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MoonWatcher
Bronze Member
USA
98 Posts |
 Posted - 08/31/2008 : 05:29:09
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Hey all -
Dusted off the old DS-1 today and cleaned it up a bit - replaced all (previously modded) tants and polys with metal film stuff - a real PITA with this pedal!
Of course mosfets sound excellent in this pedal, too, but I'm trying to not have a 1 track mind, and reverted to a 1n4001/1N4148 pair...
...It's got all of the best parts of the Ultra and similar mods, along with a few of my own de-gaining twists.
...But I'm still not happy with the tone control. The pedal sounds juicy until I A/B it against my other peds - then it sounds strident until I really whack down the tone control.
I've read up on a flat mids mod that entails using a .068 uF treble cap and a .022 bass cap, but I'm reluctant to try it (I stuck a TL082 chip in the thing, with a rat's nest of hard wiring to make a DIP8 work, and it makes getting at those two caps a bit difficult ).
I like the bottom end as is with the .1 uF bass cap, I guess it's the treble cap that's the issue. I changed it to .047 uF, but still too bright for my tastes. Consequently, the diodes are bypassed with a .047 uF cap, as well. Should I just keep pushing up the value of these two caps 'til the highs are shaved off just so?
I've modded Big Muffs for years and have always been able to get that tone control to do my bidding, but don't seem to have the same luck with the DS-1. It always ends up on the shelf collecting dust.
Any thoughts? The pedal is done except for the top end zing...
-MW |
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Dr. Bob
Moderator
Australia
6593 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2008 : 05:49:20
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Hi MoonWatcher
I know this isn't really an answer,
but have you considered making a(couple of) simple 10 position, capacitor substitution box/s.
Or a clip lead with small croc clips, cut in half.
Solder the free ends to the pads on the PCB & clip in a few different value caps.
I reduces the chances of the PCB pads & tracks lifting, due to rework stresses.
I know that these methods introduce a little noise, but it can save a hell of a lot of time.
For moral support keep up trying to find the right combination of CAPS & Diodes for your DS-1.
As for me, you probably read, that I'm a little anal about doing mods.
I have big spread of tone colours with all the pedals I have.
But I will admit, I am tempted, to MOD one of my newer MIT DS-1's to the MelanHead mod/s.
Regards Dr. Bob
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cctsim
Silver Member
United Kingdom
418 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2008 : 14:48:08
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You can also try SPICE to check the response of changes to the tone circuit.I have done that for some of the mods that sounded good to check
the corresponding frequency cut offs.
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Edited by - cctsim on 08/31/2008 14:49:21 |
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Laurie
Double Platinum Member
Canada
4854 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2008 : 15:32:17
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I am VERY impressed. A Llama to you cctsim!  |
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Dr. Bob
Moderator
Australia
6593 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2008 : 16:20:35
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Hi cctsim
Thanks for sharing the Spice plots:
I always loved that MelanHead mod.
Regards Dr. Bob |
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MoonWatcher
Bronze Member
USA
98 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2008 : 18:43:28
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Yeah, Dr. Bob, I think you have the answer, and that's the conclusion I came to last night.
Do they have SPICE available for the Mac? I've been hoping that they port over Duncan's tone stack calculator, to no avail.
Going by the plot, it looks like I need something a little stronger in treble reduction than the Melanhead mod - what are the values used for that, if you don't mind me asking?
Thanks, folks. Very good and applicable to my quest.
-MW |
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cctsim
Silver Member
United Kingdom
418 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2008 : 20:51:16
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There is a port of the original spice 3f5 for mac
http://www.macspice.com/
I personally use spice 3f5 for PC and matlab to do the plots.
The Melanhead mod changes the values of C11 and R16 to
C11=0.047u
R16=4.7k
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MoonWatcher
Bronze Member
USA
98 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2008 : 22:40:24
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| Thanks so much, cctsim! |
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Dr. Bob
Moderator
Australia
6593 Posts |
Posted - 09/01/2008 : 01:28:34
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quote:
Originally posted by MoonWatcher
Yeah, Dr. Bob, I think you have the answer, and that's the conclusion I came to last night.
Do they have SPICE available for the Mac? I've been hoping that they port over Duncan's tone stack calculator, to no avail.
Going by the plot, it looks like I need something a little stronger in treble reduction than the Melanhead mod - what are the values used for that, if you don't mind me asking?
edited
-MW
Hi MoonWatcher
I posted the links to the Melanhead Mods over on the Pedal Mods thread:
Be warned though, it's the entire thread on DIY-stompboxes.
I'm not sure anyone has a more concise version of the info.
The good thing is, there are about (3) sound demos there as well.
http://www.bossarea.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4372&whichpage=1
Off topic:
Which Mac do you have? if it's a Intel based one, you can run Spice in native mode or under BootCamp, Paralles or the newer Crossroads,
under Crossroads, you don't even need to have WindoZzz installed.
Regards Dr. Bob |
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Topic |
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DS-1 Flat Mids and similar tone control mods?
