Blues Driver Diode Mod

negativejohn · May 29, 2007, 05:07:17 AM

Have a blues driver I'd like to change one of the clipping diodes out, was thinking of taking one of the ones out of series (such as D3) and replacing it with an led, for assymetrical clipping, good or bad idea? Thanks

MartyMart · May 29, 2007, 06:00:00 AM

D7/D8 and D9/D10 are the cilpping diodes, take out one pair eg: D7&D8 and try an LED across
the pads where both where, or a 1N4001/2 power diode instead of just D7 for assym clipping.
MM.

negativejohn · May 29, 2007, 06:14:42 AM

Thanks for the help Marty. Im quite new to this as you could probably tell. So just take out a diode pair such as d7 & d8 and bridge each leg of the led across the two terminals of each side where the diodes were?

MartyMart · May 29, 2007, 06:35:43 AM

Quote from: negativejohn on May 29, 2007, 06:14:42 AM
Thanks for the help Marty. Im quite new to this as you could probably tell. So just take out a diode pair such as d7 & d8 and bridge each leg of the led across the two terminals of each side where the diodes were?

Yes, just remember to line up cathode and anode, cathode should have ->l marked on the board, the shorter lead of an
LED is the cathode and longer is "positive" anode, diodes that you remove will have a small black "band" at one end to
indicate the cathode too.
MM

negativejohn · May 29, 2007, 06:59:28 AM

Thank-you

negativejohn · May 30, 2007, 12:06:36 PM

Also, I will be using a used LED, I imagine I can just test and see which side is cathode and anode by hooking it up to a 9v? I have not been able to find this out through research thus far. Thanks.

dmk · May 30, 2007, 12:11:01 PM

Quote from: negativejohn on May 30, 2007, 12:06:36 PM
Also, I will be using a used LED, I imagine I can just test and see which side is cathode and anode by hooking it up to a 9v? I have not been able to find this out through research thus far. Thanks.

the cathode is the flat side. not a good idea using just a 9v battery, it'll blow the led pretty fast.

negativejohn · May 30, 2007, 12:18:43 PM

I had decided to go with the LED idea, because I cannot find any stores locally that stock germanium diodes (and have no credit card for online) as I would have rathered this approach. I have found what I believe are two 1n34a diodes in an old tandy pc, as they are just glass tubes with two green stripes on the one end??? Anyways, thanks. As I know I would have to be careul desoldering these, also the diode spots on the bd are shorter, so I guess I could add a wire to one end and stand it up like as in the tube screamer? Sorry if all this has been gone over before, I have not made it through all 700 + pages of posts here :-P

negativejohn · May 30, 2007, 12:20:11 PM

Thanks DMK

carrejans · May 30, 2007, 02:54:17 PM

If you are not that experienced, I would keep my hands of the BluesDriver.

dmk · May 30, 2007, 02:57:32 PM

i dunno, i first got my hands wet hacking up cheapo boss pedals.
they can be a bit fiddly. cut down on the coffee before trying to mod em

negativejohn · May 30, 2007, 04:45:58 PM

I wouldn't be terribly upset if I ruined it, I am dissapointed by it, and the ds-1. No offense meant towards all the boss fans out there. Should have spent less money and bought the sd-1, it has a regular ol 8 pin dual op-amp doesent it?

MartyMart · May 31, 2007, 04:05:58 AM

Quote from: negativejohn on May 30, 2007, 04:45:58 PM
I wouldn't be terribly upset if I ruined it, I am dissapointed by it, and the ds-1. No offense meant towards all the boss fans out there. Should have spent less money and bought the sd-1, it has a regular ol 8 pin dual op-amp doesent it?

Hey, John ... dont be so negative !!

Your problem with the BD-2/DS-1 and many other peoples is probably this :
They work MUCH better when gain is back a bit and they are plugged into a LOUD amp, which is
on the edge of breaking up, I would say that this is true of LOTS of pedals, including the "mojo" TS808 !!
Even better a LOUD tube amp !!
For creating another channel using JUST a pedal into a clean amp, it's got to be quite special and I've never
found a commercial one that will do that as well as some of the DIY things found here .
Great choices for that are things like, ROG English Channel. Prof tweed and Thor etc.
Simple boost/drive things like DS-1 BD-2 just dont seem that great into a clean amp at low volume.
Get to a rehearsal room. CRANK that amp and do some listening .... I guarantee that it will be 100% different

MM

negativejohn · May 31, 2007, 05:12:46 PM

Thanks Marty, I'll try it on overdrive channel loud and just starting to break up, at least I'll have another tone control.

blanik · May 31, 2007, 05:59:28 PM

Quote from: MartyMart on May 31, 2007, 04:05:58 AM
Your problem with the BD-2/DS-1 and many other peoples is probably this :
They work MUCH better when gain is back a bit and they are plugged into a LOUD amp, which is
on the edge of breaking up, I would say that this is true of LOTS of pedals, including the "mojo" TS808 !!
Even better a LOUD tube amp !!

+10 MM

a lot of people treat their sound in the bedroom the same way they treat it live or at a rehearsal wich i think are two totally different things
a MXR Dist + souds thin and buzzy in your bedroom with low volume but once in a cranked amp you just have to turn down the drive level a little and it become quite good...

R.

negativejohn · May 31, 2007, 11:33:38 PM

I've tried it very loud before, but only on the clean channel. I usually dont have the best luck mixing gains. But with only slight drive it does sound better to a point. I know that at low volume the dynamics, and overall sound and feel aren't there, I wasnt blaming it for that. I mostly use a boost/distortion to just push the volume and gain up etc, not really for too much distortion. But thank-you for all the feedback on the subject.

P.S. I wish I would have known about the standalone problem on the clean channel before I had invested so much money on these things hehe.

News:

Blues Driver Diode Mod