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Post by jmartyg on Mar 25, 2011 17:52:46 GMT -5
Hi all,
I went to a local pawn shop today and picked up a DS-1 for a little less than half retail price today.
When I tested it at the store, I really only looked that the pots didn`t scratch and the switch worked. It sounded like a DS-1 with the out of tune guitar and 5w amp.
Anyway, when I got it home, I put it between a FX-69 Grunge and TS-5 Tubescreamer. I noticed it didn`t have as much output as i`d expect. The volume actually drops a lot to my ears. This is with the volume cranked, and gain and tone at noon.
Tried it with a few guitars and it has the same drop.
Googling says that they`re cheap pedals anyway, easier to replace than repair, they`re common to be a little bit quieter than a clean sound, they have a `sweet`spot, replacing the LED and other diodes can help boost.
This pedal doesn`t have a sticker on the bottom, so unless I take it apart, I have no idea how old it is. there is some `rust`on some chromed parts, but nothing that I would consider from a lot of use, more like bad humidity..
My past experiences with DS-1`s were when I would play with other people, using vox`s, JCM`s, deville`s, bassmans`s, and even my super bright and loud Yamaha
Am I experiencing something normal or is something wrong? Are these masde to be played with something with more volume than a practice amp?
if something is wrong, what`s a quick and dirty way to fix this? I have no problems ravaging it`s innards, provided I can easily find parts.
Guitar 1:
- Strat copy
- The beast has been quieted
- Unknown 11K- ish humbucker
- two Fender Mexico standard single coils
Guitar 2:
- Strat copy
- The beast has been quieted
- MMK-45 Humbucker
- Two Giffman (sears) single coils
Effects:
- Left to right: CE-5 - FX-69 - DS-1 - TS-5
- All pedals are on AC, except the FX-69, which is on a 9V battery.
Peavey Audition 110 Practice amp
- Stock, but the speaker has mini tears in the paper surround, so it is a little scratchy at higher levels.
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Post by sumgai on Mar 25, 2011 18:09:07 GMT -5
jm, Howzaboot that battery, eh? Is it known to be fresh, or is it older than me?  sumgai |
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Post by jmartyg on Mar 25, 2011 19:32:11 GMT -5
It's on an adapter right now, I didn't see any change in that aspect with a battery or other adapters.
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Post by JFrankParnell on Mar 25, 2011 22:02:54 GMT -5
did you do a full sanity check? Like, try just the ts by itself. Works like normal? now switch only the pedal, keep all cords and guitar and amp the same.
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Post by sumgai on Mar 26, 2011 12:59:39 GMT -5
marty, JFrank has it right - test each individual piece until you are satisfied that they all work as expected, when operated alone (no other pedals in the signal path). Now start testing with a single known good pedal combined with your DS-1. Test in both positions, one before the other - what happens now? I think you can figure out the rest from here.  HTH sumgai |
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Post by jmartyg on Mar 26, 2011 17:44:08 GMT -5
Thanks guys,
After a night's sleep i plugged it in again with a fresh set of ears.
I started off with the DS-1, then added the TS, after a little bit added another effect to the chain and so on.
After making sure no one was in the apartment building, I turned the amp up and that made a huge difference.
I think my main beef was that i'm very used to the sound and feel from a tubescreamer and a new effect into the mix confused my ears. The tubescreamer is a lot more transparent sound, you can still hear the original sound of the guitar when the tubescreamer is on. The DS-1 is a different beast all together. It can't be compared to the tubescreamer or Grunge. They're all different beasts.
All in all, it seems to be still slightly quieter than the tubescreamer's output, but i think once it is played with something at gig volume, it wouldn't matter.
The dynamics of it seem to show with the middle pickup and soloing. Power chords and the bridge humbuckers seem to be a little too 'tinny' for my preference, but I haven't really found any sweet spots yet.
Thanks for the help guys
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Post by jmartyg on Mar 31, 2011 18:03:53 GMT -5
I was planning on doing a keeley mod to it, but it seems it's to old to do so. Different circuit board. Does't seem to match the MIJ descriptions either, so it looks like i'll see if i can trade it for a newer one through some local used/wanted ads.
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Post by jmartyg on Apr 2, 2011 14:29:18 GMT -5
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Post by jmartyg on Apr 7, 2011 19:50:44 GMT -5
Alright, after replacing one clipping diode with an LED, and the other added an LED in series, i'm 80% there with what I think I want this to sound like.
