I think Steve Rothery from Marillion said his main solo tone in the 80s was a DS-1 with the gain and volume maxed and tone all the way down, straight into a JC-120, absolutely killer sound
A half crunchy amp in the custom mode with the level at noon,Tone at 9 a clock and the distortion at 0.The DS-1 Wasa is the best boost pedal in the world!And ive tried them all.
This is a beautiful demo. My favorite use of this pedal is Gary Moore on his strat on the “Victims of the Future” album. I assume pushing vintage output pickups into a standard JCM800. You can really hear it! Less mids than an SD-1, with lot of fatness and that crispness up top. “Shapes of Things” solo for sure.
Gary used a 72 Marshall super bass with no master volume which makes a huge difference and an early 80's Boss DS-1.Victims Of The Future and Corridors Of Power is the best guitar sound ever recorded.Of course the player makes it all happen.
I had a really good heavy sound with a DS-1 running to an SD-1 (DS first, SD second contrary to conventional "rules") and having the SD-1 play the role of the crunchy amp with Drive=9-10 o'clock and Level=unity (about 1-2 o'clock). The sound is very similar to "All She Wrote" by Firehouse with DS-1's Tone=10 o'clock, Drive=2 o'clock. DS-1 in this setting cleans up when you roll your guitar volume back to a nice trebly sound on the edge of breakup. Drive beyond 2-3 o'clock saturates only and becomes more mushy with humbuckers.
When you put it in front of the Mesa it sounded it did the boost thing...then the God-awfully nasty (😳), but there were no "ghost" over/under tones. Very cool.
Custom mode does sound so much better. I'm dying to try the DS1X. I ordered one, but mistake in sending the right one. I think it's digital and supposed to sound much better with more clarity which is what I find the standard lacks. Seems like it needs lots of EQ, but the custom one sounds great here. Very cool. ♥️🤘♥️ Man, with your PRS and custom mode with it as a boost and the delay sounded fucking awesome sir. ♥️🤘 Be well sir and great review. ♥️🤘♥️
When it’s starved of voltage from a dying battery (I use the sag feature on my Pedal Power for this), it pretty much turns into a ratty, spitty fuzz, especially with the tone knob up high. It’s a pretty gnarly tone…it almost gets into octave fuzz territory.
I think you did your very best to show how versatile this could be used. However as you‘re saying, that high upper midrange just makes it sound like a cheap distortion pedal (which it is/was in its non WAZA form) And for boosts, there are just better options like the sd-1
Hi Leon. Nice vid, there are some great sounds in the DS-1w, even in the stock mode. But sorry to be negative, although I'm a big Boss fan, there have been enough pedal modders around in the last 20+ years tweaking these things for a lot less money to get the sounds in the DS-1w. The video inspired me to dust of my Keeley Seeing Eye/Ultra Mod DS1. It nails that smooth 80's/90 lead tone, PAW Vai or Steve Stevens' Top Gun Anthem into a crunchy Marshall setting. Still got the receipt in the box for it, bought new in 2004 - $107 USD direct from Keeley.
4:08 - ish - deffo sounds "nicer" (insert Dr. Evil quotation fingers meme here) in custom mode, but that nasty upper mid might be just the thing if this was piped through a tune screamer for a little more dirt....
During your "Outshined" section, the weird thing is that you seemed to be getting both sounds...like adding the pedal but the original sound was still lurking around.
Ironically I think that upper mid sound you don't like is the reason the Carvin Legacy sounds the way it does as Steve Vai was endorsed by Boss when he designed it haha
I hapen d upon what seems to be a rather rare version of a keely moded 2 switch Ds1 which seems to have a richer tone and may be adding a extra harmonic on one setting. The thing I noticed with it is that it's pickup dependent! Worked great with the semore Duncan's in my gem and a lite gain amp or preamp model. Other pickups not so much! Wonder which other combinations work for UA-cam rockers out there?
