HOW JOE SATRIANI and STEVE VAI use the BOSS DS-1 DISTORTION PEDAL 

DS1 is so underrated these days

This is exactly how I use my DS-1, it'll always be my favourite distortion pedal!

A DS-1 driven by a Tubescreamer at 9 oçlock sounds great too.

I bought a DS-1 made in 2015. I've spent more time on this pedal than the other 8 I have. It stacks extremely well.

I just bought a 1988 DS1 with the TA7136AP chip in excellent condition. Very excited about that acquisition. The secret is to turn that tone knob below 11 oclock. Beautiful tone.

This has been and will always be my distortion pedal.

I have got an AC30 with greenback celestion and I set the amp with a little crunch and use the DS1 like a booster and it sounds incredible for certain songs. It´s a sigular device that need to be understood and the good company of some elements to bring out the best of itself.

Thanks for the demo. I like your use of descriptive words. I"m currently using the DS-1 between my guitar and a 5150 head, with a EHX Metal Muff after the DS-1. So I can use the DS-1 for a rhythm tone or a lead.

Thank you for this... Gonna give the ole DS-1 another go with these settings

I love the lead DS-1 tone but the Rat does everything from dirty boost to overdrive and to fuzz. So I use a Rat and boost it with a Tubescreamer to get that fluid lead tone.

awesome ....great playing

Thanks a lot !! This is one of the most useful tutorials I’ve seen since a while ..

I used one for years, and in predominantly Country bands! I found you have to turn the distortion control way up, dimed then I would back off a tad. Pushes the amp, seems to compress a tube amp, which tames the highs. My settings are the same as yours. Tone 9 o’clock and level to taste. Most people run the distortion low which gives the square wavy harsh artifacts that everyone hates. I have used a BluesDriver to push the front end of the DS-1. Too squishy for rhythm but good for legato tricks, volume swells and to get a note to feedback. For a while I had the Keeley Mod which was awesome! A great pedal just many do not know how to use it.

I mailed an 80s Japanese DS-1 I got off eBay for $35 to Robert Keeley in 2004 (Ultra Mod) and I think it's been on my board ever since. Great pedal.

Awesome video nice explanation 2 amazing guitarist in same video

Very interesting expecting more

Cheers, I'm using this on my next track "War" by Mr Satriani in front of an Abasi Archetype on the Orange Model Amp... it sounds absolutely killer with some decent old Vai Passion and Warfare IR's.

N I C E bro. Buying it.

Great video

Interesting video and great info... Nice playing too. Thanks. Phil NYC Area

Nice video! I use the same way in my orange tyni terror! Works good for me! I also like to crunk just a bit the amp and turn the distortion a little lower - just a little!

I have the keeley moded DS-1 (december 1990 Taiwan series) on a MKII plexi. On the low or the high input I set the tone at 10, the Dist at 14 and the level at 12. Sound good and very close to my Maxon OD808 but with better low end.

Thanks for sharing

Just found you, and I must say I enjoy your channel, so its 👍 and Suscribe. Well done.

yes! i use it very much like you have demonstrated. one of the coolest things about the DS-1 is the alternate "glassy" crunch it gives when backing off volume control on guitar that's setup with a decent treble bleed capacitor mod on guitar volume control. another good used for the DS-1 is on lower gain settings (like 9:00 or so) as a pseudo Marshall crunch tone and then use a TS type pedal or SD-1 in front of it for a nice gain stacking effect. very simple and effective.

great video, perfect demo, explanations... but look at the action on that guitar, it's super low...that's amazing... looks it 's super easy to shred...

Thanks for the info, I really wanna use those parameters

I have a Keeley modded DS-1 that for some reason I never "bonded" with. Now I can't wait to get home and try these....

I have 2. First is highly modded hard fuzz. Great if you like that a lot. 2nd is stock with just the D 5 clipped for more even volume. Don't like either very much. Use the BD -2 on my board though so love for Boss variety.

DS1 is great with tone less than 11 oclock.

So I know this video is a couple years old but I've been real curious as of late to figure out when and how Vai used the DS1 particularly because i'm such a fan of the tones off the David Lee Roth era stuff that he did... And this is the only video i've seen that kind of accurately captures that sound with this pedal.. well done.

