Humphrey Audio Boss CS-3 Mod

Hmmmmmm. Four knobs. That was easy...

Smoothes out the cleans from my Epi LP (Duncan JB in the bridge, Jazz in the neck) verrrrrry nicely. I also use it after my OCD to cut down on huge volume differences for our sound guys when I crank the volume knob on the LP for crunch. No added noise after this mod!!

Um, it's a Boss.

Mark has done two mods for me. A Bad Monkey (try this pedal, you owe it to yourself) and another CS-3 that I gave to a guy in a band going overseas on tour. Why? Well, he needed it and I guess it was just the right thing to do. Doh! After two days, I went searching for another Humphrey CS-3. I found one on eB*y, but I could not tell if it was a guitar or bass modded CS-3. I called the number off the Humphrey Audio website, and Mark answered. He told me that the location of the sticker was the key (by the 9V input for guitar). He even remembered that he had done those two earlier units for me. Whoa. I was very impressed! Thanks Mark for an awesome product and excellent customer care!!

I'm 47, been playing guitar for 30+ years, and now play in our Praise and Worship band at church. Chimey cleans and subtle crunch is the ticket for me. I'm very happy with Mark's CS-3. I tried the Tone Press from Barber and it was very good as well, but this modded CS-3 blows me away.

The platform is a solid Boss pedal with straight forward controls.

After purchasing a stock Boss CS-3 Compressor nearly 4 years ago, I quickly removed it from my pedal board. The stock CS-3 simply added too many artifacts to the sound for my taste. Even the most gentle compression settings added a thick muffled choke to my guitar tone.

The Humphrey mod allows for a wide range of usable and virtually transparent compression settings. It can be kept "on" at all times to moderate inconsistant technique when playing live. (Come on...we all get a little sloppy during the excitment of a live performance) Or it can be used to coax great sustain from overdriven notes with little or no background noise.

The platform pedal is a Boss.

Wow.
Mark Humphrey is knowledable, responds quickly to requests for information, and his turn-around time is excellent. More importantly, he seems genuinely interested in helping customers like me get great tone.

You???ve probably heard the hype surrounding Mark Humphrey???s work on the Boss CS-3 Compressor. Great results and outstanding customer service at reasonable costs. Well, if my experience is any indicator, the hype is true. As of this date (February 2008) the cost for modifying my CS-3 was $55.00. I would have paid twice that amount and considered it a bargain. If you have, as I did, a CS-3 that sits around unused, send it to Mark Humphrey. You will be amazed at the pedal that comes back to you.

After the modification, i mainly use this set:
LEVEL-5 TONE-0 ATTACK-10 SUTAIN-5

The pedal does not weak the signal anymore and the upgrade made the compression suitable with the better analog pedals i have.

I play a 335 and a strat electric guitars through vintage valve combos.

ok as any boss

Humphrey professional attitude have excellent communication,works fast and international dealing, enough said.

Finnally, i also liked the new purple led installed,
but the pedal actually sounds much better and thats what is really important.

I was really about to get another compressor before i sent the CS-3 to modify..enough said.

Mine is a HUMPHREY AUDIO MODS refurb.
DEAD EZ to get great tone from, especially with Humphrey's recommended settings.

I'm getting a GREAT Knopfler tone from my Suhr classics and my amps.
It's the compression I've ALWAYS wanted and spent WAY too much money trying to find. The hiss is gone, attack is PERFECT!
Jim Messina (loggins and Messina, Buffalo Springfield, Poco,..) turned me onto Humphrey Audio effects.

I have no worries, however I do tour with a backup.

The company is VERY helpful. Mark Humphrey answers all questions and gives support after the sale.
VERY tone savvy individual.
The comapany has a great reputation among professional players, and I'm seeing more and more Humphrey Audio gear out there.

I'm a spport player behind a popular female artists, and I also do studio work often as well as xcall gigs around the LA area.
I've been a pro player for 18 years, and have quite an array of electric guitars and amps, all of which sound greatwith the Humphrey Audio effects I use. I've send them some of my olod favorites to mod, and those pedals are nothing short of AMAZING!!
They have a website at http://humphrey.4.googlepages.com/humphreyaudiopedalmods

I have owned this pedal for some time so Mark's modification, while invisible to the eye gave me no problems dialing it in. The less than 10 rating related to Boss' 4 knob control which is tedious at best. Mark's wizardry only improved upon their convoluted design.

Mark's rework of this pedal is very exciting. I've got a Mesa LSS that Mr. Smith tauts as being able to access ALL harmonics. Thought it was all hype until I tweeked the pedal to the following:
Level - 1:00, Tone - 2:30, Attack 11:00 and sustain at 5:00. Once I go there, low and behold, THERE were the Harmonics Randall promised! Increadible gut quivering tone. This was achieved with primarily humbuckers on both solid body and semi-hollows and on several different tube amps. I'm kind of a purist that way. The one draw back is the noise when not playing anything. Yes, I could step off the pedal at the end of a particular song, but then who knows where I"ll be. The noise not withstanding, this is a fabulous pedal mod and definitely worth the price!

It IS after all originally made by Boss...It could go through a war and come out fine

Mark is excellent about staying in touch. He even allowed me to "test-drive" the mod at no risk to me. He knew I was going to do a stand alone test and a side by side comparrison with a boutique compressor and he was fine with it and here are the results. While I'm not going to disclose the other manufacturer, I can tell you that the noise mentioned above not withstanding, this is a phenominal mod and very well worth the $40.00 to have Mark's hocus-pocus added to it...without the price tag of a boutique model!

I play pretty much everything from Abba to Zepplin (No-Rap though) and this pedal is great. Do I need almost a full minute of face melting sustain? Probably not, but it is cool to watch the band or what I perceive to be guitarists in the audience faces squinch in disbelief...then ask me how! I've been playing over 30 years and this mod is easily the least expensive, most effective mod I"ve run across. that should read most bang for the buck!