Can I go wrong with this unit? I want a decent distortion box for not much money?
Thoughts?
Can I go wrong with this unit? I want a decent distortion box for not much money?
Thoughts?
No, you cannot go wrong with a DS-1.
Check out www.monteallums.com for a cheap, easy kit to make it sound even better!
s'all goof.
+1...for the price (last I checked, they go for around $40 new, I got mine for half that used...) it's good to have lying around for an emergency...
when I found mine, i couldn't afford NOT to get it...
********************************
"Do you call sleeping with a guitar in your hands practicing?"
"It is if you don't drop it."
- Trent Lane, Daria, Episode 1-2.
I have a Boss DS-1, works fine for me, It is the only pedal I have besides a Morley wah. I use it with my Princeton, DRRI and Bassman. Seems decent for a low cost distortion pedal.
Actually you can go wrong with them.
With a BF/SF amp they sound horrible. The compression and EQ on them is so nasty that it actually gets quieter the harder you hit it.
They're supposed to be better with Marshalls.
They'd have to be.
Several guitars in different colors
Things to make them fuzzy
Things to make them louder
orange picks
crap...... i placed an order about 20 min ago.Originally Posted by Kap'n
They are decent for the money (I got mine used for $25). However, I ended up going back to a Danelectro Daddy-O as I prefer its more "Marshally" tones (the 3-band EQ helps I think) over the DS-1's brighter sounds. But the DS-1 is certainly popular enough amoung many players (from Steve Vai on down) so they have to be pretty good for something!
.
MMCQUAIN * Rock, Blues, Christian player * mmcquain@mcquain.com
Gibson Les Paul Studio 60's Tribute, Breedlove Acoustic/Electric
Egnater, Dean Markley, D'Addario, various effect pedals
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+10!! The DS-1 sounded HORRIBLE with my new DRRI.
ChuckO gave me mine, but it has some sort of duel LED custom setup, that I assume has something to do with how it clips.. I like it a lot..
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Ditto. I played it a few times with a JCM800 though, and it sounded great
+1000
I can't seem to find a usable sound with this particular pedal. The Keeley modded version was best, but still fizzy/buzzy sounding. (Some prefer this kind of distortion, but not me.) Stock Taiwan built DS-1's are nothing but unevenly compressed crap boxes. IMHO
I still have a black labeled Japanese model (only DS-1 I haven't sold yet) and it's okay at lower gain settings, but I'm always fighting that overly compressed sound. There is so much hype out there about Satch/Vai and others using the DS-1 successfully, so I tried a LOT of them and tried to like them with every fiber of my being. But ... no, I don't particularly like them.
I'm more of an SD-1(higher gain)/ BD-2(lower gain) kinda guy. I have modern Keeley versions of both these pedals, which are good enough to stop me from trying the other mods out there for now. I'm curious to hear the Analogman SD-1, they seem to get more hype than the Keeleys.
With that said, the SD-1 really doesn't need to be modded. It's great right out of the box. A little noisey, but not all that bad. I particularly like the smoothness of this pedal, which compliments the tones of my Carvin Legacy nicely. Best bang for your buck right here!
The BD-2 I had sitting in my closet for years until I sent it to Keeley, and now I can't take it off my board. It's just THAT good. (Especially for my little vintage type112 amp on the clean channel)
:::shivers:::
I hope this helps!
AQS
Guitars:
Carvin CT4M Goldtop
Carvin DC125C
Fender EJ Strat (Candy Apple)
Fender 60th Anniv. American Strat
Amps:
Carvin Legacy Half Stack
Carvin Nomad
I get a pretty sound out of mine through my DRRI. The tone knob really only covers a minute range of upper mid frequencies, it seems. Takes some tweaking, but I've gotten some pretty good hard rock sounds using my PRS McCarty, the DS-1, and my DRRI.
Time wounds all heels.
I hate the DS-1 with a passion! Maybe because I'm using blackface Fender amps? I had never heard that before today!
I bought one and modded the heck out of it looking for a good sound.
In any case, I don't play any '80s metal and don't shred so I had no use for the one I had.
It sounded a lot better with Humbuckers than it did with single coils.
I like the original Rat pedal a lot more. I've heard comparisons between the two but there isn't any!
I've got a Rat clone that I built (not a kit) with a trim pot to tweak out some of the clipping of the high end.
