Unapologetic Distortion Circuit of Boss DS-1 | Gain Appreciation

[@ScienceofLoud]

The first 500 people to click my link will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare skl.sh/scienceofloud04241 BUY Boss DS-1 & Other Gear used in this video: thmn.to/thocf/sht95efu8l The iconic Boss DS-1 is unapologetically a Distortion pedal - its dual gain stage circuit will give any boosted amp a run for its money. Let's Gain Appreciation for why this circuit has been popular since 1978. This video contains paid promotion from Skillshare More details on how Science of Loud implements product promotion - www.csguitars.co.uk/disclosure #sponsor #boss #ds1 Timecodes: 00:00 - DS-1 Introduction 00:40 - Block Diagram Topology 01:28 - Input Buffer 02:22 - Transistor Boost 04:04 - Op-amp & Clipping 05:50 - Sponsor Section: Skillshare 07:12 - Tone & Level 07:52 - Output Buffer 08:00 - DS-1 Overview 09:14 - Full Mix Sound Example 10:23 - Closing Remarks & Isolated Sound Examples More from Science of Loud: Support on Patreon: www.patreon.com/csguitars Join Science of Loud Discord - discord.gg/csguitars Buy Science of Loud Merchandise - www.csguitars.co.uk/store Website - www.csguitars.co.uk Contact - [e-mail] ____________________________________________________________________ *Description contains affiliate links. Purchasing using one of these links will generate a small commission for Science of Loud at no additional cost to you.*

[@hellofx]

Scottish accent is kinda like a regular speaking English person inserts with DS-1 and a Flanger pedal.

[@TheSupart91]

Hes BACK LIKE BACKSTREET BOYS 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

[@DMSProduktions]

Door?

[@LonkinPork]

A modern version of the DS-1 is the only pedal I ever bought as a broke teenager in the 2010s. Such a nostalgically crunchy sound for me, love to see it getting its flowers

[@lvincent518]

Great format, great information, great graphics and editing, great story telling!! While not gain, would love to see Dimension C get this treatment, for something completely different.

[@ScienceofLoud]

From memory, the Dimension C schematic is incredibly complicated. That one will be a challenge to simplify into an easily digestible video, but I'll give it a try.

[@jihamiya5755]

HOLY! I wasn't ready for some teen spirit after all that wonderful technical explanation. Pleasantly surprised! Also welcome back Colin!

[@Purusam]

Welcome back, Colin. Great video. I hope you're doing well, and keep teaching us this science of loud.

[@IamtheFerryMan]

Dizzy was such a big part of my childhood. Thanks for adding him. I wrote to Codemasters when I was a kid asking for answers to a couple of the puzzles, and they sent me a packet with what was essentially a walk-through. You stirred a memory for me today AND gave a wonderful explanation of a classic circuit. Thanks, Colin!

[@RedRebel24]

I would really like to see a gain appreciation video on the dod grunge pedal. That would be awesome. Great video as always.

[@ChrisEck13]

I hadn't considered that but I agree with you

[@JosephGallagher]

+1

[@rockmovieswithtyler1989]

Same with Digitech version

[@douglasdog1]

It’s a DS-1 clone with a different tone stack.

[@lostinpa-dadenduro7555]

Yeah. It’s a cool pedal.

[@CaesarCapone]

Great to hear you again, Colin!!!!!

[@alexcrouse]

My first pedal, paid $40 new for it. Love it. I did the Wampler Plexi mod to mine.

[@ScarrArts]

Love how this pedal sounds with any amp you pair it with. Great video!

[@jayeaston13]

So glad to have you back, Colin! This video is incredibly helpful for me to understand a bit better how distortion circuit design can be put together. Wonderful stuff you’ve done! I’d LOVE to see a Gain Appreciation 101 video with a similar analysis/description of how classic fuzzes like a Fuzz Face, a Tone Bender or two, and a Big Muff work, and the ways in which their circuits differ to one another.

[@wadesummers4102]

A classic Science of Loud video! Welcome back! Still have my original DS-1, purchased circa 1985.

[@lichtlaermaudio]

Welcome back! Great video: perfect mix of killer riffs and scientific nerdery ❤️

[@27retrodaze]

Welcome back in my life, brother... Good to see ya... And great work!

[@lvcifer-cloverfield]

immaculate explanations. truly impressive!

[@notsmoothsteve]

I like the Steve Rothery setting for a smooth lead tone: DS-1, distortion all the way up, tone all the way down, into a clean amp (Roland JC-120 in his case).

[@mookmook5715]

Masterly explained and visualised even for my fuzzed out mind, brilliant !

[@DakkonSacredFire]

Nice to see you back! Thank you and Great work!

[@mattthecat79]

I’ve had mine since 1997. Unsurprisingly, it still rocks.

