Somehow you made the DS-1 sounds even more muffled! I didn't think it was possible, well done.

i watch so many of your videos when I'm taking a dump that when i hear your voice there's a 50/50 chance I'll shit my pants. great videos, by the way!

so you build guitars, mod pedals and lives in scotland? highlander proved real!

"Watch in HD for best picture and sound quality" NO only 180p is TRVE

Pretty cool. Now you can actually play open chords when distorted on this pedal! lol

Thanks for this - I've been looking into DS-1 mods, mostly because it's too damn quiet, I have to set it on max level and still can't match it to my clean sound. Your explanations for each component mod are very useful towards helping me choose what to do with it. (incidentally I am one of the few that actually love the MT-2, now I've found "my" setting for it. But that is another pedal I intend to mod at some point.

Am I the only one that thinks it sounds muffled?

Finally! Been waiting for this video and I'm not disappointed, this is a really interesting video. I wish I had the knowledge and skill to modify pedals. Great video.

This sounds more like a tube amp now… Not a distortion pedal… Good job!

Your ds-1 has nice long leads to the circuit board.. mine are less than 2" and the thing only opens up about half as much as yours.. good thing my hands are steady. Thanks for a great video!

I was a DS-1 user for a long time, then a few years ago, I saw demos of the Power Stack pedal on KZfaq, and I was convinced that pedal was more valve-like than the DS-1 could ever be.

I like your DS-1 distortion mod but would like to hear cleaner heavier distortion.

Ended up checking this as well from the new vid. I appreciate this mod much more after this video, gotta admit you do get more valve amp like behavior, more headroom and dynamics, attack. Not the mod I would do for DS-1 application, but if you have a DS-1 and don't like it and want something else, this sounds really nice. I would actually say this is almost like going from ds-1 to blues driver territory, just that the gain character is different. Thanks for the vids, now I actually wanna see what I can come up with DS-1! I'd probably keep the clipping diodes as they were, but the tone control change does good to Bosses. Maybe changing the midrange and distortion knob range. The balance between op amp and diodes might be also interesting to tinker with. Also how sometimes you see the diodes to ground next to each other, in this one in parallel (what weirds me out that everything you'd normally see go to ground go to +4.5 V in this circuit). I assume this biases the led clipping so that makes the clipping less hard, cuts less from the top of the waveform, is this correct? The setup of diodes reminds me more about the TS and SD-1 (despite not in the opamp) than say RAT. Really interesting options when you compare some of those. I love your blue led on the face, even if it wasn't critical to how the pedal works. Now it also gives you information. Did you find that the distortion knob's usable range improved with lowering the gain early in the opamp?

Hi Colin l have finally just done this mod- incredible pedal! 👌🏼

sounds great good job & thanks

So I bought this Boss pedal named Power Stack (ST-2, i think it's called), and as soon as I used it, I realized that the pedal was basically how I wanted my DS-1 to be as a distortion pedal. Tons of tweaks available and all the sounds are usable. it's not all that expensive compared to DS-1 (at least it's around or less than 100 bucks) so I guess buying something tiny bit better can improve your life dramatically.

I may have to go with this mod for the DS-1! It sounds great. I've been debating because I have a stock DS-1 that I've relic'd and whatnot to look much older than it is, and there's a whole list of them online. But I love the overall sound of this one. I actually used to have one that I put red LED's in D4 and D5, and it was SUPER LOUD!!!

Nice Dorje shirt man!

New Boss DS-1 pedals are surface mount components just FYI. You can't mod these new micro circuits on the new pedals.

I had the Keeley mod done to my DS-1. It has a mini toggle switch so I can go back and forth between two different sounds. What was an average pedal now sounds like a monster!

Very cool man. As a few have said, it does sound a bit muffled though. Personally, I've found the Wampler JCM mod hard to beat for the DS-1, especially when combined with the AMZ fat mod.

Thanks for the vid! It was really helpful!

I'll have to get one and try those mods.

It sounded a bit muddy, but hell it sounded more usable than the stock DS-1. Looks like the mods made it great for some grunge, punk, and a little doom!

The fact is, that DS-1 sounds fucking good with everything maxed and the tone on 11 o clock, assuming you like fuzzes of the big muff type. Attempting to remake the pedal into a modern tube sounding od is the most wrong thing ever done. It is supposed to be solid state and fuzzy sounding. Sorry.

Most excellent transformation

Good video. I like my stock DS-1 but I may buy a used one and mod it. I like the bass response here... the fuzziness was a bit much for me, so I may not mess with that so much.

Baby Colin!

Love the Dorje poster and shirt man. Great band.

I took two of the clipping diods out of mine. Sounds clean and loud now.

0:00 to 0:02 sounded like you were about to play Come Original by 311. I don't care much for them but I have to give them credit for having a really good mix with their sound, their shit actually sounds heavy.

i have a ds-1 modded by jeremy kenemur of tennessee, and it is one of the best pedals i have heard. a great low gain pedal, very dumbleesque, very dynamic. the mod you did sounds muddy.

