SD-1 MODS

[Jason]

Morning all,

Who has a Boss SD-1 and has done the mods themselves.
I'm lead to believe there's a lot you can do to this bucket of chips so what's been you're favorites... and not so...
Pics always a bonus...

J.

[Muzzy]

I've got the Monte allums GT mod in mine. I did'nt do the mod myself, I bought it modded. The mod makes a huge improvement over the stock pedal.

[charmboy]

I've got an SD-1 and the Wampler book but I'm still trying to decide which of his mods to try. If anybody's familiar with those and have tried some, please share.

[Jason]

:bumpbump

[droptrd]

I have an SD-1 and picked a Fromel Supreme Mod kit and did it my self. Great Mod

[Jason]

So what did you change?

What was the result?

[Jason]

:bumpbump
Trying to gather the knowledge so I can "tune" it myself...

Anyone?
:bumpbump

J.

[Jason]

Is there anybody there?!!!!!!
:bumpbump:bumpbump:bumpbump:bumpbump:bumpbump:bump bump:bumpbump

:bumpbump:bumpbump:bumpbump:bumpbump:bumpbump:bump bump:bumpbump

J.

[fuzzo]

There're a lot of thing to do in TS like circuit (SD1 is a Tube screamer clone). all will depend of what you want.

If you want to undestand things in doing mods, start with the fat mod of Jarck Orman, that explains how change the mid bump of TS circuit. It's the best point to begin modding a TS. But you can keep the mid hump and tweak other parts in circuit.

After that, you can increase a little bit highs and change the Clipping section with several different diodes (Led, mosfet, rectifier diode, Ge diodes/transistor ect....).

Making thoses mod bring more transformation than just changing the AOP, that really change the sound . The 4558 myth is a real mascarade.

I bought a Tonelock ts7 just to mod it and after The mod I did , it never leave my pedalboad.

[Jason]

Cheers, what did you change?
What values did you replace with?

J.

[xhavepatiencex]

I have an sd1 I have slowly been tinkering with over the last few years. almost every cap is replaced with nice poly ones, I am always tweaking the diodes and cap values, I think I have it in my favorite configuration yet!

[Jason]

Care to share?

[fuzzo]

Cheers, what did you change?
What values did you replace with?

As I said, it's not a SD1 I modded but a tonelock Ibanez TS7. But the circuit is pretty close (to don't say "the same") so you can do all mods you find for a tube screamer in your SD1. There's a lot of thing about thoses mods on internet, personal pages or even electronic forum.

In mine, I change the 47n cap that causes the mid hump by a 100n cap, that lowers the frequency response of that filter, add more basses (but not to much). The TS7 has a switch to boost the gain (without changing frequencies) in that part of the circuit, so I put a 2K2/220n (instead of 4K7/100n) to increase basses and gain (really cool with my lespaul copy).

Then, I changed the second High pass filter at the end of the first AOP (the one that creates the overdrive) . The original combo cut at 720hz so I lowered again that filter to have more highs (I took the values present on the boss SD1).

After all that, god, that became a really cool overdrive pedal ! I wasn't really fan of the stock sound, by the way.

(Other thing to do (but I didn't do) is changing the clipping element , trying different diodes/transistor can give you different sound and response. For instance LED will give you more volume et less drive , mosfet the contrary more gain and less volume but really warm and cool)

If you want mod yours in the same way I did in mine, let me know I'll tell you what changing (But one more time you can find all those things on internet, absolutely nothing magic here. Once you understood how it's build and how it works it's pretty simple to make your own mod , the ones you like more )

have a good day,

[funkycam]

I did the monte allums ge mod & thought it was a significant improvement over stock although it does not sold the bleed issue all sd-1s have at max gain.
pretty easy to do esp if you get a nice fine tipped soldering iron.
def worth doing
Cam

[Bloodbath]

You should read this: Technology of the TubeScreamer (http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/TStech/tsxtech.htm)
The SD-1 is VERY close to the same as the TS. Google the schematic for the SD-1 and you can compare them and figure out what you want to change.

[Jack]

Man, I have no definite results, but I'm starting to mod my first SD-1 myself.

What I'm doing is copying my Analogman Silver SD-1, 808 specs, because I like that pedal and want one for cheap. What I'm doing there is an 808 mod, with real high end audio capacitors for that 'silver' thang (greater fidelity to original guitar signal).

What I did was google 'SD-1' mods and print out everthing I could on modding and compare what people are doing. For example, some caps/resistors are modded the same way by lots of people.

There is a bunch of info on free stomp box es .org (forbidden forum) in the 'pimp my cheap pedal' section.

Like somebody else said, an SD-1 is a killer platform for modding 'cause you got a TS with a quality switch and housing, and it's easy to get to the components.

You might want to socket the components in question and then swap 'em all around to get 'your' mod.