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The Ultimate BD-2 Mod
Another cheap Boss pedal is up for modding. This time it was the Boss BD-2
Blues Driver.
First impressions of the BD-2 Blues Driver... No blues player would ever need
the gain this unit puts out. Even the minimum gain was blowing my head off. This
pedal was also a shrill dill, couldn’t use the tone control at all, way too
piercing. There was also fuzziness, tons of noise and crap when the gain control
went past noon. One thing I was impressed by was the bypass system (all Boss
pedals use the same flip/flop elec switching). Though it is not true bypass it’s
still quite good, I could hardly notice the difference when I tested the bypass
system using my looper pedal. Boss also has decent buffers so no point ripping
those out to do a true bypass mod. They are useful for driving long chains of
effects.
Anyways I like bright clear tones and fat tones. I am not a huge fan of gain.
With this is mind I started modding the pedal...
I started with the standard Robert Keeley's mod and went from there (you can
find his mods at the bottom of this BD-2 mod page). I didn’t like his mod but
that’s neither here nor there. If he modded the pedal like I did he would spend
way too much time on an individual pedal... Anyways that being said I like my
modded BD-2's tone better.
*** A hint for removing Boss' industrial lead free (RoHs) solder... First heat
up the joint so the solder melts, then heat again and apply a bit of your own
lead (60/40 or whatever) solder. After this go about removing the solder with
your desoldering braid or pump. The solder seems to be a lot easier to work
with/remove when it has some lead solder in it. Try this little trick it works
great!
Here’s what went down...
R21----2.2K (contour control almost, you could replace a 5K pot. Tames tone
control)
R34----5.6K (lowers gain)
R38----220K (lowers gain)
C8----0.0047mF
C14----0.1mF (input cap, better start beefing up the tone from the start)
C16----0.01mF
C17----C19: 0.01mF
C18----0.01mF (use a good quality cap)
C19 *(I didn't alter this cap but for a mid boost remove this cap. More mids,
more gain.)
C27----0.01mF
C34----0.082mF
C35----0.047mF
C100----0.047mF
C101: This cap plays a huge part in the tone of this pedal. Look at the
schematic and you’ll see why, so central in the tone circuit... Anyways I have a
SPDT switch on C101 to select between a MKT 0.033mF and a MKT 0.22mF cap.
Instant fat switch! I am a sucker for fat tones and this switch delivers.
D3----1N4002 (adding second order harmonics)
D6, D8, D9, D10----3mm red LEDs (I like water clear high brightness for clipping).
These are clipping diodes. LEDs make the pedal fatter, tighter and a bit more
compressed. I also find they add some dynamics to the pedal. They also clip much
less than a standard diode so more you get more headroom! You really have to
push the pedal to get it to break up with LEDs as clippers.
The next part of the mod is what I would call the "Hi-Fi" part. No values of
parts are changed. Instead the material (mainly the di-electric) of the
capacitors is changed to a nicer/better sounding material. Some cheap ceramic
and electro caps aren't removed but don’t worry they aren’t in the signal path.
Don’t cheap out here and not do this part of the mod. Without this part I
seriously doubt the pedal would sound so good. It may not be the most
interesting part of the modifications but it's worth it for the great tone at
the end.
Use all Silver Mica caps here.
C27----220pF
C21, C23----47pF
C20, C25----100pF
Use tantalum capacitors here
C1, C6, C7, C12, C13, C15----10mF (16V or higher)
This part of the mod is great. All the fuzz and fizzeyness when the gain control
was turned up was gone. Clarity was increased and the pedal had more dynamics
and felt like it responded better to my playing.
It's a pretty extensive mod but well worth it. If you were only going to do some
parts of it I would recommend the Hi-Fi part and playing with C14, C100 and
C101. Its amazing how a few changes in a capacitors value and some changes to
better quality parts can make a difference.
I like a big LED indicator... I use 5mm water clear high brightness LEDs on all
my pedals. If you do use a bigger brighter LED change R39 to 3K or around there.
Final impressions of this pedal...
Great pedal accomplished exactly what I wanted. It is nice and clear and warm or
with a flick of a switch it is fat and compressed both ways retaining excellent
clarity though. The tone control is totally useful now and much more versatile.
The gain control is quite useable and I can actually have a low gain sound now.
At low gain settings its one of those pedals you cant tell if its on till it's
off, adds a nice feel to your tone without being in your face.
You can set the gain so low the pedal can be used as a straight up clean boost
as well. It can still do some great crunch/post crunch tones but no more metal.
It responds to my touch and feel also now. I tested this pedal with three
different tube amps, one solid state and two guitars and it sounded great with
all of them, mission accomplished.
Anyways another cheap pedal turned into a cheap very useable pedal... Try it
out!
Soundclips coming soon...
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