Just tried a DS1 for the very first time

LastMantra

I like it as a heavy-ish rhythm sound (as I say, into a dirty amp). It tightens things up and has that note definition with chords. Good for izzy gnr type stuff. 

Bork

I tried the combo of Klon and DS1.  I tried Klon-clone into DS1 and didn't like it, all the fizziness was still there although there was a little more warmth.  With the DS1 into the Klon-clone it was better but there was a lack of definition around the 4-5Khz mark which left me unsatisfied.  It reminded me of a vintage Marshall in melt down - lots of nice midrange but a hint of woofiness. 

I've never really been fond of vintage flavoured overdrive or distortion but it was an interesting experiment nevertheless.

Cirrus

Bork said:

I tried the combo of Klon and DS1.  I tried Klon-clone into DS1 and didn't like it, all the fizziness was still there although there was a little more warmth.  With the DS1 into the Klon-clone it was better but there was a lack of definition around the 4-5Khz mark which left me unsatisfied.  It reminded me of a vintage Marshall in melt down - lots of nice midrange but a hint of woofiness. 

I've never really been fond of vintage flavoured overdrive or distortion but it was an interesting experiment nevertheless.

It'd probably work better into something like a Rat. They do great low gain, and the filter rolls off top end so you can just turn it clockwise until the fizz goes away. DS1 into that would probably work pretty well (I've never tried it...)

Stuckfast

I had a DS-1 briefly and couldn't sell it fast enough. Horrible horrible fizzy thing.

On the plus side, it was an old one and I got more for it than I'd paid for the entire job lot of pedals it came in.

Winny_Pooh

Stacked it into an ODR-1 recently, added some nice saturated bite, by itself? Nope

Sassafras

So I'm not the only one who thinks it sounds quite unpleasant.
Like a huge, ugly wasp.

ICBM

Sassafras said:

So I'm not the only one who thinks it sounds quite unpleasant.
Like a huge, ugly wasp.

Electric guitar isn't meant to always sound pleasant.

The DS-1 is the absolute definition of the sound of a distortion pedal, in the same way that a Marshall is the sound of an overdriven guitar amp - it's not polite or refined, it's distortion. If you asked someone who isn't a musician to describe the sound of what those little boxes a guitarist stands on is, they'd describe a DS-1, if they could put it into words... a huge ugly wasp might figure in it .

HerrMetal

Bork said:

  It reminded me of a vintage Marshall in melt down - lots of nice midrange but a hint of woofiness. 

You see, if that was the tagline for a boutique pedal people would rave about it. That is exactly what I want. For hardly any outlay (many moons ago) I have all I need with an SD1, DS1 and a Big Muff. Used either individually or in combination.  

Ddigger

You have to pay extra for midrange woofiness... 

Jetsam1

HerrMetal said:

Bork said:

  It reminded me of a vintage Marshall in melt down - lots of nice midrange but a hint of woofiness. 

You see, if that was the tagline for a boutique pedal people would rave about it. That is exactly what I want. For hardly any outlay (many moons ago) I have all I need with an SD1, DS1 and a Big Muff. Used either individually or in combination.  

Like with many things I start to wonder if we hear with our eyes and the price tag......................

I have spent weeks agonising over a pedal to buy, currently eyeing up the Big Muff but seems like a lot of people on the internets have such hate for equipment it makes me giggle. Is it because the DS1 is cheaper than many?

I would put money on the fact that I would probably struggle to hear much of a difference between "Boutique" and bog standard.

So back on topic. Is the DS1 really dependant on settings? And what it is being used with?

Stuckfast

ICBM said:

Sassafras said:

So I'm not the only one who thinks it sounds quite unpleasant.
Like a huge, ugly wasp.

Electric guitar isn't meant to always sound pleasant.

I agree it's not meant to sound pleasant, but equally it's not meant to sound thin and fizzy and gutless!

I guess I can see why a DS1 might be just the ticket into a very dark amp like a fully cranked Marshall, but used on its own, I couldn't get a sound I liked out of it. Huge angry wasp was about right.

