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- Boss DC-2 Dimension C

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Boss DC-2 Dimension C

by Alex Petrini

Hi people, here you get a chance to build maybe the best chorus ever made, the Boss DC-2 Dimension C.
Roland was very satisfied by his Dimension D chorus and decided to create a smaller and lighter version in order to be used by guitar.
The result was a small Boss-stylish pedal with a great sound and an horrible colour. The aim of this pedal was to add a thick dimension
to the sound as stated in "Boss Pocket Dictionary": A dimension effect adds tickness, depth and a sense of width to the sound - a 3D
effect. It's a sound similar to the chorus effect, but with the DC-2, amore dynamic and a much wider type of effect is produced, with a
minimum of the wavering that occurs in conventional chorus units.
At first glace, you'll probably notice the lack of knobs. The only way of changing the chorus parameter is by choosing from four presets
pushing one of the button on the top of the pedal.
An hidden feature of this circuit is a nice Through Zero Flanger option which can be easily added with a couple of resistors.
Althogh all these great features, the DC-2 never sold so much and, after less than 4 years of pruductio, was discontinued in September
1989.
More infos at Boss Area, the most comprehensive site about Boss comparct pedals.
Now these units are getting rare and valuable and, since I always wanted a DC-2, I thought about building one by myself...

The schematic
The factory schematic comes from JD Sleep's great site General Guitar Gadgets, but there were rumors about being not correct. Those
rumors where true, and here i put my corrected version. I chose to remove the four preset by removing the pushbuttons and using two
pot pots instead, which set speed and depth of the chorus.
Moreover, original bypassing circuitry (flip-flop + FETs) was removed in order to obtain true bypass.
Update 20/Oct/2011: By the time, a couple of other DC-2 chorus project were developed, and I think those are better than this one since
I now think that the bypass circuitry in the output stage plays a major role in mixing between dry and wet signal; shame on me for
removing that part! However, I'm still satisfied by my clone, I think I'll not build another similar project due to the high part count and the
overall complexity of the circuit, but take a look to the other - more faithful - clones of the DC-2.

Project status
Verified and working!
Prototype built? YES

PCB, layout and assembling

Please don't bugger me if there are so many jumpers, but, as always, I tried not to waste board space. The layout is a mess, but that's
the only way to fit 90 resistors, 60 caps, 11 ICs and a dozen of transistors in a 4"x4" board (actually that's not true... the original pedal
was built on a small board... shame on me!).
Print, etch, drill the board using the PCB pattern
. Once it's ready, check it again to be sure to use a working board.
Now comes the time of populating the board. There are some component ratings missing in the components list because I these
components have been removed from the factory schematics (many of them were used in the bypassing circuitry).
Begin with all the short jumpers that don't cross other components, then mount the resistors and diodes (take care of diode polarity,
follow the layout for correct orientation). Next come capacitors and IC sockets: there are many polarized caps, so take care of orienting
them correctly. Then go with transistors and trimmers. Finally, solder the longer jumpers with pieces of isolated wire and do the offboard
connections following the schematic.
Scott Stites pointed out that Q3 in the original pedal influences the stereo spreading since it isolates the outputs of the compander. In
the layout, pads are provided for soldering a SpDt switch instead of Q3 and all the circuitry. It will lack of automatism, but this switch
allows us to select stereo and mono mode manaully. THANKS SCOTT for all the suggestion about the DC-2!
Scott suggested to use a bigger rating for PT2, this will slow the LFO more when the pot if fully CCW.
Insert the ICs in the sockets if you used them and power the circuit.
Easy enough?

Power supply
This circuit requires +9 volts. Using a regulated power supply is reccomended, since this pedal sucks a lot of currunt and my dry your
battery at lightspeed.

Pics and clips

None yet.

Critical parts substitutions

This project uses many specific ICs that could not be easily found everywhere.
First of all, this circuit uses a couple of BBD lines which work in a parallel way. MN31xx and MN32xx series of BBD lines have been
discontinued a long time ago. Furtunately, BL3102 and BL3207 are direct pin-to-pin compatible, and they are longer more common and
easy to find.
NE570 is a compander chip, and it should have some direct replacements: for example, the NE571 is a cheaper replacement that works
well.
Op-ams involved in the audio path (IC1 and IC12) are M5218L in the original unit, but you can use any dual low-noise op-amp with
standard pinout.
IC5, IC6 and IC7 were BA718. I couldn't find the datasheet, but this IC has not standard pinout. I still have not tested which IC is best for
the LFO, but I provided standard pinout for these ICs so you can try bunches of them. Report me your impressions, since not all the ICs
may work in this section!
All the transistors were general purpose trans, so I chose BC549 and BC559 since I have dozens of them at home. I believe that every
transistor is good here, you maybe should check the pinout.
You can obtain a nice TZF effect by tapping compander IC11 out (pins 10/11 and 6/7) with a passive resistor network. The common
junction of this network is the TZF output.
Update 20/Oct/2011: Not really true, I couldn't find an easy way to add TZF to this board. If you manage to do it, drop me a line!

Summary and filelist

Boss DC-2 components list
Boss DC-2 schematic
Boss DC-2 layout
Boss DC-2 PCB
For reference only:
Boss DC-2 factory schematic

http://topopiccione.atspace.com/PJ18BossDC2.html 1/3
11/10/2017 Topopiccione Electronics Inc. - Boss DC-2 Dimension C

Matte kudasai.

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.:: LAST UPDATE ::.

20/Oct/2011

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Copyright Alessandro Petrini, 2005

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