Boss TR-2 Tremolo Question

[astainback]

I read on here a while back that you can tell if you have the new version because it has a box? or triangle? with the letter R on the box.

There is another thread with a picture of a Tremolo board, but I do not see the trimpot on it.
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=609972

Does anyone have a picture of the trimpot inside the TR-2? Or is the picture in that thread the right one, and I am just blind?

Thanks!!

[Isaiah4Autumn]

dont' know about there every being a trimpot there...you can remove certain resistors and in their place put a trim pot for those values if you like

[astainback]

Anybody else?

[hammersig]

Sounds like yours has been modded, mine has no such trimpot that I see.

[Isaiah4Autumn]

you can go to monteallums website and he as a pictures of v1 and v2 pcb board and you will not see a trimpot there...yous has been modded

[stinkfoot]

I only ever saw one pedal with a trimpot in it, and that might have been modified by the owner. The newer ones have fixed output level like the older ones, only a little louder.

/Andreas

[astainback]

I thought I read that the new version had a trimpot.
I could have read wrong.
I also read somewhere that you can tell on the outside of the box what version the pedal is. If you are in a store, you can't really open up the new pedals.

[astainback]

Here is the thread that I read the info in.

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=581790&highlight=boss%2Btremolo%2Bversion

[astainback]

I found this too :

http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Effects/product/Boss/TR-2+Tremolo/10/1

Here is the text from the review :

"This is on the new TR-2:

In 2007 the Boss TR-2 has undergone some significant changes in the cirquit design. The new version is easily recognized by a "R" sign on the box. The new model is still all analogue.

But finally Boss has reacted on the complaints about volume drop. What have they done? They have exchanged R9 for a trim pot. The way it is set up from the factory (around 2 o'clock on the trim pot) there is no volume drop. By turning the trim pot counterclockwise you can further boost the volume level. By turning it clockwise you can set it to unity gain like on the older models (which had no volume drop at all, by the way. It was all just psycho acoustics, as a trem is supposed to sound weaker because of the drop outs during the pulsating).

The C4 Mod can be done on the new models, either. But there's no need for the C4 Mod anymore. I did the C4 to both - old and new - models and I can assure you, that it is the wrong way. It doesn't boost the volume but increases the transients and just makes it sound harsh, sterile and cold. Totally useless. Takes all the warmth out of your guitar every time you step on the pedal.

The folks at Boss may be dumb, but most folks on the internet and in the forums are even dumber. Everyone with an ear or two should hear the negative efffects of the C4 Mod. Just snipp one leg of the capacitor - then put this leg in an out of the board and listen carefully. Everyone who has done it this way has soldered the C4 back in again asap. Do yourself a favour and keep the pedal intact. There's a need for this capacitor in the cirquit, otherwise Boss would have dropped it.

The sound? Nice vintage style tremolo.
Just two minor complaints: It can't do the more extreme helicopter throb kind of thing and there's a little hiss, but that's about it. All in all a great pedal."


I didn't know if anyone had seen the "R" on the box.

[astainback]

Anyone?

[hammersig]

Dude, ask the store to pop the back off of the one you want to buy, and look for a trimpot in R9. If they won't do that for you, then hit them in the head with a tackhammer, call them a retard and go somewhere that will let you. Either way, mine has no trimpot, and if there is a volume drop, it never made a difference in all of time I used it at home, or on stage.

[greenlander]

I bought a brand new TR-2 last month.

No "R" on the box anywhere.

No volume drop.

Haven't opened up the pedal, no need to.

[stinkfoot]

The newer ones usually have a white "R" in a triangle-shape green sticker on the box. There's no trimpot in them - I've had about 20 of the new ones on the bench so far, and found no trimpots. A few years back, I was sent a pic of one with a trimpot, and the question was posed if that was a change Boss had made. But nothing came of it, so it was probably a user-modified pedal.

The RoHS directive - which was what forced Boss to redesign the TR-2 - has been in effect since june 2006. So any new TR-2 you'll find in stores now are almost certain to be of the newer kind.

/Andreas

[astainback]

greenlander and stinkfoot,
Thanks for the responses!

I had an old one before. The friend that I sold it to asked me to crack it open and cut C4, so I did. He loved it, but sold it when he got a Digitech rp500.

[hammersig]

Sorry I went back and read what I posted before, didn't mean to sound so harsh if I did. I was mainly trying to say if a store won't let you remove 4 screws on a pedal you're interested in, they're probably not worth buying from. Sounds like you got it worked out, so cheers!

[astainback]

No problem man, it did come across that way to me, but it is all good.
I have slight OCD about crap like that, and if I bought a new one in a store, I would hate to think some guy pulled it apart.

[jfromel]

I have a stock TR-2 at the shop right now and it has a trimpot for R9, will post a gut shot if anyone wants to see it. But it's just a trim pot.