Monte Allums Boss DS-1 Rectifier Mod Plus

Installing the kit is a breeze as long as you've used a soldering iron before. Just use the braid and resolder - even assembling the clipping switch (I call it that because you can switch between types of clipping) is clearly laid out. I won't rate it because its not for everybody, but its bonehead simple if you take your time.

I got the Roxx kit that Monte now sells, unfortunately I incorrectly identified my circuit board as the new one, while it is in fact the old style that isn't compatible with the op amp chips monte includes with the kit. Not a problem, because I also planning on modifying a BD-2 and it uses the same chips so they won't go to waste.

The Roxx kit, aside from the op-amps, is good. Definitely a 10 for improvement. However, I must be honest and say I like the way my SD-1/808 sounds better. It can't approach the levels of gain of this bad boy with the sd-1, but the gain of the Roxx mod doesn't sound as full or as smooth as the tube screamer clone. It's not as sweet but you can only tell if you play them back to back. The LED clipping sounds better than the diodes, but still doesn't sound as organic. Neither of them will fool you into thinking you're playing an amp, but the ds-1 sounds more like a pedal than an extension of your rig.

That being said, it doesn't particularly color your sound. Although, with the gain all the way up, I'm not sure you could tell - it just sounds like massive distortion that works for AC/DC stuff amazingly. The mods tighten up the low end so much that you can't really blame the pedal for sloppy rhythm sounds when you're playing at a gallop. As much as I prefer the sd-1/808, for $30 this can't be beat. It goes from a buzz factory with harsh and fizzy treble to a high gain marshall-in-a-box. It really does led you cop a joe satriani vibe.

There's no 8.5 so I rated it a 9. Its just barely less awesome than my sd-1/808. And I mean just.

I'm not gonna rate this category either because it's either a 1 or a 10 depending on your soldering abilities.

Very responsive, and Monte is really involved in helping people with troubleshooting from what I hear. I haven't contacted him yet, but if I do I don't doubt he'd help me out.

I play blues and rock, but the ds-1 came up on ebay for mad cheap so I went for it. I don't really need or use it that much, it's good as a novelty effect for me. I'm not going to say how cheap I got the pedal for, but I will say that even with the mods it's still the least I've ever spent on a pedal. Considering it's as good as distortions costing 3 or 4 times as much (depending on whether or not you get the pedal new), I'd say it's probably the best bang for your buck if you're looking for a distortion pedal.

Although you need to know how to solder properly, the instructions are fairly easy.

I tested the DS-1 before I did the mod and it was pretty plain sounding. You could have the distortion at the minimum and still have lots of distortion. After the mod with the switch you can get 3 different levels of distortion from moderate overdrive all the way to heavy metal. All the mods gave it more clarity and versatility especially once I did the opamp mod. It is a whole different pedal. I would never have put this on my pedal board before but it is there now.

Well I have never had a Boss pedal fail and my soldering skills are pretty good. I can rely on this pedal for sure.

I have talked with Monte on the phone and via email. He is very responsive to questions and advice. I am happy with his service.

I play mostly Christian music, but come from a rock and blues background. Have played for over 32 years. I have too many pedals to describe, but I have numerous Boss pedals and have modded 3 of them with Monte's mods. I mainly play a 78 Gibson LP Std and a custom 84 Strat. I would definitely get another pedal and mod it if something happened to mine.

Dont waste your time and money on this mod, dual LED clipping is way over the top, just go fo rthe Keeley mod, its way better, I've had both versions and the keeley blows this mod away. Easy to use, not now!

The clipping is not improved and the tone structure is as before, come on the tone sweep isnt hard to alter, this should be part of the standard mod as per Keeley.

Depends on who did the mod! Beware if buying 2nd hand off ebay. Children can get a soldering iron and do these mods!

One of the reasons I'm writing this, I waited an eternity for the kit to arrive, and was sadly disapointed.

Dont bother, get your DS-1 done by the pros! KEELEY EVERYTIME.

Very easy to use and hard to get a bad sound out of it.

The led diode setting is so warm it is wonderful. The guys in the band are so impressed with the sound.

Either a Les Paul or a Strat (Lace p/ups).
Usually into a Peavey Classic 50 with a few other modified pedals via Monte's kits.

The DS1 with the DD3 is used 70% of the time.

The mods, if done properly are great.
During the mod of an old CE 2 pedal I found a number of brittle and or dry joints so put these right. Consequently the pedal was better after the mod!