It seems that it either has too much low end or too much treble. I can't finr a 100% awesome medium, even when using the gain as a 'treble' control.
So I went to The source(Radio shack in can-ah-der) and bought a mixed pack of caps, generic PCB and a SPDT switch. shoulda got a DPDT for what i wanted, but i wasn't thinking until after I left.
So,
Step 1:
- move the clipping circuit to the PCB and use the switch to be able to toggle between stock and LED mode.
Step 2:
- See if i can find exactly where that extra treble is coming from from the 'tone' part of it, and re cap/resistor where needed.
Step 3:
- since the clipping is now on another PCB, i can freely demo on a breadboard or resolder, without having to worry about damaging the original board, to see what works and what doesn't.
Honestly, i've never been a fan of DS-1's, I've always fond them to bee too thin sounding, but after studying and gutting it, it seems like an awesome platform for modifications. Everything seems sectional. Plus, I learn as i go without any downside other than a $25 investment... unless early MIT ones are like old TS-808/9's. please don't kill me if it is.
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Post by thetragichero on Apr 9, 2011 12:13:44 GMT -5
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Post by jmartyg on Apr 9, 2011 20:24:37 GMT -5
Thanks! I will read that thread starting soon as I post this. The above thread may answer this, but it would be nice to see an article that says, "change this resistor to this makes it sound like this". all mods i've seen so far have said it sounds better doing 'this' but lacks the explanation of why. I've had a chance to play it loud today, against a BD-2, my Fx-69 and TS-5. The amp used is a Yamaha G-50 410. Solid state, 4 10" 8ohm speakers wired in parallel series at a 50w at 8ohm setup. Very loud and bright. I always liked the BD-2, but side by side with the DS-1 with the LEDs in the clipping end, the BD-2 sounds really thin and dull. I no longer want to add a BD-2 to my lineup. The best explanation I can give is that the DS-1 now sounds similar to a tubescreamer but with more bright control and gain. For instance, today, I mostly played it with the tone at around 10 o'clock(slightly dark), and used the gain to dial in a bit of treble bite. It's very responsive to soft and heavy picking, and even can give a very usable sound with out of phase pups. It actually blew my mind. Step 2 is now kinda moot now, when playing with a better amp. |
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Post by JFrankParnell on Apr 9, 2011 21:50:15 GMT -5
but it would be nice to see an article that says, "change this resistor to this makes it sound like this". all mods i've seen so far have said it sounds better doing 'this' but lacks the explanation of why. Yeah, and you see alot of 'try different cap and res values! adjust to taste!' Seems like you'd want to see things like 'higher cap values give a lower warm tone, lower values give higher, transparent tone' Or words to that effect |
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Post by jmartyg on Apr 23, 2011 22:42:26 GMT -5
but it would be nice to see an article that says, "change this resistor to this makes it sound like this". all mods i've seen so far have said it sounds better doing 'this' but lacks the explanation of why. Yeah, and you see alot of 'try different cap and res values! adjust to taste!' Seems like you'd want to see things like 'higher cap values give a lower warm tone, lower values give higher, transparent tone' Or words to that effectOh well. I guess a side project, if another ever falls on my lap, is to transfer it all to a breadboard and type up an explination. I learned a lot though reading on various opinions of the Tubescreamer series. I've always found it hard to type a sound. For example, the word "muddy" means one thing to one person, and completely different to another. It's even more fun trying to compare DiMarizo and SD "low mid high" graphs to one another.. I digress. A little update: After playing this though my Yamaha amp, with just changing the clipping diodes around, it does sound a lot better (to me) than what I initally thought it would. I also had more time to play with the settings. It seems quite simple; adjust the tone to as close as you can get to what you want, then the gain to either add or roll off the high, bright, glassy tones. I've also noticed that I can get a lot more response with tone and volume controls of the guitar out of this too. I usually use overwound pickups, and the speakers on my amp are half shot, so any boost, if I set it right, pushes it over the top. An important note; this does change a lot of the tonal characteristics. Right off the bat, there is a lot less fuzz sound. I dont know what the classification between an overdrive and a distortion really is, but changing the diodes to something that allows more voltage seems to let more of the opamp(is there one?) through and a hotter output signal.. I also picked up a daisy chain adapter thingey so I can run the pedals off one wart. Some homework also says that if you have a boss 12V pedal on the same power chain as a 9V it will run properly. Something about the common ground bypassing the voltage regulator on the board. |
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