New BOSS pedals!

[Pepe]

Yes, indeed! And the traces on the front of the treadle did indeed disappear when I gently used a dirt eraser. I only discovered a very small nick in the corner above the arrow of the input label. It is visible in the second picture. But that's the only blemish. Everything else is in perfect condition.

And it has the orange diodes with blue ring. Fuzzbuzzfuzz wrote me that those sounded a bit different from the later ones that are in my early Taiwanese model (clear with black ring). Sounds with less gain are said to be available. Well, I have to try that out and compare my two units. Low gain sounds are something that I enjoy as much as singing overdrive.

[Gasgano]

The HF-2 is the only pedal I have that is not on the board but that I still keep. Only MIJ pedal I own. Just love the sound.

Great catch.

[fuzzbuzzfuzz]

To my suprise I managed to win an ebay auction with a flawlessly looking Japanese BOSS SD-1 two weeks ago. The seller didn't state that it was Made in Japan, only one of the pictures of the black label revealed it. That must be the reason why it kept at a rather low price. I missed the end of the auction, because I saw no chances winning the pedal with my bid. A few hours later I was surprised to see that my bid indeed won the auction. Had another buyer thrown in another bid, I had instantly been outbid.

The pedal, produced in 1987, is in almost perfect condition! Only a few marks on the front of the treadle reveal that it must have been taken out of the box at some point. It had a Duracell battery attached to the battery clip. The negative pole was corroded with the clip, so this broke when I tried to remove the battery. But luckily there was no battery acid in the battery compartment! There is no manual, but the box and the plastic bag look like new. As does the whole pedal apart from the one spot on the front (and I still have to clean it - it might be that a dirt eraser could scrub away the marks). I doubt that a foot has ever touched the treadle! Everything looks so new. The pedal must have been tried for a few minutes and then been put back into the plastic bag and inside the box. And the box must have been stored away in a dark and dry place, because it shows no signs of discolouration and it also smells like a new BOSS pedal box.

Another crazy deal, like so many in the last months! Now I want to have some freetime and some healthiness so I can do something with all the treasures that I hunted down.

Marvellous looker.

and with the box two, great score

[Pepe]

Yes, apart from the very tiny nicks it looks like new. And even after the cleaning it still has the smell of a factory-fresh BOSS pedal. A pleasant one.

[chromandre]

Just found a cheap deal on AC-3, in which I had not actually heard until now. It's fine, its actually a lot more hiss and there is very obvious noise gate. I think overall though I've just already bonded with every sound the AC-2 makes and the AC-3 introduces loads more midrange that I didn't want so I will let it go soon or trade for another AC-2

[Pepe]

Oh, I had expected the follow-up model to be more silent. I really liked what the AC-2 did when I had one.

[BearBoy]

I bought an AC-2 when they first came out and have always had a bit of a soft spot for it. I know it’s never really going to fool anyone in to thinking you’re playing a real acoustic but I’ve still found it has its uses.

Always wondered how much of an upgrade the AC-3 would be but it sounds like it isn’t really?

[Pepe]

The parcel service DHL has informed the seller that they weren't able to find our parcel with the FDR-1.

That was in January last year. It was a deal for around 90 or 95 EUR including shipping and the FDR-1 was lost right at the start of the shipping (someone must have stolen it in the post office). Since it was an insured deal, both the seller and I received most of our money back.

Today I accidentally won an ebay auction with a mint looking FDR-1 with box and all the papers. It started at 99 EUR and I tried my luck with 102 EUR and completely forgot about it. I hadn't thought that it could be sufficient, because beat-up units go for more than that, normally. Now it was under 110 EUR including shipping. Really not bad! Fingers crossed that it will arrive this time!

[BearBoy]

Good find, Pepe!

[chromandre]

Always wondered how much of an upgrade the AC-3 would be but it sounds like it isn’t really?

afraid not but I was going to be nice about it, I am sure there are creative people who find something on the AC-3 that escaped me I just love the AC-2.

little tip for an AC-2 volume mod, I picked this up from diystompboxes I think.

"Increase R21 to 330K"

If you are comfortable working with surface mount components you can make a single resistor change, and it is available by simply opening the backplate you don't need to disassemble any further. It makes the pedal way louder with no downsides.