BOSS

Boss DS-1W Waza Craft Distortion

- ALEX LYNHAM

INTRODUCED IN 1978, the Boss DS-1 Distortion was the first such pedal released by Boss, arriving just two years after the release of the company's debut pedal, the CE-1 Chorus Ensemble. For this reason, it was many players' first distortion pedal. Like the ProCo Rat that arrived the same year, the DS-1 used two hard-clipping diodes for an aggressive edge. This became known as distortion, rather than the smoother overdrive of soft-clipping stompboxes. The DS-1 was not op-amp based. Instead, it used the Toshiba TA7136AP preamplifier, for a gritty and warm overdrive tone.