (due to a splitting headache) I could not resist (and was up until 2 am this morning...after my shower, I plugged back up to do some more!). I plugged the DS-1 in to my trusty Fender Twin, grabbed my Tele and went at it. Other guitars that have already been used are my Yamaha SG 2000 loaded with an Alnico II Pro in the neck and a CC in the bridge, as well as my Moderne loaded with a PG set. I have been buying, and using overdrive, fuzz, and distortion boxes for years, and (without sounding like a jerk) I have, and have had several very nice units. Currently I have a Big Muff Pi, a Pro Co Rat, an original MXR Distortion +, a Roger Mayer Axis Fuzz, a Lovetone Brown Source, as well as the Spina DS-1, and a few other run of the mill units.

Let me start by saying this...for the cost of a DS-1 and Johns mods you can have the kind of stomp box people pay several hundreds of dollars for! I have always HATED this unit, I got it for $5.00 at a pawn shop one night, and feel like I paid too much. I have played through MIJ DS-1's and they are far better that the MIT version I have/had but I still have problems with them.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Spina DS-1...this is a long one!

The tone control...
The tone control on a DS-1 has always either sounded like someone put a blanket over the speakers or by just moving the tone control the thickness of a piece of paper it sounded like you were playing through broken glass speakers. That is long gone, the Spina DS-1's tone control is by far much more useable...the sweep is much more broad, and ALL the tones now contained are by far more useable...it will get very fat sounding without being muddy or it can get very bright without sounding shrill or harsh, and best part of all, the sweep is so much more smooth so that moving the control the thickness of a hair makes a small change as opposed to a huge difference!

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Spina DS-1...this is a long one!

The level control...
One of my other problem with a Stock DS-1 or even a MIJ DS-1 is that I have to crank the sh1t out of the level control to get it to be as loud or louder that my amp set to a clean tone...I hate this, it is the biggest reason I do not use my MXR Distortion +. IMO, if you can not get a good strong, boosted level what is the point? This is also a problem of the past...I can keep the level arounf noon and have a boost in my overall volume...from noon to the lock things can get crazy!!! This pedal now has more that enough volume!

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Spina DS-1...this is a long one!

The Distortion control...
This was by far the worst part of a DS-1...to my they just do not sound good...the sweep of the tone control has a good bit to do with it, but even if you can find a spot on the tone control that sounds good, the actual tone of the distortion sounds pretty bad...cheep, fizzy, buzzy distortion. This is also gone...this thing sounds amazing. The crunch has a very tube like grunt, and loads of thick, smooth gain. It has even more crunch that when stock (John's mods go to 11!!!) but the tone is just better. It has more organic warmth to the sound. A stock DS-1 to me always sounded like someone had layered a fizzy/buzzy sound OVER the clean tone coming form your guitar/amp combo, the Spina DS-1 sounds more like the note is now wrapped in a warm blanket of distortion.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Spina DS-1...this is a long one!

This pedal is now amazing for thick crunchy chord work, but it still has enough of a fluid/liquid tone to do leads very well. Loads of sustain, and tons of very pleasing lower order even harmonics. Speaking of harmonics...if you do pinch harmonics, they will just fall off the srtings with this unit on...Zack would go well to have one of these! I have been able to get some very nice, thick early ZZ Top tones with this unit, and with a twist of the tone control get some very pleasing AC/DC tones as well...from there by turning the DIST. control up, you can get lots more gain. This little orange box now is the home of a pretyy damn good Van Halen as well...I would say that everybody from blues guitar players to metal heads would like it. As for the super distorted, ultra highgain seekers...this unit will not ge that nasty, but maybe John will do a Metal Zone for you guys!!!

I plugged DS-1 up with my Vox Wah (soon this will be going to John as well) and ran my Twin into a fane loaded 4x12 cab and all I can say is WOW!!! Earth shaking bottom end, with loads of defination. Lots of gain on tap that is never muddy, and the gain is compressed enough to make this thing really sing like a bird! When used with the wah, it was amazing...the tone of the DS-1 made the sweep of the wah even more vocal that it already is. Then I hooked up my Lovetone Brown Source, set it for a mild overdrive (if anyone has ever used one of these, you know that they are just about the mildest overdrive ever...these make a Tube Screamer sound like a Big Muff), and ran the DS-1 for a good high gain crunch tone, and it was great...I know have a 3 channel Fender Twin...both of these boxes can be transparent. That is the best part to me...most distortion units color the tone of your guitar pretty bad...the DS-1 still lets my Tele sound like a Tele, my Moderne sound like my Moderne and so on...the Brown Source does this too, but it cost me over $400.00, and won;t get near as nasty as the Spins DS-1!

