Want to hot-rod that Blues Driver of yours?

[korovamilkdud]

I've been doing some mods for the Boss Blues Driver. I currently own 2 and have done one other for somebody else. He seemed to like. Anyway, I thought I'd share some info with yall, in case you would like your BD-2 to sound a bit different. Use metal film caps if you can. They work best.

C36, C17 I change to a .01 cap
C35 Change to .047
C8 Change to .22
C9 Remove the cap altogether.
C34 Change to .1

These mods will warm up the pedal a bit. Make it rounder, more balanced.

C14 Is the bass input for the pedal. More bass by changing it to .1. I generally don't like to go higher than .1, I think after that the sound just gets a bit muddy. .22 might be okay, whatever your preference.

C19 you can either take out or replace with a .004 cap (a pretty small value). I like more midrange, so I take it out. If you like it a bit clearer and bassier, use the .004.

C100 I have a lot of fun with. You can get the sound of the Keeley PHAT mode with a .1 cap at the tone control. More bass, more low-mids for a fatter sound-I actually think it cuts through a mix better too. You can go as high as .22 (I have, and I like it in one of mine) or as low as .033. I think any less than that sounds rather thin. I'm using a .22 in one and a .1 + .22 in series in the other for a total capacitance of .069.

D7 add a silicon 1n4001 diode for more 2nd order harmonics
D10 throw in a 5mm LED for a spongier response, or 3mm LED for a bit more gain
D3 another silicon 1n4001...4002...4003 diode will make your pedal a bit crisper and tighter. The silicon diodes also seem to make the pedal respond a little better.

At last, I replaced 6 electrolytic caps at C1, C6, C7, C12, C13, and C15 with 6 10uf tantalum capacitors. This added to the warmth and balance and smoothed it out a bit.

Enjoy.

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Want to hot-rod that Blues Driver of yours?

What is a Boss Bluesdriver??
hehe sorry...*runs*

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Want to hot-rod that Blues Driver of yours?

I've been doing some mods for the Boss Blues Driver. I currently own 2 and have done one other for somebody else. He seemed to like. Anyway, I thought I'd share some info with yall, in case you would like your BD-2 to sound a bit different. Use metal film caps if you can. They work best.

C36, C17 I change to a .01 cap
C35 Change to .047
C8 Change to .22
C9 Remove the cap altogether.
C34 Change to .1

These mods will warm up the pedal a bit. Make it rounder, more balanced.

C14 Is the bass input for the pedal. More bass by changing it to .1. I generally don't like to go higher than .1, I think after that the sound just gets a bit muddy. .22 might be okay, whatever your preference.

C19 you can either take out or replace with a .004 cap (a pretty small value). I like more midrange, so I take it out. If you like it a bit clearer and bassier, use the .004.

C100 I have a lot of fun with. You can get the sound of the Keeley PHAT mode with a .1 cap at the tone control. More bass, more low-mids for a fatter sound-I actually think it cuts through a mix better too. You can go as high as .22 (I have, and I like it in one of mine) or as low as .033. I think any less than that sounds rather thin. I'm using a .22 in one and a .1 + .22 in series in the other for a total capacitance of .069.

D7 add a silicon 1n4001 diode for more 2nd order harmonics
D10 throw in a 5mm LED for a spongier response, or 3mm LED for a bit more gain
D3 another silicon 1n4001...4002...4003 diode will make your pedal a bit crisper and tighter. The silicon diodes also seem to make the pedal respond a little better.

At last, I replaced 6 electrolytic caps at C1, C6, C7, C12, C13, and C15 with 6 10uf tantalum capacitors. This added to the warmth and balance and smoothed it out a bit.

Enjoy.

Funny that I haven't picked up one of these pedals yet? Is your mods from Keeley's website? I remember seeing Keeley showing the mods for this pedal on his website awhile back? Compare this pedal to the Tube Screamer,SD1 or the DS1 if ya could buddy...

John

[korovamilkdud]

Re: Want to hot-rod that Blues Driver of yours?

Funny that I haven't picked up one of these pedals yet? Is your mods from Keeley's website? I remember seeing Keeley showing the mods for this pedal on his website awhile back? Compare this pedal to the Tube Screamer,SD1 or the DS1 if ya could buddy...

John

Some mods are from Keeley, some from elsewhere, some are takeoffs of those. Customized, ya know.

Blues Driver I think is GREAT! Get one! They have more gain than the SD-1 or SD-2, but it's still pretty convincing as a tube simulator. There are times when I can almost hear what sounds like a clean signal layered with a dirty one. It has tons of volume for lead boosting, and you can roll of the gain for a clean, or slightly crunchy sound. I highly recommend.

[BluesNRock87]

Re: Want to hot-rod that Blues Driver of yours?

i have a stock BD-2, i used to use it as for all my disortion, than i got a tube amp. props to boss and making a sick pedal, but if one has a good tube amp with good gain, the pedal really isnt needed, it sounds very plexi. im holding onto the pedal for boost, and also as a 2nd gain channel, a bit more crunch, more fuzz, etc. its a great pedal, very versatile, very little tone-suck, if any, and very very very good tube simulator.

[Diego]

Re: Want to hot-rod that Blues Driver of yours?

This thread has been dead for 6 years BUT,
I'm resurrecting it because I'm gonna mod my Blues Driver tomorrow,
and I'll follow the steps given here!

Never done this before, but how hard can it be? I'm pretty handy with the soldering gun.

[GuitarStv]

Re: Want to hot-rod that Blues Driver of yours?

This thread has been dead for 6 years BUT,
I'm resurrecting it because I'm gonna mod my Blues Driver tomorrow,
and I'll follow the steps given here!

Never done this before, but how hard can it be? I'm pretty handy with the soldering gun.

