Boss BD-2 Blues Driver

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.

I find this pedal easy too use. Straight forward three knobs. Level and Gain, Like on some amps, and a tone. The manual is quite good and has some very nice sounds already written in to show you how.

I play a Fender/Peavy Telecaster and I use the Behringer Firebird GX108 Amp. And I have the Keely mod on it which I would throughaly reccomend it has a fantastic sound and greatly improved from the origanal sound.
It sound is brillent it's got everything from light overdrive to hot fuzz I personly don't like any hot fuzz sound but the other sounds are beautiful. I often set up Level middle (To match my Amp)and gain a bit above the middle. Tone i useurly have pointing at the level knob. This give me a medium overdrive sound. Love it.

This pedal is one of the most relible pedals thats around, Solid metal stomp away or drop it and it would be fine i've drop this pedal a few time and has really gone wrong.
Two things though the light to show whether on or off no longer works and the batterys don't last to long. so as long as i know theres batterys or an AC adaptor in it its incredibly relibable.
As my Brother once said: If an atomic bomb hit, only the Boss BD2 and the cicators would survive.

Never delt with them never needed too.

I love this pedal.

Simple! Three knobs... Gain, Level and Tone. Need I say more?

I am currenly using this effect in couple of different setups. At home it is in front of a Mesa/Boogie MK IV wide body combo. Playing live, its in front of a Mesa Triple Recto (yea... I'm a fan of Mesa Boogie). Are you wondering why I'm putting a Overdrive pedal in front of a high gain amp? Well... I'll tell you later. I use Ernie Ball/Music Man, Fender, PRS, ESP, Ibanez and Guild guitars. I get the sound of Steve via on the Orange Channel of both amps. I get REAL close to the Metallica "Master of Puppets" tone on the "RED/LEAD" channel on both setups. I don't use this pedal with clean settings. This effect adds lots of sustain and gives my amp a boost when needed. If you are looking for heavy tones, this pedal will help you find them.

Its in a solid metal case. Enough said.

Never had to use it.

I've been trying to play all types of music for over 25 years. I'm a tone freak... Always have been. I started out with cheap solid state gear then moved on to expensive tube amps. I've run through the spectrum on amps and I'm here to tell you that there really is no "perfect" amplifier out there. Tube amps are tricky. You can't copy a favorite rig and expect to get the same sound as a favorite album or artist. You have to copy the same levels (that means volume as well), effects, tubes, speakers, guitars and effects. So why am I putting an overdrive pedal in front of a high gain amp? I love that organic distortion sound (i.e. Steve Vie, early Van Halen etc.). However, I also love the sustain and compression that comes along with heavy distortion. Question... Have you ever plugged straight into a Marshall stack and wondered... "that doesn't sound like my favorite band?". Well... I'm here to tell you that most of our heavy artists out there use Mesa Boogie, Marshall, Fender, Bogner, Diezel with a nice overdrive in front of it. For the most part, I play straight guitar to amp for rythem. However, I can hit the BD-2 for the lead boosts and, it adds all of the sustain and overtones that I am looking for in that sweet spot. Will other overdrive pedals do this? Im sure. However, I really like the way this pedal makes my amps sound. This pedal gives me a true lead boost with that extra "magic" that makes the whole note sing. :)

three knobs..
and the most useful knob of all the Gain.. you just have to tweak the gain and tone knobs and your good to go..
the level just sets the volume and the tone is for the treble and bass..

for me..
i love the sound of the bd2, it really hits my ear..
im still using the stock mod btw..
i think i wont mod it to a keeley or something..
im satisfied with my sound already..
i think i found one of my charateristics in sound..

over the years, the paints just wear off..
i think i have my bd2 for almost 5 years..

hmm, never tried to consult anyway but in the site you can see their manuals..

i play blues rock, jazz and funk rock..
this pedal just kicks!

Three knobs, easy to tweak to get the sound you want, most difficult part is bending down with guitar in one hand!
I have my own idea about how I should sound but I did find the "examples" in the manual a bit OTT.

Usually play one of my Strats through this pedal, mainly on the middle or bridge P/U to get an edge for a solo. I always wire the second tone control for the bridge P/U so when rolled back a bit and with the pedal on you get a sort of humbucking sound.
This pedal makes an early "humming" Blues Junior sound really good.If I gig (rare!) my Laney VC 15 sounds equally good.
We all have our own way of playing, I like to use any effect sparingly otherwise you get muddy so a bit of boost from the BD2 cuts in well at the right time.

Well its a bomb proof Boss, I've used this one for 3 years and its still going strong. I would not bother with a back-up for a pedal.

Never had to contact the maker so it gets full marks! At some time or another they must have decided to make a reliable product that saves everybody grief!

I play blues/rock and find this pedal helps a lot for a quick boost.It is simple to use and needs little set-up to give a good sound. If it was stolen I would buy another one the next day, I would not play happily without it!

step on it, 3 knobs, easy

strat thgrough fender amps, with a vox wah,etc,etc. cover band WIDE range of styles 60's-80's...the blues driver is a workhorse for overdrive. It very similar to the ibanez tubescreamer reissue, but, the Blues Driver is either more trebly, or more bassy (depending on how you tweak it)than the TS--which has the midrange kick. Mine is stock, although I hear nothing but great things about the popular mods out there. Nonetheless, I really like the BD and it's ability to push the amp in blues situations, or color the rhythm sound with a great, mild distortion that still has chord definition!

it's a tank

It has 3 Controls: Gain, Level and Tone. Nothing too complicated here!

I use this pedal with a '71 Traynor YGM-3, which is very similar to the Fender Deluxe Reverb. The pedal allows me to VERY faithfully reproduce the tone of my cranked amp, but at a much lower volume. The only exceptions:

1)Bass response. The Boss BD-2 is just a little weak on bass - almost unnoticeable. Otherwise, I can easily tweak it to the point where you almost can't tell the difference between the amp and the pedal. I plan to buy one of the mod kits to rectify this. Just a small capacitance increase will bring the bass up a bit.
2)The well known "fizzy" distortion at higher gain settings. Again, the mod kit should takes care of this as well. I rarely crank the gain past 12:00, so it's not really a big issue for me anyway.

Never had to deal with them, but, by all accounts, Boss stands behind their stuff.

I think it's a great pedal for the $70 or so it costs new. Boss has released a Fender Deluxe modeling pedal (at $140 or so), but I honestly can't imagine it doing much better at reproducing that particular amp than the stock Blues Driver. I play Blues, Country and classic rock using a Mexican Strat which I've upgraded with Fender 57/62 pickups (I HIGHLY recommend this upgrade!!), and the afore mentioned Traynor amp. I set the gain of the Pedal around 10:00, which gives me a relatively clean sound for chords, but overdrives nicely when I hit it hard. I believe that's the role this pedal was born to play.
I've been playing about 30 yrs and have developed a very critical ear, so I don't dole out the praise easily. If it were lost, I'd replace it in a heartbeat. When I kick in the GCB-95 wah that I've modded in front of the BD-2, it certainly evokes all the sounds you'd expect from this combo.

I got a Boss Blues Driver which i had modded to a A BD-2 Ultra Fat Mod. Originally the Pedal had quite a " Fizzy " type gain and a low bass sound . When the pedal was returned to me i was immediately Struck by the Brightness and crispness of the Sound the Fizz had disappeared and was replaced by a very Bassy sound ideal for Harmonics with just a simple flick of a switch .

I use a Tweed Fender Amp ( Blues Junior ) with a Fender Strat ( U.S.A ) from the Blues Tones of Hendrix and the overdriven sounds Of Rory Gallagher this pedal pretty much covers all my Blues playing needs

Boss are good quality Pedals and reliable so i don't think i would take or use a backup

With Excellent Communication and a friendly Service from Pedal Mods i was in constant contact pretty much every day through E-mail when i was researching what kind of Mods they do .They offered information on what sounds might achieve the tone i was looking for .
Very Quick reply's to E-mails and very helpful

If it was Stolen i would certainly buy another without hesitation it is a brilliant addition to my other Pedals

Very easy to "use"...

Terribly weak and kind of noisy...

Forget about what kind of music and such... I have played for 30 years, and I love overdrive pedals... This is - by far - one of the cheapest I've ever come close to... Wonder why, because BOSS does have some nice and lasting units...

I am scared of the rating this reviewers give to that unit... It is obscene!!!... Get informed... Do not pay hundreds for silly mods... There are good and fairly priced units on the market.. (Barber, BBE, Voodoo Lab, etcetera...

probably about as easy to use as an effect pedal can be.(3 knobs, battery easily accessible, etc.)I pretty much ignoerd the manual.A lot easier to use than a Marshall Guvnor, although that is also a good pedal.

The sound quality is very good, it doesn't thin out the sound as much as some overdrives. It is very trebly, however, I have to turn the tone knob all the way down, which is something I rarely do on any piece of equipment. It sounds a lot better as a boost/overdrive than as a distortion, the manual doesnt really mention this, but I knew what I wanted when I got the thing.I use it with a Gibson Sg Special and a Fender Hot Rod Deville 4x10, and it sounds excellent with the more drive channel. I crank the level, turn tone all the way down, drive on 9-10 o'clock or less. I sometimes use a wah pedal with it, but the wah sounds better with the Marshall Guvnor for that harsh, Stooges wah sound.

No piece of equipment is truly indestructible, but this is as close as it gets. You would have to try really hard to break this thing. Would you use it on a gig without a backup? I have, who the **** bothers to bring backup pedals to gigs?

Never dealt with the company, nor do I intend to.

I play rock, influenced by 70's rock, 70's punk rock, 80's hardcore punk, 80's underground rock(Replacements, Husker Du),some heavy metal(Saint Vitus, Black Sabbath)and a few other things. Basically I like the more stripped down, basic rock n roll bands. I've been playing since the 7th grade, I'm 22 now. If it were stolen or lost, I would be really pissed off, but I wouldn't go out and buy another immediately, I still have my Guvnor.(assuming they didn't steal that too!) If I lost it, I'd kick my own *** like in the movie Liar Liar. I love how it doesnt sound like some silly effect, it just gives me more volume and disortion without negatively affecting the overall sound.(the Guvnor, on the other hand, does change the sound somewhat, but in a good way) I'd say it helps me make music, it certainly doesn't get in the way. I compared it to other Boss pedals, but they weren't that great, especially the OS-2, which totally sucks. My other gear is the aforementioned Sg, Deville, and Guvnor, plus a Les Paul DC studio and a Jimi Hendrix Cry Baby.

Three knobs, all do what they say. Straight forward.

My setup is as follows:

fender jazzmaster-Korg DT10 tuner-Boss BD2-Barge concepts BBjr fuzz-keeley RAT2-EHX small stone-EHX small clone-Dr.Scientist tremolesence-Boss DD3-analogman analog delay-Fender Blues Deville 2x12 Combo

Now, this is NOT a blues pedal. That doesn't mean it isn't any good though. I use it for ballsy overdrive sounds: it has a lot of bass and sweet highs, no mid hump (like the Ibanez tubescreamer and to some extent the Boss super overdrive), its VERY responisve to your picking attack and guitar volume: almost like a real amp. Its suprisingly transparent and barely colours the tone at all. Suprising amount of gain too, though it gets a bit fizzy past 3 oclock. A bit more classic rock than I was expecting! Great either with clean sounds or on top of a driven tube amp: piles the gain on and gets very dirty indeed.

I've had my DD-3 for 5 years, gigged regularly and used it almost every day and not a single problem so far. I anticipate no problems.

I wouldn't bother getting in contact with boss directly: frankly I think theyve got bigger fish to fry than dealing with a low end stompbox problem.

I looked into this pedal after falling in love with carrie brownsteins tone on the last sleater kinney album 'The Woods': she gets great, great tone from it and I consider the tones on that album to be some of the best I've ever heard (I recommend you have a listen if you're interested in this pedal, particularly on the track 'jumpers').

I think this is a great pedal and is a major assest to anyones board, particularly if you prefer heavy overdrive to distortion (ie the difference between trail of dead and nirvana). It can go from light to heavy and bassy to nasal. What it wont do is make you sound like SRV, it doesnt have that mid hump and has a lot of bass. Tone is in the fingers, this just gives you the balls to back it up.

EASY!
I bought the pedal from www.theguitartoneshop.com and it is WICKED!
My review is about the modified pedal, not the stock one.
I have a stock pedal and there is no comparison!

I have used this pedal with my 72 StratRI and my 78 Gibson Les Paul Custom and on my Fender Hot Rod Devill (410) and my Blues Junior.
I am finally able to get those tones!
Jimi, SRV, Buddy Guy, Clapton, and so on!
I put my Crybaby in front of it and it makes me want to play all night!

I have had no issues with this pedal (or the stock one) as of yet!
Soundless swithing from clean to effect, even with the monster gain this pedal gives!

Scotty is a great guy to work with, so I know if I have any problems he will take care of it.
I have actually ordered another one of his pedals that I will write a review on after I get a chance to play with it.

Has everything I want in and OverDrive pedal and gives the most unique sound I have heard from a Stomp Box!
It sounds like it is almost another Amp in itself.
If you can, you got to get one of these mod'd pedals!
You'll Love it!
I know I do!

Standard layout easy peasy

One of my favourite pedals of all time. The bd-2 sounds like your amp as it doesn't add much, if any, color to your tone.
I run it before a RAT II with excellent results.
Why anyone would want to mod this is beyond me.

It's a Boss

One of BOSS's best pedals in my opinion. I run the BD-2 thru a Vox ac-15 with a Tele.
I've been playing for about 22 years. Lots of different styles the bd-2 handles most of them. If it gets stolen I'll just get another as they're reasonably priced.

Easy to use. Gain, level, tone.

