4 Boss DS-1 Style Pedals (Boss DS-1, Keeley Ultra Mod, Mooer Ultra Drive MkII, MXR '78 Distortion)
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- Опубліковано 9 сер 2018
- A thorough comparison of the classic 1978 Boss DS-1 Distortion pedal, one mod, and two clones of that mod.
Boss DS-1 Distortion
reverb.com/p/boss-ds-1-distor...
Arguably the most popular distortion pedal of all time, certainly Boss' best-selling pedal ever. Used by everyone you like from Kurt Cobain to Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Keeley Seeing Eye + Ultra mods
www.robertkeeley.com/manuals/d...
One of Robert Keeley's earliest and most famous pedal mods. Replaced many of the components with ones of higher quality, lowered the noise floor, and put the pedal's original red LED into a clipping circuit (you can see it clipping in the 'O' under the Tone control). The Ultra mod (switching the toggle down) is designed to give that 'Wall of Marshall amplifiers' tone.
MXR Custom Badass '78 Distortion
www.jimdunlop.com/product/m78...
Reportedly a copy of Keeley's DS-1 mods, and it certainly sounds identical (it even has a Keeley-ish blue LED for it's Crunch button). In it's 'normal' mode it's very similar to the Seeing Eye mod, and selecting 'Crunch' sounds very much like the Ultra mod.
Mooer Ultra Drive MkII
www.mooeraudio.com/?product/20...
Three modes - 'Original', cloning the original DS-1, right down to its volume drop; 'Ultra' cloning the Keeley Ultra mod; and 'Extra' which is something of Mooer's own devising, 'creates high gain distortion' apparently.
Gear:
Fender Classic Player Jazzmaster (bridge pickup)
Ammoon Stereo Looper
Boss Katana 50w amp (Clean channel)
mic'd with a Sennheiser e609
into a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2
Recorded in GarageBand, edited in Final Cut Pro X
Honestly mate your format & comments for this are awesome. Right now you are this biggest secret content maker for pedal demos on UA-cam. PLEASE keep it up. And yeh the Elmore Leonard books were cool but on all your videos those touches are just super classy.
Nic Burrows it's really great to get responses like this! Makes it all worth while. Thanks
+1 thank you very much for this video, great job!
You're welcome! Glad you like it
And the winner is: Custom badass '78 distortion.
It really is very good.
Thank you, man! I don't know how much longer it would've taken me to figure out the 78 was a reference to the DS1 and that the MXR was aiming to match the Keeley mod. Good good stuff!
i always watch this comparisons videos made by you and the riffs always the best and pretty consistent, keep it going man!
Love it that the sound does most if the talking! And a little humour goes a long way. It's all good. Your vid's are my favourites.
The best pedal analysis video I've ever seen. Very visual, good sound, fast, "real player" questions. Congrats.
Thank you!
Lo mejor que vi hoy con respecto a comparación, great work man keep doing this excelents shootouts!!
Gracias por las amables palabras!
Never have I EVER seen content as good as this! It's amazing that you only have 830 subs! Keep it up!
Thanks! There's several other much better pedal demo channels than mine, I think. Check them out - The Pedal Zone, Knobs, Livingroom Demos, schnobel, and especially Andy from Reverb. I have shamelessly and lazily stolen from all of them!
Haha, I'm subscribed to all of those guys, yet I still can't comprehend how you can give the audience so much useful information in a small amount of time and a small format!
I made an important discovery when I moved the pedals closer to the bottom of the frame - my hands didn't get in the way of the text anymore!
Dude, I swear your content for pedals so far superior than anything I’ve found on UA-cam. Also, the Keeley and the MXR sound best to my ears
That's very kind of you - thanks! (I secretly think the MXR is the best sounding one for the money here too, but I've only kept the original.)
True, maye
@@ThePedalBored agree! Mxr sounds better!
Another very informative shootout -- you're doing great work, keep it up!
Thanks - appreciate the support!
