Boss BD-2 Blues Driver

Very easy to control. Has a volume knob, a tone knob, and a distortion level knob. Manual is simple but effective.

After reading the positive reviews in this location I was disappointed to find that the BD-2 which I purchased DOES filter tone quite noticably and adds hiss. I have a '58 strat with original setup (i.e. it hums), a recent Les Paul studio, and play them through a Fender Hotrod Deluxe with Sovtek tubes. The BD-2 deadens the warm liquid tone of the amp, and also filters the bass frequencies. The distortion from this unit is crunchy and grainy, unless turned up very high, but the Fender amp does this sound better with its overdrive channel and without the filtering effect or the noise. The distortion of the BD-2 comes reasonably close to approximating the real tube distortion of the fender, and might be satisfactory for use with a solid-state amp.
The volume feature is useful in that it can add enormous boost to your volume, if desired. Unfortunately the tone filtering occurs even with distortion turned right down.

I'm not in a position to have an opinion on this.

No experience with this either.

I'm a professional cellist who loves to play electric guitar to 'bust loose' from the painstakingly precise and controlled world of classical music, so my concept of 'tone' comes from a different place. I like the sounds of Hendrix, Dimeola, Joni Mitchell, Billy Gibbons, Collin James, Clapton, swing, jazz, and play a lot of blues as well. I haven't gigged with electric guitar since the mid 70s (I traded my Marshall 100w lead head for cello lessons), but may again. I wanted an overdrive that would give me the kind of sizzle that Al DiMeola gets on his "Tour De Force - Live" album, without tampering with the luscious sound of my Fender amp. The BD-2 affects the tone too much for my taste. I plan to try the Boss OD-3, which is purported to have a more transparent sound and less filtering of the bass frequencies. Finally, the BD-2 makes the already irritating hum of my old strat much worse. People covet these old strats (bought my bashed up strat in '71 for a pittance), but they have definite drawbacks for practical use. This effect would be an asset to anyone using the kind of sold-state amps that I'm used to, but I can't recommend it to users of good tube amps.

Very easy to use. Just, level, tone and gain.

I am using a Fender Stratocaseter 54 reissue and a Fender RocPro 700. The sound is fantastic for blues. However for heavy sounds it doesn't work so well. It isn't made for that. You can get a big tonal range using the pedal at the same time you are using the gain of the amp.

Very important to me. I can't play without it.

For blues this is a very good pedal. I think is the best. I have been playing for seven years and I really like it. If you wanna play blues, go to a musicstore and buy.

It's three knobs - level (aka volume/crunch), gain and tone (aka treble). Couldn't be much easier. Don't have the manual since I bought it used. Matter of fact, I just sold it again.
I think it's !overrated!

When I first got the BD and had dialed in, I thought it was... great. With some more time (some days) I realized there was something 'wrong', i.e. I wasn't really getting the tones I like. Intensive Testing revealed that this unit actually cools down my tone. Don't get me wrong, this thing does quite a good job, you get nice crunch & gain and even some bluesy touch out of it, but IT DOES NOT ADD WARMTH TO YOUR SOUND, ON THE CONTRARY! (sorry for shouting). If you are - like me - into vintage/warm/southern tone, then this one is a no-go.
The folks from H+K did a marvellous job getting warm tones into my current solid state amp (H+K Edition), and I won't let that be killed by a simple effect unit. Besides, this thing is not comparable to a real gain channel, some people called it gain channel simulator, but that is totally unreal. Compared with the preamp of my amp, it simply gets toasted. Get real!
However, if you do not need that special warmth I'm talking about - yes, it does a good job for the dough.

Built like it should be.

Im into Alternative w/ Funk&Blues roots. If an FX-unit sucks warmth from my tone, that's not tolerable. No way.
I checked the BD with the H+K Edition and my 1979 Ibanez Studio 100 ( 2* V2 Humbucker). Obviously I wouldn't buy it again, I guess I'll try some real valve overdrive.
The BD is especially useful if you have an amp which is already slightly crunching, so that you can mix the BD's crunch & gain with the amp's crunch. The BD is a good unit for the price, but it's definitely not high quality, and it especially doesn't deliver the tones I want. Too bad.

I Don't think you could make it sound bad.

I am using the Blues Driver in front of a Digitech RP-7. I am a full-time professional musician and play MANY styles of music including swing, ska, rockabilly, jazz, rock, club date, fusion, and studio work andhave found this pedal to be the first distortion pedal to sound far superior to any amp distortion I have heard. I am playing it through a Fender Hot Rod Deville 4x10 primarily although it is also used with a Matchless or Polytone Mini-Brute. This pedal does not significantly change your clean tone but simply adds a GREAT overdrive to your sound (assuming everything is at 12:00) and can be tailored just enough to be helpful yet not confusing. This thing sounds great with any of my guitars including a Carvin T60(with humbuckers, Standard Strat(with EMG SA's), Custom Built Franken-Tele(with EMG 60neck-85bridge), Gibson 347, and even with my L-5 for a great Brian Setzer tone. In all situations it is my only overdrive and my overdrive effect on my RP-7 is used strictly as a clean volume boost. By the way, it is REALLY quiet!!!

I have used it exclusively for the last year (aproximately 320 gigs) and it seems to be ultra durable. I dont even think it has a paint chip yet. and one battery seems to last about 3 gigs (12 hours of use)

Don't know.