I play classic rock on a strat, and this pedal has been very useful to me on countless gigs. For amps I either use a Fender Twin or a Roland JC120, both very loud and clean amps which benefit from the Blues Driver adding a little distortion without changing ones basic clean tone too much. Once one gets the hang of this pedal, it reacts nicely to picking hand attack, meaning the more one digs in, the more distortion. Its also come in handy for drawing more volume out of an amp(turning the gain on the pedal up instead of turning the amp up to 10).

I can??t remember it once failing and I??ve played loads of gigs with it.

Never dealt with them.

I think that this pedal takes a little time to learn how to use, because it reacts to the skill of the player more than higher gain pedals, even the tubescreamer style pedals. I bought it because I was tired of seeing and hearing tubescreamers, which to my ear, make everyone sound like they are singing with a sock up their nose. Im glad I did, its been handy.

pedal is very easy to use

the manual treats this pedal like a specific example of a boost pedal getting to overdriven high gain sound and has nice pictures in it

it does decent gain with single coils but best with humbuckers. the sound on this thing is sometimes somewhat limited but with gain and tone set to max it produces a nice satisfying sound.

it isnt on my pedal board anymore because ive replaced it with a crunchbox which is a little more gain than the boost sound i was looking for. but i guess i like higher gain pedals.

boss shell mine is like new

i got a telecaster but played humbuckers through it before. fender deville 212 and various other pedals

im using a metal muff which i wanna replace with some sort of tube distortion in the future. bd2 is kind of an expensive pedal it should be 40-50 bucks. nice blue/yellow color. nice gain ratio in the knob settings. i wanna try an od3 and own one like the same reason i bought this, but im not planning on using this pedal maybe keep it and bring it out later when im bored in the future.

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.

It'a about as simple as it gets.

As an overdrive/ distortion pedal, it has never gotten the type of tone I wanted. I play blues in a gigging band. have used this pedal quite a bit for songs requiring a little more bite. The only other overdrive I use is tube screamer TS 9 and sometimes a Tech 21 Double drive. My biggest complaint about using this pedal for overdrive is that it sounds very thin and trebbly. Even with the tone all the way down, it always sounds very tinny. Especially with a strat. Once the gain is turned up, it sounds very muttled and is almost useless.

That being said, this pedal is an outstanding as a clean boost. I've been using it lately exclusively as a clean boost. I keep the tone around 3/4, gain at zero, and the volume nearly all the way up. I adjust the volume on my super reverb reissue to an acceptable level. To me, it majorly enhances the sound and fattness of the tone. It gives it a driven sound that adds alot of life to the tone. With the tube screamer behind it, I can get an incredible tone. It really brings out the tube screamer and makes it sound SO MUCH better. It seems to make up for some of the transparency you lose when just using the tube screamer. If you have a blues driver, try it out as a clean boost in front of your favorite overdrive. It sounds good.

NEVER had a problem with it.

Never dealt with them.

As a clean boost, it sounds as good or better that clean boost pedals I've tried. Highly recommend it for that purpose. As an overdrive, I don't like it at all. It might sound better with something else, but with a Strat, it sounds tinny and weak. I'm a stevie ray freak and to me, using the pedal as a boost with a good fender tube amp and a tube screamer gives me a tone very close to Stevie's tone from the "live at the elmacombo" days. It will deliver a very fat sound, it will give it a driven tube amp sound at a reasonable volume, it will enhance an overdive and make it more usable and transparant.

I owned it for about 3 months before the dialing in was done - It's the same old story where what you hear in a rehearsal space has nothing to do with the sound in a larger room. No need for a manual.

I mostly love the sound of a regular old strat or sometimes my tele into a tweed bassman - I have a subtle amount of compression on all the time ( just enough to knock down the transients a little ) - Carl Martin compressor. Most of my sound comes from that clean fender into fender with the 4 10" swirl - I wouldn't give that tone away for anything else. BUUUUUTTTTTTT - I need something to add to the bridge PU to get the right break-up in about 10 songs. This is the pedal I have stayed with now for along time - I have either sold or else they are rattling around in my kitchen drawers the following: budda phatman S10, TS9, sparkle drive, "real tube", Maxon 820 ( ithinkthatsthenumber)keeley fuzz head, black cat OD-1 ( this one is my second favorite) fulltone OCD, fulltone distortion pro, big muff, roger mayer mongoose, voodoo lab fuzz, and others.

there really is something about the full range thing - no mid hump that does it for me. The gain is at about 10 am - never adjust it.

maybe 18 months, 25 gigs, lots of banging it around.

pop-rock, r+B, - all the goofy dance songs people like - for 35 years - past 10 in a cover band - no interest in recording ( there ought to be a separate review section for this - way different animal than live) I Keeley modded it about a year ago - even better now but it was pretty decent straight up. This thing with a single coil bridge PU gets it for me.

Easy to use but you must spend a bit of time tweaking it to your taste.

I only play straight ahead Chicago-style blues in clubs. I've used it successfully in a variety of amps and it does sound good. I spent an afternoon at Guitar Center trying a dozen pedals. This was one of the cheapest but the best they could bring out for me to try. Very good tone without being fuzzy. I only use Gibson 335-types of guitars with 40 yr. old humbuckers.

So far so good

Haven't needed it.

Been playing 40 yrs. Only blues. NO FUZZ TONES--NO SILLY PEDALS. This si the only one I now use.

EASE OF USE: ....you come this far... i think you can handle it!

SOUND QUALITY.... - i'm reviewing the stock BD-2 - i'll keep in short and sweet - here's the thing .... with single coils it's not bad within the context of my rig ( fender vibro champ through a 4x12 cab with a compressor / wah / eq etc... ) but i like to use a PAF equipped guitar too and then.... most of the faults that others have pointed out on here on this site are true (unfortunatley ) which accounts for the big differences in reviews here - i have no idea about the robert keeley mod, but i let my stock one go because there are so many options out there and i need something thats better across both platforms - single coils and humbuckers - if your strictley a strat guy then the stock one will perform for you , maybe not as well as a keeley modded one but if your a PAF lover like me, the "stock" BD-2 aint gonna make it ! because of that i give it a 7 -

it's not a hyped boutique pedal but I never had ANY problem with ANY boss pedal period !

CUSTOMER SUPPORT: .... never needed it, which may be the best kind!

picked this up to try it with my blues rig ... playin for many years... with a lot of varied gear (some that cost alot, some a little and some too much ) - i don't pay as much attention to hype as my ears... I LOVE FINDING SLEEPERS - if it were lost (lol)?? I didn't wait for that to happen... i sold it on ebay .. but i liked it with single coils (within the context of my rig) -just not with PAFs - with single coils had enough bass for me and some dynamics which are importnt to me and when pushed by my compressor and EQ'd even some harmonics BUT with PAFs it just hurt my ears the pickups weren't even that hot but i guess it overloaded it - I STILL WANT TO TRY A KEELEY MODDED ONE just in case ... ( I have a feeling his mods JUST MIGHT resolve the issues )

I bought this pedal because I was unsatisfied with similar pedals.
I use it in stock configuration.
The Boss Blues Driver has 3 knobs (Level, Tone, Gain). So it is very easy for beginners to get a good sound out of it. The manual shows some great settings to start with. I give the ease of use a 10 because there are not to much or to less knobs.

It is very easy to get a good Cream or Hendrix (don't think about his heavy fuzz songs!) sound out of it. Also BB King or Albert King is no problem. If you use it with a phaser it sounds perfect for Pink Floyd rythm stuff. I use this pedal with my standard mexico telecaster lefty, the Digitech Digiverb pedal into my Epiphone Valve Junior amp. It's a very puristic blues rig.
Sometimes the sound of the BD-2 is a bit to low (for instance if you use it with an Es-335). So I'm giving it an 8.

I would definitely gig without a backup because Boss effects never let you hang.

I've never dealed with them.

I play blues music and this is the perfect pedal for this sound.
I started playing 3 years ago and I use lot's of other blues pedals like the Digitecg Screaming Blues or the Ibanez Tubescreamer. But let's be honest: they have no chance against this one. Overall I rate it 9 because it can always be better.

It is the standard Boss Overdrive layout: level, gain, & tone. I say standard boss, because their are other brands that don't use a tone knob.

I have not been able to ascertain, as to why these manufacturers do don't see the need for one; I would guess, that they think people should only use the tone that they think people should use.
Maybe they are worried that the stoners might be unable to fight off the blue people, in order to get the mouse inside the pedal to change it.
I think that the manufacturers are garding the classsic tone that made the pedal famous or made it just right for an artist that had success with it back in 197-something.

Boss has never really done that. Artists use the same pedal as the rest of us and find their sound, using the same controls.

To make a long story longer...

You give the pedal the sound, using the countrols. Boss gives you all the tools you need to find your sound.

I like Boss pedals and they are a major part of my rig. I like the Line-6 pedals and DOD pedals as well, in the fact that you can shape your tone.

This pedal is not very hard for anyone to use and there is a small book that will tell you everything you need to know, in order to use it.

The hard part is finding a battery in your junk-drawer. This is why I use an AC addapter

I was playing some SRV style blues through my fender blues jr. amp, using my ESP EX-100 (lefty), last night (one in the morning), and it sounded good.

I used an OD-3 to get a boost and got a nice fuzz. The OD-3 gets a cleaner gain, but the BD-2 is more versatile and and can be turned up.

The Blues Driver will give you clean boost and will also give you a really nice distortion for thouse leads that you can't get in a normal overdrive.

This is one for my top ten distortions. I would say that a novist guitar player could have trouble appreciating this pedal, I know I did.

I went through the Metallica only faze...
Back then, I was using my Boss MT-2 all the time. I was in my first stent in college and was trying to get Mesa/Boogie sounds out of a Creat GFX-15 and a standard fender strat.... This was not going to happen. Once I could play a whole lot better, I started to branch out. You are not going to get thrash out of a BLUES DRIVER, don't get one, hoping your going to sound like the Back album, and wine about it. Because it's not going to happen with the BD-2, it's not a mid scouping monster distortion.

That's why we have mesa/boogie triple rectifiers, Boss' MT-2s, Line-6, and Rocktron.

If you want good overdrive for boost, a bit-o-grit, or a mid-level distortion, you've found your baby. I have used an Ibanez TS-9 and have yet to use a TS-808. I will say, as far as the TS-9 is concerned, Boss Has taken the the tweed, this time.

As far as I have heard, SRV only used his TS-808 to get a gain boost. The People at GuitarGeek.com will show you that SRV needed two TS-808's to get that tone. This also leaves out the fact that the amps could be pushed to the edge too.

Yes you can depend on it.... It's built to last through the next world war!

I Have two, but I could use it without a backup, and not have any worries.

I'm sure -Bob- in India would be -most happy to do the a assistings of the me's-, but I have yet to find out, Boss makes them right the first time (most of the time).

Once again...

For playing, blues, (some)rock, jazz, classic rock, this pedal will do fine for that. If you want to play, Metal, Hard Rock, nu-metal, or phych., your going to need a boost and/or another, for a more powerful distortion; there are a great meny to chose from, on the market. To you I say, happy hunting; It depends on you, in the end.

I have been playing for the last ten years and own a footlocker full of stompboxes; I hope to keep this one as part of my arsenal, for years to come. Not that it's the end-all-to-end-all, but I like what it does, when I want to play some blues lead or a lite rhythm guitar with a crunch; this, I like very much. However when I want to play some Metal buzz-cruching power chords, I need something with more power.

Last thought...

I am going to go headlong, against the years of tridition and convention here. Buy this before you buy a tube-screamer TS-9 or dare I say, even the TS-808. Better yet. try them out in the store, side-by-side; I know guitar center will let you do this. I would think that most stores these days would too.

-...and that's how the angel got on top of the christmastree!-

It's a Boss Pedal...thay never take much science: Gain /Volume/ Tone.

As with any opinion about sound/tone, it's best to know what equipment I play and in what genre. I play a 1979 Neck Thru Greco Speedway with DiMarzio Humbuckers and Single Coil . I use a JH-1 Hendrix Wah, MXR Super Comp, Digitech Whammy, Boss Phase Shifter(Now sold, didn't like that one!) into a Line 6 210 Spider. My Dimarzio's have a very hot sound to them(especially the bridge) and the pedal really makes them stand out and sing. I typically have the gain somewhat pass three o' clock and the volume closer to 9 o'clock.My tone has ALWAYS been no higher then 9'o clock or else I find it too harsh.though it's no High End Tube Amp, I enjoy the Line 6 for it's clean amp setting(I adjust my eq's to acheive a good tonal balance) and it's "Crunch" ("Marshall Plexi")setting(With the right adjustments, you can get early Santana tone...trust me, I have fooled many!!)and it's DEPENDABILITY(no broken tubes, blown tubes,or expensive maintainence)Even so, the BD-2 is pretty essential to my sound(This amp does have some pretty stale distortions though. The Plexi is the only exception to me, and just for solos for that matter) I play funk/blues/Jazz Rock and would rate my distortion as Sustain/Overdrive heavy, which the pedal has done wonderfully since day 1. On the "Plexi" setting, I use the pedal as a Volume Boost and end up holding notes for a loooong time. Superb sustain. In my clean amp set(I use it most often) the pedal delivers great crunch to contrast my clean rhythm strums.
As you have read, your guitar's volume makes great differences in the distortion's attack and tone. Vol on 10, Strong Overdrive On 7-8 Crunch but articulate enough for chords. On 5 I can strum open chords with a pleasant break up. That's the great thing about this pedal. As for what it lacks, I would say a little more tinal control would be good, but I get a good eq from my amp and my p/up's.
Also, I have ALWAYS used a 9V in this pedal. I have heard of certain guitar greats that prefer batteries to weaken some to get a warmer tone and have found this to be TRUE! This pedal ALWAYS sounds more spongy when my light starts to dim. Try it for yourself....you may be suprised.
BOTTOM LINE: Great Overdrive/ Easy To Find Tonal Characteristics when you watch your guitar volume

People, I brought this pedal used six years ago and honestly have used it AT LEAST Three times a week, EVERY week since thenand have had not one malfunction. The pedal has been so used, that it is even starting to show it's original grey, metal casing, works the same as day one.
My only advice, be sure to always check your input/outputs for loose nuts, they can produse horrible noise if you forget to tighten them, but that's a small case of maintainence. NO ONE BEATS BOSS FOR DURABLITY

Couldn't say, never had to call

This pedal is a valuable purchase that you would not regret, reguardless of your style. I have shown up for recording sessions/shows without my amp and just my pedals on several occasions and was always pleased with my results. The BD-2 is a great stand alone distortion unit and EVEN BETTER when mated to another HIGH-GAIN Distortion pedal as well!(I have personaly used a HM-3 Hyper Metal with it for a while and pulled out some Great Mesa-Like Crunch (a la 311's "All Mixed Up" /Rage's "Vietnow") From my perspective, using an excellent Humbucker Guitar and an "alright" amp, it has proven to be invaluable. I only give it an Eight because there are some INCREDIBLE Overdrive pedals that really are Perfect Ten's, but they also make you pay for it.....you can find this thing for 50 dollars on Ebay and get it either modded or get another High Gain Pedal and have a World of tone at your disposal for a fraction of the costs......choice is yours and I have never regretted mine!