[@MrJackrockerman]

The best drive /boost pedal ever made.. Into a breakup Marshall , loud volume ..it sings..

[@wampler_pedals]

Very well done! These videos are fantastic Colin! 👏

[@MetalBaller83]

My MXR Custom Shop Raijin Drive has an almost identical circuit. It was designed by Shin Suzuki; who as we all know, is responsible for both the DS-1 and the TS9. The Raijin Drive has essentially both of those circuits with expanded range built into a single pedal with an OD/DIST selector switch. I LOVE that pedal.

[@Hellseeker1]

It's been a minute, glad to see ya!

[@tomgregus569]

My first ever distortion pedal before I knew really anything about guitars and guitar effects! Great to have you back Collin!

[@gcvrsa]

I really enjoy these schematic breakdowns, please keep them up! Until recently, I really didn't pay much attention to distortion pedals, because lower gain overdrive sounds were really more my thing, but in the past month, I've been playing around with higher gain sounds, and I realized after listening to a lot of distortion pedal comparisons that the good old DS-1 is actually a great pedal, and I like it better than most of Boss' other distortion pedals. For my purposes, I actually prefer the DS-1X (which is a totally different sonic profile) to the DS-1, but the DS-1 should definitely still be a strong contender for anyone looking for a distortion pedal, especially if they are after 80s and 90s alternative rock tones.

[@PedalPlayhouse]

Good to see ya back and really enjoyed this detailed look at the DS1 as a circuit and the classic sound at the end. 🙌

[@m.a.6478]

Hey, it's you! Great to have you back!

[@concretebadger]

Welcome back Colin! I'm so glad to see that you're doing ok. A really clear and easy-to-follow explanation, and some tasty playing to demo it too. Maybe those criticisms DS-1 stem from how it's easy to get a bad sound through certain rigs on certain settings, and people jump to the conclusion, "well, it's inexpensive so I guess it's just not very good."? I'm not sure whether you've covered them before (I started working through some of your older vids while you were taking your well-earned break), but it might be interesting to do a deep dive into the DS-1...and perhaps do a bit about the asymmetric clipping and how it compares to a TS? That, or the OD-3, which seems to have a pretty unusual thing going on circuit-wise

[@aricyackly4771]

Welcome back, awesome to see more science of loud again

[@toms5951]

Boss DS-1, BD-2 and SD-1 are must haves for me. Most of the time my BD-2 is the always on pedal.

[@emptyMan0]

As someone with pretty much no understanding of electronics, I always appreciate these explanations, thank you.

[@DakkonSacredFire]

I would love to see a Boss DS-2 gain appreciation!

[@misfitwookiee3177]

I was lucky enough to find a great deal on a DS-1 & SD-1 during lockdown (we transacted in the street), and love both pedals equally for totally different reasons! Thanks for showing the Boss love! Cheers from the High Desert!

[@ryanriggs9963]

Welcome back Colin, great video as always lol

[@Visionism]

Great to see you back in top form, Colin!

[@mcswordfish]

I zoned out slightly during the skillshare segment, but was jolted back to attention when I thought I heard you were learning to "Craft my own sausage" Welcome back dude - great vid as always

[@bpabustan]

We missed you Colin!

[@grumpyrocker]

Great to see you Colin.

[@georgemobley5913]

Welcome back sir. Thanks for the very cool video.

[@KeithShelley1]

The graphics in this video are fantastic!

[@enarepee]

Great stuff, happy to see you again.😊

[@ThatBaritoneGuitarGuy]

These new graphics are AMAZING!

[@scottyhehehe5367]

You're a treasure, Colin. Love your vids.

[@olivervojtechb.4354]

Awesome how even very complicated pedal stages are discused, great video format!

[@dmytrotarasov9477]

Glad to see you back!!!

[@hefonthefjords]

I've always thought of the DS-1 circuit as being basically like stacking two tubescreamers back to back. They basically took the TS-808 design and moved the second op-amp stage from the tone/volume circuit to the drive circuit to double the beef a tubescreamer provides. It always seems to work best with a tube input stage on the amp to smooth the hard clipping a little more I think, just like the TS.

[@flaphead325]

Colin is back!! Great video

[@evanmurphy9320]

Love this video ! Glad you're back Colin !

[@JimBoom92]

cool that you are back. nice video. next pedals should be of course the Boss DS-2 and MD-2.

[@K707OR30]

Welcome back! I love how easily you explain circuit concepts, you do that better than anyone I can think of. Regarding the DS-1, I remember hearing allegedly it was made to emulate cranked plexi tones. Any insight into that? I can definitely hear a lot of similarities to my JTM45 in the low end and how it clips, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what the DS-1 was modeled to try and sound like.

