Modding a Boss CS-3

[bongomania]

"Hey, Joe! Where you going with that soldering gun in your hand? ...I'm going down to mod my old compressor, I caught her messing around with my bass tone"

So I finally got around to writing down the mods I've used on the Boss CS-3. They are close to the mods used by Humphrey, but I've put a bit of my own thought into it too.

Enjoy:
Link Removed

 

[Vin_MM_Sabre_79]

Cool.
I'm wanting to do a compressor for my next build.
How does this compare to the Ross/Dynacomp?

 

[bongomania]

The Ross clones tend to be warmer, and the CS3 "harder" or "squashier" depending on how you set it. The regular Ross clones have a nice shimmer in the high end, but lose the lows; the modded CS3 is more tonally neutral. I realize those really aren't equal comparisons, but it's hard to describe the differences in words. I guess I'd rather have a modded CS3 for a hard cutting sound, and I'd rather have the Barge bass-modded Ross clone for a fat warm sound, and I'd rather have a non-bass-modded Ross clone if I was a fretless soloist strung EADGC.

 

[Sir Edward V]

"Hey, Joe! Where you going with that soldering gun in your hand? ...I'm going down to mod my old compressor, I caught her messing around with my bass tone"

:scowl: really??? :scowl:

 

[Vin_MM_Sabre_79]

Lose the lows?? Egads!

And heres me with packing a CA3080 and vactrols coming out my Rs

 

[bongomania]

You'll want to read my reviews of the Keeley, Barge, Retro-Sonic, and Ibanez CP9, all of them being essentially the same circuit with different part values.

 

[Vin_MM_Sabre_79]

You'll want to read my reviews of the Keeley, Barge, Retro-Sonic, and Ibanez CP9, all of them being essentially the same circuit with different part values.

hey awesome site. I'll be hangin out there for a few weeks.

 

[Mingus Addict]

Hey, resurrecting an old thread...

Bongo, do you know anything about the Monte Allums CS-3 opto mod? I was wondering how it compared to the Humphrey mod. It looks like the MA mod changes a few more components. Here's a link if you don't know what I'm talking about.

http://www.monteallums.com/pedal_mods.html#cs3opto

 

[bongomania]

I haven't checked it out myself, but it's probably very similar in results. The whole idea is to put better-quality caps in the signal path and adjust a few values. I don't think his mod changes more components, he just includes extra components for a few different mods.