Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive Shootout: Japan vs Taiwan!
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- čas přidán 26. 08. 2024
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Episode 6.5: Boss SD-1 Japan vs Taiwan Shootout!
We are switching it up a bit with our first Made in Japan vs Made in Taiwan shootout!
Which is better? The general consensus is that MIJ is the way to go, but is it? The SD-1 can be had for around $50 new and $30 or below used, while an MIJ specimen is $80 and up on the used market. Watch this video, and make up your own mind.
I am keeping the identity of each pedal secret until the very end of the video. This is to keep you guys from listening with any preconceived biases.
-Cameron Johnson
Music by Atma Weapon
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For me it's all pure hype. I doubt anyone could tell if someone used a MIJ or a MIT in a live situation or even in full band situation in a recording... BTW, great video, dude! Wish all the comparisons we see around the web were made with the same aproach as seen here.
... especially if you are alone in your bedroom
Japan and Taiwan are Master copiers and builders so there is no difference. Not so sure about the new one. I saw it a demo and there was definitely a difference
if there's a difference i would be hard pressed to tell it. while the recording quality and playing are very good, i tend to prefer a recorded loop "re-amp" style to get true a/b comparison w/o player bias. i have several sd-1's both MIJ and MIT, have modded some of the MIJ's on the DC jack input which has nothing to do with the actual tone / distortion circuit. it's just a simple mod to convert older MIJ pedals from "ACA" adapter only to "PSA" type. The post MIJ sd-1's have the same board layout and part values right down to the 2 jumpers that are put in place of a diode and resistor to do the aforementioned power jack mod. They haven't changed anything on this very basic circuit and layout which is probably the main reason you can get a new one for $50. back to the point. i have 3 MIJ DS-1's, one of which is marked s/n 100!... same exact circuit and components and 1 of the 3 does sound ever so slightly different than the other 2... i have witnessed this with other effects as well... tolerances, drift, etc. can all effect the end result. on a side but related note, if you have a vintage amp e.g., old Fender or Marshall that's sounding a little anemic. try a good cleaning of pots in the preamp/tone path with some deoxit before tearing into the circuit for trouble shooting anything else. i did this about 6 mos. ago on my '65 super reverb and it was like giving it a B-12 shot with a Red-Bull chaser. over time the build up of oxidation on the carbon discs/mechanism in the pots can have a huge effect on the signal integrity. same goes for stomp-boxes or anything else that's carrying a millivolt audio signal.
Great comparison and serves to demonstrate to me that if there is a sonic difference between them, my ears aren't refined enough to hear it. I genuinely couldn't tell when you'd switched when I listened without watching.
You are knocking this series out! Keep it up and thanks for the vids!
The same! There is no excuses the sound is in your hands! I'd buy any of them...
Pedal B sounded slightly more creamy/smooth to MY ears.
Thanks for this really good review. I pretty like that you kept close to your basic-"melody", so I could get used to it and left all my concentration just at the pedals and their influence on your sound. To speed it up/slow it down once in a while, make one amp-change and differ the played things at the end increased my positive perception. NOT to tell us at the beginning which one is which was just genius!
Thanks again dude. I honestly earned here, instead of letting prejudices making up my mind
On rhythms I can clearly hear that A is more crispy, I liked it better. But it makes a difference only if you A-B them. Both are fine to have.
Great video. Thank you. I preferred pedal A but I thought they were very close, closer still when the gain is dimed. I have a MIT Sd-1 and an SD-1w. I don’t the think difference is enough to make me seek out a MIJ model. The SD-1 is my favourite drive pedal.
Pedal A has slightly more bass, presence and clarity in the uper mid range than B pedal, also treble is little more pronounced in the A pedal; overall very similar.
I preferred A on the low gain settings. Sounded rounder with more mids. Once you were on the high gain it was harder to tell apart. B did have a more tinny top and a more scooped, thrash sound. Still preferred A, but with out the comparison side by side, it would take a good ear to discern I think.
😂 haha...when you know A and B, then we know which sounds better...that's normal. We tested two Fender blindfolded, they sound equal...then maked the test and saw both guitars, one was black and one was white...everyone told us the white one sounds higher and the black darker🍺 but nice video...
Ha, that was fun taking the Pepsi Challenge. The sound very much the same. A was a little brighter, and B a little warmer. Very subtle. I preferred A, but both are good.
