The Marshall JCM DS1 Mod

After having the DS1 with the Wapler Modern Distortion mod for a few weeks, I wanted to hear how the classic Marshall JCM Tones Mod would sound like. I liked the Modern Mod, but wanted to experiment, and the Modern Mod just didn’t cut if for me in lead work.

First things first I put the pedal back to stock and tested it to make sure everything was in proper working order, then I did the Wampler Marshal JCM mod, the mod includes the following changed;

-D4 = 1N4148 Connected in Series to another 1N4148

-D5 = 1N4001 Connected in Series to another 1N4001

-R13 = 1k

-R17 = 15k

-C8 = 1uF

-C9 = 1uF

-C5 = 1uF

-C2 = 1uF

-C3 = .033uF

The JCM mod the bass response of the pedal (C-3) is drastically reduced so that no bass frequencies can be inserted before the clipping stage. Mr Wampler says that having bass before clipping makes for a more ‘Fuzzy’ type distortion and gives you a more splatty sound on the decay of notes. He’s right, with the JCM mod that is what higher cap values do to the sound and its ok but gets a little annoying with higher volumes.

Completing the Marshal JCM mod proved the pedal to have a more vintage / treble sound to it and makes for kind of ringmaster treble booster into a tube amp hi pitched distortion sound. It would work great with a bass heavy amp but my amp is a little on the treble side so it sounded a bit thin and with the distortion all the way up palm muting chug’s just didn’t have much definition.

Still I kept the mod for a while to try to work with it because the overall tone of it sounds good. Mr Wampler also advised to use an equalizer pedal after the distortion unit to get more clean bass from it, however it does exactly that. You get a clean bass response & a dirty hi end response that doesn’t sit well with me. Therefore, I ended up finding a good compromise by using an AMZ mini boost pedal in front of the DS1. With the Mini Boost pedal, it fattens up your tone in a big way so you get just enough clean bass to make the distortion pedal sound a bit fuller. Therefore, setting the Mini Boost pedal to unity gain and backing off the DS1’s tone knob a bit gave me a nice distorted tone similar to pushed amp.

The noise floor of the pedal came down a lot with this mod, however I believe it’s because of having less gain on the distortion control.

In the end it’s a different sounding distortion from the original tone, more realistic but for my tastes lacks in bass a bit much for my rig. Combining a little bass in front of the DS1 proved to make it sound fuller for my liking and that’s the way I kept if for about a year.

Changing Electrolytic Capacitors to Film Capacitors Boss DS1

If you have read & researched Boss DS1 mods you will find that a lot of people will state that swapping the electrolytic capacitors for non polarized film capacitors will help with giving the pedal a more Hi-Fi sound.

This got me thinking & got me to the electronics store, i got some quality film capacitors to replace the electrolytic's in the pedal to see if it would make a difference. with the electrolytic cap's in the pedal they have a tolerance of +/- 20% & the film caps i got have a tolerance of +/- 5%. thats a huge difference and so obviously the results of replacing as many electro's to films would make some audible difference, but how much? Seeming i was on a mission to make my DS1 sound more "HiFi" i also replaced the stock film caps with new film caps that have a tighter tolerance, with the stock film caps having a +/- 10% tolerance the new film cap's +/- 5% tolerance & higher quality could make a little difference.

i got to work with replacing the capacitors and in the end i really couldn't hear any difference at all IMHO, maybe my ears aren't as good as the Pro's but the difference wasn't that much if any. I also believe that the subtle difference in tone was because if the tolerance of the film caps. they have a much tighter tolerance and that means that the values of each cap would be slightly different from the original electrolytic capacitors which = a slightly different circuit for a bit of a different tone.

i kept the film caps in the pedal because i spent money on them and they dont make the pedal sound any worse, but in the end its not really worth the trouble of replacing.

Below is a before and after Shot of the circuit board with the new film cap's

'Wampler' Modern Distortion Mod

My first actual modification to the circuit of the Boss DS1 pedal was to try to Wampler 'Modern Distortion Tones' Mod from the premier guitar magazine article.

