Boss DS-1 Distortion (Keeley Mod)

Video Story The Boss DS-1 has a very heavy metal timbre to start with. The many modifications take it to a full metal jacket sound. Every component changed or added is of the highest quality. Metal film resistors are used for a low noise floor; this is really needed for a high gain pedal. You will notice your new Keeley modded DS-1 has a lower noise level than a stock pedal! Metal film and poly capacitors are used in the coupling sections to provide the true midrange and high-frequency transparency your guitar tone needs while increasing the bass response of the pedal. It goes without saying that the note definition has been improved. The final result is a pedal that provides more gain and volume while losing no note definition. Perfect for driving Marshall stacks and other high-powered gear. This pedal has been modified to have asymmetrical clipping. This mod gives you 2nd order harmonic distortion. This has a very musical sound. At very high saturation levels it almost becomes an octave type of sound effect. Specifications Your pedal has been modified to have the Seeing Eye LED. There is an LED located in the “O” of the word TONE. This LED is not just a visual effect. It is in fact fun to watch but it is actually part of the secret weapon in our reworking of this pedal. The LED is part of the circuit that clips the signal and gives it that full, distorted sound. You can see that as you play heavier the LED burns brighter, providing more distortion. As the note fades the LED fades too. Play softly or roll back the volume control to clean up your guitar signal and the LED won’t light or might barely come on. Your unit has a MODE SWITCH. With the switch UP you have the Seeing Eye mode of operation. With the switch DOWN you have the Ultra mode. The Ultra mode has an even fatter, more robust tone. This is designed to give you the “Wall of Marshall Amplifiers” tone. This is perfect for beefing up a Strat or pushing an amp hard so that you get more natural tube amp distortion. Recommended starting point: Try setting the Tone Control at about 10 o’clock and the Level and Distortion controls at 12 o’clock noon. Most modern amps are a little bright sounding so this might sound really good for a starting point. I have to admit, my favorite sound with this pedal is a crisp yet really heavy sound driving a tube amp. To set it the way I prefer, turn the Tone Control to noon and then set the Distortion and Level control to about 2-3 o’clock. Stand back and enjoy! Manual Download Manual