Boss DSD-2

The Boss DSD-2 Digital Sampler/Delay is a vintage Boss effects pedal from 1985 that put two functions in one compact box: a digital delay and a phrase sampler¹²³. Boss describes it as the first digital sampler in compact pedal form, and it could record for less than a second³. It was eventually replaced by the Boss DD-3 Digital Delay, which dropped the sampling side and kept the delay⁴.

A digital sampler and delay in a pedal

The DSD-2 arrived in 1985, a moment Boss itself marks in its delay pedal history as the year of the "DSD-2 Digital Sampler/Delay"⁵. According to Boss's own history article, written by Jim Bybee, the phrase sampler in the DSD-2 could record (or "sample") 800 milliseconds of audio and play it back one-shot style, with a Trigger input for external sources like a drum pad⁵. Vein-Tap's Ben puts the pedal's place in history plainly: Boss made the first digital sampler in compact pedal form in 1985, and that pedal, the DSD-2, could record for less than a second³.

For a player, that means the DSD-2 does two jobs. As a delay it gives you repeats across two ranges, and as a sampler it captures a short phrase you can fire back manually or from an external trigger. The sampling window is short: 0.8 seconds, per Pedal of the Day's Mike B, who notes the max length you can record is 0.8 seconds². That is enough for a chord stab or a brief figure, not a full loop in the modern sense.

The circuit is digital, using a PCM system Boss spec'd as 12-bit plus analog logarithm compression². The frequency response is split between the two paths: 40Hz to 7kHz (+1/-3 dB) for the Sample/Delay signal, and 10Hz to 60kHz (+1/-3 dB) for the Direct signal².

Controls, modes and connections

Pedal of the Day's review lists the pedal's controls and connections, and the two mode options are the heart of how it works².

The two modes give the pedal its delay ranges. In Short mode the delay time runs 50 to 200ms, and in Long mode it runs 200 to 800ms, maxing out at 800ms². Short mode suits tighter, slapback-style repeats; Long mode opens up longer delay times.

The Trig. In jack is the sampler's most distinctive feature. Boss's history article explains that the sample could be played back one-shot style via the Trigger input from an external source such as a drum pad⁵. That lets a player, or a drummer, fire the recorded phrase on cue rather than looping it continuously.

Power comes from an AC adaptor, with the PSA Series recommended, drawing 55 mA at DC 9V².

How it relates to the DD-3

Guitarcloud notes the DSD-2 is similar to the DD-3, and it is possible that Prince used both concurrently¹. The DD-3 replaced the older Boss DSD-2 Delay/Sampler⁴, carrying forward the delay side while dropping the sampler. Where the DSD-2 tops out at 800ms², the DD-3 covers 12.5ms up to 800ms across its three modes⁶, with MusicRadar noting its short, medium and long settings of 50ms, 200ms and up to 800ms, plus a HOLD mode for recording a sample that cannot be played back later⁷.

Guitarcloud also records that Susan Rogers has mentioned Prince using a "blue delay" pedal in the studio, probably a DSD-2¹.

What reviewers said

Pedal of the Day reviewed the DSD-2 as a vintage find in December 2014, calling it "an odd little pedal from our friends at Boss"². Mike B's verdict split the two functions apart:

As a straight delay, though, he loved it overall, and found that "this one sounds really nice for being digital"². He also noted the Effects Level and Feedback controls "do what they should"². For a player weighing one today, that review suggests the delay side holds up better than the sampling side, which was limited by its sub-second record window.

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