Boss BD-2 tone mods question

[OffYourFace]

I want to mod my BD-2 so it has less of a fizzy tone. I like the overall sound of it, I just want to make the tone control more versatile.

I have a ton of different OD pedals but I prefer the BD-2 most of the time with my Deluxe Reverb. It’s not perfect but I blame the tone stack for that.

EDIT: This is what my experimentation led me to:

mod 1) - Change C35 from .047 to .022 and change C18 from .1 to .047.

If it's still too bright for you:

mod 2) - Change C34 from .1 to .047, put .047 back in C35 and keep the change for C18.

I wanted to find a mod that was the least invasive and I’m pretty happy with mod 1. Basically you just need to buy one capacitor, a .022. When you remove the .047 from C35, you can use it to replace the .1 for C18. Easy Peasy. When compared to the BD-2W, it sits somewhere between stock and custom mode to my ears.

For mod 2, you'll have to buy two new .047 caps. Also, I think the little foil film caps found stock in Boss pedals sound best but I could be trippin'!

[OffYourFace]

Ok I plugged in my OD-3 and I like it now.

After cleaning up some of the garbage stock wiring in my 76 Deluxe Reverb, the amp’s overall sound has improved. But the BD-2 sounds a bit too bright unless I have the amp cranked to 5 (can’t do that anymore). I needed something that sounds good when the amp is on 2-3. Supposedly the OD-3 is a revoiced BD-2 (???) and its doing what I want now.

Edit NVM. It’s too smooth and creamy for what I want.

[OffYourFace]

No one is probably interested in this but I’m gonna keep on going haha.

I noticed the BD has the fender ab763 tone stack. I was surprised tbh. This is probably old news to those more experienced with modifying pedals. Anyway, I changed it to the tweed/marshall tone stack but left the 100k slope resistor. I’m liking this a lot better. It might still be too scooped but I’ll try again tmrw when I can play louder. If it is, I’ll jump straight to 33k and if that’s too much I’ll go to 56k. But so far so good.

Now the OD-3 is sounding too low mids heavy to me and too smooth on the top end.

[JSett]

I'm interested, as a BD-2 fanboy.

I never found it too bright or fizzy, I just have the tone knob at 9 o'clock and it's smooth as silk (for me). I knew it was a Fender-esque stack and hadn't thought about how easy it would be to change a few values. I expect if you go far enough you'll end up in TS territory.

[muffonrat]

I totally get what you are describing here, my impression of the BD is also kind of fizzy.

I am going to suggest an alternative way to achieve a more round sound.


If you have a EQ pedal maybe would worth trying to shape the tone by stacking it after the BD.
I have read that something similar can be achieved by stacking a wah pedal after and finding the sweet spot on the wah sweep.
Personally I run another od pedal before the BD and that gives me more blending EQ possibilities.

[MechaBulletBill]

I never found it too bright or fizzy, I just have the tone knob at 9 o'clock

yeah keep the tone low. maybe roll back the tone on the guitar. i find keeping the gain low also helps avoid shrill qualities. might be you just want something different. fairfield barbershop is close but different to the bd2 imo

[OffYourFace]

Don’t worry, I’m not going to ruin this $80 pedal. Although, it looks like the older thru-hole models are going up in value…. but CL has lots for $60-80. There are a TON of these things out there. Boss sold a lot of them.

Anyway, I have nice soldering and desoldering gear. I just got a new Hakko FX-100… expensive but it’s so worth it. I also have an FX-301 for desoldering. It’s a life saver. If you like to mod and repair pedals, I highly recommend getting one. My main thing is repairing vintage synths so I need decent stuff.

I’m not making extreme changes, i’m just tweaking the tone stack. It’s just 4 components. I like the clipping ckt as-is. No phat mods, no fuzz mods etc. I had no problem with the stock BD if I was PLAYING LOUD. The louder and more pushed your amp is, the better the pedal sounds IMO. I can’t play that loud anymore so I’m just making some subtle changes that are completely reversible. I’m on a mini tone quest.

