Dish The Dirt

The famous DS-1 has been on sale since 1978, but now here’s a revamped version of Boss’s best-selling compact pedal

- Trevor Curwen

Over the past few years Boss has been introducing Waza Craft versions of some of its compact pedal series: premium versions featuring a complete redesign of the original circuits by the original developers. Some of these have been welcome revamps of pedals that have been out of production for some time, such as the CE-2, the DM-2 and the Dimension C. But this latest is not only one of the earliest Boss compacts but one that has been continuously in the Boss catalogue since 1978 and is, in fact, its bestseller. The DS-1W retains the original pedal’s triumvirate of Tone, Distortion and Level knobs but features two modes selected via a top-panel toggle switch. S is Standard mode, offering the sound of an original DS-1, while C is a new Custom mode, which delivers an alternative take on it.