Let me also say that I have tried the Keeley mods, and while I belive that they are an improvement over a Stock DS-1...I think Johns mods are by far better, and I know that they are much better priced!

I looked inside the pedal before I even turned it on...very clean work, high quality parts, and I thought it was very cool that I got the original parts back in a little plastic bag! His soldering looks great, and the parts are put on the board in such a way that it has a very nice, clean look to it!

If you liked a DS-1 before, you will love it after John gets done with it, if you did not like a DS-1 before, you will now!!! The difference in tone is simply amazing.

For anyone looking for a very good sounding distortion pedal for a good overdrive, a full on crunch, or even as one hell of a booster I say, get a DS-1 and send it to John. We (guitar players) spend tons of money on amps, guitars, upgraded pick up's, NOS tubes for our amps, etc This is one VERY CHEEP thing that can be done to improve you tone! John will be getting my Vox wah very soon as well as my Pro Co Rat if I can talk him into it!

Thanks very much to John for these mods.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Spina DS-1...this is a long one!

Wow! How much is this guy paying you for such a long and great review? LOL.. Glad the pedal works great for you...it's hard living up to all the hype though...Thanks again brother..

John

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Spina DS-1...this is a long one!

Wow! How much is this guy paying you for such a long and great review? LOL.. Glad the pedal works great for you...it's hard living up to all the hype though...Thanks again brother..

John

John, due to the weather I have not made it to see my dad yet but I have been playing with the DeArmond as well...review on the way!!!

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Spina DS-1...this is a long one!

John does the best pedal mods I have ever heard! He's modded several wah wahs and several TS-9's fro me and was kind enough to send me a modded DS-1 just to try. Every one has been amazingly musical. John has great ears and knows what he's doing. He's the best in my opinion. Lew

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Spina DS-1...this is a long one!

John, due to the weather I have not made it to see my dad yet but I have been playing with the DeArmond as well...review on the way!!!

I Loved your Dad's pedal....I listened to some samples over at Tone Frenzy...Your Dad's pedal is smoother sounding,maybe slightly less grinding...I added 1 more diode to the 2 stock ones and got the gain back up a bit..I liked the way the pedal sounded and I was doing some cool very old Allman Brothers riffs with it..I Know your Dad will like the pedal...Probably worth a couple of bucks these days and is very rare...Glad we got it figured out and working..I added much better caps and beefed some values up to get more lows and retain lows when you roll the guitar volume back...It cleans up very quick and easily and that's great if any pedal can do that..

John

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Spina DS-1...this is a long one!

John does the best pedal mods I have ever heard! He's modded several wah wahs and several TS-9's fro me and was kind enough to send me a modded DS-1 just to try. Every one has been amazingly musical. John has great ears and knows what he's doing. He's the best in my opinion. Lew

Thanks Lew....Coming from you,I hold your opinions in very high regard...You're a great person and a personal friend also buddy...

John

 

[Curly]

Re: Spina DS-1...this is a long one!

great review!!!

I can't help but read your review, then think about my own DS-1 that John did, and I think it should really have it's own name, not "John's DS-1 Mod", because it really is a different pedal!

and yeah, it's a way for players to get boutique type tone for less than $100!

hey, you invented fire/ John invented SMOKE

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Spina DS-1...this is a long one!

great review!!!

I can't help but read your review, then think about my own DS-1 that John did, and I think it should really have it's own name, not "John's DS-1 Mod", because it really is a different pedal!

and yeah, it's a way for players to get boutique type tone for less than $100!

hey, you invented fire/ John invented SMOKE

I agree! This is a killer pedal, and in fact I have been thinking about pulling it apart and re-painting the box so it really is a different pedal, because it sure sounds like one! One thing is for sure this pedal does smoke!!!

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Spina DS-1...this is a long one!

Christian, Can you leave the pedal on all time and go to a genuinely clean tone by just lowering the volume on your guitar? That was the one thing I prefered about my unmodded DS-1...the way I can just set all three controls to about 1/2 way or so and then leave it on and do everything with just my guitar's volume control the way Satch and Vai do. lew

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Spina DS-1...this is a long one!

