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Boss DS1

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newi123newi123 Frets: 850
Needed a straight ahead cutting sound for the rock band - ordered a new black DS1. Had forgotten how good & Flexible they are! £59 well spent.

Have had one before along with a keeley modded one. Still prefer the stock one!


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Comments

  • Is there any difference with the black one? I don't mind a DS1, once you're aware of the tone knob range they can sound usable 
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71953
    I've never understood the hate for these. They're one of the best straight-ahead distortion pedals ever in my opinion. It's absolutely true that the tone control is *very* touchy and there's only a tiny window in which it goes from too dull to too bright, and that may be the problem… a lot of guitarists seem to not want to adjust things carefully.

    It's also true that I prefer the DF-2, but the DS-1 would be the second choice.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • newi123newi123 Frets: 850
    Is there any difference with the black one? I don't mind a DS1, once you're aware of the tone knob range they can sound usable 

    same as far as I know. Black casing and different screw knob on the battery bit. Not convinced either mod will affect the sound too much!
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  • ReverendReverend Frets: 4974
    newi123 said:
    Is there any difference with the black one? I don't mind a DS1, once you're aware of the tone knob range they can sound usable 

    same as far as I know. Black casing and different screw knob on the battery bit. Not convinced either mod will affect the sound too much!
    Nonsense, they will both be at least as effective as using a Russ Andrews PowerKord-500. 
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  • siraxemansiraxeman Frets: 1935
    They're ok....nothing special IMO. They need a good amp to make 'em sound good. They can't do it on their own. Where some pedals can go and make a good sound without a lot of help from the amp. Wind a nice valve amp up and the warmth it adds makes a DS-1 start to sound good, till then they're meh.
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  • mike_lmike_l Frets: 5700
    Excellent pedals. I have 2.

    One is bog standard, and works really well.

    The other has the "big fat mod" done. I acquired it from @MattFGBI like that. It has a touch more low end and is slightly smoother than the original.

    Both are fantastic distortions. As @ICBM says they do need to be set carefully though.

    Ringleader of the Cambridge cartel, pedal champ and king of the dirt boxes (down to 21) 

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  • FezFez Frets: 499
    Years ago when I had an AC30 the DS1 was absolutely fantastic with it I regretted letting it go when I won Washburn distortion pedal. So last year nostalgia got the better of me and I bought a new DS1 OK it's not made it on my live board (yet) but I love it for playing at home. Then curses the buggers put this sexy black DS1 out and I wants one. Nasty little Bossesssss.
    Don't touch that dial.
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  • I like them a lot, @icbm I'd take one over a df2 into a dirty Marshall but df-2 into a cleaner amp. 
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  • I love mine into my Romany Plus; there's a huge range of drives from it if you're careful with the controls. :)
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  • siraxemansiraxeman Frets: 1935
    edited February 2017

    I've compared it in the past with the DS-2 (when I had both..but now have neither) And I preferred the DS-2 with its Turbo on as that gave a bit of what I always found missing in the DS-1 ie mids! I've had a stock DS-1, and a modded copying the Seeing Eye mod from Keeley) and the DS-1...and a Vox Satchurator which is just a DS-1 slightly tweaked and dropped into a new bigger box. The DS-1 types can be redeemed with a nice middy OD pedal stacked with it though IMO.


    Never tried a Jap original DS-1....are they really much differenterer? Or is it just interwebz rumour/myth? Mooer Cruncher winz IMO, but that's another matter......

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  • Great pedal, I used to A/B between a DS-1and an SD-2 for rhythm and lead work into my JCM800........
    " Why does it smell of bum?" Mrs Professorben.
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  • 57Deluxe57Deluxe Frets: 7329
    I must isolate the DS-1 unit in my BOSS ME-5 and try that into a big bore valve amp - in all these years, I've never done it!
    <Vintage BOSS Upgrades>
    __________________________________
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71953
    The major problem with the ME-5 is that the overdrive/distortion module isn't as good as the pedals because it has no tone control. I always found that a huge problem on it and why I was never able to get on with it - you can use the main EQ, but it sounds different anyway, and even if it didn't it then stops you using that independently or as an overall tone setting. Such a daft omission.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • Dave_McDave_Mc Frets: 2324
    edited February 2017
    I think there's definitely too much hate for them- they can sound good (at certain settings, into certain amps, at least), and for what I would call the characteristic DS1 sound (sort of distorted yet still clear and cleanish, if that makes sense), if that's the sound I want, that's the pedal which does it.* I don't agree with all the hate.

    That being said, for other sounds, and probably for a more all-round distortion box, there are other pedals I like more. But it certainly is a good pedal for certain things IMO, and you could probably make the argument that even most legendary pedals only qualify as legendary if you use them for what they're best at.



    * I'm possibly slightly cheating with this as I have a digitech hot head which is a glorified clone, but you know what I mean. D And the Digitech Hardwire Valve Distortion is sort of like a "better" DS1, in that it has a wider range of sounds available.
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  • ICBM said:
    The major problem with the ME-5 is that the overdrive/distortion module isn't as good as the pedals because it has no tone control. I always found that a huge problem on it and why I was never able to get on with it - you can use the main EQ, but it sounds different anyway, and even if it didn't it then stops you using that independently or as an overall tone setting. Such a daft omission.
    The tone control on the DS-1 is quite unique I think. The signal is split in two and fed into low-pass and high-pass filters and mixed by the tone pot. At 12 o'clock it goes through both equally, which results in a mid-scoop. Not something you can recreate with a more conventional eq section later on.
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  • AlnicoAlnico Frets: 4616
    That's it, i'm going to buy one again.
    I hate you all. 
    :)
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  • They're cheap enough!

    (as long as you're not suckered into unfounded MIJ snobbery)
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  • I put DS1s and RATs in the same bucket...which is pedals everyone raves about but whenever I try them they sound awful!  =)

    I bought a Keeley one a while back and every so often I try and like it. It just sounds like a big horrible bucket of fizz to me though.

    I think people successfully use them with the gain very low to get a creamy quality to an already overdriven amp but I think there's load of pedals that do that better.


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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71953
    They're cheap enough!

    (as long as you're not suckered into unfounded MIJ snobbery)
    The early MIJ one I had a while back definitely sounded better than a later one I compared it to - chunkier and less scooped - although it could possibly just be component tolerance variation. I probably shouldn't have sold it.


    I think people successfully use them with the gain very low to get a creamy quality to an already overdriven amp but I think there's load of pedals that do that better.
    I successfully use them with the gain up a fair way into a clean amp, and I hate 'creamy' sounds... I think, although I'm not 100% sure what that means :). I hate smooth sounds, anyway.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • siraxemansiraxeman Frets: 1935

    DS-1 dirt is hard edged fizzy and gutless in the mids. So needs help. Other pedals are smoother/creamier and have oodles of mids and sound more 'amp like'....less like a wasp in a jam jar, more 'organic'  'valvey' n warm n stuff.

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