Boss CS-3 Compressor Sustainer modded

I also purchased the Monte Allums CS-3 Opto Mod, and installed it myself late last year (2007). It takes about 1 to 1.5 hrs, depending on how fast you are with a soldering iron. Instructions were great, very easy to follow for non-electronics nerds like me.

The original CS-3 was totally useless -- too much noise, bad compression. The improvement is like night and day. I always take the Monte Allums modded CS-3 with me to gigs -- it's a standard part of my setup now.

Never any problems.

No issues -- no problems.

The best $20 bucks I ever spent on guitar gear.

This is the Monte Allum Mod. If you're into electronics building you can do this mod. Replaces several capacitor, diodes and the op amp.

I play custom built tele's, mostly country. I play thru british voiced amps, currently using a peavey 112 valve king. A compressor is a necessary effect that really is more about the dynamics. The original pedal was more a noisy volume pedal. With the mod it actually has the pump sound that a studio compressor has. The pedal is very quiet, and the tone control is very smooth. Compressors are more about what they don't add. The boss with it's four control knobs is a very usable pedal with lots of control. With the mod it is very transparent.

Built like a tank

Great Mod. very worth the money and time(bout 90 min) Be careful of the wiring coming loose, if you have a digital camera take some pictures before you start modding. if a wire is suddenly hanging loose with no evidence of where it came from the picture will get you hooked up again. Also watch the polarity. The traces on the board can come up or off too.