Boss CS-1

Described "ad nauseam" on other reviews, I like the retro look and the toggle switch gives a total non-digital interface. Silver screw, serial number inked inside. Worth notice is the outstanding quality of the pots, the type that use the solid shafts with screwed knob instead of the tiny ching-ling of these days.. Tipical 70??s and 80??s Japanese obsession for quality.

Awesome compressor, you can use as a boost in cleans or to push your amp in a overdrived/distorted solo. Used with a 70??s Squier JV and a mexican fender hot rod deluxe. You can grab pink floyd tones very easily, and with a chorus it??s total The Police tone alike. Very satisfied with the tone, the only thing is that its goes very percussive when cranked, but it dissapears when connected in the effects loop. It has tons of gain inside, almost the same amount of gain foun in my OD-1 !! Overall a very quiet pedal, not noisy at all.

Mine is more than 24 years old, like new. Difficult to loose money with it.

Just poke around and find the schematics and manual. 1st class components and hand made soldering job.

Worth a try, it??s all analog and has a strong personality, stands out of these mass produced nowadays. Certainly will improve your tone. Bought on e-bay for US$ 75,00 and prices are rising...

its difficult to find a use for it,oh I mean its easy,just two knobs and a toggle switch.

hands down the most useless comp I own.it completely squashs your signal,not good,unless your going for that as a special effect.You have no control over the amount of attack,it lets no transients through.It just grabs a hold of your signal,chops the front of it off and sustains the shit out of the mess thats left.The toggle switch is hilarious,AM radio/telephone tone at the flick of a switch,just what I look for in a compressor?Unless your looking for a very squashed special effect type compressor,this thing is useless.

beat to death but still destroys your dynamics.

I bought it years ago to try on bass,didn't like it.for guitar I've come to the conclusion that its strictly a collectors piece.I own a mxr dyna comp,ibanez bp 10,dod fx 80,dod milkbox,wd orange squeezer,boss cs-2,Arion sco-1.Faves are the milkbox,fx 80,dynacomp and cs-2.If a mod could be done to control the attack rate,and ramp up the make-up gain,this pedal may be useable,as it is,its a joke.I'll keep it because I collect boss pedals.If a pedal sounded as cool as it looked,this would be a good one,it just looks like it would sound godlike.Sadly not the case here.If someone tries to market a cs-1 clone,I'll piss myself laughing.

You just keep moving the knobs untill you give up on getting a decent compression sound. Impossible to use for me.

This S in SC-1 stands for sucks. There is a very audible delay before the compression kicks in. In other words it doesn't compress the begining of the note. The Attack is full volume or even amplified and the rest of the note is squished beyond recognition. All sense of feel is lost.

It would be okay if it was a good special effect type of compression, but it's not that either. This is the worst compressor I have used. The arion compressor is much better, so is DOD and every other compressor I have ever used.

You can count on this unit producing the same sub-standard effect year after year.

I have used dozens of compressors over the past 18 years. This is the worst. For collectors only.

three knobs...i love simplicity, but i wish it had an attack knob.

just a fakie strat copy with singles. cs-1 --> "unknown brand" cheap wah --> digitech tone driver/ nobels od-1 overdrive --> marshall mg30dfx. makes i lil static sound on certain settings. I really dont like the "swell" effect it gives when im on clean tone...butwhen i fire up the overdrive, its just pure EASE. brings out more sustain and harmonics come out so easily. I'll figure out a way wherein the drive and the cs-1 can be switched at the same time...coz i don't need it on clean tone. i like john frusciante, john mayer and srv's clean tones...couldn't get those with the cs-1...but with the drive on...i just can't stop playing.

oh...by the way...when on...it affects your tone quite noticeably....specially on clean...but with an overdrive, i really dont care....i really have to get an a/b switch!!!

yep. looks really beaten up. but still works.

i hope i don't have to.

i like to play bluesy funky stuff on clean...but this ain't good for cleans coz of the slow attack. it kills on distortion or overdrive. if it were lost, id get different one with an "attack" knob...and see if it makes a difference. I love it with my tone driver on...but for cleans...it sucks...well that my opinion. one other feature i like is when i cs-1 and tone driver is engaged, and when i need to tone things down, i just drop the guitar volume a bit.

somehow...i found a use for it...so therefore...its a keeper

Great Compressor!
With the switch in the "Normal" position it's fat & warm sounding.
Treble is cool too!

Nice transparent tone. It is much smoother than the CS-3 & new MXR compressors. I play Hard Rock so I rarely need a compressor but it still sounds great when pushing an overdriven amp.

22 years old & works perfect.
The old Boss pedals are beyond durable.

OK to deal with.

For Rock / Punk Rock I usually don't need a compressor. This is the pedal I turn to when it's needed. The old "Made in Japan" Boss pedals are incredible - so much warmer w/true tone than the new ones. The new ones are nice, but to keep cost down over the years they lost a bit of pure tone w/each pedal. When you hear an old CS-1 it pours out pure tone. Find a Japan made Boss pedal "ANY MODEL" there is a difference. These usually go for less than the CS-2 Boss Comp which is stupid. The CS-1 does sound better than the CS-2 or CS-3. I've had all 3. These may not go for as much as the old ROSS comps or new Keeley comps, but it does the job of compressing your signal just as well.

Easy enough! But be careful and subtle. Great tones can be found with the dials low as well as high. From 1979, so menus were an evil not yet upon us.

