Oh wow, Ok, here's my take on this very interesting thread about the modded DS1 and TS9DX which I do elaborate at quite considerable if not disturbing lenght with modders and enquirers.
Before anything else I'd like to gently but promptly state that mods like all the wide variety of pedals out there available in the world today, will not make you a better player. They can only help you to sound better. Yes even stock or boutique pedals, amps and guitars.
DS1
The version of DS1 Switchblade Mod used in the test is 1 of 3 types of
DS1 Custom Switchblades that I currently offer. This mod is for me a range of improvements on the best qualities of the original Keeley SEM and the Ultra designs. Common comments of the original SEM are that it lacks oomph with too little gain and that the Ultra has too much low end oomph and not enough upper mids. Users of both the SEM and Ultra do benefit from using the DS1 mods in either or both ways of setting the dist at zero with level full or the dist from 12 o clock to full out shred. You will notice that you get more highs with higher settings of the dist knob so the tone knob on the original SEM and Ultra can...to a certain point help you balance the amount bite to oomph factor. Because I don't rely on a stomp eq pedal in my setup(at this point in time) I've found in my own use of both the SEM and Ultra that I want the flexibility of shaping the upper mids of the DS1 in low or high distortion settings. Thus my lil creation out of necessity...The Switchblade. I introduce another 2 or 3 way flick switch to choose the kind of zoning in on the mids and upper mids. This is to afford the flexibility of assigning the DS1 for either mild overdrive for introducing that classy "there not there" kinda clean into breakup tube amp like character or super saturation full shred Vai lead type tonality.
Hint: Set your amp at the edge between clean and the hint of tube breakup, Set the DS1 drive knob real low and the tone knob at 10 or 12 o clock with the switchblade "on" use the 2nd or 4th pos on your SSS, HSS or HSH for a really nice variation of the "King Tone" Kick in either the CS3 or the OD or all at the same time! Try!
TS9DX
The TS9 will always remain hyped about but the reality is that most are caught by what they've "read or heard about" but get kinda shocked when they actually do hear how "unhyped" the stock pedal seems to sound. This usually happens because we forget to take considerable account of other very contributings factors like the settings, type of guitar, the action, the pups,the string gauge, amps, tubes, speakers, micing technique, post speaker processing and most importantly the player itself. The TS9 was always a very cheap and widely available overdrive pedal worldwide. But in the hands of SRV who obviously hand "tones" within his hands he made that pedal an intrinsic part of his "King Tone" sound that is world famous today. Most users get easily put off by how tame the distortion seems to sound out of the stock pedal but they often do not realise that most of the Kings out there actually used the pedal with the dist at min and the level knob flat out kicking the front end of some amazing tube amps. Tube amps are a whole other volume for further discussions.
The modded TS9DX that our dear Moo uses is another custom job whereby it's saturation range is designed for a wide variety of almost everything "OverDrive" that can be contained in a pedal without a tube.
This custom TS9DX has serious amounts of headroom and even if the dist was set at zero and the level was full you'll get quite a sick amount of signal level that'll kick your amp into distortion zone. The reason I created this for "Moo" was to allow him to explore further into his quest for tone by experimenting with various degrees of combined or isolated saturation from the pedal other stomps or the amp. You will find that the infamous "chugga chugga" palm mute sounds better with an overdrive pedal kincking the amp rather than a distortion pedal because the overdrive pedal and amp naturally has within it's character to reproduce the dynamic transients better...if you can get what I mean
Taking the compressor, wah and volume pedal aside at the end of the day after all the exploration of vintage, cutting edge, stock, mod, diy or boutique pedals out there IMHO it's down to 3 types of saturation that you owe it to yourself to discover and incorporate into your stomp pedal arsenal regardless of brand, cost or hype;
The 3 must have types of saturation pedals for any serious tone freak player;
1. Overdrive
2. Distortion
3. Fuzz
What to do if you don't own a tube amp?
Well tube amps seem to come in various flavours these days thanks to techno advancement;
1. Full Tube (Pre and Power amp sections)
2. Rectifiers (Power supply, Pre and Power amp section)
3. Hybrid (most likely only 1 preamp tube in the amp's preamp gain circuit)
4. Tubelike (most likely silicon diode based clipping ccts just like stomps)
5. Modelling (sophisticated cutting edge digital audio replication technology)
I would highly recommend anybody to go for options
1 & 2 1st where possible and where cost becomes a major factor look into "
5". Modelling is a great way to learn and appreciate the various characters of tube amps, cabinet material design and speaker types that all contribute to how the classic amps sound the way they do and artists, producers and engineers apply their usage in accordance to their intended musical vision. Options 3 & 4 are really for those with serious costing issues.
I hope this has been helpful. Phew!
