Boss BD-2 Blues Driver

good for boost and mild distortion

Sounds good through solidstate or tube. Not too noisy. Not quit pristine. Better then some, worse then others imo.

Had for 12yrs. no problems.

I have orginal and Keely mod. Keely makes a great clean boost, original had nicer mid level kick. imo.

Extremely easy to use - 3 knobs etc etc. Can get good sounds out of it with single & humbuckers

The main reason i am writing this is to share my own experiences of this pedal and how i feel i've got the best out of it.

I bought this pedal to use as a standalone drive for solos, i had moved from a three channel amp to a two channel and wanted extra flexibility ie turning amp to clean channel and switching BD2 on - this allowed me to get a big volume boost. Although this did the job - the pdeal won't do higher gain sounds particularly well, as other folks have said you can only get a nice sound out of it up to about gain 3 oclock max, past there it sounds fuzzy and horrible.

I felt i wanted extra "beef" for solos as i was purely using this pedal for for drive into the amps clean channel. The solution came when i ran a Boss super overdrive (SD1) into the is pedal, i've read alot of reviews of this pedal being used to smooth out and boost amp overdrives - you'd expect it to do the same with a drive pedal. I had originally bought the SD1 to use as a low gain drive for less "loud" songs.

The result was really good - i only had the SD1 set on low settings (everything about 10-11o clock - this is a very trebly pedal) - you get extra gain/sustain and no fuzzyness. I have tried this with both Gibson LP and Strat - they both sound nice, i usually insert some delay between amp and the two pedals with a boss GT3.

Pedal settings:

SD1
Vol, treble, gain 10-11 oclock

BD2
Vol - 10 - 12 oclock usually depending on levels reqd for solo
Treble - 12-1 oclock
Gain - 2 oclock, above here is dangerous territory for this pedal

My effect chain goes as follows

SD1 > BD2 > Bypasser for boss GT3 > Boss GT3 multi FX (mainly for delays) > Marshall JCM900 (clean channel used for solos)

I feel the use of these pedals is a very cheap way of getting a nice solo drive, the BD2 was 40 GBP second hand and the SD1 can be bought new for 30 GBP.

A demo of the sound you get with a Gibson les paul can be heard on the song "The Night" recorded with my band invisible vegas - the solo sounds is using this pedal combination.

myspace.com/invisiblevegas

All boss pedals are very reliable - pity power supplies are not as sturdy when it comes to chucking them about...!

never needed to

the BD2 was my first standalone stomp box, its a really good alternative to the tubescreamer but i wouldn't ever recommend using is on its own for solos - maybe for lower gain blues stuff ok but not higher gain stuff. Combining pedals seems to be the way for it.

My next purchase will be a Blackstar HT drive - they are getting very good press - why buy an 808 tubescreamer at ~200 GBP when you can have three really good pedals for the same price...?

3 buttons, 2 switches (for extra gain and bass boost). Tone knob modified to have a wider spectrum of treble and bass response. Various resisters and internal parts changed.

These mods smake the BD sound much more pristine and bring out the nuances in your playing, giving you countless options on hand. Fattens up my strat and teles and I can dial in as much gain as I need and shape the tone how I want. I can play soft and sound clean, and with a swift down stroke get some killer overdrive tones. Don't hesitate to contact Gary about modding your pedals, he'll get whatever sound you want.

Built and modified like a tank.

Gary was extremely helpful through email conversations and even phone calls about my wants and specifications for modifying my pedals.

I love having many tonal options on all my instruments and effects, and this pedals allows me to dial in any tone imaginable.

As usual as most overdrive/distrotion pedals. You probably wont have problem to dial in the tone you want.

I use this pedal with many others my chain is as follows: guitar->proco rat2->little big muff->boss bd-2->small stone->boss ce-3 chorus->stereo memory man with hazarai->mxr 6band eq->fender hot rod deluxe. I use the proco rat for mild overdrive tones, the big muff for distortion and for solo work, and the boss blues driver for those crunchy in your bones sound. Some times i use the 3 pedals at ones in low gain to achiewe those pink floyd tones. The sound quality is really good, not noisy at all. Can play radiohead with it. Its really good both with humbuckers and single coils, but i prefer the sound with single coils, maybe just becouse my bucker is a little bit muddy... the pedal is a bit mid scooped, so its not a tube screamer type effect. It is ideal for boosting other distrortion units like the proco, or muff, then you have a good chain saw like sound, good for soloing. What else can i say. I am satisfied with it although for me it took some time to find the perfect tone. As with everything you should try before buy

no problem its a boss :) would survive an h-bomb

I play lot of alternative music, like radiohead, sonic youth, blur, bush, some blusier stuffs like hendrix, little bit of pink floyd, but i also play grunge music. This pedal suits the blues and the alternative tones with the proco rat. If it where lost i would probably buy again, i like the sound of this unit. If i could find an affordable tube overdrive in the same size so i could fit in my pedalboard maybe i would try out, but i am not sure. I like the simplicity of this unit, but i would like a mid boost control on it, so when i need more mids i could turn on...