I love all of the demos you have done so far. Occasionally one creeps up like this one to show that a pedal purchase I just received was money well served. Just obtained an MXR '78 Custom Badass for $53 used. Could not agree more with this video! Original DS1 when i purchased it first time was a bit harsh for my ears! Truly amazing!
Great comparison as always. I have the MXR ‘78, but I guess I didn’t realize I have the Keely modded DS-1!
Back in like 2004 I always steamed of having one of those Keeley modded pedals, that literally everyone in the music business said were the best. Then once I got old enough to buy one, I find out he doesn't do mods anymore, which made me sad. Until I realised a lot of his pedals ARE modded DS-1's and tubescreamers etc. Just in his own unique housing with his logo on etc, and with a different name. So that Boss and Ibanez wouldn't sue him I guess
I got his modded tubescreamer. Which is the one I always wanted, cos I was such an enormous Stevie Ray Vaughan fan as a teenager (and I still am). And yeah, I've got a bunch of tubescreamers and clones of them, but the Keeley one blows them all out of the water. It is gorgeous sounding
So I haven't gotten round to buying his pedal that's literally just a modded DS-1 circuit yet. But I want it. It's the one people like Steve Vai used, they all went to Robert Keeley to get his mods, they're just unanimously agreed to be the best
Although now there's more great companies like Keeley. Like JHS for example, they began by modding Boss and Ibanez pedals etc as well, and now make their same modded versions of those but in their own JHS housing and logo and name etc. Exactly like Keeley
JHS have just come out with a pedal that's a clone of 9 different ProCo Rat pedals. Not digital imitations, it's a pedal that has 9 different analogue circuits that are identical to the various different ProCo rats over the decades. So you can get an original 80s ProCo rat, a modern ProCo rat, and everything in between. That thing is gonna cost me a lot, but it's a hell of a lot cheaper than buying the original 80s Rats second hand.
I love it. Guitar pedals have never been so varied, so widespread, so boutique. I wanna buy some Wampler pedals too. Where he very very very accurately recreates the sound of famous amps, in a pedal. He matches the frequency response very exactly, he uses science, and lots of graphs, to adjust the pedals until the soundwave matches the amp exactly. So I need his pedals too lol. I believe he even has his own Rat clone too
But yeah. The ProCo rat has become my favourite pedal in recent years. That thing makes any guitar sound amazing. I can actually use the single coil bridge pick up on my strat for big meaty power chords, because the ProCo rat makes it sound great, and not tinny at all
Sorry I'm rambling now
Amazing comparison, this helped me a lot!
Oh God, I just to give you congratulations for your video, thumbs up, and subscribed, it's so well done, clear, and informative, so much thanks, I have a modified ds-1 I don't even remember where I got it, I had it maybe for around 10 years, and until now, I know about that seeing eye and ultra mode, I always thought up was like something for blues and down for more heavy stuff, the toggle switch down, has a very good heavy sound, I like it a lot of course more than just the simple ds-1, but now I now how they are called, thank you
It puzzles me as to why you don't have more followers... you make really good videos man... love your videos. Thank you!
It puzzles me too :)
Wow man, this shootout is really great, well done :) Your playing is attractive and all these 4 pedals sounds very well. My favorite is the MXR
High praise indeed! Glad you like it.
The comparisons are illuminating; I liked different pedals for different reasons. I'm more of a fuzz guy, so I liked the Mooer. But mainly this made me a DS-1 believer. I've played them, but I've never really realized what they can do.
'this made me a DS-1 believer' - there is no higher praise!! Thanks
Why can't more youtube content be like this?
Thank you.
Now I come here just to listen your riffs...they are awesome
Love your videos, thanks so much! I do think the mooer is incredibly compressed sounding compared to the others - it definitely does not sound the same, almost like twisting the bias knob on a fuzz
Love the books !! Great review as well man!
Amazing job. The way that you compare, we could really have a good notion between those pedals. You tube possible to share a know-how unbelievable in the human history.
Crazy, right? I make it in one part of the World, you, someone I’ve never met, watch it in another!
Nice video dude ! I at one point had a Mooer Ultradrive and lost it then went to try out the Ultradrive MK2 and didn’t like it at all, I would say that the first one Mooer made was really spot on almost identical to the Boss DS-1 Keely mod.
