I pimped my DS-1 out.

[DBDbadreligion]

A while ago I bought the Monte Allums Rectifier mod for my DS-1.
That's a incredible mod in itself....  I recently saw how to make the ds-1 true bypass.
I made my ds-1 true bypass (HUGE tone difference by the way).
Then today I was think of the Keeley Ultra Mod.
So since with the rectifier mod in place D4 and D5 are different values than keeley's.
D4 and D5 are 1N4002 rectifier Diodes.  So I put a SPDT switch to go between my version of the ultra mod.
One way is D4 as a 1N4002 alone and the other is a 1N4002 with a red LED in series.
It sounds incredible, such a HUGE gain boost.  It's like having a booster built into the ds-1.

I will try to post some sound clips.

[brett]

Hi

It sounds incredible, such a HUGE gain boost.

This is interesting.  My way of looking at clipping diodes is that they affect volume, asymetry, and harmonic content, not gain (if we are thinking of gain as the rate of change of volts per second (dV/dt)).  It is probably a more classical approach to regard gain as being set by the feedback network.

It's like having a booster built into the ds-1.

Or does it sound more like turning the volume up?  For the same reasons as above.

cheers
PS I'm tempted to make a word play so I can write Alte Rectum Mollifier, but I won't.  

[DBDbadreligion]

haha, yeah it's not gain more just a volume boost.
but still it's awesome.

[Ed G.]

"gain" does not always equal "distortion"

[bumblebee]

i always said that boss buffered bypass is the best in all effects,i cant understand why youd want to TB a boss pedal personally.

*confused* :

[Barcode80]

taste. the "best" buffer is subjective, and some like none at all.

[DBDbadreligion]

i always said that boss buffered bypass is the best in all effects,i cant understand why youd want to TB a boss pedal personally.

*confused* :

Im really into having true bypass.  After making the ds-1 true bypass It really helped my tone a lot.  My clean are more clean imo, I don't have to worry about any tone being sucked.

[Ed G.]

I prefer true bypass. If you want a buffered signal, it's better to build a good standalone buffer, such as some of those designed by Jack Orman. These are much better than anything you'd find in a Boss pedal and you can decide where in your signal chain you want to put it. I don't like the idea of a bunch of buffered pedals on a pedalboard. I have a feeling that cumulatively, more than 2 boss pedals would probably degrade your clean tone pretty significantly.

[DBDbadreligion]

I prefer true bypass. If you want a buffered signal, it's better to build a good standalone buffer, such as some of those designed by Jack Orman. These are much better than anything you'd find in a Boss pedal and you can decide where in your signal chain you want to put it. I don't like the idea of a bunch of buffered pedals on a pedalboard. I have a feeling that cumulatively, more than 2 boss pedals would probably degrade your clean tone pretty significantly.

yeah it's the same for me.
I really am amazed at how it made my clean tone sound better.
My clean has never sounded this good.  Next Im going to do the boss SD-1 True Bypass mod.
Then im still trying to see if anyone can figure out how to true bypass the boss tr-2 and dd-3.

[Barcode80]

I prefer true bypass. If you want a buffered signal, it's better to build a good standalone buffer, such as some of those designed by Jack Orman. These are much better than anything you'd find in a Boss pedal and you can decide where in your signal chain you want to put it. I don't like the idea of a bunch of buffered pedals on a pedalboard. I have a feeling that cumulatively, more than 2 boss pedals would probably degrade your clean tone pretty significantly.

i would be remiss if i didn't note that jack himself states in his buffers and true bypass article that it would take more buffered pedals than any average person is likely to have (i think the article says something like 5 or 6) to notice even a slight degradation of tone.

[DBDbadreligion]

I prefer true bypass. If you want a buffered signal, it's better to build a good standalone buffer, such as some of those designed by Jack Orman. These are much better than anything you'd find in a Boss pedal and you can decide where in your signal chain you want to put it. I don't like the idea of a bunch of buffered pedals on a pedalboard. I have a feeling that cumulatively, more than 2 boss pedals would probably degrade your clean tone pretty significantly.

i would be remiss if i didn't note that jack himself states in his buffers and true bypass article that it would take more buffered pedals than any average person is likely to have (i think the article says something like 5 or 6) to notice even a slight degradation of tone.

Well I have over 5 boss pedals on my board.  SO after doing the true bypass to my ds-1 it made a big difference.  I am going to do my sd-1 this weekend.

[Ben N]

5 pedals is 10 buffers. My experience is that is about the level where you can sense some dulling of the "bypass" tone, compared with a straight lo-Z quality cable.

[johngreene]

5 pedals is 10 buffers. My experience is that is about the level where you can sense some dulling of the "bypass" tone, compared with a straight lo-Z quality cable.

If you have 5 pedals that are true bypass you actually have 10 jacks, between 5-10 switches (one or two channels per pedal), who knows what kind of wire dressing internally, interconnect cables, etc. 'True' bypass doesn't not necessarily mean 'pure' bypass. I think if you buffer the signal as close to the guitar as possible, you can drive an awful lot of 'stuff' with little or no effect because of the low impedance drive. And you can be sure that the guitar is isolated from it all and sees an ideal input all the time.

If you are using something like a Fuzz Face that has a lot of interaction with the guitar, I wouldn't want to gig with it. I would only mess with something that finicky where I had control over everything like in a studio.

