Boss DS-1 Distortion (Are You Using It Wrong?) 

Check out more Boss pedal videos: ru-vid.com/group/PLNaLwTdlpQNH25G8vg0YCJuhWmpQakiZa

For years my main amp was a Roland Jazz Chorus and I used a DS1, and lots of people loved my tone, so yes you can use a DS1 with a clean amp. It does depend on what sound you want, and what you are looking for So my advice? Take some time & experiment Try it for at least 10 minutes, not for a minute or two. And remember not everyone likes the same sounds, and that makes things cool, as we get more variety

That lead tone of the humbucker going into the Marshall was ridiculously good.

I really think you're the only honest music guy on YT. All the others are just click-baiting BS and bad reviewers

I thought it was the DS-1 I was using wrong but it turns out it was just my guitar playing after all, as usual.

Sounds good. A thing people don't realize is that when this pedal came out in 78, it was designed to be used in the amps of those days, plexis, jcm's. I use mine into a traynor yba-1 that was modded to sound like a 1987. I plug into the bass channel and run the tone around noon. Have a listen you'll be suprised.

RU-vid - (Are You Using It Wrong?) Put the Elmo-Knob at noon, the content-knob at 9 and play it into a clean screen. Works well for me ❤

Loved the video Elmo! The ds-1 is near and dear to my heart. I won't argue with keeping the tone and distortion below 12 but I've found that the level is really the kicker dependent on the amp you're playing through. I think it sounds killer going into my Bugera 50w amp head, marshall 2x12 cab, and my player strat. Gives just enough growl.

Indeed. It's not so much about the right way for everyone to use it, it's more about the fact that it can be a difficult pedal to dial in, so you have to be patient with it and try it different ways. Those tips are some things to try, but they are not rules for all players.

It’s sounded amazing through the Marshall

Best words said..... If you like it, you like it ! Cheers, I like this pedal......... I don't like liver, but somehow I do like liver pate?

Thanks for the review Elmo 🙏✌️❤️🎶🎵🎼

I think everything has a context and with a lot of gear it's a matter of finding the right context. For years I thought the DS-1 was crap until I realized that if Satriani and Vai used it heavily then they must know something I don't. Same thing with the MXR Distortion+. I still remember the night I hooked one up in front of my Plexi clone, hit it with an EMG-81 loaded Strat and realized what Wolf Hoffmann knew all along. :) Granted, some things really are crap, but a lot of times it's a matter of getting everything to work together.

You can use it with high output pickups. A lot of the 80's hair metal were recorded with it. Just back off on the distortion a smidge more than on normal pickups

I think these videos where trying to exploit the popularity of DS1. I have seen them, in order to use better my DS1, I had mixed results. I played a bit on my own and figured out what I liked most, on my Katana 50 and whatever guitar (low, high output etc). Yet, clickbait worked! I'm always surprised how open and honest you are!! Great video!

Cool, much-needed video. I'm kind of nonplused at all the bad-rappin' the DS-1 gets. It's really useful to me. My use of the DS-1: As a clean solo boost (Level up, Distortion down) after a TS-808 set as a clean(-ish)* boost into a clipping tube amp or tube distortion/overdrive pedal. "Clean"-boosting TS-808 + clipping Laney/Marshall (or whatever tube distortion/overdrive pedal) = good (to my ear) heavy/crunchy rhythm tone. The tone is big and beefy, but not boomy or farty. I like it to be just a bit on the bright side so as not to fight with the bass or the kick or low toms, but it shouldn't be shrill. The TS-808 is great for tightening up the lower end appropriately. Where in the mids the tone's emphasis should be depends on the singer's voice and other instruments (keys, another guitar, sax, whatever--but _never_ accordion!) When it's time for a solo, kick on the DS-1 for more sustain and more low end. The low end is okay now because my guitar is now the "most important" instrument and the others will hopefully fade back a bit to give me room in the volume/spectrum calculus. The only difficulty I have with the DS-1 is dialing out the "snotty" tone, but staying below about noon on the Tone knob seems to solve that. This is predicated on a guitar with medium to medium-high output humbucker pickups. I don't know about single-coils. *The TS-808 never cleans up all the way. You can set Overdrive to zero (like I do) and you're still going to get a little bit of grit in the sound.

Great video as always ! We need a deep dive like this on the Proco Rat (or a copy !) Cheap, great and misunderstood ! (Imo : clean boost + RAT (High vol, low dist) + breaking Plexy + delay + spring reverb = Eric Johnson meets 80's Savatage )

13:06 Thanks for the vid. I'm reminiscing now of when the DS-1 was my main (only) distortion pedal in the early 80's 😊 I had the distortion set to max, tone down around 8 or 9 o'clock, and volume set for unity, into a clean Marshall. It sounded just like I had the Marshall cranked all the way, but at a reasonable volume. Yours sounds more like a fuzz going into that solid state cube amp 😂 (I don't think Satch or Vai ever used their DS-1's with a solid state amp !!) keep up the good work 👏

You could also save your money and get better pedals. I havent used a DS-1 since I was 17.