Like someone else said, it's a distortion pedal with three basic knobs...if you can screw that up, heaven help you.

I have a Fender Roc Pro 1000 combo, and that gives me my dream distortion (it's got a tube preamp, solid state power amp, so best of all worlds), plus the unparalleled Fender clean. but i was looking for something in the middle - just a little grit, that breaks up more the harder you play, or cleans up in response to your right hand technique. After trying a few things out (ok, a lot of things - i'm very picky), I tried the Blues Driver. Spot on what I was looking for. It's fairly transparent, as well.

I wrote it off as being a weak distortion pedal, until we went into the studio for our last record. When we were doing scratch tracks along with the drums & bass, and I think i needed a longer cable to reach from the iso room, as well as needing distortion, and i was lazy and wrote what i was playing off as "scratch track, it'll get deleted anyway". Whatever the reason, i plugged this in and switched it on and off as needed, after cranking everything appropriately. I was blown away. It's still definitly an overdrive, and a lesser-gained one at that, but it had SO MUCH BITE to it that i never realized. we ended up keeping that track it sounded so good cranked. (check out Talking to Walls / www.talkingtowalls.com - "Naked" - first song, "Cut Out" to hear it - i think most of the distortion is that pedal. at least, the base of it is...we did like 8 guitars on that song!)

so try this pedal out. there is a lot going on there. people who have heard it in my rig often covet it. nowadays i use it in-line, parked on top of my amp, next to my wireless, everything else is in my effects loop.

it's boss. i have seen one dead boss pedal in all my years playing, and it was someone elses, so for all i know, they tossed it into a pool.

it's boss. who needs customer support? actually, i bought this used, and missing all the knobs. i called the company and they sent me new knobs with no hassle for a couple of bucks, cheap, but worth fixing up a pedal i'll never sell.

I think i've written enough here for you to know how i feel. I play pop-rock/modern rock, think the Cure with the Replacements. I've been playing for...longer than i'd care to think, and i know gear (perhaps more than playing guitar). this is one of the single best pieces of gear i've bought, and if i lost it, i would defnitly replace it with only the same. EQ, Tuner, Volumes, even delay...all those pedals I could probably find a comparable replacement. but this is unique.

This pedal has Gain, Level, and Tone controls. It is extremely easy to use and get a good sound out of it.

Sound Quality. Hmm that is an interesting aspect of this pedal. IF you play it through a solid state amp the sound sucks. It is harsh and rough and lacks warmth. It just sounds like what it is: a digital distortion pedal.
But there is a glimmer of hope. I run this through a Seymour Duncan SFX-03 Twin Tube Classic and a Crate thirty watt amp. Before I bought the Twin Tube I didn't know what tubes sounded like so I thought that this pedal gave out a great sound. When I bought the Twin Tube I plugged this in and realized how much I have been missing. When played through tubes this pedal sounds insane. No matter what the settings you can get awesome sounds out of it. When I turned off the Twin Tube was when I really learned how thin the sound was. The difference was like the difference between hot water and cold water. The 8 that I rated this at should be looked at as an average. Through solid state the sound quality is probably a 5, but through tube it is definitly a 10.

It is extremely reliable. It is solidly built and feels like it will last forever.

Haven't dealt with them.

I play anything from Classic Rock and Blues to Worship to Hard Rock. This pedal works for all of these styles and even more that I don't play.
If it were stolen I would definitly buy it again.
If you are considering buying this make sure you have a tube amp. If you don't then get a tube amp and then buy this pedal. It is a great pedal as long as it is set up and played right.

This pedal has three control knobs: 1)level, 2)tone, 3)gain.
The manual is good and describes the features and includes some setting suggestions. However, great tones are to be found by experimenting with the control knobs. This pedal has a great feature that is very rare: you can set the gain control high and then obtain varying amounts of gain by simply adjusting the volume control on your electric guitar. Try it!

This pedal maintains the great tone of your guitar over the full range of gain settings. Using a Gibson Les Paul guitar and Fender tube amp I am able to get the classic Aerosmith overdriven tones. I would say that this pedal is well-suited to get blues-rock tones such as Doors, Free, Who, and Aerosmith. In some reviews here, people have mentioned that there is too much treble, and then they go and pay more money to modify the pedal. Why don't they just go buy another pedal that gets the sound they want? There certainly are enough of them on the market. The high treble setting is needed for classic early-sixies tones such as Freddy King and others.
Also, be sure to try this: set the pedal's gain control high and then adjust your guitar volume control. It will allow you to get your lead tone with your guitar volume set at maximum, your crunch tone with the volume rolled off to 7, and your clean tone is achieved simply by turning off the pedal.

It is a well-constructed pedal, I have owned it for several years and it has not failed.

Not needed / not used.

This pedal is ideal to achieve late sixties and early seventies blues-rock tones. The guitar's tone is not lost over the range of settings. I like the range that is covered by the gain and tone control knobs.

Stock BD-2, no mods. Easy to set up and play around with to get the "right" sound. This pedal is not complicated.

This pedal seems to get a wide variety of sounds. If you're in to heavy metal, you may need more distortion than this thing can dish out, but that's to be expected. It's called a BLUES driver. It does this job very well. My main setup is a Fender Roadhouse Strat with Texas Special single coils, TU-2 tuner (also used as a silent cut-out when changing guitars during a set), BD-2, and finally a CE-2 Chorus into a Fender Twin Reverb (Pro Series). I can get a non-driven volume boost with the gain set low. Turn up the gain a little, and you begin to hear the amp break up a bit. A little more, and you get a little SRV, Clapton sound. With gain at about 2 o'clock, I'm playing "Keep Your Hands To Yourself" by Georgia Satellites. I can get an AC/DC tone as well, but not much more than that. That's ok, because SRV-style blues is what makes me tick. I'm giving it a 9, because nothing is perfect. I've been reading about all the after-market mods that are supposed to improve the sound. I'm not sure if I am going to mess with a good thing or not.

I have several Boss pedals (Chorus, Blues Driver, Tuner, Flanger, Auto Wah), and I have never had any problems with them.

I have never had to deal with them.

I've had this pedal for several years, but kept reading all the fuss about the TS-9. So ... I stopped at Guitar Center (Man, I hate that place) to "test drive" a TS-9. I brought home the TS-9, and played with both the TS-9 and BD-2 side-by-side for several hours. While both are great pedals, I think I like the BD-2 sound better. It sounds a lot "warmer" to me than the TS-9. In all fairness, maybe it's because I'm used to the sound. I may try out the TS-9 at my next gig just to give it a fair chance. But, I'm pretty sure I'll be paying another visit to GC to take the TS-9 back. The TS-9 did not have as much drive, and sounded a lot more "tinny". Plus, it's butt ugly and doesn't feel as robust when switching as the BD-2. I'm not knocking the TS-9, since it's a staple in the blues world (SRV, LLB, etc), but I just like the BD-2 sound just as well, so I don't need to shell out another $100.

I play in a Classic Rock & Blues cover band, and this thing is with me all the time. It works great for all the styles my band plays (60's & 70's rock, and a lot of Blues). I have been playing for about 24 years. I would surely buy this pedal again if I had to for some reason.

ias easy as any i guess

mine is the stock BD-2 not modded and i use a dyna comp >>> boss BD2 >>> ross 10 band EQ >>>> DOD fx65 chorus (dont laugh has nice flange on right setting) into a Fender VIBRO CHAMP (single 6v6gt) into a 4x12 cab - I have the vibro champ vol almost dimed and the BD-2 vol turned to about 9 oclock and gain bout 2 or 3 depending on how loud i want to get and the vol control on my guitar (w/one retro fit p90 raised up for min pickup hieght and max pickup output) the compressor dials in the right amount of sustain i need and ta-dow - i got black face type tone with sweet harmonics AND picking dynamics everything i ever wanted ITS A BEAUTIFUL THING! It's nice and mellow so i still need to use a fuzz & wah for more extreme rock - but thats it - most of the time its just what i said - i guess i will get the keeley mod someday - just to see - BUT if you like overdriven fender amp sound - i can't imagine a better pedal for the money - i sold my maxon 808 tube screamer NO CONTEST!

never a problem

wouldn't hold my breath

this is BLUES DRIVER hence the name - if you have a low wattage fender amp cranked overdrive it with this pedal you can get down to the business of the blues - no joke even stock - it's not true bypass .. so your probably not going to use it in conjuction with too many other pedals - less is more when it comes to this pedal but w/ a decent compressor in front and a decent eq in back of it - you can get a very dymanic blues sound - thats ALL it does but it dose it SO WELL / transparent and doesn't color your tone FANTASTIC VALUE yes

3 knobs, on off switch, if you screw this up you got problems...

I used to own most of the 1998-2001 boss line up, plus a few older favs (PH2, HF2). And this (along with the TU-2 Tuner) are the only two pedals I still own from my 'Boss days'. In fact, I purchased the BD2 four times since I originally sold my collection...

The sound is why I've always came back. Being my FIRST ever pedal when I was a kid, the sound of this box through my Fender Twin has always been the basis for overdrive tones to me. Sure my tastes have evolved, simplified, and moved on, but the BD2 has rentered my line up, and I'll tell you why.

First off, the tone. It's transparent (once you get rid of some of the tone sucking resistors found on the input and output sections of this little box) and has a lot of play. I'm not one on the search for high-gain solutions, I need something a bit beefier than a Maxon OD808 Tube Screamer, smaller than a VoodooLab Sparkle Drive, but something that retains the top end. The BD2 is currently my solution.

It's tone is thick, and inviting, but not messy and missunderstood. I'm running this through an 1970's AC30TB/6 and I'm very happy how it can get a smilar tone to the amp being overdriven on it's own. I turned up the tone control to 3:00, the gains sitting just around 1:00, and level around 12:00. The tone I got is semi-growly, just on the verge of breakup with 'normal' playing. When I start digging it it really provides some good dirty breakup. This is great because I find I'm a dynamic player that demands a pedal that can respond to picking dynamics.

The best part is when playing more complex chords higher up the neck (being raised as a keyboard player I can't stand playing powerchords and think of the guitar the way a keyboard player thinks of a keyboard) the tone never gets muddy or congested. It's thick, but bright, and ever note rings through.

My basic setup with this is: Gibson SG Supreme or ES-335 -> BD2 -> AC30TB

My more complex setup: Gibson SG Supreme or ES-335 into Sennisher G2 wirless -> Radial Dragster -> Voodoolab amp switcher -> BD2 -> Alesis MEQ230 -> AC30TB

Both setups give me the tone's I want, the first is more a jam session rig, the second is just a small part of my live/recording rig.

Pedal gets a 7 because it's noisy, and sucks tone when bypassed. I also find it seems to naturally compress my signal, and take out some of the high and low frequencys. The BD2 also has too much lowend to really use this pedal without boosting top end. (hence my EQ in my main rig)

My last two BD2s died on me. I'm probably one of the few that have had bad Boss pedals. I often have been in contact with failures with various peices of their gear. Give me a Crowther Audio, Maxon, or MXR pedal anyday for reliability over this Boss stuff

Being friends with people within the company helps. I've been to Rolands BC facility a few times and have leared a lot about their products. Before this it was murder getting replacement parts or other supplies to fix these pedals.

Now they just toss me a replacement when I need. Or when I gig in Vancouver and I need a flanger, I'll just ask them and deal with one of the worst Flangers I've ever used. :P

Out of all the boss pedals I've owned the BD2 and TU2 are the only ones I can currently say i'll be hanging onto for a while. But when I find an Analoug Delay I'll be picking that up... I reget ever getting rid of the damn thing!

The only pedal I'll be purchasing to replace this box is the Maxon OD808 that I sold a few weeks ago. Now with my EQ's I'll be able to get the bottom back that I've wanted for a while.

Level, Tone, Gain controls. Everyone knows how this works, right?

I dont know why anyone would need to mod these.

I use this as almost like a preamp for couple of different heads.
Level @ 3oclock, Tone @ 1, Gain @ 2. Perfect sound - roll back the
volume to clean up, hit it harder to get even more crunk. Dynamic
overdrive that seems to cut through anything. Goes from a nearly
clean boost to almost fuzzy distortion. I don't understand the
complaints about the tone control. Sure, it can get bright, but
thats a good thing. I'd rather have something be too bright and have
to dial it back than have it be too muddy. Definitely has enough
bass. Perfect with any of my guitars, no rolloff at all. Works well
with my J and MM basses, but not my P or 5's.

I don't believe in the Boss=indestructible cliche, but it IS a Boss.
I've broken a couple, but I'm also very hard on my gear. Lets say
that they arent easy to kill.

Never dealt with Boss directly. They are a big multinational
whatever, so they shouldnt be entirely trusted.

