DS-1 Bass Mod Complete (Clip inside you junkies!)

[BassJunkie730]

Ok so I reall need to go back and mark up all the changes that I did to this poor poor pedal.

I have yet to do some component upgrades (that is some caps are still the crummy types that ship with the unit - and could marginally improve the sound)

I changed the tone stack, the RC filter for the clipping diodes, all the input and output caps, ad stilla resistor here and there.

it's a wonderfully cheap pedal and this mod will run you less than $5 in parts.

My previous mod still lacked considerable bass. Now I've squeezed all i could possibly get out of it. In fact the only major change I could make would be to change the IC but I'd need some kind of adapter for that.

here's the clip

http://www.filefreak.com/pfiles/7016...mod%20bass.mp3

i added a little reverb because I was feeling saucy.

[selfblessed]

Total sleeper pedal.

[smo]

In boss bass pedal fashion, you just need to change it's name to a BS-1.
Nice sound - I'll bet with an EQ you could get some killer tones out of that little dirt box. Well done

[bigchiefbc]

Originally Posted by smo

In boss bass pedal fashion, you just need to change it's name to a BS-1.

Actually, if we were to follow their current naming convention for bass pedals, it would be the DSB-1. And the older convention would make it DS-1B

[Thunderscreech]

when will you be posting the list of mods?

[AndyLES]

The clip sounds great!

While we're on the subject: I've recently been fooling around with a Keeley Modded DS-1 on my bass sound. I originally bought it for my guitars - go figure!

I set it with the drive all the way down, the tone midway, and the volume at unity to the bypassed sound (maybe slightly hotter).

Geezer in a box!!! Nice....and the diode clips with your playing. Sweet.

[lobey]

Sounds nice! I wish I had time to do stuff like this.

[BassJunkie730]

Originally Posted by Thunderscreech

when will you be posting the list of mods?

As soon as I get a chance to collect me notes.

This mod was very much a "season to taste" mod,

where I've gained a working knowledge of the entire circuit but I also needed to play it through a rig then change values.

The thing about this pedal is it feeds back more distortion into the higher frequencies as you turn up the gain. so you may have bass at lower gain settings but it gets overpowered when you turn up the gain.

My goal was to make it useable all the way around.

[Thunderscreech]

Originally Posted by BassJunkie730

As soon as I get a chance to collect me notes.

This mod was very much a "season to taste" mod,

where I've gained a working knowledge of the entire circuit but I also needed to play it through a rig then change values.

The thing about this pedal is it feeds back more distortion into the higher frequencies as you turn up the gain. so you may have bass at lower gain settings but it gets overpowered when you turn up the gain.

My goal was to make it useable all the way around.

Ahh, I see. I like the way it sounds, because I lack a general-purpose bass distortion, and thus am considering performing this modification.

[AndyLES]

Bassjunkie - pardon my ignorance, or if this has been asked before, but is your mod similar to the Keeley mod? And if not, would it pay to get my DS-1 "remodded?"

[BassJunkie730]

My mod is NOT the Keeley mod. I say this out of comparison.

I just looked at Keeley's DS-1 mod and I noticed his methodolgy is different.

For example.

I extended the clipping on this unit all the way down to about 20hz. (the DS-1 starts with 33hz). I did this so I could get a stronger clipped sub octave whe using an octaver - in the end I got more drive in the lower register.

Keeley's mod actually moves the corner frequency of the clipping RC filter (components R13 and C8) up to 66hz. This tightens up the bass response and in higher gain settings really favors the mids and the highs.



I really need to spend some time and actually map out my changes - I was keeping notes - but when i missed the mark a few times - I started to rapidly change values without marking them down. So I need to go back to the board and actually write down the values of what I did.

Also- as said before - I made strict value changes - I didn't swap out similar values for "improved components" so in a sense I'm not finished if I wanted to poly cap everything on the board.


Please know that my mods are purpose driven specifically for bass guitar.

My tone control is much flatter.

My input cap is set to allow down to 18hz through.

I changed D5 to an LED for more dynamic clipping - with less compression.

I truly think I took this pedal to "as good as it gets" territory, without lessening the gain - which is pretty mild now anyway.

I promise to get the mod schedule up.

[nohbudi]

Any news? I've had this DS1 kicking around for 7 years.... and it just never sees any action...