Bad News For Boss Bd-2 Lovers Options

[Mertay]

The photo is from a company in Japan that modifys pedals but this isn't about them.

Its said the one with the tiny board is the new bd-2 my guess is after shrunking it to fit in the new boss jb-2, to cut costs they will be using the small board from now on. Such changes in design is almost always bad news for tone consistency compared to the original design.

If anyone considers a bd-2 but don't want a used pedal, now if a good time to get a bd-2 I guess.

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[Todd Simpson]

I am interested in hearing an A/B comparison with the new board. It doesn't always mean a downgrade in quality, could just mean they found a better process than a thousand soldering points. Miniaturization is just part of technological advancement. Let's just hope they didn't chose smaller/cheaper over tone!!!

I remember when the DIGITECH GNX3/GNX4 stopped being made by Digitech and they switched chips from 3 Discrete AUDIO DNA chips per device to the cheaper AUDIO DNA2 chips, and then the multi fx boards from digitech all started to suck just a little compared to the old ones in terms of tone. Especially on high gain. Try to find an A/B vid with a GNX3 vs an RPXX where the RP series sounds better. It's impossible imho. The RP series just sounded awful under high gain. Gritty, sterile, hated it. Again subjective, some folks probably love it I gather that the older chips were more pricey and so despite 10 years of building tone in to the chips, they scrapped them and went with something smaller cheaper. They never recovered imho.

Let's hope it's not that. They started off by buying the JOHNSON amp company which created the J STATION (one of the first Pod like devices) and the JOHNSON combo amp with a built in Digitech 2120 rack unit. (Of course it wasn't called that then as digitech hadn't bought them yet) they yanked the rack unit out and made several products with it. The 2101, 2120, etc. This tech made it's way through future digitech products like the GENESIS and all the way through the GNX line. Then it just died when the RP line came out and sounded a bit horrid by comparison. Yes the RP line was cheaper. But like you say, it was a harbinger of bad things.


Todd

The photo is from a company in Japan that modifys pedals but this isn't about them.

Its said the one with the tiny board is the new bd-2 my guess is after shrunking it to fit in the new boss jb-2, to cut costs they will be using the small board from now on. Such changes in design is almost always bad news for tone consistency compared to the original design.

If anyone considers a bd-2 but don't want a used pedal, now if a good time to get a bd-2 I guess.

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[Mertay]

Mine is just a guess but I think they analyze and match each compnent when downsizing. In theory since they're trying to match as close as possible, no matter how successful the tone cannot be matched perfectly.

I don't hate the newer/smaller components they use these days, many brands are doing a great job designing new pedals with such parts. Anyway, maybe 30 years later a bd-2 with the big components will increase great in value

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[Todd Simpson]

Could be much sooner if the new ones don't sound good

Mine is just a guess but I think they analyze and match each compnent when downsizing. In theory since they're trying to match as close as possible, no matter how successful the tone cannot be matched perfectly.

I don't hate the newer/smaller components they use these days, many brands are doing a great job designing new pedals with such parts. Anyway, maybe 30 years later a bd-2 with the big components will increase great in value

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[yoncopin]

That looks like just a switch from through hole components to surface mount. Obviously without comparing each and every part there is no way to know what is actually different. The values are likely the same, but a new board layout can also affect things like noise. I wouldn't be too pessimistic, it likely sounds a tiny bit different because it is different but probably not noticeable. It's also equally likely that it could sound better and is cheaper to make/sell.

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[Mertay]

That looks like just a switch from through hole components to surface mount. Obviously without comparing each and every part there is no way to know what is actually different. The values are likely the same, but a new board layout can also affect things like noise. I wouldn't be too pessimistic, it likely sounds a tiny bit different because it is different but probably not noticeable. It's also equally likely that it could sound better and is cheaper to make/sell.

Stocks on pedals like bd-2 stay long in my country, when the jb-2 arrives hopefully I'll keep this in mind can compare in the store.

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