Loved my DS1 gave it to a mate might have to get a new one and tweak it

I have a real great respect for guys like you Colin. The technical side of guitar and amps/pedals is a world of its own...how did you learn or get into modifying pedals/gear?

I want a boss ds 1 mod that colours my sound like a lot bit better. Like the tone colouring from Midwest detroit to trainspotting, then bag again, with a vinyl warble. Minds me of vacation d oon south. Cept with a paydal.

It'd be awesome if you could do some bass stuff aswell.

pretty good, I'd imagine it might also sound stacked with a tube screamer, might be a bit too much gain but still

holy shnikeys what a difference ! but where can you but the diodes and caps for this type of stuff ??

Some great mods here. But I'd love to hear these through an overdriven old marshall or similar. I played through a friends jcm800 once and I didn't have my pedal board (with tubes reamer) with me and there was a battered old ds1 lying around and I thought 'why not'. The jcm was no gain monster. But with the ds1... Best tone I ever had.

Love modding DS-1s, the mod on mine ( I did a couple of years ago) does a similar thing to the clipping diodes (an LED and the 2 diodes (the stock ones) in series) my tone changes are different though instead distorting less of the bass and changing how it distorted so it has more of a marshall sound, mid orientated and cleaner then stock. At zero gain it is almost a coloured clean boost for my single coils but is still gainy at full. Unlike your mod mine doesn't sound great at low volumes or with super clean amps better with amps on the edge turned up loud. Still a fun pedal to mod just by changing up the diodes (I may add a switch to switch them out for even more tones). I'll see if I can do a demo in the next week.

LOVE THE DORJE SHIRT \m/

The mids were scooped. I'm not sure it would cut to the live band well.

Boss pedals are the best that i rver used, they are cheap and really really good

Great pedal! I bet it would drive Vera Duckworth's Whippets insane! ;-)

I prefer the stock DS-1. The mod makes it muffled and farty sounding.

Sounded pretty good on the lower levels, more natural sounding. But cranked up it just sounded muffled and buzzy...not sure if that's better than the fizziness of the stock one.

interesting differences! almost want an in between tone for the pre/ post mod tones.

His gesticulation makes him look like a bad magician

I'm going to buy one and then mod the pedal with the same components as i use in the one i designed myself to see if they sound similar... :D

Awesome video man! I've tried doing some mods on my DS-1 and I was having some issues removing the old components. Any tips for this? I also had a pcb trace lift up on me. I was able to salvage this by relocating that end of the component to another spot on the same trace, but it about gave me a heart attack. Have you got any tips that could help me to not do this in the future? Thanks!

I've watched several videos of various mods to see if I could get what I consider a usable sound. Yours is probably the best sounding one I've cone across yet, but they all sound harsh to me. I'm new to pedal mods and could probably try a few just for the learning experiences, but I think for now I'll hold off on the DS-1 until I can find a mod that sounds usable... Or at least hear a few that get close. Unless, of course, I stumble across a used DS-1 for irresistibly cheap like I did with the Marshall Guv'nor Plus I'm experimenting on now.

would like to hear cleaner deeper and thicker sounding distortion mod.

Can we get an updated parts list and diagram? Would love to try this out

How to modify a Boss Metal Zone pedal: 1- Pick up your MZ pedal. 2- Open lid on bin. 3- Drop MZ pedal into bin. 4- Close lid on bin.

cool guitar

Hey man. Love your vids. Can you do a demonstration and explanation of the BOSS SD-1 mods as well. I'm particularly interested in the simplicity of the C6 mod.

It does sound better

Sounds a little crunchy but great mod plus props for have the ball to fuck with your guitar equipment

you should do a mod on the behringer ultra metal, and converted into a tube screamer or a boost, or chancge the box into a aluminium box etc... the behringer are very low price abd naybe the mod make it sound better

Hey Colin, what's your opinion on the Wampler Plextortion distortion pedal, if you've used it before?

Hey Colin. Just passing through after I did the Keeley mod on my DS-1 . A. ) It's slightly different sounding than the Keeley mod with much more bass and lower gain ..however it is always a considerable improvement over the stock DS-1... I had one in the 80's.. and bought a new one for nostalgic reasons and spent 3 hours modding it . Cool project and much improved tone and sound. And after watching the video I see the Dorje tee shirt. You friends with Rob Chapman , Bea or just a fan ?

Can you do a DIY for how to mod a MVP volume pedal? You know adding a buffer, LED, etc

I like the pedal as it was made ... if I want tube like, I use a tube amp, period .

I like the sound after the mod less like a ice pick to the brain and or ear drum!!!!

I think I prefer the stock and just run it in the effect loop.

Hello, ive been a fan of your channel for quite sometime now, and i learned a ton already. Thanks for your help! I have a question, maybe you could help me because i can't find any info about this. I have a guitar pedal which has an issue with its on-off switch. Since its an always on pedal, I'd like to get rid of the switch completely so literally it becomes a real always on pedal. Can you help me? Thanks in advance!!

