Boss BD-2 with Blue Dream Mod

From Modest Mike's Mods   BBB Accredited A+ Rating Since 2014
Modest Mike's Blue Dream BD-2 Analog Model with Through-the-Hole Components
 
From Boss: "The BD-2 Blues Driver delivers the creamy, yet crunchy sound associated with great blues guitar. This popular pedal provides instant access to the kind of warm overdrive and emotive distortion usually reserved for 30-year-old tube amps. Classic "blues" guitar tones with tube amp simulation. Warm distortion and overdrive. Responds to nuance and volume changes."

That all sounds good on paper. You want the truth?
Much of the range of sound is unusable in my opinion.  And what is up with that splatty, fizzy, decay sound? "Oh no, he di' int just say that!"
Before you get mad at me for saying that, you should know that others do have similar feelings. The Analogman described the stock BD-2 as "quite the icepick in the ear."  

For the Blue Dream mod we go a little further to eliminate the sounds you don't want, and to bring out the sounds you do want. That fizzy decay sound of the stock BD-2 is a result of too much gain and pre-clipping bass. To get rid of it you have to reduce the amount of gain in each clipping stage. Then the lower gain will need to be compensated through the clipping diodes with a larger threshold. We use LEDs for that.
Adding bass by increasing values of capacitors before the clipping stage can also result in a fizzy decay sound. So we have found the best place to add bass is in the capacitors after the clipping (distortion/gain). 

You can actually use more of the full range of sounds available now. It can be more mellow, but when you crank it up there is still plenty gain for when you want to rock!
Several caps and resistors have been replaced with components of a different value to give the pedal a nice fat sound. This pedal has more overall boost than a stock BD-2. We also installed a toggle switch for an optional bass boost.
And of course we put in a nice water/clear blue LED. The LED is clear when off, and a nice bright blue when on.

There is a video (last pic). You may notice, nowadays we use a different toggle switch. It does not cover any of the writing on the pedal. Please use your headphones.

From musicians who bought the modified pedal or sent theirs in for the mod service:
From The Gear Page: I received my SD-1 and BD-2 today and had an hour or so to play with them. Man, what a difference. The BD-2 is definitely smoother and more open, for lack of a better way of putting it. It can be plenty beefy with the switch engaged and the high end fizziness is gone. Great sounding pedal just made better.

Hey Mike, played my first gig with the new modded pedal last night and man it was a game changer. I knew it was an improvement playing it on my own but in a full band setting it really shined. Thanks for making my favorite pedal even better. Thanks, Eric

Hi Mike- Just had a chance to get loud with the Blues Driver you did- WOW Buckle UP!!-It sounds Fantastic, Really Nice now, I ended up just leaving it on all the time and think that’s the way it will stay- Thanks again Mike- Bob

Five Stars!
Bass switch mod brings out some some great tones from Boss’ low gain OD. Modest Mike knows his stuff.
- Travers Ichinose 

This one is from BW: "Perfect!!! As described. Thanks so much!!!" 

And one from GB: "Excellent in all respects, thanks!" 

From Dave, a college professor at USM: "WOW!! I am completely blown away, the mod has created a phenomenal tone machine!" Buyer: davide65

"Awesome pedal now! Extremely fast service! Worth every penny! Thanks Mike!!!"     Buyer: gibson_fan

"Thanks Mike! Best damned BD-2 I ever heard!

Hey Mike, A little late getting back to you, but I received the pedal about a week ago, and it sounds fantastic! Thanks again for the mods. This Blues Driver will have a permanent spot on my pedal board now. Also, amazing quick turnaround, wow! Thank you for getting it back to me so soon. Definitely will do business with you again. 

"We make your sounds... sound good!" 

Thanks for looking!
Mike
Check out all of our modified pedals and mod services here on Reverb, eBay, our website, and on YouTube :)