IMHO.

--john

[earthtonesaudio]

Or you could put your Fuzz Face inside your guitar, with a buffer following it (also inside the guitar) and get the best of both worlds...

Or make it a Fuzz Factory and you're an instant Matt Bellamy copycat.

[Ed G.]

If you have 5 pedals that are true bypass you actually have 10 jacks, between 5-10 switches (one or two channels per pedal), who knows what kind of wire dressing internally, interconnect cables, etc. 'True' bypass doesn't not necessarily mean 'pure' bypass. I think if you buffer the signal as close to the guitar as possible, you can drive an awful lot of 'stuff' with little or no effect because of the low impedance drive. And you can be sure that the guitar is isolated from it all and sees an ideal input all the time.

Yeah, I think the signal chain picks up capacitance when it's bouncing around the insides of a true-bypass pedal. But if I want the signal buffered, I want to be the one picking the buffer and where I want it. I've thought before about building a buffer to clip to a strap. You'd have maybe 1 or 2 feet of cable, virtually no cable loading on the sound.
Then again, I'm worried that if I virtually eliminated all cable loading, I might not like the sound. We've all grown accustomed to SOME. My ideal would be to get the sound I get with a good 10-foot low capacitance cable straight into the amp. I guess my solution then would be to move the buffer to my pedalboard.

[johngreene]

If you have 5 pedals that are true bypass you actually have 10 jacks, between 5-10 switches (one or two channels per pedal), who knows what kind of wire dressing internally, interconnect cables, etc. 'True' bypass doesn't not necessarily mean 'pure' bypass. I think if you buffer the signal as close to the guitar as possible, you can drive an awful lot of 'stuff' with little or no effect because of the low impedance drive. And you can be sure that the guitar is isolated from it all and sees an ideal input all the time.

Yeah, I think the signal chain picks up capacitance when it's bouncing around the insides of a true-bypass pedal. But if I want the signal buffered, I want to be the one picking the buffer and where I want it. I've thought before about building a buffer to clip to a strap. You'd have maybe 1 or 2 feet of cable, virtually no cable loading on the sound.
Then again, I'm worried that if I virtually eliminated all cable loading, I might not like the sound. We've all grown accustomed to SOME. My ideal would be to get the sound I get with a good 10-foot low capacitance cable straight into the amp. I guess my solution then would be to move the buffer to my pedalboard.

Ed, this is exactly what I was getting at. But my point is that if you like the sound of your guitar through a 10 foot cable, you should be able to replicate that (with or without the help of this forum) with a buffer right on your guitar strap. Then, whatever comes after it, really doesn't matter as much. Unless, as I said before, you are actually after that combo effect which is hard to replicate in every venue, every situation. I don't know about you, but I'm no studio musician. I need something that's going to work for me anywhere and everywhere. And I've played in some pretty weird places.

--john

[QSQCaito]

I think you could sense even one. Using a 3m cable I can hear difference putting it the other way round. There is no degradation, just a slight difference in sound.. not something I care about though.. Being somewhat an audiophile, and with high quality amplifier and loudspeakers as the one my father have.. you could actually here difference when you're being sent low voltage.. ussually 220-230, if you receive 210 you can hear it. That is, with only one cd that I know to perfection (beatles rubber soul)

[brett]

Well I have over 5 boss pedals on my board.  SO after doing the true bypass to my ds-1 it made a big difference. 

Huh?  Before you said that buffers ruin the sound.  Are you now saying that 5 buffers plus 1 true bypass is good?  Or a lot better?

For heavens sake, do some blind testing.  Otherwise I'll create a spoof like the difference I get in tone between wearing my old jeans and wearing my new ones.  (and we already KNOW which pair sounds better - Old !).

Just my 2c.

[DBDbadreligion]

Well I have over 5 boss pedals on my board.  SO after doing the true bypass to my ds-1 it made a big difference. 

Huh?  Before you said that buffers ruin the sound.  Are you now saying that 5 buffers plus 1 true bypass is good?  Or a lot better?

For heavens sake, do some blind testing.  Otherwise I'll create a spoof like the difference I get in tone between wearing my old jeans and wearing my new ones.  (and we already KNOW which pair sounds better - Old !).

Just my 2c.

Yeah sorry if I made hat confusing.
I had 5 buffered pedals on the board.  then I made the ds-1 true bypass. After that I noticed a great change in my clean tone.

[DougH]

You guys must have canine hearing...

I have a mixture of buffered, true-bypass, etc on my board. I put my distortions, which are purposely built to interact with my passive pickups (i.e. no buffers) at the beginning of the chain so my guitar can, well, interact with them. The buffered stuff comes after that. I don't have any problems with consistency due to cable lengths, gig venues, phase of the moon, sunspots, etc. I don't notice any appreciable difference between that and plugging straight into my amp. And if there is, a hairline tweak of the treble knob on the amp will fix it. That's what it's for, no problem...

Maybe you guys should just get it over with, switch to piezos and pristine ultra-clean hi-fi SS amps, biamped with crossovers and in stereo preferably. Then you will get the most accurate sound possible from your guitar strings. For myself, I'm glad I don't have this ultrasonic radar hearing ability. That's a another whole set of problems I'm thankfully not burdened with obsessing over.