My DS-1 Mods ... with sound clip.

[franee]

Hello, im a newbie into modding. How much volts does the caps have to have? Can anybody list the digikey parts number or mouser numbers for the panasonic caps? Thanks:)

[Melanhead]

I've been using the Panasonic Metal Film 50v caps but they don't have be anywhere near that voltage as you're not gonna find anything much over 9v in a pedal ... The reason people use the panasonics is 'cause they're small.

here's a few digikey numbers, you should be able to find the rest


.047uf ---------------- P4521-ND

.68uf ------------------ P4673-ND

.068uF ---------------- P4523-ND

1uf  ------------------- P4675-ND

.47uf ----------------- P4671-ND

.1uf ------------------- P4525-ND

[5150]

Three things:

On the same note as the five-way diode switch, I had earlier spent some time drawing complete and total nonsense on a napkin involving SPDTs and a *lot* of diodes.  Having two sizes of LEDs, some Zeners, a pair of Schottkys, and a few silicons laying around, I thought I might drill about five or six holes in each side of my DS-1 and hook each diode up to a SPDT, so that I basically end up with five diodes hooked up with on-off switches for each.  Would I need to put them in any specific order to have them all do their thing (I was thinking that perhaps they should be arranged a certain way so that the LEDs, with their higher clip level, get hit before the diodes with lower thresholds) or do I just shove them all together and have that be the end of that?  If my description made no sense, I will either clarify or further befuddle with a horrible attempt at an ASCII rendering:


                                     SW1                      SW2                      SW3                      SW4 ........               
Top Lug:                  diode----------\             diode----------\       diode----------\        diode----------\           
Middle Lug:              from board      -------------+               ---------+               ---------+                 -------------+
Bottom Lug:             -----------------/            -----------------/      -----------------/        -----------------/



Second, anyone have any suggestions for making it more liquid and fluid, more like John Petrucci's sound on Images & Words?  Probably a bit much to ask from a DS-1, but I had figured that adding more bass and smoothing out a *lot* of high-end grit would get me more in that area, where the sound is full and still clear, but not gritty or fuzzy.  Already doubled most of the caps that threads like this say affect bass input, and currently have an LED and an LED/4148 pair as the clipping diode section, any thoughts?

Finally, what would rectifier diodes (I'd be using Radio Shack cheapos) do to the clipping section?  I've tried just about everything but those and germaniums, and it may be a while before I get back to the store.

Jeff

[blustrat]

Hey melanhead i did your mod on my ds-1 and it's by far better sounding than the sem\ultra, now the pedal really kicks! Good improvement in low\mid freq. I left two red leds as clipping diodes, awesome marshall crunch from my clean fender! Good job, i am really happy with it now, THX!!!!
To Jeff: rectifier diode seems to be a little more "gritty" in the high end than signal diodes on sd-1, never tried it in my ds-1. Bye 

[rockgardenlove]

Wow, really nice mods here guys...I might pickup a DS-1 just to mess with it, sounds great modded...

If anyone would be willing to submit their mod to http://stompboxmods.com/ we'd really appreciate it...its hard getting started.  The submission page is right here: http://stompboxmods.com/submit/submitmod.php

Thanks!

[Melanhead]

Hey melanhead i did your mod on my ds-1 and it's by far better sounding than the sem\ultra, now the pedal really kicks! Good improvement in low\mid freq. I left two red leds as clipping diodes, awesome marshall crunch from my clean fender! Good job, i am really happy with it now, THX!!!!
To Jeff: rectifier diode seems to be a little more "gritty" in the high end than signal diodes on sd-1, never tried it in my ds-1. Bye 

Very cool! ... glad you like it ... I haven't played mine in Months but I probably should hook it up and shred

[Melanhead]

Wow, really nice mods here guys...I might pickup a DS-1 just to mess with it, sounds great modded...

If anyone would be willing to submit their mod to http://stompboxmods.com/ we'd really appreciate it...its hard getting started.  The submission page is right here: http://stompboxmods.com/submit/submitmod.php

Thanks!

I'll consider doing that ...

[AC30Dirty]

Hey Melanhead i also tried your Ds-1 mods on my pedal. AWSOME sound!!! I had to tweak a little to get it to sound good with my AC30 but it sunds amazing. I was wondering how could I get more sustain out of the pedal with my strat  besides lowering the gain resistor. Would a different clipping doide help here? Please give me some suggestions.

[Melanhead]

Hey Melanhead i also tried your Ds-1 mods on my pedal. AWSOME sound!!! I had to tweak a little to get it to sound good with my AC30 but it sunds amazing. I was wondering how could I get more sustain out of the pedal with my strat  besides lowering the gain resistor. Would a different clipping doide help here? Please give me some suggestions.

You could try silicon ( 1n4148 ) diodes.( the original diodes ... ) or GE  (1N34)  They're clipping threshold is lower and may do what you want .... But you'll also get a volume drop doing this and a tone change ... You're best bet is to socket the diodes and try some combinations. It's not a good idea to solder/de-solder too much on these PCBs as the traces will lift ...

[franee]

I asked digikey about the silver mica caps and the ones they recommended me was a 500V one. Are those ok?

Part                      Digikey#
470pF Silver Mica   338-1043-ND
220pf Silver Mica    338-1046-ND

[vanhansen]

I asked digikey about the silver mica caps and the ones they recommended me was a 500V one. Are those ok?

Part                      Digikey#
470pF Silver Mica   338-1043-ND
220pf Silver Mica    338-1046-ND

They'll work, but you won't get the circuit board back in the enclosure and the cover back on.  Those caps are huge at 500V.  You don't need them that big.  25V or 50V caps are fine, and about the right size to work comfortably with.