I've been through more TS clones and variants than I care to
remember, most of the boss product line, Proco Rats, and some of the
more expensive ODs (Klon, Fulltone, a few LovePedal), but I always
come back to the BD-2. I dont know why anyone would feel the need to
mod these. I've tried some of the mods and they all get too muddy or
lose some of that touch sensitive thing that makes the stock version
so great. Definitely the best of Boss' OD offerings, and a great
first pedal for someone just starting out. Even better last pedal
for those of us that have been around, and know how to listen with
our ears and hear something other than hype.

very easy. It came with a manual that was ok. In the long run I found my settings ( gain fairly low ) and leave it alone.

MY SET-UP IS:

I plug my guitar into a s**tload of pedals which I change around all the time. Then I plug these into a guitar amplifier.

Mostly I use a clean strat sound ( just a tiny amount of compression using a Carl Martin box ) - but I need something to make my bridge PU thicken up when I'm using my tweed bassman for rock covers.
( with my lower watt class A amp I don't even need this ) - anyway this Boss pedal has been my favorite - I tried TS9, TS10 ( both Keeley moded ), Maxon 820, Budda Phatman, real tube, voodoo sparkle drive, fulltone distortion plus thing, and others - the Boss is my favorite - not noisy - I leave my gain at 8:00 and volume up to give slight increase overall - I sent it in for a Keeley mod but it was pretty decent straight up.

more than a year - heavy use

OTHER GEAR I OWN:

everything - my kitchen cabinets are stuffed with pedals.


Have played 40 yrs - past 10 in cover band - gig twice per month - this is what I need for that bridge PU.

I play electric violin.
As long as I don't use too much gain it's not too hard.
It's nice to experiment a little.
I'm sure there are still some hidden treasures to be discovered.
It's versatile enough for that.

I use it with a Yamaha 60W solid state amplifier for strings.
Bd-2 is capable of providing beautiful crunch.
Most distortion pedals use too much compression for a violin.
This one is very well useable!

I play pop/rock/jazz/fusion.
I only use reverb, delay and bd-2.
I Play the violin for almost 25 years.
Almost 15 years of them electric.

Bd2 helps me to make music. Chicken skin when I hear it.
For violin it's the best boss distortion pedal I have tested (o3, ds2, you name it).
I only didn't test the ds-1 by the way, but I trust the bd2 to make a better match with my way of playing the violin.
I've also tested some boutique pedals and a lot of modeled distortions by different brands.
What works for guitar doesn't always work for violin.

Easy to use and turning a knob really changes the sound completely.

It produces loads of sounds from tweaking the knobs. You turn the drive knob and you can go from a very clean boost to a MASSIVE drive sound, it really does have loads of drive on offer. Turning the tone knob anticlockwise takes you to a mild blues lead tone which is actually great for thumping HARD ROCK chords. Turn the tone knob clockwise and you go into fuzz like territory, and also trebely lead tones. There is about 17 million tones available out of this pedal and it is one of the most versitile pedals I have ever used. The only niggle is the slight loss of bypassed tone as this is not true bypass.

Built like a brick. Throw it through a window.

It won't ever break as it has BOSS invincibility.

The pedal does a mighty fine job at producing any overdrive/distortion/fuzz tone required. If you are after an unbelievable versitile drive pedal get a Boss Blues Driver. Mine was a bargain a #36 second hand.

Easy if you got fingers

Excellent
Either solidstate or tube it retains the quality of sound
unlike Govener 2 - which got too muddy with Bassman 59
especially for rhythm the Guvnor was poor whereas with solidstate amps the Guvnor was excellent
now, BD-2 perfomred with equal results both with solidstates and tubes
I sold the Govner and kept BD-2 and a proco rat-2 for my distortion needs
these are the best,
as to ts-9
it's okey but no real distortion here

10

-

10
just play it
buy good guitar, amp and cables
that's all boys
just guitar and cables
and bd-2 for instance to push it
taht's all

but buy a GOOD guitar and AMP

like everyone else says three knobs, level , tone , gain... it preatty easy...

I use my bd-2 with a couple of other pedals with my gibson les paul std. and a marshall dsl 50 head with stock 1960a marshall cab.I find this pedal works best with tube amps,I previously used it with a marshall avt100 combo and preatty much put the pedal away but since i bought my tube amp it sounds amazing.Really really great rhythem tone.. as long as u hold off on the gain.. even with my equipment i can get a somewhat close SRV tone with this.. a strat would help ofcourse (soon hopefully).. it works great with my other pedals dunlop crybaby and ibanez dE-7, i plan on teaming it up with a ts-808 in the future! overall i rated this an 8 becuz with the right gear and tweaking u can get a great sound out of this from a classic rock tone to a blues one i love this pedal!

I can depend on this pedal totally without backup! boss makes a good pedal!

Never Dealt with the company cuz you ushually don't have problems unless your careless.

I play blues,classic rock,modern rock,pop and i can find a place for this thing everywhere.I've been playing for four years its not much but i know my stuff.if it were stolen or lost id buy another but id definitly upgrade to the keeley model mostly because these pedals arn't perfect, boss is a huge company that sells millions of pedals the gotta keep crankin em out, its shouldn't be expected of them to have super high quality gear.The thing i love about it the most is that it gives me a really great not to heavy rhythem tone.. its not for leads really thats why i want the ts-808 to boost it! when i bought it i actually compaired it to a ts-9 Reissue and im glad i went down this road because the ts-9 wouldn't of given me enough gain back in that era of my playing(don't wanna talk about it.. punk ewww) but now im super glad i have it. it truly is an inspiring pedal. so if it sounds like this pedal fits you chances are it will !

This pedal is awsome. The first time i plugged it in i didn't even
screw around with the knobs and i got a crazy sound.

when i use this, i setup my fender studio reverb with my gibson SG
and there was no kind of a buzz or anything. The effects are not weak
at all, that's why i love this pedal. The tone is so warm. I play a lot of jeff healey and it's awsome.

It's a boss pedal what more could i say.
I would definitly use it without a backup.

really friendly. Boss is just a wonderful company. The Blues driver was my first boss pedal and i never turned back to any other companies.

I play a lot of blues rock and this pedal is perfect. I also own countless Boss pedals.(SD-1,DS-1,DS-2,TU-2,MD-2).
If this pedal was stolen i would definitey go buy another one.

Three knobs, very easy in that regard. Knobs seem to have a wide range of values in terms of sound.

This pedal is very finicky about what amps it likes and doesn't, and also with guitars. It seems to dislike all my humbucking guitars (high output), but really adores the single-coils (low output). With higher output pickups or certain amps, it is thin thin thin, brittle as glass, and fuzzy. Unusably so. With the right combination, it sounds truly incredible. I've never encountered a pedal with such diverse sounds.

And never, EVER go straight to a mixing board with this in the path. The worst sounds you've ever heard. It literally made people cringe and turn their heads. On the other hand, playing out with a Behringer GX212 solid-state and a cheap strat clone, people came up afterward to ask how on earth I was getting "that sound." I guess it's a 0 or it's a 10.

See above.

It's a Boss. Shoot it with a shotgun - it'll still work.

See above.

SUPER, SUPER, SUPER EASY TO USE. THREE KNOBS.

this is a great sounding little blue box. i find that after 9 to 10 o'clock on this little monster's tone knob can sound a bit trebbly...but aside from that, i love that the gain is very usable! shockingly so, i was able to get sooo many sounds by keeping the tone knob low, and dialing up whatever amount of gain i wanted or was appropriate for the song.

its a boss, so far i have yet to have a boss pedal dissappoint me in this category.

i bought this guy about 5 or 6 years ago and used it extensively for the first 2 and half years of owning it and was very pleased....BUT....along came a boutique pedal named the fulldrive 2

for a long time was using the fulltone fulldrive 2, and yes it was warm, but with that warmth came lots of mud...after having used it for about 2 years plus, i realized that i was never fully satisfied with it and came back to this faithful little booger. what everyone is saying is true, more money doesnt necessarily mean better sound...it took me a long time to come to grips with this, because many of us want our pedal boards to be unique or full of boutique pedals. but in the end it always come back to your tone...if that cheap dano pedal makes your tone sound better, then go for it. i found the blues driver to be very forgiving of me having forsaken it for so long...

oh one more thing...i just played a praise and worship session at church and my tone never sounded better.

3 knobs is NOT the same as ease of use; I find the EH Big Muff Pi and its 3 knobs to be a real bear to work with. That said, though, with this thing it's pretty much what you see is what you get. Does its thing in under a minute.

Couple of points knocked off for hum at the upper gain registers and more treble than is really necessary on the tone knob.

I've been using this pedal between an Epi ES-335 copy (stock pickups) and a Vox Valvetronix tubestate emulating amp, and I've really been enjoying the snot out of it. I never push the gain past 12 o'clock, and with the tone knob at around 10:00 it makes my neck pickup sound crisp, clear and a little raunchy. Works really well for the Hendrix/ SRV "blooze" axis kind of sound (a guilty pleasure if ever there was one), responds well to pick attack and guitar volume changes. Muddies up lower- voiced chords a bit, but I'm into that myself.

For my rig this thing provides overdrive with a little stank to it... just what I wanted.

Haven't had it long, but it looks fine to me and I've never seen a Boss pedal bite the dust... should be good to go.

Haven't the foggiest.

Mostly what I prefer to play is edgy, sort of spaced- out postpunk with just a taste of blues thrown in for spice. This pedal's sound is a little too easily identifiable as blues/ blooze so I think I'll probably stick with my Rat, Muff and a loud amp for that.

However, I love noodling around the house with it and if I was ever going to put on a fake beard and head down to the local blues 'n' brews joint, this is the pedal I would take. Big fun.

pretty easy...3 knobs
level, drive, tone

bossarea.com has some general settings

I have a Fender Strat mexican, I run this through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe.
it's chained with my Digitech BadMonkey and Behringer EQ700 graphic equalizer.
sound quality is pretty good, responsive to volume and picking.
I recommend that you get it modded with Germanium transistors, the silicon ones that are stock means distortion is either very heavy or completely off; you can't really get a light distortion or rather it's difficult with stock.
Keeley swaps in germanium transistors in his Phat tone mod.

definitely.
I bought it used off Ebay, and it's been through many gigs.
still sounds great.
metal case

n/a
never dealt with them

christian worship, rock, punk
I might buy another one; for the price it is good.
I might get a Nobels Natural Overdrive instead though...
however, my friend has a modded one, and it sounds awesome
I might just buy a brand new modded one from Robert Keeley

The Boss BD-2 pedal is nice and straight foward to use right out of the box, with only 3 knobs to choose from which include:- 1. Level 2. Tone 3. Gain.Manual is uneeded if you are an experienced player most boss pedals come with an instruction manual with a couple of sample settings.These may be of some use or interest if you are just starting out and this is your first venture into buying an overdrive/distortion pedal.

I have a mixed group of amps and guitars that I use this pedal with and find that the pedal performs well with any of the combinations that I tried so far.I have not noticed any unacceptable levels of noise with this pedal except for when you start maxing things out.Then you have to allow for the amp, the guitar,the pick-ups single coil/humbucker, the power source batteries v's 9 volt wall wart etc.
So many people I find, are so oft to blame just one peice of gear without fully investigating all the possibilities of the noise source combined.Just remember
this though,when you start linking things together that send and recieve electrical/sound signals anything can happen,including all sorts of noises etc.The BD-2 excels at its chosen path creating great sounding and very convincing tube driven like overdrive that responds well with with your amp be it solid state or tube at just about any volume settings that I have tried so far.It also responds well to pick attack and playing nuances and rolling off of the volume knob it cleans up quite reasonably. I have way too many amps to just play this pedal with just one, but I really like the way that it responds to my Gibson Les Paul Jnr GA-5 re-issue amp. Wether I use the BD-2 as a level booster with the gain virtually off and the level maxed,yes you will notice some background noise here but live it's more than acceptable but for recording you would definately need some noise reduction.With this setting it gives any good tube amp a nice kick in the arse and sends it into overdrive even when the amp's volume is set quite low.When you have all the knobs set all at 12 o'clock and the amp set to clean be prepared to be pleasantly suprised at the nice thick sounding overdrive you will attain. I don't really use effects pedals to sound like my favourite artist but I am sure with a little bit of tweaking with the knobs on your guitar,amp and the BD-2 you may get close or similar approximations of your favourite guitarist , depending on circumstances etc.To conclude this pedal is a one trick pony and I think for my tastes and style it excels at it's choosen trick, I am extremely fussy about distortion and personally this pedal blows me away.Please see below a list of guitars and amps that I use and if you have any questions no matter how dumb or trivial you may think it to be please don't hesitate to email me as I am always happy to try and help other people in their tone quest.

Guitars include 1 x Gretsch 6121 Round-Up re-issue heavily customized with recent DeArmond Y2K 2000 single coil pick-ups,1 x Gretsch 6118 Anniversary stock, 1 x 1968 Fender maple cap Telecaster,1 x 1987 Gibson Les Paul Jnr, 1 x Tokai Les Paul Jnr dbl cut copy.

Amps include 1 x 94 Vox AC 15 re-issue Eminence loaded,1 x 1964 Fender Tremolux head thru a 2 x 10 Celestion loaded G -50's box,1 x recent Gibson GA-5 Les Paul Jnr point to point tube amp, 1 x recent Vox Pathfinder 15 watt solid state practice amp,1 x 1994 Fender tweed Blues Jnr,1 x Fender 1974 Musicmaster Bass converted to head and box with a single 12 Celestion like a cool mini piggy back set-up, 1 x recent George Dennis Blue Beetle 15 watt amp converted from a head to a cool looking 2x12 GT-75 Celestion loaded Matchles style combo.

