# Re-Housing a Boss SD-1



## yazooligan (Oct 5, 2020)

I've been asked to re-house a Boss SD-1 into a 125B for a customer and I'm up for the challenge.

I'm wondering if I can use one of the Tayda pre-drilled PedalPCB 3-knob enclosures. I imagine I'd have to de-solder the pots and LED, and run wires to the PCB to make that work? Not to mention the footswitch.

Would it be smarter to try to drill my own enclosure and leave the pots in place?


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## Barry (Oct 5, 2020)

I'd suggest drilling it, been a while since I dug into a SD-1, so can't recall if there are mini boards mounted to the pots with other components on them, I recall the BD-2 does. If not probably wouldn't matter either way


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## daeg (Oct 5, 2020)

The bigger question is if everything would fit in a 125b. You have the board, the switch, the pots and the jacks to think about.

Perhaps see if they'd be interested in an Uberdrive instead?


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## Barry (Oct 5, 2020)

I'll have a look tomorrow and see if I have one still, I used to modify quite a few, not sure I held on to one


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## yazooligan (Oct 5, 2020)

Apparently it's possible. I'll save you the pop-up ads of the gear page.


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## yazooligan (Oct 5, 2020)

daeg said:


> The bigger question is if everything would fit in a 125b. You have the board, the switch, the pots and the jacks to think about.
> 
> Perhaps see if they'd be interested in an Uberdrive instead?


I would try to steer him in a different direction but he had it modded at a local shop just before the pandemic and is really happy with the sound. Just doesn't dig the box.


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## yazooligan (Oct 5, 2020)

Barry said:


> I'll have a look tomorrow and see if I have one still, I used to modify quite a few, not sure I held on to one


Rock and roll! 

I had one in high school that didn't really blow my hair back. Last year I saw a rig rundown for Drive by Truckers and both Hood and Cooley had one on their boards, so naturally now I kind of want one, but I'd want to mod it too haha.


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## Barry (Oct 6, 2020)

Yeah the 125B is based on the Boss footprint and the SD-1 I have has no mini boards on the pots, so it should drop right in and just use a momentary footswitch


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## Chas Grant (Oct 6, 2020)

Although the Pre-Drilled box is tempting, you will need to drill your own holes. The BOSS pedals have their Input/Output jacks mounted near the top of the enclosure since the PCB sits on the bottom of it. The predrilled enclosure will have them in the middle of the side and it will be tight trying to fit everything in. I'd try to get them as near to the location on the Boss pedal as I could.


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## daeg (Oct 6, 2020)

Chas Grant said:


> Although the Pre-Drilled box is tempting, you will need to drill your own holes. The BOSS pedals have their Input/Output jacks mounted near the top of the enclosure since the PCB sits on the bottom of it. The predrilled enclosure will have them in the middle of the side and it will be tight trying to fit everything in. I'd try to get them as near to the location on the Boss pedal as I could.



That's what I was getting at. On the Boss units, the jacks are towards the top of the enclosure (in-between the main board and the daughter-board / pots).

Cool to see that it's possible. I have a handful of Boss pedals I busted by modding back when I was a novice and might consider doing this too.


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## daeg (Oct 6, 2020)

Be sure to tape up that battery clip. Big potential for that to short out.


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## yazooligan (Oct 7, 2020)

Barry said:


> Yeah the 125B is based on the Boss footprint and the SD-1 I have has no mini boards on the pots, so it should drop right in and just use a momentary footswitch


Right on! Are we talking 3PDT? SPST? Closed? Open?


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## yazooligan (Oct 7, 2020)

Chas Grant said:


> Although the Pre-Drilled box is tempting, you will need to drill your own holes. The BOSS pedals have their Input/Output jacks mounted near the top of the enclosure since the PCB sits on the bottom of it. The predrilled enclosure will have them in the middle of the side and it will be tight trying to fit everything in. I'd try to get them as near to the location on the Boss pedal as I could.


Copy that! I just got a new drill press and this will make a good first project for it!


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## HamishR (Oct 8, 2020)

I wonder how different the Waza SD-1 is from the current regular Taiwanese SD-1? I haven't played a Boss overdrive in about 35 years! I remember working in a music store way back when they first shifted production from Japan to Taiwan. That's when they came out with their 5-year warranty. They wanted to convince players that the quality was still there.


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## Barry (Oct 8, 2020)

yazooligan said:


> Right on! Are we talking 3PDT? SPST? Closed? Open?


Pretty sure that Boss uses a two wire momentary switch, if you want to convert it to true bypass that's another can of worms


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## HamishR (Oct 11, 2020)

I didn't know that the 125 was based on the Boss footprint. Ya learn something new every day.


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