Fantastic.
Quick and to the point.

Mostly church rock which is pretty broad these days.

I have been playing a very long time and like most guitarists search for a better tone / sound. These pedals do just that. The DS1 gives that full yet defined distortion that I have been looking for.
Other pedals just do not perform as well. It is not even a close run thing. This pedal is way out in front.

With a big concert coming up I needed this quickly. I bought a new and just modified pedal from E bay in the UK as delivery from the US would have meant I would have not received the kit in time.

Easey Peasey - do the mod in a couple of hours and then you'll never get a bad sound from your new boutique pedal

Stunning - blows the Keeley out of the water!

Yep

Monte is a nice guy

Foreget the Keeley, Forget analogman, do the monte

This is a Boss overdrive/distortion pedal, so 3 knobs...What's hard about that! It does get a little more in depth when you add the 3 way toggle from Monte, but you can pretty much figure out which setting is which in each of the 3 positions.

Ummmmmmm....It's freaking awesome! When I took the pedal out of the box, it was a very nasally distortion. After adding the parts from the mod, this pedal turned into a tone monster! The mids were tamed and the shrilly highs were gone. I can now use this pedal to get a good range of tones with my P90 equipped Epi Les Paul Goldtop through my '64 Bassman. I am in tonal Nirvana. But that's not all I have to say. Last week Monte came out with a kit to change out the inline chips to the HiFi dual opamp chips. So I got an adapter and the Burr Brown chip. Holy Crap!!!!! The pedal is now even better, which I thought wasn't possible. Get this mod ASAP, you won't be disappointed!

Boss....Very reliable! You just need to be sure you don't F&%*! anything up when soldering and it will be fine.

Monte was quick to respond when I had a problem with my first try on this mod....Quick email response...Very detailed! The problem wasn't with my soldering or the kit, it was the pedal. Put it back together, took it back to Sam Ash, and when I got home I was up and running in about 45 minutes. There was a problem with the pedal from the manufacturer(ROLAND).

I play rockabilly, rock and classic rock. This pedal gives me great tone for all 3 and then some. I can bust out my old Hard rock and metal riffs with ease, but also back off the gain and get smooth overdrive. I also use an SD-1 that I modded from Monte as well, and it sits right in front of the DS-1 on my board. I have a very simple setup, and it goes as follows: Epi Goldtop with Gibby p90s and tuners with tonepros bridge and tailpiece, Boss TU2 tuner, Boss SD-1(Monte SD-1 mod w/Burrbrown), DS-1(Monte Rectifier CMAT trigain mod w/Burrbrown), and Line 6 verbzilla. That all goes into my Fender AA864 Bassman and through a Line 6 Flextone 4x12 cab. With both the SD-1 and the DS-1 on the board, I have every tone I need to rip on the songs my cover band plays and then some! From punk to rockabilly and Hard Rock to classic rock, I am in a place right now with tone in which I hope I never leave!

This is a diy mod - if you can solder, the instructions are easy. If you can't solder look on Monte's web site for an excellent soldering and desoldering guide.

The only difficulty here is drilling the whole in the Boss chassis - its not hard - I did it with a cordless hand drill, but make sure you have a range of metal drill bits and gradually work up to get the right fit.

It also helps if you have some paper tape or heat shrink shielding as the kit has the bare minimum and this means potential shorts if you aren't careful to place things properly.

Because of the drilling, i'll give it a 8.

In one word EXCELLENT - this turns the rubbish DS1 into a boutique monster distortion. Three modes of pure distorted joy. I got the pedal for ??15 on ebay and the kit at the 2 dollars to the pound, so in all I got a boutique pedal for ??30. cant beat that.

I bought switch part of the kit twice - and both times the switch (but not the rest of components) crapped out on me twice. The first time I thought it was my fault and had soldered it wrong, so I ordered another one. The second time I made the assembly of diodes extra carefully and put extra shielding around them, still the switch packed up when I flicked it.

It could be a bad batch as no one else has complained - the rest of the mod is fine - a new ??1 switch puts it back into order. So i'll give a 6 as things like this are annoying but not fatal to a modder.