Can you really depend on anything? From your car to your dishwasher that question is just way to broad. In all fairness though I have to say that I have had nothing but good results from all the different Boss products I have used over the years .Yes I would use it at a gig without a back-up and if it faled well you know the old saying if life gives you lemons then make lemonade.But in all honesty if you consider yourself a professional or a semi-pro muso then you should always have a back up plan no matter what , and just remember like the boy scouts say "Be Prepared".

I owned a Boss BR- 8 digital recorder which I thought had a shorting/grounding problem with the inputs as I was recieving small electrical shocks from mics when they were plugged in.The unit was purchased 2nd hand so of course I was not entitled to any kind of warranty so I rang Roland in Australia they said bring it over and we'll take a look.They kept it for 3 days replaced the entire input section free of charge with no question's asked regarding warranty etc.so what can I say Roland Australia rocks but I can only speak for myself for every good experience many other people have suffered crap at the hands of Roland.I guess when you talk to anybody no matter who they are but especially if thay are going to fix something for you, play nice you may just be rewarded. But if you still haven't gotten satisfaction after a coulple of vists then by all means mow them down an take no prisoners.

1.The styles of music that I play are as follows:- PUNK ROCK OLD SKOOL,SKA,SWING,JAZZ, JUMP BLUES,GUT BUCKET HILL COUNTRY BLUES (aka Jnr Kimbrough RIP),ROCK-A-BILLY,INDIE/ALT POP,COUNTRY AND PYSCHOBILLY.
I have found the BD-2 to be a very versatile and adaptable pedal to my syle of playing thus making it a great match.

2. PLAYING FOR OVER 20 YEARS SEMI PROFFESIONAL ETC.

3.KORG D1600 MK II SET UP IN A HOME STUDIO SCENARIO WITH ALL THE USUAL SUSPECTS IN THE WAY OF GEAR MICS,PRE-AMPS ETC.

4.IF IT WAS LOST OR STOLEN I WOULD DEFINATELY BUY ANOTHER (LIKE THE ONE THAT I AM USING AT PRESENT)AS MY FIRST ONE WAS BORROWED/STOLEN BY A FRIEND FOR A GIG AND I HAVE'NT SEEN IT SINCE AND NOW THE SCUMBAG HAS LEFT TOWN.

5.I AM NOT TOTTALY IN LOVE WITH THIS PEDAL BUT IT GOES ALONG WAY TO SATISFYING MY NEEDS IN REGARDS TO DISTORTION AND OVERDRIVE. I AM EXTREMLY FUSSY ABOUT EVEN AND UNEVEN ORDER HARMONICS AND AS A NOTE STARTS TO DECAY I ABSOLUTELY HATE WHEN A PEDALS SUSTAIN WAVERS ABOUT INCONSISTANTLY.THUS MAKING THE NOTE SOUND RASPY,NASAL,THIN AND MUSHY.WITH THE BD-2 TRY THIS QUICK TEST, DIAL IN A CLEAN TONE ON YOUR FAVOURITE AMP,DIAL IN A SETTING ON THE BD-2 YOU LIKE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THEN PLAY A BIG FAT G BAR CHORD. NOW LISTEN TO THE NOTE AS IT DECAYS AND STARTS TO DIE OF AND IF YOU DON'T HEAR ONE OF THE MOST EVEN AND NATURAL SOUNDING FADE OUTS, THEN YOU MUST HAVE SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOUR EARS.I USUALLY ONLY ASSOCIATE THIS UTLRA SMOOTH NATURAL ORGANIC SOUNDING FADE OUT WITH A GREAT TUBE AMP MAXED OUT OR SOME THOUSAND DOLLAR BOUTIQUE HAND MADE PRE-AMP/PEDAL ETC.

6.IF I HAVE TO FAULT THIS PEDAL AT ALL IT IS THE FACT THAT THE TONE CONTROL IS VERY LIMITED I WOULD HAVE LIKED IT TO BE A LITTLE BRIGHTER. BUT PERHAPS THE BOSS DESIGNERS AVOIDED THIS AS A WAY TO AVOID THAT NASTY THIN FLY IN A JAR TONE WE SO OFTEN ASSOCIATE WITH SOLID STATE DISTORTION. SO YOU CAN'T HAVE EVERTHING AND AS IT STANDS THIS IS A VERY SMALL CONCERN WHEN YOU CAN CONTROL THE TREBLE ON YOUR AMP AND GUITAR ANYWAY.

7.DID I COMPARE THIS TO OTHER PRODUCTS YES AND IN OVER 20 YEARS OF PLAYING NOTHING HAS EVEN COME CLOSE EXCEPT FOR MAYBE MY BK BUTLER TUBE DRIVER PEDAL THAT WAS LOADED WITH A 12 AX7 TUBE IN A STOMP BOX SIZE. BUT I STILL THINK BD-2 IS STILL EVEN SMOOTHER THAN THE BUTLER, I REALLY DON'T KNOW HOW BOSS DID IT BUT THEY DID.I HAVE PREVIOUSLY OWNED IN MY QUEST FOR DISTORTION NIRVANA THE FOLLOWING PEDALS IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER:- AN ORIGIANL PRO CO RAT,A DOD CLASSIC TUBE PEDAL(NOT A BAD TONE BUT LET DOWN BY CRAPPY WORKMANSHIP I SMASHED IT TO PIECES AT A REHEARSAL)AN ORIGINAL BIONIX EPANDORA,VARIOUS BOSS OD- 1'S ETC,A CURTIS TWINTONE (AUSSIE GUY SIMILIAR TO VOODOO LABS TWIN SWITCH SPARKLE DRIVE)AND FINALLY I HAVE BOROWED AND TESTED COUNTLESS AMOUNTS OF PEDALS FROM MY FRIENDS IN MUSIC STORE'S PLAYED EM' LIVE AND AN THE STUDIO ETC. SOME OF THESE INCLUDE ALL OF THE FAMOUS TUBE SCREAMERS TS9'S 808'S ETC.

8.ONLY THING I WISH IT HAD WAS A LITTLE MORE BRIGHTNESS AS MENTIONED ABOVE.

9.DOES IT HELP ME MAKE MUSIC? DEFINATELY IT IF ANYTHING CAN INSPIRE YOU TO PLAY BETTER OR TO TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT BECAUSE OF A SOUND THAT IT CAN MAKE THEN BRING IT ON I SAY EXPERIMENT I SAY LIVE DANGEROUS TRY NEW THINGS WHENEVER YOU CAN.

10.FINALLY I WOULD JUST LIKE TO SAY OPIONS ARE LIKE BUTTHOLES WE'VE ALL GOT ONE AND THIS JUST HAPPENS TO BE MINE .SO WETHER YOU THINK THIS PEDAL SUCKS OR ROCKS ONLY YOU CAN MAKE THAT DESICION.THE REASON THAT I WAS INPIRED TO WRITE SUCH AND IN DEPTH REVIEW WAS THAT AFTER READING A FEW OF THE OTHER REVIEWS PEOPLE HAD POSTED RECENTLY (SORRY I AM NOT READING ALL 10 PAGES OF REVIEWS)I MUST SAY I WAS A LITTLE DISSAPOINTED AS I GENERALLY FIND HARMONY CENTRAL AN EXCELLENT PLACE TO HELP ME MAKE MY PURCHASING DESICIONS. MOST RECENT REVIEWS WERE ONLY KINDA SCRATCHING AT THE SURFACE OF THIS EXCELLENT PEDAL AND IT'S CAPABLITIES. I KNOW WAY BACK IN THE PAST THAT IN MAYBE SOME OF THE FIRST REVIEWS THAT WERE WRITTEN, THERE ARE PROBABLY SOME EXCELLENT IN DEPTH REVIEWS AS WELL.THANKS FOR TAKING TIME TO READ THIS DRIBBLE HA! HA!

11.NO REALLY FINALLY I THINK BOSS SHOULD REALLY RECONSIDER RENAMING THIS PEDAL AS THE I FEEL THAT THE BLUES MONIKER IS WAY TO WAY INACCURATE AND MISLEADING I MEAN C'MON. I PLAY HARDCORE OLD SKOOL PUNK WITH THIS THING AND IT RIPS PAINT OF THE WALLS. PLEASE TELL ME THE LAST TIME YOU HEARD JOHN LEE HOOKER WITH A TONE LIKE THAT, WHILST IT CAN EASILY DO THE JOHN LEE THING IT CAN ALSO DO US BOMBS JUST AS EASILY. MAYBE ALL THE OWNERS WHO AGREE WITH ME SHOULD LOBBY TO BOSS TO HAVE THE NAME CHANGED TO SOMETHING LIKE THE OSD -2 OLD SKOOL DRIVER OR HOW ABOUT THE OC-2 THE ORANGE COUNTY (COULD YOU IMAGINE THE LAWSUITS FROM A CERTAIN TV SHOW). AS THE AMOUNTS OF GAIN ON OFFER HERE ARE MORE THAN JUST POLITE BLUES TONES AND THE LIKES THERE OF. AND AS FOR MR TUBE SCREAMER AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED YOU ARE SUCH AN OVERATED ,OVERPRICED BLOW HARD THAT FRANKLY I VERY WELL MUCH INDEED THINK THAT YOU HAVE FINALLY MET YOUR MATCH IN MR BLUES DRIVER 2. THANK YOU COME AGAIN

It is easy though it took some tweaking to get what I wanted from it. 3 knobs. Never saw the manual.

I'm using it more as a clean boost with a bit of hair. It's not noisy at all. The controls are sensitive and it took some tweaking. I'm using it with a BF Twin and 68 Super, with the BD-2 set output-10o'clcok, tone-10'clock-10:30 and gain-11o'clock. When set like this, Single coils sound like there almost on the edge but not distorted. Clean with some sassyness. Nasty yet soulful. I'm also using a unity/gain buffer in front of my whole board.
Can get very dirty if you dial it in that way. It doesn't color the original signal but rather adds on to it. As far as working with other effects, it does, however it is isolated in it's own loop.
My favorite artists proabaly don't nor will ever use it. I love it. It has replaced my TS-808 after 20+ years.

It's a BOSS

No idea, never needed them. If I need another one, I'm sure I can find one

I play everthing except inaudible sounding guitars. It is a perfect match.
It is just another tool to get inside your head. If it was stolen it would really suck because it's fixed to my board. I like the fact that after trying RC's, BB's, LTD's, Klon's, TS', Tim's, Fat Boost, etc. that
I didn't expect much out of it and got what I wanted. It helps
my musical expression big time.
Probably not for everyone but definitely for me.

you see the knobs you turn the knobs you hear what happens

this is the most solid state sounding pedal i have ever used in my life.
i have no idea why anybody should say it simulates a warm tone.
the coldness of the crunch channel in my hughes & kettner tour reverb
seems like hot hot heat compared to the bluesdriver.

at higher gain settings noisy and very very fuzzy.
so as an overdrive useless.
buy a new amp if you want crunch sounds.

we know it's boss

I tend to sway a little to the blues thing but more in the
bluesrock kind of way, i've read here that this pedal is a godsent
to solid state amps,
forget it.

Lots of options for good tone here. It's easy as turning the knobs.

I was really impressed with Rick's SD-1 and now use it regularly with my set-up, so I was motivated to look into his BD-2 when he came out with it recently. I play through a Mesa Boogie Tremoverb 2x12 dual rectifier with Gibson LP Standard and I really dig the sound of this mod.

I've used the normal, unmodded Boss BD-2 for years, which has alright tone, although it gets fuzzy when you crank any of the knobs past 3/4. The new franklin mod gets rid of those limitations and the most noticeable improvement for me (possibly due to my guitar style) is the depth of the sound. It's much thicker, and clearer, specifically in the bass frequencies. The stock pedal is alright, but nothing to write home about. This pedal is so versatile and kick butt, that it inspired me to finally get onto harmony central and leave some feedback. You can dial this thing all over the map, and I've put in the series with the Franklin mod of the SD-1, and they sound phenomenal together. I played this thing through a peavey tube amp and 4x12 at a friends how today and messed around with the heavier sounds this thing can put out and the tight bass response reminded me of my dual rectifier and a few of my favorite Mark Tremonti licks. Dialing down the gain and tone knob can cover blues and warm overdrive for that southern rock sound, as well. Great job in this one, too, Rick.

Overall, this mod is awesome. I'm thinking these are going to get pretty popular just because of all of the different, quality tones you can pull from it. I'll be keeping an eye on future mods from Rick Franklin, because you can tell he takes pride in his work. He makes an already decent product just plain better.

It is easy to use
nuf said

supreme
let me tell you this
if you have a solid-state 20-watter or say Bassman or Bluesbreaker
see the difference in using this stomp?
ahhh
first, learn to play
uhu

10

10
use your ears
sounds are many

Very easy!

Very great sound. There were two ways I used this pedal: One, I had the gain up to about six or seven on my Crate amp and then had the gain at about 45% and the level about 55% on the BD-2. And the second way, I had the gain on my Crate amp all the way (not very strong, but still great) and the the level BD-2 to about 75% and the gain at about 25% (great boost for going into solos.) Also sounds good driving your clean channel for a real blues sound.

It's Boss. Need I say more? Yeah, I think not. . .

Never had to deal with Roland/Boss customer service.

Over all. I like it. It's Boss, it's really great. This is kind of like a Tubescreamer (without putting a dent in your wallet). Great Stevie Ray-type sound.

The pedal has three tweak knobs, as you can see for overall output level, gain and an EQ ( tone control). So anyone that can understand what each of those do... will find this a very easy pedal to use. Plus you get a manual so if your that stupid... it will give you some recommended settings.

