OD-1 Tells the serial number right year here ?

[Tnsen]

Hi.
I have a OD-1 and like to know exactly when it`s from. The serial nr. Is 808525 and the decoder says "Your pedal was made in July, 1987.
I like to know more Specific when It`s made.
Old_Iron. You did just get an OD-1 (serial 251700) from Japan. How can you say spcific that it is from 82/83? the decoder say 82. when i try it on your serial nr.

Just ask because a friend of mine said it was from the early 80's and not 87's

Tnsen

[Old_Iron]

Hi.
I have a OD-1 and like to know exactly when it`s from. The serial nr. Is 808525 and the decoder says "Your pedal was made in July, 1987.
I like to know more Specific when It`s made.
Old_Iron. You did just get an OD-1 (serial 251700) from Japan. How can you say spcific that it is from 82/83? the decoder say 82. when i try it on your serial nr.

Just ask because a friend of mine said it was from the early 80's and not 87's

Tnsen

Hello Tnsen,

The decoder is pretty accurate, and with the exception of some batch numbers from some models made latter in Japan and early in Taiwan that has letters before the numbers, it will give you the right answer.

As you probably know, Boss used at first 4 digits stamped batch numbers, and by that time there was only one batch per month, so a pedal stamped 6400 is from November 1977, and all pedals assembled in November 1977 where stamped with the 6400 batch number.

By mid 1981 Boss changed to 6 digits stickers (placed in the battery compartment), and with that there where many batches every month, but the first 2 numbers still gives you the month and the year of production, so it is the same if you put 800000 or 808525 in the decoder, it will give you the same answer: July 1987. The other numbers are related to the many batches made in that month.

There are other ways to make sure, the type of integrated circuit, diodes and capacitors that the pedal has in it.

If your OD-1 has a sticker which says 808525, there is no reason to doubt the decoder, but if you want to make sure post a photo of the printed circuit board, so we can give you our opinion about it.

About that OD-1 that I bought recently, it belongs to a "parallel" production line that happened by 1982/83, and there are pedals like DS-1, SD-1 and OD-1 with the same "odd" characteristics.

If you want to know more about it, take a look at this topic: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=525

So, you can't have more information than the month and the year, but you can trust the decoder.

P.S.: I think our colleague Admin was involved with the the making of the decoder, but I am not sure about it.
Maybe he can answer you how they broke the code and how accurate the results are.

[Tnsen]

Hi Old_ Iron

As far as I can see there`s the same board as you have in your pedal. Same number to on the board. My have a printed 6 digit sticker`s

Tnsen

[Old_Iron]

Sorry Tnsen, I should have said the components side of the board.

But in this photo I can see it is a revision "E" board, so it is the last revision, therefore it is from late 1980's.

Please, post a photo of the components side, so we can see the chip, diodes and capacitors.

This is my 1988 April OD-1, the solder side is exactly the same as yours:

[Tnsen]

Her`s the inside og my OD-1.

[Old_Iron]

Her`s the inside og my OD-1.

Okay, so as you can see they are very similar, mine and yours, because they are from the second half of the 1980's decade.

Same "E" board revision, same chip JRC4558DD, same diodes.

The only difference are the film capacitors, in mine they are the mustard yellow Boss used by the very end of the Japanese production, and by the very begin of the Taiwanese's.

Another information that you can see in the pictures is the year of manufacturing of the JRC chips, the 4 digits below the JRC characters, in yours the first digit is 7 meaning 1987, and in mine is 8 meaning 1988, I am not sure about this but I remember reading somewhere that this first number means the year and the last 2 means the week of the year, so in yours it would be the 31st week of 1987, and mine would be the first week of 1988.

The year has 52 weeks, and I never saw a chip that shows more than 52, so maybe this is right.

And of course, the date of the chip manufacturing must be previous (or the same month) than the month of the pedal manufacturing.

In my opinion, you may be assured that yours is from the month and year the decode states.