whats all that crap about the "made in japan" vs "made in taiwan" deal on the boss distortion pedal DS-1? is there a real "tonal" diference? or is it just the sticker!!!
thanks.

my take on it after ab'ing the two with a friend was no difference between MIT and MIJ ...
though .. whichever pedal was placed second of the two sounded a little hotter .. that was my experience .. your mileasge may vary

I used the DS-1 since it came out. I have A/B'd the MIT model to a MIJ model, and found the older MIJ to be a bit less brittle. I was able to turn the tone up a bit more without getting spiked with treble.

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Originally posted by Carl:
I used the DS-1 since it came out. I have A/B'd the MIT model to a MIJ model, and found the older MIJ to be a bit less brittle. I was able to turn the tone up a bit more without getting spiked with treble.

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Here's some information from Analog Man's Guitar Forum, regarding differences between Boss pedals made in Japan vs. Taiwan:

"Well, I dunno if you'll consider this "definitive" or not, but...

First of all, there are some pedals for which minor revisions have been made in the circuitry. This could account for minor differences in tone between older and newer pedals, regardless of where they were actually made. In fact, although there are several different revs of some of the Boss circuits, the differences do not appear to affect the sounds significantly in any case of which I am aware.

Second, I have personally done blind A/B tests of Japanese vs. Taiwanese Boss pedals of several different models, including the DS-1, the CE-2, the SD-1, the PH-2, and I forget what all else. In only one case could I consistently hear a difference between the two pedals, and that was in the PH-2; the Japanese PH-2 had an earlier circuit revision that sounded a little bit ... different ... enough so that I could tell the difference consistently. In the other cases, it was frankly pretty much impossible to tell the pedals apart.

One of those pairs of pedals, BTW, was a VERY old DS-1 (metal screw, intermittent LED) paired with a VERY new DS-1 (1998 or 1999, bought brand-new) -- and I couldn't tell them apart at all. (And I do have pretty good ears -- I can tell the difference between a JRC4558D and a TA75558 in a TS9. :-)) Those are pedals made more than 20 years apart.

Quality-wise, there's no difference in the two manufacturing facilities. Boss pedals have always been rugged and they continue to be very well-built.

In short, there _may_, in some specific cases -- although I don't know of any at the moment -- be circuit differences between older and newer Boss pedals such that older ones (which would have been made in Japan) are "better" than newer ones (which would have been made in Taiwan), but there is no basis whatsoever for saying that Japanese Boss pedals are "better" than Taiwanese ones.

Kate Ebneter
Collector of Noise Toys"

I trust my OWN ears.
Satch goes for the MIJ DS-1..........I'm sure there's good reason.

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Originally posted by Carl:
I trust my OWN ears.

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I trust my own ears too, and I trust the ears of some of the people in this forum, including yours
I haven’t A/B‘d MIT vs. MIJ DS-1s, and I don’t plan to do it. My post was intended to provide some additional information.
I don’t know if you are familiar with research design, but comparing one MIT pedal against one MIJ pedal is not sufficient to generalize conclusions.
Apparently (from this post I copied and from other posts) “Kate Ebneter” has done extensive pedal comparisons, and I was just sharing the information.

I've owned 3 Boss CE-2 chorus pedals: a MIT, a MIJ reissue (green sticker), and an original MIJ (metal screw). My verdict based on AB comparisons of all 3 -
the MIT and MIJ RI were thinner, colder, metallic sounding. The original MIJ was lush, warm, warbly, beautiful. I didn't want to believe it since it cost me $$ to trade, but I could not deny the difference, it was quite obvious to me, so much so that it was the difference between using the pedal often and never turning it on b/c I hated the sound. Fluke?? Perhaps....