I like it with the tone turned way down and boosted with an overdrive in front. Makes it a lot chuggier and more metal sounding. But that's just for playing at home through a practice amp, in a band situation I'm still gonna choose amp gain.

You can put an SD-1 AFTER the DS-1 and have the SD-1 be the "slightly overdriven amp" with the Drive low (about 8-9 o' clock). My favorite setting is having the Tone and Dist like a "V" (Tone= 10 o' clock, Dist= 2 o' clock). If you put the Dist at 3 o' clock in front of the SD-1 you can have the sound of "All She Wrote" by Firehouse.

Hi, some of those videos you mentioned also suggest not connecting the DS-1 to the amplifier input, but instead connecting it to the send return of the amplifier. I can't tell you if this can improve or worsen the sound since I don't own this pedal and I don't have the send and return on my amplifier. I take this opportunity to tell you that yours is the only channel where pedals and amplifiers sound exactly like in reality (often bad). Many times I have bought pedals and amplifiers after hearing them sound great on other RU-vid channels, only to be very disappointed afterwards.

Always..informative, useful and entertaining !! 🔧 🎸= 🎸😊👌 Thx a Mint!! You've helped me more than once!! So far, So good, So Awesome!!

I bought one of these at a swap meet here in LA for $ 20, i figured it was broken but it worked fine thru my marshalls it's just finding the sweet spot in the adjustments foe me it's a one trick pony not verry versatile but gets that joe satch tone just fine cheers !

Ok, before I watch the video: YES, I definitely use it wrong. I never got a convincing sound from it. I even went that far to replace the resistor in the dist circuit to make it more "overdrivey" added leds to the feedback path and adjusted the tone stack. Now it's more of a Tube Screamer than a DS-1 but I like it. And now, show me how to use it correctly, Elmo!

Elmo, creo que ha sido un video tal vez algo largo..... para llegar a la conclusion de que cada uno de nosotros (que tenemos desde hace mucho tiempo el Ds1 )....lo equalizamos de diferentes formas y por eso conseguimos un sonido particular

I've been stacking my (cheap) pedals recently - trying distortion into fuzz - and find that my preference is to keep the distortion gain quite low - say 10 o'clock and then the fuzz can go to around 12 o'clock while also keeping the gain below 10 o'clock on the amp. I like to keep tone on the fuzz about 9 o'clock, but find that distortion can give me a nice little treble boost at the start of the chain, so I have that tone around 2 o'clock. Well I think with pedals there is no substitute for just listening and tweaking all of the controls until we get to the sound we like. This can be frustrating - but that is the deal with pedals. Also further tweaks can be done at the end of the chain with a delay or reverb pedal. So it is the final output tone that we have to keep in mind - not one pedal in isolation.

Once a guitarist learns how to play any scales and lead, it's as if they become incapable of playing simple chords. I do appreciate you throwing SOME chords in there. That's more than most RU-vid guitarists. Most people looking at a DS1 are Nirvana fans. Nirvana was mostly simple chords and power chords. Nothing wrong with that, btw. So a review should have mostly power chords and chords, with some lead. Not mostly blues licks and lead with a few chords sparsely mixed in. Rant over, and I do like your channel, so please don't be confused on that. 😂

All the way up!! 💀

Another tip is use the DS1 with a fairly dark sounding amp with some mids, tube or solid state. I use it with Blackstar FLY 3 and sounds good to me.......whether playing grunge or Satch. OTOH Pristine amps such as Vox doesn't sound good to my ears.

In your opinion, is the second half of the tone knob of any use? The distortion side of my ibanez jemeni sounds like the tone does not even get (if cranked) to the 12' on the DS-1!

I believe Vai had the keely mod on his ds1 but I could very well be mistaken. Either way THANK YOU for this video. The other's irritated me when they said no high output pickups because I'm a huge Vai fan, and not to turn distortion past 12. Maybe if you're a bloos dad.

Its the absolute black and white of the suggestions. It's better if the youtubers said...try this... It's not my musical style,but a friend uses this pedal with high gain. It sounds fine to me. I agree about the tone,it can get really mushy.

Do a pedal shootout between the Diezel VH4 vs the EVH 5150 Overdrive please

I'm using mine correctly because it's in the bin and I got a Keeley Filaments 🤘Amazing pedal does almost every distortion tone you'll ever need 😏🤘

I wonder what it would be like if it were used as a boost like the mega overdrive, max level, distortion at 0, tone at noon.

I've used my DS-1 since '93 (the last year they used the TA7136AP chip) and play things like Nirvana's "School," In Bloom," and "Drain You" all day long with the distortion cranked, the tone at 10 o'clock, using my '93 PRS CE-24 (bridge humbucker) into my late 70s Fender Twin Reverb. Sounds great. Maybe everyone has their amp tone set weird? Plus, if you throw an EQ pedal after it, then you can really craft the tone to be exactly as you want!

