Boss DS-1 "Oddball"

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Old_Iron
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Re: Boss DS-1 "Oddball"

Post by Old_Iron » Sun Aug 29, 2021 12:31 am

After my last post here I found some others DS-1 pedals that have the same characteristics: long dashes, black thumbscrews, "use a coin" back labels...

Now it is like a warning signal to me, every time I see a 6 digits stamped batch number, "bang", it's another strange DS-1 from the same era and with the same characteristics, I even saw another one with the same made in Taiwan pcb, like mine.

This time it's an OD-1, batch 211000 stamped, with the "use a coin" back label, but no other mismatch, except by the MIT pcb!!!

As I mentioned before, the Boss book says that the mysterious collector Mr. "M" has/had an OD-1 from 1988 that has the MIT pcb, and that is presented as a rarity.

Just recently I bought a 1988 OD-1 (890551 April) and it does not have any abnormality, plain JRC4558DD with black stripe diodes and the expected orange capacitors used at the end of the Japanese production and early Taiwan's.

As I asked before, who was refurbishing those pedals?

I think we should try hard to solve this mystery, maybe one of the last pieces of information about vintage Boss pedals yet unknown.

This OD-1 is really beaten up (horrible condition) and a bit expensive. :cry:

Should I buy this OD-1 with MIT pcb?

Is it, really, a collectible feature?

The print is hard to see in the picture, maybe you have to adjust the brightness of your screen:

Image

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fernieite
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Re: Boss DS-1 "Oddball"

Post by fernieite » Sun Aug 29, 2021 12:16 pm

I wonder if some of the PCBs that Boss received at that particular time (early 80s) were made in Taiwan, but the assembly of the entire pedal was made in Japan?

I'm now thinking, that because of the number of these pedals showing up, that theses are perhaps all original vintage pedals.

I suppose that, yes, you should buy that OD-1. :D

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Old_Iron
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Re: Boss DS-1 "Oddball"

Post by Old_Iron » Sun Aug 29, 2021 2:26 pm

fernieite wrote:
Sun Aug 29, 2021 12:16 pm
I wonder if some of the PCBs that Boss received at that particular time (early 80s) were made in Taiwan, but the assembly of the entire pedal was made in Japan?

I'm now thinking, that because of the number of these pedals showing up, that theses are perhaps all original vintage pedals.

I suppose that, yes, you should buy that OD-1. :D
Hey fernieite,

I think that they are all original vintage pedals, and they were all assembled (or reassembled) in Japan, due to the amount of them being found in Japan nowadays and very few out of Japan.

If the pcbs where just a case of Boss outsourcing the manufacturing to somebody in Taiwan, the pedals would be just like a normal pedal, the only difference would be the pcb.

But those pedals have a mix of different external components, and I saw some that the pcb was not MIT.

On top of that, the ever present 6 digits stamped batch numbers, completely out of the normal Boss production at that time.

To me, it is a refurbishing work done by, either Boss, an authorized technician or a private individual (less likely).

Small details like the back label being that type with a sticker "Made in Japan" peeled off showing the "Roland Japan" text below it, combined with the 6 digits stamped batch number, seems to be an intentional thing to set them apart from the regular production line.

If any of you guys have a connection with somebody that, in turn, have a connection with Boss Japan, could be a way to solve the mystery.

I think that only the elderly Boss employees (retired already) could remember what happened at that time.

I will send an email to Boss asking them, but I'm not optimistic that they will give us an elucidative answer, let's see.

About buying that OD-1, if you see the appearance of that pedal, looks like people played soccer in a cement ground with it being the ball.

For a way cheaper price I would buy it, but it is hard to do it for that price, almost US$ 350.00 plus shipment and taxes, outch!

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fuzzbuzzfuzz
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Re: Boss DS-1 "Oddball"

Post by fuzzbuzzfuzz » Tue Aug 31, 2021 1:37 am

1) I have seen the same OD-1 with a Taiwan PCB here in Japan.
2) Yoshi, the BOSS boss is on the Facebook group and Instagram and is very approachable/answers coments :D

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Old_Iron
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Re: Boss DS-1 "Oddball"

Post by Old_Iron » Tue Aug 31, 2021 6:41 pm

fuzzbuzzfuzz wrote:
Tue Aug 31, 2021 1:37 am
1) I have seen the same OD-1 with a Taiwan PCB here in Japan.
2) Yoshi, the BOSS boss is on the Facebook group and Instagram and is very approachable/answers coments :D
I never heard about them until I read in the Boss book about the Mr "M's" OD-1 with the MIT pcb.

The information I had about those 6 digits stamped batch numbers was that Boss had some sort of stickers shortage and therefore went back momentarily to stamped numbers.

I will try a direct approach to Mr. Yoshi, lets see if he can answer us.

Thank you very much fuzzbuzzfuzz .

