Did a few cool DS1 mods and they work together nicely!
Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 5:58 am
Well, there was no way I was going to mess with my Oct '86 DS1, it's perfect as it is and I must honor it's originality. Don't mess with that icon. It just turned 35 this month and that's enough activity for it, anyway.
I did get a October '11 DS1 for $5 and my intentions was to give it several procedures for it's 10th birthday. I compared this one to the 86 and they did sound more similar than not, so I did each mod and compared the results of the 'control' '11 against my stock '86 'constant.' A secondary goal was to tune this DS1 to sound like my beloved V-Twin pedal (in blues mode) that I use as the primary drive on my SilverFace Fender amps-particularly my Bassman Ten. I would prefer to have a much smaller, lighter pedal to get my dirt and be able to power it with a typical daisy chain vs a large, wall wart proprietary power supply.
Another pedal that seems to work pretty well with BF/SF Fenders is my Wampler Plexi Drive mini. My Reutz modded Rat2 is not bad, but it's also a little over the top with Fenders. It's tricky getting distortions to sound good on a BF/SF Fenders, as these amps are quite scooped in the low mids and sort of bright as it is. I can easily get a nice, medium-gain with a fat and smooth tone out of the V-Twin--the V-Twin into the Bassman Ten sounds rather similar to plugging directly into my Marshall DSL50 on the crunch mode, or my Mesa MKIIC+ or MKIII on the lead mode.
I have never been able to coax a usable tone from a DS1 into BF/SF Fenders. It's somewhat oil and water, IME. I have seen some DS1 mod videos that sounded pretty good with Fenders, though. I tried other Boss pedals with Fenders, The SD1 is too mid forward/bass thin for my preferred primary tone, and a BD2 is a little too wild/gnarly/raw, for lack of better terms. The fat switch I installed on it gets me closer to what I like, though. The DF2's turbo mode is a little too nasal. The OD2 in turbo mode is quite close to what I like, though, I just want a little more volume, a little less compression and a little more bite that a distortion provides.
So, here goes the experiement...
First: the pre '94 mod. This was just changing 3 caps (C5, C7 & C8) to make a post '94 MIT sound more like the pre' 94 MIJ. It certainly made the two pedals sound even more similar. They weren't that different beforehand, but this added an extra level of detail. The pedal was now a touch more transparent sounding, not as hairy on the high end.
Second: the AMZ Fat mod. This was also a simple 2 resistor change (R6 & R9) that lowered the gain a bit and did a little rebias of Q2. The main takeaway is now the gain control is very usable over it's full range--it cleans up more at full CCW and at full CW, it's roughly like having the stock pedal set around 5 (which works great for me, I never set the gain over 4 on a stock DS1). This also made the highs a little less shrill and sort of reshaped the low end, it sounds like there is more bass, but it's not as deep and flabby as the stock low end.
Third: C10 mod. Stock, this starts the LPF rolloff around 7kHz. I changed this cap to make the rolloff knee around 3.2K. A smoother sound. Since I was going to be using this pedal with brighter Fenders, may as well smooth it up a touch.
I was quite happy with how the pedal was sounding in the Bassman Ten at this point. Every change was for the better and getting me closer to my goal. However, it was still just not quite there.
Enter the home run mod...
Fourth: the Wampler JCM800 mod. This is done by changing C2, C3, C5, C9, R17, D4 and D5.
I didn't change C5 to the JCM800 value, as C5 was already addressed with the MIJ mod. C5's MIJ replacement value (.47uF) was already halfway between the stock MIT value (.068uF) and the JCM800 value (1uF).
Looking through my used parts Tupperware, I saw a green LED that is a direct replacement for the stock red indicator. So that was the Fifth mod.
In comparison to the stock DS1, it's not very DS1 anymore, other than appearance. One cannot dial in this modded tone with a stock DS1. The lower mids are accentuated, the low end is tighter and there is less sizzle up top. There is no hope of getting that super dirty, fuzzy nature with the gain on 10, the distortion is not nearly as dirty and compressed. The tone control is mostly the same, but the extreme settings seem a little less extreme. There also seems to be a touch more volume on tap. It really does have more in common with a JCM800 2203/2204 tonality and gain range.
Compared to my V-Twin in Blues Mode: it's very close. In direct comparison, playing by myself at home, there are some subtle differences. Subtle enough that they would be lost in a mix or playing live. The V-Twin has just a touch more richness and depth to the tone. The modded DS1 reacts to my volume knob as I am accustomed with the V-Twin. It's a win. I'm very happy and can't wait to take this to the next band practice and put it to the real test.
Compared to my Plexi Drive Mini. It's also quite close. I can nearly dial in a very similar tone and feel on both pedals. The Plexi Drive is a little tighter and slightly thinner on the low end, even with the bass switch on. The Plexi Drive has a little more gain as well as more volume boost on tap. The PD's tone control has a much more limited range, but it's full range of sweep is very toneful and useful. The PD's tone control range from 0-10 is like sweeping the modded DS from 2-4 (which is where I always set it). I'm pretty sure I could make the modded DS1 sound like the PD with a couple cap and resistor tweaks-but why? This makes me wonder if the Wampler Plexi Drive is somewhat derived from Wampler's JCM800 DS1 mod?
