Boss BD-2 Blues Driver

easy to get a great sound. probably the best overdrive pedal i've used. so good i bought 2. they're comparable to the ibanez ts9's, but with a little more mid-range and gain. i used a fender american std. strat through a fender deville410. i use one pedal for a clean boost and the other for overdrive along with the amps overdrive...sometimes together. it's also great for my marshall stack when i need a little extra mid-range at lower volumes.

Rather easy to get a good sound out of it.I put the gain all the way up, put the level at what ever volume i want at the time and adjust the tone to were its just perfect, it varies from guitar to gutiar. I dont really use the manual but its got some example settings that ive never used.

I use a cali strat as my main strat. my american strat and standard strat as backups. my amp is a fender roc pro 1000 combo. The pedal is amazingly quiet. You can acheive a very warm tubish OVERDRIVE, not distortion. I bought it cuz when i get the marshall i want, it will only have one od channel so i wanna set my amp od and use this as a booster. Just as others said, its rather similar to fender od. altho its not the best thing ive ever heard, its teh best overdrive pedal ive ever hear.

one word, boss

iunno

i play a lot of rock, alternative rock to be more precise. Some of my songs call for heavy distortion and some otehrs call for od, as for the od part, this bd2 has got that covered quite well. If it were stolen or lost, id get another one, not right away cuz im saving for other stuff but eventially i would. I like how its nice smooth and warm, it is the closest thing to a tube od compared to any other pedal. ive tried every boss od and boss distortion, this takes the cake for me, its better than the od3, od2, sd2, metal zone, ds1, blah blah blah

Dead nuts simple, 3 knobs - Volume, tone, overdrive

I use a 2000 Fender American Std Strat with DeltaTone PUs into a Peavey Classic 50, thats pretty much it. The Peavey 50 has a lead channel thats a bit 'underdevloped' out of the factory. Good tubes help, as does a good OD pedal. I tried a whole bunch side by side and settled upon the BD-2. I took it home and played with it for a while trying to overdrive it on the clean channel, and though it was OK. Then I hit upon what others have hinted at here. The best way to use the BD-2 is to set up the amp on lead, but with very mild distortion settings, and set up the BD-2 more as a signal booser (volume on 12 o'clock, tone on 10 o'clock, and overdrive at 12 oclock). Bingo! Thats when the amp really sings. Nice growling sounds that respond to pick attacks, nice even tone range, nice sustain. I'm in love. Point being, if the amp is just starting to distort, using it at these 'preamp' type settings will help wake up the 12ax7s preamp tubes to great effect. Conversely, if you use it purely as a distortion box on on a clean channel (i.e. overdirve setting at 3-4 oclock), it still works good, but to the same extent. Think of it as a poor mans Ibanez TS-808 which is often used in a similair fashion (which I had back in the 1980s and got rid of for a song <idiot).

Had it for several months, but its a Boss, so it might outlive me.

Dunno, never called

I play blues, traditional rock, and the like, and have off and on for 20+ years. I like the pronounced Strat sounds, ala SRV, Jay Hooks, etc. This helps me to that end somewhat. I've also used it with a Marshall JCM and an old Fender Bandmaster to similiar effect.

The BOSS Blues Driver is an Integrated Circuit, transistor, tube overdrive *emulator* pedal. You will not get a true tube sound from it, but it does a good approximation. Contols are Level (volume when effect is on) which seems to sound best at 12 o'clock, Tone - which really only decreases the upper-mid frequencies (read: will not boost bass response) and Gain, which has a good range from just slight break up - which is good for a straight volume boost, to semi-clean, to saturation when on full. Pedal has 2 setting, on and off - not too hard to use.
Manual is complete, with suggested settings. Pedal comes with a battery.

