BOSS MT-2 Metal Zone mods, boutique and DIY

[V!N]

The BOSS MT-2 is one of the best selling distortion pedals ever. Who has (or had) one ? Back in the day, I felt like a king with a pedal with so much gain ! It was a hard to tune in the right settings though, the pedal sounded decent on just 2% of all possible settings.
Some musicians managed to get a great sound, twisting and turning all the knobs, but that's not what this topic is about. No, we're going to see how we can get the other 98% sound good with a bit of soldeering !

Mind you, it's hard to work with. To get the most, you'd have to replace just about everything on the PCB with better quality parts. I wouldn't want to recommend this to any of the less experienced DIY fellers here. But you can acomplish a lot with just a few minor interventions.


Let's start by listening what the "famous" fellers can do with a little time and a few parts:



Robert Keeley Electronics Boss MT-2 Twilight Zone Mod
Place is a madhouse, feels like being cloned ..

Mister Keeley improved the Metal Zone somewhat and added a three way switch to it. The following clips were made with the same MT-2 with the same settings, with the switch in a different position each time:
"Triple Diode" mode MT2 sound clip
"Stock" MT-2 position sound clip
"Ultra" mode MT2 sound clip



Analog Man MT-2 Metal Zone mods

There you go, the first is a stock pedal straight from the factory that sounds like a naggin child (nehhh). Just a soup of sounds. After Mike fiddled about inside, it sounds like notes complementing eachother, thanks to a Metal Zone ? YES !:
Stock pedal
Our mod
Tone sweep, first stock, then our mod.



Indyguitarist.com / Guitartone.net

Mister Wampler also had his way with it. The "Boogie" mod sure is nice, but wow .. that Bogner / Diezel mod ! If only they would leave Taiwain sounding like that.
MT2 Stock
"marshall - boogie" mod clip 1
"marshall - boogie" mod clip 2
customer soundclip of the "Bogner Diezel mod"



Monte Allums Superior Sound Designs

To conclude, mister Monte Allums. He sells packages with parts so you can turn your Metal Zone (or any less than optimal pedal for that matther) into a good sounding pedal. I wouldn't mind going in the studio, sounding like the sixth clip.
You can buy the packages on his site and through eBay

MT2_1
MT2_2
MT2_3
MT2_4
MT2_5
MT2_6




There, that's what fellers do who have to pay their bills (partially) by fiddling about inside pedals. But what can we do ?

[V!N]

Re: BOSS MT-2 Metal Zone mods, boutique and DIY

Beginners and experienced DIY'ers alike can go a long way with the Metal Zone and a few cents worth of parts (beer is optional) and turn this swarm of bees into a decent sounding pedal. Much of the character is in the diodes.

I'd love to tell you who came up with the following mod, but they've been in a .txt file on my HD for a long time, without a name. If you recognize this, please let us know !

Remove the caps C24 and C35.
Replace the diodes D3 and D4 for a germanium diode 1N34A en een small red LED.
Put a 47nF cap paralel with the diodes.

A funny fact, the Marshall Silver Jubilee and Slash signature amps get a part of their distortion through red leds. You can go bananas here and experiment with every diode and led you can get. In one position of the Keeley switch, you have three diodes clipping to get you your distortion.
Mister Monte Allums puts a 1N34A and a 1N4002 in his Metal Zone package and I'm quite sure one of the caps goes paralel with them to shut the bees up.
The opamp will surely distort without any diodes, but how ? worth a nice experiment.

If you're not that experienced yet with DIY pedals and this isn't good enough for you, then I suggest you'd send it to one of the fellers above. The following mod takes the Metal Zone to the next level but if you're not sure about what you're doing, then please don't do it.

Boss thinks with its wallet, not with the ears of its costummers and that's why there are cheap parts in there that are "less than optimal". So mister BXD made up a list to unleash as much of the the magic other 98% as possible. I'd like to add to that to replace all resistors with metalfilm resistors. This is a very gainy pedal and everything you can do to keep the noise down as much is possible is welcome.

