# Volume drop with Boss DS-1? Help!



## Peter (Mar 25, 2008)

Hey guys,

I have a near new (10-20 hours tops) DS-1 pedal that is experiencing about a 30% drop in volume whenever I kick it on. The Level is maxed out, and the pots aren't shot as far as I can tell, it isn't scratchy and seems to scale up and down at a decent rate when I fiddle with it. It's just really quiet.

It's powered as the 2nd in a chain of about 5 pedals through a 1spot AC adapter, and it's running through the front end of an older Marshall Valvestate amp. The pedal chain is Wah > DS1 > SD1 > EHX Memory Man > TU2.

I realize there is alot more troubleshooting I could do with this, I just kind of don't know where to start and was hoping someone has an easy fix for me as to why it's so quiet. I'm heading over to our jam space tomorrow night so if there's some things I need to test out I can try then and report back.

The amp does have an effects loop with a toggleable boost on it, but my other pedals all sound fine with no volume drop so I don't want them to be crazy loud just to get a decent level of volume out of the DS1.

Thanks in advance for any help! :rockon:


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

Did you try isolating that pedal ie plug the power supply into that pedal only? Or try it with a fresh battery? Normally those Boss pedals are pretty bullet proof.


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## Peter (Mar 25, 2008)

Tried with both a battery and as the only plug in the chain plugged in and it sounded a bit louder. Still not as loud as it should be though, I think the pedal is a dud it did get shipped up from the states so I guess it's shot.


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## parns (Oct 1, 2008)

i had the exact same problem with mine and i took it back and they told me it was a defect and they had several come back, they ended up giving me store credit.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

anyone in vancouver who's handy with a soddering iron? could have it fixed/modded for cheap perhaps.


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## Solid_Gold_Soundlabs (Sep 20, 2006)

if you don't mind shipping, feel free to drop me a line for a mod/fix...


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

I've never had any problems with mine, or the DF-2--which is the same distortion. Although a friend had a problem with his--but it was due to negligence on his part.


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## Peter (Mar 25, 2008)

Sent a PM to you Solid Gold Soundlabs thank you very much for the offer!

It gets even wierder though. Last night, I was playing around with it more, testing different battery / non battery configurations, and I noticed something very wierd.

I was plugging the power cable from the 1spot back into the Wah and I noticed the metal of the power connector was arcing on the metal edge of the Wah's power opening. I unplugged the 1spot from the power bar it was in, and it STILL arc'd when I went to plug it into the wah. How can this happen if it's not plugged into the power? :O


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## Peter (Mar 25, 2008)

Paul said:


> What you saw was a capacitor discharging. Those things that'll kill ya in a tube amp? This was a baby version of the same thing!


Do I need to worry or change my setup at all to deal with this?


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