[Melanhead]

I asked digikey about the silver mica caps and the ones they recommended me was a 500V one. Are those ok?

Part                      Digikey#
470pF Silver Mica   338-1043-ND
220pf Silver Mica    338-1046-ND

They'll work, but you won't get the circuit board back in the enclosure and the cover back on.  Those caps are huge at 500V.  You don't need them that big.  25V or 50V caps are fine, and about the right size to work comfortably with.

actually they're quite small, the Silver Mica's I have are also the 500v ones and will work fine ... Now if you were talking Metal Film than yup! .. HUGE! ... never seen one though ... 

[franee]

I asked digikey about the silver mica caps and the ones they recommended me was a 500V one. Are those ok?

Part                      Digikey#
470pF Silver Mica   338-1043-ND
220pf Silver Mica    338-1046-ND

They'll work, but you won't get the circuit board back in the enclosure and the cover back on.  Those caps are huge at 500V.  You don't need them that big.  25V or 50V caps are fine, and about the right size to work comfortably with.

actually they're quite small, the Silver Mica's I have are also the 500v ones and will work fine ... Now if you were talking Metal Film than yup! .. HUGE! ... never seen one though ... 

Ok tnx melanhead for clearing things up:)

[vanhansen]

I asked digikey about the silver mica caps and the ones they recommended me was a 500V one. Are those ok?

Part                      Digikey#
470pF Silver Mica   338-1043-ND
220pf Silver Mica    338-1046-ND

They'll work, but you won't get the circuit board back in the enclosure and the cover back on.  Those caps are huge at 500V.  You don't need them that big.  25V or 50V caps are fine, and about the right size to work comfortably with.

actually they're quite small, the Silver Mica's I have are also the 500v ones and will work fine ... Now if you were talking Metal Film than yup! .. HUGE! ... never seen one though ... 

Ahhh, I didn't realize that Silver Mica's were smaller.  Thanks for clearing that up.

[Melanhead]

no prob ... I'd probably buy smaller ones if I could though but haven't seen them. I get mine from Small Bear and they're 500v as well ...

[blustrat]

Hello everybody 
i have some sound clips of my ds-1 melanhead mod:
enjoy 

if links does not work please copy and paste it in a new window.

http://togusa.altervista.org/ds1mod_68.mp3
             
http://togusa.altervista.org/ds1mod_purple.mp3
         
http://togusa.altervista.org/ds1mod_texas.mp3

http://togusa.altervista.org/ds1mod_clean__boost.mp3
           
http://togusa.altervista.org/ds1mod_boogie.mp3

the guitar is my homemade strat trhough my (veeery) clean Fender Deluxe 112 (solid state).

Greetings from Italy.

[petesguitar1]

I would love to try this mod on my DS-1, but mine doesn't have the resistors or caps marked on it, so I don't really know what goes where. I've looked all over and can't seem to find a decent pic to tell me what is what? Any help would be much appreciated.

[5150]

Just ask for what you need, I'll try and help you find it.  You should, however, be able to find a lot of them with a little help from a diagram on the DS-1 schematic sheet - http://www.godiksennet.com/images/sch/DS1PG2.jpg (tilt your head sideways, scroll almost all of the way down, and a top-down view of the board, with components facing up and IC in upper-right, will be there).  Also, I can't recall who (may have been analogman), but somebody who runs a DIY mailing list gave out the keeley mod sheet in PDF format, and on there was a picture of the board and a good number of the modifiable components circled, so maybe looking for that would be a good idea, if you can't find the answers here.  Feel free to PM.

Jeff

[Melanhead]

Hello everybody 
i have some sound clips of my ds-1 melanhead mod:
enjoy 

if links does not work please copy and paste it in a new window.

http://togusa.altervista.org/ds1mod_68.mp3
             
http://togusa.altervista.org/ds1mod_purple.mp3
         
http://togusa.altervista.org/ds1mod_texas.mp3

http://togusa.altervista.org/ds1mod_clean__boost.mp3
           
http://togusa.altervista.org/ds1mod_boogie.mp3

the guitar is my homemade strat trhough my (veeery) clean Fender Deluxe 112 (solid state).

Greetings from Italy.

Great! ... glad you're having fun

[circuithealer]

Hi,

Do C4 and C7 need to be Mica caps? What would happen if I use other kind of caps (polystyrene for instance). I live in Morocco and mica caps  are almost impossible to find here.

I found this:

Polystyrene Film: The Holy Grail of Film Capacitors, polystyrene
has the most desirable electrical characteristics. With
temperature coefficients as low as 30-40ppm (special) and
typically less than 120ppm (standard), they have excellent
linearity of temperature coefficient over the entire temperature
range most equipment ever sees on this planet. Dielectric
Absorption (.02%) is the lowest found in any capacitor variety.
This makes the polystyrene cap the first choice for all critical
timing circuits, such as VCO and VCF timings, and for all Sample
/ Hold circuits. Polystyrene caps cannot tolerate high
temperatures (85 degrees Celsius max.), so they are not
available in the metallized variety. Careless soldering can
destroy them easily, and they are often poorly suited to
automated production equipment.     There is a persistent rumor
that the only manufacturer in the world that made capacitor
grade polystyrene film has ceased production. There is still
stock in most values on the market, but people are well advised
to save a few for top of the line circuits. There are some new
polycarbonate caps which will approach the performance of
polystyrene.


So they can´t be very bad can they?

Regards,

Paul