Boss BD-2 Blues Driver

This pedal is so ridiculously easy to use its actually hard to express it. Three knobs. You have to be seriously special to not get the concept.

I wasn't particularly looking for the sound of my favorite artist. I wanted something on the order of decent tone from a small box. This stomper has an almost "tube-like" quality to it that makes it an interesting companion for my English Muff'n, which is my main pedal for overdrive tones.

I'm a Gibson man, and I normally run an SG Standard-->Boss TU-2, MXR DynaComp (original version)-->Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster-->Blues Driver-->English Muff'n-->Holiest Grail Reverb-->Digitech DigiDelay-->Extremely Clean Crate V-Series 5112 (modified and re-tubed for extreme amounts of head room).

I gave this pedal an 8 because nothing sounds quite like a real tube amp experiencing natural overdrive. Not even the most sophisticated modeling devices.

I Play Blues and Classic rock with a little prog thrown in for goos measure. I've ben playing since before most of you were born. I own half a dozen SGs and a few Les Pauls for when I feel like a he-man. I also have a room full of vintage tube amps. I love the tone that comes out of this pedal (its actually surprising). I don't hate anything about it. My favorite feature, other than the tone is the color (I like blue). I compared this to the OverDrive/Distortion, Super OverDrive, OverDrive OD-3, and all the digitechs. I chose this one because it was the easiest to get a tone I liked out of it, and the price was ok too. I wish it had its own little nuclear power source so that I would never have to worry abotu powering it.

Dead simple to use. 3 knobs, one switch and 2 jacks.

Well I have had this pedal for about 3 years now. I put it away 2 years ago as I could not bring myself to sell it, but was not using it enough. I got this pedal back out this year and still love it.

The amount of tones and sounds you can get out of this is incredible. You are able to get a standard clean overdrive, or you can get a real bluesy crunchy OD. Then you turn the gain full and you get standard blues distortion.

This really is a fantastic pedal.

This is my set-up:

SJB Audio tube amp <-- Boss BD-2 <-- 1999 Gibson SG Standard.

Very simple set-up for a very powerful sound.

Well since I have got it I have had no problems with it, like all of my other Boss pedals. So it???s really reliable and I can???t see it breaking anytime soon

This pedal will never need them.

I play rock and blues. This pedal fits right in with my style.

I would defiantly recommend getting one as they are so versatile.

My other pedals I have are

Boss GE-7 EQ
Boss RV-5 Reverb
JD Uni - Vibe
JD JH Classic Fuzz
Vox V847 Wah

As I said before you don???t need an EQ with this, the sound is perfect the way it is.

EASY! 3 knobs and they all react very nicely.

I've tried a ProCo Rat, Jeckyl and Hyde, DS1, Metal Master, Big Muff....etc. I could get good hatd distortion with all of these pedals, but none cut through smoothly. The BD-2 certainly does. There's no noise or unwanted feedback.
Strat or Les Paul through a Fender Tuner, VOX Wah, TS-9, BD-2, MXR Phase 90, Digitech Digital Delay....into a 1971 Fender Super Reverb.

Don't know yet. So far so good. Played every night for a month.

No idea. The website is slightly helpful.

These guys that are bashing this pedal need to re-evaluate their entire rig. I play a lot of originals that have smooth, clean Funky/Bluesy Rythems and loud cranking solos. We cover Santana (Old and New), James Brown, Tower Of Power, Zep....you name it. This pedal is it for me. Use it with the TS-9 and you get long sustaining bliss.

Easy to use three knobs volume,gain ,tone.

This one has been modded by The Guitar Tone Shop and has the vintage tube mod.played thru Strat 62 reissue w/texas specials and fender blues junior.Wow!! what a pedal.It nails that vintage Fender amp tone@ SRV vibroverb tone.Great clarity or transparency.Really lets your pick attack come through.Tone knob very usable.Thick and rich tone.This guy knows how to mod this pedal.

Tough as nails

Never dealt with

Play mostly blues.This is a great match.Been playin 20 yrs.Would replace if stolen definitely.Much better than stock.

This unit, with the 3 basic knobs (level, tone, gain), is supremely easy to use. In spite of the super simple controls, the pedal offers a huge diversity of overdriven tones. It is easy to get great sounds out of this unit.

In spite of the price tag (super affordable), this pedal offers some great, fundamental overdrive tones. From a simple "boost" to spicy overdrive, you can get a wide variety of crunchy sounds. I've found that it works equally well with both tube and solid state amps. I've spent thousands on effects pedals and have owned modified overdrives, customs, rack gear...and the quality of tone from this simple Boss pedal is nothing short of remarkable. Pound for pound, dollar for dollar, it is tough to beat.

This is a simple question with an even simpler answer; BULLETPROOF.

While certainly not the BEST tone out there, it does represent the best value. Is there better? Yes. Can you get "better" for the price of the Boss? No way. Sure, plenty of boutique fans will turn their noses up at the Boss pedal, but hey...a spade is a spade and this Boss is fantastic.

Wickedly easy. Three knobs: Level, tone, gain. Pretty self-explanatory.

