"Pimp my what???" Please read before posting

A forum devoted to mod, tips and suggestions for upgrading and rehousing your VERY CHEAP commercial stompbox to near boutique excellence.
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modman
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Post by modman »

This subforum is created at the suggestion of Analogguru who came up with the following idea for the forum
Another part should be modification: on ebay you can buy really cheap pedals. For example this week I bought a Ken-Multi/monarch Distortion for Eur 8,50 plus shipment. This boxes are not so bad. For example the PSK SDS-2, SDS-3 or SDS-5 (seems to be now the roque SDS-5 can be easily be modified to be a Rat. They put in this unit since yearsa 470 Ohm instead of the 47 Ohm resistor in the gain section. If you change it, it should sound like a rat... If you can buy a zvex unit you also can use a plastic-boxed. If you don´t like it, there are also a lot of metal-boxed units on ebay.
I've pointed to this before but it is true that instead of fighting the diy and boutique scene who allegedly would be stealing all their business, the big pedal manufacturers concentrate on making cheaper and cheaper pedals that are just ok. For the price a diy could not even buy the hardware to make a box.

Another subforum, I know, but we do like to at least try and keep the information accesiible in some way, which is not always easy with a forum.

Please feel free to make suggestions and comments about the idea in this thread. And have fun... but remember cheapo cheapo pedal only.

ZJ
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Post by invictus »

great idea! :) but before we get the ball rolling, maybe we should agree first how cheapo is cheapo? because a cheap for one guy maybe too expensive for another..

can we have a price range?

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Post by soulsonic »

Today, I turned my DOD FX-56 American Metal into a Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal. Does that count?

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Post by theblackman »

invictus wrote:great idea! :) but before we get the ball rolling, maybe we should agree first how cheapo is cheapo? because a cheap for one guy maybe too expensive for another..

can we have a price range?
i think the ball park would be...

"how to turn an sd9 into a landgraff or timmy"

or perhaps
"beringher to zvex conversion" haha.

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Post by bajaman »

Or Behringer to Tech 21 - using the CORRECT parts :wink: :roll:

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Post by theblackman »

oh please do!

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Post by bajaman »

please do????

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modman
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Post by modman »

Strict rules never makes sense off course, but the cheaper the item you start with, the better. But what is cheap? With Behringers selling at 28 EUR or something we should maybe first round up some of those very cheapo brands. You cannot even start to to diy for 28 EUR pedal. Every pedal you make yourself will be more expensive.

To pimp such baby to boutique heights would be our ultimate goal. We're really to mod the cheapest boxes on the planet.

Do you get the drift? AG, where art thou?

Where's my googles? back in a minute.
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Post by modman »

Go on ebay, and use this search string

guitar pedal -cable -board -patch -book* -power -connector* -steel -strings -dvd -cd -fuse -3pdt -shirt -gibson -pickups -*pot -wiring

Then set up the amount you want to spend. I found 180 pedals under 20 EUR Buy it now price, but mostly in the us.
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Post by analogguru »

Cheap pedals in plastic case are Arion, Ken-Multi, Monarch, PSK, Rocktek, Rogue...
in metal case Century = Denio = Marathon = Maxtone = Rockson,.....
Nice to modify in metal case are Cutec = Locobox = Panther = Powervoice = Stinger..., Laser....

Some Boss pedals are cheap on evilbay also the TS-5 series. Not everything from the TS-5 series is perfect to modify cause of the limted space and the potis used. But the TS-5 can be made to a "real" Tubescreamer without any problems. There also appear sometimes copies of the TS-5 series for good money like this:
http://cgi.ebay.at/Effektpedal-E10OD-Ov ... dZViewItem
or this:
http://cgi.ebay.at/Effektpedal-E10CS-Co ... dZViewItem

The Rogue DST-5:
https://cgi.ebay.com/Rogue-Distortion-P ... dZViewItem
appears to me the same as the PSK DST-5 which can be "upgraded" to a (vintage) RAT or modded to an Overdrive.

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Post by Sock Puppet »

Have you seen these then, nice metal cases:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Daphon-overdrive- ... dZViewItem

s.

