Can anyone walk me through these ds-1 mods?

[arling115]

I asked this about a week ago, took the advice and did some searching.
I found this;

BOSS DS-1 Distortion Mods By Keeley Effects  The SEEING EYE MOD
These are the mods that we have come up with.  Mostly they try to give the pedal a more high fidelity sound and make it a little more tube like by use on one LED in the clipping section instead of two (commonly seen as a mod).  We use metal film caps available from www.digi-key.com

C1, C5, C12change to 0.1uF  metal film (104)    C2,  C8, C9,  C14 change to 1uF metal film (105)    C7 220pf silver mica or monolithic

In the DS-Ultra mod we change C11 to a 0.047uF metal film or better and lower R13 to 2.4Kohm. As well as changing C3 and C13 to 0.1Uf metal film or better.
D5 change to 3mm red led (the power LED that we take out!)  In the D-Ultra mod we switch in another LED in series with D4.

R39 20K    R14 1.5K    R35 2.4K if you change the power LED to a 5mm Yellow LED
Add 47pf cap across clipping diodes, see second picture little green dot in the center.    7/64 drill bit needed to drill out 3mm LED for the SEEING EYE PART!

Has anyone here done the mods based on this?

I'm very interested in doing these, but I'm a noob. It'd be great if someone could please walk me through this step by step. I haven't even ordered the parts yet, so if anyone has all the part numbers I need to order that'd be great, too.

Thanks for anyone that can help, seeing as it'll save me probably 60 buckeroos from having keeley himself do it.

[arling115]

Bump.

I really wnat to try these and to try to get into modding. Again any help at all is appreciated. Tips, w/e you got!

[wampcat1]

I know I'm risking "spam", but I have written such a book that will walk you through it completely. It's written in such a way that would teach ANYONE how to modify a pedal.
http://www.guitartone.net/singlemod.htm

Sorry Aron, I just saw that this fellow hasn't had any responses to this question.

Take care,
Brian

[Peter Snowberg]

That's cool Brian. All reports are that your book is perfect for this kind of situation.

arling115, Welcome to the forum. It sounds like you could use some basic electronics knowledge which can be hard to find at times given the amount of knowledge out there (electronics is a VAST world). I would start by reading the DIY FAQ and the GEO FAQ links above to get some background information. The info there will make the rest easier.

I would seriously consider getting a guide like Brian's, which will be worth its weight in gold for getting started. You'll spend the same money as if you had the pedal modded by somebody else, but you'll end up with all kinds of knowledge in the process.

Quickly you'll see patterns that will become "familiar", and before you know it, you'll be able to mod all kinds of pedals to get what you want out of them.

At any point, if you're stuck you can always ask a basic question here and you'll usually get the answer very quickly. Larger questions take longer and sometimes don't get answered at all, so try to dissect the parts you are hung up on at the moment.

Do you have a decent soldering iron yet and can you solder? Good tools make a world of difference when getting started. Imagine learning to ski using old fence boards tied to shoes instead of hi-tech skis, boots, and bindings.

Another place to look for components without so many confusing choices is http://www.circuitspecialists.com . Good stock, great prices, and many happy customers. I like the "greenie" polyester film caps and they're also great for resistors (1000 for $3).

Lastly, keep in mind that SmallBear Electronics stocks only parts that are 100% pedal friendly. You just can't go wrong ordering from Steve.

Best of luck with all your builds!

[arling115]

Thank you for the welcoming and response. So once I have the parts, all I do is replace the given (don't know the term for the marking) part with the new one?
Sounds too easy.
Maybe I'll know this when I have the parts but (super noob question) Is there a specific way I have to solder the component, like a negative and a positive side (could it be done backwards accidentally)?

I know my question sounds vague.
Is it easy to damage the boartd taking the old components off?

[twabelljr]

I recommend getting some de-soldering braid and take apart an old radio or vcr or something. Practice de-soldering on the "junk" board until you can do it clean and fairly quick. By then you will have the feel of how the braid works. Also practice soldering components back in because the pad condition will be similar to you pedals after removing parts. I did this and by the time I modded my "real" pedal, I was confident and had no problems at all. Also, a cool thing about Boss boards is that each component is labeled.

[Peter Snowberg]

Thank you for the welcoming and response. So once I have the parts, all I do is replace the given (don't know the term for the marking) part with the new one?
Sounds too easy.

Yep. Sometimes it is too easy.

Maybe I'll know this when I have the parts but (super noob question) Is there a specific way I have to solder the component, like a negative and a positive side (could it be done backwards accidentally)?

I'm pretty sure this is covered in the FAQs, but in short, the direction matters with polarized capacitors (Tantalum and Aluminum Electrolytic) and all semiconductors. Film and disc caps, resistors, and inductors can go either way.

I know my question sounds vague.
Is it easy to damage the board taking the old components off?

Very good questions and not vague at all. No worries. 

If you have an iron that's too hot, you can damage things VERY easily. If you have an iron that sits comfortably around 600 degrees fahrenheit, it takes a little work to damage pads. In general, fiberglass circuit board is much tougher than phenolic stuff. If you straighten the component leads before pulling so that all you have to do is melt and lift, it's very easy to extract many components with no damage to the component or board. I was always just fine with two or three leg components, but I really need a desoldering iron with a vacuum pump built in to get the job done well when it comes to ICs. With that station though, I can remove 40 pin chips with ease.

twabelljr has some great advice about practice. I'll add one more thing besides the desoldering braid. Also pick up some rosin flux in either liquid or paste form. That stuff is the only way I could ever get braid to work for me.