BOSS MT-2 Metal Zone parts replacement list 
for bdx version 1.0 
applied to serial #BK53038 (second hand, October 2000, made in Taiwan) 
by bdx <[email protected]> 
27-OCT-2000 

Basic Modification Strategy: 
   Basic circuitry is well-designed so no fundamental modification 
   Remove electrolytic capacitors whenever possible 
   Use high-grade electrolytic capacitors whenever possible 

Semiconductors: 

LED1 (CHECK LED): 3mm red (LN-28RP) -> 3mm bright blue LED (E1L33-3B) 

Q1:  2SC3378-GR -> 2SC3113-B 
Q4:  2SC3378-GR -> 2SC3113-B 
Q7:  2SC3378-GR -> 2SC3113-B 
Q8:  2SC3378-GR -> 2SC3113-B 
Q10: 2SC3378-GR -> 2SC3113-B 

Resistors -> Current Regulative Diodes: 

R2:      10kohm -> Semitec CRD E102 (source follower load) 

(Semitec CRD E102: Current Regulative Diode, 1.0mA, 
 replaceable by JFETs of similar Idss values) 

Electrolytic Capacitors: 

C1:    10uF 16V -> MUSE (unipolar) 10uF 16V 
C2:    10uF 16V -> MUSE (unipolar) 10uF 16V 
C3:     1uF 50V -> Film 0.56uF 50V 
C4:     1uF 50V -> Film 0.56uF 50V 
C5:    10uF 16V -> MUSE (unipolar) 10uF 16V 
C8:  0.22uF 35V -> Film 0.22uF 50V 
C11:    1uF 50V -> Film 0.56uF 50V 
C19: 100uF 6.3V -> MUSE (unipolar) 100uF 16V 
C20: 0.22uF 35V -> Film 0.22uF 50V 
C21:    1uF 50V -> Film 0.56uF 50V 
C27:   10uF 16V -> MUSE (unipolar) 10uF 16V 
C30:   10uF 16V -> MUSE (unipolar) 10uF 16V 
C37:    1uF 50V -> Film 0.56uF 50V 
C39:    1uF 50V -> Film 0.56uF 50V 
C40: 100uF 6.3V -> MUSE (unipolar) 100uF 16V 
C41:  100uF 16V -> MUSE (unipolar) 100uF 16V

And there you have it ! Everything I have to say about MT-2 mods. It'd be nice if you could share the results of your (diode-)experiments with us.

And it would be awsome if you could before and after clips !


V!N

[Pierre]

Re: BOSS MT-2 Metal Zone mods, boutique and DIY

Must... do... DIY... ARGH MORE DIY GAS!!! BAD BAD! SLECHT!






Thanks Now I just need an MT 2 Do you happen to know much about high gain distortion pedals out there?

[Xeromus]

Re: BOSS MT-2 Metal Zone mods, boutique and DIY

I don't know, I always saw modding a MT-2 as trying to polish a terd. It's the worst sounding pedal I've ever owned. I wouldn't mod something just to make it barely useable. It would have to have something good going for it to begin with that can be tweaked to make it better.

[V!N]

Re: BOSS MT-2 Metal Zone mods, boutique and DIY

Hallo Pierre ! We seem to run into eachother every now and then. So you're a French bloke, living in Scot(ch)land and the Netherlands .. what's the story behind all that ?

You could get one on eBay.com and have the seller send it the boutiqes for you. But if you want to start cracking at one yourself, they're cheaper on ebay.co.uk than on marktplaats.nl, I've seen them go for about 15 pounds. Then a few pennies for diodes and such and you should be on a roll.

I know my bit of hi-gain pedals, but more of the DIY than the commercial realeased ones (factory and boutique).
Are you in the market for something then ?



I suppose modifying a Metal Zone is all about hearing its potential through the swarm of bees. Some pedalists I know have even cloned the MT-2, designing a whole new PCB for it, giving it lots of twists.
You won't believe how this thing sounds with the JRC4558D (the tube screamer opamp) ! Can you say .. brown ?

[WITH FULL DISTORTION]

Re: BOSS MT-2 Metal Zone mods, boutique and DIY

Hails ZIN
iīm a metalzone fan here
check out my soundclips here http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...?bandID=146738
and here

https://www.myspace.com/befamal

and if you donīt know , thereīs a good brand of pups tooo www.bareknucke.co.uk
join their forum too.