The problem with most guitarists.. is they actually cant play guitar.
They think a little distortion in a box is going to make them sound ridiculously different. Tone comes from the way you play.. all the pedal does is help you achieve your ears desired reaction from your playing, so if you're #$%^ then you will still sound $%(! just with a better sounding tone.

the pedal works best with single coil pickup guitars through marshall amps but sounds great on my ibanez to, it has a lot of low end boost and responds really well to playing dynamics, though you have to spend some time tweaking the settings on your amp as well as the pedal especially when the amp is loud as your playing can sound abit to trebly and twangy. Apart from that, it has a gritty sound so hence yes its probably abit noisier than ppl think... but thats why its a blues pedal??? dirr! this pedal is designed to be scruffy but toneful to. this is great for most things apart from shred, but for rock and blues its fine. Stop moaning about the pedals and learn to play all you whiners.. plus learn to use the volume controls on your guitar.. which no one does! You can get a really cool gilbert tone if u wack up the gain, put output about half way and turn your volume control down on any ibanez guitar.

yep absolutely

its good

Easy as ABC
if you know ABC

Bassman 59 ri
nashvilel tele (or Peveay strat 1985 USA) - bd-2 - (sd-1) - rat2 - boss delay dd-20 - classic wah dunlop )
- sometimes - handmade (Ukraine) marshall and supra stomps (great )) marshall was presented to Mr Marshall himself
great stomp (in info)
:)))
ok
enough
BD-2
VERSATILE as can be
transparency - absolutely suited for modern MUSIC whatever
had all Tubescreamers - none was retained
all gone - see no point
buy it and learn to use
it'sa keeper - right as you Americans put it
agree

try ibanez ts-7... series
ha ha ha

why

10
some rate it way too low as 3
boys.
i don't know
if John (yeh the shot one) was here he would know how to use it
anyroads
play

easy

Teles, Strats, through Fender amps...classic rock, funk, country, blues-of course...great tweakable settings..also good for solo boost clean, to overdriven, very versatile!

yes and yes

really cool pedal

3 knobs!

It's one of the better Boss Overdrive pedals. It's also way too noisy.

Maybe there's a modded one out there that doesn't have the clipping, farting low end that this pedal has. There's no possible way this pedal is helping anyone achieve great tone. A Daddy-O pedal sounds better than this pedal does.

I've had this pedal too long 5 years.

It will last forever except for the switch!

Boss/Roland is cool to deal with, but not on warranty issues.

I play Hard Rock/Punk Rock & that's usually it.

This pedal actually is worthless. I wonder what the hell people are listening to when they try a pedal out (myself included). Finally after far too many years I have figured out what I want from a pedal. The Bluesdriver is not the answer.

If you want a truly Good, Clear sounding Overdrive pedal try one that doesn't pump out a million per year in a factory in Asia.
Do some research & save yourself a lot of time & money.

Theer are plenty of companies making killer sounding stompboxes, Boss & DOD have enough of our money & their pedals need to be modded to get them to sound & perform decent. Even after a mod they still don't sound like you want them to.

You can be 100% happy with an Overdrive pedal. I would never buy this pedal again at any price.

sounds good wherever its set. some settings better than others. three knobs. all you need. the magics in the guts, not the bells and whistles.

the selling point for this pedal to me, was the low end thump it gives your sound. it infinately beefs up your tone and gets rid of the bad beef. every note thats picked smacks your ass. imagine SRV's "so excited" from the el mocambo DVD. the style is more of a scooped mid high and low end boost. the tone knob is usable i geuss but 90% of the time sounds better at 12 o'clock. obviously great blues and rock tone.

seems sturdy to me, but i have seen older boss pedals and other newer ones that have whent tits up. if you dont build a house with it, it should be fine.

no matter what your setup...marshall 15 watt to 100 watt plexi, this is a tone boosting overdrive that adds some balls to your tone with that oh so special thump i mentioned that just thickens every note beautifully.

Just 3 knobs: Tone, Level, and Drive. It's all I need.

This pedal, for me, blew the BOSS OD-3 OverDrive, Ibanez TS-9 and TS-9DX away. It is so warm and thick. It also has a good amount of gain, so you can use it like an overdrive or distortion pedal. It also cleans up when you turn down your guitar's volume control. My favorite part is that it retains the clarity of your clean sound. It also picks up your pick attack really well. This pedal loves my Fender American Series Strat and Fender Blues Deluxe. I love this pedal.

I don't think I could break this if I wanted to. It is a BOSS pedal.

Never dealt with them, probably never will.

This is one of my favorite pedals. If you want an overdrive or even a distortion pedal, this is the one to get. It is wonderful for solo boosts.

This Pedal is really Easy To Use, with three knobs you can't get confused with that, though the knobs may be missleding because the tone has some effect to the sound but only enough if you full crank it in each direction.

has a very rich sound if you have it just right, i find if you dime the level with very little gain it makes a very blues sound for rockin blues.

i used it on a couple jams and gigs and found if you dont righten the screw to keep the pedal down all thw way screwed in, it turns on and off at will, or will turn its self back on after you turn it off.

but the pedal is pretty indestuctable, ive dropped it 1nce and nothing happened to it.

never delt with em

i like boss pedals and this pedal works for me, but at times this pedal is alot heavier then a blues pedal, but when its set right, its one amazing sound

Very easy

I have modified my BD-2 with the TS-9 emulation kit from www.monteallums.com, so I am really only commenting on this mod. The pedal was, eh, OK and all, before the mod. After - it screams, sings. You can feel it in the floor. Takes on the characteristics of both the BD-2 and TS-9, can be high gain, thick, or nearly transparent. I like it just a bit better than the TS-9 sound on its own...

I use this pedal with an SG Special / Gibson Blueshawk -> Maxon Comp. -> MXR Blue Box -> BD-2 modded -> DOD Corrosion -> DeArmond Weeper -> Boss CE-20 -> Marshall Vibra/Trem -> Arion SFL-1 -> Boss DD-20 -> Carvin 2x12 tube amp - for anyone interested in that crap.

Has been very reliable.

???

Overall, the mod kit has made this a sick pedal. It's my main tool for leads now, or to get any kind of sound that really cuts through the mix. Plus its kinda fun to take the thing apart and start soldering! I love it.

Easy to use, easy to find a sound, but surely not a good sound.
Clear manual.

Used on fender, peavey, laney, marshall and crate amp.
Very poor sound, horrible on boost of a dist.

Solid and good for any type of use, also like ornament.

Never dealt with Boss but never find a satisfied boss-user in chase of assistence requiring.

I'll never buy another boss effect of this type, if you think bd-2 gives blues sound you're mistaking.

3 Knobs easy. takes tweaking but so does everything

well i have used this pedal on many different setups and it just doesnt work with tube amps. for brittle solid state amps this is a godsent because it ads that missing warmth however those amps dont seem to be around anymore so now the thing is just overkill.

On a tube amp or good solidstate amp this pedal is overly trebly. I used it as my main source of dirt but unless the tone knod was all the way down it just peirced peoples ears. I found that it does have more range of overdrive than a TS9 but that the TS 808 sounds far better. However when i bought this the only TS808's available were vintage and incredably exspensive. this pedal's main good function is that ist can act as a subtle overdrive or monster distortion pedal. For me this pedal just misses what i'm looking for but it has served me well for the last 4 years of constant tweaking. On the Plus side audiences always compliment my guitar tone when I use this pedal so maybe I'm being to picky.

Only problem in the 4 years i've owned it is the fact that i cant seem to dial in the sound i'm looking for. Boss has made a very sturdy pedal that can stand up to abuse.

I play mostly Rock Blues Ska Regae Funk Fusion and Jazz with a little bit of everything else mixed in.
this pedal is great. and I would recomend it to anyone looking for a good overdrive. If I lost it or it was stolen I would probably get another just because I know what it can do and it is very very very very
close to what i want but just not quite. I've been playing since i was 9 (i'm 18) so I think that i'm just being overly picky.

Three knobs - no challenge I guess. Gain is the most important: with a little twisting you can get all the sweet different sounds out it. Adjust it with level to your setup. Only tone didnt have the impact other pedals have. So easy to use!

Used a Epiphone and a Fender ROC PRO with a variety of mod effects. NO noise whatsoever. From light crunch sounds to full overdrive everythings possible. Thats what I loved about this one. If you dont play metal you can do everything with that tiny tool! And they all sound great. However: I changed to a Deucetone Rat because I wanted to be able to change distortion within a song. I would by two or three of the BD2s but this would be two expensive. BUT I'll have later on in addition to my RAT if I can afford it. This pedal's sounds rule!

Build to last. CAN it even by destroyed?...

didnt need no CS.

My style and my band's style arent said in one or two words. We do pretty much everything from quite soft to hard stuff, esp. the last one though. Could use it for everything. For gigs I would need at least two of those though cuz I wanna be able to change drive within a song and Im not the guitar level twister kinda player... That is the ONLY reason I changed to a deucetone rat, which gives me more options.

BD-2 is the simplest you can get. Level Tone and Gain.

I use it with my Epiphone Les Paul Birdseye, in a Fender Rock Pro 1000 with one extra 12 cabinet.
The sound is really great (for me). if you are looking for a bluesy, kind of sound it is great, but if you want something harder, well it does the trick (gust set the gain up).
I Use it like a booster (with high level mid tone and low gain), for the normal and gain channels, and the pedal increases the range of the picking sensibility of your guitar. While testing it I did it with a american telecaster (the real one) but it sounded better on my Epi. I Really don't care for brands but The boss BD-2 its the real sound for all the real old bluesy lovers. It can sounds sweet and hard at the same settings. I Really Love It.

It doesn't have much use but it looks like a very robust constrution, and of course you have the 5 year warranty from boss.
You can really gig with it but I sugest you to use it with a Power Suply (ok it's obvious) when you play live (you never now when the battery if goig death on you, and that is the only problem with this pedal)

Never used it.

My thing is rock, as simple as that, and BD-2 is a great tool for that, and if i lost it i would by another one.
I love the increase in the picking sensibility and the range of expression I can get using it and using it in the bridge gives you that old time radio bluesy sound, while using it with the neck gives you great body and solid bass sound.

Easy if you use the neck pickup, as this device does not like bridge pickup. It is modeled after the traditional overdriven guitar sound used to get the sweet "woman tone" found in british blues/hard rock. i.e. neck pick up, tone control at 0 to 2.

Just set the tone to 0 to 2 and add the drive until you get the tone desired. Same with level

I took a chance on thise device when reading how someone got a sweet "woman tone" overdrive sound from a jazz guitar. Well. I got the same sound from my Gretch "rockabilly" guitar. The drive is at 6, tone is at 2. Once again, use the neck pickup. It hates the bridge pickup, it sounds to brittle.

Furthermore, it does not like single 10" or 8" speakers (too brittle/tinny) - Use a 4 x 10, or 2 x 12 amp. It got great tone from a 2 x 12 solid state no name amp.

As well, I was able to get a good overdrive tone from my Gibson melody maker bass with a strat type single coil at the neck. Once again, use the neck pickup (tone at 2, drive at 4)

Boss is known for their reliability

Boss customer support must be like the Maytag repairmen commercial i.e. the loneliest people on earth

If you want to get the sweet overdriven "woman tone" found in british blues/hard rock, this is the pedal for you. It is much cheaper than an Ibanez tubescreamer.

Very easy - Gain, tone, level - like you know it from Boss Super Overdrive or Ibanez Tube Screamer Pedals.

There is a manual when you buy it new in the box. The typical standard settings for starting with - when you are new in using guitar pedals.

There is always music equipment that - because of what you hear and read - is VERY, VERY MUCH OVERATED. And the Boss Blues Driver is on of it.

It is so much overrated, I tried and tried, but it can`t satisfy me.

Boss picked up a good image and design (the blue colour for blues...) to offer an alternative to their yellow overdrive-line.

It's like the Boss Super-Overdrive (the standard and cheapest Boss overdrive Pedal) with more bass, but less mids and a bit more gain. Because it has more mids the Super-Overdrive got even more character in the tone - and character that was what I was looking for in a "Blues pedal". Here the Blues Driver sucks compared with the old Super-Overdrive.

And to become the leader in Blues Pedals it must be compared with the Ibanez Tube Screamer TS-9. And the Tube Screamer has the overall much butter tone. The highs are much milder and smooth, the mids are a dream and the lack of bass in the TS-9 is no reason for me to swith to the Blues-Driver.

The Boss Blues-Driver is good for me for 70s Rock (Smoke on the water etc.) Riffs and Solos, but even there the cheaper Super-Overdrive sounds much better and more autentic to me.

There are sure a lot of players out there who like the blues driver ... but I`ve never heard one of them getting a brilliant sound out of it.

I will keep mine for reference use - but I am back to play with my SD-1 and TS-9 and the Proco RAT for the heavy stuff.

I have it for one year now - and its like new - well because I dislike it - I only use it a little bit at home to compare other pedals I test - but its very, very likely to be as reliable as the other boss pedals, and they live forever, if you take good care of them ....

Never tried to have a Boss Pedal repaired. When one got damaged - yes that happens - I get a new one and replace the full pedal. Working hours are so expensive - for me it makes no sence to bring a Boss pedal to a store to have it fixed.

I play Rock from 70s Rock to 80s Metal. I play since the 70s - well the later 70s.

Usually I play with a Strat or a Les Paul in a Marshall 45 Watts Head and a 1x12 (small Bars etc.) or a 4x12 Marshall (clubs, festivals etc.) Cabinet.

The effect chain I use at the moment is:

Cry Baby Wah
Ibanez Tube Screamer TS-9
Boss Super Overdrive SO-1
Proco RAT
Boss GE-7 Equalizer
Boss Chorus
Boss Delay

The TS-9 is always on - it gives me "The Who" type clean/crunch sound. The Super-Overdrive I add to get a 70s Rock Sound, and the Ratt I switch on for a Mesa Boogie Type 80s Metal sound.

The GE-7 only boosts a bit the mids and the volume to be switched on for solos (that way I keep the character of the pre selected overdrive tone with the pedals). Delay, Chorus and Wah are only for certain effect parts.