Leon, you're playing is kick ass and I've never heard anything bad in any of your videos, but I got to be honest I heard some stuff in this video that just sounded horrible, not your playing,but the tone. When I played out I used a tube amp and some type of boost for solos. Now that I'm reduced to just playing in my living room with a little small solid state amp , I've had to turn to distortion pedals. I got hold of a very old DS1 and it sounded horrible, I got rid of it very quickly. I found that I much prefer some of mxr's distortion pedals. This is just my opinion, but I think the waza craft it's just a way for Boss to make money off of some old pedals. Nine times out of 10 all the video demos I've seen people usually end up saying they like the custom mode best . Boss should just make these pedals with the custom mode as the standard and not charge such ridiculous prices for them. I totally get that some people don't have to worry about money and can spend tons and tons of cash on gear, but when you can't,something like this , well it's just something I have to stay away from. Tone is such a subjective thing that I'm sure there's tons of people who love the DS1, I however am not one of them lol
It’s not a perfect touch sensitive distortion but if I wanted a perfect touch sensitive distortion I’d use an amp or amp model. This does a different thing entirely. I like the DS-1 when not trying to use it for something it’s not.
LT is a legend everyone throw your hands in the air and wave them like you just don’t care for LT he’s an amazing human being and a Guitar Hero 🤟🏻Rock on brother 🤟🏻
The original DS 1 always sounded like a bunch of mosquitos and bees. Super thin with no fullness. Just horrible. Maybe the custom mode of the waza version took care of that. BTW, thanks for turning the gain knob down to zero instead of just setting it from noon to max like alot of so called demos do !!!
So...I got a modeler. MG300. I started small to get my feet wet and I love that thing! The DS1 pedal sounds every bit as horrible by itself on the modeler as the the real one sounds. 😂😂
The most important trick, or quirk of this pedal is: don't you ever turn the tone knob up. Noon is absolute max. I have no idea why they ever designed the knob like that, but that was the reason I thought the DS-1 was the worst pedal ever. I liked open and middly sounds, and nothing in my head ever clued me to start from 0 and turn it up if necessary, instead of turning it to 12 and going from there. Also the type of the tone knob is also awful for that middly rock sound, you're bound to get a bit scooped with it and if you try to fix it, you'll just get really harsh high frequencies. I sort of view it as a Big Muff with less personality due to some quirks. Steve Vai did make it work amazingly though.
It has nothing to do with a fuzz if you know how to use it"properly".Keep the distortion and tone control down and you have the best boost pedal in the world especially the wasa craft version because it can take a long time to find a good early 80's DS-1 that sounds good because they are all different.Joe Satriani had 25 of them and 2 were good.
Ever use a RAT distortion? You may be confusing distortion with overdrive. And technically it's called a "Big Muff Distortion/Sustainer" anyway.. Has 'distortion' right in the name lol
please do not use plug no more: they change the pedal tone too much! If you want add a delay or reverb use a real pedal as Tc Flashback or Hall of Fame, please!
![Distortion! Boss DS-1 Waza vs Vintage DS-1 vs Standard DS-1 [Vs JHS Angry Charlie & JAM Rattler]](/img/n.gif)
How do you like your DS-1?
Seems like the custom mode Rounds off that annoying sound and gives it more output.
What say you Leon??
I have an old silver screw ds1 and another mid 80s one. The silver screw can do some beautiful, earthy American things if set up right
Anericana *
I got a gen2 DS-1 (through board with BA728N chip) for $25. Lol one of my best pedals!
I got my ds-1 for 30 euros. So far I like it in the off position.
I think Steve Rothery from Marillion said his main solo tone in the 80s was a DS-1 with the gain and volume maxed and tone all the way down, straight into a JC-120, absolutely killer sound
Thanks dude!
Rothery has some of my favourite tones ever, underrated!
IMHO nothing with the tone rolled higher than 10:00 sounded pleasing to my ear. With the tone rolled back in Custom mode, it really sounds good.
Absolute gnarliest intro track you've put out ever. I'm floored
Pure scooped rage
A half crunchy amp in the custom mode with the level at noon,Tone at 9 a clock and the distortion at 0.The DS-1 Wasa is the best boost pedal in the world!And ive tried them all.
I have never pre-ordered a single pedal in my life but the DS-1w was a must for me :)
Definitely custom mode is the place to be. I love the galvanic grit added to that Strat. Absolutely propulsive.
Works very well with my Les Paul bridge pickup as well in the custom mode - my default distortion atm
0:58 A Harley Benton SC Junior? Great sound!
Yeah it's a little ripper
This is a beautiful demo. My favorite use of this pedal is Gary Moore on his strat on the “Victims of the Future” album. I assume pushing vintage output pickups into a standard JCM800. You can really hear it! Less mids than an SD-1, with lot of fatness and that crispness up top. “Shapes of Things” solo for sure.
