Blackstone Appliances Blackstone Mosfet Overdrive 2S

Its straightforward in having two distincts tones and and two footswitches, with volume and tone controls per channel. I do agree with the earlier reviewer who said that it takes quite a lot of setting up, and very small turns can suddenly make quite an impact. Best if you are not a constant twiddler of the dials - they are flat to the surface so you have to use a pick or a nail.

It is truly excellent. A huge range of overdrive and distortion sounds. Between the red and orange channel, and a decent valve amp, all tones are covered up to the heaviest of heavy rock.
And sounds fantastic with echo, if you are looking for the big solo sound.

Very well made, tough little box. It's pro standard.

Not dealt with them. Love the idea the guy doesn't sell to shops, only makes the one box, provides ten time more details on what it does than you would ever need. You can tell its made with real care.

For a hand made truly distinctive piece of kit, which looks great by the way, I think this is very reasonably priced. It feels pleasingly over-engineered.
You are unlikely to be able to try one out in the shops, so its a bit of gamble to spend the money based purely on reviews. But these pedals have built their reputation for a reason - they are very, very good.
Had lots of overdrive distortion pedals, and some expensive ones as well. This is the best.

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This is a followup to a previous post of about 2 1/2 years ago. I have been a dedicated user of this device since I first bought it. I primarily am in a blues/ R+B type situation and this pedal really delivers for me. Lately I have been using it with, of all things, a Fender Blues Junior amp. Despit the fact that this is a master volume type amp, I am able to get absolutely fantastic tone at low volumes. There are a bunch of pedals out there that sound great but most of them have to be used ibn an already cranked amp. Not so here. Also, I only barely use the Red channel which is more of a distortion sound. It does come into play at the end of the night when we whip out a totally rocked up version of "Boogie Chillun' "! This pedal is great sounding, versatile, and worth every penny I paid. I may buy another soon. You should check one out- it will replace several pedals in your collection as it has in mine.

Not one single problem yet and I gig 2-5 times a month plus I use it at rehearsals and jam sessions.

I had been looking for this pedal for a while after reading a good review in UK Guitarist Mag. Having used a Boogie V Twin for a while I wanted something in the same mould, but with more dynamics and better cut through the mix. I was well made up when I found one on Ebay. I was a little disappointed when first plugging and going with the very nasally sound coming from the orange channel and quite high treble sound coming from the red channel. However, this was second hand and configured to the old users setup so I started from the beginnig. For a small box with relatively few knobs on it is amazing how just a small adjustment of either one can dramatically change the sound. The manual is very comprehensive and gives alot of info in such a small booklet. On re-reading the manual, it states that the orange channel sould only be used set to the max with single coils - hence the nasally sound I first encountered. I changed my approach to using my ears to achieve the sounds I wanted, regardless of what my eyes thought the EQ & levels should be. I was soon knocking out some great sounds. Most reviewers and the instructions state that you should set a clean sound you are happy with and then set the pedal. I've found the pedal sounds better a la tubescreamer setup - Set the amp to a good crunch, back off the guitar volume and hit the pedal. You get instant added definition and clarity with good response which evens out into wonderful sunstained leads as you increase the guitar volume. This isn't a plug & go pedal. You need to use your ears and it is quite fiddly to get it right - Once it's right you never look back. It's not easy to use but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The red and orange lights are very small and difficult to distinguish between unless you are in the dark. The boogie V Twin always had the channel light on, even in bypass mode to show which one was about to be activated. You kind of have to remember which channel you were using when you hit bypass, which is sometimes a little too much in the live situation. A bigger light and different colours to distinguish channels (rather than orange & red)so you are in no doubt would be better.

