BOSS TB-2W Tone Bender Teardown! See what's inside! // Gray Bench Electronics

[@DefconMaster]

As a fellow solder slinger who can't resist taking apart any new pedal I lay my hands on to see how it works, I love this! Despite my conflicted feelings about the TB-2W, you really can't fault Boss for their execution. Kind of ironic that all the power and switching circuitry probably has 3-4x the components of the Tonebender itself, though. I look forward to seeing more gear teardowns in the future!

[@graybenchelec]

Yep, I'm sure Boss succeeded in making a very consistent batch of 3k germanium pedals, no easy task.

[@ToneCraftFX]

@@graybenchelec Did you ever go back and re-measure the transistor voltage’s at 9v?

[@graybenchelec]

@@ToneCraftFX Yep I believe I posted them on the thread on FSB

[@Mr.Steve-O]

Would love to see a side-by-side teardown of the Boss BD-2 and the TC Electronics Cinders. I own both and though they are close there are some differences. Hopefully, you have the time to do it, would be great to see it, Cheers!

[@popcorny11]

As a passionate owner of a TB2W, I really appreciated this. Liked, subbed and will continue to support.. least I can do to say a big Thank You.

[@GrizzlyMadams]

I dig it! Looking forward to future videos.

[@graybenchelec]

Thanks!

[@sweettoof9002]

That thing was hard to take apart. Do the new Space Echo next!

[@TonyPepers]

Nice gentle teardown. Very cool seeing Rocket Sockets being used 😉

[@graybenchelec]

Haha according to the scalpers on reverb, this is about a $500 paint job 🤣

[@TonyPepers]

@@graybenchelec that's why I invented the Rocket Socket 😉😉. Protect those precious paint jobs.

[@graybenchelec]

@@TonyPepers ah that's great! Use them all the time. What I need is a little holder, also it would be cool to color code them. Just some ideas 👍

[@Rarebirdeffects]

I know this comment is ancient. But just wanted to give you a shout-out for the socket rockets! I just received mine and it makes life just that much more easy peasy. 🍻

[@erikvincent5846]

Nice teardown. I discovered your channel while looking up the Benson Fuzz's temperature mechanism. Once slight correction, though. That's not a molex header and connector, but rather a JST one.

[@carlospantoja2150]

I love the concept inside gear

[@TedSchoenling]

I hear all the collectors yelling "Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo" as the screws come out... I'm loving it

[@coquio]

I love this channel! Honestly, what an amazing find this was for me.

[@TheTubeDude]

Well look dude, I found it before you did.

[@moviescolin]

I know this is an older video, but I discovered your channel and keep your videos playing while I breadboard and try to build schematics for various effects or little instrument projects. The bit at 16:20 on was hilarious. Love that you don't cut stuff like that out. I feel represented, lol

[@shaynejoseph1527]

Love watching these videos…I’m realizing that especially with pedals like this, you must have the patience of a saint…putting this back together again, I would have utterly lost my shit in frustration haha.

[@graybenchelec]

I played it up a bit for the camera 😉

[@alirezaroshannahad]

Nice idea! That was great to see inside this interesting fuzz

[@boss351gt6]

It's really cool that boss used all new parts, especially the transistors. This is one of the best, most consistent tone benders in years. Wish I could get one =/

[@alexisdrosopoulos]

I really enjoyed your video man. Having taken apart several boss pedals myself, I can totally feel your frustration putting it back together. These pedals are built like tanks, but man, they're definately not a joy reassembling them. Also, that's a neat metcal unit you got back there.

[@graybenchelec]

Speaking of built like tanks, the metcal SP200 is an absolute workhorse. I can't kill the thing 😂

[@alexisdrosopoulos]

@@graybenchelec It's one of these equipments that you only need to buy once. My father still has his Weller from back in the 90s and it still works great. I opted for a Hakko myself and these things are well worth the hype. Metcal,Pace,JBC are on another level though imo.

[@backlom]

Fantastic tear down. Thank you. Keep it up.

[@scramblesthedeathdealer]

Impressive reassembly 👍

[@graybenchelec]

Thanks!

[@rjake61]

Thank you for your sacrifice.

[@graybenchelec]

I do what I can :)

[@PuttinOnTheRiffs]

I really love these videos man.

[@graybenchelec]

Thank you!

[@christophergrau]

thanks for this video -- nicely done!

[@graybenchelec]

Thank you!

[@jeremyreeves2731]

good vid, thanks

[@graybenchelec]

Thank you!

[@ErasmusNumber1]

Hey man, just a quick message to say I really enjoyed the vid 🤘🤘

[@graybenchelec]

Appreciate it!

