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Modifying Boss Sd-1


Bytrix

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OK, no 'boss sucks' replies please, I've had this pedal for ages and it was great back when I was using my Line 6 Spider II because it gave me overdrive ontop of the amps distortion, but I now have a V-Amp Pro and this thing is just sitting there doing nothing.

I've seen a few examples of modified pedals but no step by step of what was changed or circuit diagrams.

So, any ideas on modifications I can make to an SD-1, I'm fairly proficient in electronics and don't have any problems adding knobs, switches, or re/soldering things.

I also have an OC-3 octaver which I don't intend to modify but if anyone has heard of any mods for this pedal...

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what do you want to do ith the sd1. its basically a modified tubescreamer already. so i mean which way do you want to go with it. however bias it may seem but boss pedals aren't that bad if you are willing to take the time and care ot make sure you have a good one or just mod straight from the box. I think thats alot of what people are missing now days.

Most people are getting into Modifiying pedals because lets face it, it is fun and for budding electroncis people and for seasoned builders its kind of the trendy new things. i have an old EE professer who had always told me it was better and easier to just go and buy a louder amp or one with more distortion. and now he is modifying pedals.

for me i got into this game because it lacked what i wanted it to do. I have had nearly every pedal boss has ever come out with up until recently as well as dod i mean when i was 16 and i got all the catalogs from the music stores i started hitting pawn shops, junk stores [where i got my first Ross Distortion pedal btw for .25usd] flea markets and garage sells all before ebay and such.

so i have heard most of the old tricks as well as the new. after a while i stuck with my rack units until i hooked up with a guy who showed me all these cool botique pedals. i played a blues pearl perplexed. was my first pedal that was not boss or dod or such. and i was blown a way by the tone and the fact that i could look at it and reverse engineer it. then i got to see the lpb1 that he made on a etched board from there i was hooked. so now fast forward through trial and error as well as schooling and i do this for a living as well as do repairs.

i guess the point of this over inflated reply was basically this.

What do you want to do with it.??? basically its a gain device. you can add more to it or take some away.

true bypass it. make it self oscilate. make it have some sort of envelope control. but some hearing aid micro tubes in it. and use either a dedicated dc power source or use something to ramp up the voltage a bit. [24+v] replace all the caps with box caps or with all metal film replace the resistors with 1% metal films.

there is a mod site on line that has a list of mods for the oc-3 i will see if i can find it. for you.

you can try my trick for the sd1 take the second opamp stage and use it as a mini driver for one of those radioshack transformers that we use in the octavia style circuits. and a tiny micro speaker. couple this with a second transistor stage to drive the next thing in the stage and you get a whole differnet but quite usable beast.

btw the above isn't a rant at you its simply a thing to keep anyone in check tht wants to start modifiying anything. personally and i know a few people who agree to mod just for mod's sake ie no tone or extra feature that makes getting sounds easier. is really just not worth it. but again tahts my .02

ed

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well you could use it inline on all the time simply as a buffer to make your v amp work harder. that way when you turn down the vol knob on your guitar [this is assuming that you do this.] the v amp doesn't spit sputter and cough or gate out. however the vamp isn't as bad as some of the other ones. personally i am almost done with my v amp mod.

converted the entire preamp and poweramp to tube. :D :D B)

so far i have the preamp done and that was the hardest part.

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