Boss DS-2 and the amps you use

BlackTie

I love my Boss DS-2. But only when I'm running it through my Marshall JCM200 DSL100 head and Soldano 4x12 cab. I play an American Hardtail Double Fat Strat w/Pearly Gate hums. I use the DS-2 as my primary distortion and then a Boss BD-2 for a boost. But when I rehearse I use my buddy's Peavy Valve King head & cab and the resulting tone is crap... The same result with another buddy's Ashedown 2x12 tube combo. I just give up trying to get a good tone from the DS-2 and go with the amp overdrive. Wich is a pain in the ass 'cause then I have to go about hooking up my modulators (EH Small Clone Chorus/EH Small Stone Phase Shifter/EH Deluxe Memory Man& Boss RV-5) through the effects loops or it's gonna sound like a dog's breakfast when I use them. Is it just me or are there certain amps that sound great with certain pedals? And vice versa?

paul_

yes yes yes. i've had this exact same experience too.

my ds-2 sounds great through my marshall superbass and jcm 900, and it was nice through my brother's jcm 2000 tsl head. but it sounds crap and a million times thinner and more harsh through other amps, like (drumroll) a peavey transtube i used to have. also tried it through some guys ibanez toneblaster stack with similar sad results.

incidently, the ds-1 sounded crap through all my marshalls and anything else.

so anyways, this was a really long time ago and i only use rats now... they are harder to discolour with a bad amp. not impossible by any means however.

BanditGuitarist1

DS-2 thru Plexi thru marshall 4x12 sounded alright but it gave me some harsh microphonic feedback! So i replaced it with an 0S-2 which I find way more versitile.

mumblyjoe

DS-2 for teh kurdtz

OS-2 for teh winz!

echelon

What's a Rat sound like?? It's hard to make a good call based on the soundclips on the Proco website

paul_

BanditGuitarist1 said: DS-2 thru Plexi thru marshall 4x12 sounded alright but it gave me some harsh microphonic feedback!

not me man, which guitars did you try that with? it didn't do that on my jag or strat thru my plexi thru 4x12.

do you have an attenuator for your superlead?

Dunxy

Ive found certain pedals just dont work with certain amps, may be whats happening with you.Dosent at all reflect on the quality of the amp, just you cant build an amp that will work with every od/dist pedal on the market.

Fran

Totally.

I beleive there are certain formula's (ooh i'm posh) with amps and pedals, some work great others dont. An electronics boffin would probably be able to tell you why as well, it will be something like a conflict between components.

And Paul.....i had one of them Ibanez amps (for about a week) and nothing sounded good with it, not even my guitars. Lol.

Echelon....RAT pedals are a good Distortion/Fuzz but i've found they dont dial-in metal sounds easily, the eq is a bit limited for that. Anyway, browse past threads in this forum as its one of the most talked about pedals on here.

echelon

Fran the man said:
Echelon....RAT pedals are a good Distortion/Fuzz but i've found they dont dial-in metal sounds easily, the eq is a bit limited for that. Anyway, browse past threads in this forum as its one of the most talked about pedals on here.

i dont play metal, so that's ok...i'm a punk/rock/weird alt noise kinda guy 😀

nine

echelon said:
i dont play metal, so that's ok...i'm a punk/rock/weird alt noise kinda guy 😀

Then you'll like it. The Rat pedal is really scrappy sounding. Like an overdrive pedal that likes to streetfight.

echelon

echelon said:
i dont play metal, so that's ok...i'm a punk/rock/weird alt noise kinda guy 😀

yeh that's what i though..problem is the only time ive heard a RAT on record is Blur - Song 2, and even then the bass overpowers the guitar, so hard to tell if its good.

Also which to go for? Vintage RAT, RAT 2, Turbo RAT, You Dirty RAT..so many options.

i though instead of deciding i could just get a Deucetone RAT, which contains all of the above RATs, but then it's over

nine

I'd stick with the Rat 2. It's probably easier to find and has just as much ratty goodness as the original one.

Here are some Rat2 samples:

http://www.procosound.com/soundbytesrat.htm

BanditGuitarist1

BanditGuitarist1 said: DS-2 thru Plexi thru marshall 4x12 sounded alright but it gave me some harsh microphonic feedback!

Which guitars did I try it with all 10!

KC Jag

Mustang with JB

stock stang

red stock stang

SRV strat

Townshend SG

Schecter with emg

Jackson dink with Livewire metal and Invader

les paul with burstbucker 2 in the bridge

Jackson Rhodes with JB and Jazz

I use my OS-2 and Tubescreamer now instead of the ds-2 it sits there with my ds-1. It might be my plexi needs a new power amp tube I think since its givin me these bassy popping noises... 🙄

paul_

BanditGuitarist1 said:
It might be my plexi needs a new power amp tube I think since its givin me these bassy popping noises... 🙄

that could be a preamp valve too, i have a similar problem with my superbass which i tracked to a solid-state 12ax7 emulator in place of one of my preamp tubes.

BanditGuitarist1

yeah im gonna do the half ass tap the tubes with a pencil test then the look to make sure the glass has no white spots test then if its still weird im bringin it to Guitarcenter and havin it checked out...

jellybelly

Ive found that rats sound bad through marshalls (the master volume ones anyway) in that you can't dial in a bit of amp gain with them: rats do the buisness when working on a full tone which is pretty clean: generally not el34s. Thurston gets ace sounds with his through a peavy and I used to have ultimate scuzzy grunge when i used it with a fender twin or my old matamp. The DS-2 I find works really well with solid state amps. Also if you're looking for somthing to match a marshall then I must recommend the marshall shredmaster: use it through any other tube amp and its not great, but through a marshall (My bloody valentine) or a solidstate amp (radiohead) then you get some really beautiful sounds. It does vary heavily from amp to amp though, even big muffs don't work sometimes, my matamp didnt like em at all.