[@CatharticGuitar]

I’m hoping to trade a new Wampler Germanium Tumnus Deluxe and a couple hundred dollars for one of these.

[@CatharticGuitar]

Nobody wanted to trade, so I bought one for double of the price it was new. I think I still saved money in the long run, because I could’ve spent more on two different fuzz pedals that I won’t need to buy now.

[@rottalmusik6563]

Thanks for this great Info!

[@robertmailloux3720]

Hello! How about some Dr.Scientist pedals! Like The Atmosphere pedal. Thx for your work.Have a good life!

[@UfeHypner]

Very interesting!

[@jonnyhafer7376]

what was the bump under what looked to be silver tape, on the other side of the board there didnt appear to be anything there.

[@jonliberman3146]

Great video. Did you go back and do any measurement of the voltage biasing at 9V? Also, curious if you plan on checking the Hfe and leakage of the transistors.

[@graybenchelec]

Yes I did! I posted the voltages over on FSB. No plan to measure the transistors currently.

[@moonsgin3817]

@@graybenchelec hi Joe what/where is “FSB”?

[@graybenchelec]

@@moonsgin3817 freestompboxes.org

[@RDHamel]

Well… it’ll be a while before we start seeing byocs of that.

[@ChemXFX]

Would love to know what measurements you got even with the voltage switch not at 9V.

[@cardosoguitarra]

Great! Best regardes! 👏👏

[@graybenchelec]

Thanks!

[@vkelly1975]

A friend has one and he broke the switch for switching between buffered and true bypass was told that he would have to replace the board,do you think that the switch could be replaced?

[@graybenchelec]

Don't see why not.

[@bradpittiful7288]

i think josh scott of jhs pedals touched on the germaniums...that boss got more than they needed for 3k pedals but they had to get them matched for consistency to be used in this pedal...not saying they wouldve made more if they had consistency to make 10k pedals...they may have just did 3k for this pedal

[@graybenchelec]

No doubt. I wouldn't be surprised if boss had to order 20-30k pieces. And that's even after they (probably) had Central Semi do pre-sorting.

[@patrickbutcherine142]

I do believe That silvery square thingy your unsure of, is the latest hi tech version of grounding the lid to the PCB

[@graybenchelec]

Nah, the plastic shield would prevent that.

[@chasesmith7483]

Awesome

[@orionktulu]

Take apart a MT-2W Waza craft please

[@flaconsius]

Your Videos are great, man. But I always wonder how can you peel a Tangerine with those nails?

[@graybenchelec]

Thanks! Ugh I know, I'm working on it.

[@flaconsius]

@@graybenchelec just kidding. Keep doing Videos on your own way. Cheers

[@graybenchelec]

@@flaconsius Nah it's true though! Thanks :)

[@kc.88]

Interesting! Haha... So wanted one of these... 😂

[@wreckoningday]

What were the voltages?

[@philipbrister]

That’s brave.

[@Marceloriighiii]

Wow, Nice work, subscrisbed to you channel, thanks for the video!!

[@robertoherov171]

Hello, Where did you post the measured voltages? Thanks,

[@graybenchelec]

freestompboxes.org

[@StratmanJerry]

Can you still order these from boss? This is awesome! I’ve been searching everywhere for someone to open one of these up to see the circuit inside, you’re probably the only person who’s done it so far. Can I buy this off you? Thanks

[@graybenchelec]

Unfortunately not, there was only a run of 3000 made. Not sure if they'll ever do more. But, there are plenty tone benders out there. Good luck!

[@skipper6528]

On reverb there is serial numbers exceeding 5000. 5272 5254 are two Check it out

[@skipper6528]

@@graybenchelec how much was the preorder cost? Between 650 - 1150 on reverb

[@graybenchelec]

@@skipper6528 the serials may not be sequential. 3k was what they said. The pedal was 350 new

[@skipper6528]

@@graybenchelec that could be the case. It's a terrible marketing idea though unless they were making more than was stated. I wouldn't be surprised. It's a nice Pedal and Sola sound charge £700 if I remember correctly. I enjoyed your video I was wondering why didn't you turn the three blue potentiometers? What do you reckon they would do to the sound?

[@dmac4793]

Great channell!.....The Grifting on this Boss pedal is up to 1000 on pedal sites now 🤣...Ahhhhhh NO!... dont get lost in materialism, one can have just as much fun with a fuzz for a tenth of the money.

[@patrickbutcherine142]

Love it when the warranty is voided before a pedal is even played!! Those screws are a certain torque and companies know when it's been opened just to peek inside

[@davemaverick8438]

unrelated to this boss pedal, but if some reissue 1:1 products or similar ones have so little components, why is their price still set high by manufacturer? is that actual cost of components or thats just hype price?

