"Hissy" Boss GE-7's

[mrscientificterms]

Hello,
I own a few Boss GE-7 EQ's.  I use them all over the place.  Some are definitely better than others.  Seems that Japan or Taiwan doesn't make a difference on these.  My beef with them is that some have a hiss to them.  Anybody know of a de-hissing mod for these things?  Cheers and thanks!

[tiges_ tendres]

Hello,
I own a few Boss GE-7 EQ's.  I use them all over the place.  Some are definitely better than others.  Seems that Japan or Taiwan doesn't make a difference on these.  My beef with them is that some have a hiss to them.  Anybody know of a de-hissing mod for these things?  Cheers and thanks!

Yes!

The issue you'll notice is that the hiss goes away when you turn down the bass controls.  Boss use tantalum caps because using poly would take up too much space.

So, read this and that should give you a good start!

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=51583.0

I really like the box style caps for fitting in small spaces.

These ones come in a wide range of values and have a very small footprint, regardless of cap value.:
http://www.smallbearelec.com/Detail.bok?no=892

[earthtonesaudio]

I have a "newer" version (Boss made 2 versions) with 3 DIP-8 opamps and I think two SIP opamps.  The hiss was bad enough that I never really used the pedal before, but I swapped out the DIP opamps (which were generic TL022 I believe) with TLE2072 opamps, and this mod alone cut the hiss considerably.

[MartyMart]

The Hi-Fi mod makes a world of difference, use TL072's if you want to use batteries though !

Enjoy !

MM.