Guitar Hero World Tour Drum Mod for Rock Band 2

by TeamSkenes

28K58

Intro: Guitar Hero World Tour Drum Mod for Rock Band 2

I began my addiction to faux drumming on guitar hero world tour. Having recently tried the drum controller on rock band 2 I was less than impressed. I did not like having to use the green drum for the crash cymbal in rock band 2 when there is a perfectly good cymbal pad on the guitar hero drums. To remedy this I have installed a switch to allow the right cymbal on the guitar hero drum controller to control the green drum pad and allow you to use it as the crash cymbal in rock band 2. Confused yet? It is a very simple mod and allows a more natural integration of the guitar hero drum controller into rock band 2.

You will need the following:
-soldering iron
-solder
-wire (a relatively small gauge)
- 1 DPDT switchDPDT switch (radioshack part # 275-407)
-dremel rotary tool for cutting hole

Simple Schematic

STEP 1: Disassemble the Drums

here is a view from the bottom of the controller after you have removed all of the screws (switch is installed here..will get to that shortly).

STEP 2: Unplug the Board and Remove

Next you need to remove the 2 screws securing the small circuit board where all of the drum pads and cymbals plug in.

STEP 3: Prepare/Strip the Wires and Tin

-Locate the wire from the right cymbal, unplug it, and cut it in half.
>You must then carefully strip the wire to reveal the white coated "cymbal +" wire and the bare
copper "cymbal -" wire. Tin the bare wire and the stripped white wire on both both sides of the cut.





-Filp the board over and identify the solder points for the plug that the green drum plugs into. Solder a wire onto the "green drum +" (green colored wire) and the "green drum -" (black colored wire). strip and tin the other end of both of these wires in preparation for the DPDT switch.

STEP 4: Cut and Drill Holes for the Switch

-Identify where you would like to place the switch and dremel out a hole and drill holes for the mounting screws

STEP 5: Solder the Wires to the Switch

Solder the wires onto switch as label in the picture below and the schematic. Be careful to maintain proper orientation of the + and - wires.

STEP 6: Mount the Switch and Assemble Controller

-Mount the DPDT switch using the supplied screws and assemble the controller. You can choose to place the switch where ever you like but I was too lazy to lengthen the cymbal wires.

STEP 7: Enjoy!

-Placing the switch to the left position allows the controller to behave normally when playing Guitar Hero.

-Sliding the switch to the right position now allows the orange cymbal to control the green drum. You may also hit the green drum as normal if you so desire.

This video demonstrates the switch in the freestyle mode of Rock Band 2:

8 Comments

rickyA 13 years ago

Hey peoples i'm new to this site,I have been reading some of your fixes and i'm amazed how simple you all explain them. I have worked in the automotive electronics repair for nearly 20 years repairing the computerized systems. your directions and pics deserve the highest kudos possible

JoeySchmidt 14 years ago

I did it slightly different, I just spliced in a wire on the green and orange signal lines and stuck a switch in the middle of that.

j0ey 14 years ago

I did a similar mod but just used a basic on/off switch to connect the green (+) and orange (+) on the underside of the board. (Also bridged the grounds (-) between the two.) This way you don't have to cut any wires and can easily desolder the wires in case you have to return your drums.

jmrank 15 years ago

Excellent idea... tried it, realized how poor my soldering skills are... but hot damn, it works!

DeusXMachina 15 years ago

I think you mean cymbal. A cymbal is a piece of metal you hit to get a crash noise, a symbol is a character or glyph that represents something.

TeamSkenes 15 years ago

yeah fixed it. Sooooooo nice of you to point that out

Decepticon 15 years ago

Too bad RB2 doesn't know the difference between them. With the cymbal kit (or a home made cymbal) RB2 turns the green pad into the third tom drum and the cymbal is the crash. Nice job!