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When the DS-1 was released in 1978, it had an immediate impact on the guitar community by bringing a brand-new high-gain sound with aggressive, clearly defined distortion and harmonic overtones. Leading performers in the hard rock, metal, grunge, and fusion genres have adopted the pedal for their essential sounds over the course of more than four decades. Numerous well-known tracks feature the DS-1’s vintage edge, both as a prime distortion for clean amp platforms and as a boost to send gained-up tube amps into carefully controlled mayhem.
The Boss DS-1W expands the DS-1 experience for a wider range of genres and applications thanks to its discrete all-analog circuit design and two modes. To use the original pedal’s singing sustain and tight, hard-edged tone, select Standard mode. Alternately, use Custom mode on the Boss DS-1W for a daring new sound that elevates the recognizable DS-1 character to the next level.
The Boss DS-1W’s standard mode faithfully reproduces the original’s audio in every manner. A key component of the fullness and definition that so many guitarists adore about the DS-1 is its ground-breaking two-stage gain circuit. As the knob is adjusted, the flexible tone control simultaneously boosts and cuts each end of the frequency spectrum, affecting both low and high frequencies. With the ability to carefully adjust the sound for any application—from razor-sharp rhythms and fiery solos to keeping low-end purity when boosting amps and other driving pedals—this enables you to create the desired sound with the Boss DS-1W.
Custom mode presents a unique new distortion voice while retaining the singular DS-1 personality and edge. A thick, mid-focused character provides more fatness and cut to make your sound stand out in the mix, and the tone control is tuned to maximize the mode’s richness and presence. The available level has been increased by 6 dB, providing a wider range of gain boost for driving amps and pedals. And with more input sensitivity, you can conjure up all sorts of distortion colors with picking dynamics and volume control adjustments on the guitar.