A pedal that only delivers a usable sound in very specific circumstances and with very specific settings isn't 'good' to me. There are plenty of distortion pedals that don't make you jump through hoops to get a good sound (MXR Distortion+ for example).

ICBM

Stuckfast said:

I agree it's not meant to sound pleasant, but equally it's not meant to sound thin and fizzy and gutless! 

I guess I can see why a DS1 might be just the ticket into a very dark amp like a fully cranked Marshall, but used on its own, I couldn't get a sound I liked out of it. Huge angry wasp was about right.

A pedal that only delivers a usable sound in very specific circumstances and with very specific settings isn't 'good' to me. There are plenty of distortion pedals that don't make you jump through hoops to get a good sound (MXR Distortion+ for example). 

The DS-1 doesn't sound thin, fizzy or gutless. It can be brash and buzzy with the tone control above halfway, and it does cut out the bottom end when it's almost all the way up, but it's not thin. It's true that the best settings are in a fairly narrow band of the tone control, but I find the whole range - at least up to about 3 o'clock - useful for some things, especially into a dirty amp. It sounds fine into a clean amp too, although that is more when you need to be careful with the tone control.

Personally I find the Distortion+ has only one good sound as well - there's no tone control at all, and really the only useful setting is with both controls full up or very close. It is a great one, but that's all you get, and it's not always exactly what you want.

thermionic

Thing is with the DS-1, it may not be an essential part of your sound because you have more refined options etc. But as a somewhat classic sound useful to have as an occasional option, just get one used for £25-30.

gearaddict

Nope. I will never understand the love for the DS1 - must be a personal taste thing. Prompted by this thread I went off in search of videos of people claiming to get amazing tones out of them and they all sounded like a bucket of mushy fizz to me. I've had a few of them, modded and otherwise and I just sit there going 'nope - can't get that to sound good' for a bit then sell it.

I mainly use a Headrush now and that included a DS1 model in the latest update and it is a truly accurate model - sounds awful.

Cirrus

Maybe it would be helpful if people could post links to well known songs and be like "And that's a DS-1 there."

Fishboy7

According to Wikipedia (how many pedals have their own Wikipedia page?) notable users include

Kurt Cobain

Joe Satriani

Mike Stern

Steve Vai

Bruce Kulick

Matthias Jabs

Doug Aldrich

Dave Navarro

Gary Moore

Chuck Schuldiner

John Frusciante

George Lynch

Luca Bob Gotti

Peter Steele

Mark Speer

Steve Rothery

 

Cirrus

But... what songs/shows did they use a DS-1 on, definitively? I note that Kurt seems to have moved on to the DS-2 & Sansamp, maybe he didn't like the DS-1 that much. 

HerrMetal

IIRC the DS-1 broke and the only available replacement at the time/location was a DS-2.  The Bleach album is supposed to be all DS1 and I think the same is true for Nevermind.  For Gary Moore I'm pretty sure the DS-1 was Corridors of Power / Victims of the Future timeframe with the Red Strat. I know he moved on to other kit later on.

LastMantra

Tbh I'm starting to think all dirt pedals are much of a muchness. Especially if, like me, you stack them. 
One of my pedals broke the other day (was a diy job that I wiggled a wire in one too many times) so I had to swap it for another until I get round to fixing it. I was annoyed because I thought it was integral to "my sound" but after a while I realised the new pedal basically does the same job. Still sounds like me.
Some react differently to guitar volume adjustments and stuff of course. 
Fuzz can be a bit more extreme but even they can be pretty interchangeable to an extent. 
I'm a home/hobby guitar player though and it's probably easier to get decent sounds when you don't need to think about how it works with other instruments.

Greatape

Stern has switched away from a DS-1. 
https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/27307-rig-rundown-mike-stern

But yes, he always sounded great to me. 

Surely, guitar, pickups, amp, player, mix and requirements of the specific playing situation determine whether or not a pedal sounds good? Very few are universally irredeemable.