Hi there!!!

I should introduce me first, so...

...my name is Rodrigo, and I'm from Brazil. ( in fact, my english isn't that good, so forgive me any mistakes...)

I know many of you keep asking yourselves about the misterious Joe's DS-1...

...how he can get such a great tone with that little box?!?!?!

Well, there is a "magic trick" behind it...

...there is a modification on the pedal, and the guy who did it, is Robert Keeley.
Some of you probaly know this, but to those who don't know...

http://www.robertkeeley.com/product.php?id=10

Robert Keeley has made two modifications...the Seeing eye mod, and the Ultra mod.

The Ultra mod, he did especially to Steve Vai!!!

Well, if there is anyone interested in moding your own DS-1, instead sending it to Robert Keeley to mod, here is the schematic:

C1, C5, C12 change to 0.1uF metal film (104) C2, C8, C9, C14 change to 1uF metal film (105) C7 220pf silver mica or monolithic

In the DS-Ultra mod we change C11 to a 0.033uF metal film

D5 change to 3mm red led (the power LED that we take out!) In the D-Ultra mod we switch in another LED in series with D4.

R39 20K R14 1.5K R35 2.4K if you change the power LED to a 5mm Yellow LED

Add 47pf cap across clipping diodes, see second picture little green dot in the center. 7/64 drill bit needed to drill out 3mm LED for the SEEING EYE PART!

or you can get it here: http://www.indyguitarist.com/mods_new/keeley-mods.pdf ( rigth click and save as...)

Well, I hope it helps somebody!!!!!

Long life to Satch!!!!!!!!!

I am pretty sure Joe uses a regular DS-1... even a MIT one.

Supposedly Vai gave a Keeley DS-1 as a present to Satriani. But that doesn't mean he really uses it. Anyway Joe has lots of distortion gizmo's and he probably used them all once in a while.

I had a Keeley ULTRA MOD DS-1 and personaly think its a wast of money. Ok it sounds different but I can't say it sounds better. The Keeley TS-9 mod on the other hand sounds AWESOM. I had one and still regret selling it.

Deloosem

I think you're right about Joe's DS-1 but it's definately a MIJ one.

Ibanic

Rodrigo Rocha?

MIJ...could be.

Its a hipe anyway.. I never heard a difference between the MIJ and MIT DS-1's. Maybe I have a good MIT :D

can somebody explain the MIJ and the MIT abbrevations? :huh:

Well, MIJ is Made in Japan and MIT is made in Taiwan... I know the Japan version is "better", though I don't know why...

hahaah, ok, thanks! I should have known that :D

Well, I first didn't know of MIJ and MIM of Fender's made in Japan and made in Mexico.... :blush:

I've tried ds-1 many times when visited on music stores and everytime i wonder how Joe gets such a wonderful sound out of it. When i played with it (tried with many amps) i felt the lack of sustain and muddiness on sound. Overall, i didn't like it at all.

Perhaps i should buy it and try it after the modifications :P

"* Extra mods to increase the distortion range at maximum settings."
Yeah, just what that pedal needs!

I have the DS-1 TAWAIN model and was wondering if these values of components are going to work for the taiwan model or is it for the japan model cause i want to do the mod as the ds-1 sounds really crappy at the moment and i am wanting to get a better satch sound with this pedal.

Yeah!! It works for both!!!

The diference is the quality of the components inside. But there is in the board the specifications of the capacitors, resistors, all components...

You can do the mod yourself very easy.

I have a Keeley-modified DS1. I've never played a stock DS1, so I have nothing to compare to. But the modded DS1 plays well. Very low noise....

Joes distortion is a combination of things, a DS1 thru tubes and a perfect high pass volume control. well that's what I think hahahaha

Hi all well i have had everything ds1's both japan and taiwan marshall stacks anniversary editions and have also played with a jsx stack running the ds1 i would have to say imo that the ds1 only acts as a boost for the amp to give it aliitlle extra grunt satch actually uses his marshall distortion and adds the ds1 for power
personally i had joes live rig (all of it) and sold it i have kept the dunlop 535q and fulltone and brought a device called a guitar port (line6) joe reccommended this in me in a one on one meeting in perth australia as soon as i heard the tones out of it i sold my gear as i dont pay much live. IF MY GUITAR PORT GOT STOLEN or BROKE I WOULD BUY ANOTHER ASAP AWESOME SOUNDS and so easy to use!!
Hope i could help just remember Studio's are wonderful places
:beer3:


Satch YA l8ter

Lee Satriani

Satch DOES NOT use Marshall's anymore. He did indeed use a Keeley modded DS-1. I got an e-mail from Keeley himself saying that he had sent the Ultra Mod DS-1's to both Vai and Satch....

Hey-
when joe came through washington, I got a chance to check out the pedal board and to my surprise- they were interchanging the ds-1. When I inquired what was up, I heard for Joe's tech that joe wanted to check out the MXR Zakk Wylde pedal. I didn't really get it until i heard it from the man himself. Joe told me that the Zakk Wylde pedal keeps the sound of the amp much more natural and he has been trying it at various soundchecks and gigs since the debut of the pedal. By the way, vai uses a modded tube screamer for the faster distorted parts because of the clarity of the pedal. Vai's DS-1 is just used for melodys and riffs.

