The President of Boss FX, Yoshi Ikegami has announced that he has stepped down from his role after 44 years at the company which saw him have a hand in some of the most iconic guitar effects pedals ever made.
Yoshi made the announcement via his Instagram, on 30 March, stating that it was his final day as President as he plans to retire, although he will be continuing to be involved in some development as an Executive Advisor.
Ikegami joined Boss in 1978, working as an assembly engineer for parent company, Roland. This role saw him building some of the brand’s landmark classics including the GR-500 guitar synth, RE-201 Space Echo, Roland Jupiter 4 synthesisers and more.
From here, he expanded into product development, alongside his role in assembly, a move that would see him working day and night across the two areas before taking leadership of his first project, the Roland SDE-3000 rack mount effects unit.
The product was a hit, in particular with shred hero, Steve Vai who expresses his love for the SDE-3000 on his own website, explaining how he saved-up to buy two of them when he was 24. The SDE-3000 became a cornerstone of Vai’s sound throughout the Flex-Able and Passion and Warfare era, Vai even presented his two units to Ikegami following a meeting in 2015.
Ikegami continued to help Roland/Boss progress, introducing the company’s first ever use of DSP and designing reverb algorithms before heading-up the brand’s R&D department. He became President of Boss in 2002 and has remained in the role ever since.
In his Instagram post, Ikegami wrote, “Announcement to all my friends: March 30th, today is my final day as President of BOSS. I have decided to retire, so I leave from the front line. I will help BOSS as Executive Advisor for a while to support the new team and some projects that I’m involved in.
This is a huge change to me with my 44 years of Roland/BOSS life, I appreciate people who I met and worked together. I will enjoy my new life and keep on rocking!! Thanks to all my friends!!”