I did get a October '11 DS1 for $5 and my intentions was to give it several procedures for it's 10th birthday. I compared this one to the 86 and they did sound more similar than not, so I did each mod and compared the results of the 'control' '11 against my stock '86 'constant.' A secondary goal was to tune this DS1 to sound like my beloved V-Twin pedal (in blues mode) that I use as the primary drive on my SilverFace Fender amps-particularly my Bassman Ten. I would prefer to have a much smaller, lighter pedal to get my dirt and be able to power it with a typical daisy chain vs a large, wall wart proprietary power supply.
Another pedal that seems to work pretty well with BF/SF Fenders is my Wampler Plexi Drive mini. My Reutz modded Rat2 is not bad, but it's also a little over the top with Fenders. It's tricky getting distortions to sound good on a BF/SF Fenders, as these amps are quite scooped in the low mids and sort of bright as it is. I can easily get a nice, medium-gain with a fat and smooth tone out of the V-Twin--the V-Twin into the Bassman Ten sounds rather similar to plugging directly into my Marshall DSL50 on the crunch mode, or my Mesa MKIIC+ or MKIII on the lead mode.
I have never been able to coax a usable tone from a DS1 into BF/SF Fenders. It's somewhat oil and water, IME. I have seen some DS1 mod videos that sounded pretty good with Fenders, though. I tried other Boss pedals with Fenders, The SD1 is too mid forward/bass thin for my preferred primary tone, and a BD2 is a little too wild/gnarly/raw, for lack of better terms. The fat switch I installed on it gets me closer to what I like, though. The DF2's turbo mode is a little too nasal. The OD2 in turbo mode is quite close to what I like, though, I just want a little more volume, a little less compression and a little more bite that a distortion provides.
So, here goes the experiement...
First: the pre '94 mod. This was just changing 3 caps (C5, C7 & C8) to make a post '94 MIT sound more like the pre' 94 MIJ. It certainly made the two pedals sound even more similar. They weren't that different beforehand, but this added an extra level of detail. The pedal was now a touch more transparent sounding, not as hairy on the high end.
Second: the AMZ Fat mod. This was also a simple 2 resistor change (R6 & R9) that lowered the gain a bit and did a little rebias of Q2. The main takeaway is now the gain control is very usable over it's full range--it cleans up more at full CCW and at full CW, it's roughly like having the stock pedal set around 5 (which works great for me, I never set the gain over 4 on a stock DS1). This also made the highs a little less shrill and sort of reshaped the low end, it sounds like there is more bass, but it's not as deep and flabby as the stock low end.
Third: C10 mod. Stock, this starts the LPF rolloff around 7kHz. I changed this cap to make the rolloff knee around 3.2K. A smoother sound. Since I was going to be using this pedal with brighter Fenders, may as well smooth it up a touch.
I was quite happy with how the pedal was sounding in the Bassman Ten at this point. Every change was for the better and getting me closer to my goal. However, it was still just not quite there.
Enter the home run mod...
Fourth: the Wampler JCM800 mod. This is done by changing C2, C3, C5, C9, R17, D4 and D5.
I didn't change C5 to the JCM800 value, as C5 was already addressed with the MIJ mod. C5's MIJ replacement value (.47uF) was already halfway between the stock MIT value (.068uF) and the JCM800 value (1uF).
Looking through my used parts Tupperware, I saw a green LED that is a direct replacement for the stock red indicator. So that was the Fifth mod.
In comparison to the stock DS1, it's not very DS1 anymore, other than appearance. One cannot dial in this modded tone with a stock DS1. The lower mids are accentuated, the low end is tighter and there is less sizzle up top. There is no hope of getting that super dirty, fuzzy nature with the gain on 10, the distortion is not nearly as dirty and compressed. The tone control is mostly the same, but the extreme settings seem a little less extreme. There also seems to be a touch more volume on tap. It really does have more in common with a JCM800 2203/2204 tonality and gain range.
Compared to my V-Twin in Blues Mode: it's very close. In direct comparison, playing by myself at home, there are some subtle differences. Subtle enough that they would be lost in a mix or playing live. The V-Twin has just a touch more richness and depth to the tone. The modded DS1 reacts to my volume knob as I am accustomed with the V-Twin. It's a win. I'm very happy and can't wait to take this to the next band practice and put it to the real test.
Compared to my Plexi Drive Mini. It's also quite close. I can nearly dial in a very similar tone and feel on both pedals. The Plexi Drive is a little tighter and slightly thinner on the low end, even with the bass switch on. The Plexi Drive has a little more gain as well as more volume boost on tap. The PD's tone control has a much more limited range, but it's full range of sweep is very toneful and useful. The PD's tone control range from 0-10 is like sweeping the modded DS from 2-4 (which is where I always set it). I'm pretty sure I could make the modded DS1 sound like the PD with a couple cap and resistor tweaks-but why? This makes me wonder if the Wampler Plexi Drive is somewhat derived from Wampler's JCM800 DS1 mod?