This is THE best distortion ever made !!I ve been using it for 40 years and YES i agree with you that there is no wrong way for anything .On the other hand there are certain dos and donts if you want to achive certain tones using the ds1.For example it made wonders in the hands of gary moore ,joe satriani and steve vai all of them using it diferently (john norum also....) .It also took a lot of searching and experimentation but when i realised how to set it up it made miracles and no review even comes close !!!! ....and beleive me you are also using it wrong for the tonew tha your playing demands!!!

3rd tip, a lot more distorted amp and ds-1 tone max dist almost off volume max. chainsaw territory for swedish death metal but more controlled than hm-2. the band Grave is using it in that way. i know is not your musical stuff but it is another use of the ds-1 :)

I use it with a china TS clone. they sound great stacked

Jcm 800, clean channel, distortion all the way up on your amp and all the way down on the pedal, tone little less than half, volume all the way up.

Setting the distortion on the DS-1 past 12 angers the bees inside. Further increasing it may cause them to swarm and attack.

You should make series of referring videos like this. :D

No. My DS1 is a life-changingly great machine.

You can easily transmit most of this advice to the Metal Zone as well

The WAZA one is definitely an upgrade

wow, brings back memories of how my DS-1 I bought cheap in 1992 really sucked. Sounds just as awful in this vid.

in your opinion which one should i buy gio grg121 or jet js400?

Well i am guilty too ... got a Turbo-DS 'cause more is more ... was trying to get more umpf by adjusting the 3 band eq found out: there ain't none

I owned one of those horrible Orange things from 1981 to about 1998. Harsh, fizzy, revolting un-musical things. The closest I get to a guitar nightmare would be dreaming of using a Ds-1 straight into an amp with no other pedals... 😖 please, wake up! It's just a nightmare, now I have nice sounding pedals If you MUST usenone of these orange montrosities, you have to run it into some other pedals to mellow out all the harshness... like a reverb, delay, flanger etc then into the amp

Personally, I liked it better "over 12 o' clock. 😋 Your advice to take other advice with a grain of salt and experiment with things, is very good advice.

I would've liked to hear more power chords and rhythm playing rather than lead because 99% of beginners (myself included) won't plug in their newly bought DS-1 to start shredding but to get some good ol' chugging out of their cheap "edge of breakup" amp.

👍🏻

Run SD-1 to boost into the DS-1, or for a different sound, reverse the order. Tweak knobs to taste.

Wow I was going to buy one of those now I'm not

I rarely turn the distortion past 12 o'clock, tone always between 6 o'clock and 11 o'clock, and level between 11 and 1 o'clock. I've used it with a Marshall DSL20 and a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and it sounds pretty good with both. Putting a tubescreamer in front of it can give it a much fuller, punchier sound, but it's fine on its own on a lot of occasions. Having said all that, my DS1 is the Waza Craft version and I hardly ever set it to standard mode because I like the custom mode so much better.

😀🤘🤘

Crank That Level. SRV can't be wrong.

Love my DS-1. The mystery of this pedal is the tone and level knobs are reversed 🤔

This question may come across as stupid, but what is breakup?

Use it like a RU-vid video suggests and sound just like everybody else! There are no rules - only guidelines...too many variables and context is key!

the poor fender frontman 15...

What are "hot" pickups? And what's clipping?

The older I get the less gain I use.

That shitty Boss sound... the moments it does not sound totally horrible it is because Elmo is a superb player

I'm 3:43 into the video and it sounds horrible! Not you Elmo, the pedal.

Wow, talk about pedal snobbery. These comments are crazy.

I like the sound of the bucker through the Marshall, and you know I usually love everything you touch, but I have tried to like that pedal ssssssoooooooooooo many times! I mean after all it’s like the “fisher price my first distortion pedal” thing, but fuck me in the goat ass does it sound like a steaming turd!!! Not you, your playing, the pickups, but that damned pedal! Blows monkey schlong! Thanks for making this vid though!

I am using it right. I either threw it in the trash or I traded it in for a different pedal. Can't remember and I'm glad I can't. Good riddance.

The pedal that put me off distortion... Only a teenager of course, took me 20 years to buy another distortion, one with loads of tone shaping. Sorry boss never a winner with me unlike your other stuff.

If you're using one it's wrong

Kids, don't try this at home... Or anywhere else for that matter. PS: If somebody gifted you this pedal, it HATES your guts.

This pedal was useless and sucked big time from the very beggining of the universe.

I've always hated it. And I still hate it. I also think people who shell out $150 for the Waza craft version are idiots.

I have one, never use it. MXR as well. Dont like it. I gave up on pedals.

Tone knob as low as possible. It sounds like shit over 9.