This mod is ment to take the DS1 into Modern Distortion Tones and does a pretty good job of making the pedal sound a little thicker and much more crunchyer, as for sounding modern, you will have to decide for yourself.

I found that with this Mod the pedal sound great for a chunky rhythm sound but lacked a bit a oomff for lead work, however its a different sound for the DS1 & is very useful.

The following changes for this mod are;

-R16 = 1K

-R14 = 10K

-R15 = 3.3K

-C10 = .001uF

-C5 = 1uF FILM CAP

-C9 = 1uF FILM CAP

-D4 = 3mm RED LED

This Mod also changes the Tonestack of the pedal an the tone control is less on the treble side with a much less range to it, still enough for good adjustments but about half the variation for the stock tone control.

this is the outcome of this mod. id say it a modern take on the DS1 Pedal's tone.

Boss DS1 (LED indicator Mod)

The Very First thing i did to my DS1, was to change the Colour of the Status LED. its not really a Mod per say because it does not affect the sound of the pedal in any way, shape or form. However, if we're going the mod this thing we may as well change it and make the pedal a bit more unique.

from the pic below you can see that the original LED is a 3mm Red LED which is fitted to almost all Boss compact pedal. they are cheap and readily available so for a company that produces thousands of pedals per year every penny you can save counts.

I opted to go for a defused 5mm Blue LED that would stand out from the crowd of average DS1's and also stand out on my pedal-board. to get it to fit properly you will have to drill out the original hole with a 5mm drill bit, which is pretty easy to do then you will have to resize the LED stand post to the correct length so that the LED sits in the hole at the right height. once you open up your DS1 it will become clear to what you have to do & this mod only talks about 20 minutes of your time.

As you can see the LED i installed looked like its factory fitted, no need for a holder or Chrome bezel and the result is luminosity of Blue.

Llinks to DS1 Mod Pages

As promised here are a few links to some boss DS1 mods. In my next post il start with explaining the various mod's i have done with the help of these pages and what outcomes you can expect with each mod.

Click on the name's to go to the DS-1 Mod Pages

-AMZ DS1 FatMod

-Premier Guitar Magazine's DS1 Mod Article

-KEELEY - Seeing Eye Mod

-Fuzz Central Mod Sheet

Happy Modding Guy's

Getting Started on Modding the DS1

here is a picture of some progress as i mod the DS1, as you can see the important tools i need are all there. I'm talkin about my bottle of 'V' energy drink, its proved to keep me going even when my hands just want to give up. i also have some old underwear handy so i wont damage my desk, its important to use old underwear because its the basis of good tone.

Modifying The Boss DS1 Distortion Pedal (Entry No.1)

The Boss DS-1 Pedal has been around for decades and gives us a rather basic distortion tone for todays standards. most people will buy the pedal thinking they can pull off all there favorite bands distorted tones, however, after some tweaking the control knobs in time as our ear develops the pedal seems to sound a little thin and we notice its more like a one trick pony.

Now, this is not a bad thing the pedal does what its designed to do and back in the day that distorted tone was cutting edge. The Pedal is a good sound for what it is and we can't expect it to perform miracles. After all its an old design and sells for roughly $40 USD street price.

So, what do you when you have outgrown your DS-1 or have received a DS1 for a gift and like the general gist of the tone but wish it could be a little more on the bass side, more mid heavey or a little more modern. well.... you modify the circuitry & get what you want.

If you know how to use a soldering iron the battle is almost won, changing out parts/components is a simple task and can give you exactly what you want the revive the old DS-1 Distortion pedal.

I started this blog so that i could document the various changed My DS-1 pedal has gone through to keep track of exactly what i have done for future reference in case i need to change anything back. I also decided to do this as a blog so aspiring modders can learn from my mistakes & Success to keep an online reference on the various mods i find along the way.

In my next blog i'll provide a few links to other peoples mod pages so we can get started on our journey to modify a Boss DS-1 Distortion Pedal.