Works well in all styles as previously stated. Gives everything from a warm touch sensitive drive needed for Blues and Rockabilly as well as a great over the top DISTORTION I use in a hard rock band. I have taught guitar professionaly for the last 16 years and as a result have spent alot of time in music stores (trying crap out when I get stood up for a lesson) and heve never heard any overdrive for any price that was more perfect than this. If you want something to completely change your tone buy a Boogie pedal or a Metal Zone but if you just want to get the tone out of your existing setup you always wished you could BUY THIS PEDAL.

Really easy to use, just 3 knobs, Level, Tone and Gain. Really great pedal, its very versatile. The manual is great, it illustrates a few settings such as American Blues, British Blues, Crunch, Distortion etc.. and gives you a few blank spots to write in your own settings.

Im using a Yamaha Pacifica 412, and a Peavy Express 112s. I usually put my guitar on the middle pickup for the best sound. The pedal really boosts the volume, so I recommend a 12 inch speaker in your amp, or two 10 inch ones if you're going to play really really loud. I usually turn my amp down to 4, and my guitar volume to 2, and thats plenty loud for practice. The nice thing about the pedal is that the sound differs depending on your style, if you want to sound clean, then pick softly, and its clean, pick harder, it gives it a more blues sound.. and if you want to play chords, theres even a chord setting in the manual that sounds excellent.

Very dependable, I use mine all the time and its still going on the original battery. Ive even left it on a night or two. I can safely say that I'd use it for a gig without a backup..Its really sturdy, but I might want a spare battery in my pocket.

Never had to, but the manual provides lots of places to send it if it ever does break.

Its a Blues Driver, but don't let the name fool you, its more like a vintage tube amp emulator. I play a lot of blues, all kinds of blues, and so far Its been great for that. The nice thing is, when I wanna play something BESIDES blues, I still use it. It can create a wide variety of sounds, from crunch to hard distortion. I strongly reccomend this pedal to those of you that are just starting an effects collection, because it does so much, and its definitely worth your money, unlike those death metal distortion pedals, that give you nothing but feedback if you turn the gain over 1.

3 knobs level, tone and gain. Gain is the overdrive and tone gives you how sharp the sound will be. Level is what makes the sound bluesy.

I use it with a Vantage guitar and a Vantage amp, cheap stuff but sounds nice. Comes close to many blues musicians like B B king but gotta add another pedal, just can't figure out what. Wah Wah would sound good on it.
Just too good to be true.

I'll depend on it as a single pedal on a gig. No backup? that's ok, just have a new batt inside.

never.

I play blues, and that's why I bought a blues driver! I would always buy another one of these if it were lost... it's the blues player's buddy :)I love it's blue paint job, and anyways, it'a great pedal to be with.

Very easy... three knobs as descrived previously.

This is a very versatile box. I use it a booster and it retains the cleasn sound and also it can go dirty and fat, very fat. It is a little bit tight though and so it is good for rhythm but solos (not on its own). I run it in series with OS-2 and they make a good team then. Very powerful.

Very realiable... For a while I supplied 15V instead of 9V and it works fine.

Never dealt with them

A useful pedal for any sort of music because of its versatility.

Pretty straight forward. Has level, gain and tone. Gain is what gives you the overdrive (DUH!). I set it to minimum to just slightly more than minimum to get the tone I want. I'm a blues player and it servers me quite well. Finally getting some nice bell like tones from my rig. The manual is ok but not very comprehensive. Experiment and you'll find your tone.

I use an Epiphone Sheraton II with stock pickups (need to changes these) going through a Seymour Duncan 84-50 amp. Also use a noise gate, compressor and EQ. The box is somewhat noisy but the noise gate takes care of that. I'm not trying for a sound of any artist. I'm trying to find a sound that I like and want to present.

It would withstand a nuclear bomb. Yes, I'd use it without backup. However, get an AC adapter. It will eat up batteries.

Don't know. Haven't had to get any support.

I play blues and this is a great match. I wouldn't recommend it for heavy metal or grunge but if you want a nice blues crunch (or even a bit more) it is great.

Volume, Tone and Gain. It's almost as easy as it sounds, but I've found that there are many different sounds to try out on this blue beauty. The manual is reliable just as any Boss manual out there.

I've used it whith a Laney 50 watt amp and a Marshall Valvestate 100 watt amp. It sounds great on both of them. The thick gain sounds fine and it is not that noisy even if the gain and tone are up much.

It's like a Nirvana album. Don't leave home without it!

I play hard rock n'roll punkrock music (Nirvana is the gods), but i also like soft rock like radiohead and smashin pumpkins. Even if my sound often is very crunchy and noisy I like when I have a sound which is not so "super distorted". This pedal is the greatest one I've ever had. I've had a Zoom 505 before and it sucked! This one is 10 times better in sound, reliability, ease of use, and personality. I have also tried several others of pedals like Metal Zone or DS-1 but this is THE pedal for me. It's not that expensive, and I would have bought it even if it was twice as expensive. I really recommend it!

The manuals pretty crap, its suggested settings arent too great, but the pedal's easy enough to use that the manual is irrelevent. 3 knobs, level, tone, gain, very simple.

I use this pedal with a Fender Roadhouse strat and my backup, a squier strat, with a crybaby wah and a fender deluxe 112 plus amp. The pedal's great for producing a good lead tone, its well suited for the sort of hard driving blues stuff I play (SRV, Buddy Guy, Albert King)

Its a boss, its built to withstand nuclear explosions. I use it on gigs without a backup, just got to be sure the battery still has juice in it before a gig.

never dealt with em

its a great pedal for giving some oomph to blues leads, SRV, Buddy Guy type lead tones.