@d4nzig4life I've just watched this video and there was nothing marked as pedal A. Only pedal B. So how are supposed to tell the difference?
MIJ was a little brighter I did some mods on the MIT and it sounds great I used GE diodes and Panasonic caps and did the output as a 808 take c-6 out too these are great pedals to mod
Thanks for the demo. I have hears that the made in Japan models can be modified to sound "better" than the stock MIJ model whereas the MIT models cannot be modded at all. I'd love to see a comparison on that but have yet to come across one.
Sure! I think the circuits are pretty much the same, but the older ones used bigger components which are much easier to mod and swap parts.
Very cool! I just tried this with my own 2 SD-1's and found your vid right after. For me, my Japan version is better, and in your video I preferred pedal A!
Guys, I've had multiple MIJ and MIT SD-1s over the years. I can safely say that the difference between any two of them amounts to a minor tweak of one pot or another. Makes sense when you find out that, unlike some pedals, the design and BOM remained exactly the same when production moved to Taiwan.
but if you can mod them you can avoid any audio leeks, battery leeks, signal loss, add a boost as if you have a second channel to your amp, add a mid boost that is symmetrical for single coil pick ups like a TSR808, switches etc
Not sure how true this is, but I’ve read on several reputable sources that when Boss switched from Japan to Taiwan, the SD-1 was one of a few pedals where absolutely nothing changed. Same brand components, same switches, same board, even the same wire that hooks the battery power to the board. As someone else said, any difference heard here is in component tolerances. That can occur from pedal to pedal off the same line.
So close. Couldn’t hear a difference. At one moment the A pedal sounded a bit better but it was really for a brief moment. Riffs after that were equal again. Think I’ll get a used MIJ one instead of a new Waza.
Very close but I'm leaning towards pedal A as it just feels nicer to me( I love the SD-1 anyways)...
When u hit the pedals running an already distorted amp signal we can hear the difference!
With good speakers i liked A best, because B was too crunchy/full rangey/noisy and less tube-amp sounding. Very little difference, but i would rather have the A, and have a BD-2/DS-1 for the crunch.
Pretty damn close, but if I had to choose I'd go with Taiwan. A litte less spike, a little more guitar comming through. But we're talking little here.
The difference is subtle at least through this video. The only real noticeable difference is the prices on ebay. The MIJ version is 2 to 3 times as much.I my opinion not worth it. But too each their own. I have the MIT version got it from a pawn shop for 12 bucks. It sounds good enough to me
Agree 100%, I have both and the difference is really not worth for such fuss raised by so little importance, FWIW in modern efx chains there are too many resources to tweak both to any direction we want, and whether is mij or mit, nobody will ever notice some difference nor could say one is better than the other. Good review/testing, but a bit lacks of some lead/lines. Also aside of bost an metal amp, we can't forget overdrive pedals are also used an enhancer of fingers character with just a touch of drive, enough for warming the tone.
''A'' won, but the diference is so subtle... not worth bying an used MIJ.
it'd be great to see a spectrum of both, in the hope that they would look exactly the same :)
I liked A more. B sounded thin
Same here. B sounded muddy, but whimpy at the same, while A had the guts and stood out noticeably better. Funny, though, a super-techy guy who fixes and creates his own pedals for living recently told me that the only difference between J and T makes is in capacitors and that even the J ones are of mediocre quality only. Still makes a difference to my ears...
Essentially, pedal A is slightly more scooped and has more gain. It is not necessarily better. On a plexi type amp that already has lot's of bass and plenty of gain when dimmed, pedal B might work out best.
you need two more channels to get the gain he is using on a plexi 1959, its why Judas Priest, EVJ, Randy Rhoads etc used a SD1 or MXR Dist+ to a 10 band EQ, analogue that is, it was a enormous boost and both including a price rat are assymetrical clipping pedals like the marshall circuitry
B is smoother sound
A is a little bit clarity
both pedals sounds great!
Pedal B was a bit more tone sucker I guess. At least a bit more muddy. The Pedal A was brighter and clearer. Also the response to different positions of Tone knob in A was more realistic.
If anything, I preferred pedal B. These two pedals might have been manufactured 20 years apart, and electrolytic capacitors in particular do degrade over time. But the differences here are so small that the high prices people are asking for the old pre-1990 Japanese-manufactured pedals can't be justified on sound alone. They can be eliminated by small EQ changes.
like pedal b more, it is bit darker and more smooth
Pedal A sounded way better, more clear and bit more mids, B sounded muffled and muted.
