BossAreaForum

Dear forum readers,
I was bitten by the Boss fever and bought a used PH-1r. The pedal was offered as MIJ 1983 in original condition, the serial number in the battery compartment confirms the year, the backplate says made in Japan.
I was a bit disgruntled when I realized that the knobs could not be original because they are screwed down. I opened the pedal and saw that Alpha pots with rubber caps are installed, they cannot be the original ones. This was not mentioned in the offer.
Well, potentiometers get old and break... but what makes me even more suspicious are the pristine metal film resistors on the PCB. Does anyone of you know if this can be the original condition? I even doubt that the input and output jack are originals (I think the ones in this pedal are switching jacks with 5 terminals).
For comparison, unfortunately, I can find only one picture in this forum entry: https://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?t=1228
Maybe I'm a little paranoid, but the paint job seems rather "handmade" to me (It's so glossy ... I'm probably nuts).
I would be very happy to hear your assessments. I hope the photos are okay.
All the best
Jan
(from Freiburg/Germany, please excuse my possible bad English)

Hi, Jan! Willkommen in unserem Forum!

Unfortunately you are correct. This model has lots of optical modifications. I hope you didn't pay too much for the pedal.

The metal film resistors are really funny! I don't know why someone should do that. The circuit board seems to be an original one and I believe that all the other parts are original as well. The elctrolytic capacitors have been replaced as well, I'm sure (they are normally blue). But that's something that I would do as well.

The sticker with the serial number is definitely selfmade as well. The number is normally stamped, this one was obviously done with a printer. Here are a few original ones for comparison: http://www.bossareaforum.com/Forum/view ... 289&p=2465

The battery clip should originally be light grey.

A PH-1R should have Japanese potentiometers by ALPS. BOSS pedals never have those plastic caps.

The jacks are always black.

The paint job of early BOSS pedals was always done by hand. A few years ago I had a VB-2 with a fingerprint:

Hello Pepe,
thank you for your welcome and your detailed assessment! I have paid 100 euros, which seemed to be a bargain - now of course no longer.
I just wrote to the seller, I'm curious what comes back.
Thanks again!
Jan

Unfortunately, even the 3 JRC4558D chips are not original, they supposed to have 4 digits below the JRC lettering to be the original made in Japan, 5 digits are made in China.

Wow that's quite the "forgery". I must admit I wouldn't have picked up much clue wise bar perhaps the strange label inside. SO perhaps a renewed old model put back to a modern "new" spec. Very odd.

Also is VERY glossy paint too. Original circuit board populated then popped in a refinished case with replacement parts?

fuzzbuzzfuzz wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 13, 2022 3:20 am

Also is VERY glossy paint too. Original circuit board populated then popped in a refinished case with replacement parts?

That's my guess. Into a repainted DS-1 case?

Thank you all so much for helping out! The longer I look at it the more I am convinced that the enclosure is repainted. You can see black residue from spraypainting the letters, somebody must have made stencils for that.
So it seems that (maybe) the curcuit board is the only original part in that pedal.
That is by far the worst rip off in my ebay career.

I wonder if the backplate is original. But a person that can do such a job is certainly able to reproduce such a sticker as well.
What really is suspicious is that all the rubber parts look like new.
The seller now says that I may be the fraud - classic ebay argument. I believe he has been ripped off first and has never noticed. I think I'll make a complaint and see how it goes.
Thanks again to all of you!

Good luck!