Boss DD3 "mod"

Altough I didnt used it for long, I decided to try a mod to make the pedal sweeter sounding (less digital presence).
I Think the boss dd3 is a classic digital delay with good tone. Unlike many other digital delay pedals, the dd3 has a natural punch on the repeats, wich made me think on trying a simple mod.
It was quite simple to do and afther adding a DPDT switch and a couple of polyester caps, now it has two different analogue sounding repeat modes. I used a .47 and a .1 caps on the feedback pot for each mode. Both sound more organic and warmer than stock and the repeats degrade as in analogue pedal types. One of the modes (.47uf) is really dark sounding and the repeat volume drops a bit, but its great at "slapback" sounds. The other one is more present, but still warm sounding. I could have used a on/off/on switch and keep the stock sound. But since I didnt care for the stock sound too much, decided to leave it like that for now.

Casino Lisboa | Live (mobile pics)

MXR GT OD "mod"

I have been messing arround for a while with this one, for pure fun. Its a nice od pedal, with less mids, more bass and gain than a TS type. The stock touch is diferent and a little stiffer than a TS. And the diode type can take this pedal into fuzz zone. I Started to mess arround, and noticed a stock switch that connects one of the electrolits to a resistor, and decided to take that switch up to the chassis, for easy access. It toggles between a TS type crunch and a brighter overdrive.
Tested a few connections , and found one spot that made a drastic change to the tone/overdrive circuit. so I created a bridge and removed R4 and C2 and , and conected to a DPDT switch outside, with jumpers on the back of the pc board to try different values for the cap and resistor(stock was 4.7k + 47nf). Ended up using a 2.2k + 3.3uf (wich gave me a fuzz type of sound) and 1.2k + 0.1uf (wich gave me a sparkling overdrive tone) both modes sound very vivid, organic and amplike now and are afected by the other switch for a wide array of tones.

Leonidas "Spartan 30"

After a series of gigs, the amp tested good for life on the road. Still some minor tweaks to be done, but the sound is "vintage awsome". Extremely responsive, and detailed on the clean and crunch sounds, and amazingly juicy overdrive.
Features an internal user-friendly bias control, pentode or triode operation for the power section, a two mode pre-selector to sum the 2 chanels out of phase (like 1960 AC30 design), or keep them stock (for juicier tone). Using NOS amperex ef86 (for chanel one), NOS 12ax7 valvo tubes for pre (chanel 1,2 and eq.), and NOS GE Jan for phase inverter, to get a very detailed sound. It was used in combination with a 1x12 open-back cabinet with an alnico gold.

"Modded" Carvin Nomad 112

This moddifications intended to get a more natural, vintage sound from this amp. The mods included a gz34 rectifier, choke, and a negative feedback pot. Also a Pentode/Triode selector for the El84. Filtering alteration was made for the rectifier operation. One dedicated transformer was added for the rectifier.
The internal speaker was swapped for a "greenback". the v1 tube was replaced by a 5751 NOS Jan (GE). Now this amp sounds great, and no need to mess too much with the design, even in the "infamous" chanel 2, in wich I am using a 12dw7 tube for a bit less pre- distortion.
As a combo I use it with a greenback in triode mode, and it cuts beautifully in a band situation. With an Alnico Gold the detail and natural compression are very pleasing, and the frequencies sound very well balanced for a small combo.

Edit: The tubes  now are all NOS. A GE Gz34 for rectifier, on V1 I use a tungsram 12ax7, on v2 a 5751 jan, followed by a couple of rft ecc83 and a ge12ax7 long plate on the PI. The power section is a quartet of mazda el84. I biased the amp cooler and run it allawys on triode, with the tube rectifier.The speaker I use now is a G12H heritage. Nice sounding amp!

"Modded" Blackheart handsome devil

A very nice sounding little amp, afther a few teaks. Besides changing stock for better tubes, This mod helped this amp to sound more natural. it features a GZ34 rectifier that operates in full or half wave. Half wave gives it a very natural sag.
The amp sounds good and deserves a NOS tube in V1 I like to use a Brimar 12ax7, for a round bluesy tone. Also a good phase inverter is nice. The amp "needs" a good speaker to play with, sounds great with alnicos or greenbacks compression. the tone stack can be improved, but for now, I kept it as is...