I change me sutup every once in a while. The Blues Driver was intendet to replace the Tube Screamer and the Super Overdrive, when I saw Nazareth current guitarist Jimmy Murrison using two Blues Drivers in his bord live - but was so disappointed when I got mine. I sold one of the two I bought and went back to my "old" sutup.

3 knobs, Level, Tone, Gain. All are very sensitive which makes it easy to get exactly what you want. Manual has many setting you can use from Boss but you should just play with the 3 knobs and figure out what you like the best. Also has the useful 9v entry on back which i use.

Epiphone Les Paul Standard - Boss DS-1 - Ibanez TS9 - Boss SD-1 - Boss BD-2 - Fender Hot Rod Deluxe (tube 1x12). The Blues Driver is very quiet on both my clean and drive channels on my amp. I like to keep the tone at 10 o clock or below. When it goes higher, it just seems to sound nasally and very trebly. The gain sounds great wherever you put it, just dial in which sound you're looking for. I've compared it with the tube screamer and here's what i've found:

Blues Driver can get louder and can get cleaner and dirtier both than the TS9.

Because of this, the BD-2 is very versatile. Because it can get a little bit cleaner than the TS9, I like to use it on the clean channel of my amp to add a hint of overdrive. However, it can be used too push my drive channel harder and sounds great doing that as well. I like to boost the BD-2 with either the SD-1 or the drive channel on amp for solos.

Extremely reliable, never hard one problem with it. Since Boss offers a 5 year warranty, you can trust that their pedals will last much longer than this and will be very reliable.

I like to play classic rock. The pedal really sounds great for this style of music. I've been playing for 3 years. I stolen, I would buy another one. This is my most versatile overdrive pedal that I own. I love how clean and dirty the pedal can get. Has unique sound simlilar to TS9 but I like it's own character as well. Doesn't need anything else on the pedal, very simple but sounds great. Very glad I bought this.

It's an overdrive with three knobs--you can't get much simpler. Still, it's easy to get some truly nasty, shrill sounds out of it if you don't know what you're doing. Never got a manual and never needed it.

It's not perfect, but it is one hell of a pedal. Best overdrive/distortion box I've ever tried. It isn't transparent: it will color your tone with a raspy cranked tweed Fender/old Marshall sort of vibe, but it's a nice sound to my ears. Also, it has good bass and mid response, but somehow it sounds "hollow" to my ears. Like the sound takes up a wide spectrum and cuts through, but it doesn't have a lot of "oomph" or sustain to it--this pedal doesn't compress your sound much at all. That's why I mostly use it for rhythm work.

The key to this whole pedal is to be careful with the knobs. There is a WIDE range of gain to be had here, and the tone knob makes it REALLY trebly when turned up. I like keeping the volume set pretty high, the gain somewhere below 3 o'clock, and keeping the tone below 12. There a surprising number of crisp, gritty sounds to be found there.

You CAN do Metal with it. It just depends on what you mean by metal. It does AC/DC and 70s metal well, and I've found that for, say, Danzig and other bluesy metal, it also excels. Just keep the tone knob set fairly low, because it is one trebly MFer, and turn the volume knob up to keep the sound crisp. I wouldn't try to get SOAD, Hatebreed, or any of the bottom heavy stuff out of it, though.

For blues, it's great at a crisp, biting, '50s and '60s blues tone. For earlier stuff, which often sounded pretty muddy, you'd be better off with just a small amp cranked up loud, with no effects at all. For a more modern "blues" sound (and by this, most people mean SRV, Led Zep, and other blues rockers) it does a pretty good job, too.

I think this pedal was really designed to get you from a range from, say, Albert Collins up through Aerosmith, and that's what it does. Great gritty sounds there, and it can do some honky tonk stuff as well.

For people who want a crystal clear Pink Floydish space-rock tone, you'll be disappointed. Same goes for jazzbos.

Never had a problem. Boss is known for making indestructable pedals and this looks like one of 'em. But then I can't afford to abuse my gear.

Never dealt with 'em.

Lately I've been playing a sort of spaced out blues punk type of thing and it works great for rythmn, though I prefer a cleaner sound for leads. It's a great, great pedal with a lot of versatility, and if you play something with a blues-flavor to it, you'll love this. It's definitely not for everyone, but the tonal complexity and versatility has won it a wide following

Its easy to use mate.
I also find that less is more when dealing with electronics, take the old plexis for example......

I always play strats, they are the most responsive guitars on the market today. STILL.
I did think the bd-2 had a strange sorta eq to it, the high end is fizzy, really nice mids and bluesy bass.
I use a fender twin amp which may have added to the dynamics of this pedal also.
Overall i think it would be a fantastic pedal when run with the right combo of geeetar and amp,
Some does not suit so well

yep.

Easy enough to work with. Three knobs.

I use it with a Roland Jazz Chorus and it's good for any style of music, as long as it's blues. I use this with an Ibanez AF-85 and play through a Crybaby Classic, an MXR Dyna Comp, and a BOSS Chorus Ensemble set permanently on a Leslie-type sound. Not good for metal, but I don't play metal, so it works out nicely. Gain up 3/4, tone up half way and kick up the volume, and you've got yourself some nice overdrive. Nice in front of a distortion too, for a bit of fuzz.

Don't have any problems with it.

Don't have to deal with them.

Pretty darn good. Cheap too.

Simple dials.

Brian Moore i8>Dunlop Custom Crybaby>Boss BD-2>DeArmond Dual Volume>Boss GE-7>Boss CE-2>Line 6 DL-4>Fender Twin Reverb ('65 reissue).
It doesn't generate noise. it might accentuate some that's already there.
You can get bad sounds out of it. It's really raw so I keep the tone toward about 8-o-clock. It sounds ok before a Roland Jazz Chorus but with a tube amp, it's really meaty.
I like a more classic sound and love the pedal. Even though I like harder stuff, I don't need all of the gain on this. I guess that's what harder picks (1.5mm), and strings (10-52) and louder pickups (Duncan JB and Alnico 2) are for. I usually keep it at 3 or 4 o-clock.
Of course I like it. It's a good overdrive pedal in front of a Fender tube amp. To solid-state or direct it sucks, but that's not what it's for. I get a sound I like out of it. It's nice and fat and has more gain than I use regularly.
I have no qualms about the bypass.

No problems thus far.

I play rock and it fits my style. I've been playing for about 4 years. I am a musician and listen to my sound. If stolen, I would use my friend's. He liked my sound and got one. I'll probably also get a tubescreamer because it's smoother and I like variety. With knobs on my guitar, I can get a number of sounds, but more pedals would yeild to more diversity and flexability.

three knobs - ultra simple. Gain, Tone and Level. If you can't manipulate these with ease, you have major problems and should probably take up the flute.

With that in mind, it's very very easy to get a great sound out of it.

I don't understand any of the poor quality reviews below. I absolutely love this pedal - the highs *I* get are NOT ear-destroying, the bass is tight, the gain is just sizzling. It's the best overdrive pedal I've used, and I've owned at least 30 over the last 15 years. Boss really put the lights out with this thing.

However, I think a really big factor is 1) what kind of pickups you use and 2) what kind of amp it's feeding.

I actually get the best sound with a solid state Behringer amp set on a wonderful plate reverb. It results in a completely amazing sound. I could not possibly improve on it.
However, the pedal doesn't respond to any of my tube amps in quite the same way. It just isn't as "full" or "round." I'm not sure why.

Also, it definitely likes humbuckers and other high-output pickups MUCH more than single coils. I guess it likes being fed a real hot signal. This is just from practical trial-and-error experience. AND, I should also say that I can still get great tones from it using a vintage strat and tube amp. It's just not as skillet-hot as when using humbuckers and a solid state.

Tone is so subjective, it's impossible to predict what some people like and don't like. My blues listening friends love this thing. My metalhead friends even appreciate it the nasty breakup it can deliver to an amp perched on the verge. However, people who like really muddy mellow tones hated it. So did people who played mostly jazz. Go figure.

It's a boss. I could shoot it with my 12 gauge and it would probably somehow break the 12 gauge. Boss is Boss. They never break, ever, EVER.

No idea

This is the best overdrive pedal, bar none. I've had three different Tube Screamers, including an original, and it just wasn't the same. Amazing little blue pedal. I recommend it to anyone who wants to add some bluesy bite to their arsenal.

But don't just take it from me, or any other reviewer. Make your way to the nearest Boss dealer and play it yourself. Bring your favorite guitar. Try several amps. It's the only way you'll know for sure.

easy

Uh, I borrowed one from guitar center and it hurt my ears. The high frequencies produced from this pedal are ear piercing. Definitely full range! Tight bottom. Punchy even. Could sound good if the gain is all the way down but when even half way up the higher frequencies are lethal and probably causing hearing damage even at lower volumes.

I used a 2000 Fender American Series Strat and a 2004 fender Champion and do wonder if the Blues Driver would have sounded better on a tube amp...tube amps being less high fidelity [oh, shut up, they are too!]

I noticed that a tube screamer sounded good on my solid state amps but went to mud on a tube amp.


I figure Boss pedals are designed to work with tube amps and Les Pauls. Just the way it seems.

I like my Boss O/S-2 a lot more than this ugly blue box.

It's no wonder Keeley mods so many of these boxes. They have potential but just don't quite live up to their potential.

There is no support

I like metal and grunge.
I've been playing electric guitar since 1975.

I think the Boss C/S Compressor is my favorite pedal Boss makes.

I own about 20 Boss pedals.

I like the HM-2. MT-2, DS-2, DS-1, SD-1 and especially the OS-2 pedal. With a CS-3 in front and my DD-2 Digital Delay in back I can make any dirt box sound EXCELLENT!

But the BD-2 is the worst I've heard from Boss.

Fender 1970 Strat w/ Fralin 69' Pickups + Gibson SG. This pedal is not a blues driver. It has way too much treble, too much bass, and impossible to level and balance out. To give it credit, it does have a nice crunch on low gain with high volume with the tone all the way down. Other than that, lets just say it doesn't make me want to get up in the morning and say "Hey! I can't wait to use my Blues Driver!"

Don't get this pedal if you are looking for a vintage tube sound. You people are crazy for giving this pedal good reviews!! Although I have heard that the older japanese models are very sweet, but haven't tried it yet. I your looking for a nice tube sound, try the Fulltone Fat boost, or if you can get ahold of an older japanese Boss Overdrive, those are pretty nice as well, but i do have to say that i have been disapointed with the reccent Boss stuff.

The overall control arrangement is very straightforward and easy to use.

I use this with my Strat (SCN pickups, S-1 switch) and my dual humbucker Tele. The amp is a Blues Junior or Hot-Rod Deville.

The BD-2 is fairly quiet although there is some hiss which I consider typical for overdrive pedals. The quality of the sound tends to be a bit more harsh than the "Blues Driver" name would suggest. In my humble opinion the sound of this pedal is well suited for classic rock when the "drive" control is turned up and more suited to a Blues sound when used as a signal booster with the drive set low.

Like all Boss products, this pedal seems bulletproof.

I've spoken to Boss customer service in relation to tech support for another Boss product and i was greatly impressed. These guys are OK if you ask me.

I play Jazz, Blues, Classic Rock, Oldies, C&W and on and on and on. The BD-2 is a good and versatile pedal although it has its limitations. I would suggest this and a Boss SD-1 to cover the spectrum of overdrive pedals needed for the music I play.

As a clean boost or very slight crunchy sounds this Blues Driver
is OK,no more than that.But it ends there.The more you turn that drive knob the more
you're about to dislike it,this ain't a good overdrive pedal,at least
compared to what you can get today.To all of you guys that gave that
pedal such stellar reviews i say:WAKE UP NOW!HAVE YOU EVER TRIED
ANYTHING ELSE?Let's get real folks.If you still drive your Ford Pinto
and like it to death doesn't mean you have to convince us it's a great ride...

Skip those Boss overdrive and distortion pedals.Really not worth
buying nowadays unless you want to sound like shit.Have a great day.

Easy to get a great sound out of this. Beware if you use cheap gear, because you will get a cheap sound. Set the knobs at 12 o'clock and go from there. It is not a standalone distortion unit, it is an overdrive unit, so use it that way.

Used with a good strat and a fine tube amp, this thing sounds great. Not particularly noisy. Best used with an amp setting that is on the verge of breakup. Really smooth distortion, in fact, you might want to roll the highs back some on your amp. Anybody who complains about this pedal is likely using cheap gear to begin with.

It's a Boss. No need to say anything else.

Never needed the tech support.

Good pedal, good bang for the buck. To fully appreciate this pedal, you need to use it with good equipment. If you use this pedal with sucky gear, expect sucky results.

All pedals are easy to use.

I play a strat, tele and Korean Hamer (like a cheapo PRS) through a SF Deluxe reverb, SF Bassman head or a Rivera 30-12. I bought this pedal for a lo-gain rhythm sound ala "castles made of sand". The pedal has a huge gain range but the upper range sounds almost like a fuzz and is useless for what I want. At first I thought the pedal was great because it had more bass than a Tubescreamer and a flatter midrange which definitely made it better for rhythm tones. However I soon found the hi end to be harsh, the mids were a bit too scooped and the distortion sounded a bit fizzy. Worst of all the decay on sustained chords and notes had an unnatural transistorized sputtering quality. I found directions for the Keely mods on the web and after I soldered them in, the pedal had more lo-mids and slightly less fizz. Unfortunately the lame decay was still apparent and seems to be a basic function of the circuit that you cannot dial out or mod away.

Its a Boss

Has anyone ever needed their customer support?

I had heard many good things about this pedal being excellent for low gain OD. In particular the clips on Jason Barker's web page were a deciding factor in my purchase. However, even with mods, the BD-2 did not live up to its billing. The deal breaker was the really unnatural decay that just started to drive me crazy after a while. Tubes and amplike pedals decay from OD to clean in a fairly smooth and musical manner. The bluesdriver does not. In fact I went back and gave a listen to those Barker clips again and sure enough I heard the tell tale sputter. Boss seems to make OD pedals (DS-1, SD-1, OD-3) that are ALMOST GREAT but tend to suffer from an achilles heel that eventually drives players to look elsewhere. The BD-2 is another ultimately unsatisfying addition to the line.

