Boss DS1 Distortion Pedal Mod Page

A Final Change

2010-07-26T03:04:00.000-07:00

In a sea of modded pedals and the introduction of Blue L.E.D's its seems as though every man, dog and small child has fitted a bright Blue L.E.D to there modded & boutique effects pedals.

I'm also to blame for this, as i have many pedals with blues L.E.D's, I even took a soldering iron my old car's dashboard lights and 'Blued it up'.

Seeming the DS1 is famous for being the 'Orange Pedal' I decided on replacing the check indicator to an orange light. lately with my pedals iv been changing the L.E.D to the same colour as the pedal just for a little more streamline look.

One more mod

2010-07-20T01:37:00.000-07:00

In addition to my DS1 having a variation of the Modern & JCM mods including the hifi mod that replaces almost all resistors & capacitors to higher quality components the distortion was still a little bit on the fuzzy side.Trying the AMZ fat mod I remember the distortion being much more defined and pleasing however, this comes with the cost of much less distortion on tap. This got me thinking, looking at the two resistor’s that bring the gain down from the fat mod its really only R-9 that sets the amount of available gain (R-6 set the proper working voltage of 4.5v with the fat mod). Even with all the mods to my DS1, I still had a lot of gain on tap so I thought I could sacrifice a little gain for some character of the fat mod.

The original fat mod replaces R-9 (22 ohm) with a 1k resistor, in the parts bin the smallest value of resistance I had was a 100 ohm so I gave it a shot & I got exactly what I wanted a touch of the fat mod tone & slightly more bass at the cost of just a little reduction in distortion. With the small change in value to R-9, R-6 did not require a change to re-bias the transistor. measuring the voltage on the collector of the transistor is 4.37v that is good enough the ideal voltage of 4.5v.

For more info on the AMZ DS1 Fat Mod & how it works click here:

With variations of all four mods, I now have a DS1 distortion pedal that’s more suited to my needs, of course, I always want a bit more bass but the overall tone is what I was looking for.

To finish the pedal off, a ‘Marshall JCM’ decal & new knobs.

Here's the final list of changes;

-D4 = 1N4148 Connected in Series to another 1N4148

-D5 = Square RED LED

-R13 =1k

-R17 =15k

-C8 = 1uF

-C9 = 1uF

-C5 = 1uF

-C2 = 1uF

-C3 = .033uF

-R9 = 100R

Best of luck on your DS1 mod adventures…

The AMZ DS1 Fat two-resistor mod

2010-07-20T01:34:00.000-07:00

This is a mod from AMZ by Jack Orman. It’s a simple 2-resistor change that will bring the gain of the pedal down into proper distortion range & get it out of the fizzy fuzzy territory.

It’s a simple mod that really changes the way the pedal sounds by taking away the amount of distortion available, so the pedal goes from extreme to moderate. This mod also increases bass response a fair bit and its really noticeable. For my likings it brings the gain down two much, however the pedal does sound really different and it’s more dynamic and less compressed. As the mod states, you get more of a general distorted sound and much less of the fizzy fuzz territory sound from the stock DS1.

The mod gives a more desirable & defined distorted tone but I would like it to have more distortion available. Being such an easy mod, it’s worth a shot and can be used in conjunction with other mods, as most of the DS1 mods out there do not require you to change the same two resistors as the AMZ mod does.

After playing around with this mod for a day or so I change it back to the stock values as the reduction in available distortion was to low for my need.

If you use this mod and like it please give credit to Jack on his website as he give us an excellent source for mods, schematics & general DIY Pedal information. You can find his website and direct link to the mod at the links below,

- Muzique.com

- AMZ DS1 Fat Mod

The Fat mod is simply R6 = 150k & R9 = 1k

Cover Track with the Modern Mod & JCM Mod,

2010-07-20T01:10:00.002-07:00

When I did the first mod it to the Wampler Modern Distortion Tone Machine I wanted to record a cover song to see how it would perform in a musical situation. At the time I was giving guitar lessons to a friend of mine teaching him how to play Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman’. I decided to record the rhythm guitar parts with my newly modded DS1, however I had the idea of using a different mod for the lead guitar parts of the song. After I recorded the rhythm guitar a week or so later I started the Marshall JCM mod, once I had change the DS1 to JCM spec’s I finished learning the lead guitar parts of enter sandman and started recording.

