Godspeed64
Active member
BOSS DS-1 Meat Lover’s Mod
“Our "Meat Lover's" mod essentially removes the harsh fizziness of the DS1. The clipping diodes are changed to give a more natural tube like crunch that's very responsive to your playing and touch sensitivity. We also fine tune the EQ of the pedal such that the distortion tone is as beefy as its name suggests. Now the pedal is capable of delivering tones ranging from smooth bluesy overdrive to smouldering Marshall tone.”
I was pleasantly surprised to have received a personal message by Seekz, saying that I have won their Free Meat Lover’s giveaway for the most “beat up” looking pedal. Initially, I was skeptical upon receiving the prize; I had no absolute need for more drive pedals after having settled with an old MIJ SD-1 (the reason I won the DS-1) and a boutique fuzz face clone on my board, with a couple of other unused pedals at the side (including a Silver Screw DS-1). But hell, I didn’t know I was in for a jolly good ride!
Construction/Features
It’s a BOSS DS-1, and they are known for their sturdy chassis and unyielding circuits. Just imagine, my silver screw is from the late 70s!
Feature-wise, unlike other available mods such as those by Keeley, there are no toggle switches to change between diodes, etc. What’s been done to the circuit has not been reflected on the exterior of the pedal, save for a white LED in spite of the ordinary red stock LED. Simplicity is what this pedal offers, and a whole lot of tone!
Rating: 90%
Tone
Seekz Stomper’s assured a palate of tones, ranging from “smooth bluesy overdrive to smouldering Marshall tone”. Whenever manufacturer’s make comparisons of their pedals to sounding reminiscent of a Plexi circuit, I have always come out disappointed. While the top 3 (E,A,D) strings nails the low end punch of a Marshall, the bottom 3 (G,B,e) strings always tend to sound somewhat ‘flabby’ and thin, at times even wimpy. This pedal had none of that!
At lower gain, the pedal responses pretty well to your picking dynamics and cleans up well with the guitar’s volume knob. While the overdrive tones here aren’t creamy and as smooth as proclaimed, it did well on playing slightly overdriven chords ala Oasis. The OD offered here had minimal crunch, but crunch nonetheless. However, I’ve not had enough playtime with single coils which can be a totally different story with this pedal.
At higher gain, this pedal delivers a wall of sound. I’ve always used fuzz pedals to create that massive chugga chugga sensation, but this pedal has proven otherwise. There’s plenty of gain on tap, and just the right amount of compression to impress those wanting to nail the Plexi tone. Great for rhythm playing with its massive low end, and for the first time I actually used a distortion pedal for lead runs and actually enjoyed it.
The tone knob offers a wide sweep, and is more usable as compared to the original DS-1 circuit. Gone are the thin and fizzy days of the DS-1, but rather, a wide palette of tones are offered with this mod.
However, when I tried it with a Fender Pro Jr at a friend’s place, this pedal couldn’t stand out as opposed to on my Randall RG100SC amp. Apparently, this pedal NEEDS the mids and bass to work on before it can shine. So your Marshalls, Rolands, Randalls, Voxes, etc. will accommodate this pedal pretty well whilst for your Fenders, this pedal may need an EQ to further sculpture the tone. Or else, a simple TS-type pedal with their mid-hump is more than sufficient to boost this pedal (something which I failed to mention, this pedal loves to be boosted).
Tone Test Equipment:
Guitars: Gibson SG Standard, Fender John Mayer Signature Stratocaster
Amplifiers: Randall RG100SC, Fender Pro Jr
Rating: 80% (would have been 85% if not for the fact it doesn’t work well with tweed amplifiers)
Conclusion
All in all, this pedal is a worthy investment. For merely $40, a mediocre pedal can be transformed into a crunch magnet that truly delivers. Seekz Stomper’s have once again proven that he makes great pedals (I’m a fan of the Punch Tone!). I have tried a couple of DS-1 versions, including a Keeley mod, a Beez mod, an MIJ model and an MIJ silver screw model. This pedal does NOT sound like your typical DS-1, but rather has massive low end crunch and is simply fat sounding, thus being called the Meat Lover’s mod.
Overall Rating: 88%
Likes:
Ease Of Use
Tone
Price ($40 to mod your DS-1!)
