What Rock Star Went To Mit? You Might Be Surprised!

You might be surprised to learn that Scholz, the man behind the legendary guitar effects company Boss, is an MIT-trained engineer. He built his first recording studio in the basement of his apartment in the early 1970s. While earning his master’s degree at MIT, he was already a huge fan of rock music and started writing his own songs.

You might think that an MIT engineer would be more interested in building rockets than making music, but Scholz had a passion for both. He saw a gap in the market for affordable, high-quality effects pedals. Most guitarists at the time had to rely on expensive, bulky units that were difficult to transport. Scholz wanted to make music more accessible for everyone, and he believed that technology could be used to achieve that goal. He began working on his first pedal, the WA-2 Waza Amp, in the late 1970s. This pedal, which emulated the sound of a vintage wah-wah pedal, was a huge success and quickly became a staple in the studios of many popular musicians. The success of the WA-2 led Scholz to found Roland, a company that would go on to revolutionize the music industry with innovative products like the TR-808 drum machine, the Juno-106 synthesizer, and the JX-3P synthesizer. Scholz’s journey from MIT engineer to music industry pioneer is a testament to his creative vision and his commitment to making music more accessible for everyone.