With each guitar part the only extra effects I used was a bit of reverb & a standard crybaby CGB-95 wah pedal for the solos. Therefore, we have; Rhythm Guitar = Modern Mod & Lead Guitar = Marshall JCM mod.

Below is a video of the recording, in a band situation each guitar part should be more noticeable tone wise, however, with the original track playing in the background there really isn’t a dramatic difference at all, having the original tracks guitars, drum, bass & vocals in the mix, hearing the subtle differences between the mods isn’t that apparent. However, you can still hear a difference if you listen closely.

Ow.. Please excuse my crappy playing.

Combining DS1 Mods

2010-07-19T07:25:00.000-07:00

After having the Marshall JCM mod for a year or so and mainly playing around with C-3 on the circuit board (the capacitor on C-3 determines the amount of bass that is send into the gain stage) i remembered how crunchy the modern distortion mod sounded and wanted a similar tone but i liked the snap & slight buzziness of the JCM Mod.

Reading up on LED's as clipping diodes and testing a few out i ended up using a red square LED. I tried 3mm, 5mm of various colors, even blue LED's and the best sound to my ears was using a red square LED. This LED has a lower forward voltage than the regular run of the mill 3mm LED's so it would clip a bit earlier, after trying out an LED in D5 & D4 and various diodes i ended up using the JCM mod & the Modern Mod together.

So along with the Marshall JCM mod (click here for my previous post with the list of changes) i ended up using the following clipping stage;

-D-4 = 1N4148 Connected in Series to another 1N4148

-D-5 = Square RED LED

This type of clipping with two diode in series & one diode on its own is called asymmetrical clipping, its where the wave form is clipped harder on one side and has more of a tube like sound. The new clipping has changed the tone a lot, it still has the JCM mod character but sounds more crunchy with a little less distortion, slight volume boost & a touch more bottom end.

If you want to know more about different types of clipping click here:

The pedal sounds great even though i wish it had a little more bottom end, I'm thinking of looking into the tone stack parts of the circuit and using the Duncan tone-stack calculator to get some more lows, however, its now more suited to my needs than the standard JCM Mod and i like it.

Below is a Pic of the clipping diodes with the Square LED.

HiFi DS1 Mod

2010-07-19T04:27:00.000-07:00

Shortly after i did the standard Marshall JCM Mod i wanted to see if i could bring the noise floor of the pedal down a notch (bring the hiss down)

It is said that Boss use cheap components in there pedals & this is the main reason why some are noisy like the stock DS1. When you open up your DS1 its true the parts are cheap & this is because of manufacturing costs so we cant expect hifi parts for such little money.

There are a few guys out there that sell "hifi" mods for boss pedals supplying you will components of the same value but of high quality, this in turn makes your DS1's noise floor (hiss) level drop. does it work??? i wanted to find out.

If we change all the capacitors to hi quality film caps with a tolerance of +/- 5% (well at least as many as we can change) & then change all the resistors to metal film resistors with a tolerance of +/- 1% using higher quality components than stock with lower noise should bring the overall noise floor of the DS1 down, well at least a little bit.

with a schematic handy i took a trip to the electronics store and purchased every resistor value in metal film resistors (that are suppose to have less noise than carbon film) & also got the rest of the values of film capacitors.

After about an hour of de-soldering and soldering i replaced every resistor with from carbon film to metal film and every capacitor i could to film caps with a tighter tolerance including most of the electrolytic caps.

THE RESULT:- the pedal did seem like the noise floor had been reduced a little bit but honestly not by much, however the overall sound was a little more clearer. This could be from the metal film resistors & film caps or it could just be that the tolerance of the updated components are tighter, therefore the circuit changed slightly. Either way to pedal is slightly better so if you have the time to do it i think its worth the change.

If you look closely i forgot one resistor hiding under that transistor, but i replaced it the day after i took the photo. if you want to see a stock DS1 circuit board check out my previous post here:

Others & DS1 Mod Adventures

2010-07-19T03:17:00.001-07:00

I was browsing the net for DS1 mods when i found some places that the people were kind enough to tell there stories. check out the links below for what other's have done to the DS1 and see what there outcomes are.