Do-1 is a awesome pedal

It's very reliant on outside variables ie pickups, Amp etc. I thought it would sound great with my Kramer with Duncan JBs, very hot. It's atrocious! It sounded great with my Epi LP w Probuckers. Now, generally with a mim strat, I'm doing what your doing w slightly less distortion and push. Your comment on it sponging up w high output pickups really helped me figure through that so thanks!

Tasty player!,

Best distortion pedal ever DS1

I have a DS1 that has a Monte Allums mod kit, which gives me 3 different voices. Always good to get new ideas on how to use it. I've subscribed, and thanks.

I got a Keeley DS-1 Ultra wayyyy back when as a massive Vai guy and never really truly got on with it. I was using it like a Tubescreamer style boost into a high gain amp (volume right up). Too much low end, so I didnt really use it for years! Took me another 15 years or so to see how SSV actually set it, and it was like how you describe in method 2, but set way more conservatively. The tone is rolled back but the volume and drive are considerably lower. Steve's actual settings are more like Level@ 1 o clock, Tone @ 10:30, drive @ 11 As for the level of gain to set the amp to before you hit it with the pedal, my point of reference is the rhythm tone at the beginning of Erotic Nightmares. That hot crunch but not full whack chug. Hit the DS-1 at quite conservative drive and not hugely boosty level and it gives that soupy liquid Vai tone.

Nice channel. And yes, DS-1 is underrated this days with millions other distortion pedals on the market. And it’s a great rock/hardrock pedal, the only inconvenient part is the tone control

Terima kasih ilmunya

For my all-purpose rhythm and lead tone if I'm just switching back and forth between clean and dirty, I put the tone at 10:00, the level at 12:00, and the distortion at 2:00. I've never actually used a 3rd channel to switch between rhythm and lead tones. Just 1 clean tone and 1 dirty tone, and that's it.

I use DS-1 as a booster for a valve amp 🤨

......I currently don't use any dist/booster boxes, but when I do, I tend to set my amps at about 50% across the board & start from there. My pups are in the 12 to 14 ohm (16 max) area depending on the guitar. I'll play with it & try several settings till I find something I like or can use & then I'll mark those settings with a marker pen (for EZ recall) I model my tones/sounds on Lukather/Satriani (who wouldn't?) Just a utilitarian set of 4 tones that seem to fill every need I might have. And I use less FX pedals than I used to. 4 main ones & a tuner/buffer. I have 7 different amps I use in rotation but the pedal arrangement is the same on all of them & I still sound like me be it a Marshall, Fender or Hiwatt.

I find putting an OD in front of mine on a light gain channel and running the amp clean gives me the best response for legato and SatchVai like tones. I have a Boss Katana and the legato never feels or sounds right unless I do it this way. Also WAY more sustain than normal with the OD in front.

I modded my ds-1 and replaced the clipping diodes with germaniums. Sounds awesome

I never thought there was a way to make that pedal look good lol.

I use 2 Ds 1...First as a booster with tone att 10 and full level no distorsion..Second one is tone at 10 a clock and level full but distorsion on 2 a clock.. I use bouth SD JB pickup on a Charvel and ssl4 quater pounders singel coil on my strat and bouth guitars sounds great.

Just found your channel, great stuff! You've earned a sub

nice!!!!))

It would be cool if you made a video about how to get that tone in Steve Vai - Die to Live. I've never heard anyone cover that song and get the tone right.

