Let’s face it: As pedal geeks, we are perfectionists. When one of our boxes simply isn’t cutting it, the whole arrangement is off, and we aren’t too happy about it. When money is no object, those of us dissatisfied with the sound of our current gear often satiate this feeling by simply buying more pedals. While this is a great fantasy to keep tucked in the back of our minds in the “Powerball” file, this is not feasible for many of us. Some guitarists are handy with a soldering iron, and certain situations pose no threat to a rig’s integrity. Those with the know-how to modify pedals will often do so, space permitting. However when dissatisfaction meets a lack of knowledge and funds, this is where inner turmoil can chip away at a person.
Worry no more, my friend, for I have amassed a list of some very popular pedal modifications for you, the novice, which can be performed with minimal knowledge. Some of these mods require no parts at all—just some tools!
Blue Box C11 Mod
Many players relied upon the Blue Box as an experimental lark within that brief period when guitar gets “boring” before you truly learn how to play. As such, there are thousands of Blue Boxes sitting in closets all over the world. The main complaint when trying to revisit this unit is that its output isn’t too high and the sound is super compressed. We can fix that with a simple modification.
What you’ll need: Wire clippers or fingernail clippers, screwdrivers, pliers
The fix: It doesn’t get much easier than this one: remove the board from the enclosure and locate C11 (different models will have it in different locations). Snip it out. That’s all! Of course, you can put this on a switch if you really want to, but if you’re pulling this out of a closet anyway, who cares about switching it on and off?
Boss TR-2 Tremolo “C4 Mod”
Story time: I once performed this modification for a Nashville studio musician, transforming the humble Boss TR-2 into, and I quote, “the best tremolo [he’s] ever heard.” Now that I have your attention, users who bought a Boss TR-2 on the second-hand market might notice a slight volume drop when engaging. This volume drop also begets a distinctive “mush” in the modulation which can drive tremolo-heavy players bananas. For those guys and gals playing low-budget surf rock, the older TR-2s can really take some curl out of the waves. This, the C4 mod (which is in no way related to plastic explosives) reinstalls some of the pep that’s siphoned out of the modulation, as well as restores that precious volume.
What you’ll need: Screwdriver, wire cutters or nail clippers
The fix: Remove the back from the pedal, and remove the board. Look at the component side, and hunt around for a capacitor (looks like a Chicklet) marked “C4.” Using the clippers, remove this capacitor. No, really, that’s it. For fun, you can change the color of the LED (just remove the stock LED and replace it with a different-colored 3mm LED) so people can know you modded it. Of course, that is totally optional.
Changing a Dyna Comp to a Ross Compressor
Players such as Trey Anastasio sing the praises of the Ross Compressor quite often, as it was among the first—and thusly, classic—pedal compressors. Mr. Anastasio places his Ross after two Tube Screamers for his distinctive tone. In fact, most boutique manufacturers of compressor pedals jump at the chance to drop the Ross name when describing the origins of their offering. When browsing compressor pedals, the coloring is no accident—most grey ones are based on this age-old design. However, one red pedal is also based on the Ross: The MXR Dyna Comp. And modding it to Ross specs is a relatively simple job.
What you’ll need: 2x 470k resistors, 2x 220k resistors, 1x 10k resistor, 3x 1uF electrolytic capacitors, soldering iron, desoldering pump/braid, screwdriver, utility knife
The fix: The name of the game here is desoldering two different resistors from the board and replacing them with a hand-wound triangle of parts. It’s a bit of a hack job, but bear with me.
The Dyna Comp board contains many 1m resistors, all of which go to ground except one. The remaining resistor connects to the center pin (base) of a transistor (Q1) on one end, and a voltage source on the other. Also, there is one 470k resistor on the entire board, connected on one end to voltage, and on the other, to the center leg of a trimpot. Both these resistors need to be desoldered. When you do so, make sure to clear the solder from the holes on the board very well. We’re going to make two quick RC networks to solder in their places using both 470k and one capacitor, and both 220k with the other capacitor. (see diagram below).There’s also a trace we need to cut and a resistor we need to install. Deep breaths.
Assemble the networks as shown in the diagram by wrapping the leads around one another and soldering. Be careful! Get a utility knife and cut the trace between the Q1 collector and the voltage source, then insert all RC networks as shown. Of course, to complete the “Rossformation,” you must change the Output potentiometer to 100k (from 50k), but for our purposes, the mod is complete.
Turn a Big Muff into a Jumbo Tone Bender (sort of)
The sound of a halved-diode Muff is quite a sound to behold. Sola Sound of London got enough mileage out of this sound to parlay it into a whole new Tone Bender variant, the Jumbo Tone Bender. More modern users might know this as the “center position” on the Black Arts Toneworks Pharaoh, an awesome pedal in its own right. Removing the diodes from a Big Muff is one of the simplest mods one can do if one wishes to make a permanent change. If one wishes to put this on a switch, it becomes a harder task but still very manageable. I’ll tell you how to both.
What you’ll need: Screwdriver, wire cutters/nail clippers (for the permanent mod), soldering iron, SPST toggle or stomp switch, wire (for the switch mod)
The fix: The permanent mod involves locating the capacitor AND diodes in the feedback loop of the second transistor and cutting them out. The capacitor will be connected to the diodes on one end and the base (middle pin) of the second transistor. Since the second and third transistor stages look identical, the one you’re looking for is closest to where the Sustain/Distortion knob attaches to the board. If you wish to add a switch, simply desolder the leg of the capacitor connecting to the transistor base. Attach a wire to one lug of the switch and attach the other end of the wire to the hole you just desoldered. Wrap a wire around the exposed capacitor lead, solder it, and solder the other end of the wire to the other switch lug. You’re done!
Boss DD-3 Analog Delay Mod
Is there not a pedal more ubiquitous than the Boss DD-3? It was certainly my first pedal, and I suspect it was also the first of many others. Most of us desired a delay because they “made stuff repeat,” and the novelty began and ended there. That said, it took us some time to recognize the amenities of analog delay: The repeats got dark in a hurry, lost a little fidelity and just sounded “warmer.” This exodus from analog to digital and back to analog happened in almost every facet of guitar gear. Luckily there is a mod you can do to the DD-3 that recaptures this dirty analog glory with minimal effort.
What you need: Soldering iron, 0.068uF (68nF) capacitor (bigger or smaller for a more- or less-drastic effect), screwdriver. Optional: SPST toggle switch, wire (if you want to be able to switch “analog mode” on and off).
The fix: Remove the backplate of the DD-3 and dig out the board. This mod is very simple: solder one leg of the 68nF capacitor to the center lug of the “F.Back” knob, and solder the other leg to ground (such as the enclosure itself). If you’d like to put this on a toggle switch, solder the capacitor to the middle lug of the F.Back control, then the other end to the middle lug of the toggle. Solder a piece of wire to the other switch lug, then solder the other end of the wire to ground. Easy as pie!