I’m going to buy another BD-2 so I can compare the changes without relying on my memory. I’ll share my findings when done.

[OffYourFace]

One last thing, my ‘76 deluxe reverb is my ride or die so I’ve been upgrading it to get what I want from it. By upgrading, I mean cleaning up the wiring and making the grounds better. It has always sounded pretty good but it’s got all the typical sloppy spaghetti wiring found in mid to late 70s Fender amps.

The better I make this amp sound, the worse the pedals sound to me! Funny how that works. I mean it, I tried about 12 different OD pedals and I kind of hated them all. They all sound so… artificial? The BD is closest to what I want so I’m just tweaking it a bit. The Klon copies sound too mid humpy to me now. I kind of hate them! I used to like them with this amp.

[JSett]

One last thing, my ‘76 deluxe reverb is my ride or die so I’ve been upgrading it to get what I want from it. By upgrading, I mean cleaning up the wiring and making the grounds better. It has always sounded pretty good but it’s got all the typical sloppy spaghetti wiring found in mid to late 70s Fender amps.

The better I make this amp sound, the worse the pedals sound to me! Funny how that works. I mean it, I tried about 12 different OD pedals and I kind of hated them all. They all sound so… artificial? The BD is closest to what I want so I’m just tweaking it a bit. The Klon copies sound too mid humpy to me now. I kind of hate them! I used to like them with this amp.

Have you tried a Timmy? They are the smoothest and a REALLY wide EQ and gain range. I have one on my board and it can pretty much cover everything. Mine's a V2 fwiw

I run BD-2's mostly because it suits my band and I need the tone to be not totally smooth, but at home the Timmy is set to 'Thin Lizzy crunch' and switched on 90% of the time.

[countertext]

I’m reading this thread with interest as I was given a BD-2 recently… but it’s brand new. I haven’t opened it up, but should I assume the manufacturing processes on the new Malaysia-built ones probably make it unsuitable for modding?

[JSett]

I’m reading this thread with interest as I was given a BD-2 recently… but it’s brand new. I haven’t opened it up, but should I assume the manufacturing processes on the new Malaysia-built ones probably make it unsuitable for modding?

More than likely.

[OffYourFace]

I totally get what you are describing here, my impression of the BD is also kind of fizzy.

I am going to suggest an alternative way to achieve a more round sound. If you have a EQ pedal

I do and you’re right, it’s a great way to alter sounds. I have a nice Empress ParaEQ. I just want less stuff on my board. At home for recording, anything goes. For my live board, less is more for me.

[OffYourFace]

Have you tried a Timmy?

I had one of the original big box units many years ago. I was using a ‘72 twin reverb at that time. I found it to be too bright but that was years ago. I should try one again. What’s that other pedal people like now that’s basically a modded Timmy? I forget the name…

[OffYourFace]

I’m reading this thread with interest as I was given a BD-2 recently… but it’s brand new. I haven’t opened it up, but should I assume the manufacturing processes on the new Malaysia-built ones probably make it unsuitable for modding?

More than likely.

Yeah that’s gonna be SMT. Sell it and buy an older one.

[OffYourFace]

I’m pretty happy with this mod! I think I might put two different slope resistors on a switch.

100k for the standard sound and something smaller for a mid boost. I’ll experiment with 33k, 47k and 56k.

If you want to try this mod, it’s super easy.

Replace C34 (.1 uF) with a .022 uF
Replace C35 (.047) with a .022 uF
Replace C26 (220p) with a 470p

*Replace R38 (100k) if you want more mids.
Use 56k (based on tweed bassman/JTM45) or 33k for even more (like a Marshall JMP 2203)

I’m not sure which resistor is for setting the mid frequency. I think it’s R51 which looks like a 15k. Also I can’t read the Schematic very well. It’s a little blotchy.

Ideally there would be two knobs on the pedal for treble and bass but I’ll live.