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BOSS

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Image:DS2.jpg
A typical compact effects pedal.
For other uses, see Boss.

BOSS is a division of the Roland Corporation, a Japanese manufacturer that specializes in musical equipment and accessories. The company is famous for its colorful line of compact effects pedals with acronymic titles for guitar and bass guitar.

Contents

[edit] History

When Roland decided to make a subsidiary of itself dedicated to guitars in the early 1970s, they decided to call it MEG (Musical Engineering Group). Being the outward looking company that has been their mantra from day one, they realized Meg is a girls name in America and may dissuade buyers, many of them male, from buying their products. So they searched for a name that would connote power and mastership, and eventually came up with BOSS.

The earliest BOSS product was called B-100 The BOSS, released in 1974. This came with a clip-on pre-amp and a pickup to amplify acoustic guitars. At this point the BOSS company had not been formed and it was still technically a Roland product.

The first proper BOSS footpedal effect, in 1976, was called the CE-1 Chorus Ensemble. It was a fairly large, mains-powered unit. It was popular with artists at the time such as Andy Summers and can be heard on various recordings. However the real breakthrough came the year later.

BOSS's renowned line of compact pedals began in 1977 with the release of three pedals: an Overdrive pedal (OD-1), a Phaser pedal (PH-1) and a parametric equalizer called the Spectrum (SP-1). The now famous BOSS DS-1 was released the next year, in 1978. Also released in this year is the T Wah (TW-1) pedal. Their first compact Chorus pedal (CE-2) came the next year 1979, and their first Flanger pedal (BF-2) the next 1980. In 1987 BOSS released nine new pedals, including the Turbo Distortion (DS-2). The Metal Zone (MT-2) was released in 1991. A big selling point has always been reliability - many compare the metal cases to a tank. As well as BOSS's compact pedals sporting heavy-duty metal cases, they are colour coded in distincitve, bright colours. The pedals all share the same 'footprint', making it easy for guitarists to develop pedal-boards for the standard size.

[edit] Japan/Taiwan

BOSS compact pedals were originally produced in Japan, until circa 1990 where production moved to Taiwan. Some users claim there is a sound difference between the two, although there is no conclusive evidence to prove the superiority of either. Earlier units came with a metal screw securing the battery compartment, later models retained the metal screw, adding a plastic knob for tool-less battery removal. The labels on the bottom of the pedals come in several different colours including Black, Silver, Green, Pink and Blue. Apart from this the basic design has remained unchanged for over 25 years.

[edit] Multi Effects

In 1988, BOSS released the first integrated floor-based multi effects unit, ME-5. This offered many of the effects found in the compact pedal range (including a tuner) and also offered an input for an expression pedal. The advantages of these inexpensive all in one units made them very popular, and a long line of multi effects units followed, more recent examples being the GT-6 and GT-8. As processing power in microchips increases and their cost falls, these units have become more sophisticated and able to emulate a wider range of tones.

[edit] Products

BOSS has released many devices, including:

[edit] Compact Pedals

  • Compressor (CS series)
  • Distortion (DS, MT, MD and OS series)
  • Overdrive (OD, BD, OS and SD series)
  • Fuzz (FZ series)
  • Flanger (BF and HF series)
  • Chorus (CE, DC, and CH series)
  • Phase Shifter (PH series)
  • Reverb (RV series)
  • Delay (DM, DSD and DD series)
  • Noise suppressor (NF and NS series)
  • Acoustic Simulator (AC Series)
  • Slow Gear (SG Series)
  • Octavers (OC Series)
  • Auto Wah (AW, TW, and FT series)
  • Tuners (TU series)
  • Tremelo (TR series)

[edit] Recording Solutions

[edit] Artists who have used BOSS products

[edit] External links

fi:BOSS ja:ボス

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