Boss DS-1 "Oddball"

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Old_Iron
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Re: Boss DS-1 "Oddball"

Post by Old_Iron » Tue Mar 15, 2022 5:09 pm

Analog Sound Channel wrote:
Tue Mar 15, 2022 4:20 am
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?
Hello Analog Sound Channel, welcome. (Bemvindo)

The stamped six digits, I think it was a method Boss used to differentiate that "parallel" production line from the main production line, which at that time was already using paper sticker batch numbers.

I think that Boss only marketed those "recycled" pedals inside Japan, that's why they don't have "Made in Japan" sticker covering the "Roland Japan" text on the back label.
Last edited by Old_Iron on Tue Mar 15, 2022 6:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Boss DS-1 "Oddball"

Post by Pepe » Tue Mar 15, 2022 5:23 pm

That's very interesting, Old_Iron!

And welcome to the forum, Ananlog Sound Channel! :)
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Re: Boss DS-1 "Oddball"

Post by Old_Iron » Tue Mar 15, 2022 5:53 pm

Pepe wrote:
Tue Mar 15, 2022 5:23 pm
That's very interesting, Old_Iron!

And welcome to the forum, Ananlog Sound Channel! :)
Yeah Pepe, after seeing so many OD-1, DS-1 and SD-1 with the same "anomalies", I think it was Boss itself who put together those units, recycling battery lids with long dashes (not in use at that time, 82/83), back labels with the "use a coin" text and not putting the Made in Japan sticker over the Roland Japan text, etc.

After all this time since I bought my DS-1 "oddball", I came to the conclusion that it was a parallel assembly line Boss created to recycle parts that was not in conformity with the main production, importing already populated pcb from Taiwan in order to make this parallel line profitable and practical, not disturbing the the main production.

But, as everything that comes from Boss vintage pedals, it could be something completely different.

mojostompboxes
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Re: Boss DS-1 "Oddball"

Post by mojostompboxes » Sat Apr 09, 2022 9:41 pm

Old_Iron wrote:
Tue Mar 15, 2022 5:53 pm
Pepe wrote:
Tue Mar 15, 2022 5:23 pm
That's very interesting, Old_Iron!

And welcome to the forum, Ananlog Sound Channel! :)
Yeah Pepe, after seeing so many OD-1, DS-1 and SD-1 with the same "anomalies", I think it was Boss itself who put together those units, recycling battery lids with long dashes (not in use at that time, 82/83), back labels with the "use a coin" text and not putting the Made in Japan sticker over the Roland Japan text, etc.

After all this time since I bought my DS-1 "oddball", I came to the conclusion that it was a parallel assembly line Boss created to recycle parts that was not in conformity with the main production, importing already populated pcb from Taiwan in order to make this parallel line profitable and practical, not disturbing the the main production.

But, as everything that comes from Boss vintage pedals, it could be something completely different.
I'm way too late to this because i'm rarely on this forum, but i've collected around 10 of these over the years because i was working on theories. I've got DS-1s, OD-1s, SD-1s and a CE-2 with the same situation. I asked Yoshi about it and he didn't really know anything of it, but i have the same theory that they were old parts put together in Japan or they were importing PCB's from Taiwan.

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Re: Boss DS-1 "Oddball"

Post by Old_Iron » Sat Apr 09, 2022 11:14 pm

mojostompboxes wrote:
Sat Apr 09, 2022 9:41 pm
I'm way too late to this because i'm rarely on this forum, but i've collected around 10 of these over the years because i was working on theories. I've got DS-1s, OD-1s, SD-1s and a CE-2 with the same situation. I asked Yoshi about it and he didn't really know anything of it, but i have the same theory that they were old parts put together in Japan or they were importing PCB's from Taiwan.
As I said before, this is one of the last unknown piece of information about vintage Boss pedals.

I think only an old Boss employee (retired already) would remember.

I didn't know about the CE-2, I saw CE-2 stamped 10000 (five digits), but never saw a 6 digits, and with the MIT pcb, good to know it.

