DS-1 question. Mods, Indyguitarist, Keeley, FuzzCentral or..

[JIG]

I have done some tinkering on my DS-1, namely the EVIL mod from InyGuitarist. The tone is improved, BUT...the tone sounds OK for lead notes, but chords sound squashed and overly compressed. I know there are more things I can do to this pedal. Just trying to learn as I go.

I know that different cap types have different sounds. FuzzCentral and Keeley seem to like the Panasonic stacked metal caps. THe I.G. mods don't seem to cover the extensive ground that the others mentioned have.

My Metalzone still sounds squashed as well. Typical of Boss distortion units?? I might add that I am playing through a home brew 1987 plexi knock off with a tube rectifier, so I getting some sag but my SS rectified tube amps sound really squashed as well. I don't think I can blame it on the amps.

I am new, so I apologize if this has been covered already. I am looking for two distinct sounds, one is a scooped mids Higain Mesa type distortion ala pre Black album Metallica for power chords. And the other I can't seem to find words for. Higain, but very middy. Almost ghostlike with lots of sustain but very smooth distortion. Violin like for single notes.

I feel like an idiot :oops: I wish you could hear what is in my head! I am not even sure I can get what I want with the DS-1 or the MT-2. Have the Zakk Wylde OD that just kicks major butt with my rig though. Using it as a booster. But I need two more distinct flavors.

Please understand. Now that my homebuilt 6V6 plexi is done, I have retired my Tech 21 Trademark 60 and Digitech RP2000 multi FX for stompers.

Sorry so long. Gobs of running in my head.

TIA,

JIG

[MartyMart]

Welcome JIG !
For your DS-1 try using a single or pair of 3mm RED LED's for the "clipping diodes"
If you have small 1N914's or similar in there, it will sound "compressed"
when pushing it hard.
The LED's will sound quite "tubey" and give you a volume boost too !
Also, I don't know if you've messed with the input/output caps but if you keep them smaller, like .068uf or less, you wont get any "low end mud" going on.
As for the MT-2, there are some improvements/parts upgrades you can
do, but to get a serious change is difficult and involves over 20 components to be swopped out !!
I dont advise doing that, try the above ideas and don't forget the MT-2's eq function can "shape" the sound an awful lot !!

Have fun,
Marty.

[AL]

Boss always has that sqashed sound. I can't play those because of that. But, I have a friend who gets a monster tone out of his DS-1. His rig isn't hurting things but he has told that there is only one sweet spot in that pedal (and he's been using them for years) it just takes a while to find it. Also, he uses an equalizer before it - every time he uses the pedal. He keeps them side by side so he steps on both of them at the same time. It sounds amazing.

AL

[Banjotaz]

I also agree that changing the input cap to a smaller value tightens up the sound and eliminates low end mush and over- saturation. I've had great results in my distortion+, Maxon DS830, Ibanez DS-7, and others with this simple mod. That's what using an EQ before it can do-  Cut the lows and give it better mid-girth. You can make a Distortion+ sound much better also with a simple MXR six band EQ before it.

[petemoore]

Sounds like the ampworks...interesting amp descript.
  So...you're about to begin building effects?
 I was about to say DIST+ then ok...the Z.W. Pedal is also an O.A. diode clipper to ground...
 Doesn't sound like you want much 'spongy' at all, more direct hard attack/heavy DIStortion.
 Liquid Drive or any of the DIST+ Types, with mods and sockets...messing with that you might get real close to your ZW sounds...all around in that general area you can tweek voicing and clipping levels, try some mods, add switches and pots...odd fnitum.
 Or head for a transistor version of...
 Check "Circuit Snippets".
 Just a touch of boost or even buffering to the front end of a DIST box increases the hardness of the clipping/distortion...it's all in the voicing of what you, your guitar, your amp...want, and can find.
 Voicing the input, clipping stage, or anywhere in the Signal Path, can fine tune waveforms that 'juice up a particular amp.
 Sometimes just a hinch of pre-clip [soft dist] boost into a hard clipping device, voiced just right, can be the ticket to The Metal Edge.
 I had a MZ, never particularly fancied that one, dude like loand it to me, I gave it back, knobs work extreme and all, just too 'this' or 'that'sy' [generally 'transistory' sounding IME]...some people swear by it though.
 If you're gonna build, please let me give you some pre-1rst build suggestions...taking steps to get that board 'right' the first time, and make it flexible enough to do the initial 'EE" Experimenting it takes to match your speakers and pickups and amp and guitar volume control and anything else...Let me know I'd be glad to type some up.
 I'm trying to pull you in...lol...I'd like to see pics and hear that amp, I've only briefly tried 6V6 amps...rectifier...must be nice !!!

[lethargytartare]

That's funny -- my guitarist does the EXACT SAME THING -- has a DS-1 he likes but wishes had a tone stack, so he has one of my EQ pedals right along side it at all times...

Boss always has that sqashed sound. I can't play those because of that. But, I have a friend who gets a monster tone out of his DS-1. His rig isn't hurting things but he has told that there is only one sweet spot in that pedal (and he's been using them for years) it just takes a while to find it. Also, he uses an equalizer before it - every time he uses the pedal. He keeps them side by side so he steps on both of them at the same time. It sounds amazing.

AL

[KORGULL]

If you changed your DS-1's R14 value, which is a mod that is recommended in some instructions, you might want to put it back to stock value and see how it sounds. That one change totally ruins the sound of the pedal for me. Stock R14 is 2.2K or 2.4K the mod calls for a lower value - around 1.5K I think.

[JIG]

Thanks for the replies. You have all opened the spigot of curiosity.

Part of the mods I did to DS-1 were swap out the 1n4148's (are these similar to 1n914's?) for two 5mm leds. Is there a difference between the 3mm and the 5mm?

Thanks for the input cap tip, will try.

When I had posted earlier, R14 was stock. I swapped it out tonight for a 10k. Added a little more beef. I.G. says 22k produces a very metal type tone. R14 comes right after the op amp and goes into a .47uf (coupling?) cap to the clipping section adn tonestack. What is the purpose of this resistor?

I guess cap type isn't to critical?

Pete, you are dead on in your description of what I am looking for. Quick and punchy attack.  The amp is very creamy and smooth by itself. The ZW-44 slams the preamp just right for most of my playing needs. I don't use the zw-44 like MXR says Zakk does. He runs his gain fairly high into an already roaring JCM800 (gain on . I run my plexi with the gains on 2 and 4 with the ZW output at half and gain just barley up from zero, just enough to get some more bite. I have tried it in all sorts of ways. this works best for me.

I have tried an EQ after the DS-1 and MT-2. Need it most with the MT-2. But the GE-7 is a noisy pedal as well. Haven't tinkered with it, yet... Will have to try the EQ before these pedals and see what happens.

Here is a link to my webpage. The page doesn't have the finished head pictured. Can't seem to get the pics to load.

http://pageproducer.sisna.com/Faithfulnfree/index.html

Be patient. It may take a while to load all the pics. I am not a website guru :roll:

[TheBigMan]

IIRC in Aron's FAQ he lists LEDs as "crunchy" with germanium diodes being "tubey".  That being the case when I modded my own DS-1 I set out for a thicker more tube like tone.  I've always found the DS-1 to be a bit thin and nasal, so I changed all of the coupling caps to higher values (0.047 -> 0.1uF and 0.47 -> 1uF) for more low end and changed the diodes for 1N34As.  I also changed the distortion control's limiting resistor for more range on the control.  If you do a search on my name you'll find the exact part numbers, I can't remember them off the top off my head but I did post them a week or two back.