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Boss DS-1... I don't get it.


RichCI

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I used to have one of those back in the early 80's; in fact, it was the first pedal I ever owned. I used it for several years as my dirtus operandus when I played in hair bands and it worked well enough but I ended up trading it to another dude for an Ibanez Sonic Distortion. As I recall, the DS-1 was thin and harsh sounding and I liked the somewhat thicker sound of the Sonic Distortion.

 

Lately, I've been seeing more buzz about this pedal and people getting excited when they find one, especially if it's a "vintage" one made in Japan.

 

I know tone is subjective and all that blah, blah, blah, but I don't get it. Am I nuts or is my memory foggy (80's) or is that pedal pretty crappy sounding?

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Fred, it depends on what you're into. The best all arounder I've tried is the Analogman King of Tone as it works great as a clean boost, overdrive or straight ahead distortion if you're into more amp-like tones. It's a lot more expensive than the DS-1 at $235 but it's not too bad when you consider that it's two pedals in one box. I like it so much that I bought a second one so I could keep one at our rehearsal space and another at home.

 

There just seems to be so many better sounding dirt boxes being built today. Ones that I've heard samples of on the interweb are the MI Audio Crunch Box, Zvex Box of Rock, Fulltone OCD and Lovepedal Eternity, to name a few.

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I have resisted temptation to get a DS-1, even when they come up for sale for as low as $20, after I heard the demos I thought it sounds harsh, even the modded versions.

 

The SD-1 is a great overdrive pedal but my Coffin Blood Drive has a fatter tone, as a result my SD-1 sits new in its box. Of course in turn ever since I bought my Mesa amp all of my distortion pedals sit around pretty much unused.

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Analogman can work wonders with the Boss SD-1. A really good friend of mine won't play without his now that Analogman worked it over. He mods the DS-1 too - though I have not heard them in person like I have the SD-1 mods.

 

http://www.analogman.com/boss.htm#basics

 

Also here is an interesting site that I just found for comparing some OD pedal sounds.

 

http://www.oldtonezone.com/distortionoverdrive-pedal-shootout/the-od-pedal-comparinator/

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It a pedal almost everyone I know bought young and then got rid of they are cheap for a reason they sound like crap. I kinda feel that way about most of the Boss pedals the only two I use on a regular basis is the TU-2 tuner that's been on my board forever and works great and a Boss 20xl(?) looper the 2 pedal version with 16 minutes of looping time. The looper is one of my favorite pedals and I use it all the time when I play the acoustic.

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I don´t know... I have a friend that owns a coolection of DS-1s and he swears every one of them is different... he has moded some, some are from different years... some are the same model same year same everything.

 

The cheap boss pedal I do like is the underrated SD1 superoverdrive

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Also here is an interesting site that I just found for comparing some OD pedal sounds.

 

http://www.oldtonezone.com/distortionoverdrive-pedal-shootout/the-od-pedal-comparinator/

 

That's pretty darned cool! I especially enjoyed listening to the differences between the Analogman modded SD-1 pedals, one with symmetrical clipping and the other with asymmetrical. I thought the symmetrical clipping one had a cool fuzz thing going on.

 

And while writing my reply, I listened to a couple of comparisons and, let me reiterate - that's a REALLY freaking cool site!

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It a pedal almost everyone I know bought young and then got rid of they are cheap for a reason they sound like crap. I kinda feel that way about most of the Boss pedals

 

Some Boss pedals are pretty cool sounding. An online friend of mine who plays guitar in an RHCP tribute band owns an ancient CS-1 and it sounds awesome.

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Yep they all work and work pretty well usually but over the years I've swapped all of them off my pedal board it was never a conscious thing it just seemed to happen as I replaced individual pedals. I always thought it was cool how they all were the same size and shape though the pedal boards used to be small and clean.

 

Guess Im just a pedal snob but I want this custom painted ZVEX pedalboard.

 

 

zvexboard.jpg

 

A set of 9 different ZVex pedals; custom painted by ZVex artist Hannah Haugberg. ?Set includes (from left to right): ?1st row: Box of Metal, Box of Rock, Fuzz Factory ?2nd row: Ooh Wah, Wooly Mammoth, Machine ?3rd row: Trem Probe, Fuzz Probe, and Wah Probe

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I use several Boss (along with other brands, including boutique brands) pedals, and have never had any trouble,

whatsoever, with any of them. Very reliable, at least for me. I tested them out, prior to purchase, so I knew

what I was getting, sound/tone wise. Some, I have since been replaced in the lineup, with other things, but...quite

often, I will reinstate that pedal, too...if it will do what I need, for what I'm playing, at that time.

 

CB

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Yep they all work and work pretty well usually but over the years I've swapped all of them off my pedal board it was never a conscious thing it just seemed to happen as I replaced individual pedals. I always thought it was cool how they all were the same size and shape though the pedal boards used to be small and clean.

 

Guess Im just a pedal snob but I want this custom painted ZVEX pedalboard.

 

 

zvexboard.jpg

 

A set of 9 different ZVex pedals; custom painted by ZVex artist Hannah Haugberg. ?Set includes (from left to right): ?1st row: Box of Metal' date=' Box of Rock, Fuzz Factory ?2nd row: Ooh Wah, Wooly Mammoth, Machine ?3rd row: Trem Probe, Fuzz Probe, and Wah Probe [/quote']

 

wooaahhh!!! holy crap thats awesome!!!! ;)

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I own one' date=' but only because I bought it from a friend for $10. Like everyone else is saying, it's too thin and harsh for what I usually play. I use it for Green Day covers.[/quote']

 

I bought mine a few months ago' date=' I usually use it for a few Nirvana songs and thats about it. [/quote']

 

 

[blush] Well there ya have it!

 

Says it all. 'Nuff said . Over & out....:P

 

Time ta start buying shares in BOSS.

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