Cheers !
I wonder if they can still be tracked down on Reverb.com? Might take a look.
This is class demo!!! Loved it
This is a class comment!!! Loved it
@@ThePedalBored , Haha, you have a nice sense of humor. Loved it 😉
Great stuff man keep it up!
Thanks! I try. Though I am slow.
Man, those clean tone is to die for..
Yeah, my Boss Katana is pretty good for just over $100.
Awesome video!👍👍thanks!
Really cool content. I was thinking of building a vintage mini board and I wanted to hear samples of different ds-1's and this doesn't dissapoint.
Glad I could help!
Great video! The ds1 does sound really good with single coil pickups if any one has one and wants to find a use for it. Especially for classic rock.
great video!
Thanks!
Really miss these demos.
Your captions kick ass. Riffs are top notch. Loops are bomb idea
Thanks. Thanks. And they are, aren't they? (Though not mine, of course.)
Great video man. Not a fan of the DS-1 but still a well done demo. I'd love to see an all Tube Screamer shootout like you did with the Muffs. Awesome job. Keep it up.
Chris VanWhy Thanks! (Do you mean the 12 Muff High-Speed Shootout, or the Six Muff In-Depth one?) Funnily enough I'm not a huge fan of Tube Screamers! Only own the EQD Dunes. Shot a 'Boutique vs...' video comparing the DrJ Emerald against the TS808DX though - yet to edit it.
The Pedal Bored both the Muff vids were great but I was referring to the in depth one. Cool stuff either way, I look forward to any future demos from you.
Chris VanWhy I'm with you. I've never understood what people see in the DS-1 but the video was really well done
@@thehobbit1116 I couldn't agree more. I own 2 of them and don't use either. 1 is Reverb and Frommel modded I bought CHEAP! It's just a fuzz.
Your format of reviewing pedals is the best. Ever. Completely focused on the sound plus comments from you in the subs. And no fucking cheese blues licks and fret wanking. Perfect. Also love the bits where you're like WTF am I doing here 😂
I just want to say I sometimes come back to your videos (mainly this one and the Blues Driver one) to just listen to the music itself.
I frickin’ ROCK
I kinda like the 90s stock one. It has a raw authentic cranked Marshall tone, like shoegaeze, noise-rock, and grunge bands from that time.
Your demos are the real winner!
Thanks! (the stock one was my first ever pedal, bought in the '90s)
Awesome! Please do one of these vids on the Boss Super Overdrive!!
I have just got hold of my first one! Not sure what to compare it to, though. I don't see a lot of copies or mods of it out there, though I may be wrong...
@@ThePedalBored you could compare it to every other boss overdrive pedal. Because I've never been able to find a good comparison video and the descriptions from Boss on these pedals are so vague that thwyre useless. Like what's the difference between a boss overdrive and a boss super overdrive and a boss blues driver and so on. They've got like a dozen different pedals with "overdrive" in the name and they're all very slightly different to each other. Funnily enough I've found the blues driver is the least blues-like of any of them. It has way more gain than the others, and so metal guitarists use them as a boost going into their amp
I gave you a thumbs up for the video. I wish I had another one to give for your Elmore Leonard collection.
Ha! Thanks. Just go 'thumbs up' another of my videos :)
The Pedal Bored you got it.
Great review, i think I will buy the MXR.
really annoying and irritating side power plug.
Great video. That mxr sounds great. I did my own keeley mod to my old ds1 from the mid 90s. The schematic and the images did not match up on the cheap kit I got, so not sure if it's wired up right but the result sounds fantastic, much smoother, way less harsh top end and much more 'open'. I'd like to ab it with that mxr and a properly wired up keeley mod as well.
great demo! i have 3 vintage MIJ DS-1's with one being a silver screw s/n 300! i also have one or 2 newer ones. this much i can tell you. on the Boss DS-1 i keep the tone control very low. usually about 9:00 position on higher gain settings and then up to about 10:00 area for lower gain settings. set this way they are very nice. been using them for years. one of my favorite likes about the DS-1 is how it will clean up pretty good with rolling guitar volume back. btw, the newer ones work just as well as long as the tone control is dialed back as described above. if i have any complaints about stock DS-1's it's that the eq curve is too scooped for my liking but i usually can get it were i want it using an eq or adjust the tone controls at the amp. the eq curve and tone control is not unlike what's used in big muffs. i'm sure there are some modifications that could be done to change all that but i just use them as is.