[@ScienceofLoud]

I have no sources to confirm or deny that claim, however it would at least make sense for the time the pedal was being developed and released. Jumping the inputs of Plexis and boosting them with treble boosters and overdrives was a very popular practice in the late 70s, responsible for many of the guitar sounds from huge Rock artists. If it wasn't Boss' direct intention to copy that circuit, it was at least a contemporary sound they'd have been comparing their DS-1 to.

[@benwconley]

So happy to see your vids again!

[@GregStraub42]

Colour sound Overdriver/Power booster is one of my favorites. Its clean until its not and then it gets real dirty real quick and just a great old school distortion sound.

[@GreenyBlues]

I neglected mine for a long time (it’s back on my board permanently now though). Unlike some pedals it’s hard to love / appreciate. But when you want that grunge sound it’s hard to beat. Chuck in a Small Clone chorus and you have your Cobain tribute approximated. But as you showed with your SG, it actually sounds best with buckers (by a long way, IMO). That crunch! Great demo, and it’s good to see it get some love.

[@pepuletrz]

this pedal is the only one that i need on my board always. anything else can come or go.

[@RiloRox]

SInce I bought my quad cortex I came to realise how cool the OG BOSS OD-1 sounds, I thinks its such a cool unit. That would be interesting, since it also doesnt offer any tone control, but works like a charm in front of an overdriven amp and offers a very modern tight high gain sound eventhough its from the 70s

[@sixstringtv1]

Comment 4 algorithm, woohoo Colin is back 🎉

[@juanvaldez4043]

Always appreciate your vids a info, wish I had teachers like you when I first got started.

[@foefafee]

Colin, you do a wonderful job explaining wiring diagrams and the nuance of electronics for a guitar player who knows nothing about the sort, like me! You could make these for every pedal you have and I would watch them

[@TheNino37]

Oh, the DS-1. It was my first pedal, back in 1998.

[@MrJesusCrisp]

Hello Colin! Nice video but there are some errors/inaccuracies. The extra capacitor and resistor to 4.5V between buffer and boost are a mistake in the schematics you usually find and are basically a remnant of the JFET switching system that don't contribute to filtering really. The "highpass filter" in the transistor boost doesn't effectively cut bass, the resistor to ground there is to bias the transistor and there is no effect when removing it. In general the booster is closer to a Big Muff gain stage than a Rangemaster. The dual op amp setup you see is sort of unnecessary and just there because of various ICs going in and out of production over the long existance of the DS-1, ending up on a dual op amp without actual use for a half of it. The way how the DS-1 distortion control is wired is actually sort of interesting as it sits between the DOD250/Distortion+ and the more normal varial negative feedback resistor gain control from pedals like the TS or Rat. The resistor to 4.5V before the capacitor in the buffer section is also a remnant of the JFET switching and is useless there.

[@paulcullen5015]

Good to see you back youngster! 👏🏻

[@eusuh9380]

These are my favorite videos. Love this series. Would love to see all the classic ODs covered

[@majordabalert]

Love your channel so much. This circuit is one of my favs and I’ve been working on breadboarding a modded version

[@thesystima]

Damn Colin, the quality of this is astounding! I'd love to see you go through either a Life Pedal or a Glow Fuzz (though the latter is rsther uncommon)!

[@velutumbra]

Welcome back, Collin, the Scott!

[@iainfreeman5112]

Welcome back. Hope you’re okay. Here’s a Comment for support.

[@tertin_studio]

So good to see you are back . Amazing and very informative video. Thanks man .

[@moliver_xxii]

glad to have you back, as an audio nerd and former signal processing/electrical engineering student this is always fun to watch! i'm wondering whether you have some pedals with JFET based gain stages to talk about 🙂

[@michaelleyba5396]

Another great video from Colin!

[@jeremykervran1598]

Great video and explanations! I'd personally love to see you doing the same for the Boss ML-2 which is so underrated in my opinion for more modern metal stuff :)

[@allanshookphoto]

Thank You for walking through the schematics! Brilliant! Maybe for a future video, the Nobels ODR-1 is another great circuit, it has soft and hard clipping!

[@James-eg3nf]

The DS-1 sounds superb stacked with a Klon-type or tube screamer OD. With this combination you can cover the entire OD/distortion spectrum for nearly any genre.

[@rossedwards73]

Welcome back, Colin! I’d love to see you take a look at the Catalinbread Katzenkönig - ToneBender front-end and Rat back-end.

[@stevecassidyguitar]

Oooft! What a comeback! 😎👏👏👏👏 So this a what a proper vid looks like!? 🤩👌 Excellent job mate - Great mix on the track too 👍 I loved Fantasy world Dizzy. Any tips on how to get past level 6? I'd ask Games master, but... 😬

[@thenickbw]

Another great video. You've already done all pedals my smooth brain can think of to be curious about. I'd love to see a deep dive and demystify 200watt Quilter amps though. Even amongst us owners of these things there's a ton of confusion about what makes them tick and how they are so ridiculously loud even through high impedance cabinets when other solid state amps usually lose power.

