Modify Your Boss DS-1

Step 6 New Components pt.2

This is where it gets a little complicated. I've made a model to help you wrap your head around the concept.

1. To perform the Seeing Eye mod, you have to connect a 3mm red LED to D5 as shown. We will later mount this in the 'o' of tone.

2. For the Ultra mod you switch in another LED in series with D4 as shown. This LED will be on the inside and wont be seen.

Follow the diagram.

This is where you will most likely make a mistake if you are not careful. DOUBLE CHECK EVERYTHING!! If you wire it all up and the LED appears dim and you just put a new battery in it, You most likely put an LED or the orange diode in the wrong way. Make sure to leave enough wire to mount the LED and switch.

For the Ultra Mod you need to desolder D4 and solder a jumper to the switch as shown. Don't forget the orientation of the Diode.

Once all of you wires leading out of A,B,C, and D on the diagram are are soldered to the board, solder 1.0 uF capacitor into C9.

Last thing is to solder the 47pf cap across the back of D5 and D4 as shown.

Comments

[mwilhoit]

Performed the mod last night and it worked perfect. Thanks James

[xtufa]

Just did the ultra mod... made a lovely mess of it.... so I abandoned ship and did the seeing eye mod instead.... works a treat :D cheers! I have a nice big hole where the switch should go though.. haha

[ColinEx]

I'm pretty sure I have the diode stages connected right but for whatever reason I'm not getting any action from the LEDs (either in the ultra or the ase). Neither of them are lighting up. Are they supposed to? I checked it with a multimeter and both sides of the clipping stage are getting about 5v with a new battery. I added the 47pf jumper, too, and I checked for cold joints and didn't seem to have any in the clipping stage. Switching between the ASE and the ultra (or even taking the switch out entirely) isn't having an effect, so whatever I'm doing to the clipping stage is wrong but I can't figure out what's up. What am I doing wrong here?

[AFF]

The LEDs light up a little. By this I mean you plug in your guitar and pedal and you can even go into your amp. The light is only going to come on when you are strumming ... if you are playing soft then you may not see the light but if you play hard and max all your knobs out then it should light up as you strum. You are only giving the LED "energy" when you play. Your string vibrates - your pick up changes that to "energy" it then runs through your electronics(knobs,wires,output) to your cable - then to the pedal. If you are only giving a small amout of "energy" then it may only be pushing 0.1V and that's not enough to clip or light the LED. Someone correct me if I am wrong but ... if you are reading 5V then you have done one of two things ... 1. You are only supplying the LED with 2.5V (2.5 plus -2.5 gives you the 5V that you are reading) 2. You may have blown your LED. I could be completely wrong there. The best way to know is remove the LED completely and test the continuity ... should be 1.2 to over 3.0 depending on the LED if not you have dead LED. Last statement ... sorry if none of my input helps but I have played the ASE/Ultra mod with the switch and I only noticed a small difference ... no difference could be heard between the ase and ultra but I heard a difference in the third position.

[djajasoekarta]

I got same problem Colinex :). Anyone can help us ??

[James Haskin]

So what's your problem? I've made 3 of these things following my own instructions with no problems (of course in making this intractable I destroyed one beyond repair). Specifically, what problems are you having?

[ColinEx]

My questions are specifically: a) the leds (aside from the indicator -- that is, the led on the switch and the led that goes in on the board and goes through the 'O' in TONE) are not lighting up. They're not supposed to light up, right? b) Switching back and forth isn't making an audible difference that I can hear -- what should I be listening for exactly?

[James Haskin]

The LED in D5 that goes in the 'O' is supposed to light up when you play. It is important to make sure the diodes are facing the right way. This include bother the LEDs and the diode in D4. The side with the large black line is the cathode ( - ). With the D5 LED engaged the sound becomes noticeably thicker.

[djajasoekarta]

To perform the ASE mod, should I remove the D5 ?? I saw in the picture you removed the D5 & D4. What this stand to ??

[Schmidtn]

djajasoekarta: Yes, remove D5 and replace it with a 3mm LED and leave D4 alone for the ASE mod. He removed both diodes because he performed both mods and switches between the two. James: I finally got around to soldering up the 47pf capacitor and it works a charm! Thank you for adding this pedal back to my board!

[djajasoekarta]

Mr. Schmidt, Thx for your reply. Now I Finished the ASE mode, Now, the next thing which frustrated me so much is how to wire the Switch. The diode in D4 connected to middle of the switch Then, Left side ( I use to model the left-right side of the switch to make it easier) , we use it to connect to the new LED Then, How I connect the minus side of the LED ?? Is the Minus Side should wired to the end section of D4 area (Means that the right side of the switch, I wire a cable to end of D4. So In the end of D4 area I got 2 cables) ?? Or I connect the minus side to the Right Side of the switch & then from the right side too, I connect a wire to the end section of D4 area (The Right side got two cables) ?? I really messed up with those thing. I'm afraid if my way is wrong ?? I hope you know what I mean. Regards

[Schmidtn]

Starting from D4's anode (side without the black line) of D4 your circuit should look like this; D4 circuit board anode(+) -> D4 zenerdiode (in polarity with the circuit) -> middle pin of switch "on" pin of switch -> LED anode(+) LED cathode(-) -> "off" pin of switch -> D4 circuit board cathode(-) So, when the switch is in the on position, electricity flows through the D4 LED and you do Ultra mode. But, when the switch is in the off position, electricity only flows through the old D4 zenerdiode and the D5 circuit performs the ASE mode. Your progress: 1)Correct, connect the cathode of the zenerdiode to the middle of the switch. 2)Correct, connect one of the remaining sides of your switch to the anode of the LED. This side of your switch will be your "on" position. The only part left is to connect the cathode(minus side) of your LED to the "off" position of your switch and then connect the "off" position of your switch to cathode of D4 on your circuit board and the circuit is complete. So you are correct the second time; The "off" position of your switch should have to wires connecting to it. One should be the cathode(minus side) of the new LED and the other should be the cathode(minus side) of D4(going back into your circuit board). Hope that helps.

[Schmidtn]

I noticed when you soldered the 47pf cap across D4 and D5 the negative pin of D5 was shorted to the positive of pin of D4. My unaltered board has them separate, but your last picture has them shorted... just wanted to make sure it's supposed to be shorted like that before I apply power and get blue smoke. Great 'ible and thanks for sharing!

[James Haskin]

Thats what my research showed to do and it worked for me. Follow all the links and double check.