True Bypassing a (90's) Bluesbreaker Pedal.

[Elvisofnazareth]

I'm kind of torn... I put it in my TB loop, and I notice the slightest of tone change. I don't even know if it's worth messing with.

There's room for a 3pdt, but it will touch and ever so slightly push on the circuit board (1/16- in.) which is suspended by the pedals knobs.
(Id have to put some layers of black tape in between the switch and the board.)

OR.....

The original switch is pcb mounted, I could cut and re-route traces and use the original switch too..(losing the LED)

I've A/B'd this pedal with a Klon and several high end pedals, it's my favorite.

Anybody ever messed with one of these things?

Also, has anyone ever modded one of these with a Burr brown?
(It's a tad mid heavy on my Les Paul's bridge pickup)

Thanks!!

[Paleo Pete]

Would this be this pedal?

Bluesbreaker

I love mine, sounds great through my Super Reverb cranked to distortion levels, I'm currently having some trouble with it but should be able to keep it going. (scratchy knobs, switch too, one jack has stripped threads, mostly contact cleaner duty...)

Knowing what it looks like inside I don't think I'd put too much pressure on that board, it doesn't seem too strong the way it's mounted. I thought it wasn't a great design, since it looks like the only thing holding the board is the pots. Ever since the first time I opened it up to shoot some contact cleaner into the pots I thought that was a bad design.

Mine doesn't seem to have too much "tone sucking" quality, but I've only checked that with my Fender Champ, can't crank the Super Reverb at home, the neighbors would have me arrested. I think the Ibanez SD9 distortion pedal sucks more tone than the Bluesbreaker does.

Overall, I'd say leave it as is, to my ears it doesn't affect tone that much, as you said it might not be enough to worry about. Adding a switch that stresses the upper board might not be a good idea, since it's not that sturdy to begin with.

[Elvisofnazareth]

Yeah, thats the one.
Thanks for your thoughts on that.

I've come to the same conclusion, I'm going to leave it alone....

I made a dual looper pedal for my board. 90% of the time I'm in that loop, it will be on anyway.


I get the feeling with this pedal, in 2o years when people wise up, it will be worth 5x what ever a vintage Tubescreamer fetches..

Killer pedal.