Monte Allums sends you stuff quick - and for a ??1 switch I can't be bothered to phone, so i'll give a 9

I play classic rock, rock-blues, 60s stuff - a think this turns a really mediocre pedal into a tone rating. But 2 switches crapping out drops what would be an easy 10 to an 8.

it's still a boss ds-1 pedal, it just has new components changed out into it. it was quite easy for me to do and im still a beginner at modding.

i thought the ds-1 already sounded alright, but this makes it even better. it really is an "in yo face" distortion now.

it put the parts in properly and the ds-1 is already really sturdy.

monte was very reliable, sent me email and mail instructions.

what else can i say? excellent!!!

As for the pedal... Stupid simple to use. Operates the same as a normal DS-1 with the exception of the 3-way switch added to offer more tonal options. The mod itself takes a little skill but is fun and Monte gives great and clear instructions. If you take your time and do a little bit of reading up on how to solder and desolder you should be fine.

I have a couple of pedals that do the "marshall in a box" thing, but my band is going to be adding some heavy riffage, Mastodon style, and my other pedals, while great, just don't offer enough gain for that type of work. My search for a good sounding super high gain pedal was often met with the scooped mids Dimebag sound, or the 80s butt metal sound. I like neither of those sounds. I wanted all of the rich, musical mids that my Barber Direct Drive and my Menatone King of the Britains have, but with more gain. This pedal, once modded gives you Mastodon levels of gain, but is still extremely musical. It doesn't quite have enough mids for me, but it is far from having a scooped sound. One thing that's nice is that the harsh, icepick highs are gone. You actually can get use out of the tone knob.

The three way toggle allows you to switch between two clipping diodes, two leds, or nothing, giving you two settings with massive amounts of gain, and one with less gain but massive amounts of output. Very cool!!! The mod definitely pushes this pedal into boutique level quality. I'd be proud to rock it on my board.

Sounds AMAZING with single coil guitars, tried it with a DeArmond w/ 2ks, Hamer Goldtop w/ p-90s, and a strat, and all sounded great. In fact, my Hamer Goldtop may end up being my main axe with this pedal. Sounds great with humbuckers too.

Not too much noise to speak of for this much gain, quieter than my Menatone. My main amp is a THD Flexi 50 through a Mesa 212 Rectifier Cab, but I've tried the pedal through other tube amps and it always sounds good.

The reliability of the mod depends on your skill. I've had a few boss pedals and only had a limited amount of problems- My TU-2 has been on my pedalboard now for about 6 years completely problem free. Based on the reliability of other Boss products, I expect it to give me years of trouble free use, and I'd definitely trust it.

Monte is a real nice guy judging from all the correspondence I've had with him. My emails have always been returned promptly and with courtesy. He makes a great product, and stands behind it. I'm suprised at the amount of patience and level of support for a DIY product like this.

I play space rock, with some heavy riffage thrown in. This pedal is a great match for the riffage. Believe me, it's capable of more than just the heavy stuff, but that's the reason I got it. My bandmates liked it so much they're going to buy the mod kit and have me install it for them. It really is unbelievable what a great pedal this is after it's been modded.

The only thing I wish it had would be a mid control of some sort. It would be cool if Monte worked in an internal trim pot for the mid control, but all in all I'm quite satisfied. I'm going to do the metal zone mod next.

This pedal is definitely inspiring. I highly recommend it.

it's a boss pedal. 3 knobs, and if you're reading this, you know what the deal is. as for actually installing the mod, it wasn't hard. getting the diodes out was a bit of a pain, and getting the new ones in took some reaming, but apart from that, a snap. you take the part out and put the new one in, add solder and you're golden. I give it an 8 because of the diodes, but that's boss's fault, not monte's.

I'm happy. it took an anemic sounding pedal and lit a fire under it. the tone knob now makes a tremendous difference. I imagine it's less noisy now, too, although my amp needs a cap job (next project), so I'm in no position to judge this one right now. the distortion is just so much easier on the ear now. I play lots of jazzy chords, and this handles them well since the mod. it also makes single note stuff sound pretty good. it's not hard to dial in a good sound. the spiffy blue LED I dropped in makes it sound better too...

the pedal's sturdy enough, and I'm pretty confident I put the parts in there well. it should hold up.

Monte was on it, he had the receipt and files emailed to me in no time, and the parts came a couple of days later. Thanks, monte!

I play whatever I feel like playing. sometimes it's metal, sometimes jazz, oftentimes jazz chords used for metal, and other times i'll play other things. I've been at it for close to 15 years now, so I know what sounds good to me, and this pedal fills the bill nicely. The mod really added to the versatility, which is a treat.