I think the 78- 84 DS-1s sound good , they have good bottom end and no ice pick harshness.
Overall I think the MXR 78 BA sounded the best...
Hey does anyone know why if the ds1 is quite low it sounds like a fuzz
the Mooer sounds like a Fuzz... wtf??
Yes, a lot of people have said that. Is that on its Extra mode?
Love that!
I has too much compression. That is why.
Real question is how does that Ammoon stereo looper compare to its clone, the EHX 720 you have :)?
Great videos. Very helpful.
Also great book selection.
How do you like that amooon looper? Is it about the same as the ehx 720?
As far as I can tell. Seems a bit more cheaply made, perhaps, but then it is a bit cheaper to buy so...
love the format of these videos. You should have tried having all 4 on at once though... ;) that would have been.... interesting....
Ah! I've done that before with modulation pedals (seven choruses at once is something you won't want to hear again) but never thought of doing it with drive ones. On the next video!
wow... Yeah, I can imagine 7 choruses would be rough... :)
Love format of your videos. And man, playing is uber, where this music from?
Thanks! The music is from my head.
Is the blue LED in the audio circuit of the MXR (like the early red LEDs in RAT2 pedals) or is it just a visual thing?
It's just a visual signature of Keeley pedals. They have always had blue rather than red on/off LEDs (until very recently - their X-Pedals range is all red LEDs for some reason).
I own a DS-1. It doesn't sound as bad as this video makes it sound
I think this video makes it sound great :)
Awesome shootout! I just wish you had the Keeley DS-9 to compare DS-1 with these!
I did for a while, about a year or so ago, when I was checking to see if the volume drop on my '90s DS-1 meant it was faulty, but the same thing happened with the DS-9. Wasn't interested enough in the SD-9 side of it to keep it though.
No worries! I bought on because I figured it would have Keeley takes on the SD-9 (which I am not a huge fan of either) and the DS-1. I just haven't had anything to compare it to so I can tell the difference. I guess it's like you said... for $40, I guess I could do my own shootout! :)
Robert Simpson You've reminded me that I also bought it to compare the SD-9 side to the Vertex Dynamic Distortion which is apparently based on it. The Vertex didn't sound anything like it!
Wow! That is pretty interesting! Did the Vertex sound better or worse to you?
Robert Simpson Just totally different. It claims to be a tube screamer crossed with a fuzz. It's a good pedal and I liked it a lot. Did some comparison videos with other similar pedals (Cusack Screamer Fuzz for example) but have never edited them! Can't remember the sound of the SD-9 side of the DS-9 at all, so I guess I must have preferred the Vertex.
excellent
How high is the mooer volume cranked? It has that velcrow fuzz sound. Is that only when volume pushed up?
Levi Jesse I don't think so. It's hard to see the Volume control because it's so small, but I would normally run through the gain range of the pedal with the volume around halfway / unity volume
@@ThePedalBored It's hard to tell with my speakers but would you say it has the most bass out of the other three? That sound is almost exactly what I'm after
I love the ds-1. The only flaw is the volume loss. Wish you would do more comparisons of distortion pedals.
Any stereo rig guys out here try the MXR? Does it flip the phase like the DS-1 does? I love my DS-1 but I just can't get around the phase issue right now
The winner is the DS-2 of course!! ;)
Please some hi gain shootout! Like the diezel vh4. I really enjoy all your videos
If only I had any high-gain pedals! (Actually I have the Keeley Retro Super Phat Mod, I think that counts.) Point me towards some high gain demos and I can find out if it's my thing...
