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The Ultimate DS-1 Mod
Here's the deal. I bought a Boss DS-1 a while back strictly to mod it. I knew it
was not the best stock so I wanted to see what I could do with it. I figured I
would just do the famous Robert Keeley's mod and it would sound amazing. Well I
did Robert's mod and wasn't all that impressed. I found it had too much gain (it
was always like that), it lacked mids, the tone control was shrill and the bass
was flabby loose and the tone could get fuzzy. It was also just not very
versatile.
I have now incorporated some of
Robert's mods, other mods from people and some of my own. I must say I
really like the result. After hours of tweaking my DS-1 it is now exactly what I
wanted it to be. It has great response to your picking, it is very smooth, the
lows are round and tight, it has a lot more mids, less gain, is very tubey
sounding and the tone control is also so much nicer.
I tried to model mine after a vintage Tube Screamer but with a bit more low end
and not to sterile sounding. It has that classic tone control I think, with lots
of mids just like the TS. It is slightly different in the sense that it does
have a bit more gain (good for more modern stuff) and more dynamics. This pedal
is definitely going to be a keeper.
Just a note before you go slap happy tearing out components and "modding" away.
Though this is not an intensive mod it still involves quite a bit of work. To
make sure your pedal sounds great and works at the end I recommend testing the
pedal after you finish desoldering and soldering in four or so new components.
That way if your pedal doesn't work it's easier to find the problem. I did this
but with every component. I did this when I was developing the mod and wanted to
hear things (how each component in the signal path affected the tone) rather
than make sure the pedal worked.
So here is what I did....
C1, C10, C11----0.047mF
C2----0.68mF
C3, C5----0.068mF
C4----470pF Silver Mica
C7----220pF Silver Mica
C8----0.47mF
C9----0.47mF
C14----1mF NP (non-polarized)
C12, C13----0.1mF
47pF cap across the clipping diodes.
R13---2.7K
R39---20K
R16----1.5K (could wire a 2K or 5K pot here for a mid control)
R11---33K (lowers gain) (stock is 100K)
R9----1K (lowers gain, lower value = more gain) (stock is 22 ohms)
R17---6.1K
D4---3mm Water Clear High Brightness Red LED in series with 20K resistor/ 1N270.
Select either the LED od germanium diode using a DPDT (on-on) switch. You can
add another diode in series with either D4 or D5 for asymmetrical clipping. Its
an interesting little addition try it. The clipping section is the most fun to
play around with in my opinion.
R35---2.2K (this is just to limit the current going to the new 5mm blue LED)
5mm Water Clear High Brightness Blue LED (this is a new check LED)
As for the clipping section. Silicon will give you more of a high gain modern
sound, because of this I did not use them. LEDs are very tubey but quite
uncompressed. Germaniums are tubey and are more compressed than LEDs but have
more gain. Germaniums can get slightly buzzy though at high gain settings. My
mod for the clipping section is great, utilizing the best semiconductor
materials. The germanium diode is just great, very tubey and ultra low noise, I
favor the 1N270 over a 1N34a. The LED is great, very fat and round sounding,
super tubey but uncompressed, that is why the resistor is there to counter
that. In the Keeley mod switch selects between a LED and a 1N4148 by the way. So
he makes his switch select a fat uncompressed sound a high gain modern sound.
Here is the stock schematic for reference.
Finals Words...
I have heard a few people say that after they modded their DS-1 to Keeley specs
or whoever that it was good for lead but not rhythm. With these mods chords are
tight and not flabby. This pedal can now be used for any style of playing. I
also found the DS-1 is best used with humbuckers. With single coils is still
sounds good but it is a bit less compressed and can get a tiny bit loose. To
counter this the tone control can be rolled up. This actually works very well to
counter this.
Try the mod out! I have done the mod for lots of people and have had many
people do it on their own. The feedback has been great. Turns a cheap old $40
pedal into something your proud to use. Always throws people a curve ball when
you step on it, sounds the total opposite of the stock sound they expect.
(yes the little red LED lights up as you play)
Soundclips coming soon....
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