BOSS RC-3 Rehouse

I recently rehouse my BOSS RC-3 in a 1590N1, and I thought I would share a few things I learned and the pictures. I wanted to add a second footswitch to access stop and the next loop function. Some people just add a second switch straight to the BOSS enclosure, but I also wanted to change the main footswitch to a regular footswitch instead of the one that’s part of the heavy BOSS case, as I find it hard to time when looping.


These are some of the things particular to this build:

– I used a Hammond 1590N1, as I could get the powder coasted 1590N1BK version. Some people use a 125B
– I think because there is a lot crammed on the PCB, I had to sand down the edges of the enclosure to get it to fit between the screw points
– The next loop button requires a normally closed momentary switch. These are hard to find. Carling make some, but they’re really expensive. Alpha make some too, but these have a slight click. You can get one similar to the alpha switch on eBay here.
– You can use a standard soft touch normally off momentary switch if you just want stop and for the main bypass button.
– I wanted to be able to do stop and next loop, so I added a DPDT toggle switch to switch between these two functions.
– I staggered the footswitches in terms of height so that you don’t accidentally hit the wrong one.
– I wanted to be able to fit pancake plugs so I spread out the jacks a little compared to how they were on the original.
– BOSS mount the control panel with some screws to the inside of the enclosure, I had to drill holes and put a screw right through the front panel (which I guess I could paint to look better)
– Don’t mount the control panel too close to the top of the enclosure. The Hammond screw holes are thicker than the BOSS ones so it can hit the PCB of the control panel. I came pretty close and had to sand a bit more away, as well as a little of the PCB.
– The power on/off is connected to the Out-A jack

Here are the pictures:


Reader Comments

  1. Hey brother!

    I was wondering if you could maybe help this guy out with his RC-3 pot issue…..

    https://groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=67759.0

    Not sure if you’ve ever visited the Groupdiy forum but I enjoy it and it’s nice to try to help guys out when I can…Someone already linked your RC-3 mod photos and that’s how I found you here…

    Thanks!
    Scott

  2. Hi. I’ve only just seen this. I’ve added a few more pictures showing the control, and which pins it goes to on the board. Pins 1 are joined on each pot and go to ground (pin 4 on board), as well as pins 3 go to the red wire (pin 1 on board). Pin 2 from the top pot (rhythm volume) goes to pin 2 on board, and pin 2 from the bottom pot (loop volume) goes to pin 3 on the board.

  3. Hi,
    I’m not an eletronic expert, I wonder if there is a simple way to control the volume of Boss rc3 by feet (connected with a pedal).
    Let me know, thank you.
    Alessio

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