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Post by noelgrassy »

These also in the ballpark, IMO.

Image


Image

Available at the toystore chain, Toys-R-Us.
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Post by modman »

There is a new kind of kit out -- at only it's not yet 1/4 the price other kit sellers are asking. There is only one minor point: you have to dissemble the kit first :D

That's why I set up this (temporary) page so you can have a choice from about 500 pedal under $5:

Get a cheap pedal off ebay and start pimping that pedal today![/url]

have fun
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Post by analogguru »

The Rockson Phaser is highly recommendable:

https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?V ... 0206986114

It comes in a metal-case and is a 1:1 Boss-copy. Made in the mid-80´s in Taiwan by a company named "Great Century Enterprise Co., Ltd" and sold under different Brand names like Century, Denio, Matathon, Rockson, Session and VShock.

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Post by dtjesus »

Been surfing ebay for ages for the same reason. I am based in UK so cant buy US items as postage is a lot. have come across the following

1- NUX overdrive and metal pedals. Dirt cheap under £15 look cool and sturdy but think its a chinese company. Now i have had bad postal and quality experiences buying from there. Anybody fron UK bought these?

2- Daphon - havent tried these out. chinese firm- how long does it take in post?

3- Danelectro - cool LOVE the size of this thing. just bought a pastrami under £10 n modded it. only problem pots r actually trim ones so hard to replace with usual ones. switch is spst with circuit. casing is weak plastic so dont stomp too hard

Anybody knows where to buy hammond enclosures in UK? n i mean retail shops. dont mention maplin they never got anything in stock

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Post by modman »

Hey welcome!
dtjesus wrote:Been surfing ebay for ages for the same reason. I am based in UK so cant buy US items as postage is a lot.
Yes, you are right. The above links only list US auctions as these ebay FEEDS were only available for ebay.com. Now they decentralized and seperate feeds are offered for ebay.be, .fr, .co.uk etc. But there were some notable exceptions.

I'll look into updating these for the different EU countries. thanks for notifying
dtjesus wrote:Anybody knows where to buy hammond enclosures in UK? n i mean retail shops. dont mention maplin they never got anything in stock
Better to ask questions like that here
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Post by dtjesus »

Bought 2 used Arion's off ebay for a silly price and built a Fuzz factory in one.
Was'nt that easy as i had thought. As i had to buy the smallest pots ever.

But. with one major difference. check on the link



:D

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Post by modman »

I had so much fun watching that video. It's a great build, the expression pedal is a really cool idea.
BUT if you still sound cool those socks, you rock!! :applause: :applause:
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Post by new_anuzzerone »

I´ll post this here, coz they´re some very cheap pedals (first posting was here: viewtopic.php?f=20&t=8512)

They arrived today. First impression: heavy.....I mean HEAVY!

Full metal housing, the orange DS-1 weights about 660gr (incl. battery). A first look inside was annoying: SMDs as far as you can see. I´ll take some pics, but it´ll take some time (I got a family to care about and ......)

The pots are fitted directly on the pcb. The housing is a bit small, missing some height, to install normal pots. maybe it works, if the pcb isn´t so big (maybe 6,5 x 9cm) Height, where the pots are fitted: 2,3cm

Take a look at the pic (other posting)

Sound and pics later on...

regards

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Post by new_anuzzerone »

Here we go.

As mentioned above: SMDs inside, the chip used, is a 5223A

The sound is fairly nice (compared to the price I´ve paid), Tone at 11, Level 12, Dist. between 1 and 2 o´clock.
It´s not so fizzy but quite "fat" (I used a Epiphone Firebird w S/D Pus - mini-humbucker).

The housing is nicely build, the battery is located underneath the pedal, which can be opened, by pushing the 2 (metal) pins - holding it to the housing (look at the pics). Actually I´ve paid apprx. $ 24, each. I think I´ll keep them, as they are - sounds quite good....

Maybe someone can figure out, if it´s the DS-1 circuit by Boss - actually....I can´t :oops:

hope it helps, regards
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