Boss Xtortion mods to make it not suck?

[earthtonesaudio]

Any suggestions?

[anchovie]

From the schematic I've seen, it's another one from Boss's "use lots of gyrators to make it sound a specific type of awful" department.

I suggest you use the Ebay mod to convert it into cold hard cash.

[mrslunk]

or gut it and use the box for something more fun

[frequencycentral]

I suggest you use the Ebay mod to convert it into cold hard cash.

hehehe - anyone got soundclips of an Ebay modded Xtortion (jingle jingle) ?

[kristoffereide]

Actually it's not that far from sounding good. I feel that there's one component I have to change to be happy about it, but that's just my gut feeling... Anyways it sits in my storage room collecting dust. I hope you'll find that magic component and let us all know which one it is

[earthtonesaudio]

Actually it's not that far from sounding good. I feel that there's one component I have to change to be happy about it, but that's just my gut feeling... Anyways it sits in my storage room collecting dust. I hope you'll find that magic component and let us all know which one it is

Hi!  I just found it: short R24.

[earthtonesaudio]

The Punch control only boosts the mids, and the particular frequencies they used make it sound a bit like a fixed wah going into a distortion (which it basically is).  The trouble with this control is you can't turn it down enough.  Shorting R24 allows you to reduce the mid boost, down to zero at 12:00 on the control, and cut mids as you continue counterclockwise.  The stock mid boost is still available by turning clockwise past 9:00.

A very satisfying bang-for-buck mod.  Add one piece of wire to quadruple the functionality of the pedal.

I just added a 100k in parallel with R13 to drop the input impedance down.  This makes it a lot easier to control the distortion with the guitar's volume control (clean it up).  The overall distortion is reduced slightly, and the bass is cut a bit, but both of those are improvements in my opinion.

[MikeH]

I know a really good one that involves a cinder block and a bucket of water...

[Paul Marossy]

Re: Boss Xtortion mods to make it not suck?

I don't have any suggestions, but I did think the title of the post was funny! 

[earthtonesaudio]

I came up with some "addition only" mods that make it more flexible and less awful.  These can all be added on top of existing components without having to remove anything from the board.  If you don't like them, just take a pair of sidecuts to the newly-installed parts and snip snip.

From this schem: http://www.experimentalistsanonymous.com/diy/Schematics/Distortion%20Boost%20and%20Overdrive/BOSS%20XT-2.jpg

Resistors:
100k in parallel with R13 (interacts better with my guitar's volume knob)
10k in parallel with R20 (more gain overall, less deep of a mid cut)
Short R24 (lets midrange be cut, flat, or boosted)
1M in parallel with R37 (increases center frequency, reduces Q)
22k in parallel with R26 (less mid scoop, center frequency raised)
Caps:
47n in parallel with C23 (lowers center frequency back down a bit, further reduces Q)
Diodes: Si/Ge crosscoupled pair in parallel with C21 (earlier/asymmetric clipping, sharper tone than the red LEDs)

There's still too much bass going in, the best solution there is probably to swap some caps around.

[earthtonesaudio]

One last mod:
Move the top of C16 to the other side of R26.  Two different mid-scoops for the price of a useless setting of the stock tone control, what a bargain!

[AlexVedom]

One last mod:
Move the top of C16 to the other side of R26.  Two different mid-scoops for the price of a useless setting of the stock tone control, what a bargain!

thank you very much for sharing this mod! now i can say finally say: it's something. 

[Asymmetric]

The best mod for this pedal would be to remove the output jack.