Couldn't be easier to use. Three knobs and that's it. I checked the other reviews and most people seemed to think you should set the Tone at "12 o'clock" and the Gain around "12 o'clock" for optimal sound. That seemed to mirror my experience. You can definitely crank the Gain to full blast and it will sing but it looses some of its edge and punch when you push it that far.

I play in a cover band. My rig consists of an American Deluxe Strat into a Line 6 Flextone III XL. The Line 6 defintiely has its shortcomings (read the reviews). The clean tones are fantastic, but the "rock" tones leave a lot to be desired and it's difficult to get leads to punch through the mix unless you really crank the volume. Well the Blues Driver has cured that problem. It really warms up the tone and when I need to go to a lead it really pushes me out in front of the band. And...adding the Blues Driver to one of my rock tones really makes the amp sing!!!

The unit is very quiet.

I can now totally dial in the sounds for Tom Petty, Los Lonely Boys, Skynrd, Creedence, etc.

Just bought it 2 weeks ago so reliability has yet to be an issue. The unit seems to be built like a tank. I doubt I'll have any problems.

No experience yet.

What a great piece of equipment. For $85 I've made a huge improvement in my sound. My only complaint is that the on/off red light LED is really hard to see in anything but a low light room.

This is a very uncomplicated unit. There are some examples in the manual for starting points but there is really nothing to it.

I use a USA Fender Standard Stratocaster and an Epiphone Les Paul Studio. My main amp is a Fender FM100 into a 1X15 cab. This is one of the quietest pedals I've ever used and it preserves the orginal tone of whatever amp I use it with. Most of the reviewers here are using tube amps (I only wish). I used to have a Blues Jr, which is a great amp. Still, for now I'm using a solid-state unit. The cleans on my amp are great (there isn't anything much better than 'Fender' clean) but the overdrive leaves much to be desired. This pedal fixes that problem. It truly does a phenomenal job of emulating that coveted warm tube sound and it reacts very well with playing dynamics/attack. I've never really tried to 'sound' like anyone. I know the guitar sound I like and this pedal has definately brought me there. For those of us that do not yet have the luxury of owning a great tube amp, this unit does a great subsitution job. In my experience it sounds great with both humbucker and single-coil pickups. The tone knob can be touchy and I've had to play with it to find that "sweet spot" but I always find it and it changes depending on what I use it for. Many complain about a "fizzy" shrieky tone with the gain too high but I personally like that about this pedal. I do not ever plan on modding this thing. Stock - it's great. No reason to undo the work of a great company like Boss.

I have own several pedals through the years and Boss truly is the 'boss'. These things are built like tanks and I would definately gig without a backup.

I have not yet had the pleasure of dealing with Boss but I don't doubt that it would probably be a fine experience, judging from word-of-mouth.

I have been playing for a little over 15 years. I play blues-rock, indie type stuff. Think White Stripes/The Raconteurs with a little SRV, Jimi type sounds thrown in...with a little taste of Wes Montgomery/Joe Pass. I'm not a heavy distortion kind of individual - overdrive to mild distortion; and I hate compression really. This pedal fits my style perfectly and I don't believe I would ever need another overdrive/distortion unit. I used to own a Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive - that thing can't touch this pedal by far! If this thing were stolen or lost...and I had the money...I would replace it no-brainer! This pedal encourages creativity, at least for me. The sounds that come out of this thing are great and gets me where I need to be.

MOD THIS PEDAL!
The bd-2 standard sounds pretty good, especially at low gain. But with a mod it sounds incredible. I did the monte allums h20 plus mod and am very happy with it. It really turned this pedal into my favorite overdrive pedal.

It's not bad. You got your volume, your tone, and your gain. The tone i keep at 12 always, it's not very good sounding otherwise. The gain sounds fuzzy (not good fuzz either) when you get up to 4 or so. Not bad.

In a nutshell: good at low gain, real warm when I turn my bottom tone knob almost all the way down with some spring reverb. When the gain is high it sounds terrible. I'm sending it off to get modded. Pretty good on low gain.

It's a boss, but it has held up ok.

Good on low gain. Everything else is terrible on it.

This is a no brainer, there are three knobs: level, gain and tone. However be careful with the level knob, as I have found anything above 9:00 is too much compared to your clean signal, and tone is best at 12:00.

Gear: Amps: Fender N.O.S tweed with Jensen 12" speaker Blues Junior, which I mostly play, and Fender reissue Blues Deluxe, 40W.

Pedals: Line 6 Delay (the big green one), Ibanez Tonelok delay, MXR phase 90, Boss Chorus Ensamble, VooDoo Lab Sparkle Drive, VooDoo lab Microvibe.