I heard a better, thicker tone in the mij pedal. But when the drive knob sat at 9oclock, the mit sounded better. Both are solid, though!
Xtra Spice Mikey lol. Lonely troll is lonely.
How does the SD-1 Waza stand next to these two?
It's impossible to tell from just one of each. You'd have to compare hundreds of MIJ and MIT to see if there's a serious differential. I own the Waza edition, but the thing that sets it apart from a standard SD-1 is the custom circuit that adds a bit more presence and cut. Otherwise, I don't hear any major difference between these two pedals.
I like the pedal A
That tiny difference is because of electronic components' tolerance, which can be up to 10%.
Moonlit Knight sometimes even 9%
exactly, and as components get older they also start to sound slightly different
This is said over and over again, but the fluctuation in sound seems to be in the same direction, over and over again.
With that said, in some cases, the Taiwan versions can work better in certain applications. For example, I tend to prefer the Japanese HM2, but sometimes the Taiwanese version is a bit tighter, depending on the rig. A slight twist of the knobs doesn't always make them the same. Not only do different components get used over time, but also different solder, in order to satisfy regulations.
good comparison. both sounds were so close, but on clean channel i like the B
Tbh it is not much of a difference between these two, but it's there. The first pedal was a bit richer and fuller across the spectrum.
Did seem like there was a very slight sound difference, but not $50 worth.
Cheaper parts break or degrade faster though; I bet one will wear out faster than the other in terms of hours of use.
I heard the difference instantly and wasn’t wrong. An that was just by listening on my iPad. It would probably be more obvious in my recording studio. “A” is a bit smoother as in “smoother top end and transients”. I would definitely use A on a recording. But “Live” it wouldn’t make any real difference.
pedals are the same, but your rig sounds great!
no special difference to me, maybe, maybe A is a little bit brighter or even more open sounding, but maybe this is up to playing technique. My A:B ratio is 1,000:0,998
Anyway - THANK YOU SO MUCH for that great test!
Juri Dmitrenko Well, now I know that the A is made in Japan. If I had to choose between the two ones, I would NOT buy a more expensive one just because it was made in Japan.
To me, pedal B has a more slightly pronounced higher mid frequency thing going on than pedal A.
I prefer pedal A for the rhythm guitar stuff.
Pedal A has a little more top end, but still has a full sound.
Nice tone dude...
Thanks man!
with low gain A is a bit sharper and clearer to my ears, but when the sound gets dirtier they are impossible to seperate for me
Nothing on the macbook pro speakers to speak of (no pun intended) Cheap bluetooth headphones picked up the differences and hints to pedal A. Main tannoys screamed pedal A. Bose headphones hammered it home. A all the way!
A is beefier than B. In the first extract I can really hear the difference. It's probably not better in terms of sound but the A seems to have a lil' bit more volume, and something that has more volume (slightly) tend to sound "better" to human ear.
Anyway, the different prices is not especially justified, but the SD-1 of before was better than the one that we got now. And the new WAZA Boss SD-1 is more expensive... It was a cheap pedal at the time...
Anyway, thank you for your comparison, it could help a bit of tone geek !
William Robertson Agreed...
William Robertson Agreed...
Great video! Thanks.
"A" sounded richer & fuller than B.
I like the "A" best. Something happens in the highs with B, don't know what.
Great tone 👍
they both sound the same to me
not enough difference for a 100 dollar difference in ebay price. Like alot of people I have been trying all these so called boutique high priced pedals and sold all again - cant justify it silly prices - besides China has released clones of everything anyway. Boss kicks ass and always have, the cork sniffing Boss haters get on my nerves.
Cameron your Boss collection has given me the GAS for all my old favourites, thanks for your Boss project, I can only use your channel for reference to any Boss stuff now. cheers
The difference is in the quality of build: soldering, metal, jack connectors, motherboard, etc.
Hardly any difference really except the japanese maybe has more balls but that is being super picky. Both great sounding.
The one MIJ was smooth the one MIT had more of a edge they both were nice overdrives
Agree with William Robertson
How can I tell if my sd1 is mij or mit?
If yours doesn't have a bottom label anymore, you can open up the pedal and check the PCB.
