The Unobtainable Ones

[Old_Iron]

Is this ridiculous or what?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/184885084820?h ... SwOndgxOcs



EDIT:

Since the add will desapear someday, I'm posting it here for future readers to see the absurd.

[The_Doc]

I couldn’t agree more Old_Iron. They seem to be selling (as opposed to listed), at a lower price but still ridiculously high ! It will be a few more years before I can get interested

[Pepe]

Maybe and somehow BOSS might have the ability to do another run of these? But then they should come up with a more clever way to sell them.

[Old_Iron]

I couldn’t agree more Old_Iron. They seem to be selling (as opposed to listed), at a lower price but still ridiculously high ! It will be a few more years before I can get interested

I hope in the future the speculation will subside, but for now I am considering the TB-2W as an unobtainable, like the "millions" commemorative ones, so it is a piece that is simply not necessary in a complete collection.

Maybe and somehow BOSS might have the ability to do another run of these? But then they should come up with a more clever way to sell them.

I think they should have announced from the beginning that the sales would be as pre-order.

Or maybe something like to reserve 100 pieces to sell directly to collectors worldwide, like a promotion saying: "Show us your collection and buy the new TB-2W directly from Boss".

I don't know, it's very frustrating...

[The_Doc]

Once again Old_Iron, I couldn’t agree more. Wise words indeed and I hope Boss will listen.

[Old_Iron]

Talking about pedals that are hard to find (or hard to pay for), I have been searching for a HM-2 MIJ green label for a long time now and never saw one.

Does anyone have ever seen it, or it's just another myth, like the DM-2 silver screw?

Boss moved the production to Taiwan very early, a late 1988 pedal is already MIT, and a few 1987 I saw were Japanese black label.

So, or it's just another myth, or it's an unbelievably rare variant...

[fuzzbuzzfuzz]

I've bought and sold many a HM-2 (37 in total if my maths are right)...but I don't recall a single green label specimen. That said statistically my sample size is still on the small size compared to production runs! i'm curious though too now...

[Old_Iron]

I've bought and sold many a HM-2 (37 in total if my maths are right)...but I don't recall a single green label specimen. That said statistically my sample size is still on the small size compared to production runs! i'm curious though too now...

Thanks fuzzbuzzfuzz, I already took it out of my list of missing models and variants.

There are a few mistakes at the BossArea 2.0 website that are repeated at other places, like in the case of the HM-2 MIJ green label and also the TW-1 to be from July of 1978 (7300), when the correct is from June (7200).

I almost bought a 7300 TW-1 thinking it was the very first, luckily I looked around over the web and found a couple of 7200 proving that it was a mistake, and after acquiring the Boss book, I could confirm that it is really from June.

Another inconsistencies that originates in the Boss book itself are:

The VB-2 being from APR 1982 (17XXXX), but I have one from MAR 1982 (160200).

The PSM-5 being from JAN 1983 (26XXXX), mine is from JUL 1982 (202000).

The CS-3 is said to be from SEP 1986 (70XXXX), mine is from AUG 1986 (691400).

[sclitheroe]

Disclaimer: Finding gut shots of a TB-2w is tough, and the provenance of the shots is hard to prove. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think so.

It's time to burst the TB-2W's hype bubble.

The thing isn't built with unobtainable anything - Boss went out and got someone to manufacture transistors for them. There is nothing mythical or unique about the transistors, they are made by Central Semiconductor, and this is what they do:

"In the late 1970s Central recognized that there was unfulfilled demand for trailing edge semiconductors. Many manufacturers left a gap when they began discontinuing production of germanium devices in favor of silicon. Central stepped in to fill this void and continued making germanium devices until the late 1980s. Since then, Central has remained dedicated to manufacturing many other trailing edge devices in legacy packages. Trailing edge devices allow for the extended life of older, but still useful end products, while avoiding the expense of costly redesigns."

So Boss could make as many of these as they wanted, and the more of these new transistors they had built for them, the cheaper they would be, making the TB-2W more accessible AND more affordable.

But Boss didn't.

There is nothing artisanal or Waza about the TB-2W. It's not their circuit. They didn't scour the earth for rare transistors. They used their capital/buying power to order just enough transistors to create a tiny run that would generate hype and outlandish free-market pricing, and then they stuck the whole thing together with SMT components.

It's neither vintage, nor truly limited (in the sense of component rarity), nor unique in a sea of Tonebenders and Tonebender clones.

It's not collectable, it's a forgettable PR stunt.

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[sclitheroe]

Maybe and somehow BOSS might have the ability to do another run of these? But then they should come up with a more clever way to sell them.

They could make as many as they wanted...