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Old_Iron
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Re: Boss DS-1 "Oddball"

Post by Old_Iron » Tue Aug 31, 2021 7:09 pm

Just sent this message to Boss_jpn (Instagram):

Hello Boss people. My name is Danilo Carrazzone, 53 years old, and I am a Boss compact line collector with more than 200 units. I would like to ask you a question about vintage Boss pedals. There are some pedals from the 1982/83 period with 6 digits stamped batch numbers, that have a few differences from the "regular" production. One of those differences is a Made in Taiwan printed circuit board. I have a theory that those units are refurbished pedals, and the MIT pcb is an original Boss replacement part. Could you please explain to us, collectors, if this is correct, and if so, who did that refurbishing work? Thank you very much in advance. Best regards, Danilo Carrazzone

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Old_Iron
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Re: Boss DS-1 "Oddball"

Post by Old_Iron » Sat Sep 11, 2021 3:43 pm

fuzzbuzzfuzz wrote:
Tue Aug 31, 2021 1:37 am
1) I have seen the same OD-1 with a Taiwan PCB here in Japan.
2) Yoshi, the BOSS boss is on the Facebook group and Instagram and is very approachable/answers coments :D
Well, as I suspected, no answer from Boss_jpn.

I think I am just a "baka gaijin" for them. :lol:

Fuzzbuzzfuzz, could you please post here the exactly link to Mr. Yoshi's page on Facebook?

After a looong time, I entered my FB page and couldn't find the right Boss/Yoshi page, too many Boss Yoshi/Yoshiro pages, and FB keeps sending me to the Brazilian Boss page.

I guess I'm too old for Facebook, or any other social media. :oops:

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bigtone23
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Re: Boss DS-1 "Oddball"

Post by bigtone23 » Thu Oct 14, 2021 6:11 pm

Old_Iron wrote:
Tue Aug 31, 2021 7:09 pm
Just sent this message to Boss_jpn (Instagram):

Hello Boss people. My name is Danilo Carrazzone, 53 years old, and I am a Boss compact line collector with more than 200 units. I would like to ask you a question about vintage Boss pedals. There are some pedals from the 1982/83 period with 6 digits stamped batch numbers, that have a few differences from the "regular" production. One of those differences is a Made in Taiwan printed circuit board. I have a theory that those units are refurbished pedals, and the MIT pcb is an original Boss replacement part. Could you please explain to us, collectors, if this is correct, and if so, who did that refurbishing work? Thank you very much in advance. Best regards, Danilo Carrazzone
I would guess the same, it's a refurb or "Partscaster" of sorts. The early MIT boards and such are a direct drop in. I have a 86 DS1 and used to have an 89 MIT DS1 that was pretty much identical in most every way-including the sound/tone. I haven't opened up the 86 in a long time, perhaps it's a MIT board? I dunno, but it does look different in terms of color and traces.
It would have been easy to swap boards, jacks, etc... I gave the MIT back to my friend when I found the 86.
The MIJ is on the left, the MIT on the right.
ImageImageImage

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Old_Iron
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Re: Boss DS-1 "Oddball"

Post by Old_Iron » Thu Oct 14, 2021 7:00 pm

bigtone23 wrote:
Thu Oct 14, 2021 6:11 pm
I would guess the same, it's a refurb or "Partscaster" of sorts. The early MIT boards and such are a direct drop in. I have a 86 DS1 and used to have an 89 MIT DS1 that was pretty much identical in most every way-including the sound/tone. I haven't opened up the 86 in a long time, perhaps it's a MIT board? I dunno, but it does look different in terms of color and traces.
It would have been easy to swap boards, jacks, etc... I gave the MIT back to my friend when I found the 86.
Yeah, I'm totally convinced that it is a refurbished unit, I have seen so many with the same characteristics, same period 1982/83, early 80's old style components (capacitors, pcb, etc.), 6 digits stamped batch number, same kind of black label, and the most important, the "Made in Taiwan" writen in the PCB.

No pedal post 89/90 truly MIT has "Made in Taiwan" writen in the PCB, ever.

The mystery is who refurbished ?

As I said before, this is one of the last unknown piece of information about vintage Boss pedals, and I would like to know that, but Boss is a "dumb-dumb" about their own products and history, as seen in so many mistakes in the Boss book.

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Analog Sound Channel
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Re: Boss DS-1 "Oddball"

Post by Analog Sound Channel » Tue Mar 15, 2022 4:20 am

Greetings to everyone on the forum, this is my first post. Sorry for the English, I'm from Brazil and I use google translate.

I've been collecting Boss for 10 years, however I have few units because I don't have money.
I think collecting is not just about acquiring items, so I do research work on Boss and other brands all this time.
Most of my files are photographs, but I also have some service notes.

i have seen some of these anomalies among my files, i never thought about the possibility that they are remanufactured pedals, this seems like a good explanation but what explains the 6 digit stamp?

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