Christian, Can you leave the pedal on all time and go to a genuinely clean tone by just lowering the volume on your guitar? That was the one thing I prefered about my unmodded DS-1...the way I can just set all three controls to about 1/2 way or so and then leave it on and do everything with just my guitar's volume control the way Satch and Vai do. lew

Lew...with all 3 controls at noon, I can rock te guitar volume down and the a pretty clean tone...it still has a tad bit of hair on the note but if you rock the volume down and pick a little lighter it's pretty dan clean, and it retains the tone of the guitar...my Tele did this test the best, the Moderne did ok as well...the Yamaha which has the CC in the bridge was a bit tougher to make get very clean but, is still did better that lots of pedals I have tried!

Lew...after about 15-20 minutes of keeping the pedal on and all controls set to noon, I have to change my answer to yes! If you pick lighter it will stay clean, with a harder pick attack you can get a ittle hair on the note, and then by turning up the volume and working with your picking hand you can get several different shaned or crunch!!!

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Spina DS-1...this is a long one!

Christian, Can you leave the pedal on all time and go to a genuinely clean tone by just lowering the volume on your guitar? That was the one thing I prefered about my unmodded DS-1...the way I can just set all three controls to about 1/2 way or so and then leave it on and do everything with just my guitar's volume control the way Satch and Vai do. lew

Guys....My DS1 mods are pretty much for the "gain Gods"....It does clean up some,but not like a stock DS1,especially the MIJ version...The modded DS1 is all about more gain,more lows,more harmonics and wasn't modded as a "boost" or a pedal to "slightly" overdrive an amp...It's a bad boy pedal with alot of overall balls....People tell me it sounds like a JCM 800 on steroids with more gain and harmonics...I agree. :dance:

John

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Spina DS-1...this is a long one!

Guys....My DS1 mods are pretty much for the "gain Gods"....It does clean up some,but not like a stock DS1,especially the MIJ version...The modded DS1 is all about more gain,more lows,more harmonics and wasn't modded as a "boost" or a pedal to "slightly" overdrive an amp...It's a bad boy pedal with alot of overall balls....People tell me it sounds like a JCM 800 on steroids with more gain and harmonics...I agree. :dance:

John

John,

With my Telecaster it cleaned up pretty damn well...the Moderne also did well...the Yamaha, and the Kramer did not fare so well...The Yamaha has a CC in the bridge and the Kramer has a set of Gibson Iommi pups in it...these are pretty hot pickups and I do not expect them to clean up well at all...but they did ok...just not as good as the Tele or the Moderne. I love this pedal...I haven't stopped playing guitar all day! I have a new place on my pedal board...It's going to replace my Brown Source unless I can make them both fit. I would say that with my Twin it has a very JCM 800 quality! I love it!!!!

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Spina DS-1...this is a long one!

The only thing I can add is that Duncan's next pedal should be a Spinadrive, or something along those lines. So far, there's the Booster and Fuzz.
I think a Duncan OD and Duncan Distortion "The pedal" are in order.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Spina DS-1...this is a long one!

The only thing I can add is that Duncan's next pedal should be a Spinadrive, or something along those lines.

GOOD CALL!!!

 

[Boleslaw Gers 666]

Re: Spina DS-1...this is a long one!

The only thing I can add is that Duncan's next pedal should be a Spinadrive, or something along those lines. So far, there's the Booster and Fuzz.
I think a Duncan OD and Duncan Distortion "The pedal" are in order.

HA. Agreed. I think Dunlop/Boss/Ibanez/Duncan should merge and put this guy in charge of what goes into their pedals. They'd make alot more money.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Spina DS-1...this is a long one!

The only thing I can add is that Duncan's next pedal should be a Spinadrive, or something along those lines. So far, there's the Booster and Fuzz.
I think a Duncan OD and Duncan Distortion "The pedal" are in order.

Thanks for the compliments guys...It's not a big deal really,and the pedals aren't even my creation...I can't take that much credit,simply because all I'm doing is changing an already great pedal from Boss....If I had my own pedal and my own ideas,it would be different...Thanks again and at least it makes you happy and you get great tone...Remember,it's all still a hobby that I thoroughly love and enjoy!

John