I will and always have played through tube amps, and I've had and lost a few good ones like a Marshall JCM Super Lead which I had to sell to make rent. The first and foremost thing to me that every amp should have is a CRYSTAL CLEAR clean channel at moderate to extreme volumes, hense my Fenders. I choose my amps based on this quality, because I play equally as much clean songs as distorted/overdriven songs. Given the lapse in time from switching from clean to distortion on pretty much any amp, I never use the distortion channels on an amp and reley purely on pedals to get my desired tone.

And here comes the BD-2. This pedal is amazing, and as advertised, it will give you a TRUE overly driven tube amp sound, and something else as a bonus and that's true distortion at full gain. I play humbuckers mostly, but sometimes I'll throw my Fender single coils in the mix, but not to often. What I get in return, and I'm telling you this is no ********, the difference when I turn on the overdrive channel of the Blues Deluxe (tubes fully drived) at full gain and then switch to the clean channel and then the BD-2, there is absolutely no difference in bass, treble or mids, TOTAL TONE, this pedal is an exact match to a fully overdriven Fender tube amp, NO ********. Of course this is with the neck pickup, not the bridge humbucker. So you take that as you will, I can't tell you if your going to get the same result on a solid state amp.

The majority of my playing is in my apartment at 2:00 in the morning with my Blues Junior. Everyone is fast asleep so I can get moderate volumes out of it. The tones I find most interesting are the 90's grunge, 60's fuzz and soul, and chunky semi-metal nu bands. This pedal gets so dirty at full on gain, God I love it, the classic grunge sound with a Les Paul on the neck pickup. Switch it to the bridge, and you are equally rewarded with bassey chunks palm muting, to full on bar chords, majors and minors, 7ths, it is all represented, nice and dirty, every string, note, represented. It's dirty and nasty, just the way I like it.

Then I'll turn the gain to 2:00 and play U2ish delay type of stuff. Again with humbuckers, all the notes are represented, warm, rich, a little bit of mid scoop, which I'm going to use the Sparkle Drive in those cases where I need more mids.

Leads: man if you have ever played a solo on an overdriven tube amp, then you won't settle for anything less. Set your amp to clean, kick this baby on and your right there, there was no difference in tone on my Deluxe driven into overdrive compared to this pedal.

I am and will always be a tone freak: no solid state crap, only organic tube tones for me. To tell you the truth I tried this pedal out several times on solid state amps and was never impressed. I went to Guitar Center and they had all the Boss pedals hooked up to a Blues Deville, and right then and there I laid down the cash for it.

It's a Boss, so take is as you will. I had a Super Overdrive way back when and the switch went out on me. My 8 year old DS-1, yes a DS-1, well I've never had any problems with. I think since these things are mass produced, it's a hit or miss thing, therefore a 6.

As I stated my SuperOverdrive switch went out on me. I called Boss, sent it to them, and out of warranty, since it was so old, well they actually replaced it for free less shipping and handling. Kudos there.

First question: my music I write is dirty and grungy, funky and totally clean. So I guess my tastes are of a wide spectrum. I need amps and pedals that can attain all of these styles, and the heavier stuff, which truley suprised me, is acheived with the BD-2, not the DS-1, which was for a long time my benchmark along with the Maxon Sonic Distortion.

I've been playing since 1991, and I grew up in the late 80's, so I have a full line of influences from 80's hair bands (gotta love them), to grunge, nu-metal to whatever you call this crap they play now, plus many different influences from the 60's and 70's, I can find paradise in all of these areas of music.

Yes, I would buy it again if it were stolen, in a heartbeat.

This pedal compares, and I'm not bullshitting, to the Maxon Sonic Distortion, but it's $70 cheaper. I owned both pedals at one point, and I found that the Blues Driver at full gain was much more dirty and satisfying. The Maxon is THE SAME EXACT TONE, but tighter, more focused, which could be a good or bad thing, better for palm mutes.

The next pedal I'm going to get is the Maxon D&S II. Read those reviews, and it may tell you more about my style in distortion.

Let's see, Level, Tone, Gain, preeeeety simple as stated. EXTREMELY quick and easy to dial in.

I'm playing the big Peavey T-60 through a Peavey Tweed 2-12 Vintage. Only other effect I'm running is a Ibanez H/D Harmonizer Delay 1000. I read all the reviews and only about 3% of the reviews were bad. A couple of reviewers said too tinty, with some hissing? Sorry, I didn't hear it. With this unit, IMHO, if someone can't dial in a good sound, maybe it's the users fault, you think? The unit goes from clean, to light crunch, to nice crunch. Very satisfying.

I'ts boss, let's move on.

Never dealt with them .

Blues, jazz, country,classic rock, rockabilly, celtic. Been playing about 30 years. Other gear? Steel guitar, electric violin, and keyboard, and assorted Peavey amps. A lot to drag around when gigging, blaaaaah! Anyway, I'm happy with the Blues Driver, for 70.00$, an excellent bargain. Just play with it, you'll get the sound you want.