The DS1 of today is not even close to the original DS1 I bought back in 80s❤ Trying to get close to Edwards Brown sound (a seemingly impossible task, even for Ed. thanks Teddy Van Halenman). But I finally nailed it, at least to where I was approached quite a bit by guitar players asking WTF man! What are you using bro? I'm like dude it's simple. It's this DS1. (of course there is much more to that equation than most would described as simple) Firstly it took me quite some rather strange events leading up to my eventually capturing what I felt was as close as could be even to an engineer's ears) I was using a Seymour Duncan trembucker JB and the DS1 in front of either my Marshall Master 2203 w EL34 tubes or a 2204 that had 6550's Bass all the way up mids all the way up very little high-end probably about 2 or 3, same with the presence, pre vol 4ish, and and only two 12s in my 4x12 cab cooking at any given time the gain on the pedal was all the way up level probably around 6 and slowly bring up that tone knob to taste. Just so you can get every harmonic. I had a backup that I picked up and because of a busted Jack or whatever needed it. Plugged it in dialed it in close to my settings and to my ears sounded like total shit! I tried messing with it for a minute, no dice!😢 What could I possibly have been doing differently? Well the internet was born and much much later and I discovered the made in Japan original came equipped with the Coveted bucket brigade chip. The Taiwanese model didn't have it, and the way was totally different, all kinds smds as opposed to the quality components Roland built into their pedals early on. Hence the markets need for one Robert Keely. Anyway that pedal smokes big time and really loves a week batteries some are in the seven volt range. I used to use the ones from my wireless that two weeks to do anything else and had a happy accident from that I would take voltages on my batteries and put gathers table sharpie with the voltage on it for use with the DS1. Then I find out you know maybe 10 years ago there's that box called pedal power to get two channels with pots on it that say "sag". Found out it was emulating what I discovered when I add a little battery lol like I said man it was before Internet obviously other dudes of DS ones or their bucket brigade chip discovered that through a relatively clean JMP or JCM sounded kick-ass period! That one from time is still down in the basement never used period let's take these pilots plundered parts of it for my DD3A1 another exemplary product from Roland! I would never put this pedal in front of a solid state amp. Unusable. I leave it on always and Just Dance on it when there's a dead spot in the song. No compression is the pedal provides plenty. I put it directly before the amp. But alas I graduated from the school of cool having modded both of those master volume Marshalls with preamp outputs and Power Amp inputs. Cascading the preamp out of the first head to the high input on the second rig. Had the mess around with that for a little bit, found out a 12 Au 7 in the preamp slot of amp 1 was perfect. Basically using AMP one like Eddie used his Marshall super lead as a Distortion pedal. If it ain't made in Japan and doesn't contain the Bucket Brigade chip it ain't a DS1 to me ears

I think the Boss Blues Driver is the best overdrive on the planet, and the DS-1 is still the GOAT. On my Katana, I run the BD-2 at min with the Crunch channel to give it more pop, and the DS-1 at min with the Brown channel as a bass booster. I've never been able to even get a Klon to do what a DS-1 does. It gives balls to amps.

A good idea and well executed! Gary Moore used it exclusively on early 80’s records such as Corridors of Power, Live in Japan and Victims of the future

Leon Brown, the Leo Brower of the elec. guitar

I've been thinking of getting this as I play allot of Gary Moore and this seems like it'll do that

Shucks, I use the 40A the same tone setting, level bellow half way and same with the dist. Dist above 11pm sounds like fuzz dirt noise... is Seymour hotrail and high output pickup?

I tried the DS-1 out once and couldn't do a thing with it 😣 I probably did have high end pickups though. That could have been why. Interesting...

Try it in the loop/effects return

The settings are basically the Kurt Cobain settings. And that’s awesome being honest that musicians can use similar settings to get different settings

I love my ds1 but only when boosted with a super overdrive

I have an original 80’s ds1 But I use the Moeoer Ultra drive... It’s the 3 modded ds1’s in one pedal

Great video and great playing, subscribbed. I am getting a DS-1 today. being mostly a Strat player, how do you think it pairs with single coils in general? I want a more singing lead tone out of my Strat, whilst still keeping it a Strat.

I always wondered why Satch had it on his pedalboard especially around Flying in a Blue Dream era. When I started out, I bought a distortion pedal and it just sounded like cat turds even with a little gain turned up on my amp. My first amp was a used 50 watt 2 channel Crate Combo amp so it wasn't a great sounding amp in the first place.

Hi mate, greetings from Buenos Aires. Have you tested a DS1 with the Keeley modification? Would you recommend it ?

Thanks!! But it can function with a boss ds-1X? With the same settings?

Very interesting, of course We all know that both Satriani and Vai have made some Little mod to get rid of acid tone (i Guess) very tipical of Boss DS1 but also SD 1 and so on. My only dubt is abt the Level of gain when you merge The DS1 (but Also an OD) into an overdriven amp , it shouldn't be too much otherwise lot od dynamic gets Lost and the tone is muddy (is it the correct word?). Getting old I'm Getting more and more convinced that those guys use not so much gain as We Belive. I have am RG with tone zone and RG 550 Genesis and I'm thinking to buy a DS1 (its a pedal everybody must have, even of you shut it in the drawer) and i have found the tip of the output very interessing

I got a DS-2. How does it compare to DS-1?

