Guitar FX Pedal mods (beginner)

[petemoore]

  I used 15w is fine, I liked it better for stompbox building better than the 30w.
  As long as the heating is fairly quick and complete [bringing all the relevant material surfaces to solder melting temperature], a bigger iron isn't needed.
   ''What shape is the tip'' matters...

[fpaul]

The best thing I bought for stompboxes was a temp controlled soldering iron for 50 bucks.  My 15w would start too cold then go too hot.  Temp control is GREAT.

Funny, I started building pedals because I bought a DS-1 and hated it.  I read so many HC reviews that just loved it; really don't understand why.  I still haven't modded it but I've built quite a few other distortions and I like ALL of them much better than the DS-1.  BSIABII is probably my favorite.

I finally gave up on getting the sound I wanted from a pedal though.  My 50watt Marshall 1987 clone is just waiting for some jacks and impedence switch to arrive(today).  If that doesn't do it I''m giving up.

[Guitarfreak]

I hear you.  The stock DS-1 sound is atrocious, at least this version, supposedly the older ones sounded warmer.  The new DS-1 sounds like an anemic seagull vomiting putrescent shellfish remains while simultaneously defecating its innards in a steaming bloody pile on a hot rock in Death Valley on tuesday.

[fpaul]

Yeah, it sounds exactly like that!  After reading about a hundred glowing reviews on HC and forking out my 40 big ones I realized I needed to start building my own, since I can't rely on reviews.  May sound great on another amp also, who knows.  I have a pignose g60vr which I also bought after reading reviews.  It's okay but kind of fender clean.  I wanted marshall dirty. 

I may try the amz mod on the ds-1 someday since it's only 2 resistors.  But don't really need another distortion right now.  Let us know how your mods turn out.

[spaceace76]

I hear you.  The stock DS-1 sound is atrocious, at least this version, supposedly the older ones sounded warmer.  The new DS-1 sounds like an anemic seagull vomiting putrescent shellfish remains while simultaneously defecating its innards in a steaming bloody pile on a hot rock in Death Valley on tuesday.

well at least we know we can expect some creative pedal names from you 
and btw my previous post was poorly worded, i meant to say that the lowest typical value for an electrolytic was 1uf. keep us posted on your mods!

[Hupla]

Yeah, it sounds exactly like that!  After reading about a hundred glowing reviews on HC and forking out my 40 big ones I realized I needed to start building my own, since I can't rely on reviews.  May sound great on another amp also, who knows.  I have a pignose g60vr which I also bought after reading reviews.  It's okay but kind of fender clean.  I wanted marshall dirty. 

I may try the amz mod on the ds-1 someday since it's only 2 resistors.  But don't really need another distortion right now.  Let us know how your mods turn out.

The normal DS-1 only ever sounded good to me on one amp I played through when gigging and that was on a vox valvetronix on one of the cab emulators. Can't remember exactly which one but it was a god send to find it.

Ive modded mine now but still not happy with it. Gonna build the BSIABII and Dr. Boogey, that should suit most of my needs ha.