Modding the Boss MT-2 – part 2
I decided to revisit the previous mods I had done to my Boss MT-2 as I wasn’t completely happy with the sound as a distortion pedal. It was nice as an overdrive, but I was more interested into making it a great distortion box.
As in my earlier post about modifying the MT-2 I had tried one 1N4001 diode and one red LED, as well as two LEDs. I wasn’t quite happy with that so I decided to install two 1N4004 diodes.
I was having a look over the other changes I had made, and when I looked at the PCB I realised that I had accidentally removed the capacitor fromC24, not C25. I had also jumpered the two removed capacitor locations, where after some further reading I realised that I had misunderstood some things.
After getting rid of the jumper wires, and placing the capacitor back in C24 I was back to where I should have been with my modifications thus far.
I also decided to change C36 from a 0.1uf MKT capacitor to a 1uf to make it take on the characteristics more reminiscent of a Marshall amplifier.
I tested one LED and diode again and decided that the two LEDs were so much better.
So in the end my modifications are as follows:
- C35: remove
- C34: 0.047uF MKT Capacitor
- C25: remove
These three mods remove the harshness somewhat.
- C42: 1uf MKT Capacitor
- D3: 1n4001 diode
- D4: 1n4001 diode
This makes the sound more dynamic and full.
- C36: 1uf MKT Capacitor
This makes the EQ more useful.
With these changes I found the pedal sounded much tighter and clear. I’ve been able to get my modified MT-2 to sound kind of similar to my Blackstar HT-5 dirty channel, which I’m quite happy about.
Update:
Here is a comparison audio file to show what my modified Boss MT-2 sounds like compared to a stock one. Both pedals are dialled up with the same settings. First is the stock MT-2, second is my modified MT-2, and third is the dirty channel on my Blackstar HT-5. Apologies for the crackly audio, my cable and microphone aren’t the greatest.
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