Below are a Budda© PHATMAN and a ZENMAN (both anodized) with the Presence and Mid control modification. We add the correct value
pots and add Budda style knobs or chicken head knobs. Both have all the noisy ceramic capacitors replaced with smooth sweet sounding
silver-mica capacitors as well. This mod gives the pedal a nice (think Plexi) creamy tone. I also recommend (when using a Zen Man) that you
replace the first tube, the one on the left, with a NOS Jan-Phillips (green Label 5*) mil-spec 5751. Lots of requests for this mod lately. If you are
interested the mod costs $125.00 which includes return shipping. This also includes all new silver mica capacitors, 2 new pots, your choice of
knobs, and 2 new JJ 12AX7 tubes if needed! We recently changed this mod slightly. We are no longer drilling out the tube cover plate. The
new pots will be mounted directly below the gain and volume knobs about an inch. This optimizes tube maintenance. The picture below on the
left is an example of the new pot locations. Labeling will also be added. Just added, Budda Fat man converted to a rack mount. Sounds great,
less noise, more headroom, much more articulate. Added 09/19/2009
pots and add Budda style knobs or chicken head knobs. Both have all the noisy ceramic capacitors replaced with smooth sweet sounding
silver-mica capacitors as well. This mod gives the pedal a nice (think Plexi) creamy tone. I also recommend (when using a Zen Man) that you
replace the first tube, the one on the left, with a NOS Jan-Phillips (green Label 5*) mil-spec 5751. Lots of requests for this mod lately. If you are
interested the mod costs $125.00 which includes return shipping. This also includes all new silver mica capacitors, 2 new pots, your choice of
knobs, and 2 new JJ 12AX7 tubes if needed! We recently changed this mod slightly. We are no longer drilling out the tube cover plate. The
new pots will be mounted directly below the gain and volume knobs about an inch. This optimizes tube maintenance. The picture below on the
left is an example of the new pot locations. Labeling will also be added. Just added, Budda Fat man converted to a rack mount. Sounds great,
less noise, more headroom, much more articulate. Added 09/19/2009
The modifications to the Zenman allow more tone control and reduce the white noise. The presence pot gives you the ability to remove some
of the Treble in the mix rather than removing it straight out using the Treble control which actually cuts the Treble frequencies. The Presence
control allows the Treble frequencies to remain but reduces the brightness kind of like an old Marshall amp. The Mid range pot gives you the
ability to adjust the Mid frequencies for a scooped or added Mid frequency effect. The Mid pot is very subtle but is noticeable. The Mid pot
must be adjusted before the Bass and Treble are turned up. The rest of the mod is that I remove the ceramic disk capacitors and replace all of
them with Silver-Mica capacitors. This really sweetens the sound up and reduces the amount of white noise that is injected into the pedal by
the ceramic disk capacitors. Silver Mica is very temperature and electrically stable and is an excellant capacitor material which really works
well with instrument frequencies in tube based applications, the only capacitors that would work better are foil-in-oil and they are quite large
and expensive. I would also recommend purchasing a NOS Jan-Phillips 5* Green label 5751 preamp tube and replacing the left or first tube in
the pedal. This will really smooth out the pedal even more after the modifications. The amount of distortion is reduced very slightly, however the
overall tone is much improved with this tube. Of course tone is an individual thing and what sounds good to me may not sound good to you.
of the Treble in the mix rather than removing it straight out using the Treble control which actually cuts the Treble frequencies. The Presence
control allows the Treble frequencies to remain but reduces the brightness kind of like an old Marshall amp. The Mid range pot gives you the
ability to adjust the Mid frequencies for a scooped or added Mid frequency effect. The Mid pot is very subtle but is noticeable. The Mid pot
must be adjusted before the Bass and Treble are turned up. The rest of the mod is that I remove the ceramic disk capacitors and replace all of
them with Silver-Mica capacitors. This really sweetens the sound up and reduces the amount of white noise that is injected into the pedal by
the ceramic disk capacitors. Silver Mica is very temperature and electrically stable and is an excellant capacitor material which really works
well with instrument frequencies in tube based applications, the only capacitors that would work better are foil-in-oil and they are quite large
and expensive. I would also recommend purchasing a NOS Jan-Phillips 5* Green label 5751 preamp tube and replacing the left or first tube in
the pedal. This will really smooth out the pedal even more after the modifications. The amount of distortion is reduced very slightly, however the
overall tone is much improved with this tube. Of course tone is an individual thing and what sounds good to me may not sound good to you.
Here are a modified Zenman and Phatman. The
Zenman had six coats of paint 3 purple 3 red.
Must have been a Phatman before it was a
Zenman. The paint was too thick to allow the
new pots to be fastened down properly so I
bead blasted the paint off the tube cover and
polished it.
Zenman had six coats of paint 3 purple 3 red.
Must have been a Phatman before it was a
Zenman. The paint was too thick to allow the
new pots to be fastened down properly so I
bead blasted the paint off the tube cover and
polished it.