I've had my DS 1 since the first year they came out and it's never left my pedal board...thing is indestructible ..I keep the tone knob on zero and put it before a GE 7 eq pedal which really puts life into it and rounds out the square wavy edges it can have when the treble is on...my setting is usually tone at zero...level at 9 oclock and gain all the way up...I like the warm sound I get at that setting

they used the robert keeley modded ds-1, i have both, totally different sound

When I close my eyes and think distortion, a little orange box pops up in my head. I have the rat with a turbo setting to boot but I could never gel with that thing. It's great but I think the sound of distortion I gravitate towards is definitely the DS1. It's so aggressive and yet it can be so creamy when put into a somewhat dirty amp or when boosted by a tube screamer in front of it.

Shows the settings at 3:40. Level 9/10. Tone 3/10. Distortion 9/10.

I like to combine my DS-1 with a SD-1. Both ways for (slightly) different results. First is always as a "clean boost"(*) with the drive or dist mostly turned down. Second one is always with more gain dialed in. Lows and highs come from the DS, mids from the SD.. Also - might be quite "common sense" already: My tone knob of the DS-1 lives on the "morning" side, hence - never above "12 o´clock".. (*) ...yesss, I know, the DS-1 is never "real clean". Doesn´t matter too much.

Is this the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd version of the DS-1?

great video but I would be helpful to show how much is distorted your amp in the second setting ie play with DS1 off... For example my amp, a Blackstar ht1 has 2 channels, clean and drive: to emulate the latter setting have to use the clean channel with gain maxed or the drive channel with low gain?

To 11 chap, 😎

is that a little Mesa Boogie amp in the background ? Can you recommend a Mesa Boogie that is lightweight/portable with enough volume to be heard over a drummer in a small practice space ? Great video thanks for showing us all , Peace !

Summary - Adjust tone to taste and turn everything else up to 11.

I read that they clip a part off the circuit board on their ds-1s

Can someone help please. What does he say at around 1.45 . Something about quarter? I love the big and hairy tone but not sure what is done at that point to alter the tone. Thanks!

I find this very amazing..do these settings applies to a ds2 as well?

kurt cobain used very similar settings as well on his ds1 which i find interesting

Get two, split the signal and use one with a darker tone.

It's the best pedal ever. I have tried to replace it with JHS, Amptweaker, Wampler, what's the point? DS-1 sounds better.

Explains why I always hated it, I was using a super distortion. Think I'll still stick with a rat though.

I think Vai's DS-1 is keeley modded

Never considered that the pickups were a big factor on the pedal..

I've been using ds1 for many years if you're using solid state amp it will never sounds good, the same as od1 and almost all boss pedals that's why many of my friends sell their boss pedals because its not good but they're wrong, boss pedals works very good with tube amps they give something extra punch into it

I wish your audio wasn't so unbalanced. I can't hear you but he guitar is deafening.

People are scared to turn the drive up. You have to give it drive; especially on overdrive pedals.

why do u use pedals when your modeler works so much better? i have both the boss pedals and the line 6 TT amplify wow the line 6 BLOWS the peddals away and all those sub menues to adjust the sound you dont need pedals anymore even on stage!

Distorsion = Boss DS-1 / Overdrive = Boss SD-1 et avec ça j'en ai assez .

I traded a tool belt for a DS-1.

Some one use technology force me to throw away my boss ds-1. Thailand

A couple stacked overdrives sounds better to my ears. That thing is overbearing

Pick ups in 1978 were weak the first marshall master vol was released in 1981...it not rocket science...what to use this pedal with....forget Metallica they were still at School. Ha Ha..

Sounds cheesy dude

Sounds like fart

Personally..I hate the tone.....it's nasty...cold....brittle..fizzy...ugly tone...simply horrible....my personal feelings..

Ya no lo usan...

vai uses evos

I think they both sound like crap you only need one processer you have to learn how to use it a good one it has all you need so many studio Technician have ask me how do you get that sound techs from Nashville even I have them all it took awhile but I done it