Why is the Boss DS-1 so popular?

Otherground
1

How long have these things been on the market? I remember
playing in a band in high school with a guy who had one (I think
'91 was when we started playing together) and I thought it
sounded good but not nearly as good as this Groove Tube pedal
that he had that had a real tube in it (not that I'm a tube snob
because I'm not). Anyway, I've started checking out some other
message boards online and noticed that a lot of people have
worked themselves into a lather about the DS-1, and that both
Steve Vai and Joe Satriani have used it.

Anyway, when did these things become so popular, and why? I
never really started checking out music boards until recently, but I
don't ever remember hearing people refer to this as one of the
more popular or best pedal before. Old Tube Screamers are what I
remember as being the cool pedal to have.

2

i guess theyre popular because theyre pretty cheap and you can get distortion without cranking your amp.

i bought it and brought it back. it sucked the tone from my tube amp. it really did. i was shocked. i now do not use any pedals. id rather overdrive the real tubes in the amp and get a nice rich tone.

or maybe i am a tube snob:)

3

Steve Vai and Joe Satriani still use it, although its the Robert Keeley modded version. Keeley does AWESOME work, I have a BD-2 PHAT modded by him and it was the best money I ever spent on a pedal.

4

What does the Keeley mod do?

5

Makes them sound a HELL of a lot better! www.robertkeeley.com