Cheapo pedals...

[AFF]

I have thought about pickng up a few of the Behringer compact pedals just to mess a round with.
So my big question is : Has anybody ever tried to mod any of them. I guess to be more specific I mean the pedals that are their compact line like the um-400 and all the other ones like that.

I personally think they sound okay and many sound like copies of other companies ... I know a few are meant to sound like Boss pedals for sure. for example the x distortion I heard is an Xtortion copy. Not a bad price for a boss knock off.

Not to be a pedal snob but I love every boss pedal I own but messing with them gets a little expensive ( it's hard to run across a good xtortion or vibrato pedal and not spend a small fortune! ). I am not yet into pedal building because I enjoy modding pedals too much right now ... let the companies do the hard work and let me fix what I need for my sound!!!   

If you have cracked one of these little guys open and if you have performed a mod please let me know. Next up I think I am going to work with dano pedals cause they sound amazing for their cheap price!!!

[Taylor]

Modding Dano and Behringer pedals can be difficult because they use surface mount technology. Minor mods (like adding a time knob to the Dano delay) are doable, but any extensive, can be very tricky.

Search around a bit for some Dano mods. Some people around here don't like them now for political/ethical reasons, so you may find some of the info that used to be available is gone (but try plugging dead Dano links into archive.org).

[Chris S]

I've found them hard to do major mods on (becasue they use the tiny surface mount components for 95% of the pedal) but I have succesfully changed the input and output caps on them to give a fatter sound.

[petemoore]

  The pots offer places to do modifications very easily, as long as your mod involves no PCB work.
  Which pretty much equates to: If you're into modding pedals, pedals with boards too dinky to work on, if you don't like 'em stock, aren't the optimal choice.
  Choose ones that don't need mods like EQ or Echo etc.
  Even a distorter with a tone knob might be all modded fine just by a knob twist.
 
   

[Mark Hammer]

If my own experience is any indication, then some Behringer pedals would benefit from change of op-amp.  My AC-2 clone uses TL064 chips (SMT package).  While these use less current, they produce more hiss; not something you want in a pedal aimed at nailing crisp bright acoustic sounds.  Replacing them with TL074 chips would provide for quieter performance.  How easy is it to do?  Don't know.  Haven't tried it.

But I would concur with the other posters: SOME mods can be done, but the surface-mount format makes it difficult to get in there and monkey around without risking damage.

[AFF]

Thanks for the info. I was affraid they would be harder to deal with.

[Mick Bailey]

If you want to experiment with SMDs get an old piece of equipment (some junk PC card or CD player) and experiment with getting the components off without damaging the tracks. Then try getting them back on successfully. It takes a bit of practice, but is cheaper than attempting to do this on a 'decent' piece of kit.

You need some low melting point solder and SMD rework gel flux. There are quite a few ways of getting the components off - my favourite with ICs is to flux the pins, reflow some lead-based solder on them, and use a piece of thin enamelled wire to 'cut' under each lead as they are each heated in turn. Works a treat.