Members Stspider Posted March 15, 2008 Members Share Posted March 15, 2008 Hi guys, I bough an old BF-2, it was very cheap and I'm short of modulation, so I went for it. It' s an old one , green label, black knobs. Even if it's rusty as crap, it's in perfect working conditions. However, it's not very "flangy", it sounds more chorusy, if you get what I mean. The modulation is subtle. At first I tought it might have been the way internal trim pots were set, which I could not check because the screws on the bottom are so rusty I'll have to use something else than a screwdriver to open it, but then I read that some older boss pedal require 12 volts.. Is that the case? it doesn't say anywhere it needs 9 volts, but it says "use boss aca adapter only".. However the pedal works fine, it turns on and off just fine, and I've heard that people which have similiar issues have trouble getting the pedal to work at all.. Could it be that the modulation is subtle due to the pedal being underalimented? I know that some distortions work differently depending on alimentation. What do you experts think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Noise... Posted March 15, 2008 Members Share Posted March 15, 2008 I'd imagine the trimpots just need tweaked. I was looking into these a few weeks ago. From what I was told, it can be an insane pedal with even a slight bit of tweaking to one trimpot. I'll get you a link to the thread I had - it had a lot of useful advice in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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Members Kyle_64 Posted March 15, 2008 Members Share Posted March 15, 2008 alot of people are 50/50 on this pedal. i know what you mean by "chorusy". i almost sold because i have a small clone but i found that if you set all the knobs at max and the res at min, you get a real nice quick modulation wacky sound-sorta koRnish. but yeah, i like it do what ever you have to to get it fixed because it is a decent overall flange. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NITEFLY182 Posted March 15, 2008 Members Share Posted March 15, 2008 Nothing makes me laugh harder lately than the cure-all solution to any stompbox problem being 'the trim pots must be set wrong, mess with the trim pots.' Modulation effects, especially ones involving analog delay chips usually have complicated biasing procedures. Unless some idiot has already altered the trim settings, they haven't changed since the pedal was made. They dont turn by themselves and part values dont drift enough to make them not be set properly. Dont mess with the trim pots either way unless you want the pedal to just make noise and not be a good pedal for actual use while playing guitar. Its sounds like you are powering it wrong with only 9v. You need 12 volts to make ACA boss pedals happy. Try that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Keith SIO Posted March 15, 2008 Members Share Posted March 15, 2008 Nothing makes me laugh harder lately than the cure-all solution to any stompbox problem being 'the trim pots must be set wrong, mess with the trim pots.' Modulation effects, especially ones involving analog delay chips usually have complicated biasing procedures. Unless some idiot has already altered the trim settings, they haven't changed since the pedal was made. They dont turn by themselves and part values dont drift enough to make them not be set properly. Dont mess with the trim pots either way unless you want the pedal to just make noise and not be a good pedal for actual use while playing guitar. Its sounds like you are powering it wrong with only 9v. You need 12 volts to make ACA boss pedals happy. Try that An old pedal may have been through many many owners, and there is the possibility that the trim pots need to be adjust. An owner may have set the knob for a more subtle setting, which alters the control of the res knob. When set to the left, the res knob doesn't really respond that much, when set to the right, it is an oscillating machine. The BF-2 stock tends to be a pretty distinct flange. Also, if you have a mod pedal with trims, why not tweak them. Sometimes you find that a little tweak gives a little more effect or a little less effect. My first CE-2 came and sounded thin and weak. I opened it up and moved the trim closer to its stock setting, and it sounded like a CE-2. Even if it may be the power supply, In my own experience sometimes it really is the trims. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NITEFLY182 Posted March 15, 2008 Members Share Posted March 15, 2008 Well if youre going to mess with them be aware that biases often have very tight tolerances. They aren't meant to be casually tweaked without a scope. With the pedals I build, if you change how the trims are set, the pedal isn't going to work any more and youll have to send it back for recalibration. I just think that if that particular function was meant to be changed by the user, it would be on the top of the pedal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phyrexia Posted March 15, 2008 Members Share Posted March 15, 2008 ACA is still 9V but the polarity is fonky, I thought. Or something like that. I know they're 9V though. If you have an ACA boss pedal and a newer PSA-powered pedal, you can run the ACA pedal off the same power supply, so long as they are connected to each other via instrument cables. For instance I can run my PH1R and my Rumble Mod off the same daisy chain so long as they're connected to each other with a patch cable. it's weird. don't ask me why it works; i think it has something to do with sharing the ground off the signal wires. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Keith SIO Posted March 15, 2008 Members Share Posted March 15, 2008 Well if youre going to mess with them be aware that biases often have very tight tolerances. They aren't meant to be casually tweaked without a scope. With the pedals I build, if you change how the trims are set, the pedal isn't going to work any more and youll have to send it back for recalibration. I just think that if that particular function was meant to be changed by the user, it would be on the top of the pedal. I can't disagree with you, because i know what your saying. But in my experiences with a few boss pedals, there is usually a sweet spot on the modulation that you know is the stock sound, and any other setting is way off from it. Probably no way anyone will set it right by guessing, but it isn't to hard to get it sounding like it would. For the original poster: try it with a brand new 9 volt and see if it still sounds weak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members billythegoat Posted March 15, 2008 Members Share Posted March 15, 2008 I slightly tweaked the trim pots on mine. I marked the pots before I moved them just in case and I was glad I did that. When I turned the pots all the way either way it just bypassed the pedal. I kept messing with them and it is a whole different animal now. Really sensitive. When I turn the RES past half it just goes out of control crazy, but can be fun with some delay for a real psychedelic stew. Still messing around with these settings and have found a few sweet spots. But I think I might just put her back to stock for that classic flange. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Stspider Posted March 15, 2008 Author Members Share Posted March 15, 2008 I' haven't tought about trying with the battery... Well, I did now and it still sounds like a chorus a little oscillating, that is with manual on minimum, depht on full, rate al 2 o' clock and res full on.. What do you think? trimpots? Again, the stomp looks used and abused, so I'm inclined to believe that the previous owner messed with it in any possible way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rid Posted March 15, 2008 Members Share Posted March 15, 2008 Well since the basic layout is like a chorus...no wonder it can get that sound, but the LFO runs at a slower pace!Turn up the feedback or res and it will for sure flange!!Got myself a black knob as well....all kinds of flange sounds, maybe not the most subtle or extreme flange, it serves its purpose quite well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pinkzep52 Posted March 15, 2008 Members Share Posted March 15, 2008 I tweaked the trim pots to oscillate when the resonance is turned past half but even when it was stock the flanging was still very distinct in my ears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Stspider Posted March 16, 2008 Author Members Share Posted March 16, 2008 Ill' try and get a 12 v adapter.. Rid how do you run you flanger? Standard 9 volts power adapter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kylef Posted March 16, 2008 Members Share Posted March 16, 2008 my bf-2 had obviously done the rounds when i bought it second hand. i was looking for that stone-roses fools-gold sound, but it struggled. considering the record was a bf-2, i didnt know what was up. it just sounded really muddy, i couldnt possibly get a subtle flange out of it, but i left it. then recently after watching a bf-2 oscillating on youtube, i set about opening it up. i managed to get the oscillating sound i wanted, but it also sounds alot better after tweaking the trims. as long as the res isnt past 1 oclock, its now the subtle flange that i wanted! just needs a bit tweaking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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