7 Tips For Collecting Vintage Boss Pedals

I have put together a list of 7 things to know when buying and collecting vintage Boss pedals. This video covers how to power old pedals, how to identify their age and how to distinguish older pedals from newer ones. You might have a gem hidden away and you just don't know it.

Boss Serial Decoder

Boss Area (for more info on old Boss pedals)

Middle Aged Gear Junkie Merchandise

0:00 Intro
0:29 the Japanese Era
1:46 serial and batch numbers
3:17 12 volts power
5:01 cosmetics
8:07 different names
10:16 momentary LED
11:26 different components

[jamesman]

Brilliant video mate, been collecting for decades and still learned a lot.

[johnpruett]

Cool video that inspires me to tell a crazy story. I saw Josh Scott talk about the DF-2 lawsuit pedal about a year ago on a live stream. Literally the very same day, a Distortion & Feedbacker was posted on Craigslist for $80. I couldn't believe my luck and bought it immediately! Actually sounds pretty cool, thick and midrangy like an orange amp.

[katasiapa]

How about waza craft pedal, made in korea vs japan, but some people said korean's version sounds better.

[francisco.amorim]

I'm having issues when using vintage pedals at gigs and rehearsals. My CS2 now gets silent on bypass. Other vintage pedals I have like DF2 and FT2 have noise issues. Not always a pleasant purchase unless you consider maintenance on the overall price. On the other hand, last month I got a pretty good CE5, one of the latest analog ones from 2000 (I've checked inside and it's the older model with through-hole soldering and old school MN3007/MN3101 ICs).

[Luka-svbc]

i bought a boss ds 1 off a guy he said it’s from 1996, it does look old and the switch light definitely is different from the new ones, but the serial number is gone and the bottom thing is literally ripped off

[francisco.amorim]

You didn't say ACA pedals work perfectly with PSA power supply when daisy chained with other pedals. That is, if you have a 1000mA 9V non-isolated power supply for 5 pedals, you can combine ACA pedals with a buffered PSA Boss pedal, e.g., connect a japanese BF2 and a CS2 with a Taiwan PSA DD3 and you'll be fine.

[vintagetone]

I guess im lucky then.i have an od1 from 78 silverscrew 14 pin ohhh yeahhh.and its mint in original box and manual.ohh and a 79 ibanez ts808 narrow box miny first year 2 chips.🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣bomba .

[steverushforth]

And I thought stamp collectors were boring, seriously this is a great video and source of knowledge for Boss collectors

[Ultra-Collector]

I have an issue i’m hoping you can quickly answer. Why are older Taiwan Boss pedals so different inside than newer versions of the same exact pedal made today in Malaysia?
My old Boss pedals have a large board with a ton of solder joints, compositors that are huge, and a slight color variation.
I just took a new Boss of the same apart and the board is 1/4 smaller than the old one and has less of everything. What’s the difference? Do they sound and work any different? Should i sell the old one or the new one? Basically which is better in sound? I’m referring to the Boss SD-1 Super Distortion Yellow. Thanks for all your time. Ultra

[KRAZEEIZATION]

I’ve been collecting since 1989 and I’ve over 60 now. I had more but I got rid of some digital stuff. The two and three knob models are my favorite. I hate when guys use Velcro and it rips the label off.

[chiptriplett]

Awesome video! I am a huge BOSS fan, in fact it fills up most of my pedalboard. This was very informative and shows your appreciation of those tough little pedals. Thanks for info!

[robkurylowicz]

I have an older HM-2 serial number C949269 on the sticker and can't find any info on it. Any ideas?

[ramonrosales]

About the 12v I recently got a Boss BF-2 black label. And I feed it with my Boss TU-3 output and the TU with a Strymon Ojai 500mAh 9v. And sounds better than connect the BF-2 directly in the Power Supply. The TU do something in the BF-2?

[GRBAquatics]

Very Cool, Thankyou. Awesome Video, Informative, Interesting and Entertaining. Have Really just started buying some Boss Pedals, not 'playing' them at all just 'Collecting' really. DS-1, BD-2, CH-1 hoping to find a DM-2 and PH-1 soon. All The Best Cheers

[ontherhodes]

Hi Jason, I acquired a PH-1 years ago for the reasons you suggested. No power, i.e. using the incorrect power supply and the LED not staying on. I converted the pedal to run off 9V and it's a mainstay on the pedalboard. Cheers.

[nickg]

This video was the best! That T-Wah font what the hell were they thinking of...I had touch wah before...it's gone now...why why why. Anyway great info about the chips. I'm new in collecting and acquired a good number of pedals already. BOSS is awesome!

[scramblesthedeathdealer]

I'm trying to collect every Boss compact pedal, I have well over 40 now. I also collect the Boss twin pedals, but I only have 4 right now.