Modding Boss pedals is not too bad, just be careful to do everything slowly and take your time. All the components are nicely numbered on the board. Also, there's a piece of plastic that fits in at the bottom of the pedal (between the bass plate and circuit board). DON'T FORGET TO PUT THIS BACK IN! It keeps the pedal from shorting out to the case . . . without this spacer your pedal won't work anymore. It scared the crap out of me for a while . . .


If we're going to have a BD-2 mod thread, I might as well throw in the one that I did. I found this on Keeley's website ages ago . . . he has taken it off since then. I did it to my BD-2 years ago and it really made a difference to the pedal . . . just more touch sensitive, less of a bass cut, and an overall nicer sound.

D3 -> Change this 1SS133 to a different (1N4002) diode for asymmetrical clipping. This adds second order harmonics. This adds to the tube type sound.

D7 and D10 -> Change these diodes from 1SS133 to 1N4002. More second order harmonic distortion.

C1, C7, C6, C12, C13, and C15 -> Change this electrolytic capacitor to a 10uF tantalum. Tantalum capacitors sound better than electrolytic capacitors. It would be best to have a non-polarized cap here.

C14 -> Increase input coupling capacitor value to 0.1uF for increased bass response from your guitar.

R1, R2, R18 and R19 -> Change the resistors to carbon composition. These resistors have some frequency dependent component, which means that there is a capacitive element to the resistor due to the spacing in the material.

C100 -> Add a little more lower-mids and bass to the tone section. You can increase the lower frequencies by increasing the capacitor value to 0.033uF.

[The JEM Ghost]

Re: Want to hot-rod that Blues Driver of yours?

Also, there's a piece of plastic that fits in at the bottom of the pedal (between the bass plate and circuit board). DON'T FORGET TO PUT THIS BACK IN! It keeps the pedal from shorting out to the case . . . without this spacer your pedal won't work anymore. It scared the crap out of me for a while . . .

Haha, good tip you give the guys there GuitarStv, hehe
No need to freak out if you ever loose one of those plastics though, all you need to do is insulate the housing so your components can't touch it directly So don't throw your Boss pedals away that have lost the plastic guys haha

[Diego]

Re: Want to hot-rod that Blues Driver of yours?

Don't worry, I put it back in.

Never tried something like this before. Turns out it's easy!
If you can change a pickup, you can mod your pedals.

I modified my Blues Driver based slightly on what was presented here, with some changes. Some parts I couldn't find, so to me it's unfinished work, but still...

What a change!!

The original Blues Driver is a good clean boost, and a not-so-good overdrive pedal.
It's very fuzzy and fizzy, very trebly and thin. I could get it to sound decent, but I had to tweak knobs forever and I was never truly satisfied, always ended up in a compromise between fuzz and mud.
And putting the gain past 5 always added nasty stuff that had more to do with SS Crate distortions than a "Blues Driver".

Now it gives a LOT of bass and mids, it's much warmer and the gain sounds more complex and richer, not as flat as it did before. Much more transparent and dynamic too. Dialing it in was super quick, too.

It's easily the best overdrive pedal I've ever played.
And it all cost me $5 and 2 hours of work.

Man I'm proud of myself today!

Here's the list of things I did. All poly caps:
C17: .01
C36: .01
C35: .047
C8: .22
C9 and C19: Removed.
C34: .1
C14: .1
C100: .1 (Tone cap, super fat sounding now!)
D1: Germanium 1n34A.
D8, D9, D10: 1n4148.
R34: 4.7k
R26: 3k

Stuff missing?

All the C1, C7, C6, C12, C13, and C15 chain. Couldn't find Tantalum caps.
Plus I forgot to buy an extra Germanium diode for D7.

But it already sounds so good I don't think I'll even bother. I will change D7 though, that one's too important.
It's a different, better beast.
Now where's that Metal Zone pedal...? That one's next on the bench.

[ArtieToo]

Re: Want to hot-rod that Blues Driver of yours?

Compare this pedal to the Tube Screamer,SD1 or the DS1 if ya could buddy...

John

Hey John. A good forum bro lent me his Keeley modded BD quite some time back. I didn't have a TS, but I did compare it to an SD-1 and your modded DS-1. As much as I love yours, the Keeley had the edge. Its hard to quantify, but it just had more girth and character than the others. I've been meaning to get one but just haven't yet.

[Aceman]

Re: Want to hot-rod that Blues Driver of yours?

This thread would be AWESOME....in the amp room!

[Nightburst]

Re: Want to hot-rod that Blues Driver of yours?

Yes modding a lot of fun, I recently did my SD-1 and replaced every component with it's high quality equivalent part. Sooo much better. Just doing that will mostly remove the need for changing values.

Be careful not to give it too much bass or it won't work as well in a band situation, got to leave a bit of mid spike in there.

I already have a TS-9 and SD-1, would a BD sit in between those tonewise?

[ArtieToo]

Re: Want to hot-rod that Blues Driver of yours?

This thread would be AWESOME....in the amp room!

Was there an "amp room" in 2004?

[Diego]

Re: Want to hot-rod that Blues Driver of yours?

Yes modding a lot of fun, I recently did my SD-1 and replaced every component with it's high quality equivalent part. Sooo much better. Just doing that will mostly remove the need for changing values.

Be careful not to give it too much bass or it won't work as well in a band situation, got to leave a bit of mid spike in there.

I already have a TS-9 and SD-1, would a BD sit in between those tonewise?

Yeah, it does have plenty of bass but so far it seems to cut nicely,
if I were to crank the gain then I'm not sure but that's not what I'm using this pedal for. Such a sweet sound now!
I'm starting to forget about the Zvex Distortron all of a sudden.
And I haven't even fully modded it yet.

I've never had a Tubescreamer or a SD-1, so I can't help you there man.