A Boss / Roland serial number since March of 1989 is comprised of 7 characters

Roland / Boss Serial Number Decoder

A Boss / Roland serial number since March of 1989 is comprised of 7 characters - 2 letters followed by 5 numbers (e.g., AP12700). The first letter and the last 4 numbers (A & 2700 in the example) combine to give you the unit number of the piece of equipment. This number indicates the total number of units produced of a particular model at the point in time it was manufactured. The first letter of the S/N is translated into a number and combined with the last 4 numbers of the S/N. The highest number that can be represented using a letter and 4 numbers is 259,999 (Y=25 combined with 9999). If more than 259,999 units of a particular model are manufactured (as is the case with the Boss CH-1 Super Chorus pedal), the counter resets to 0 and starts over.

That brings us to the 2nd letter and the 1st number of the S/N (P & 1 in the previous example AP12700). These 2 characters are decoded to provide the Date of Manufacture (DOM). Since this 2 letter, 5 number S/N was initiated by Roland/Boss in March of 1989, March of 1989 is represented by A0. Each month that follows increments this 2 character "counter" by 1, e.g., April 1989 is A1, May 1989 is A2, etc. B0 follows A9 (January 1990) and so on. Because there are only 10 numbers (0-9) but 12 months in a year, the 2 character code is not as simple as "This letter represents this month and this number represents this year" kind of translation.

But, a simple grid representation of all the possible letter and number combinations can be produced that allows you to find the letter on the left (vertical) axis and the number on the top (horizontal) axis and follow the respective row and column to where they meet and that will tell you the month and year the unit was manufactured. (P1 in our example decodes to October 2001)

This S/N system will take Roland/Boss to October of 2010.

Get a printable copy of this Serial Number decoding information in pdf format here

Examples:

Boss CH-1 Chorus pedals:

S/N ZA02539 decodes to: Unit # 2539 manufactured March 1989

S/N GC20119 decodes to: Unit # 70119 manufactured Jan 1991

S/N YN86973 decodes to: Unit # 256973 manufactured Sept 2000

S/N ZO10151 decodes to: Unit # 0151 manufactured Dec 2000

S/N FT18731 decodes to: Unit # 68731 manufactured Feb 2005

Boss CE-5 Chorus pedals:

S/N BE52121 decodes to: Unit # 22121 manufactured Dec 1992

S/N JN53602 decodes to: Unit # 103602 manufactured June 2000

S/N NS57036 decodes to: Unit # 147036 manufactured Aug 2004

Boss BF-2 Flanger:

S/N CF60611 decodes to: Unit # 30611 manufactured Nov 1993

Boss SD-2 Dual OverDrive:

S/N CI15908 decodes to: Unit # 35908 manufactured Dec 1995

Boss ME-50 Multi-Effects Unit:

S/N AR19330 decodes to: Unit # 19330 manufactured June 2003

Roland GR-20 Guitar Synthesizer:

S/N ZT29235 decodes to: Unit # 9235 manufactured March 2005

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