Boss DS-1 Keeley Mod not working

[Kwoota]

Hi,

yesterday my friend and I decided to attempt the Keeley DS-ULTRA Mod on his Boss DS-1. We went to our local electronics supply store and picked up the necessary components, however they did not have the Stack Metal Film Capacitors we needed, so instead I picked out the equivalent capacitors in electrolytic and ceramic format. I replaced all the parts instructed on http://www.instructables.com/id/Modify-Your-Boss-DS-1, but now when we plug it in all it does is hum really loud.

Instead of the following components: 1.0uF 50V Stack Metal Film Capacitor x 4
                                                    0.1uF 50V Stack Metal Film Capacitor x 5
                                                    0.047uF 50V Stack Metal Film Capacitor x 1

We purchased: 1uf 63V Electrolytic x 4
                     0.1uf Ceramic x 5
                     0.047uf Ceramic x1

Now im just wondering if the type of capacitor is the cause behind why it is not working. I know it would have probably been a better idea to have the metal film caps, but when I researched there seemed to be varying opinions on the sonic difference it would make, varying from not at all noticeable to clearly different/bad.

If anyone has any thoughts on this it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[GGBB]

Welcome to the forum. How much do you know about electronics and components?

Electrolytic capacitors are polar - in other words one lead is positive and one lead is negative. They won't work properly (for very long) if they are reversed. That might not be the cause of your hum though - that sounds more like a soldering mistake or something you broke while working on the pedal. Hum is often related to bad solder joints/bad connections or bad grounding.

EDIT: The first thing you should do is make sure there are no loose/disconnected wires.

Also note - the whole point of replacing those four 1.0µF capacitors is to get rid of electrolytics and use non-polar film capacitors - they are supposed to sound better - so there isn't any point in replacing them unless you use film capacitors.

If you could go back in time, you could have replaced one component at a time and tested your pedal after each component. Then you would know where the failure happened. As it stands, you have a damaged pedal that needs to be fixed.  You could try to reverse all the changes you made, but if you're new to this, you may end up doing more damage. There is a "Debugging Page" link at the top of this page - I recommend you read that and follow the instructions.

[Hollow676]

So I did the same mod and am having the same problem. I got all the exact parts on the replacement list. Went to start doing the led replacement and test each one and all I get is a ground hum. Very low out put when the pedal in engaged and little to none with it off. So on the polarity situation I have the understanding that it's not an issue with the metal film caps. So I just need to go through and check all the solder points?