I ran this pedal through a number of tests. First was with a hot humbucking equipped guitar through a Fender Twin (all tube) amp. The Blues Driver can approximate the Twin's overdrive sound to about 90 per cent accuracy. This pedal was obviously designed as a "Fender sounding" overdrive.(Keep that in mind if you're after the Marshall sound - you won't get it with this pedal) With the Level at 12 o'clock, and Gain set between 9 o'clock and 11 o'clock, I achieved a semi-overdriven, Aerosmith-type sound. Turning the Gain fully up produces a saturated, long sustain sound, closer to a metal-type sound. Next was using the same set-up, but using the pedal as a volume boost only. With the Gain set almost off (7 o'clock) and using the Level between 1 and 3 o'clock, I could get a volume boost to the amp. Next I used the pedal as a "lead boost", with the Gain set about 8 o'clock and Level at 12 o'clock, I could increase both the volume and overdrive in the amp - good for solo work.
I ran those same tests through a Marshall Valvestate amp, with generally the same results. I also ran it through a fully transistor amp that didn't have a master volume (i.e. no distortion in the amp) and the pedal worked well as this amps overdrive section. It actually improved the quality of sound coming out of this amp.This pedal does react differently to different amps - giving a different sounding overall tone. My advice is to test this pedal out at the music store with an amp similar to the one you'll be playing through.
The tone control on the pedal will boost/cut the highs (no change with it set at 12 o'clock) giving you a bit of control for the overall tone.
This pedal goes have some noise, but for an overdrive, that's standard, especially when you're boosting the original signal a fair amount. Switching between on/off is noiseless.
As with most overdrive pedals, there is a type of buzzy, raspy tone sitting on top of the overdrive sound - barely there, but still audible - but overall a good sounding pedal.

BOSS pedals are built well, and built tough. I've been using them for over 20 years with no problems. Comparing the case and switch to a 20 year old OD-1 shows the same level of construction and durability.

The Roland.ca site has a customer support email service, which I've always found their replies are fast and accurate.

Overall, this pedal is the closest I've heard to true tube overdrive (without using an actual pre-amp tube). It has the open, airy sound of tubes and a full frequency range. It doesn't change the tone of your guitar when on, so there's no bass drop, or thinning out of the sound. It has a more Fender sound than Marshall, (so if you're looking for the Marshall sound, try the Guvnor Plus). The gain ranges from light break up, to clean power chording, to sustain lead, to full saturation. I compared it to an original OD-1, and my first thought was that the OD-1 had sucked out half the tone and made it thin and muddy. In comparison, the BD-2 opens up your sound. The pedal is good for styles of blues, classic rock etc. Not designed or suited for grunge, metal etc. For that, try the BOSS Metal Zone. The gain is very responsive to both picking attack, and the volume of your guitar (and consequently, pickup output). If you roll back on your guitar volume, it clean up nicely. The pedal also reacts differently to different guitars and amps, so again, when you try this out, either bring your guitar and amp to the store, or use similar equipment there. Too many times I've read reviews where the person isn't happy once they get it home - my advice, know what you're looking for and try it with your own set-up.
This pedal is good for tube sounding overdrive on its own, as a volume boost to your amp, or as a volume plus increased overdrive kick to your amp. The pedal seems to react very well to tube amps, and would work well for an amp without a master volume control. My downside to this pedal is that transistor like top end buzz that's just under the surface, and the relatively high price for a single effect (although you get what you pay for, and if you want quality..well..)
Highly recommended.

Nothing to add to what's been said. My settings tend to have gain at least 3/4 up.

Playing an Fender American Strat through a Fender Champion 30. Until I get a good tube amp, this little petal is the best contribution to my tone.
I'm very happy with the tone. I'm not into blues per se, but the hard classic rock I play has its roots in blues. I demo'd a lot of pedals, and this one sounded best to me for the tubey overdrive and the distortion sound I wanted.

No doubts about it, but I've only had it a short time. Like the other Boss pedal I own, it's built very solidly.

This pedal does its job! It sounds great. I have a Fender Strat and wanted something that would give me a sound closer to the Who, Zepplin, etc. I'm very happy with it.

It ain't too hard to use, just three knobs, traditional boss. but have you noticed how on some boss pedals the knobs are switched? like on my friends ds-1, my tone is where his volume is, very odd.

but yeah, no problems here, you can dial in what you want pretty quick.

i got a simple setup: bassman 70watt, 4x12 cab and my 74 tele custom. i got a great clean sound so i'm always looking for that perfect distortion. i really wanted a pedal that had sustain, crunch and power.

the bluesdriver can give you that little bit of crunch and bluesy flare, but i found that at loud volumes it just sounds weak and fabricated. i have tried all settings but i usually crank the gain and put the volume at about half and tone at half. this can give you some crunch but the sustain is lacking.

i guess i was really looking for something more like an overdrive and this is weak in that area. at the time i bought it i thought it was the best sounding distortion i played, but i still prefer it to all the other boss distortion/overdrives (mt-2, sd-1, ds-1 etc.)

the pedal is just not dynamic enough for me. at loud volumes it sounds really solid state. and i want tube sounding distortion. so maybe for some players this is the right distortion. i like something mean and raw with loads of gain/sustain. i hate mentioning bands, but kind of that weezer crunch is what i like (which is the sound of marshall, hard to acheive for fender :(

don't get me wrong, with the right settings i can get a distortion that i can work with, but its just not what i really desire and i'm not going to settle, since distortion is a large part of my sound. i want something that is so raw/distorted/gained out that you can't tell what a crappy guitar player i am. that is what i need.

