Boss releases limited DS-1-WH White Sparkle Colourway Edition of its legendary bestselling DS-1 Distortion

So over the years there have been a number of different DS-1 editions and colourways. I’ve included the most obvious and attainable ones in my main visual - including the relatively recent 40th and 50th Anniversary editions. While there have been several more through the years - including the super limited ones that marked every 1 million pedals Boss sold - including the 1998 6,000,000 Units celebration Golden DS-1, and back in 2016 we had a 3000 units limited Guitar Centre run in HM-2 colourway - DS-1-BK - black with orange accents.

Selective Chronology :

• 1978 : Original DS-1
• 1998 : DS-1-Gold : 6 million Boss units dealer commemorative Gold  Edition
• 2014 : DS-1X  MDP Multi-Dimensional Processing Edition
• 2016 : DS-1-BK : Guitar Centre Black and Orange Edition
• 2017 : DS-1-4A : 40th Anniversary Black and Gold Edition
• 2022 : DS-1W : WazaCraft Edition
• 2023 : DS-1-B50A : 50th Anniversary Metallic Orange Edition
• 2024 : DS-1-WH : White Sparkle Metallic Edition

This new DS-1-WH is simply a skin job as such as underneath the layer of what - it’s the exact same standard Malaysia-made DS-1 circuit - but with a highly attractive White Sparkle Metallic Finish! It just so happens that a few of us collect DS-1 variants, just like there are avid collectors of other brands’ multiple colourway editions - like EQD’s Bloom - which has something like 50 variants now. There’s not as many Boss DS-1’s - probably closer to 10 overall or thereabouts. While I have several in different modded editions also - and where this particular DS-1-WH goes into my own reference collection and becomes my own 10th example of that circuit - the most of any single pedal model I own. Including JHS and Keeley modded varieties too!

There’s no particularly rhyme or reason for a white sparkle edition DS-1, I guess it has something to do with the recent also white Boss BP-1W Booster/Preamp - that remains an enduringly popular pedal with I suppose several having that on their boards nowadays, and possibly asking Boss to do a DS-1 in the same colourway. It certainly looks very handsome in its new livery.

There are no set numbers on this run - while Boss will likely only actively manufacture it for a month or two, and then evermore remove from its catalogue. I still feel the orange colour is the most iconic - probably with the DS-1W being my preference, if not the Keeley Modded Variant!

This White DS-1-WH colourway edition will retail for the same price as the DS-1. Boss is conducting a rather unique experiment to see how much demand there is for this variant, and depending on the level of that demand it may end production sooner or later than advertised!

For me the DS-1 is one of the legendary flavours of gain - especially as popularised by Kurt Cobain. You do need to know how to deploy it, and there is some skill to that - where it can deliver superior tones - especially into an already cooking amp, while for cleaner pedal platform solutions you need the modded variants - which have more gain and low-end on board - otherwise the stock DS-1 can sound a little ’thin’ in those rigs.

The DS-1-WH is an elective dealer edition - so some will stock it and some not - it should be in fairly wide distribution for a month or two in any case - and if you really want one, there shouldn’t be an issue landing one! Pricing for a stock DS-1 seems to be currently around a median value of 65-75 $/€/£. And one would expect the DS-1-WH to follow suit!

No new promotional assets have been created for this variant, so I will simply refer to a few of the existing benchmark DS-1 demos, as below :