-Erik's Corner

-Lone Phantom

-DIYstompbox Post

if your reading this then your either considering modding your DS1 or you are in the process of modding it, so these links are worth a read... or two....

The Marshall JCM DS1 Mod

2010-07-19T01:58:00.000-07:00

After having the DS1 with the Wapler Modern Distortion mod for a few weeks, I wanted to hear how the classic Marshall JCM Tones Mod would sound like. I liked the Modern Mod, but wanted to experiment, and the Modern Mod just didn’t cut if for me in lead work.

First things first I put the pedal back to stock and tested it to make sure everything was in proper working order, then I did the Wampler Marshal JCM mod, the mod includes the following changed;

-D4 = 1N4148 Connected in Series to another 1N4148

-D5 = 1N4001 Connected in Series to another 1N4001

-R13 = 1k

-R17 = 15k

-C8 = 1uF

-C9 = 1uF

-C5 = 1uF

-C2 = 1uF

-C3 = .033uF

The JCM mod the bass response of the pedal (C-3) is drastically reduced so that no bass frequencies can be inserted before the clipping stage. Mr Wampler says that having bass before clipping makes for a more ‘Fuzzy’ type distortion and gives you a more splatty sound on the decay of notes. He’s right, with the JCM mod that is what higher cap values do to the sound and its ok but gets a little annoying with higher volumes.

Completing the Marshal JCM mod proved the pedal to have a more vintage / treble sound to it and makes for kind of ringmaster treble booster into a tube amp hi pitched distortion sound. It would work great with a bass heavy amp but my amp is a little on the treble side so it sounded a bit thin and with the distortion all the way up palm muting chug’s just didn’t have much definition.

Still I kept the mod for a while to try to work with it because the overall tone of it sounds good. Mr Wampler also advised to use an equalizer pedal after the distortion unit to get more clean bass from it, however it does exactly that. You get a clean bass response & a dirty hi end response that doesn’t sit well with me. Therefore, I ended up finding a good compromise by using an AMZ mini boost pedal in front of the DS1. With the Mini Boost pedal, it fattens up your tone in a big way so you get just enough clean bass to make the distortion pedal sound a bit fuller. Therefore, setting the Mini Boost pedal to unity gain and backing off the DS1’s tone knob a bit gave me a nice distorted tone similar to pushed amp.

The noise floor of the pedal came down a lot with this mod, however I believe it’s because of having less gain on the distortion control.

In the end it’s a different sounding distortion from the original tone, more realistic but for my tastes lacks in bass a bit much for my rig. Combining a little bass in front of the DS1 proved to make it sound fuller for my liking and that’s the way I kept if for about a year.

Changing Electrolytic Capacitors to Film Capacitors Boss DS1

2010-07-18T05:16:00.000-07:00

If you have read & researched Boss DS1 mods you will find that a lot of people will state that swapping the electrolytic capacitors for non polarized film capacitors will help with giving the pedal a more Hi-Fi sound.

This got me thinking & got me to the electronics store, i got some quality film capacitors to replace the electrolytic's in the pedal to see if it would make a difference. with the electrolytic cap's in the pedal they have a tolerance of +/- 20% & the film caps i got have a tolerance of +/- 5%. thats a huge difference and so obviously the results of replacing as many electro's to films would make some audible difference, but how much? Seeming i was on a mission to make my DS1 sound more "HiFi" i also replaced the stock film caps with new film caps that have a tighter tolerance, with the stock film caps having a +/- 10% tolerance the new film cap's +/- 5% tolerance & higher quality could make a little difference.

i got to work with replacing the capacitors and in the end i really couldn't hear any difference at all IMHO, maybe my ears aren't as good as the Pro's but the difference wasn't that much if any. I also believe that the subtle difference in tone was because if the tolerance of the film caps. they have a much tighter tolerance and that means that the values of each cap would be slightly different from the original electrolytic capacitors which = a slightly different circuit for a bit of a different tone.

i kept the film caps in the pedal because i spent money on them and they dont make the pedal sound any worse, but in the end its not really worth the trouble of replacing.

Below is a before and after Shot of the circuit board with the new film cap's

'Wampler' Modern Distortion Mod

2010-07-18T05:05:00.000-07:00

My first actual modification to the circuit of the Boss DS1 pedal was to try to Wampler 'Modern Distortion Tones' Mod from the premier guitar magazine article.