I'm using a PRS McCarty through a Cornford Hurricane. I wanted a pedal that would beef up the overdrive to a more modern hi-gain sound while keeping the tones of the hurricane. I tried a TS-9, Marshall guv'nor and an MXR Dynacomp, both of which fell short. The pedal is designed to work around your pickup design. The red channel gain is set depending on which you have. This is a little tricky for me as having coil taps on my guitar means I need to be careful. However, I never solo in single coil mode and the red channel is my main soloing hi gain channel so I set it to humbucker mode. With the orange channel humbuckers and single coils sound great. Gain and level are set to 1 o'clock which gives a great vintage plexi rock sound. I have the eq set to about 1 o'clock aswell which gives a slightly mid boosty sound. I sometimes on occasion switch to 11 o'clock EQ for a more modern boogiesque mid scoop. The blackstone isn't as hi gain as I was expecting, but it suits my needs. It doesnt follow the normal traditions of increasing sustain with more gain. More gain on red channel with humbuckers tightens the attack more, while more gain on orange fattens the sound rather than adding more sustain. I play Clapton/Hendrix in a rock blues band and contemporary worship music in a church band. This pedal works for both as it cleans up nicely on low guitar volume and puts out sheer sustained filth if you crank it up. The pedal is very quiet while engaged.

The unit is well built and robust. I used it in my old padded pedal bag and the patch leads kept coming out when I stomped on it. I have since invested in a solid pedaloard case with the unit securely velcroed in and havent had any probs. However, the jack sockets are a bit unreliable. I use planet waves cables with the gold ends on them which won't come out of a standard pedal without a serios tug. They pop out of this without even pulling.

I emailed Mr Blacktone re setting up buffered mode and got a response the next day. V Good customer service. You get the impression from his website he is very passionate about what he does

I am very happy with this pedal. The fact I had to work at it to get my sound makes it all the more fulfilling to use.

It's easy to get a good sound out of this pedal. The level ,drive and tone controls can take a little tweaking,but cannot be inadvertantly kicked out of adjustment. This is such a nicely designed pedal,takes minimal board space and yet delivers tone in spades!

I use strats,teles and a well worn Les Paul Custom. This pedal is quiet unless really pushed. It is very sensitive to the guitar's volume control, but can be set internally to a buffered option,so that
it can be put later in the effects chain. For me there is plenty of gain and wonderful tones with many variations. I'm using an Allen
Accomplice(Black face Deluxe,40 watt version),A 70 Pro Reverb and a
couple of Black face Bandmasters. I can get close enough to some of
those noted guitar player's tones, but am one of a million guitar
players and glad to get the fat,rich and sustaining tones I get with
this pedal.

This pedal is really built well! It's a solid and beautifully designed board, with perfect soldering and construction. I rely upon
this pedal for that fat tone and do not need a back-up.

The pedal did suddenly develop some noise, so I shipped it to Jon, who discovered a partially fried FET. This is unusual, and I believe
that it was the result of a power surge,or bad power supply. Jon was
very helpful, and customer support was excellent!

I play blues and blues based rock and this pedal works well and gives me "that tone". I've been playing for over 30 years. I use this pedal as my main overdrive,a Reto-Sonic chorus ensemble and a Sex Drive at the ned of the chain. This pedal provides an overdriven amp sound on it's own,without having to drive the pre-amp stages of the amplifier. It gives that fat,full sound that I was after, so if
stolen,I'd replace it with another immediately.
I've re-housed several pedals,making them smaller and done mods.
This pedal is so nicely packaged in a black wrinkle finish with a name plate which clearly lables the controls. The LED goes from yellow(brown channel) to red for drive channel. The level controls are slotted adjustments,just under the surface and can be set with thumb nail or pick. They cannot be inadvertantly knocked out of their
setting. What a nice compact pedal with great options and sounds!
It definitely helps to give me the sound I was after and works
very well with Fender type amps. Not only is the sound great, but
it takes less than half the size of most pedals with these options.
Thanks Jon.

very easy to use. 2 footswitches, 1 for chanel switching, and 1 to bypass the unit (which is true bypass btw). the overdrive has the usual level, gain, and tone adjustement, plus some internal switches and pots. although it has a lot of fine tuning options, every settings are usable.

i bought this pedal to use on small gigs. played with an old Strat and a blackface Deluxe, i get a nicely compress clean sound with the unit bypass, a good crunch sound on the orange chanel, and a great lead sound that is not mid heavy like most pedals. it's a nice little setup that fits in the back seat of a car.

it's too early to tell it's reliable or not, but i bought on ebay, and when i received it, the internal switch to adjust the reative mode was split in two. so i email Jon if he could sell me one, and i received one 5 days later... free of charge. that's customer support!!

real good!!(see reliability)

i'm a session player doing jingles and record dates during the week, and gig with my own blues band on weekends. i got tons of vintage gear, but i enjoy the portability of that simple setup. 1 guitar, 1 amp, and 1 great pedal. what more do you need? after all your sound is in your hands...

