Boss MD-2 Mega Distortion Mod Plus

This pedal is pretty useless stock. The Mega Distortion is somewhat of an odd beast in that it has no clipping section, so there’s no way to add a Tri-Gain Switch. All the distortion comes from a two-stage distortion cicuit. Out of the box it’s really fizzy and the distortion is all over the place. But it does have a ton of promise. The Gain Boost along with the Distortion, High EQ and Low EQ parametric sweeps actually give the pedal some great versatlity. But first you have to clean up the junk in the circuit and that I have done with this mod.
After the mod you can now actually get some overdriveish type gain from it. Just dial down the Dist and Boost knobs and adjust the EQ and volume to taste. I have adjusted the EQ of the pedal so that at this setting the pedal can almost match the bypass tone. So essentially you could use this as a boost type gain pedal. But that’s where any simblance of an overdrive pedal ceases. Dial up the Dist and the Boost Gain and hold on to your hat! Mixing and matching the Boost and Dist Knobs will give you a ton of brutally thick and massive distortion.

With these changes I have taken it to a new level in warmth and thick Distortion. Pinched Harmonics are incredible with this mod. A Shreaders Delight! I like to kick back with some stereo delay and nice reverb and do my best Yngwie Malmsteen impression. Which ain’t a very good one BTW. This is what thick bold analog distortion is suppose to sound like. Used on eBay, a MD-2 can be had for $50 or even less. This makes them excellent mod bait. Enjoy the Mod!

WARNING — I have heard that Boss is now manufacturing these with surface mount technology. So just to be sure check that the pcb in your MD-2 looks like this.

MD-2.mp3 — Recorded by Monte Allums directly through a modded MD-2 into Cubase with a bit of reverb. The two rhythm guitars were recorded with a Strat loaded with Hot Fender Noiseless Pups. Leed guitar is a Ibanez JS1000. Listen to the clarity and powerfull tone this mod gives the rhythm tracks that were recorded with a Strat. Great Marshall-Type Vibe! Awesome Mod!