ds1 (question from a beginner)

Puck78

ok, I've played for years an acoustic guitar and now I have between my hands a wonderful stratocaster black. I have a very little amplifier (fender frontman). Not having a switch pedal to pass from clean tone to a tone with some gain I've bought a boss ds1 pedal (distorsor). Sadly i've noticed that the sound obtained using the ds1 pedal is less "full" than the sound obtained using the channell with gain. Also there's the tendency to low down the volume a bit when i switch the distorsor on, even if turn the level totally on the right.
Anyone could give me some suggestions of the position of the amplifier and guitar tones and volume and of the pedal tone, distorsor and level, to obtain nice sounds?
Sorry for this basic questions, but I'm a real beginner with the electric...

sammicus

how do you set your levels on the pedal? I would suggest a couple of things to you but they do involve money. Your DS1 is going to sound best through a tube amp. Fender pro juniors are cool, they are small (10 inch speaker) and plenty loud (15 watts) and they are $300 new but check ebay. it would be a good investment. Also, look at the mods robert keely has for the ds1 at http://www.robertkeeley.com - i know money doesn't grow on trees but i think if you spend a little more to start with you'll be happier in the long run. But in the meantime, just play around with the knobs and see if there is a tone you can find that you like... try switching your pickups too.

Puck78

sammicus wrote:

how do you set your levels on the pedal? I would suggest a couple of things to you but they do involve money. Your DS1 is going to sound best through a tube amp. Fender pro juniors are cool, they are small (10 inch speaker) and plenty loud (15 watts) and they are $300 new but check ebay. it would be a good investment. Also, look at the mods robert keely has for the ds1 at http://www.robertkeeley.com - i know money doesn't grow on trees but i think if you spend a little more to start with you'll be happier in the long run. But in the meantime, just play around with the knobs and see if there is a tone you can find that you like... try switching your pickups too.

I've actually found that the ds1 has a really good sound and doesn't turn down the volume in the following configuration: amplifier not in clean tone but with gain set around level 3-4 or lower. ds1 tone to the minimum (extreme left, 7 o'clock), low ds1 distorsion (9 o'clock). Low guitar volume (2 or 3) in order to have few distorsion with the gain in position 3-4. When ds1 is switched on, the amplifier with some gain and not in clean tone gives a powerful sound. The position of tone and distorsion in the ds1 and the low gain in the amplifier avoid to overdrive