Our pal Isaiah at Yesterday Effects recreated one of the most famous distortion pedals ever up to vintage spec... We'll let him tell you the rest...
b494 healed my post-1994 ds-1 wounds, and it can heal yours too...
in 1978 boss released what would go on to be one of the most popular distortion pedals ever created. in fact, the first pedal that was given to me at 10 years old was a boss ds-1. i was, and still am, a massive nirvana fan so i had to have the ds-1 because i read that kurt cobain used a ds-1. even to my 10 year old ear the ds-1 i had didn’t sound like the ds-1 kurt had. at the time i didn’t know it, but that difference in sound was a consequence of boss redesigning the circuit in 1994.
from 1978 to some time in 1994, the ds-1 was a single op-amp based circuit. with the redesign that would occur later in 1994, the circuit would become a dual op-amp based circuit with one op-amp cascading into the other at the gain stage of the circuit. this change, along with altering the tonestack to have less bass and more treble, fundamentally altered the sound of the ds-1.
we are proud to present the yesterday effects b494 - a recreation of the original ds-1 design, before 1994. b494 features the exact, period-correct toshiba transistors and diodes used in original units, along with true bypass wiring, and 9v-18v center negative compatibility.
knobs: tone, volume, distortion
nos toshiba 2sc2240gr, 2sc732tm transistors
nos 1s2473 diodes
1590bb enclosure
reverse polarity protection
standard negative center 9v-18v adapters
true bypass
This brand new pedal ships fast and free, cuz that's how we be!