Resonant Frequency: Boss DR-110 Snare

Snappy Level

So far, I've come up with 2 different modifications for the DR-110 snare sound. The first modification changes the volume of the "Snappy" level of the snare. This is the sound of the snares hitting the bottom head. By turning the Snappy level all the way down, the drum starts to sound much more like a tom. I've provided means for both manual and voltage control to give the most flexibility.

Here's the procedure I followed for this mod. First, you need to remove R81 from the voicing board of the DR-110. Install two wires between 4" and 6" long into the holes you took the resistor from. I connected these wires to a new circuit board that I built to hold the additional circuits. I found that a 50K linear potentiometer works well for the manual control of the level, and a 100K log pot seems to work well for the CV level. The new transistor can be a 2N3904, or an equivalent. A portion of the snare circuit is shown on the right to help illustrate the new additions. On the manual control pot (50K), connect the new wire from Q13 to terminal C on the pot, and the ground wire connects to both terminals A and B.

snappy.jpg (25346 bytes)

potback.jpg (4953 bytes)

Impact Pitch

The second snare modification allows you to adjust the Impact Pitch. This is the sound of the stick hitting the top head of the snare drum. By tuning the impact higher, you can approxmate the sound of a piccolo snare, and by turning it lower, you get a much fuller sound like you would with a taller snare shell. Again, this modification allows both manual and voltage control.

impact.jpg (27093 bytes)

potback.jpg (4953 bytes)

In this case, you remove R76 from the voicing board. Again, fly two new wires from the voicing board to the new board, and construct the circuit as shown. Again, a 50K linear and 100K log pot are used, along with a 1K resistor and 2N3904 transistor. In this case, connect the wire that is in contact with C35 / C29 / C31 to terminal A on the 50K pot. Connect the other (ground) wire to terminals B and C.

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Dave Magnuson