[@James-kj9hw]

He has returned

[@A.V.7170]

Unparallel video quality ❤

[@dh88comet]

I bought one of these in 1979-80. I kept it for precisely one week before exchanging for a Boss OD-1 which I've still got.

[@jamesjohanson5675]

marvelous sounds wirth that SG

[@flapjack413]

While I much prefer working on pedals with through-hole components, modding SMD pedals isn't usually all that difficult. The DS-1 is a funny pedal. I've played through them before, and never liked what I heard, but there are a bunch of musicians who have used them, and albums with them all over them that I absolutely love, lol.

[@deptofcarstereorepair]

this was great! would love to see a breakdown of Boss ODB-3 bass over drive!

[@adriansperling5012]

Good to see you back again Colin! 🎉🎉🎉 edit: wait a tick, “buy one for yourself”? Are you saying there’s someone out there who doesn’t have a DS-1? 😂

[@beburicoterito]

Many years ago when internet was taking shape I bought a ds1 but didn't get the sound I was looking for. One day I saw a post in a blog about a mod, but I totally screwed up the pedal. Never touched a solder again.

[@Breaker197]

I remember reading that the MT-2 had two gain stages. Awesome to see that this one does too. Thanks to Grave, I've fallen in love with the DS-1, and finally grabbed one recently.

[@anthonycedarstaff2969]

Great Work Again, Colin!

[@mikebuckley6272]

You could have some fun taking a look at Keely's D&M Drive, or a ZVex Box of Rock. Love both of them, understanding how their guts work would be interesting!

[@Rowe4900candymachine]

I love the ds-1 on guitar, but it also stacks really nice on synths too I love using it for loud aggressive noisey synths.

[@bastianbasaure1108]

you are back!!

[@palukens]

Welcome back!

[@ChrisBlackLabel90]

Another informative and entertaining video as usual. How about doing one of these for the Marshall Jackhammer? I bought one years ago based on one of your videos. It’s excellent as a boost and a great distortion too.

[@JamieSlays]

These pedals are great 0:38

[@dw7704]

I have four Distortion pedals, among them a DS-1 and a DF-2 (which sounds the same but has a sustain option I like them , I use them I remember showing up to more than on3 jam with a DS1 and a Roland JC amp, and people doubting how that would work. But after, even if my playing didn’t impress them, my tone did. As for future videos? The DOD FX-53 Classic Tube I hear a lot of people who don’t like it But I consider it the opposite of a DS-1 in some ways, and they stack real well

[@Johnnyweilder]

Awesome video

[@spitescorner]

Love the channel refresh! It looks great. I'd love to see you break down something a little more modern like the NATAS with it's two mid voicings, girth and grind filters. I'm a sucker for amp in a box pedals.

[@ScienceofLoud]

I am 99% sure the NATAS is a digital pedal running a stripped down version of the NeuralDSP amp sim. Since it's most likely a processor running code, there's not much I can do to analyse its circuit: it's a black box of 1s and 0s

[@allanflippin2453]

Colin, Interesting analysis. Thanks! You asked for topic suggestions, here's mine! Could you have a look at the Crowther Hotcake? I have one, but I have no idea how it compares with other distortion/drive/etc. pedals. These seem to be out of production now and it would be great to have a record of anything that makes the pedal unique in field. Thanks!

[@KnapfordMaster98]

PERFECT demo song

[@paulschlachter4313]

Markus Deml uses the DS-1 *always on* in front of a clean Plexi and gets the BEST tasty blues tones.

[@DasOmen02]

Yup, still bad at understanding this kind of thing LOL I love all the new graphs and schematics though!! It really helps visualize what exactly is going on, even if I don't know what some of the little squiggles mean 😂 It'd be cool to see you do something either simple - like how the Acapulco Gold by EQD can put out THAT sound - or something flat out weird, like the Gonkulator! Saw 60 Cycle Hum demo that pedal recently and I'm obsessed with it, in a "what in the weird and unusable is that" sort of way

[@wastewoodrockers5526]

Awesome video Colin! Love the technical breakdown stuff. I remember binging your videos back when I first started playing, really helped get me interested in electronics and craftsmanship. Speaking of Kurt, he also used of the original SansAmp pedals pretty extensively, which I think have a pretty unique sound and design. I’d be very curious to see a breakdown on it! Cheers.

[@tonyd321]

Nice to see you back Colin. :) Q. The WAZA version has a custom mode which 'delivers fatter distortion tones with tighter mids and higher response'. Do you know what 'tweaking' was done to the original circuit to delviver the fattness et al?

[@ScienceofLoud]

Unfortunately I've not had any hands on experience with the Waza version to know exactly what has changed for the Custom mode. I'm sure if I got a chance to listen to one and throw it on the scope I could come up with some educated guesses though.