Fuck yeah! Dorje!

Which component(s) would give more fuzz like qualities? All I can find is the octave fuzz mod. I want just a basic fuzz mod.

That's nice, but can make a mod to redeem the notorious Boss ODB-3 and make it more useable, especially for guitar?

is that a Dorje shirt?

Hey Colin! Congrats on 20,000 subs! I was wondering... do you have a job outside of dana o hara/youtube or is this what you make your living from. Cheers!

Nice dorje shirt

I like the stock version much better. But good job anyway!

Hi Colin have you changed some of the values of the components list since this vid? l collected the parts to build this Mod some months ago & a few of the values of resistors and caps are different now or am l just mistaken! Thanks

Nice Dorje shirt 😃

I understand people's gripes with this pedal, but it's good at what it does.

subbed I may do this to my DS1

CSGuitars Could we get some DIs of this? I'd be interested to how it sounds through a variety of rigs.

The LED clipping is much nicer.

Colin is that 100% the same values u used on your mod as you listed in the components list? It says in the instructions for C3 you used 0.1uf but in the shipping list it says 150nf for C3? Thanks

hey colin I was wondering if you could do a review on the tc electronic spark plug it seems like a really cool little pedal and I may be getting one myself soon thanks.

Where do I get those leather wrist things. I wear sweatbands alot but I want to get some of those.

Here's a pedal that I use that has a lot of function in every aspect of my sound. I had picked this up used at a local Guitar Center for $40 and have been extremely happy with it. It's the T-Rex Crunchy Frog. It's classified as a distortion pedal, but it also has a boost switch on it that I use for a light touch of overdrive. The frequency response is a little touchy on it, but once you're able to dial in something nice, it's wicked sweet. There is also a boost knob for when you want to kick it in. Generally, my band has a dirty ska type feel, like Sublime, and I, pretty much, have the boost on at about 10-11 o'clock. It suits my personal idea for a sound so that when I strum harder, it has an overdrive edge, and lighter clean, but not too clean. The distortion can be a little too over-the-top, so I have to be careful with that. In fact, with the boost on, I turn the distortion gain all the way down and the level at about 1 o'clock. I don't know. Check one out if you want. I like 'em

Can you do one video about the modifications on a mxr prime distortion pedal ? Thanks alot

I love the DS-1, but I just wish there was a way of taking away some of the fuzziness, give it some clarity, but keeping the gain. If anyone can recommend a distortion pedal that has high gain, yet manages to have clarity leave a comment.

Any new pedal mods in the works? Might I suggest the Digitech Grunge

Just use a metal zone, wind down the gain and use the amazing eq on board?

Hence forth thou shall never shred

now i need to find another ds-1 to take apart and mod, looks like a good tinkering project and i'd like to remove the mid scoop. would it be possible to add high mid low control knobs?

Hey, Colin. You probably won't gonna see this post, but if you do, Maybe you know and could help how to mod Digitech Hot Header and made it more nicer to ear, it has a big high sound response, sounds weird and ...Cheap... Hope you will see this and help me out :) Didn't found any info on internet.. :(

Or just buy the MXR 78' badass, modded DS-1 in a smaller casing for decent price aswell

Sounds good, but only really seems to work for low gain/crunch - seemed to mush out with higher gain. Would be interested to hear how it sounds into a crunched amp. Colin, if you could give me some idea how to mod a HM-2 into something useable that would be great. Its got loads of gain and it sounds awful - anything to lessen the total gain and warm it up a bit would be nice.

what are your thoughts on the fulltone ocd pedal, Colin?

Hi, different pedal, same topic. I recently picked up a Boss Heavy Metal HM-2, it was modded with a green LED in place of the red. Would this effect the pedal's sound?

Boost the ds-1 with a bass overdrive pedal. Really, try it.

I received my Boss DS-1 pedal and guess what, they forgot to send the adapter aswel.... SO I CAN'T FRIKKIN TEST IT RIGHT NOW....!!!

It looks like a robot!

could you do a mod video about the boss od-2 turbo overdrive? it is an alright pedal, but it has a massive volume loss, and it is very very fuzzy especially on turbo, and it is very tinny and has very little low end response.

Same circuit as the Rat, but two totally different monsters

I own a cheap Hughes & Kettner amp and I borrowed DS-1 just to hear how does it sound. I plugged it in and... it's useless. No mids control, weird sound, not enough gain (no, I'm not a child that maximizes Metal Zone gain)... just really weird pedal. I use Metal Muff instead (it's a little bit more expensive, but worth it), dial treble on 11:30, mids on 1 o'clock and bass on 2:30, and it works amazing on every gain setting. I put my gain to 12 o'clock or 2 o'clock (depends on what I'm playing) and it gives me fantastic sound every time. DS-1 after modificaton? Better, but still wouldn't buy it.