[@graybenchelec]

Modern TB type pedals can be had for similar prices to other pedals, but I know Macari's do still make tonebenders, and those are expensive. The name carries weight no doubt.

[@KenKuroGuitar]

I suspect the warranty is now voided.

[@davidb.6271]

Thanks for making that video, IMO it's highly overpriced if you count the price of the components plus SMD machine soldered

[@russianvideovlogguy]

It cost boss about 12 bucks to manufacture

[@davidb.6271]

@@russianvideovlogguy Including the case ? I'm not surprised

[@patrickbutcherine142]

And there is something wrong with the amount of parts. The magic of the vintage stuff was the interaction of the low purity materials used and SMD just dont have the same amount of material in each component, which is why they need 10 times the amount of components to GET CLOSE to the highly sought after super expensive vintage tone!! And that's fact too. Why do you need 200 SMD parts to get tone thats close to what 9‐22 thru hole components can accomplish!!

[@gregmize01]

I do the same thing to new pedals!😂

[@smolus0512]

12:58 This is SILICONE not SILICON, very different things. One is a plastic and one is an element used for making semiconductors.

[@rottalmusik6563]

And education!

[@electronicaudioexperiments]

Really enjoyed this! If I got my hands on one of these I'd have done the same (well, sans making an informative video about it), but scalpers gonna scalp. I guess ~10000 pieces is about what it takes to get custom Ge transistors from Central Semi though? Pretty cool. I'd be curious to know what SMPS controller they used to handle the voltage switching. That'd explain the inductor and huge filter caps. It also looks like there's another small SMT transistor nestled in close to the main signal path. Maybe for temperature stability? The silkscreen techniques are interesting too - my guess is that they're maximizing contrast for thru hole soldering spots to make it easy to spot flux residue. That's a really clever DFM trick.

[@graybenchelec]

Yeah it's not clear if these transistors are actual new production, or just relabeled NOS. Hard to imagine maintaining an entire Ge transistor production line for the super niche buyers though. I wonder if they put the big silkscreen pads for the reason you described, but then decided after the boards were made to use no-clean flux? Either way there's definitely still flux visible.

[@electronicaudioexperiments]

@@graybenchelec The package is reminiscent of other Central Semi parts - fairly standard TO-3 can, but with a rougher finish. I haven't seen any Ge parts like that, but maybe I haven't looked hard enough! Could be relabeled for sure. There are still facilities scattered across the globe doing small quantities of germanium, but they're impossible to access for most companies. After thinking about it, the silkscreen pads might instead be used for alignment of a selective solder machine. Especially if they're soldering thru hole parts after SMT reflow. Putting the whole board in a wave is risky.

[@graybenchelec]

@@electronicaudioexperiments Yeah that makes sense, I was thinking hand soldered just because of the abnormal transistor positioning, and the inconsistent flux at the solder joints.

[@electronicaudioexperiments]

​@@graybenchelec Also a great point. It's fun to speculate. Thanks again for the video. I take apart every pedal I buy, but I wasn't able to get my hands on one of these.

[@starshineraiser6729]

I just bought a new Blues Driver and it’s totally surface mount tiny chips. I’m not into them.

[@chiselcheswick5673]

Can I ask why? For sound reasons or the aesthetics of liking old style componentry?

[@starshineraiser6729]

@@chiselcheswick5673I prefer old style. Something about baking them that turns me off. With that said, I’ve gotten over it as that BD sounds magnificent. So, I’m torn.

[@stupot7281]

Not sure...........

[@bigdog3897]

Seth Rogan??

[@graybenchelec]

I will choose to take that as a massive compliment, thank you!

[@Elaleyelunivese]

1000 dollars for a just fine pedal but nothing elese?,,,,a real 24k Gold Logo???... maybe.

[@jonnyhafer7376]

that pedal was a failure as far as sounding like a tone bender. its a cool pedal but its not a great mk2 at least not in my opinion of what are good sounding ones

[@vintagetone22]

cheap crap built.first thing i notice the cheap chinese pot.crap this is what they use on cheap chinese pedals.not worth even 150 dollars.

[@thesimulations8900]

People still paying $1000 for these. I'd personally take anything by Pigdog, Jerms or D*A*M if I were looking for a $1000 fuzz. Look at their work of art circuits then look at this. Boss/Roland are still trying to ride off their legacy, but haven't made a quality product in so long. Cheaply made shit.

[@ileutur6863]

@@thesimulations8900 you two are such boomers lol. Look into the 200 and 500 series, almost strymon levels of quality there