NPD (Vintage Boss Content)

not_the_dj

Thanks to @robwright I've got this to play with, and it sounds great through my THR10 so I'm looking forward to playing it loud at our next rehearsal. http://i1268.photobucket.com/albums/jj563/not_the_dj/65EB93C2-4605-4F43-A7B0-CC9804E9E88A_zps3wbxzw74.jpg

ICBM

Best

Pedal

EVER.

ThePrettyDamned

Yeaaaah! Cool pedal, I love mine.

I'll warn you, mine actually didn't like the blackstar ht metal. Even with the ht metal off, it ended up kinda harsh... Take that out of the signal chain and it was back to massive sounding, thick, slightly fuzzy distortion so in other words, try it on its own then see if other buffers screw it. I have an almost fully buffered board and only that one made it weird...

not_the_dj

Only run it on it's own with a battery so far. From what I understand I need to have it daisy chained as it needs the old ACA PSU. @ICBM is that correct?

I use a Diago Powerstation daisy chaining between pedals. 

Current gigging board looks like this: 

http://i1268.photobucket.com/albums/jj563/not_the_dj/AA9FDEB9-616F-426C-B091-2ACECE442AD6_zpsltefffye.jpg

bingefeller

Very nice. Happy NPD.

richardhomer

Dare I ask are these valuable now?

I bought one in the mid-80s to dirty up a Music Man combo I gigged with. It did the job very well but I sold it (probably for not very much!) when I bought a channel switching valve amp.

not_the_dj

I paid £85 delivered on here, which compared to some ebay prices looks to be a bargain....especially as this is an early Super Distortion & Feedbacker instead of the later Super Feedbacker & Distortion (same inside but Seymour Duncan had dibs on the Super Distortion name)

ThePrettyDamned

not_the_dj;473207" said:

I paid £85 delivered on here, which compared to some ebay prices looks to be a bargain....especially as this is an early Super Distortion & Feedbacker instead of the later Super Feedbacker & Distortion (same inside but Seymour Duncan had dibs on the Super Distortion name)

Yeah, I got mine for 35 quid but it had a broken volume knob (still works, I'll fix it eventually) and is the super feedbacker and distortion.

Mine just powers with a regular PSU.

ICBM

not_the_dj said:

Only run it on it's own with a battery so far. From what I understand I need to have it daisy chained as it needs the old ACA PSU. @ICBM is that correct?

Yes, but you can change the pedal to a PSA input extremely easily by bypassing the extra resistor and diode - with one small blob of solder, if I remember rightly. Most of them are like that, the two components are laid out in series doubled back on themselves so you just need to join the two 'in' and 'out' ends. You still have the other protection diode to prevent reverse-voltage damage.

not_the_dj said:

...especially as this is an early Super Distortion & Feedbacker instead of the later Super Feedbacker & Distortion (same inside but Seymour Duncan had dibs on the Super Distortion name)

DiMarzio. Like they have trademarks on the term 'PAF' and the double-cream humbucker, even though they neither invented them or used them first.

I prefer the Super Distortion & Feeedbacker (I have two already, or I'd have wanted this one as well!) purely because it pissed off DiMarzio .

steamabacus

not_the_dj said:

Only run it on it's own with a battery so far. From what I understand I need to have it daisy chained as it needs the old ACA PSU.

I use a Diago Powerstation daisy chaining between pedals. 

The old ACA power supply (not the new version) was actually unregulated 12V (approx) and some isolated multi- power supplies have an output to cater for this. Daisy chaining with another pedal is the easiest option, though.

There's a good explanation of exactly what's going on with ACA/PSA Boss supplies here.

ThePrettyDamned

@ICBM am I powering mine wrong? I'm using an isolated 9v supply from the powerplant junior, just like any other pedal...

ICBM

ThePrettyDamned said:

@ICBM am I powering mine wrong? I'm using an isolated 9v supply from the powerplant junior, just like any other pedal...

Unless it's been modded for a PSA, you'll be underpowering it. It will still probably work fine and may not sound any different, but it's worth comparing it to a battery just to be sure.

ThePrettyDamned

ICBM said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

@ICBM am I powering mine wrong? I'm using an isolated 9v supply from the powerplant junior, just like any other pedal...

Unless it's been modded for a PSA, you'll be underpowering it. It will still probably work fine and may not sound any different, but it's worth comparing it to a battery just to be sure.

Ooo I'll pop a battery in and report back.  It'll be interesting if it does sound different but I prefer it running 9v!

How long can I expect a battery to last? 

not_the_dj

How old is yours @ThePrettyDamned? Google tells me this;

The first DF-2s was labeled "Super Distortion & Feedbacker" while the later ones was called "Super Feedbacker & Distortion". DiMarzio had already registered the name "Super Distortion" so Boss was forced changed the DF-2's name. The change took place around serial number 500000 (January 1985). Production moved to Taiwan late 1989 and was modified for the PSA adapter from early 1991.

ICBM

ThePrettyDamned said:

It'll be interesting if it does sound different but I prefer it running 9v!

I thought that too .

ThePrettyDamned said:

How long can I expect a battery to last? 

Ages. Can't remember the current draw but it's probably in the 10mA range.

ThePrettyDamned

ICBM said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

It'll be interesting if it does sound different but I prefer it running 9v!

I thought that too .

ThePrettyDamned said:

How long can I expect a battery to last? 

Ages. Can't remember the current draw but it's probably in the 10mA range.

Sweet, I'll give it a punt. 

I *love* it already, but actually that may explain why it didn't play nice with the blackstar.  Not important - I'll never put the strat through the blackstar anyway, but the prs does... And sounds nice and squishy with the DF-2. Maybe it'll be less squishy. 

I discovered that a strat bridge pickup into a lower gain fuzz and the DF-2 makes me sound pretty much the same as Matt Bellamy. And I've pretty well not touched anything since...