IndyGuitarist CS-3 Mod

After the IndyGuitarist CS-3 Mod, the controls become very responsive and they DO exactly what they should do, so it becomes easy to get the sound and dynamic response that you want.

After the mod, the controls become alive and working all the way from 0 to 10, very responsive. The splat thing is over and it doesn??t has that limiter feel stealing your playing and tone. The sound is big, open, fat and very responsive to your playing at almost any setting.
I tried this pedal and keeley compressor and the sound/playing on the modded cs3 was more natural (for me and for the owner of the keeley). Setting that i??m using:
volume 1 o??clock
tone 1 or 2 o??clock
attack 1 o??clock
compr 11 o??clock
As a bonus it can be a very, very nice clean booster at some settings.

I did the mod myself so if it stops, it should be my fault.

Brian always answered the e-mails. Always very helpfull.

Playing professional for more than 20 years, this is the first compressor that I bought. After trying some new ones (keeley, Demeter)I became interested since they are better now. I was going to buy a barber tone press but I bought an used boss to mod since it is easy and cheap to find here.
If you don??t like compressors or want something different from traditional ones try the Indiguitarist cs-3, you may be surprised.

Makes this pedal a one off. I go to blues jams in clubs and bring this now. No one says," Aannhh, I had one..." They all say," Wow, what is that?"

I say it is a HINDI Guitarist Compressor Special Pedal in a CS-3 box.

As I am on the Quest for the HOLY GROWL of CLEAN SUSTAIN. This dog barks. (What does he mean, "this dog barks"?) It's the kill swill. I've owned three old Dyna Comps, a CS-2, a CS-1, a CP-835 and a Ross Compressor. Buy a CS-3. Have the HINDI GUITARIST modify it. And be done with it.

Amazing variations with the four controls. The tone control and the attack control now have highly audible functions. "No biological function!*!*"

See Customer Support.

I bought the kit. Had a friend install it. 6 months later, pedal is humming. BY ITSELF!?!??!?!?!?!

Emailed the HINDI GUITARIST. He said send it here. I did. He sent it back much improved, saying he had improved the kit. He included $5 CASH!*!* to pay back my shipping cost.

That was two years ago. It is first and sometimes the only pedal I use.

Best compressor deal on the planet. IMAHO.

I have gone through 6 compressors. I used to load one compressor into another one. Trying combos. For that HOLY GROWL of CLEAN SUSTAIN. Sold one Ibanez CP-835, two MXR Block Logo Compressors, one CS-2, one CS-1, and traded one Ross Compressor for JJ SC pickups. This would go on my funeral pyre if it would burn. As it is, I'll use it as my wheel stop on my hearse. (Gives a new meaning to the word "rehearsal", don't it*!*)

Actually makes playing guitar easier. Lazy man's way to fretboard Nirvana.

I bought the spec sheets from Brian Wampler (IndyGuitarist) and did the mods myself. The spec sheets were easy to follow, Brian specifies the replacement component you need to solder in. No schematics or circuit diagrams, though, that would have been even more interesting. Following Brian's specs are easy if you have prior electronics experience.

The sound quality has definitely improved. Earlier the tone control would shift the tone from a dull useless tone to a sharp shrill tone. Now with the mod, I can set the tone knob at max and get a nice full bodied sound from it. The mod somehow seems to affect the attack control, the behaviour is somewhat slightly different now and not so obvious as it was before the mod.

With the stock pedal, my settings were, volume at 3/4ths, tone at 12:00 o'clock, attack at 10:00 o'clock and sustain at 10:00 o'clock. Now after the mod, I get the best sound with tone at near max, attack at 12:00 o'clock and sustain at 12:00 o'clock.

The changes due to this mod are subtle but make the pedal far more useable. Now I never switch it off.

I hope my soldering is good :)

Didn't need to contact Brian for help.

I bought the whole mod kit for $25. You can get good results if you blindly follow Brian's instructions, but for the best results, you need to tweak your cap / res values to get the kind of tone you like. Brian's mod specs are an excellent starting point, which should get you started on your way to modding the heck out of your pedals as a first step, but the fun really is in tweaking the mods or coming up with your own mods.

I bought the complete kit with parts and instructions. The parts were taped to sheet making it simple to ID the parts and the instructions were perfect.

I was a looking for a cheaper alternative to the Keeley and the Bi-comprosser (I still have both). The Boss pedals seemed to not have enough headroom and would squish to life out of a guitar. The Indy mods made the pedal very usable, cut the noise and fixed the squish problem. I think of it as more sustain and less limiter. This is the best deal in the world if you already have the Boss pedal.

That depends on your soldering skills.

Excellent.

You won't be sorry.

Alot easier to get a good sound out of it now than it was before. The mod was really easy to do too. I did it myself and I have pretty much zero background in electronics.

This mod has taken an otherwise pretty lame Boss Compressor an turned into a warm, fat, quality sounding pedal. I was reluctant to do it at first, but I'm so glad I did. Before it was really tough to get a good sound that didn't effect my tone too much. Now it's actually improved my tone to the point where I'm dissapointed to turn it off. Far less splatty too.

There are actually two versions of this mod, the old 'Ross Mod' and the newer 'Fat Body Mod'. The second is the same as the first, but with some extra measures to reduce noise and increase bass. I have to say, it's not alot quieter than before, and I didn't do all the 'extra bass' changes (I did one of them, but not the other), because my rig has plenty of bass as it is.

I haven't had the mos for long, but Boss pedals are pretty reliable. I have had the un-modded pedal for a few years without any problems.

I haven't dealt with Indyguitarist.com myself, as I got the mod from a friend, but they're apparently helpful and good to deal with.

I would totally reccomend anyone with a Boss CS-3 to do this mod. The instructions cost about $10 US, and it's totally worth it. It improves the pedal immensley. I found it easy to perform and all you need is a soldering iron and a few cheap components.

Well, it's a Boss CS-3. The mod doesn't change any controls or anything. Fairly easy to set uup.

I use this for bass. This is a great mod for the money (next to nothing!) This really cut down on the noise and smoothed out the boss' tone. The compression seems like it is still the same, but the pedal has a much more neutral tonal effect on my bass. If I avoid heavy squash it is now one of those "can't hear anything till you turn it off" compressors.

Just as reliable as a boss pedal which is pretty reliable.

Hmmm, Indyguitarist sells DIY mod kits over the internet, but I just picked this up on EBAY so I have no experience with them.

Play all kinds of music. This mod turns a finicky, somewhat one dimensional pedal into a high quality compressor. No, it's not a Demeter, but it is close. If you already own a CS-3, this is a no brainer. Get the mod!