Nice job. And thanks for the chuckles. I traded for a Keeley DS-1 years ago and I'm glad I've got it but I don't care nearly enough about status to choose it over the MXR if I needed a DS-1 for my arsenal. The Mooer brings a level of spittin' ugly (in a good way) that could have a place somewhere, some time.
All that orange is such an eye candy. :)
Mxr 78 fantastic pedal !!!!
Is the DS-1 (and its clones) op-amp?
It is indeed.
I have the Mooer and in my experience it doesn't have that volume drop at all. Weird. I often run it with the DIST right down and LEVEL at 11 o'clock too, but I normally choose the EXTRA setting on the switch. Great comparison though. Thanks.
you like the pedal? can you get like fat low end stoner tones out of it? I'm thinking about getting one
Love these videos man!!! There all
Mud boxes to my ears though lol
Thanks!
Not sure why your comparing the Mooer after the first comparison..It should be only the DS1 with the keeley mod and the 78 badass as a reference point.
Great vid! Can anyone tell me wich song is played? Thanks!
Thanks! It’s just my own composition.
do a POD GO pedal vs it's analog counterpart! for example, metal zone, MXR 90, TS.
Thx for the secret. I'll get a m78
Shhh! Don't tell everyone!
Check out the movie Logan Lucky by Soderbergh. Reminded me a lot of his Elmore Leonard adaptations and was pretty fun to watch
I'm very glad the first comment was about Elmore Leonard and not about the pedals.
I have seen Logan Lucky. It's good! (Not as good as Out of Sight though.)
Got that MXR 3 years ago still in the box naught a pup doesn’t work faulty unit
What's that riff from?
My brain 🧠 😃
Never really been a fan of the DS-1 except early Japanese versions, but modded they are great! The ultra drive was disappointing sounding to me, way to much bass clipping, the opposite of how Id mod a ds-1. Thanks for the comparison, I know there is no point buying the DS-1 modded clones, especially considering how cheap a ds-1 is.
If you love to mod, go for it!
Definitely liked the mxr best, but I don't know whether I'm biased because I already use other mxr distortions, but I know I hated the DS-1 and the mooer, way too much white noise in there, sounded like a cheap amps distortion.
Your vids are the best with no talking and setup with the loop, and there ya go.
EXCEPT: This hiccup where the pedals' levels are mismatched like the confusion here with the Keely mods, happened also on the Klon clone vid that had the NU-X Horseman etc... it's as if you setup all the pedals and turned on the camera, then figured out comparison levels from live in front of the camera, instead of working that all out beforehand. So there's no way for the listener's ear to hear the actual comparisons. It's all over the place! No? There's co comparison-ability, unless we write down timestamps and hop around with the cursor like a frog. Am I alone on this? Probably, but I can't sit through the knob twiddling/toggling.
I’m confused - my whole thing is to go back and forth from one pedal to another without needing you to jump around the video to directly compare sounds.
@@ThePedalBored Yep I'm confused too, the levels and tones jumpes around so much, that this isn't a comparison. It was more like a demo
@@b.scottfarthingsworth So, when I switch from one pedal set one way to another set the same way without a gap in between you don't get to compare the sound?
@@ThePedalBored bro I'm not trying to be a jerk, nor am I trying to make up stuff. If I had these four lined up before turning on the camera, I'd have done a playthrough for myself and dialed them all in close as possible so that they sounded as identical as possible. Then the viewer sees that all the settings arent the same but they all do sound as similar as they could from the beginning. I mean I didn't even get to the end because there were so many volume/tone jumps just between pedal two and three, I didn't stick around to hear the Bad Ass because now the 'comparison' between one and two was gone. maybe I need to be patient? I wanna hear a comparison, not 7 minutes of knobs just turning wildly while tones are not comparative. Sorry, I must be alone on this.
I see. You want to compare like sounds, not like settings. Fair enough. That’s just not how I do it unfortunately.
Whos the Riff from?
David Durden My own, I think! (Though I feel like it's a little influenced by Califone's 'Wingbone' on Heron King Blues.)
