Monte Allums mods on the way...

I was just able to finally order the CS-3 "Opto Plus" mod and the "Dual Drive" TS9DX mod from Monte Allums. I am SUPER excited to get these and see how they impact the sound of these pedals... I'll be sure to post about the process and let you all know what I think.

It was especially nice to finally get these ordered because I had allocated the funds for this about 4 months ago... Long story...

Good luck with your mods. I've done the CS3 and BD2 mods and they make a huge difference. The only issue I had was my CS3 could only power one of the two chips. There is a note in the instructions about that.

...and modded it right back again.

The Monte Allum kit was a retrograde "upgrade" but at least it was easy to change back again.

Good luck with yours and report back with your thoughts.

:neutral: Peter

...and modded it right back again.

The Monte Allum kit was a retrograde "upgrade" but at least it was easy to change back again.

Good luck with yours and report back with your thoughts.

:neutral: Peter
What didn't you like about this mod? I've ordered the kit but haven't gotten around to puttin' it in yet.

What didn't you like about this mod? I've ordered the kit but haven't gotten around to puttin' it in yet.

It changed the smooth, lush "chrous" sound to a heavier, harsh sound. The Burr Brown OPA2134PA Opamp they supply (this is what I've been told by a good friend of mine who is a qualified electronics engineer and great custom pedal builder) is often used in overdrive pedals and instead of delivering... an absolutely beautiful, rich, smooth and lush chorus effect is sounded harsh and "heavy". So fortunately, using the socket mod, I switched back to the old Opamp and it gave me the "tone" I was looking for.

I left the voltage "mod" giving the pedal more headroom and improving the quality of the effect. This means my CE2 can now be used with my pedalboard power supply and that's an improvement. No messing around with batteries.

I also left the upgrade of....

.... several key components in the circuit with higher quality components. This will add clarity, fullness and a much more focused tone to the circuit. We also modify a resistor increasing the brightness of the LED. We also supply you with a 3mm Clear Super Bright Blue LED. We modify a capacitor that doubles the rate of the chorus effect to give you a super fast chorus effect while preserving the slow rate. The richness of the actual chorus effect has also been enhanced.

This is a good functional mod and now I dial in different settings on the rate button as I can get finer, faster "pulse" rates which I haven't really used to any great extent. So instead of [pre-mod] dialing in about 2 o'clock, I now dial-in about 11.30 to get the same pulse. The faster rate is OK and I know it's there, but I haven't used it live or in recording yet.

I'm reasonably happy with the pedal now but my perfect CE2 was the one that I hadn't messed with before the Monte Allum kit arrived.

Oh hum. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, heh?

My advice - and bear in mind I am NOT a qualified electronics guy; just dangerous with a soldering iron - is DO use the socket so that if you too dislike the OpaAmp then you can switch back to the original or try others.

The other mods "improve the pedals use and functionality and are OK.

I hope this helps.

:smile: Peter

This helps alot PeterUK, thanks for the detailed reply, much appreciated. I love my CE2 the way it is now which I guess is why I hadn't gotten around to doing the mod. I've done several others, overdrive pedals for myself and friends, and just figured the CE2 would benefit also. Like I said, I'm happy with it and that plus laziness is why I guess I hadn't gotten around to trying the mod yet. I might do the LED thing tho, the stock one is very dim. Thanks again.

This helps alot PeterUK, thanks for the detailed reply, much appreciated. I love my CE2 the way it is now which I guess is why I hadn't gotten around to doing the mod. I've done several others, overdrive pedals for myself and friends, and just figured the CE2 would benefit also. Like I said, I'm happy with it and that plus laziness is why I guess I hadn't gotten around to trying the mod yet. I might do the LED thing tho, the stock one is very dim. Thanks again.

...and don't forget the components upgrade which makes it more useful if you have it on a pedalboard with a dedicated 9v supply. The brighter LED and no power supply issues makes it worthwhile.

I'd be interested in your thoughts about the OpAmp, but don't throw the old one away just in case. In fact, it's worth doing a back-to-back comparision and easy to do.

Good luck and report back with your findings.

:smile: Peter

Well, I received them in the mail a few days ago and started working on the first for a bit last night and then again first thing this morning. I've got probably 4 parts left on the TS9DX or something like that... It's going smoothly so far. I'm checking after each step and haven't had anything not work yet... It is also pretty entertaining to hear how things change after each step... Some changes are significant, some seemed more subtle, but it always changed...

It is also really really interesting to hear how things are starting to come into "balance" as the process continues... It's like when you change one thing to get more bass, and then change something else to make the tone more focused, the bass kind of evens back up again... I cannot imagine how much time it must have taken to work through the various possibilities to come up with complimentary parts, values, etc.

So, other than a tiny bit of a sore neck and the fact that I still do not enjoy desoldering ANYTHING, it is going as expected. I'll keep you all posted!