Dislikes:
Does not work well with tweed amplifiers
Worthy Contenders:
MI Audio Crunchbox
Seekz Stompers Punch Tone
HBE Big ‘D’ Distortion
http://www.soundalchemy.com.sg/services.html
“Our "Meat Lover's" mod essentially removes the harsh fizziness of the DS1. The clipping diodes are changed to give a more natural tube like crunch that's very responsive to your playing and touch sensitivity. We also fine tune the EQ of the pedal such that the distortion tone is as beefy as its name suggests. Now the pedal is capable of delivering tones ranging from smooth bluesy overdrive to smouldering Marshall tone.”
I was pleasantly surprised to have received a personal message by Seekz, saying that I have won their Free Meat Lover’s giveaway for the most “beat up” looking pedal. Initially, I was skeptical upon receiving the prize; I had no absolute need for more drive pedals after having settled with an old MIJ SD-1 (the reason I won the DS-1) and a boutique fuzz face clone on my board, with a couple of other unused pedals at the side (including a Silver Screw DS-1). But hell, I didn’t know I was in for a jolly good ride!
Construction/Features
It’s a BOSS DS-1, and they are known for their sturdy chassis and unyielding circuits. Just imagine, my silver screw is from the late 70s!
Feature-wise, unlike other available mods such as those by Keeley, there are no toggle switches to change between diodes, etc. What’s been done to the circuit has not been reflected on the exterior of the pedal, save for a white LED in spite of the ordinary red stock LED. Simplicity is what this pedal offers, and a whole lot of tone!
Rating: 90%
Tone
Seekz Stomper’s assured a palate of tones, ranging from “smooth bluesy overdrive to smouldering Marshall tone”. Whenever manufacturer’s make comparisons of their pedals to sounding reminiscent of a Plexi circuit, I have always come out disappointed. While the top 3 (E,A,D) strings nails the low end punch of a Marshall, the bottom 3 (G,B,e) strings always tend to sound somewhat ‘flabby’ and thin, at times even wimpy. This pedal had none of that!
At lower gain, the pedal responses pretty well to your picking dynamics and cleans up well with the guitar’s volume knob. While the overdrive tones here aren’t creamy and as smooth as proclaimed, it did well on playing slightly overdriven chords ala Oasis. The OD offered here had minimal crunch, but crunch nonetheless. However, I’ve not had enough playtime with single coils which can be a totally different story with this pedal.
At higher gain, this pedal delivers a wall of sound. I’ve always used fuzz pedals to create that massive chugga chugga sensation, but this pedal has proven otherwise. There’s plenty of gain on tap, and just the right amount of compression to impress those wanting to nail the Plexi tone. Great for rhythm playing with its massive low end, and for the first time I actually used a distortion pedal for lead runs and actually enjoyed it.
The tone knob offers a wide sweep, and is more usable as compared to the original DS-1 circuit. Gone are the thin and fizzy days of the DS-1, but rather, a wide palette of tones are offered with this mod.
However, when I tried it with a Fender Pro Jr at a friend’s place, this pedal couldn’t stand out as opposed to on my Randall RG100SC amp. Apparently, this pedal NEEDS the mids and bass to work on before it can shine. So your Marshalls, Rolands, Randalls, Voxes, etc. will accommodate this pedal pretty well whilst for your Fenders, this pedal may need an EQ to further sculpture the tone. Or else, a simple TS-type pedal with their mid-hump is more than sufficient to boost this pedal (something which I failed to mention, this pedal loves to be boosted).
Tone Test Equipment:
Guitars: Gibson SG Standard, Fender John Mayer Signature Stratocaster
Amplifiers: Randall RG100SC, Fender Pro Jr
Rating: 80% (would have been 85% if not for the fact it doesn’t work well with tweed amplifiers)
Conclusion
All in all, this pedal is a worthy investment. For merely $40, a mediocre pedal can be transformed into a crunch magnet that truly delivers. Seekz Stomper’s have once again proven that he makes great pedals (I’m a fan of the Punch Tone!). I have tried a couple of DS-1 versions, including a Keeley mod, a Beez mod, an MIJ model and an MIJ silver screw model. This pedal does NOT sound like your typical DS-1, but rather has massive low end crunch and is simply fat sounding, thus being called the Meat Lover’s mod.
Overall Rating: 88%
Likes:
Ease Of Use
Tone
Price ($40 to mod your DS-1!)
Dislikes:
Does not work well with tweed amplifiers
Worthy Contenders:
MI Audio Crunchbox
Seekz Stompers Punch Tone
HBE Big ‘D’ Distortion
http://www.soundalchemy.com.sg/services.html
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