How to convert your DS-1 to Keeley All seeing eye and ultra mods

Convert your DS-1 to Keeley All seeing eye and ultra mods. I own and operate the site http://www.geocities.com/overdrivespider and wanted to give this information to a wider audience hence making instructables!

Step 1 What you will need & removing components

For these mods you will need:

• 0.1uF Capacitor x 5
• 1uF Capacitor x 4 (or two 0.47uF caps in parallel, it should give the same results)
• 0.047uF Capacitor x 1
• 3mm LED x 1 (I bought two so I didn't have to use the one that you take out of the DS-1)
• on/on SPDT switch
• 2.4k Resistor x 1
• 20k Resistor x 1
• 1.5k Resistor x 1
• 220pf Cap x 1
• 47pf Cap x 1

Removing Components
1. Use a flat head screwdriver to lever off the knobs on the DS-1 then use some pliers to unscrew the nuts on the pots.
2. Unscrew the black screws on either side to provide access to the on/off switch
3. Unscrew the nuts on the input jacks
4. Undo all four screws on the base plate
(not shown)
5. Remove base plate, plastic to get to the circuit board.
6. Remove the screw on the LED to the top of the pedal
7. Turn the pedal on its front so you can see where the battery goes. On my pedal, I simply had to push two sides of the clips together and lift out the switch. The wires were soldered through the pedal so I unsoldered the purple and black wires and set the switch aside.

You should now be able to completely remove the circuit from the housing.

Comments

[galbenchanoch786]

Hey there, I followed the steps for the mod but when putting it back together and testing it out had some difficulties. First of all, the 2nd LED only lights up when I am playing through the pedal, it isn't a constant glow as I anticipated. Second, and the more annoying problem, is that when I turn the distortion up past just about 9 o'clock I get a ridiculous bass growl that persists.. I'm unsure if maybe the cables connecting the switch are too long and causing a grounding problem.. or if maybe I messed up along the way.

[strangetoys]

I did this mod, everything works perfect except the volume. Volume changes have no effect on output. Any ideas where I should start to look where I messed up? Thanx in advance.

[louboutinshose]

Very useful and interesting info. Thanks for sharing.

[edspegeddd]

can someone tell me what the value of the diode is for D4? accidentally broke mine in half trying to take it off :(

[Teburon]

the non-LED diode? u should be able to look it up on google or something based on the colors of the bands

[Filandras]

I just finished the mods, and I have a couple of questions: 1. Why would my check light always stay lit, and my switch not work to turn the pedal off? It seems I may have done something putting it back together, I guess. 2. I think my pedal is only in ASEM mode. The LED always flashes, and there is no change when I flip the switch to change to the Ultra Mod. Any insight into this? 3. This thing is outrageously loud now. Is that normal? Thanks for the mod. Some help with these issues and I'll be all set.

[Teburon]

i'm just a noob talkin but i think it flashes because it turns off when there is no signal... that's the pattern i noticed when i watched a comparison video on youtube. dunno about ur other question about always being in ASEM mode but i think the vol is suppose to be that loud.. cause before it was quiet and muddy.. if u watch that video you can hear that this mod will make it brighter and fuller

[Alarmnbob]

This was an easy mod and well written. Sounds great also!

[MaxTwang]

Instead of soldering the 47pf cap on the bottom of the board, it can be wired in parallel with D4 or D5. The 47pf cap I got was too big for the bottom of the board so I put the capacitor in the holes for D5 and soldered the led to the leads of the capacitor.

[guitfidler]

I also used a different set of diodes for my clipping section. I used a germanium diode in series with a silicon diode I4001 in d5 then a 5mm led in d4. Sounds really fat and tube like. Reacts well to your playing and cleans up nice with volume control.

[guitfidler]

To change the high end, there are a couple of components that help. R14 is one but effects the bass as well. The higher the value of the resistor, the lower the highs and the more bass is added. R17 is the next one and the lower the value the lower the less highs you have. Try a 10k in R14 and 2.2K in R17 and see where you are then go from there.

[jukes]

here is the exact parts list for smallbear electronics.i just ordered it.
Small Bear Electronics Stock List Items
1 Capacitor, Panasonic ECQ-B 100 pf. - 390 pf. (220 pf.) @ $0.30 = $0.30
5 Capacitor, Panasonic ECQ-B .056 mf. - .1 mf. (.1 mf.) @ $0.30 = $1.50
4 Capacitor, CDE DME Series, 1 mf. 100 V @ $0.70 = $2.80
1 Capacitor, Panasonic ECQ-B 470 pf. - .047 mf. (.047 mf.) @ $0.25 = $0.25
1 Capacitor Silver Mica 500V 10 pf. - 150 pf. (47 pf.) @ $0.55 = $0.55
2 LED T-1 3 mm Red, Clear Diffused @ $0.25 = $0.50
1 Switch - SPDT Toggle Mountain Sw MS-550A @ $1.80 = $1.80
1 Metal Film 6.8K To 39K Individual (20K) @ $0.20 = $0.20
1 Metal Film 1.1K To 6.2K Individual (1.5K) @ $0.20 = $0.20
1 1.1K to 6.2K - Individual (2.4K) @ $0.15 = $0.15

[coolmantle]

 what is the different between
- Capacitor, BC Components, 1 mf. 63V
- Capacitor, CDE DME Series, 1 mf. 100 V
cause i ordered the same one as yours (CDE DME one)
but it looks different than the Keeley one

[James Haskin]

Dude all you caps are in millifarads!!

http://www.unitconversion.org/unit_converter/electrostatic-capacitance.html

Have you already done the mod? How did it sound?

