I just fixed my blue box.

aen · Post by **aen** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 7:48 pm

You shouldl fix yours. It's like a ten minute job.

http://www.noisefx.com/article/mxr_blue_box_mod

kim · Post by **kim** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 8:23 pm

hmm.. just remove the capacitor ... but really...
i'd like to hear some before/after samples.... pleez ?

the blue box sounds killer when you put a loud fuzz/dist after it (BM), on its own it sounds interesting but it does lack a bit of 'in your face-ness' ...

aen · Post by **aen** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 11:12 pm

ummm, just imagine a blue box louder.

Post by **Doog** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 11:17 pm

Could just to the switch mod as illustrated, so you can have stock and modded.

aen · Post by **aen** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 11:50 pm

I can't imagine why anyone would want that though.

hmmm, a pedal that works, with an option to switch it to "pedal that doesn't get loud enough" mode.

kim · Post by **kim** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 12:19 am

i was just wondering wether the mod actually changes the overall sound, you know ..what the blue box does to your sound, instead of just making it sound louder...i guess it doesn't then..nothing wrong with a louder blue box

but if it does change the 'normal' blue box's characteristics then the switch would be of use ...

i'm too lazy to do the complete mod and install a switch

aen · Post by **aen** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 12:40 am

I didnt notice any difference in tone, just the volume increase.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 11:32 am

The C11 mod... there used to be a thread about Blue Boxes on GC forum every other week a year ago. Some people complained of a background "ticking" noise after this mod, something to do with the gate.
Never bothered me though.

aen · Post by **aen** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 4:05 am

hmmm, i was pretty deep in a noise fest last night, what with quitting smoking cold turkey and whatnot, adn i did stumble upon a faint rhythmic noise somwhere. I wonder if that was from my new fixed blue box???

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 1:12 pm

aen wrote:hmmm, i was pretty deep in a noise fest last night, what with quitting smoking cold turkey and whatnot, adn i did stumble upon a faint rhythmic noise somwhere. I wonder if that was from my new fixed blue box???

Probably, or you where having a flashback.
The ticking noise is more noticeable when you stop playing.

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 3:30 pm

I can't find an official schematic for the BlueBox to verify what exactly you are doing with that mod, and I'm more concerned the article there doesn't list it. The only place I can find A schematic is for a clone, that doesn't label the caps the same. However, based on the pics, I'm assuming it is the same as cap C9 in this schematic. From what I can see, that cap is doing two things. One, it is smoothing out the tick/ripples, two it is bleeding off some of the lower frequencies, which is probably why it sounds like a volume loss. I would suggest, instead of leaving that blank, install a replacement cap that is larger in value. That way it should keep more of the low end but still provide the ripple-smoothing effect. Stock is 0.01uF, replacing with something like a 1uF or 4.7uF may fix that.

Can you read off the cap value of C11 that you took out of there? Should be something like 105. That will help identify what cap you took out.

aen · Post by **aen** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 4:14 pm

I bet i can find it, i saved it in case i hated the sound.

*UPDATE*

Microsmall amounts off fuzzed tone bleed through when the pedal is bypassed! OH noez! Probably have to put it in a loop or something.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 4:23 pm

Aen.........my MXR D+ did that as well and that was not modded.

Pen......the schematic was on the Geofex website but i cant access the page. I emailed Brian Wrampler (i think it was) about the Blue Box about 2 years ago and he told me a way around all this. But the damn circuit board is that cramped my shaky hand with soldering iron screwed the mod up. I ended up with a very loud Blue Box with no octave effect.

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 5:20 pm

Fran, yeah I checked the link on the Geo site also but it is dead. Brian may have it, I'll PM him to see.

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 5:31 pm

Brian didn't have it either. So this is left up to Aen to come up with the cap he pulled out to move forward on this. I still suggest installing a bigger cap like 1u or 4.7u in place of C11.

aen · Post by **aen** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 6:36 pm

work is hell! I'll track it down though, i just cleaned the laboratory.

aen · Post by **aen** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 6:57 pm

I FOUND TEH CAP!

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 7:05 pm

OK...There is a second step here that you're missing...

aen · Post by **aen** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:27 pm

I CANNOT TELL YOU THE VALUE OF TEH CAP!

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:43 pm

WHY NOT!?!?!?!?