BOSS TR-2 Tremolo C4 Mod

maxdave2010

New member
Hey guys,

I just thought I'd let you all know; I tried the TR-2 mod that Brow mentioned in his previous post. MAN that was a good idea. For one, it eliminates the volume drop. On top of that, it gives it a "dirty" kind of sound, in a good way. It's hard to describe, but I think it sounds very, very nice indeed. The pedal generally seems to be performing a lot better now. Thank you for the heads up, Brow!

I'll give you all a run down on how to do it, if you fancy it.

Try it at your own risk. If there's any doubts about this one, make sure you can comfortably solder the cap back into position, or that you can take this to someone who can fix it for you. You might not like this mod (I doubt it, but it might not be for you) so be careful. I took the plunge and I'm just annoyed that I didn't hear about it earlier! It's a particularly good idea if you have a Boss TR-2 tucked away in your cupboard. This could very well breathe new life into it. I don't know why they even put this silly cap in!

Step 1: Open up the back of your pedal. Four screws on the base. You don't need to worry about removing the dial knobs or the pots from the front, you can maneuver the electronics quite comfortably with them on. Take it off, along with the plastic guard that protects the circuit board.

Step 2: Carefully maneuver the circuit board down, at the footswitch end. Be careful, the DC power socket is connected to the board, and it pokes out of the pedal's shell. There are a lot of connections at the control end, don't force anything here!

Step 3: Seek and Destroy that pesky capacitor. It's reasonably easy to find. It's pretty big and silver, and it's positioned very near the centre of the board. "C4" should be printed on the circuit board next to it. It's also positioned close to a long, short, black component. I'll try and get a photo of this for you when i get my camera working.

Step 4: Removal. You'll need to get rid of the cap, and this could be tricky without causing perminent damage to the cap (like i did :smack:). The best way to do it is use some precision wire cutting to sever the two wires underneath it. However, I was hungover and lazy, so I just twisted it off. Whatever works for you. I would only suggest the latter if you are CERTAIN you want to do this, there's not much going back after that option.

Step 5: Put the pedal back together. I don't know if it makes any difference if you solder the loose ends (where the capacitor once was) together or not. I kept them well and truly loose and it works fine. Therefore, I wouldn't suggest connecting them, lest it should explode on you. If you're an electronics wizard, or very rich, do so at your own discresion. Anyhow, put the circuit board back where it was, put the plastic back on top, then the lid, then screw it back on. Plug and play. Post what happens here :)

Don't blame me if it goes terribly wrong, if for any reason you are unsure, just take it to a guitar shop or a tech. But I LOVE this mod! If you own a TR-2, consider it.

-Dave
 
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Re: BOSS TR-2 Tremolo C4 Mod

Hey Dave.

I'm glad the mod worked out for you :)

Someone over on the Bareknuckle pickups Forum suggested it to me when I posted the same thread there about Tremolo pedals.

I also went over to Harmony Central tor ead reviews about the pedal there, and there's ALOT of mention in the reviews about the C4 mod there too.

I'm definitely going to give it a try when I get my TR2 in a week or so :)

Craig

PS: where abouts in the UK are you from?
 
Re: BOSS TR-2 Tremolo C4 Mod

Brow said:
Hey Dave.

I'm glad the mod worked out for you :)

Someone over on the Bareknuckle pickups Forum suggested it to me when I posted the same thread there about Tremolo pedals.

I also went over to Harmony Central tor ead reviews about the pedal there, and there's ALOT of mention in the reviews about the C4 mod there too.

I'm definitely going to give it a try when I get my TR2 in a week or so :)

Craig

PS: where abouts in the UK are you from?

I was slightly skeptical about this mod when I heard about it, like. You wouldn't have thought that chopping out a single component could make such an impressive and positive difference. Just let me assure you that it does! You'd have thought that they would have made these things without the cap, but for some strange reason, it's just one of those things.

I don't think you'll be disappointed. I loved this pedal when it was new, now it's been pumped up, it's one of the best things going for me :)

I'm from sunny Cheltenham, down in Gloucestershire.

-Dave
 
Re: BOSS TR-2 Tremolo C4 Mod

Hey Dave.

Going by HC Reviews (which can be a bad thing!) most people that did the C4 mod loved it! So I think it's atleast worth a try when I get mine :)

The Tremolo is fighting for a space on my pedalboard with a Daphon Phaser, but I'm not sure yet which will be more useful to me. So I'm gonna get the Tremolo and pit them in a head to head battle for a place on my board :D

Craig
 
Re: BOSS TR-2 Tremolo C4 Mod

Brow said:
Hey Dave.

Going by HC Reviews (which can be a bad thing!) most people that did the C4 mod loved it! So I think it's atleast worth a try when I get mine :)

The Tremolo is fighting for a space on my pedalboard with a Daphon Phaser, but I'm not sure yet which will be more useful to me. So I'm gonna get the Tremolo and pit them in a head to head battle for a place on my board :D

Craig

Man, HC is more trouble than it's worth! Whenever I refer to their reviews, it makes me even more uncertain than I was in the first place. There's so much hearsay and people being picky, not to mention freak bad experiences and general confusion.

But I can tell you first hand that the C4 mod is a very, very good idea :)

-Dave
 
Re: BOSS TR-2 Tremolo C4 Mod

maxdave2010 said:
Man, HC is more trouble than it's worth! Whenever I refer to their reviews, it makes me even more uncertain than I was in the first place. There's so much hearsay and people being picky, not to mention freak bad experiences and general confusion.

But I can tell you first hand that the C4 mod is a very, very good idea :)

-Dave

Yeah, I know HC reviews can be a load of old rubbish, but if you root through the crap then you can find some good bits of info :)

I'll give the TR2 a shot both with and without the C4 cap inplace and see which I prefer :)

Craig
 
Re: BOSS TR-2 Tremolo C4 Mod

Brow said:
Yeah, I know HC reviews can be a load of old rubbish, but if you root through the crap then you can find some good bits of info :)

I'll give the TR2 a shot both with and without the C4 cap inplace and see which I prefer :)

Craig

I wish I'd recorded "before and after" clips of this pedal, so people could REALLY see the difference. Now I've ruined the cap, it's a bit of a no-go. If you have the facilities to do this, it'd be awesome :)
 
Re: BOSS TR-2 Tremolo C4 Mod

maxdave2010 said:
I wish I'd recorded "before and after" clips of this pedal, so people could REALLY see the difference. Now I've ruined the cap, it's a bit of a no-go. If you have the facilities to do this, it'd be awesome :)

Yeah I have recording facilities at home, so recording the before and after clips won't be a problem :)
 
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