This is oddly, the most simplistic piece of equipment i own, and yet it has the widest range of sounds (if that says anything) The tone and gain controls are very, very responsive and it doesnt take much of a turn of either to stray from the sound you had. It doesn't take much at all.

I'm using a Faded les paul with a peavey bandit 112. I could never achieve a high standard of sound with the amp itself. When I plugged up with the BD-2 I immediately noticed a difference. The sound from this thing is amazing. I can achieve hard-cruncy zeppelin tones to a very slight clean crunch. I'm telling you that you can get any sound from this (EXCEPT METAL HEAD SOUNDS) and probaly more. This pedal is very very basic and easy to use. For instance if you want a clean crunch just turn the gain to 0 and the tone to 5-10 and SHAZAMM. Or if you want a good 80's sound turn the gain to about 3 o'clock and tone to about 1:30 or so. Everything is very sensitive so its sooooo easy to switch sounds with a little turn of the dials. Just play with the settings and trust me, you'll find the sound you want.

Seems as sturdy as a Sherman.

Never dealt with em.

I play classic rock, blues, anything with a good vibe and feel (new age? hah!!) This pedal if for a musician, not some punk who wants to write about how his girlfriend broke up with him so he plays powerchords even faster and faster. I pity how music is now. anyway, if it were stolen or lost I would find who stole it and beat him to death with the pedal itself! (it seems rugged enough to do so) I didnt compare this with any other products or even tested it before I bought it. I read alot of reviews on this very page. some are good, some bad (idiots.. this product is RITCHEOUS). If your looking for that classic rock/bluesy sound. Your on the right page to research it. It's here and its good, do yourself a favor right now and buy it. You'll love it. TRUST ME.

Super Boss easy.

I had been using a TS9, TS808, and SD1 to push the front of my "already crunched" setting on the amp and loved those pedals. But I now have a clean Marshall Plexi and those overdrive pedals were lacking a little gain when used by themselves. I loved the warmth of all those pedals and heard that the Blues Driver was very similar, but more gain. I tried it at a gig last night and my Boss SD1 was on ebay the next day (not dis'n the SD1 or TS, just wanted a titch more gain). We play a lot of AC/DC and classic rock. This BD2 is perfect!!

Havn't had one break in my 25 years of playing.

Not sure.

I use the BD2 for my cruchy AC/DC sound, and click over to the DS1 Distortion for my heavier George Lynch Dokken / Ratt hair metal 80's sound. I use a Boss GE7 EQ to boost for solos. These three pedals are beautiful!! I only use them for live though. I have a Line6 POD xt for quieter home practice and recording stuff. Both are cool set ups. The BD2 can be a bit bright and feedbacky. I have my tone at 9:00 oclock (almost off). But I have a very sensitive Plexi. Other amps probably arn't so picky. If you want a titch more gain than your TS808 or SD1, try this. If you back the tone off a little, the BD2 to me, has the same "general" sound with a titch more ballz.

Its a Boss, easy and simple

The sound is great, just what I was looking for, it sounds natural! and for those who complain about it? should get their ears checked or buy a better amp or guitar? I use a USA Strat Plus and a Epiphone Les Paul Custom with Seymour Duncans! they sound great with this pedal, especially with the strat! I get this very nice boost! Eric Clapton, classic blues tones

as for the hiss some talk about? turn down the tone and gain? pedlas do hiss when u crank up everything? the hiss isnt too bad compared to others but its pretty quiet when u mess with settings below 12 O'clock

this thing is one of the best pedal designs out there! better than Electo Harminx units that cost more!! (I own a Small Stone USA which sounds great, im not putting their quailty effects down but I feel that boss units have better build quailty)

ive dealed with boss before and they always respond and very helpful! this is the UK Roland firm

nothing is perfect but if u love the blues, you will love this pedal!

Very easy to get a good sound out of it. It's an OVERDRIVE, and very transparent. If you use this with cheap gear, expect to get a cheap sound. This will not fix tone that was crap in the first place. I set all the knobs around 12:00 and viola, the tone was there.

Using this with a Fender American Stratocaster and Fender all-tube amp. It sounds delish; it has tons of gain if needed, but don't run it at that level or you'll be disappointed. What I didn't like was that it tends to chop out the low subfrequencies. There is a mod available from Keeleyelectronics.com that supposedly will compensate for this. As far as it being a smooth, musical OD unit at a reasonable price, this is the one. The tone is warm, and it gets a smooth, silky Hendrixian flavor if you work the sweet spot, and that means adjusting the guitar volume and tone knobs to drive it just enough. What it does best is smoothly overdrive an amp that was on the verge of breakup. Plus, if you work the volume knob, it cleans up so nicely.

It's a BOSS... no need to say more.

Never dealt with customer service.

Overall, this pedal sounds great. Don't listen to any fool who posted here dissing this pedal, it's likely they are into Korn or some other garbage and expected this pedal to magically turn them into Clapton. The BD-2 is a fine pedal, and it definitely has a character that is very different from the Tube Screamer. It's transparent, very flexible, and easy to setup. But as with any unit, don't use this with cheap gear and expect a miracle, or else you'll be whining like the rest of the poseurs who rate this pedal so low.

It is very easy to get a good sound out of the Blues Driver. This device is very easy to use: 1 tone knob, 1 level knob, and 1 gain knob.

This is one of the best overdrives that I have ever heard. This pedal is perfect for getting any desired blues tone. I use the Blues Driver with all my guitars but especially with my American Strat and my Nashville Tele through Crate and Fender amps. This pedal can dial in tones that range from a clean tone with a warm out put gain, to a chunky crunch, to a powerful screaming blues. The Blues Driver is designed for blues, however, it can produce a heavy overdrive that can be used for artists like Zeppelin and Aerosmith. I am really in to classic rock and blues. This pedal is great for playing Clapton and the Stones. I can dial in a good Keith Richards sound.

Ha.. of course I can depend on this effect.... YOU CAN NOT GO WRONG WITH BOSS!

I have never dealt with Boss.

This is a very good match for my classic rock and blues style. I have been playing for 4 years and own a number of distortions (Danelectro Fabtone and Daddy-O, Digitech Hot Rod, and the Boss DS-1). If my Blues Driver was stolen I would drive back down to Guitar Center immediately. Out of all my overdrives and distortions this one is my favorite. I chose the Blues Driver because of it's versatile tone options and price. If you do not own this, you need to get it now!

very easy to use, drive level and tone knobs...

I tried this pedal out at the store with a pretty good strat (cant remembr the amp) when i was looking for an overdrive pedal. Most people get there overdrive and are so proud of it, they give it all 10's just because they think its really really cool. Heres what i thought of it...
*Not overly noisy, but ive heard quiter pedals...
*Both in bypass and effect it masks (to a certain extent) the sound of your guitar, and is unresponive to picking technique.
*The distortion is thin, wooly bass, a horrible hissing high end, nice sweet mids though, but overall flabby tone...
*in order to get rid of the hissy high end, if you turn down the tone control, gets muddy and indistinct....
Alot of people claim it sounds very 'tube-ish' or 'valve-ish', but nothing could sound more unlike sweet singing overdriven power tubes.

seemed fairly robust apart from the switch, felt a bit flimsy..

n/a

save your money and buy a Pete cornish SS-2...

3 knobs - level, tone, gain. My tone knob goes from 3 o'clock to 3'o'clock. I'm not sure if the pot was turned or that is just the way it is. No big deal, I'm used to it now.

This is the most versatile pedal I've ever owned. I have found 3 very different uses for this pedal. I use a telecaster into a compressor, BD-2, then into a Mesa Boogie Subway Rocket with a Digitech RP10 in the effects loop for reverbs, delays, choruses, etc.

1. Hendrix-type fuzz. In the clean channel, turn the level to about 8 o'clock, tone to taste, and gain maxed. Nice fuzzy blues. Switch to the overdrive channel on the amp and it's Hendrix on steroids.

2. Overdrive. I use it like this most of the time. I set the gain at 12 o'clock and the level so that when I am on the clean channel, there is no volume difference between pedal on or off. This way I get clean, step on BD-2 and get mild overdrive, and then switch to lead channel and get creamy distortion. No feedback in lead channel even with pedal on. BD-2 just adds fullness and a little sustain to lead channel.

3. Slam front end of amp. This really only works well in the overdrive channel of the amp. Dial in a nice crunchy distortion. Set the BD-2 to max level, tone to taste, and gain to 0. Now it acts as a volume boost. The sustain and drive you get is unreal. Supposedly this is what Zakk Wylde does with an MXR overdrive.

Sturdy construction.

N/A

I play hard rock and blues. This pedal adds the extra flavor and punch I need. If you have good gear and good tone already, this pedal will work awesome for you. If your tone is hurtin' then this pedal won't save it. A gem and a bargain all in one!

Super easy to use. 3 knobs: Volume, Gain, Tone.

I am completely blown away by this pedal! I needed a low gain boost pedal for solos, and this thing nails it. I use a RAT for my main distortion sound, and am using the BD-2 to kick-in for the solos. Plenty of volume on tap and the tone knob really works wonders. I've tried it with both single coils and humbuckers and works equally well (just need to adjust the tone knob a little). I've owned - and gotten rid of - the Boss DS-1 and SD-1 pedals, and was never all that impressed with the sound quality of those two. But, for my purposes, the BD-2 is perfect. I keep the gain between 9:00-11:00, and adjust the volume as needed to give me the required boost. Keeping the pedal at these settings adds no significant noise to the signal. If you crank the gain past noon, then there will be some noise that will start to be added in - but I find the overdrive sound to be a little fizzy past 1:00, so I never push it past noon. For a boost pedal, I don't really want a lot of additional gain, just volume and tone shaping. Even with little or no gain, this pedal adds some special kind of roundness to the tone that is sweet. By the way, I am commenting on the stock pedal, with no mods.

I currently own a Boss DD-2 and CE-5, and have had zero problems with them over the years.

I haven't had the need to contact them. Their website seems to contain helpful information and contact info.

I give the sound quality a 9 - since you could probably find something better for three times the cost. But, for an overall rating (and for my purpose) it is definitely a 10. It is perhaps slightly overpriced, but it is the best of the Boss overdrive series and I would buy it again. I've been playing rock, blues, jazz for 23 years - and use a wide variety of guitars and amps (solid state and tube).

Very easy to use - just gain, level, and tone.

The sound is awesome. I use it with my '98 American Strat with Gold Lace sensors thru a mid-70's Twin with a Blackface mod and a half power switch. It's a nice, fat, slight overdrive. Sounds really nice with the bridge pickup. I can get a nice Hendrix tone and nice early 70's Clapton tones in position 2. I haven't tried it much at full gain though. It can be a real icepick-in-the-ear if you're not careful with the tone control.

Just got it so I don't know if it's reliable BUT I've always known Boss products to be VERY reliable. It's very sturdy.

I've never had to deal with them. They're probably not much different from the other small to medium sized multi-national comglomerate subsidiary manufacturers.

I play blues, classic rock, jazz... everything really. I've been playing for about 25 years and I'm a professional musician in the NYC area. I also teach.

If your looking for bone-crushing, in-your-face, super-saturated, head-slamming, megastortion - look somewhere else. If you want your guitar to sound "dirty", this pedal will do the trick, and it'll do it well.

Easy to use as most Boss pedals are.

I tried this out from a friend and my DS-1 is better in my opinion.
Don't get me wrong.....this is a great pedal......
but the cost is too much for the sound it puts out.
Please keep in mind that sounds vary with solid state & tube amps.

Very reliable.....it's a Boss.

I've never dealt with Boss....I guess that's good thing.
My buddy bought this on-line (not modified).

My comment is just my opinion of this BD-2 pedal.
Like I said, I borrowed it from my buddy to try out.
I personally wouldn't waste my money on it. Very overpriced.
But everyone has that special sound they want to find.
This is not a pedal for the crunching Metalhead.
I'm into blues & classic rock and this pedal is average for that.
Please read my comments on my awesome Boss DS-1 pedal?

pretty simple, 3 knobs, you know. one complaint i have with it is that the tone and level knobs have been switched places compared to my ds-1 so i sometimes make some mistakes in dialing in sound. kind of annoying, I'm a whiner eh? I think Boss might as well standardize what knobs go where on its 3 knob pedals though. The manual gives some suggested settings, but the guys at the shop are usually more than willing to tell me their favorites, and what it can do.

after trying a variety of overdrive pedals including about all the boss ones, tube screamer and some boutique ones I decided this was one in my price range and good enough for me. I needed a mellow overdrive, something that could give me the same sort of effect as a tube amp just starting to break up. The BD-2 got close enough. I use it mainly to add a bit of character to the clean channel. It's being used with a modeling amp and it adds some warmth to the tone. It never ceases to amaze me how versitile this little guy is, probably the most underrated overdrive pedal. It goes from zero to a very nice fuzzy drive that remindss me off Sabbath. Unlike the DS-1 (one of the most over-rated boss pedals) the drive knob on the BD-2 gradually changes the distortion, no jumps here. It's a very sweet little pedal and I'm in love. Its a really warm light overdrive that can be cranked when needed. Really look into this guy if you're sick of the razor like "overdrives" out there. One problem I have with it is getting a not too bright tone, but not muddy either. There's a sweet spot that takes a while to find.

One thing can be said for Boss, can't break em. I've beaten up the DS-1 gigging and its still ticking. Be careful with the AC input though if you use one, they're fairly fragile I've lost one to this already. I hate batteries, big money wasters. GET A DAISY CHAIN FOOO

Look into this pedal. It's very versitile and.. just check it out, It makes me cry with joy. Could cost a lot less though. Stupid corperations, probably cost 20 bucks to make.