This pedal is FANTASTIC. There might be better overdrive pedals out there, but this does a great job of adding some grit and crunch to your sound. If you crank the gain, it's just as good as most distortion pedals, and it's great for adding a little edge to rhythm chords or riffs.

It's a Boss. My pedal has been dropped, kicked, etc, and it shows no signs of wear, except for some little dings. But there's been no decrease in its performance for the seven years or so that I've owned the pedal.

I really have no idea. I never needed it.

You can't beat it for value and quality and durability. And what more can you ask for? Get this overdrive pedal.

It's great for blues, rock, southern-fried boogie, proto-punk, and everything and beyond. Pick this sucker up, you'll not regret it.

I put it in and it like, used itself it was so easy. It was easier that most women I know and I know a lot of easy women. It's GREAT.

I plugged in my Honey-bee electric and man, this thing sreamed like a baby with poopy diapies. I wish every pedal sounded exatly like this one. It sounds so good that you can hear the fidelity in space if you have a soundcone attached to your shuttle. I read that somewhere.

I wanted to test the Realiability. I strapped meat to it and let my really big dog chew on it for a long time. It was going to town for about 15 minutes. I plugged my Honey-bee back in and it still screamed like, woah.

They're great. I love them. My uncle works for them. I think.

YOu can cover it in sticky barbeque sauce, wail on it, then take it on stage for your awesome sweet spectacular tour. It will play as if the first day it was ever played every time one day some.

Boss pedals are the industry standard for ease of use. I have not done any mods to this because I like it just as is.

This is my favourite pedal in my chain. I play predominately Blues, Blues-Rock and old school R & R so this pedal was the perfect choice for me. Warm, smooth, sustaining overdrive at just about any setting I am in the mood for. No need to dwell on the virtues. This pedal was made for me.

It is a Boss. Enough said.

Never needed it.

As I said before, this is my favourite, made for me, go to pedal in my chain. The chain consists of a Boss CS-2 (compression), BD-2 (my beloved Blues Driver Pedal), DS-1 (distortion for heavier R&R), EQ-7 (for subtle tone tweaking), Marshall RG-1 (a great modulation pedal) and an Ibanez DE-7 (for delay and echo effects). All of this runs through a Vox AC30CC2 and extension 2x12 cab. If you play electric Blues or Blues based Rock, you can not go wrong with this pedal, and it will last you a lifetime of fun and enjoyment.

Simple to use, but it may take some time fiddling around with the knobs to find a sweet spot that suits your particular set up.

I play a Strat through a Blues Deluxe. I was looking for something to coax a little more growl & sustain out of the Blues Deluxe which is not a high gain amp and never really breaks up on its own. Unfortunately the BD-2 isn't the ticket. It's hissy and, as others have noted, tends to suck away rather than add tone. At least it does in my rig. It adds a kind of midrangy edge that in my opinion doesn't necessarily improve the sound coming from the amp, just more or less clutters the tone. On the other hand, it sounds virtually identical to a TS-808, which I also have, and people seem to love the TS-808, so go figure. I think it really depends on whether you have a solid state or tube amp, what kind of pickups you have, what kind of music you are playing, etc. My advice is try before you buy.

It is virtually indestructable. Boss knows how to make pedals that don't break.

Never dealt with Boss.

Been playing 30+ years, all rock. Still gigging. Over the years have come to realize that when it comes to guitar effects less usually is more. Most pedals tend to add a layer of haze to your sound rather than improve it. Maybe I'm becoming a cranky old man. Oh well, like I said, try it first and see if you like it.

It's a standard three knob overdrive box. Pretty much anyone that has used a distortion unit will know how to use this.

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it?
It's a Boss product, so generally people will say pretty easy. In fact sure, I'll even say it's pretty easy, too bad for...welll we'll talk about that soon enough

It's a Boss box...it's not true bypass, it's got some cap's and resistors that change the tone bypassed or not...get a tech to rip them out and replace them with some clearer units...or do it yourself if you know how.

When active the box can provide some interesting tones. I find it can be pretty bright, and can constrict the tones of your guitar a bit making some more open complex chords muddy or incoherent. Needless to say this gets even worse when the gain is turned up...

For me I run it pretty mild, and use it to thicken up my tone while providing some fat girtty saturation. I'm using it with a Gibson ES-335 and a Vox AC30 from the early '70s.

It's still pretty decent compared to most other Boss boxes in my opinoin, and can make provide some good tones in a pinch.

I've had this box since the late 90's, and it has had the CRAP beat out of it! Not much paint is left, and the knobs are missing the inserts, but it's still providing the same tones it always has. Pretty indestructable.

never delt with them for problems, but their local reps kick ass.

I play mostly rock music that is influenced by most of the popular generes from country, blues, classic-rock, metal, punk, that I have a need for something versatile. My basic rig is comprised of Gibson guitars (Les Paul, ES-335, SG) and a Vox AC30. But my pedal line up is always changing...currently this box is in it. But I'm still looking to replace it with something a bit clearer in the mid range.

I won't be selling this unit anytime soon, and there is a good chance if it were stolen I'd buy a new one for the price. It's a great box to rely on if you can compromise some of the mid range mud it provides...and if you can control it's top end.