DS-1 selectable multiple clipping mod

[theblueark]

Eat your heart out guys. I got sick of pulling diodes in and out of sockets so I built this:





The 3 knobs on the right are exactly the DS-1 controls.
The 3 knobs on the left are 5 way rotary switches that work as follows:
Top 2 knobs:
1 - Ge (from aron)
2 - Si (the original one's I pulled out from the DS-1 itself)
3 - LED (3mm red, placed at the smiley face for double seeing eyes)
4 - Tube (Sovtek 12AX7 running at 6V)
5 - Lift (open)
In opposite directions (replacing D4 and D5)

Bottom knob:
1 - 0.01uF (the original one I pulled from the DS-1 itself)
2 - 0.047uF
3 - 0.082uF
4 - 0.1uF
5 - Lift (open)
This replaces C10

How does it sound?
Not as drastic as I hoped it would be. There are so many combinations, but I'll go through the ones that made the biggest impact on me.

All the testing was done with all the original DS-1 knobs at midway. With a strat direct into the DS-1 and then into a 15W SS amp.

Ge + Ge
Very buzzy/fuzzy. Think DS-1, but even grainier, and lower volume. However the Ge diodes seem to have a softer clip than the Si diodes. It is grainier, but a smooth grain unlike the harsh Si's.

Si + Si
Your stock DS-1 sounds.

LED + LED
Terrific crunch! I can see why so many DS-1 mods feature at least an LED replacing the Si diodes. The volume is a lot louder, with more clean headroom. Then when you attack the strings hard you get nice crunch. This makes the DS-1 straddle the line between overdrive and distortion. I like the crunchy power chords I can pull out with this setting.

Tube + Tube
Head room head room. On this setting it becomes a dirty booster/overdrive. The characteristics of the DS-1 remains but it's at least twice or 3 times as loud. The harsh graininess is almost totally gone. Power chords lose that nice crunch that was present on the LED settings I like the cleaner lead sounds I can get from this. Probably will be a good lead booster after another overdrive unit.

Open + Open
Almost the same as the tubes. The difference is very very slight and I had to keep switching between the two to make sure I was hearing any change at all. The main difference is that it is slightly spikey. Certain frequencies will just jump out on occasion and nail me in the ear. I guess some clipping of any form helps keep these under control.

The rest
Trying out the asymmetric clipping settings was not as fruitfull as I had thought. I had imagined there would be a big increase in the harmonics that would be produced if I paired say an LED and a Ge diode. Unfortunately, I did not encounter much of this. I will try driving this pedal with another overdrive some other time to see if there is any more pronounced difference. Right now, it takes the characteristics of the louder clipper. Pairing an LED with a Ge will provide an LED sound, with a slight hint of Ge characteristics. Pairing a Tube with an LED will... and so on.

More to come when I play with it somemore 

[gulliver]

If that's your pedal, I'm wondering what your amp is like 

You may also want to try using just one diode. Distortion turned up, it has a compressed grit with a fast attach which I actually like better than the SEM.

[WGTP]

Thanks for reporting on your experiment.  A couple of suggestions.  Check out the AMZ Warp control for diode variations.  You might also check out these diode/mosfet/variations.  http://aronnelson.com/gallery/WGTP/AlteredMuff   

[StickMan]

What's the windowy thing in the top left corner?


It still doesn't have enough knobs 


dave.

[WGTP]

Add a switch to put those diodes in the feedback loop like a TS while your at it.   

[theblueark]

Heh I'm happy enough with the variations. If I wanted more I'd make a pedal with sockets sticking out on top of it.

I think a very nice clipper will be a couple of Ge diodes in series on both sides. They have such a smooth clip as compared to Si diodes but they just clip too early.

The window on the top left lets you see the tube. It doesn't glow though 

[mojotron]

What a great post - I was wondering about a lot of these combos as I just got my DS1 running. Let us know your observations in the future as you evaluate this further. Thanks 

[gulliver]

What a great post - I was wondering about a lot of these combos as I just got my DS1 running. Let us know your observations in the future as you evaluate this further. Thanks 

If you want to try these diodes yourself without going to this extent, do what I did. Do the mod without removing the board, just pull it up. Solder wires out from D4 and D5 and solder or alligator clip the diode combinations. You only need three wires as D4 and D5 are connected at one end ... but you cannot do it with two wires as they do need to be connected to the board.

Like this, you can play through the pedal upside down with it's guts hanging out, including your wires. Keep swapping until you come up with your best tone. For me, I didn't think there was all that big of a difference swapping diodes, although I didn't like the Ultra type distortion when two are in series.

Hope that helps.

[theblueark]

Got my friend to twiddle between settings while I chug out riffs.

The asymmetrical clippings are much more obvious when I tried them out this time.

He absolutely loves the tube clippers with a 0.047uF cap. Very nice lead boost. I kinda like the tube + Germanium combo. Just as loud, but with a little hair on the side. The LED clippers definitely give a huge ass crunch, but are kinda rough on the edges, like the silicon but slightly softer and much more headroom. The tubes and the Germaniums are the roundest but the Germaniums clip wayyyy to early. You'll probably have to have some sort of boost after it. I think it would have been nice to try putting like 3-5 Ge diodes in series.

The original silicons are awlful now when comparing to the rest. Even the Germaniums with less headroom sound better. Maybe some different silicon diodes would do better. I left the originals in so I could show people what the original DS-1 sounds like whenever I want to.

I was doing the alligator clip/socket thing for a while, but realised that the best way to hear the difference was to play and tweak while playing. Thus this frankenstein experiment. Dave, if I had a bigger enclosure I would throw more knobs in there and we could try out Si-Ge or LED-GE series and maybe even MOSFET and JFET clippers. I'd go mad thinking of all the possible combinations! Heh anyway I think this experiment was fruitfull enough in learning the characteristics of the typically avaiable clippers. Sometimes less is more.

I know, I know, soundclips!!! I'll get to it soon I hope.