Vai specifically said in GP magazine that the DS-1 does not track well when he plays really fast so he switches over to the TS. :)

I actually use a DS-2 turbo distortion which is simply just an expanded version of the DS-1, which is the original and in my eyes the best, for an extra incentive go for the DS-2, I recommend it!

you have to also take into consideration that Joe uses two Chandler effects units in a loop (besides the two boss delay units on the floor) offstage. i am sure that gives him some good sustain. personally, i have a MIT DS-1 through a Peavey Envoy amp. i can duplicate satch's sound almost identically with a combination of a DD-6 delay and the secret...an autographed JS1200. maybe it's because the man held my guitar in person...or maybe i just want to think that. haha...all joking aside, alot of his tone comes from the guitar he uses, i noticed the difference as soon as i got my JS from the fender strat i was playing. joe also doesn't go balls out with the volume and tone on his guitar, subtle changes can affect the tone a great deal.

js1200ca can you record some sound samples of you satch tone

i am working on some covers right now...as soon as i get them finished ill put them on. unfortunately i have dialup so it will take years to upload them, so they may have to wait a little while till i have a chance to get back to the computers at my college (which are light fast)...i will definately try to get some clips though!

Hmm... I thought he didn't use them anymore (at least on stage)... I'm i wrong? :huh:

you could be right, my information could be a little dated. im going on information gained pre-ITLIS. from the floor setups i saw recently (in photographs mind you, not in person) i still saw a footswitch for what i thought was for an effects loop, so i just assumed he still used them. i could be totally wrong though.

2 Boss Delays through the effects loop....

i know at one point in time, he used the boss delays and the chandler delays in the same setup. the boss delays were relayed in a standard chain of effects pedals while the chandler delays were run in the in/out of the actual "effects loop"

alright satchforever, i put together a sample of my version of satch's tone using the MIT DS-1 distortion, a DD-6 Delay, and a 535 wah. enjoy! http://www.geocities.com/digdug127/js1200c...s/lovething.mp3 (right click on link and go to "save target as..." and then save it to your computer.

nice work! although a bit too much I think compared to satchs tone

Yeah, satch uses 2 Boss delays live now, no chandlers. Im pretty sure it's a DD2, and a OLD generation DD3 (which uses same chip as DD2) and sound much better than any of the current DD's.. They have a more analog vibe sound. Regarding his Distortions, Yeah, Vai had keeley send Satriani a modded DS1 aswell, but satriani never used it live. He uses a very old Japanese Stock DS-1, it uses japanese components, and a different opamp than the newer MIT (and newest MIJ aswell) models. At the time he used his 6100 marshalls, he only used the clean channel - and used the DS-1 as his main distortion (distortion full up!), it wasn't used as a booster.

Mike

But,is for them have a good amp....=(

if you want to check out the satch setup (i hope it's good...) go there :

Satchworld.tk

and check out ".matos"

...

I think it's good !!! :drool:

I remember my first Distortion box...
A handpainted Boss DS-1, on wich you could really see the brushmarks...3 years later i decided to trade it in for a ProCo RAT...
After that I´ve never been satisfied with the distboxes.....
Still regret my trade... :(

In my experience I found the DS-1 very dry and toneless until I added the dd-3 to my setup, and it totally changed my tone and added lots of color to the DS-1.

So I think the Satch tone is made up of all of his components together and not individual pedals.

Agree man, I use to have a Boss DD (cant remember wich of the, i believe it might have been a DD2), a Auto wah pedal, a pitchshifter/delay, a flanger, a chorus and a reverb pedal...oh and a Volume pedal too...all BOSS.

Then i fell for the 19" rack Era :P

Thank god tha pedals are hot again :)

i got a question about the use of the DS-1, does Joe use it for a whole song? or does he only use the gain in the amp and use the pedal for solos?

Well during the Backstage tour in the San Fran DVD Satch is going through his effects, when he gets the DS-1 it sounds like the rythm tone he uses during songs. And the other distortion sounds like the solos.

I have one too. To bad it's made in Taiwan but it sounds really nice I think :)

Before the JSX amps, Joe had his Marshalls set on clean only. His only source of distortion was the DS1.

After the JSX amps things changed. He uses clean and dirty sounds from the amp itself. I have no idea what he uses the DS1 for now, and I seem to recall he now has two on his pedalboard. One, I believe, is stock and one is a Keeley modded one (possibly given to him by not-so-little Stevie Vai).

Naturally, this is Joe... when the new album comes out (and its accompanying tour, hopefully!) things will probably be different again :lol:

I thought he used the DS-1 to temper the treble on the JSX (ie, has the tone control set right down - I have a pic of his pedalboard from his last tour actually, from a mag), and to give it a little more gain perhaps (said pedalboard pics show the gain up full, actually). I also read that he was experimenting with a Zakk Wylde pedal and a Tubescreamer. Possibly for the same reason Vai doesn't use a DS-1 for solos, in that he (Vai) thinks the notes blend together too much with the DS-1, and have more individual clarity with the TS.

This is all stuff I've read in interviews etc.

I agree. I have both pedals. I also have th Boss CH-1 Super Chorus, PH-1 Super Phaser and an IBanez FL-9 Flanger to spice things up even more. Yeah the DD-3 is a GREAT pedal IMO. :)