- Build Rating
Hi, thought I’d share my latest build.
I had an old boss mz2 carcass that I wanted to do something with. It was a great pedal for many years until something happened with the digital board. For those unfamiliar with the mz2, it consisted of an analog distortion board and a digital effects board that consisted of chorus and doubling effects ( very 80s). Anyway when mine broke I was gutted mainly because I really liked the distortion it provided. It was like a thin grainy raspy like sound on its own but when blended with the right overdrive pedals it would just sing! I didn’t care much for the digital effects that much. They were not my cup of tea and found them almost cheesy. I refused to by another because of the ridiculously high price they command these days.
After seeing that Aion fx sold the distortion board I thought I’d give it a go.
My main concerns were.
Would I be able to fit everything inside the original boss shell
And how was I going to get on finding the discontinued jfets. (2sk117-gr)
There is a modern micro component alternative but I wanted to at least try and find the proper ones. Anyway aliexpress came up trumps! I’ve had bad experiences with components from aliexpress in the past but I gave it another chance. The seller had glowing reviews. I picked up the correct jfets and the tiny modern equivalent. (2sk209-gr) just to be safe.
Was a fairly straightforward build with no tea issues. I knew that space would be tight so kept wires short and tidy and used tiny boss type pots. To think that the guys at boss managed to shoehorn another board in there just boggles the mind lol. I managed to sneakily fit a regular foot switch inside the boss switch compartment which fits perfectly. Bit of trusty gorilla tape to avoid any shorting issues that may occur. To my astonishment everything fit inside snugly.
Even more astonishing is that I plugged it in waiting for the heart sinking feeling and there it was! The sound I’d been missing. It’s exactly as I remembered. I’m so impressed with this build and thanks to Aion fx for the board and accompanying documentation along with fast postage. Here’s some pictures. I can’t recommend this enough.
I had an old boss mz2 carcass that I wanted to do something with. It was a great pedal for many years until something happened with the digital board. For those unfamiliar with the mz2, it consisted of an analog distortion board and a digital effects board that consisted of chorus and doubling effects ( very 80s). Anyway when mine broke I was gutted mainly because I really liked the distortion it provided. It was like a thin grainy raspy like sound on its own but when blended with the right overdrive pedals it would just sing! I didn’t care much for the digital effects that much. They were not my cup of tea and found them almost cheesy. I refused to by another because of the ridiculously high price they command these days.
After seeing that Aion fx sold the distortion board I thought I’d give it a go.
My main concerns were.
Would I be able to fit everything inside the original boss shell
And how was I going to get on finding the discontinued jfets. (2sk117-gr)
There is a modern micro component alternative but I wanted to at least try and find the proper ones. Anyway aliexpress came up trumps! I’ve had bad experiences with components from aliexpress in the past but I gave it another chance. The seller had glowing reviews. I picked up the correct jfets and the tiny modern equivalent. (2sk209-gr) just to be safe.
Was a fairly straightforward build with no tea issues. I knew that space would be tight so kept wires short and tidy and used tiny boss type pots. To think that the guys at boss managed to shoehorn another board in there just boggles the mind lol. I managed to sneakily fit a regular foot switch inside the boss switch compartment which fits perfectly. Bit of trusty gorilla tape to avoid any shorting issues that may occur. To my astonishment everything fit inside snugly.
Even more astonishing is that I plugged it in waiting for the heart sinking feeling and there it was! The sound I’d been missing. It’s exactly as I remembered. I’m so impressed with this build and thanks to Aion fx for the board and accompanying documentation along with fast postage. Here’s some pictures. I can’t recommend this enough.
