The modified or DIY stomp box appreciation thread

LonePhantom · #1 03-19-2010, 07:43 AM

I've been playing with stomp boxes lately, with some pretty cool results.

I thought I would start a thread for people who have tinkered with their pedals, or built ones to post their stuff. Doesn't matter if it's a common mod, or your own amazing creation. Throw up your pedals.

My DS-1:

Two stages of mods so far. Noise reduction (http://www.lonephantom.com/?p=847), and tone shaping (http://www.lonephantom.com/?p=863).

(Crappy) samples of the pedal on those links too.

I'm actually mid way through adding two new tone shaping pots, giving more control (I hope worthwhile control) to the tone of the pedal. I'll post some stuff once I've completed it. I've currently got two trim pots stashed away in the pedal right now for testing. I'm planning on drilling holes, and installing two mini pots for this soon.

My CS-3:

One stage of mods with this. I've replaced a bunch of electrolytic capacitors with matching value tantalum ones to make the pedal operate a little quieter.

I've also replaced a couple of the resistors to enhance the tone too. The CS-3 still sounds pretty much like it did, but better.
http://www.lonephantom.com/?p=872

Some crappy samples there too. I'm not sure though if they completely show off what the pedal is like though.

I'm looking at starting on some mods for an MT-2 if I can get to my electronics store over the weekend. Try and warm the pedal up a bit, and make it a worthwhile pedal to use.

saijo · #2 03-19-2010, 10:41 AM

i have a 3-in-1 pedal in one casing that im using right now,it has OD(3 modes), chorus and analog delay in it. Ill post pictures later. Thinking of selling it though.

bates · #3 03-19-2010, 12:37 PM

I done a R28, C11, C12 mod on a standard MXR Phase 90 just recently. It makes the pedal a lot better when turned on but when its off it takes away some of the signals low end.

Thats the only mod i have done and although its still on my board at the moment i would rather just get the EVH or Script version

LonePhantom · #4 03-19-2010, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bates

I done a R28, C11, C12 mod on a standard MXR Phase 90 just recently. It makes the pedal a lot better when turned on but when its off it takes away some of the signals low end.

Thats the only mod i have done and although its still on my board at the moment i would rather just get the EVH or Script version

Is it an older Phase 90 without true bypass or something? I would think if it were a true bypass pedal you wouldn't have the mods affecting your tone when off?

LonePhantom · #5 03-19-2010, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saijo

i have a 3-in-1 pedal in one casing that im using right now,it has OD(3 modes), chorus and analog delay in it. Ill post pictures later. Thinking of selling it though.

Sounds cool, did you build it from scratch?

bates · #6 03-19-2010, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LonePhantom

Is it an older Phase 90 without true bypass or something? I would think if it were a true bypass pedal you wouldn't have the mods affecting your tone when off?

Its a 2005 block logo. It has a hard bypass i think. I went off on a little google mission regarding MXR's bypass's and it seem most of them have hard bypass instead of true bypass

SonicProvocateur · #7 03-19-2010, 08:24 PM

I've been meaning to buy one of those Behringer tube overdrives and clone/mod it with one of the many many tubes from my awesome vintage tube farm! I've seen several tube overdrives on the market and even some DIY ones, but I bet you haven't seen one based on a 6J6A! I've been gutting ancient tube powered stuff for a long time in hopes to start building tube powered fuzz pedals soon.

I <3 crazy fuzzes.

LonePhantom · #8 03-20-2010, 01:22 AM

Very cool. Can't wait to see what you do with all of them.

Magical Muffin · #9 03-20-2010, 01:33 PM

I built a little fuzz box in my electronics class once. But it didn't work and the wires kept breaking off of the circuit board, so it was basically a failed attempt. I doubt it would've sounded any good in the first place, but it's still a shame.

LonePhantom · #10 03-20-2010, 05:33 PM

Thats a shame. You still got it? Maybe you should reopen it and have a go at it again.

SonicProvocateur · #11 03-20-2010, 06:44 PM

I did the same thing in high school Muffin. It was a DIY distortion box for my computer science class, but something was soldered wrong on my breadboard. Wish I could find it!

Magical Muffin · #12 03-21-2010, 12:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LonePhantom

Thats a shame. You still got it? Maybe you should reopen it and have a go at it again.

Yeah I have it, but I don't have the instructions. I could easily get them again, but the problem is that the circuit diagram is basically one of those tiny and crappy black and white photocopied pictures where you can barely make out what anything says. It was probably a transistor put in the wrong way or the positive or negative was mixed up on one of the input/output jacks (The diagram didn't even specify what was positive and what was negative. The teacher more or less just guessed as to the correct way). So if I was to take another crack at this kind of thing I'd be better off starting completely over on something with more detailed instructions and a pedal design with a sound closer to what I'm looking for.

And I didn't even have a box, fyi. It was just the board with a bunch of wires sticking out. This was definitely the reason the wires broke off, but even when I re-soldered it at home it still didn't work. The guitar signal would go through but no fuzz or distortion resulted.

LonePhantom · #13 03-21-2010, 06:03 AM

Well now's the time to try building/modifying again!

I've just installed my 2 tone shaping pots on the DS-1. Lost a washer and nut for one though. Also was silly and didn't look properly where I was drilling my new holes, and didn't have clearance, so now got two holes with nothing in them.

the little pot pcb on the tone pot broke during removal too, but managed to superglue it and all is well.

It's an odd mod, as one tone control can act like a level control if turned all the way one way, but it does have an effect otherwise. Will post some pics once I get the nut, etc and some knobs which I forgot to buy.

LonePhantom · #14 03-23-2010, 08:25 PM

An update on my trying to install the new pots neatly in my DS-1. I've got an older Taiwan made DS-1, which is practically the same as the MIJ ones, and came with larger pots too.

These larger pots have made a nightmare of trying to shoehorn my new pots and wiring in successfully. As a result I put everything together, and found that I must have bumped a few wires on the pots or PCB out, and now only my level knob is working.

I was planning on re-housing this pedal anyway, so I think I will remove the new pots, and install the original resistors for the time being, and hopefully I'll be back to my working stage 2 mods.

I've also modified a MT-2, and it is sounding quite a bit better. A big change was removing the two diodes taking care of distortion with red LEDS, and now there is not nearly as much distortion, but still plenty for big heavy chunky metal. EQ is a little more usable too. Still sounds quite a bit like a MT-2, but much better, and probably more usable. I'll post up some more pics, info once I've updated it on my blog.

LonePhantom · #15 03-24-2010, 07:52 AM

Well it seems that I mucked up my DS-1 a bit too much. I'll have a bit more of a look at it later when I am not so tired.

Meanwhile here is my modded MT-2.

I've managed to make the pedal a bit more organic sounding, plus a lot fatter and chunkier with regards to the distortion. I've got details (and hopefully samples soon) on my blog.

http://www.lonephantom.com/?p=938