Fixing A (Poorly) Modded Boss CS3 Pedal | Tales From The Repair Bench
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- Опубліковано 17 жов 2024
- This poor Boss CS3 compressor sustainer pedal has been modded previously and the work was spectacularly mediocre at best. The customer said it wasn't working but on testing it was working ok with some minor issues. To give it the best chance at survival, we fixed up the hack soldering, cleaned the pots and gave it a proper testing.
If only all repairs were this quick and simple!
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drgearaustralia
drgearaustralia
Great work!
Nice and straightforward, clearly explained, and is also a good comparison between quality solder work, and… well… shit.
Quick question though… Towards the end, you talk about jumping some pins in order for the pedal to run safely on a 9v power supply, as opposed to a 12v supply.
I’m confused as to which pins? And was the pedal switched to 12v when it was “ungraded” or something…? Cause I’m pretty certain they’re originally intended for use with a 9v supply…
Anyway, thanks again for the great vid.
Many older Boss pedals were designed to run on unregulated 12V power supplies. We’ve covered it and how to do the conversion in this video below.
ua-cam.com/video/AuCzv-MKbXg/v-deo.html
If your pedal says Use Boss ACA power supply on the sticker, or lists the power supply as ACA on the underside then it’s designed to be used on 12V and would benefit from the mod.
I really don't know why anyone would even bother 'upgrading' a Boss CS3. They're very cheap to buy, the cost of the work would probably make it unviable. IDK.
well... I have a black sticker-backed Boss CS3 and it sounded creamy and amazing with my '74 Fender Twin. Almost essential. Then I loaned it to someone and when It came back it started making terrible, but somewhat subtle cracking sounds at the end of notes... rendering it useless. I have since tried 2 silver sticker CS3s and they do not have the magic! Too thin sounding... no creaminess. I suppose I could waste money finding another Black sticker version to see if that is the litmus test but this is getting expensive. I wish I could fix my old one.
moved on to a MXR Dyna Comp... pretty happy with it. Plus it was a craigslist deal. only $40 cash. I don't think these common pedals are worth buying at stores nor, especially, reverb. Too expensive.
What can I do to reduce noise on chorus pedals?
Use a digital one. Old BBD designs are inherently noisy to some degree.
@@drgearaustralia I know but I have this old analog one that many would calll vintage and I don't feel selling it for an absurd price, especially because I can't sell a noisy pedal.
I bought the noise decimator mod from Monte for 15, not expecting much of a change, of course overcharged $5 for shipping . Somebody did an ab test with the opto mod and was only a 3db gain reduction. Something monte doesn't even list in his descriptions. Instead he tells stories of how he got an email and had a dream that a dog told him to modify it. He also goes through the trouble of password protecting his mod instructions. Paranoid guy that thinks he is a God making magic. Boss shares their information freely in service notes. Guy is full of himself. Most of his mods are freely available. He does make nice looking pdf instructions but doesn't even measure the changes. Just give vagues descriptions and overhype. It smooths the attack, he says, bro I want the attack the way it is though. It's a feature he says. Monte needs to learn to cut the bs.
There is much hype and misinformation out there and our mission is to try and cut through as much of it as possible. There will undoubtedly be some sacred idols we’ll come up against resistance to, but the more people know about their gear the better.
Just wait until we do the series on whether tone snobs can pick the boutique from the bargain.
This is a year old, but worth adding for the record. Monte Allums is notorious for parts changes in his mods that aren't in the signal path, and/or changing caps or resistors in the power supply for mica and metal film, claiming these superior components will improve the sound. Yeah, in theory a 'better' component or change in general could improve things by improving power supply or filtering of same, but probably not. My favorite was the Allums mod that swapped the stock diode in the power supply section for a 1N34A. Not likely to do much I'd wager.
it is a mod. noboody mods their own pedal thinking about getting criticized about how it looks. and hey if you own a ton of pedals and one gets broken or if you get one free that doesnt work and you plan on replacing one part, might as well mod it while you are in there. :) i think mods are cool. don't let someone talk you out of a cool learning project. you learn by doing. my first 10 or so solder jobs, brazing jobs, and welding jobs were ugly too. ha hey and yes that OPA2134PA opamp does make the boss cs3 sound sweeter. less nasely and muffled, more open, etc. it's maybe a 6 dollar chip and prob worth the mod, imho. do a little digging to find clips of cs3 with it and with out and tell me if you think the opto mod is better or not. :)
Well you completely missed the point of the video and so confidently made your assertions, it’s almost commendable.
This was done by someone who charged money first of all. The quality of work isn’t at the level of what a professional should ever consider worthy of charging for.
Also, I don’t need to hear some low quality demos online when I can sit down and do the circuit analysis and do the work myself on account of having studied electronic engineering at a tertiary level.