I figured that album was an 800 but didn't realise the DS-1 was in there. That definitely mashes a lot of sense
@@LeonTodd ua-cam.com/video/qQSPNLSQjm0/v-deo.html
@@LeonTodd ua-cam.com/video/8KhRaouhJLw/v-deo.html Here's a video of Gary in the early 80s showing how he uses his DS-1 into a Marshall.
Gary used a 72 Marshall super bass with no master volume which makes a huge difference and an early 80's Boss DS-1.Victims Of The Future and Corridors Of Power is the best guitar sound ever recorded.Of course the player makes it all happen.
Lower tone level gives it a fuzz vibe
It really lends a molten edge to those single coils
Awesome video!! I ordered mine a few days ago..
I had a really good heavy sound with a DS-1 running to an SD-1 (DS first, SD second contrary to conventional "rules") and having the SD-1 play the role of the crunchy amp with Drive=9-10 o'clock and Level=unity (about 1-2 o'clock). The sound is very similar to "All She Wrote" by Firehouse with DS-1's Tone=10 o'clock, Drive=2 o'clock. DS-1 in this setting cleans up when you roll your guitar volume back to a nice trebly sound on the edge of breakup. Drive beyond 2-3 o'clock saturates only and becomes more mushy with humbuckers.
I shall be trying this
@@LeonTodd Please do!
Cool feature.. futuristik sounding!
When you put it in front of the Mesa it sounded it did the boost thing...then the God-awfully nasty (😳), but there were no "ghost" over/under tones. Very cool.
Would love to hear what you would do with a Vertex Ultraphonix pedal, they are awesome, and so smooth
Old video I know, but honestly a gain and volume dimed DS-1 into a crunchy amp makes a good stoner doom tone.
Never had one, but from what I can gather here it might work just fine if used the same way as an old treble boooste?
That example with the pedal as a lead boost with the les Paul sounded insanely close to Whitesnake era Doug Aldrich and I loved every second of it 😂
Big time. Doug is the man!
Custom mode does sound so much better. I'm dying to try the DS1X. I ordered one, but mistake in sending the right one. I think it's digital and supposed to sound much better with more clarity which is what I find the standard lacks. Seems like it needs lots of EQ, but the custom one sounds great here. Very cool. ♥️🤘♥️
Man, with your PRS and custom mode with it as a boost and the delay sounded fucking awesome sir. ♥️🤘
Be well sir and great review. ♥️🤘♥️
When it’s starved of voltage from a dying battery (I use the sag feature on my Pedal Power for this), it pretty much turns into a ratty, spitty fuzz, especially with the tone knob up high. It’s a pretty gnarly tone…it almost gets into octave fuzz territory.
I think you did your very best to show how versatile this could be used.
However as you‘re saying, that high upper midrange just makes it sound like a cheap distortion pedal (which it is/was in its non WAZA form)
And for boosts, there are just better options like the sd-1
Hi Leon. Nice vid, there are some great sounds in the DS-1w, even in the stock mode. But sorry to be negative, although I'm a big Boss fan, there have been enough pedal modders around in the last 20+ years tweaking these things for a lot less money to get the sounds in the DS-1w.
The video inspired me to dust of my Keeley Seeing Eye/Ultra Mod DS1. It nails that smooth 80's/90 lead tone, PAW Vai or Steve Stevens' Top Gun Anthem into a crunchy Marshall setting. Still got the receipt in the box for it, bought new in 2004 - $107 USD direct from Keeley.
4:08 - ish - deffo sounds "nicer" (insert Dr. Evil quotation fingers meme here) in custom mode, but that nasty upper mid might be just the thing if this was piped through a tune screamer for a little more dirt....
Hey Todd what kind of Pickups in there on your Black PRS Guitar? Nice Demo Playing.
The srtostockck 245 pickups
I think I still prefer the standard mode even with a Strat. Just more gritty with that DS-1 thing. Maintains lows better imo.
you are a killer player, stank face and all! 🤘
As someone who worked as a cook i appreciate the corn starch reference 👌
Hahaha I'm glad I'm not the only one
During your "Outshined" section, the weird thing is that you seemed to be getting both sounds...like adding the pedal but the original sound was still lurking around.
Ironically I think that upper mid sound you don't like is the reason the Carvin Legacy sounds the way it does as Steve Vai was endorsed by Boss when he designed it haha
These newer DS-1 and Lil RAT are sick. Lower noise in the candy BOSS 50th Anni than the black DS-1 40th Anni even.