This is the 2s, currently the most recent version of the Blackstone Mosfet Overdrive. This pedal is not complicated but has a bit more than meets the eye in terms of controls. If you like pedals that need 5 minute or less to show you what they can do, this may not the be one. For me this is a GOOD thing, it means that there is a LOT to offer tonally. I thought it sounded good the minute I plugged it in, but it took some time to reveal the extent of the pedal's range of sounds. The manual is clear and precise, it gives the basic info
needed to get started.
The review below gives a good overview of the features and controls. There is an undocumented mod to get around the one tone conrol for both channels.
The tone control can be made to effect only the Red channel, leaving the Brown channel fixed at the flat EQ setting. It requires that one trace must be severed on the circuit board, so you must be sure you want to live with it.

I use this pedal with tube amps and start with a Fenderish clean sound. It's first on the pedal board as recommended for maximum responsiveness - and yes, it cleans up beautifully. I use the "flat" setting which is full midrange. The Blackstone provides an edge that keeps a lot of the chime, but fills in the midrange is a musical way. This pedal sounds like no other overdrive that I have used or tried. (Fulldrive FDII, Zinky True Grit, Lovepedal Fab50, Mosferatu, Barber DD/DDSS/LTD, Aphek Peanut Butter, Tech21 Direct Drive). Of these listed, it is probably closest to the Mosferatu. It is the only pedal that I've tried that sounds good to my ears through any amp - even my solid state "acoustic guitar" amp. It doesn't need to drive the front end of an amp, it provides its own thing. It seems to play well with all other pedals, although goosing other overdrives is like mixing colors on an artist's palette, sometimes beautiful, sometimes a variation on brown. It's as quiet as any overdrive I've heard, even full out.

I've only owned it for a few months and have not tried the beer drenching test. The construction is excellent inside and out, I'm confident that it is as solid as anything I've ever used. I won't hesitate to use it without a backup.

My emails to Mr. Blackstone have been returned everytime. He provided me with helpful info before and after buying a used unit!!!! The tone mod was emailed in PDF form - this is as professional as it gets.

There is no such thing as a "best" overdrive, it's a completely personal choice.
With the Blackstone, I have found what works well for me.
I play single coil/humbucker/P 90 pickups, this unit works well with all of them. Needing clarity with chords is difficult for some overdrives, but not so with the Blackstone.
Literally, the only thing I wish it had was more color contrast with the two LEDs for channel changing.
I've bought and sold many units in trying to find a box that allows the sounds in my head to be heard, and this is something that will always be on my board. Simple and elegant, a top notch product.

I've been tweaking this thing for months...so I won't say it's easy. But I am VERY picky about tone. Lost the little manual...they oughta post it on their nice site. I never replaced the caps...since I need the manual to find the right ones. Maybe that would fix it...but why should an expensive pedal need *fixing*?

I use a strat & twin. At bedroom volume & max gain it can sound pretty crappy. My bass player hates it. But live & loud...my opinion changes.
Lots of shades by backing off your ax volume...from a little grit...to screamin/singing. However, it never gets ALL the way clean...and always
changes my tone a bit...which I dislike. And it didn't like going into my Memory Man....the echoes get lost. Fairly quiet...but not a hell of a lot of gain on the brown channel. The red side is LOUD...but I don't hear a lot of difference between the two...except in volume.

Built BETTER than a Boss pedal! I LOVE the size, look, layout & lack of knobs. It stays where you put it. And the mechanical bypass is WONDERFUL...NO tone sucking. But the jacks don't hold on to your cords well...they pop out a bit too easily.

