Theera Music

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Wajima Talks About Waza Craft

Even when I’m using many pedals, I like to keep my natural guitar tone intact. Clean or distorted, it’s the same story. So a buffer will play an important role when trying to keep my original tone, even when I have a few pedals looped or in-line. I love the BOSS buffers for this because they’re designed with the guitar tone in mind. With the Waza Craft series, they’ve taken it a notch higher, with the buffer sounding even better. The TU-3W is a good representation of this. I can tell the improvement in tone just by connecting the pedal in bypass—a strange concept to get your head around, but it’s very important. Another thing I noticed is the low noise. Whether it’s the SD-1 or BD-2, the Waza Craft models definitely have far less noise than the originals. Even with the MT-2W, it had no noise. But it still has the same great effect when turned on, if not better.

Each of the Custom modes were powerful too. For example, with overdrives and distortions, many modified models were just beefed-up originals, but with the Waza Craft series, you know the pedal has been modified by BOSS themselves, who designed the original. On top of that, the Custom modes accurately improve points that the players needed changing. BOSS listened to our requests and it just makes me happy to hear that in the tone. Like with the DM-2W—I don’t use it that often, but I did want longer delay time out of an analog delay pedal, and they responded to that. I could really see, hear and feel the designers’ pride and commitment, and how they very much care about the players.

Bigger companies will always have to make difficult decisions like “let’s use less expensive parts here” or “we need the best components here” to reach a reasonable market price. On the other hand, boutique makers don’t have to keep their pedals cheap, so they get to use the best parts and get the best tone and least noise. It’s groundbreaking that a big brand like BOSS can achieve boutique-level quality, like they did with the Waza series. And they always get it right too. I mod my own pedals, so I know that using the best parts doesn’t always end up in

the best tone. There can even be mods that make things worse if you don’t know what you’re doing.

BOSS Waza Craft is more than just a mod, it’s a higher brand. So even things like the “技 WAZA CRAFT” logo on the footswitch, the silver plate and engraved serial number, the silver screw…every detail is important for the brand and it matters to us players too. Only BOSS can be on this level.

Being the pedal builder that I am, when I buy a pedal, I always find myself wanting to change a jack or a condenser, but with a Waza Craft pedal, I know for sure that nothing needs to be touched. It’s perfect and sounds the best the way it is, so there’s no point in trying to mod it. A regular BOSS is always good, but the Waza Craft series is so much more. It has my complete trust.

Outside of the CE-2W that I already own, there were a few pedals I felt I wanted, like the DM-2W and TU-3W. The DC-2W was a fun one—I’d love to talk about it with my musician friends, let them know that it recently came out from BOSS and how it sounds. Of course, if you own the original and upgrade to the Waza Craft version, you’ll immediately see which points have been upgraded. But at the same time, there’s no reason the MT-2W couldn’t be your first distortion pedal—it’s the best on the market. Also, the originals have their merits too, so maybe you can have both on your board and use them side-by-side for different applications.

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WAJIMA TALKS ABOUT WAZA CRAFT

Even when I’m using many pedals, I like to keep my natural guitar tone intact. Clean or distorted, it’s the same story. So a buffer will play an important role when trying to keep my original tone, even when I have a few pedals looped or in-line. I love the BOSS buffers for this because they’re designed with the guitar tone in mind. With the Waza Craft series, they’ve taken it a notch higher, with the buffer sounding even better. The TU-3W is a good representation of this. I can tell the improvement in tone just by connecting the pedal in bypass—a strange concept to get your head around, but it’s very important. Another thing I noticed is the low noise. Whether it’s the SD-1 or BD-2, the Waza Craft models definitely have far less noise than the originals. Even with the MT-2W, it had no noise. But it still has the same great effect when turned on, if not better.

Each of the Custom modes were powerful too. For example, with overdrives and distortions, many modified models were just beefed-up originals, but with the Waza Craft series, you know the pedal has been modified by BOSS themselves, who designed the original. On top of that, the Custom modes accurately improve points that the players needed changing. BOSS listened to our requests and it just makes me happy to hear that in the tone. Like with the DM-2W—I don’t use it that often, but I did want longer delay time out of an analog delay pedal, and they responded to that. I could really see, hear and feel the designers’ pride and commitment, and how they very much care about the players.

Bigger companies will always have to make difficult decisions like “let’s use less expensive parts here” or “we need the best components here” to reach a reasonable market price. On the other hand, boutique makers don’t have to keep their pedals cheap, so they get to use the best parts and get the best tone and least noise. It’s groundbreaking that a big brand like BOSS can achieve boutique-level quality, like they did with the Waza series. And they always get it right too. I mod my own pedals, so I know that using the best parts doesn’t always end up in

the best tone. There can even be mods that make things worse if you don’t know what you’re doing.

BOSS Waza Craft is more than just a mod, it’s a higher brand. So even things like the “技 WAZA CRAFT” logo on the footswitch, the silver plate and engraved serial number, the silver screw…every detail is important for the brand and it matters to us players too. Only BOSS can be on this level.

Being the pedal builder that I am, when I buy a pedal, I always find myself wanting to change a jack or a condenser, but with a Waza Craft pedal, I know for sure that nothing needs to be touched. It’s perfect and sounds the best the way it is, so there’s no point in trying to mod it. A regular BOSS is always good, but the Waza Craft series is so much more. It has my complete trust.

Outside of the CE-2W that I already own, there were a few pedals I felt I wanted, like the DM-2W and TU-3W. The DC-2W was a fun one—I’d love to talk about it with my musician friends, let them know that it recently came out from BOSS and how it sounds. Of course, if you own the original and upgrade to the Waza Craft version, you’ll immediately see which points have been upgraded. But at the same time, there’s no reason the MT-2W couldn’t be your first distortion pedal—it’s the best on the market. Also, the originals have their merits too, so maybe you can have both on your board and use them side-by-side for different applications.