I just bought a second OD-1 like that, still in the mail from Japan, the first one was modded so it's a spare now, but a SD-1 still missing, and now a CE-2.

Nice to see you here Mojo Stomp Boxes, please be a regular, bought from you in the past, and saw that a physical place is coming, right?

https://mojostompboxes.com/collections/boss

kinetic
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Re: Boss DS-1 "Oddball"

Post by kinetic » Tue Nov 08, 2022 8:29 pm

I have the same oddball, it seems! I posted on reddit a few years ago when I received it... (edited a bit)

I purchased a Boss DS-1 from eBay, and it came from Japan. It was advertised as MIJ.

Most things indicate it being MIJ:
- Backplate says "Roland Japan"
- ACA power supply with correct Japan era mounting.
- Long dash DS - 1 (starts at the "T" in distortion)

On the circuit board (which also looks MIJ) it says "Made in Taiwan"

The pedal doesn't look like it's been meddled with too much. I first suspected a frankenstein but everything seems legitimate.

https://imgur.com/a/0tvJpNF

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Re: Boss DS-1 "Oddball"

Post by Old_Iron » Tue Nov 08, 2022 8:57 pm

kinetic wrote:
Tue Nov 08, 2022 8:29 pm
I have the same oddball, it seems! I posted on reddit a few years ago when I received it... (edited a bit)

I purchased a Boss DS-1 from eBay, and it came from Japan. It was advertised as MIJ.

Most things indicate it being MIJ:
- Backplate says "Roland Japan"
- ACA power supply with correct Japan era mounting.
- Long dash DS - 1 (starts at the "T" in distortion)

On the circuit board (which also looks MIJ) it says "Made in Taiwan"

The pedal doesn't look like it's been meddled with too much. I first suspected a frankenstein but everything seems legitimate.

https://imgur.com/a/0tvJpNF
Hello kinetic, welcome aboard.

As I said before, it's most probably a parallel production line to use parts in Boss stock that weren't in accordance with the main production line anymore.

Importing complete pcbs from Taiwan in order to not disturb the main production in Japan.

I never saw a CE-2 with 6 digits stamped batch number, I did with 5 digits, which I think is just a "variation" over the post 0000 stamped batch number, usually around batch 10000.

But OD-1, DS-1 and SD-1 with 6 digits stamped are pretty common over the Japanese e-market platforms.

Today I have them all, and it's an interesting variant for collectors, maybe one day we will know the complete story behind those oddballs.

kinetic
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Re: Boss DS-1 "Oddball"

Post by kinetic » Tue Nov 08, 2022 9:45 pm

Yeah I get you! I think it's good though that we both have an almost identical example. Gives more credibility to this evolving theory.

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Re: Boss DS-1 "Oddball"

Post by Pepe » Tue Nov 08, 2022 11:15 pm

That's really, really interesting! Can it be that a few of the sought-after long-dash treadles have been collecting dust on a shelf in Japan when they were outsourced in the early '80s in favor of the short-dash treadles? And when the production moved to Taiwan some staff members found those old treadles that were too good to be thrown away? Could that explain the two oddballs?
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Re: Boss DS-1 "Oddball"

Post by Old_Iron » Wed Nov 09, 2022 12:19 am

Pepe wrote:
Tue Nov 08, 2022 11:15 pm
That's really, really interesting! Can it be that a few of the sought-after long-dash treadles have been collecting dust on a shelf in Japan when they were outsourced in the early '80s in favor of the short-dash treadles?
Not only the long dash treadles, but the old back plate labels too.
Pepe wrote:
Tue Nov 08, 2022 11:15 pm
And when the production moved to Taiwan some staff members found those old treadles that were too good to be thrown away? Could that explain the two oddballs?
Those oddballs are from 1982/83, years before the move to Taiwan.

The end of the long dash happened around the beginning of 1982, by batch number 14XXXX, at least for those models that later became oddballs.

Looking to the components in those made in Taiwan pcb, one can see the early 80's style in those capacitors and chips, very different from the components that would be used when production actually moved to Taiwan by the end of that decade.

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