i think i'm going to purchase a pro co rat turbo, or vintage rat. anybody wanna sell me one??

its been reliable but i haven't used it that much. dropped it a few times, still ticks.

n/a

i'm no fucking pro, but i've tried a lot of overdrives/distortions in my day. this pedal is not bad and i might even recommend it to some people but its just not enough power/gain for me. try it before you buy it is a good rule. still on the hunt for that elusive perfect distortion (but i think that it really comes from a marshall head). i guess what i want is a fender clean with a marshall head distortion. maybe i'll just buy a marshall head and a/b switch the two! oh, i forgot i don't have 800 dollars to spend on a new head.
so i guess i'm stuck with this bluesdriver, which hopefully i'll sell in a few days so i can see about the old pro co rats.

I like the sound that the BD-2 produces, especially when tone and gain settings are above 5. The manual is just fine, but ultimately your ear will still be the judge of whether it sounds right.

I'm not an effects collector so I am by no means an authority to compare this with anything else, but it looks like it will last longer than the Ibanez TS-7, so I went for it.

I have a very cheap and simple setup, using the BD-2 with an Ibanez GAX70 and a Crate GX15 (didn't even get the one with the reverb!). If you turn Gain and Tone to high levels it sounds like AC/DC rhythm playing, which I like. I don't want metal sounds, or even (forgive me for using the term) "grungy" ones, just loud guitar in the AC/DC, Johnny Winter, George Thorogood, Billy Gibbons mold.

Don't gig, just a closet guitar player, but judging from the way it's built, and from some research work, it should last for some time.

Never had to call them

I've been playing on and off (more of off!) for the last 8 years or so. I'm not anal about sound, and am on a tight budget, so I would probably have to seek counseling due to the depression which would be caused by its loss (but then in the end the counseling would probably cost more!).

Easy to work with, three knobs, but they don't have incredible tone-shaping power.

I used one of these last night when I was recording a track with a bandmate. My usual setup is an Ovation acoustic thru a Matchless DC30, but I only had my guitar and not my amp, and wanted to have a bit of bluesy drive on the recording. So hooked up his BD-2 pedal. I didn't use it to record after all. There was a TON of distortion available, but it sounded like a regular semi-metal-sounding Boss OD pedal, and not a great one either. From the caption in guitar magazines, I was thinking of tones like Buddy Guy and B.B. King vintage Fender overdrive tones. They were not there. It sounded, as I said, like a a heavy-metal OD at best pedal, not a warm blues tone with the dynamics of a tube-amp.

This was NOT a bluesy pedal at all. It would work great as a grunge pedal, but it also sucked every ounce of acoustic tone out of my acoustic, and made it sound like a Les Paul. That's not natural, or desirable. A pedal should enhance a guitar's tone instead of killing it.

A box is a Box, but the BD-2 gets a 10 because there a no bad sounds from it.

I play a Heritage 535 and Carvin Strat (lefties, if that matters) through a Fender HRD and Peavey Classic 30. I have an array of pedals on an SKB Pedalboard. The BD-2 is relatively quiet and transparent. The only noise comes from a hiss when the gain is cranked.

I owned a BD-2 years ago when I had a solid state amp. I then sold the pedal when I bought my first tube amp because I thought I wouldn't need it anymore (Yeah, Right!). A short time later, I went to a shop and demoed MANY stompboxes side-by-side with the BD-2, including some boutique pedals. I walked out of the store with the BD-2 because it had a nice warm growl that none of the others could touch. Most of the others were grainy and colored the tone too much. I've since owned a Marshall BB-2, Fulltone Fulldrive-2 (just sold it), and I've played numerous other pedals including the Ibanez TS9 and TS9-DX. The DX comes closest to the warm growl of the BD-2 but it's not worth the considerably higher price. Most stomboxes sound fuzzy and grainy. However, the BD-2 has a gutsy growl to it. Growl is good. Fuzz is, well, fuzzy.

Never had a problem.

Never had to deal with Boss.

I play any style the situation calls for (some not as good as others) and have been playing for 22 years. The BD-2 is not a shred pedal, but will do anything else. It has an EXCELLENT response to picking style and responds well to volume changes on the guitar. Put your Strat on the neck pickup and it can do Stevie in a heartbeat. It also does an nice Country Rock vibe when the gain is about 10:00 and playing up high on the neck (aka, Allman Bros, Marshall Tucker). Crank to gain to 2:00 and you have a great Classic Rock overdrive.