This mod is ment to take the DS1 into Modern Distortion Tones and does a pretty good job of making the pedal sound a little thicker and much more crunchyer, as for sounding modern, you will have to decide for yourself.

I found that with this Mod the pedal sound great for a chunky rhythm sound but lacked a bit a oomff for lead work, however its a different sound for the DS1 & is very useful.

The following changes for this mod are;

-R16 = 1K

-R14 = 10K

-R15 = 3.3K

-C10 = .001uF

-C5 = 1uF FILM CAP

-C9 = 1uF FILM CAP

-D4 = 3mm RED LED

This Mod also changes the Tonestack of the pedal an the tone control is less on the treble side with a much less range to it, still enough for good adjustments but about half the variation for the stock tone control.

this is the outcome of this mod. id say it a modern take on the DS1 Pedal's tone.

Boss DS1 (LED indicator Mod)

2010-07-18T02:52:00.000-07:00

The Very First thing i did to my DS1, was to change the Colour of the Status LED. its not really a Mod per say because it does not affect the sound of the pedal in any way, shape or form. However, if we're going the mod this thing we may as well change it and make the pedal a bit more unique.

from the pic below you can see that the original LED is a 3mm Red LED which is fitted to almost all Boss compact pedal. they are cheap and readily available so for a company that produces thousands of pedals per year every penny you can save counts.

I opted to go for a defused 5mm Blue LED that would stand out from the crowd of average DS1's and also stand out on my pedal-board. to get it to fit properly you will have to drill out the original hole with a 5mm drill bit, which is pretty easy to do then you will have to resize the LED stand post to the correct length so that the LED sits in the hole at the right height. once you open up your DS1 it will become clear to what you have to do & this mod only talks about 20 minutes of your time.

As you can see the LED i installed looked like its factory fitted, no need for a holder or Chrome bezel and the result is luminosity of Blue.

Llinks to DS1 Mod Pages

2010-07-18T01:45:00.000-07:00

As promised here are a few links to some boss DS1 mods. In my next post il start with explaining the various mod's i have done with the help of these pages and what outcomes you can expect with each mod.

Click on the name's to go to the DS-1 Mod Pages

-AMZ DS1 FatMod

-Premier Guitar Magazine's DS1 Mod Article

-KEELEY - Seeing Eye Mod

-Fuzz Central Mod Sheet

Happy Modding Guy's

Getting Started on Modding the DS1

2010-07-18T01:37:00.000-07:00

here is a picture of some progress as i mod the DS1, as you can see the important tools i need are all there. I'm talkin about my bottle of 'V' energy drink, its proved to keep me going even when my hands just want to give up. i also have some old underwear handy so i wont damage my desk, its important to use old underwear because its the basis of good tone.

Modifying The Boss DS1 Distortion Pedal (Entry No.1)

2010-07-18T01:03:00.000-07:00

The Boss DS-1 Pedal has been around for decades and gives us a rather basic distortion tone for todays standards. most people will buy the pedal thinking they can pull off all there favorite bands distorted tones, however, after some tweaking the control knobs in time as our ear develops the pedal seems to sound a little thin and we notice its more like a one trick pony.

Now, this is not a bad thing the pedal does what its designed to do and back in the day that distorted tone was cutting edge. The Pedal is a good sound for what it is and we can't expect it to perform miracles. After all its an old design and sells for roughly $40 USD street price.

So, what do you when you have outgrown your DS-1 or have received a DS1 for a gift and like the general gist of the tone but wish it could be a little more on the bass side, more mid heavey or a little more modern. well.... you modify the circuitry & get what you want.

If you know how to use a soldering iron the battle is almost won, changing out parts/components is a simple task and can give you exactly what you want the revive the old DS-1 Distortion pedal.

I started this blog so that i could document the various changed My DS-1 pedal has gone through to keep track of exactly what i have done for future reference in case i need to change anything back. I also decided to do this as a blog so aspiring modders can learn from my mistakes & Success to keep an online reference on the various mods i find along the way.

In my next blog i'll provide a few links to other peoples mod pages so we can get started on our journey to modify a Boss DS-1 Distortion Pedal.