I love that sound, and with my Kramer Baretta, I'm in heaven!
But I go in and out of that "metal" thing.. It's a mid-life crisis thing..
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That's a lot easier on your marraige than getting a girlfriend and easier on the budget than a sportscar!
Bad with Vox amps, too. Must be a Jake E. Lee into a cranked Marshall thing, 'cause his sounded great.
I like the SD1 Super Overdrive. It's a great meat-and-potatoes box. Only about $10 more than the DS1.
"I'm gonna find myself a girl
that can show me what laughter means
And we'll fill in the missing colors
In each other's paint-by-number dreams..."
+100 on that. The SD-1 and a TS-9 together just make for a great lead tone.
--The music is all around us. I can hear it. Can you?
Yup, though you have to be careful with the respective gains/volumes so that it doesn't mush out.
Are you running the TS9 first, or the SD-1?
I've been using the TS9 first, and using it to boost the input into the SD-1 for solos. However, I think that just adds to the fizz factor, so I might try my TS9 after the SD-1. What do you think?
"I'm gonna find myself a girl
that can show me what laughter means
And we'll fill in the missing colors
In each other's paint-by-number dreams..."
I run my DS1 into my TS9 or my bad monkey into my DS1, or all three. But that's way too much...
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Yeah, I go guitar>ts-9>sd-1>wah into my amp. I use the TS-9 for my main overdrive, and have all the controls on the SD-1 set at 12:00 (slightly higher on the level) and just kick it on and off for lead work. Rarely turn the TS-9 off.
--The music is all around us. I can hear it. Can you?
Too bad you don't want to spend anymore $. the Analogman DS-1 Pro mod is $70.00 and it turns a mediocre pedal into a glorious sounding one. Sounds great through either my Plexi or my deluxe clone. totally worth it IMHO.
blueman61
I really can't stand the DS-1 either, not even for metal...There are much better (albeit more $$$) metal pedals out there. Even as a distortion (or overdrive) I think you'd be much better suited with an Arion Tubulator which uses the same chip as a tube screamer. Tubulators can be purchased for as low as $9.99 if you can believe that! I usually buy a few when they come down that low and give them to friends who have DS-1's!
...and on the 8th day, God created the Super Reverb and there was ROCK, and it was GOOD!
So how about the PROCO RAT2?
I liked it a LOT better than the DS-1, but it was ultimately unsatisfying for me with BF/SF circuits.
Then again, I don't use those amps anymore, either.
Several guitars in different colors
Things to make them fuzzy
Things to make them louder
orange picks
Hey, try an OS2. has DS 1 and overdrive in one. It has an awesome tone range. I ue 3 different distortions: Fulltone Soulbender (Fuzz), Fulltone Full Drive 2 (drive) and the OS2 (all out distortion). OS 2 gets the sounds I need for 80s and 90s rock sound (some Van Halen, Bon Jovi etc.) I run it through a Marshall DSL 50 and standard 412. Rocks till you drop!
"Sorry" - John Belushi as he smashed a guitar in Animal House
The Rat, Rat2, Turbo Rat, etc. are great pedals. OSA has one on his pedalboard, and he's the tonemeister.
I don't have one because
a.) I've already got, like, 5 overdrive pedals, and
b.) it doesn't fit in my BCB-3 Boss pedalboard.
"I'm gonna find myself a girl
that can show me what laughter means
And we'll fill in the missing colors
In each other's paint-by-number dreams..."
I like the rat sounds pretty good so far...... very versatile for me
Let's put it this way:
DS-1 pedals? For the money, they couldn't be cheaper.
I use my Rat clone as both an overdrive pedal and a distortion pedal.
Just my $.02...
1. I like my DS1. But I'm very tempted to send it to Keeley for modding.
2. I liked my Bad Monkey. But it didn't give me enough "dirt". I traded it for the DS1, but I should've kept the pedal.
3. I don't like the RAT I tried!
4. I hate fuzz...I hated the fuzz effect on my Danowah I had...it was way "over the top".
me too
After reading all of these posts, decided to try an Ibanez TS9 vs. the Boss DS1 I was using. The difference was amazing. Thanks to all more experienced pedal users, I now have a much better OD sound at all volumns. The TS9 sounds more real than the DS1.
Thanks again,
BDW
Placing a TS9 against a DS-1 is hardly a fair comparison is it? An OD pedal is an entirely different animal from a distortion pedal.