The Pedal Bored very nice Riff
I hate DS1's but this is a great video
Mooer
The Mooer is so much better than the original. It sounds interesting, whereas the DS-1 just sounds like.. well, a super-cheap and nasty distortion pedal, which is what it is.
Shhhh! Do not besmirch my first ever pedal!
MXR is badass
Lold. Subscribed
If mooer has same chip as ds1 it will soind same. Boss chips are custom to them so thats why.
Do a comparison of Klon based pedals.
Not a Klon fan especially. Tube Screamers neither. Though I guess not liking something didn't stop me doing a shootout of octave fuzz effects, a type of effect I just don't really understand.
Next up in this format I think I'll do a Rat-style pedal shootout.
@@ThePedalBored ah yes, the octave fuzz, the Jean Paul Sartre of effects pedals
The DS-1 is basically a modded MXR Distortion +.
Sean Alexander Hi - can you point me to somewhere that backs this up? I know the MXR Distortion+ and the DOD 250 Preamp are very similar circuits but I haven't seen any evidence that the DS-1 and MXR D+ are connected at all...
Sean Alexander Hi - can you point me to somewhere that backs this up? I know the MXR Distortion+ and the DOD 250 Preamp are very similar circuits but I haven't seen any evidence that the DS-1 and MXR D+ are connected at all...
I don't understand what you guys are doing? Playing two guitars through one distortion pedal??? And then compare different pedals??
That mooer sounds amazing
Stevie Ray Vaughan?
What did he use a ds1 on
I think you might be crazy but I hope you not
Killer video though
Oops. Must have misread that somewhere.
What good is a distortion pedal with a volume drop lol
Thats why they have volume knobes
You need to try Pedaltank - Tonebone From Thailand , I think is Better !!!
Certainly the Mooer has THE sound of a DS1 but i would say It sounds as when you remove one of the clipping diodes on the circuit
Who win?
Up to you!
I have the Mooer and imo it sounds so much better than my RAT.
Don't think the ds1 and the copies have true bypass so you are not getting a fair comparison...
@@ThePedalBored I say you post on video on the topic! ;)
I'm sure my lack of knowledge (and the lack of detail in my ear) would be exposed!
I heard somwhere that all Boss pedals are buffered.
Mooer sounds best to be honest
Cool format and all but why do these sound like absolute garbage here? I have all versions (IC and revisions) of the DS-1 and an original old Keeley mod one but none sound this horrid. Just wow.
No idea. I think they sound great. But then I probably have different speakers on my computer to you, a different amp, a different guitar, different ears. You know.
@@ThePedalBored well the treble overload is just there, I see you use a Katana. Never liked a DS-1/RAT into SS or modelling amps and I ride the treble really low.
Nightingale1887 Sure - it's all subjective. Some like it, some don't. I don't have any other amp, like many people - tube amps are disproportionately more expensive. I have to use the tools I've got and find a way to be happy with the sounds I can get out of them. So, you know, it is what it is. Hopefully it's useful for other people who have similar gear. You don't like it, but you've got your own setup that's different that you do like, so it's all good.
I think the MXR sounds better...
Doesnt anyone knows how to dial in a distortion pedal”properly”om YT geez!
Go on then, tell us.
@@ThePedalBored What's funny about that comment is that you are using a distortion pedal correctly (with a pretty clean sound), but that's not a good way to use the DS-1. It sounds better into a slightly breaking up tube amp. A clean solid state/modeling amp...it's going to sound really harsh. So, ironically, you need to dial the DS-1 in more like a TubeScreamer or OD than a typical distortion with the amp already breaking up a little. I also hate these on typical Fender cleans (unless it's a Bassman) ua-cam.com/video/9Vz63o-wmXo/v-deo.html has a better demo of how to dial this pedal in
John Blake You might not think it’s a ‘good way’ but I do. It’s all subjective, right? There’s no proper way to do it.
And the winner is BOGNER EXTACY
honestly not not knocking your demo. I do think its the wrong style riffs for this kind of pedal demo though. Open chords with high gain is just a mess.
The pedal bored...i c wat u did there
Punk
how i embarrassed my parents in-law