[Harp-L] Boss OC-2 and harp optimization mods

[J Compton <jofjltn4@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

[According to my schedule of recurring harp-l topics, it's time to bring up the OC-2...so here it is, but a sub-topic that I couldn't find in the archives.]

I picked up a Boss OC-2 recently on ebay.  I'd love to say what a bargain it was, but instead, after being outbid on about a dozen of them, I finally put in a bid that won.  Compared to other similar auctions, it was a pretty good deal, no doubt helped by the seller misspelling 'octave' as 'octive'.  Lucked out that it was MIJ even though it wasn't specified as such.

My experience with it is consistent with what has been posted before.  It drops out (octave-wise) around C harp blow 5, My amp set-up is too wimpy to know how low it goes.  Even with the octave knobs all the way down, I do like that compression thing it does.  It's subtle, but in a good way.  I've heard the explanation that it is a *guitar* pedal, so it is designed for guitars, not harps...which got me thinking...is it possible that one of the doohickeys on the circuit board...(okay, fine, one of the capacitors or other electronic components)...is there to limit the input range to that of a guitar?  Or perhaps is optimized for input from a guitar?  If so, would it be possible to mod it in a way to optimize it for harp?  It seems possible (but I'm an accountant, so what do I know).  My glimpse inside when I installed a battery (which I need to do again since I left it on) was dimly lit, but I don't remember the guts of it being that tightly compressed and they seemed fairly accessible.

As you can tell, I'm not an electronics/circuit board expert...but I bet there are at least a few of those on harp-l.  Have any of you pursued this idea?  I'd love to hear about, success or not...(in fact, especially the failures as I'll probably charge boldly down this path sometime soon and would love to avoid repeating someone else's mistakes).

Thanks,
Jonathan Compton