[beastmaster]

Small Bear is kind of weird in the way they list their capacitance values. Instead of using uF or the mu- symbol, they use mF for "micro-farads." This is genuinely confusing since mF in the SI system really means "milli-farads." Since you rarely ever see caps in the milli-farad range (if ever) when working with guitar pedals, I suppose we can forgive them for this little quirk.

I've ordered from them many times before without incident. Just remember mF = uF on their site and everything will be fine. 

[fastcar123]

where can i get all this

[elbowmanufacturing]

Thanks for this super clear instruction; great pictures too!

[motorpsych0]

I opted to NOT install the 47pf cap as indicated in the last step here. The pedal still sounded great in both modes.

[ivancacevic]

Can`t you do this with boss mt-2 please!
Like as you show here on this step by step convert!
And show me have to wiring micro switches!!!

Thanks!

[noise_metal_freak]

Gentlemen,

Before I start to vomit blood out of worry, where can I get the parts for this, I keep getting shafted by "minimum orders" OR they just have the cheap stuff. Jukes apparently purchased the "wrong" components from Small Bear. What am I looking for? HEEEEEEEELP!

[ak700]

 Does the internal LED (the one that replaces the diode) lit up when the pedal is in operation? The reason I am asking is that when I switch to ultra-mode the sound doesn't change at all (the seeing-eye LED stops working but the sound remains the same ). Also my sound seems a bit compressed even at low distortion levels. At high distortion levels it becomes very crunchy (in a bad way)
Any ideas how to debug ?
Cheers 

[Alexbarraclough]

If i want to switch between the ASE mod and the ultra mod all i do is just unsolder D4 and do what it says, and just leave D5 or do i need to still remove D5 and replace it with an LED, or have i got this completely wrong and you can't switch between ASE and ultra?

[TheGeebs]

You have it completely wrong.  The switch changes between using ASEand Ultra Mode.  The switch just changes between going straightthrough D4 (ASE) or using D4 and an extra led for extra drive whichconstitutes Ultra mode.

[Alexbarraclough]

Yep, thought it was wrong. Thanks Geeb unit :) did it how you said and its awesome!

[clint5191]

does it matter how many volts they all are?

[TheGeebs]

I used all 50V components.  Its a maximum voltage rating. 

[SuprSpy79]

what are the "type" of components used? Pardon the stupid question but im just getting into learning this stuff. I have seen in custom pedals that use %5 carbon ones. Any input is appreciated.

[TheGeebs]

You should use metal film resistors.  All the caps should be metalfilm caps except the 220pf cap is a silver mica.  Carbon film arelow quality resistors.  The 5% is called the tolerance or how muchabove or below the specified value it may be.  I chose 1% for allof mine.

www.robertkeeley.com/audio6l6/dstech.html

[SuprSpy79]

anyone notice it still has a bit of that annoying high end?

[LeeChavezMusic]

It sounds to me like he's using a strat, and when he uses the pedal (on demo 4) it's either the mic is bad on what ever he's using, or bad EQ settings.

[irdir]

Solve your .mod file convert problems with the following site http://www.hdvideoconverter.biz./mod_video_converter.htm

[Alexbarraclough]

have you attached that 47pf cap in the picture of the circuit board, or haven't you. That piece of wire can't be the cap can it?

[Lampens]

Oh and I went to two electronic stores and I got these small caps for the 0,1 uf caps. The ones in yours are those big green things Mine are more the size of the 47pf cap. The electronics store dudes say that doesn't matter, does it?

[Lampens]

So you actually have to put in two leds. One in d5 and the other with the switch on d4? Does the d5 go in the O of the tone? Or does the d4 led go into the O of the tone?

[mhikofen]

can anyone knows,what is the purpose of 47pf cap across the clipping diode,and what is the effect in the mode.thanks

[insanecopilot]

i tried it and it smoothes it out. the tube screamer has it stock.

[tpingt]

Hi there! Do you think 1/8 watt metal film resistors will be sufficient for the circuit? Or will I have to order the 1/4 watt metal film ones? Thanks

[no food please]

This is a good instructable. However, I am a little unsure what you mean by "All seeing eye and ultra mods". Is there any way you could explain what the goals of these modifications are a little more? I have played around with some of the modifications in your other instructable and found that they work great.

[James Haskin]

http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2008/Feb/Boss_DS_1_Mods.aspx

Useful if you have few pedals laying around...

[guitar_gnome]

I'm a little confused about the part of this step where you have to solder a 47pf capacitor across clipping diodes...once soldered will the body of the cap be on the green or brown side of the circuit board