First Act Distortion were $4.98 at Toys R Us

Bill Oakley · Post by **Bill Oakley** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 8:52 pm

Surprised nobody posted this here. They are sold out online already. My wife grabbed 4 of these for me and didn't even tell me.
Not the plastic orange ones either. The black metal MX510 I think was part of their 222 series.
They showed up in the mail today. Plugged one in and it sounds an awful lot like a Boss DS-1. I'll have to open it up later and have a look.

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 10:28 pm

FUCK.

Bill Oakley · Post by **Bill Oakley** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 10:45 pm

I know. I usually miss out on these things and I would have but my wife scored them along with some strings for a few $.
Just opened it up and they sure look like a DS-1 just by looking at the parts. Cmos switching though unlike the flip-flop Boss uses.

She even bought 4 of them for me. She said, "They were so cheap, I thought you could use them for something."

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 11:32 pm

Do an demo?

Bill Oakley · Post by **Bill Oakley** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 11:52 pm

I'll try. I'm really backed up right now. I'm building about 9 pedals all at the same time for different people. It's crazy.

SKC Willie · Post by **SKC Willie** » Thu Nov 10, 2011 12:50 am

Bill Oakley wrote:I'll try. I'm really backed up right now. I'm building about 9 pedals all at the same time for different people. It's crazy.

put the guts from those into a new casing? BAM! down to 6 pedals and time to do an demo!

h8mtv · Post by **h8mtv** » Thu Nov 10, 2011 1:00 am

Your wife is a good egg.

Bill Oakley · Post by **Bill Oakley** » Fri Nov 11, 2011 12:43 am

Well I cracked it open today while some paint was drying and I was correct. It is for sure a Boss DS-1 part-for-part clone except the op-amp is different and it uses a CMOS flip flop instead of the Boss transistor flip flop. I'm not going to do a demo because it sounds exactly like the DS-1.
I did a really quick trace of it so here you go if anyone is interested.

Dannymec · Post by **Dannymec** » Sat Nov 12, 2011 4:39 am

Bro deal the ones you aren't using!

Bill Oakley · Post by **Bill Oakley** » Sat Nov 12, 2011 4:54 am

Dannymec wrote:Bro deal the ones you aren't using!

I already modified two of them and gave them to some kids in the neighborhood that are learning guitar and I gave the other one to a friend of mine. I only have one left.

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Wed Nov 23, 2011 3:28 am

Bill Oakley wrote:
Dannymec wrote:Bro deal the ones you aren't using!
I already modified two of them and gave them to some kids in the neighborhood that are learning guitar and I gave the other one to a friend of mine. I only have one left.

THIS MAN IS A GODDAMN HERO.