Boss DS-1 Distortion Box and Mods

Along the way to looking for a signature sound, I ran across a Boss DS-1 Distortion:

This Distortion box was one of Joe Satriani's main sources of his signature sound for a while. This was recently replaced with his Vox Satchurator, but this unit stayed on his pedal board for years. This unit has a nice crunchy sound right out of the box. Couple this with a decent amp\cabinet combo and you have a viable gigging solution for when you don't need a full blown stack.

I found that I like this unit set with a pretty high gain, tone around 9 O'clock and volume set to the clean sound. It does well on a 9-volt battery but I recommend an external power supply for your entire pedal board for reliability like the 9 Spot Combo, the top rated Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus or even the original Voodoo Lab Pedal Power ISO-5.

If you find the sound lacking out of the box, there are several mods available for this pedal.  The best one out there seems to be the Robert Keeley mod, here's a link to his site: http://www.robertkeeley.com/product.php?id=10. Here's a head to head comparison from Youtube showing the Stock unit vs the Keely mod:

 For those that aren't feint of heart, you can actually do this mod yourself. Here's 2 sites that demonstrates what you need as a Do-It-Yourself mod: http://www.instructables.com/id/Modify-Your-Boss-DS-1/ and http://www.erikhansen.net/pedalmods.php. I think the first site gives better instructions and pictures but I'd read both as an FYI on just how to apply this mod and the problems\precautions on working on your own equipment. 

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