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BOSS DS-1 mods...?


Travis

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The pedalboard thread got me thinking of redoing mine. I have a BOSS DS-1 I picked up a few years ago because I think everyone who ever plays guitar should probably try the DS-1 at least once in their lives. I originally got it with the intent on modding it, which I never did. It probably has less than 5 hours of total playtime on it and I could sell it as “new” if it didn’t have Velcro on it. It is not the Japanese made DS-1 (Taiwan made) and I looked up sale prices of comparable used ones. Looks like they’re going for about $30 + shipping which seems about right because I think I paid $50 new.  Doesn’t even seem worth it to me to try and sell it since reverb has about 200 of them listed...

So....  now I’m back to thinking about modding the pedal so maybe I’ll use it some. Anyone here have a modded DS-1 (Keeley, analogman, other...)?  Any suggestions or things you like or don’t like about it?  
 

Or, just sell it for $20 to someone and be done with it for good...?

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I clicked on this hoping you had some good advise on a mod for the DS-1.  I own a lot of Boss pedals and the BD-1 and OD-3 with the gain set at a little over 1/3 are my favorite Boss Overdrives.  I had 2 DS-1's at one time thinking I'd mod the second.  I sold the second one and now I'm down to one stock DS-1.  For only $20 I'd recommend that you keep the DS-1, and yes mod it.  If you want to sell it for $20 calculate ground shipping to 82201 and PM me the total.  When I get time I'll mod it and give you a full report.

Another option is list it on Reverb at the higher end of what they're going for.  I've sold a few pedals on Reverb that I had priced on the high end and after a year or two someone purchased them.  The only problem with this technique is they usually sell at a time when it's inconvenient to ship them.  My last reverb sale I noticed the notification in my email a week after it sold.  I shipped the pickup a week late and the buyer surprisingly never complained.

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I’ve owned and modded more DS-1s than I can count.  In the end, I’ve decided I like other pedals better, and use those instead.    However, I keep a stock DS-1 around just in case I need “that” sound.  It’s a classic, and for $20, everybody should have one.

That said, I can give you a little info on a couple mods.  The best-known is the Keeley Seeing-Eye mod.  It’s well documented on the web if you want to DIY.  It’s basically a Marshall-in-a-box distortion.    I believe the MXR Super Badass Distortion (the red one) is the same thing.  My problem with it is I don’t like MIAB pedals. I’ve tried several over years and they don’t do anything for me.

The other mod I’ve tried is the Monte Allums Recto Mod.  It comes in several versions, with increasing numbers of optional mini-toggles.  When you start adding switches, it gets harder to install and more fiddly to play.  In the end, I tried the full-zoot version, then went back and built a plain Recto Mod without the extras. It was a pretty good dirt box, but I’ve since moved it along.

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I used and formerly owned an original MIJ Boss DS-1 distortion pedal from the late '80s. Used it as my source of distortion into a Peavey Backstage solid state amp when I was first starting out since I wasn't familiar with tube amps at the time. I sent my MIJ DS-1 distortion pedal to Analgoman for the Super mod since my pedal had the more desirable chip that came with the DS-1 pedals from that era. I liked how it improved the range of the tone control and cleaned up the noise. Unfortunately, I ended up trading it away for some gear and bought an MI Audio Crunch Box v2 pedal for my distortion pedal needs. I liked the Marshall In A Box sound of that pedal on and the way it sounded to me than my old MIJ DS-1 pedal. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Guitar George

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Its just not worth selling it for $20, so If you want a good project to cut your teeth on then buy a mod kit and go to town. The FROMEL or MONTE Mods are a good choice, that being said, after I moved a blues driver and a Danelectro Daddy'o Overdrive, I didn't find that I liked the pedal any better or worse. They sounded different, but it didn't revolutionize the sound. 

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On 12/31/2019 at 6:28 PM, Travis said:

Or, just sell it for $20 to someone and be done with it for good...?

I'll give you $23.50 4 it...

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Here's what I found in regards to the Boss DS-1. It's probably not true, but I've often thought every Boss Overdrive / Distortion pedal is the same basic pedal with a few component changes. I wish I had all their schematics for all their pedals.  I'm guessing the first line on the graph below should read 4.8KHz not 48KHz.

image.png

https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/boss-ds-1-mods-1?page=2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Vz63o-wmXo

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I still have my DS-1, the first pedal I ever bought back when I started playing guitar in the early 90s.

In retrospect,  I should have bought a tuning pedal first,  ha.

I never got rid of it for sentimental reasons,  plus it's not really worth selling. 

I did a "homebrew" mod on it last year,  clipping a diode to give it less distortion. It sounds pretty good,  less compressed, but can still get nice and dirty. 

I think it can sound cool when you're playing with a band and can crank up the amp. At home I have to have the tone control rolled off or it can be too harsh.

Main overdrive now is a Barber Tone Press EQ and a Rat clone. I love the Barber!!

 

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On 1/6/2020 at 7:45 AM, sonic1974 said:

I love the Barber!!

Dave builds some awesome stuff, I think I tried pretty much every one he’s built. His TonePress in either new or the old version are great! I had both to compare to and the Newer version seemed to leave the higher frequencies more open while the lower frequencies where nicely compressed!! Makes for great string to string definition!!  

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On 1/9/2020 at 7:32 AM, Dutchman said:

Dave builds some awesome stuff, I think I tried pretty much every one he’s built. His TonePress in either new or the old version are great! I had both to compare to and the Newer version seemed to leave the higher frequencies more open while the lower frequencies where nicely compressed!! Makes for great string to string definition!!  

Yeah, I love mine! I want to try more of his stuff. :)

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