I've never *gone there*

I'm a pro (40 years). I needed to get a Marshall sound out of my twin for certain tunes. It does this well...and REALLY cuts thru on a big stage.
It's lots of fun....but a few little things always bug me.
I wish it had a clean boost. It is superior to most. I tried many pedals before I bought it. It's damn good, but it's not the end of *the search*.

Despite having to open the housing to make fine adjustments, this couldn't be much easier than it is. I don't find the flush, slotted control knobs to be that difficult to adjust. Having to use a jewlers screwdriver inside the box, and a paperclip tip to switch from its standard to bypass mode (enables you to use this box after other effects in bypass mode) leaves some room for improvement, but on the other hand, this device cleverly has caps that can be removed without the need for soldering, thus minimizing damage to the circuit board.

The manual is very descriptive, as this box is still very simple despite it's internal tweaks. The Red/Brown channel do sound different, as the red offers more gain and accentuates the trebel or loosens and fattens up the tone depending on what you want. The brown (amber LED) is used for moderate overdrive until past 12'oclock, where it assumes the sound of the red channel in the past 12 position. There is one eq. control that both channels share in which clockwise adds midrange and drops bass and treble, while counterclockwise boosts lows and highs while cutting mids. A seperate eq would be great to truly provide two distinct channels, but believe me, it's not a deal breaker.

I believe this is the latest version of the Blacstone Mosfet, but I am not sure of the upgrades done to it over the original.

Sounds great. I was using a Fulldrive2, HAO Rumble MOD and a Marshall Jackhammer to deliver different overdrive/distortion sounds from my Twin. The Fulldrive was a keeper, but while I found useable sounds from the HAO and Marshall, one tweak to the left or right on either of those pedals and I was in crappy sound land. The HAO was similar to the Fulltone, but also fuzzed up to easily. I hate fuzz, and didn't find the controls to be very user friendly. The Marshall gave me great AC/DC sounds, but too much of this or too much of that, gave me the Kelly Osborne guitar player sound, which to me sounds like recycled ass. So, out of shear curiosity and stellar reviews of the Blackstone, I decided to sell the latter two pedals and go for this stomp box. As many reviewers before me have stated, it can be a plug in and play out of the box unit, but unless you are prepared to place the Blackstone infront of your wah, tuner, compressor and other overdrive pedals, you will need to open the housing and switch the box over to bypass, allowing you to used this anywhere in the pedal chain. The purpose of having it set up that way it arrives out of the box is for you to enjoy controling the gain levels from your volume knobs on your guitar. This is quite a cool feature, however, I did not like the sound of the other pedals with this engaged first. In addition, if you do not open the housing and switch to bypass, you will find a really tinny sounding distortion when the knobs are greater than 3'oclock on the right side and less than 9'oclock on the left. Simply switching to bypass allows you to place this after a tubescreamer, compressor or other pedals typically placed before the preamp. I've also found my volume knobs to still be effective and cutting and increasing the gain, however it's not as distinct.

This still gives me close to the AC/DC overdrive, but it's not quite that. This is a very good thing. As others have stated, this is a very natural sounding overdrive. If you have EL34s, then perhaps you will get closer to Angus Young's sound. If you are using 6L6s as I do, you will get the sound of your Twin breaking up. This, to me, is a jem. For less than the price of an attenuator, I can get a sound that achieves similar tones of the power tubes breaking up, except without the compression. This is good to me because it prevents your sound from mushing up. I find the eq. control to be very useable and does provide quite a difference in tone when moved around. You can really pimp your sound to your preference, whether you're a single coil man or humbucker. I use both, so I had to play around with both channels until I found a happy medium. I've always been fond of the Fulldrive2, but I have to be honest and tell you, the sound of the Blackstone is so natural, it really makes the Fulldrive not seem so versatile anymore. When switching between the two, I can now hear a distinct mid-range hump and lack of clarity that I could not hear before. The amber channel with low gain sounds better than the comp/cut mode on the Fulldrive. The red channel at moderate gain gives you crunch without compression or midrange, allowing your pickups to be heard through the amp and not just layered transistor distortion with midrange that's thicker than maple syrup. Don't get me wrong, I use the Fulldrive in front of the Blackstone, but normally will use that for tubescreamer stuff with my single coil guitars and leave the Blackstone for all the rest. I've thought about getting a Marshall Guvner, but I think I'll just wait and get a JTM45 and an A/B/Y switch and use the Blackstone to bring out the natural tones of that.

