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Hugo Drax
Copper Member
Sweden
8 Posts |
 Posted - 09/17/2008 : 13:36:17
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Greetings Boss lovers! New to this forum, looks like a real cool place for Boss afficionados, myself included, to hang out. As many others here, I too was brought up on the classic eighties boss pedals, DD-3, DS-1, SD-1, CE-2 etc and I still love them to death.
Anyway: I've recently started collecting mint doubles to keep for studio/home use. I recently bought a near-mint condition early 80's DS-1, complete with manual and box. Before I bought the pedal I requested the serial beforehand, and the boss serial decoder indicates it (#098227) was made in august 1981. So I bought the unit with confidence. The seller says he bought it new in Germany 1984. The box, manual and product catalog (vol. 3) is definitely of the right era. Original german price tag is still on, 120 D-marks. But here's the mystery: the back label says MADE IN TAIWAN! The inside sticker for the stamped serial also says "Product of Roland Taiwan" in small print!
Ouch! Does anyone know what's going on here? Did Boss produce any limited runs of pedals in TAIWAN during those early golden years? Or is this some sort of elaborate Ebay scam by the seller? I'm quite familiar with the sound of old and new DS-1:s. The DS-1 was my main boost pedal for years when I started playing. This sounds like an older one. But with the back label I really don't know what to think.
Any thoughts from the Boss experts out there? |
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Hugo Drax
Copper Member
Sweden
8 Posts |
Posted - 09/17/2008 : 14:16:27
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| By the way, I forgot to mention that the back label is black like the usual Japan versions. |
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Dr. Bob
Moderator
Australia
6593 Posts |
Posted - 09/17/2008 : 14:25:19
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Hi Hugo Drax
Welcome to the forum from Australia.
It's probably best to wait until Bossarea, chimes in about the anomaly with your DS-1.
Regards Dr. Bob |
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 09/17/2008 : 14:55:08
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welcome to the forum.... sorry i can't help you out on the DS-1 ..... wasn't Hugo Drax the baddie in Moonraker....?? have to admit of a fondness for Mr Bond especially the older stuff..... |
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bossarea
Forum Admin
United Kingdom
3652 Posts |
Posted - 09/17/2008 : 18:17:30
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Hi Hugo Drax and welcome to the forum.
There are a few Taiwan produced pedals with serial numbers like yours. We haven't been able to pinpoint exactly when these were made but it's most likely around 1988 when the production moved from Japan to Taiwan. Apart from Visix's HM-2, all pedals I've seen so far with this type of serial number has been DS-1s. |
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Goran
Double Platinum Member
Sweden
2203 Posts |
Posted - 09/18/2008 : 07:03:28
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Welcome Hugo Drax!
Another Swede is always great! |
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Hugo Drax
Copper Member
Sweden
8 Posts |
Posted - 09/18/2008 : 11:37:11
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| Thanks to everyone for the warm welcomes. Much appreciated! Franzoni, you are quite correct regarding my handle. Seems we have similiar tastes in movies :-) |
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Hugo Drax
Copper Member
Sweden
8 Posts |
Posted - 09/18/2008 : 11:44:05
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Bossarea, that is very interesting. Can we safely assume then that this pedal is a definite late 80's pedal, and that no MIT's were made in smaller runs before the 88 move? Seems the Ebay seller was pulling a fast one then. And the misconception was reinforced by the early date score on the boss decoder. The pedal would seem to be some kind of rarity in any case, a black label MIT before the MIT's went to silver! Anyone want to trade this for a regular MIJ DS-1? (hint, hint :-)
By the way, noting these types of date/label exceptions might be helpful for others. I noticed the official bossarea DS-1 page doesn't mention the black label MIT's. Might be helpful to include such info, even if they are few and far between. Just a thought. |
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bossarea
Forum Admin
United Kingdom
3652 Posts |
Posted - 09/18/2008 : 19:57:15
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I think we can safely assume 1988. I've collected quite a few DS-1 serial numbers and for the most part they're consistent. Here's a selection of serials around the MIJ/MIT transistion.
762900...Mar-87...DS-1...Yahoo......MIJ
762600...Mar-87...DS-1...Yahoo......MIJ
875629...Feb-88...DS-1...Yahoo......MIJ
B943777..Sep-88...DS-1...Yahoo......MIT
BA17987..Apr-89...DS-1...ljplum12...MIT
CA20439..May-89...DS-1...bass.......MIT
In addition there's the mystery pedals
087336..DS-1...Yahoo......MIT
098227..DS-1...Huge Drax..MIT
098594..DS-1...Yahoo......MIT
I expect they fit in somewhere between Feb-88 and Sep-88 but it's probably impossible to say for sure. |
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Hugo Drax
Copper Member
Sweden
8 Posts |
Posted - 09/18/2008 : 20:51:14
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| Bossarea, that breakdown is very interesting. Thank you. To me, those numbers crossing over would suggest that Boss was running parallel manufacturing at both plants during one point. |
Edited by - Hugo Drax on 09/18/2008 20:52:17 |
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My mystery DS-1!
