Boss DS-1

[Ides of March]

Can someone give honest opinions of this pedal. I am wondering if it is worth having on my pedal board with my OCD or not. I can't spend the money right now for another distortion and my Rat II needs to be fixed(when I stomp on it, the circuit is cutting out). Is it worth even having on my board, or not. I play through a B52 100 tube amp.

 

[brianf]

The tone can be brittle like some Steppenwolf rythym chops but new the pedals are less than 40.00. If you end up not liking it you will get 20.00 or 25.00 on the Marketplace here in a flash.

I use one for when we play some Stones covers. I play Keiths parts in open G and use the DS1 with the gain right to zero to pretty much nail his tone.

Say what you will about Boss pedals but they are ultra durable, have a very fair price and sound not bad.

I have about 75 O/D's from 30.00 to 400.00 and you will never hear me knock Boss effects.


brianf

 

[Jack DeVille]

disclaimer: some folks will not agree with this post

the ds-1 reminds me of the ford taurus.
both "work" reasonably well; the ds-1 makes distortion, the ford taurus drives around like a car. the only downer is that the taurus is a total POS and will leak, break, run like **** and eventually cause hair loss and "big-ass-hole-in-the-wallet-ANOTHER-F-ING-TRANNY!?" syndrome.
while the ds-1 will probably not require continuous repairs and encourage ridicule from its passengers, it is very much like a shiny new ford taurus: it is a turd. a flop. albeit a functional flop, but still a flop.
i've owned a ds-1 since 1993? i've tried to like it. really. after 15 years (!!) trying to bond with its tone, i decided to "mod the pedal to improve the tone." i tried countless "known-good-mods" and found that no matter what you do, its still a ds-1. a lowly, bottom-feeding ds-1.
you can sink $50,000 into paint, rims, a fancy interior and even some serious motor upgrades, but at the end of the day, its still a f*#&ing taurus. it will always be a POS destined to be picked apart by tweakers at a low-end boneyard on the wrong side of town.

that's my $0.02 now you know how i feel about them

 

[swampdonkey90]

I have the Keeley Modded DS1 and I owned the Analogman DS1. Both were huge upgrades from the original pedal and both were useless to me. I sold the Analogman pedal after a few months and the Keeley is on sale at HCAF now.

To ensure you that I am not trying to spam your thread I will tell you straight up..... dont buy this pedal stock or otherwise.

 

[Axekisser]

Well, My Allums modded DS-1 (plus some of my own mods) sounds very well indeed. BTW, I've owned 2 Tauruses (88, '03) Sold the '88 with 90k and it still ran for 4 years after that. My '03 has 100k and because I do NORMAL maintenance, its been a champ for me--28mpg, no rattles, no problems. My friends Toyota Tacoma--tires, brakes, expensive dealer repairs and it's an '06. YMMV!!

 

[NortheastHick]

They are inexpensive and can sound good IF you dial it AND the amp in together. Definately not my first choice in disto boxes, but boss makes a durable, decent sounding product. Oh and don't even get me going on those 80's fords...POS POS POS!!!!!

 

[rob2001]

With the gain low, volume high and the tone rolled way back, it can work ok as a boost...IMO. Very bright, gainy pedal. Turn down the gain and the bright and it's usable.

 

[roomservice]

They are fine pedals

I've had 3 over the last 25 years or so and they always sound great if you know what you want and how to dial in a tone.

Yes - there are better pedals out there (in my opinion but that doesnt say much lol!) but, for the money, you cant go wrong with a stock DS-1 to keep you going for a few months or years.

 

[NortheastHick]

Ya what Rob said, I forgot, they are very bright especially with the gain high. tone knob waaaaaay down.

 

[sodapopinski]

i have a Keeley DS-1 that i love. it is awesome, i dont care what anyone says, you are able to play open chords with its gain at about 75% and still hear each note and string clearly without getting muddy like my Cranked AC and Brownie, while they are different pedals i love all 3 for different reasons. The Keeley Mod is the way to go
But at the end of the day its between you and your ears...

 

[Bobster]

Get the Ds1 mij or Silver screw one if you can find it.. The tones are worlds apart. The mit one needs loads of opinion tone wise IMO

 

[ninjaaron]

Good candidate for mods.

I have one in the mail at the moment, ripe for moding.

 

[duderanimous]

does it sound good to YOU? Within your current setup? It is cheap. Will not break the bank. Sounds good to YOU? Then you have a winner...

 

[teleman55]

Keep the tone down and it can do a lot of stuff. Try it into an OD pedal that's on too. Or turn up the tone and go to Syd Barrett Land. Turn it up even more and get an electric Bumblebee. It's a nice pedal.

 

[Strat58]

Hi it must have something special about it, I mean Gary Moore used one in combanation with a super overdrive back in the 80thies and he was know for his thick sound. You still can buy one today for cheap money so give it a try you might like it.
Boss pedals are very well build and last for ages, I never had one that failed me nuff said.
Peace Strat58

 

[Rossl]

I don't like them stock, even with the tone control way down they are brittle.

I've modded 2 of them and I use them a lot. Tone control still must be kept low.

If you can solder search the web for mods. They are cheap enough. If you want to learn how to mod pedals this is a good one to start with

 

[Stormbringer]

Well, I've nevere owned a Taurus, but I've owned a Keeley Ultra and now have two DS-1s that I modded myself, one to Monte Allums (with a few tweaks) and one to Keeley Ultra+Indi-Guitarist+others specs.`

To my ears, the stock DS-1 is useless but all the modded ones I've had are far better and much different than stock, able to hang in with any boutique pedals. The two I just modded couldn't sound more different between them and both certainly have a much better tone than the original.

The DS-1 circuit lends itself so well to these experimentations that I would encourage you to try it or send it to Keeley or Analog Mike for modding. It will still retain the basic characteristics of the DS-1 but the eq will be much better (better mids, better lows, less shrill) and the clipping will be much better (rounder, fuller, warmer). THe Monte Allums Rectifier Tri-gain will basically give your pedal a Recto kind of sound.

But, as a previous poster mentioned, if the stock DS-1 sounds good to you, in your setup, then there is no need for modding.

 

[Ides of March]

Thanks everyone. To be honest, I bought the DS-1 in the beginning of my playing carreer, and I didn't know about the vast amounts of gear out there for tone and circuits, mods... you get the idea. I really have never used it much, and now that I use my tube amp mainly for distortion with the OCD, I just wanted to add something else on there for a little more push. Like I said, my Rat II is on the fritz so the DS-1 and the Digitech Hot Rod are the only two I have left.

Would the Digitech Hot Rod be a better choice right now rather than the DS-1?