How do you power your Boss Heavy Metal pedal?

[Ericlingus]

After seeing that behringer pedal post it had me thinking of my Boss Heavy Metal pedal again. I havent really used it much because it's a pain to power. It uses the older type of power adapters that I can't seem to find anywhere which forces me to use a battery for it. Problem is it drains the batteries super fast. Is there something wrong with my pedal or does it drain 9v batteries for you super fast as well? Like if I were to gig with it one battery would not be enough for a show. I don't know if this is the norm or not because I always use power adapters for any other pedals I've ever used. What do you guys do to power your Boss HM-2 pedals? Is there a place you know of that sells the type of power adapter needed for it? Thanks.

 

[if6was9]

Buy a good brand battery. Cheap battery's don't last nearly as long in my experience, with some brands being low enough to already be on the low led stage of power.

 

[Wrecknine]

Some of those older Boss pedals use ACA instead of the modern PSA power adapters. And then it has the be the right , older spec ACA one.

They put out something closer to 12 volts so older Boss pedals have some resistors that lower the voltage right at the power input. It's usually just a matter of removing a couple of them and putting jumpers in place.

These 2 links are great. You may also not have to mod anything if you use a daisy chain.

http://stinkfoot.se/archives/726

http://jorgezorro.blogspot.com/2009/12/boss-aca-to-psa-power-supply-mod.html

 

[JakeAC5253]

Some of those older Boss pedals use ACA instead of the modern PSA power adapters. And then it has the be the right , older spec ACA one.

They put out something closer to 12 volts so older Boss pedals have some resistors that lower the voltage right at the power input. It's usually just a matter of removing a couple of them and putting jumpers in place.

These 2 links are great. You may also not have to mod anything if you use a daisy chain.

http://stinkfoot.se/archives/726

http://jorgezorro.blogspot.com/2009/12/boss-aca-to-psa-power-supply-mod.html

Wow thanks so much for posting. I've had an HM-2 for a while, but never really used it because it sounded so ratty and harsh. I've always powered it using my Pedal Power 2+, never tried a battery, so it never occurred to me. I did the mod just now and it sounds so much clearer and better. Wow. I am going to use this more often now lol.

 

[MurderMachine]

I've been using a 9v battery since I got thing (a year ago) and have never had to replace it, although I admit I don't use it all too often any more. I honestly didn't even notice that it's power supply used ACA until now, which definitely doesn't work with my modern boss power adapter (daisy chained or not).

 

[nialldoran]

yeah ive only had mine a few months and plugged it into a standard psa one day without realising, having run it on battery untill then i thought it was broken, sounded shit, took me like 20 minutes to figure it out, back to batterys, although that mod is amazing and sooo simple thanks alot wrecknine

 

[xTomx]

Always ran mine on the standard 9V line - sounds great.

 

[Charles J]

always used our boss or maxon 9v power supplies. am i doing the hm-2 injustice this way over a battery?

 

[JakeAC5253]

always used our boss or maxon 9v power supplies. am i doing the hm-2 injustice this way over a battery?

Try the mod

 

[drew_drummer]

I use a Visual Sound 1Spot, and it's perfectly fine. Powering all of this, except the M9:

 

[Wrecknine]

I also use the 1spot, but I still had to mod my older (1984-86) Boss pedals.

 

[Ericlingus]

holy crap it works! Can't believe I never tried it. I just use it with my 1spot in a daisy chain and it powers fine. Thanks! Now I've got to do an old school swedish death metal or black metal song!

 

[prayfordarkness]

Holy shit! I just modded my HM-2 tonight, and yeah, it definitely makes a big difference! I had noticed that the LED was very dim when I used it, and I also noticed I wasn't quite getting that savage tone that I wanted, but I didn't clue in.
Now though... Yup.

Thanks for the links!

 

[Ericlingus]

hmm maybe i'll try the mod as well. I'm just afraid that my dumbass will just destroy the pedal. How was it when you did it? Run into any problems with the mod? How long did it take you?

 

[prayfordarkness]

hmm maybe i'll try the mod as well. I'm just afraid that my dumbass will just destroy the pedal. How was it when you did it? Run into any problems with the mod? How long did it take you?

So easy man. I took me about 10 minutes. I think it took me longer to get the back off the pedal, than it did to actually do the mod.
I just cut a little piece of wire to put across the two points, and heated up the solder points on the back of the board until it melted in. I added a tiny amount of extra solder on top of each point, just to ensure a good connection. I plugged it in right then to test it, and right away, the LED light was bright, so I knew it worked. Put it back together, and I've been having fun with it all night since! Sounds so much better now... I definitely recommend trying it. If you have some basic soldering skills, I don't think there's any way you can wreck the pedal.