2:46 - 2:52 sounds the best
Love the A. but the B is pretty decent
What type of op-amp on the SD1 Japan? If its NEC chips then no wonder the Taiwanese are sounded so difference.
The one thing I don’t see is the feel, there is a huge difference between the 2 pedals, if you can’t feel it then it’s the amps
The one that Taiwan make is actually have less mid and more bass , the sound is bright , the Japan one is more warm sound , mids are higher than taiwan .
that's a nice funky guitar! And I love the Peavey amp I've always wanted to get one of those.
A is a little better for me. It's significant enough but I'm listening on high end studio headphones. Prefer Japanese but it's closer than most.
I like Both, but A win! Nice vídeo
You have just demythologized a myth in my!!!! I it congratulate, I always pense that the Japanese was top!!!
hmmm... hard, but with earphones it is way clearer to me. I've preferred pedal A from the beginning because it sounded a bit more natural and clearer to me. But at the end, I will buy right now the Taiwan one (pedal B) because of the price. I can get I for 30€ here in Europe... in relay goooood conditions. The Japan pedal could be the 3-4time price! Why??? For 10% ?? No... I have this 10% in my fingers! Don't need to pay 3-4 times more for it
Taiwan (B) sounded way thin
Almost no difference, but A consistently was just a tad better in the areas of tone and articulation.
I noticed Pedal A had a touch more clarity and was a little cleaner sounding in comparison. However, component value drift will affect the tone as well, so pedal to pedal, and made in the same country, it could still sound different from one to the next. Some pedals are magical, but that IMO is due to the values of the components, not the country of origin. I build a lot of amps and component tolerance is really important. For example, coupling capacitors drift up in value over time, which results in a lower frequency passing to the next stage. Ever wonder why vintage amps can often have a warmer/darker tone? That's one reason why; not the only reason but one of them.
Hard to tell any difference at all. I guess if you take two made in the same country they will not sound exactly the same with the same settings. You may have to tweak the controls a bit. Same goes with amps.
I like them both but prefer A 🎸
A- Japón
B- Taiwán??
earing i was sure that first was not the Taiwan (that i had), but that the japan so, cause its sound much natural and yes, really better for me. i love the sd1 and i always use it, but, in confront of the japan type, sounds more plastic.
Havent reached at the end but pedal b wins for me.
I thought Pedal B sounded a bit better. I was surprised that it was the Taiwan.
pedal B is definitely a bit trebly than A
is there supposed to be a difference ???
they sound the same but my ear was leaning more on pedal A
Pedal a Is somewhat brighter pedal B somwheta darker but that could be just the settings i dunno
I don't hear any difference. Sounds the same to my ear coz it's the same pedal effect no matter what country it is made. Boss is Boss.
Why don´t make a video with a guitar reference,just like a Les Paul,Strat or Tele???
Looking for differences is like catching fleas. Same sound at all.
at 2:29 you said Pedal A , t 2:34 you said Pedal B ....... You never stopped playing from 229 to 234, I don know which pedal is which, simply wouldve been better to have the pedals showing rather than hide the names.
One things for sure - that riff is aweful.
These 2 pedals sounded the same. I couldn't tell any difference at all. I have an SD-1 and it sounds like these.
Nice dual. I didn't think that there would be much of a difference. The Japanese one wins
At some point A sounded better but not that much .. i think that in a live situation humm .. probably no difference
Taiwan definitely won
Japan for me
sounds the same....such a tiny difference if any. I think the factory specs are the same no matter where they were assembled.....Boss wants a product made to its exact specs so why would they sound any different?
A win
What is diference? It is like a two diference pedal! Pedal A is really good, pedal B is like a "loaf" Thanx for test - finger up ofc!
Unless you look at the video the differences are almost inaudible to my ears at least
Great comparison though
Agreed. Most people are gonna watch these on phones (as I am) tablets or laptops possibly using the supplied speaker or possibly using ear buds. If there is a difference at all your not going to be able to notice subtle differences un less you have some very high end head phones even then you have the whole youtube compressions to take into account. Unless theres a substantial difference most differenceses can be fixed by slighty tweeking the pedals knobs.
Ok maybe there is a bit difference, but in a band you cant hear the difference
la misma monda
A had more grunt to it by a hair or too. Which is what I perfer personally.
can't tell the difference