This is small and compact and very well built. The only concern I have is constant tweaking of the internal controls could lead to potential damage to the circuit board. I'm not crazy about the idea of jabbing the end of a paper clip into a switch that is very hard to see. It's also hard to determine whether the switch moved or not. Other than that, the switches seem of very high quality, and the box itself appears to be destruction proof. I am overall confident this box will last for as long as I decide to keep and use it.

Upon ordering the unit direct, I got an email confirmation from John Blackstone. He thanked me for my order and told me when the pedal would go out. Needless to say, I received the pedal within a few days and truly believe John will stand behind his product come hell or high water.

For my style of country, blues, jazz and classic rock, this pedal works perfectly. I traded in the signature AC/DC Back 'N Black sound for a broader pallet of useable overdriven amp sounds. As I stated in the sound section of this review, this is far more natural sounding than any other overdrive pedal I've ever used. I still use the Fulldrive2 and like it, however, this pedal is in a league of it's own. I think for the quality of sound this provides, this is a great deal for the money. Compairing to any other overdrive I've bought and used for around the same money, they all offer slight variations of one another, which is mid-range induced transitor radio noise that fizzes up when the gain is cranked. The Fulldrive2 is the best of the transistor boxes, but the Blackstone is the box I'd use if I could only carry one overdrive pedal around with me. The Blackstone gets plenty heavy enough for my tastes, and unless you need artifical compression and bass added, you will find this very useable for your setup too.

The layout is very simple, but don't let this fool you. This pedal is capable of various tonal shadesby varying the controls and the trim pots (not to mention the caps). A very clever design!

Here's the deal. I purchased this pedal last year. My amps are very clean beasts so I have to color them up front. I've come full circle from owning various amps to complex rack set-ups to the present: where I find keeping it simple is the best way to tone bliss. My current set up is guitar => Mosfet Overdrive 2s => delay pedal => amp. And I couldn't be happier. I find both channels of the 2s to be useful and enjoy jumping between the two. My heavy stuff blooms and sustains beautifully and the more bluesy stuff, when dialed in, has that nice airey quality about. I purchased the Overdrive 2s on mere faith from what I read, but it was one of the best purchases I've made in the arena of effects. Let's put it this way: I've owned the FDII, the Tonebone Classic, the Burn Unit and several others (plus I've borrowed or tried numerous other pedals with my rig) and this pedal is all I need (I'm not knocking those other pedals, because they all rock, but for my rig - the 2s just tonally fits with my tonal mojo).

Looks pretty tough - plus all the controls are flush with the housing so you can't really move them accidentally or injure them in anyway with your foot.

I recall paying for the device on the web page and he advised it was shipping pretty quickly - no complaints here.

I would totally buy this pedal again. In fact, I'm thinking of getting a second one so I can have two reds and two browns (channels) to choose from...we'll see. For those looking at making a purchase for this type of effect - give the Mosfet Overdrive 2s some serious consideration. I went through a lot of pedals to finally get here, but I'm a happy camper.

the pedal is very easy to use.I like the fact that the controls are set the way the are since having to deal with pedals whose settings I always have to check before a gig.With this pedal,you just set it and it stays that way,as compared to my fulltone 2 overdruve.

the sound quality is fantastic.After using a fulldruve 2,this pedal blows it away.No tone change,2 levels of overdrive,and true bypass makes this the best pedal I have ever used.I am running it in front of Mesa Boogie rectoverb,and it sounds great.

At this point I have only used it for one gig,but it seems to built preety solid

Have not had to deal with customer support,but the store I bought it from has high praise for the manufacter.

I play in a cover band whose song lists covers everything from funk,soul,latin,and rock.