Incredible compressor.
Loads of tones available so be subtle (I think the people who don't give it good marks are probably the turn to ten brigade). Put the volume up and the comp on 2 and it's a great sound. Above that it gets very noticeable, but if it didn't I'd be dissapointed ;)
If you want transparant compression, go elsewhere, if you want an evil compressor or treble boost, this is it. Into a tube amp (I have an Ampeg VT40 and AC30) it is wonderful.
The treble switch boosts highs and cuts lows. Great for a non muddy solo sound that cuts thru.

1979 and bought in a pawn shop. Not even a scratchy pot....

No idea

Awesome. I've seen them up to $120 and if I lost this, I'd bite my lip and pay that. Brilliant.
The other good thing with Boss is that you rarely lose money with them....
If you see one, pick it up before you can't!

Output Level, Sustain and a switch that goes from normal to trebbly

WOW, it;s hard to believe a guitar compressor can be this quiet. It's not for everyone.. In a studio environment, compression is something you want to mask or hide..In this case, it's an effect.. it really squishes your signal to extend the delay..
i have a Fender twin and a fantastic early 70's traynor guitar mate..

it's a boss..unless you really abuse it or fiddle with the electronics, it will spend its life with you..

never needed to call

To me, this pedal is a real surprise...i was a big fan (until now) of the Boss cs-2.. i owned it twice and found it pretty good..but the cs-2 is one of those who hides the compression a bit like the studios and has tons of gain so you can use it as a boost pedal..
but not the cs-1..
it's 'in your face' compression with a pop when you pick depending how much sustain you want..the trebble switch is really useful if you want a bit more attack and drive ..

the funny thing is that the 'momentarily' LED made me save some $$ on this pedal..when trying it in the pawn shop where i bought it, we didn't really plug the guitar..when i plugged the cable in the pedal, i just switched it 'on' but the LED worked only when pressing on the pedal.. it goes off after but i didn't know and so did the sales dude that it was a feature of this pedal..(i think so) so we both thought it was broken..so he sold it to me half price..

when i got home and plugged it in, it WORKED...The led stays on when you switch only ...what a surprise..

i'm happy for myself..and i won't tell the pawshop because they're all sharks..

Simple-Two knobs and a toggle switch.

For what I use this pedal for, it's perfect. I cannot attest to how useful it would be for someone using this for a more "traditional" compressor purpose, like chick'n'pickn'.

I use this pedal as a boost for solos, usually on a fairly distorted lead channel. For this it is absolutely heaven. I have all knobs cranked and the switch set to treble. It sounds just as good if you roll some of the knobs back and flip the switch, but I like the thing cranked. Gives my solos a nice creamy sustain and attack, and boosts the treble to make them cut through the mix.

I can see where some people would have issues with this, and that's why I give it a 9. It would be nice if the level knob had a little boost to it; it really cuts back your volume unless you place it all the way up. Also, it does have a more "clicky" sound than most compressors. It seems to boost your treble signals more than your bass signals-they certainly aren't even-which doesn't sound as good on a clean channel. It would be cool if the treble adjustor was a knob and not a switch so you could adjust the amount of treble, because it's either no treble or tons of treble the way it is set up. Who knows if this was feasible back then though.

This pedal existed for 25 years before I got my hands on it, so I think it's gotta be pretty good.

This is one of the black label, made in Japan models with the metal screw that are supposed to be the tops, and I would have to agree. For an old analog pedal, it's super quiet, and suits my purpose fantastically. I got this suprisingly cheap on Ebay, so keep your eyes open; I got this one for 55 dollars and I have seen ones in similar condition go for well over 175 dollars. I would have gladly paid 100 dollars for this unit, so I am very happy with it.

Easy as any other pedal compressor to use.

Too squishy, over the top compression for most purposes. I find I have to set the compression knob near 0 to get any kind of usable effect.

Yep reliable, it is very old and still works.

I have owned a CS-3, CS-2 and CS-1 (amongst others) - the CS-3 was bland but OK, the CS-2 is great - musical and full of character, but the CS-1 falls into the special effect category to me - squishes all the dynamics out of the guitar.

Not useless by any means, but not very versatile and if you are only going to have one compressor, I would not recommend a CS-1. Unless they vary a heck of a lot from the one I have, I think the reviews here overrate the CS-1.

So easy to murder your tone!

For a vintage effect it's kinda quiet, but the attack characteristic is so plinky and annoying. I found it impossible to get a good sound. I had one in mint nos condition for about 6 years so I'm not talking out my ass. This pedal drove me up the wall. It amplified the sound of the pick hitting the strings. It made a Click, click, click with each strum. Now kick in the treble boost and marvel at the sound of ten thousand fingernails running across a chalkboard!

Maybe this is cool for lead players, but if your mainly a chord basher like me this ain't it.

After this I got the cs-3, after comparing them back and forth I ended up liking the cs-3 better but not much. Next I used a focusrite rack mount for a few years, much better. Then I used the bjfe pale green for awhile that was also good but the release was kinda fluttery. The best compressor I've found is the Carl Martin. Makes the cs-1 sound like the toy it is.

I had to put in my two cents on this one because what I see here is a bunch of reviewers that just want to make themselves feel okay about spending to much for a compressor that's not even as good as the dod milk box IMHO.

keith richards!

I was happy that I made $90 profit when I sold it 'cause it's the worst compressor I've ever used. I feel sorry for the sucker that bought it especialy because he loved it. His tone is obviously a lost cause.

It is a lovely shade of blue, and has cool vintage knobs for those who listen with their eyes and think only old crappy pedals are cool. It must be the best it's the cs-1, yeah right. There is reason they didn't sell well; they are crap.