Boss BF2 Flanger vibrato mod didn’t seem to work. Can anyone tell me why?

[Rambozo96]

Hello all I had an idea to mod my Boss BF2 for a "vibrato" mode by lifting the leg on R28 kinda like how you get the same result by lifting R21 on a Boss CE2 but this didn't seem to work on the BF-2 as all it did was make a staticky lopsided flange and it wouldn't pass signal at all when bypassed.


Thanks in advance

[ElectricDruid]

The trouble with taking the dry path out on the BF-2 to get a vibrato mode is that it uses that dry path for the bypass, as you've discovered. Basically, the way the pedal works is to always have the dry path on, and then switch the delayed signal in or out using FETs. So lifting R28 should give you just delayed signal when the pedal is on, but will give you nothing at all when it's bypassed.

The more interesting question is why you got any flanging at all with R28 lifted. The probable reason is that the feedback gives a "flanger-esque" sound (you described it as "lop-sided flanger"). Try turning the Res/feedback down to zero and see if that gives you vibrato.

HTH,
Tom

[Mark Hammer]

The BF-2 joins a long line of electronically-switch modulation pedals that simply block the wet signal to cancel "the effect".  The effect is produced by the combination of dry and wet.  Remove the wet and the effect goes away.  Nothing is really bypassed.

The elegance of that is that all you need is a single FET to be turned on or off.  The caveat is that any effects that might be produced using only the wet signal (in this case vibrato) can't be produced unless the dry path is restored during bypass.

Probably the most trouble-free way of turning a BF-2 into a usable vibrato is to do what you did, using a toggle, but  do the bypassing with a loop-selector.  There IS a way to have bypassing with an optional vibrato function, but it would be a little too invasive.  And, not to diss you in any way, but based on what you've conveyed so far, probably a risky proposition on your part.  No point in inviting more troubleshooting than necessary, right?

[Rambozo96]

No offense taken I was just wondering why it didn't work. To be honest with you I'm just learning how each effect works. Thanks as always