Yes, Not fair to compare an OD pedal against a distortion pedal, but it did make me realize distortion is not what I needed, just some overdrive in front of the DRRI to achieve the sound I was after, a different animal was just what I needed. Thanks for pointing that out.
With a little tweaking, I've actually grown to like my stock DS-1.
I play at church, and had just upgraded from a Vox AD30VT to a Blues Deluxe Re-issue. Whenever I needed some distortion, I just used the Vox. Since overdrive channel on the BDRI is rather light, I needed something more. I was going to grab the Hothead distortion, since I was pretty happy with my Bad Monkey, but the local store was out, so it was the DS-1. I was looking to keep the price down since I'd spent a bit lately on gear, and don't use it every week, like I do the Bad Monkey.
When I first plugged it in, it sounded a bit shrill, especially on the leads. I tweaked a bit and got a good crunch on some power chords, since that's what the song required. I asked a few people listening at practice, and they thought it sounded good. I was still hearing a slightly shrill sound, but nothing drastic. Still wasn't 100% sold on it though.
I was still on the fence, and had a couple weeks left to return it, so I sat down for some more tweaking. The more I played, the more I warmed up to it. I still think some of the leads are a little sharp sounding, but not bad now that I've tweaked it and the amp. I am getting some good 70's and 80's sounds out of it. I think if you play that type of stuff, you'd like it. It's not going to do Pantera or more modern metal. I am sure it depends on your amp and guitar also. I've been listening to the new Sabbath/Dio compilation, and I can come pretty close to the tone on "heaven and hell'.
I am going to keep the DS-1. I am sure as my collection grows, I'll get other distortion pedals, but it has a place there for sure. I can get some warm, thick distorted rhythm sounds out of it without tearing of the top of peoples heads, and that's what I need right now.
DS-1's sound great. But... they are not overdrive pedals, they are distortion pedals. When used as a lead sound, they can be a bit tricky, but they make one of the best rythym sounds out there.
Overdrive will generally work at all volumes, but distortion needs to have the amp breaking up a little to get it to cut through, lest it becomes fuzzy and lost in the mix.
The other biggest issue around distortion is the way lots of newer players invert the use of it. As a general rule - which as we know we are allowed to break as we see fit - you want to dirty up the rythym and CLEAN UP the leads. The natural propensity I've encountered with beginners is that they want to do the opposite.
Think Beatles Twist and Shout for a clean rythym sound. Chunky and clunky, whereas a good overdriven rythym sound would be Blackfoots' version of Train, Train. Notice in the latter that the lead solo is pure cranked amp with no effects (I'm assuming).
I've been accused of being a tonemeister (thank you! (blushes)) in this and other threads, but really, the secret to a good lead sound is that your rig needs to soung good BEFORE you add effects. If it doesn't have a good, singing lead tone before you hit a button, it most certainly won't after you do.
Case in point, when we played the Bug Jar in Rochester, a guy who plays guitar for a band asked me what effects I used for a solo on a particular song, and he almost fell over when I told him "The Master Bypass switch".
Distortion is great, but for solos, a little goes a LONG way. I generally blend about 65/35 wet/dry when I use a true distortion on a solo. This seems to emulate a post-mike application of distortion which, IMNSHO, is the best way to use it for leads.
"No harmonic knowledge, no sense of time, a ghastly tone, unskilled vibrato, and so on. Chuck is one of the worst guitar players I know" -Gravity Jim
I agree %100 - and that's how I went about building my latest setup - I didn't want an amp with anything other than reverb and maybe a drive channel, everything else I can get with pedals. I started with the clean sound, and went from there. For me, the key is sometimes rolling back the gain. Like you say, a little can go a long way with distortion.
In the late 80's when in a rock band,I used the DS1 as the only pedal for three years, for a lead sound I switched to the overdrive channel of my Pro-amp and Bingo! great rhythm Distortion. The SD1 is more where Im at right now. I use an Rocktron Austin Gold overdrive to push it into lead and on its own for a great pickin crunch sound.
Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less.
C. S. Lewis
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Edited post about MD-2, end result, it was TOO much for what I needed, so back to the DS-1 it is.
Last edited by WideAwake; 05-23-2007 at 04:46 PM.
iI've got a DS 1 with the Analogman Mod. It's OKAY. I need to spend more time with it, though. Just got it!
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