I use a real one with mooer preamp live in the loop of a boss gtk ❤
Tune to C standard and keep the tone control at 10 o'clock and that's my happy place
Showing some dogman love is always good
Funny to think how many haters of the original there are, yet Steve Vai has kept one in his chain for years...(or at least did keep one in his chain)
When Steve Vai AND Kurt Cobain use it you know there's something going on
I hapen d upon what seems to be a rather rare version of a keely moded 2 switch Ds1 which seems to have a richer tone and may be adding a extra harmonic on one setting. The thing I noticed with it is that it's pickup dependent! Worked great with the semore Duncan's in my gem and a lite gain amp or preamp model. Other pickups not so much! Wonder which other combinations work for UA-cam rockers out there?
Leon, you're playing is kick ass and I've never heard anything bad in any of your videos, but I got to be honest I heard some stuff in this video that just sounded horrible, not your playing,but the tone.
When I played out I used a tube amp and some type of boost for solos. Now that I'm reduced to just playing in my living room with a little small solid state amp , I've had to turn to distortion pedals. I got hold of a very old DS1 and it sounded horrible, I got rid of it very quickly. I found that I much prefer some of mxr's distortion pedals. This is just my opinion, but I think the waza craft it's just a way for Boss to make money off of some old pedals. Nine times out of 10 all the video demos I've seen people usually end up saying they like the custom mode best . Boss should just make these pedals with the custom mode as the standard and not charge such ridiculous prices for them. I totally get that some people don't have to worry about money and can spend tons and tons of cash on gear, but when you can't,something like this , well it's just something I have to stay away from. Tone is such a subjective thing that I'm sure there's tons of people who love the DS1, I however am not one of them lol
It’s not a perfect touch sensitive distortion but if I wanted a perfect touch sensitive distortion I’d use an amp or amp model. This does a different thing entirely. I like the DS-1 when not trying to use it for something it’s not.
Corn starch mode! 😂😂👍 Great way to sum it up!
What pedal will Boss wazafi next?
XT2 xtortion please
LT is a legend everyone throw your hands in the air and wave them like you just don’t care for LT he’s an amazing human being and a Guitar Hero 🤟🏻Rock on brother 🤟🏻
01:02 Good stuff, keep it up
My ears actually liked the original sound
This seems like a good source of character tones but probably not the drive of choice for the core tone.
Don't have the waza yet but I already like it.
The original DS 1 always sounded like a bunch of mosquitos and bees. Super thin with no fullness. Just horrible. Maybe the custom mode of the waza version took care of that. BTW, thanks for turning the gain knob down to zero instead of just setting it from noon to max like alot of so called demos do !!!
So...I got a modeler. MG300. I started small to get my feet wet and I love that thing!
The DS1 pedal sounds every bit as horrible by itself on the modeler as the the real one sounds. 😂😂
Its sounds more like fuzz
The most important trick, or quirk of this pedal is: don't you ever turn the tone knob up. Noon is absolute max. I have no idea why they ever designed the knob like that, but that was the reason I thought the DS-1 was the worst pedal ever. I liked open and middly sounds, and nothing in my head ever clued me to start from 0 and turn it up if necessary, instead of turning it to 12 and going from there. Also the type of the tone knob is also awful for that middly rock sound, you're bound to get a bit scooped with it and if you try to fix it, you'll just get really harsh high frequencies.
I sort of view it as a Big Muff with less personality due to some quirks. Steve Vai did make it work amazingly though.
brian Wampler has a great DS-1 circuit explanation and mentions the Big Muff tone thing as well!
I came here looking for a way to talk myself out of buying one of these; it didn't work.
I think normal DS-1's are awesome..
The Boss DS-1 is a fuzz pedal and I'm tired of pretending otherwise. It has a Muff-esque tone knob for Christ's sake.
It has nothing to do with a fuzz if you know how to use it"properly".Keep the distortion and tone control down and you have the best boost pedal in the world especially the wasa craft version because it can take a long time to find a good early 80's DS-1 that sounds good because they are all different.Joe Satriani had 25 of them and 2 were good.
Ever use a RAT distortion? You may be confusing distortion with overdrive. And technically it's called a "Big Muff Distortion/Sustainer" anyway.. Has 'distortion' right in the name lol
👹"NATAS" That is "SATAN" spelled backwards!👹
please do not use plug no more: they change the pedal tone too much! If you want add a delay or reverb use a real pedal as Tc Flashback or Hall of Fame, please!
You don't get the right tone unless you frown.
hahaha accurate
One can easily find Gary Moores DS-1 settings, turn your Marshall up and away you 👊