The Ultimate DS-1 Mod

[kurtlives]

Here's the deal. I bought a DS-1 back in the summer 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 be 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 could get fuzzy.

I have now incorporated some of Robert's mods, other mods from people and 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, and the tone control is so much nicer.

I tired to model mine after a Tube Screamer. 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 more modern stuff) and more dynamics. This pedal is definitely going to be a keeper.

So here is what I did....
C1, C10, C11----0.047mF
C2----0.68mF
C3, C5----0.068mF
C4----470pF
C7----220pF
C8, C14----1mF NP (non-polarized)
C9----0.47mF
C12, C13----0.1mF
47pF cap across 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 22ohms)
R17---6.1K

As for the clipping section I am still experimenting. A 3mm red LED in D4 gives you a very tubey sound. There are a few other things I would like to try as well. I will update later and tell you all how it goes.

Hope this helps....

[aab0mb]

Nice work.  Any sound clips on the way?

[kurtlives]

^ya...why can't I edit my first post?

I wanted to add some stuff. Read near the end for soundlclips...

Here's the deal. I bought a DS-1 back in the summer 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 be 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 could get fuzzy.

I have now incorporated some of Robert's mods, other mods from people and 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, and the tone control is so much nicer.

I tired to model mine after a Tube Screamer. 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 more modern stuff) and more dynamics. This pedal is definitely going to be a keeper.

So here is what I did....
C1, C10, C11----0.047mF
C2----0.68mF
C3, C5----0.068mF
C4----470pF
C7----220pF
C8, C14----1mF NP (non-polarized)
C9----0.47mF
C12, C13----0.1mF
47pF cap across 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 22ohms)
R17---6.1K

R35---2.2K
5mm Water Clear High Brightness Blue LED (this is a new check LED)

As for the clipping section I am still experimenting. A 3mm red LED in place of D4 gives you a very tubey sound (it can get a bit uncompressed sounding). So ya the clipping section is very important and I am going to spend a lot with it. There are a few other things I would like to try as well. I will update later and tell you all how it goes.

I have heard a few people say that after they modded their DS-1 to Keeley specs or whoever that is 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 bit loose. To counter this the tone control can be rolled up. This actually works very well to counter this.

Hope this helps....If you want sound-clips you may ask....tell me what setting you want eg. tone at 3 o'clock gain at....etc...

[Melanhead]

That's kinda how I ended up with my mod as well, started with the Keeley mod and changed things 'till I liked it ... I'd like to revisit it someday but haven't really had much time to play around lately ...

Congrats on getting what you want out of it ... that's what it's all about

[kurtlives]

^I actually based some of my mods after yours. If you look you will see them.

[jschwalls]

I recently modded another DS-1, here is where my day lead me..


and here is another angle....


i tried several different chips and i liked this one best...... i tried JRC4558, TI4558, TL072N, BB-OPA2134PA

Jon

[wampcat1]

I like using a dip dual op in them too... sounds different but good still.
bw

[ayofish]

how did you change the opamp in the ds1 to the 8 pin?

[5thumbs]

how did you change the opamp in the ds1 to the 8 pin?

You can either layout/etch/drill your own SIP8 to DIP8 adapter board (which I've done in the past) or you can just buy them for cheap ($3 US): http://cimarrontechnology.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=34.

These adapters don't fit into every BOSS pedal you might want to put them in (like the BD-2).  To get more headroom, you can gently bend the pins 90-degrees to lay the adapter board flat.  If you need to clear other components to the side of the adapter, install an 8-pin chunk of Mill-Max in-line sockets (http://www.smallbearelec.com/Detail.bok?no=101), then install the DIP8 adapter board with pins bent at 90-degrees into the sockets.  These tricks will allow you to put DIP8 op amps into some places often considered too small.