I've already owned 2 BD-2's, so yes I would replace it. It will be in my setup from here on. The only feature I wish it had would be separate treble and bass controls. I would sometimes like to shave the highs without sacrificing bass.

pretty easy to figure out. three knobs. pretty simple

great sound quality. i play a strat and a peavey amp. it sounds awsome. nice warm tube sound

really reliable

never tried

great overall. i play mostly punk, and to my suprise it sounds great for that. i play alot of NOFX, Pennywise, Lagwagon, Ten Foot Pole, and stuff like that. i play in a band, and compared to the metal zone, this is absolutly great

About as easy it gets to use a pedal. Three knobs all self explanatory
Level,Tone, and Gain. No rocket science here.....

There are a couple of ways that I am using this pedal, and I haven't decided which one I like best. I'm using this with a Marshall two channel, 50 watt combo with El34's.
Lately I have been cranking the Master volume to full and using the channel volume for the overall volume.Then I use the Blues Driver for some added gain on top of that. It makles for a great AC/DC, Thin Lizzy type sound where it is really just accentuating the natural sound of the amp. I just leave it on on the whole time.
I think this pedal works best if you get the most overdrive you can out of your amp and then use the blues driver for just a little extra gain on top. In my opinion this pedal does not work great if you are going to count on it for all your distortion sound. But I think that is not it's intention. Also the more volume the better.

Built like a brick s*#t-house.

No idea. The manual was cool though with various suggestions for different sounds, such as British, American Blues...

Overall it's great! I think it works best as a clean boost or for adding just a little bit of overdrive on top. Also, I've found the more volume your playing with , the better.
Right now I'm using this with a Marshall combo, but I am hoping to move into halfstack territory either with a Marshall Superbass or Super Lead, and then I think I am going to look into the Klon Centaur. I have heard just too many good things about this pedal.
But for now the Blues Driver is great.

OK, an effect pedal can only be so hard to use -- turn a few knobs, plug in a few cords, stomp on switch, etc. That having been said, this pedal has a *mean* fucking distortion that will rip your head off if you turn it up too high. Ditto on the attack circuit -- turn that thing up more than 1/4 rotation and you're in for some serious sprongle on your sound. But we are men of science. We deal with things like this, because within the restricted ranges described above this thing sounds amazing!

As far as I can tell, this pedal came out in June of 1977 -- a magical time when the Japanese were still allowed to write technical manuals. If you're able to obtain a copy of the DB-5 manual I highly suggest it. It's hillarious. Upon reading it you'll expect a haiku to bust out at any minute chastising us for not replacing "all of 6 batteries" at once. This would bring shame to our families.

Another thing taking a little bit away form the score here is this pedal's complete absence of an indicator light! I mean, it's pretty obvious when it's on and when it isn't, but if you've got this thing buried in a chain of effects and find yourself dancing to shut several off at once you'll appreciate the problem. If you get one of these you'll either want to replace the switch or mod it with an LED or two.

OK, I play a Fender Jaguar and Yamaha Pacifica electric 12-string that go through a shitload of effects but eventually comes out of a Roland JC-120. As you might expect, my signal has a lot of noise. How much of that is attributable to the DB-5 is anybody's guess.

I've currently got this pedal towards the end of my chain (it comes after an Electro Harmonix Graphic Fuzz and a Tube Works Real Tube Overdrive Pedal, among other things) so my signal has already got plenty of crunch and fuzz on it by the time it arrives at the DB-5. I use the Boss Driver to kick things up just a bit more. In actuality, I don't use the distortion channel on the DB-5 at all, but the EQ+Attack circuit is incredible. It adds a ton of clarity and bite to the signal. It sounds exactly the way I want it to sound. You know those wall-of-sound songs by My Bloody Valentine or Bowery Electric or Swervedriver or something where you're listening and thinking to yourself that there's no way anything else could possible fit into the wash of guitars? And then you know how about 3 seconds later another guitar comes in that somehow seems to cut through everything else? That's the kind of thins this pedal can do for you.

This thing looks like a tank -- it's olive drab, has a density on par with the broken heart of a neutron star, and runs on either 6 AA batteries (yep, 6 AA batteries!) or an AC adapter. I would not only use this in a gig without backup, I would also use it to bash in the skulls of a horde of undead Nazis AND THEN use it on a gig without backup. This thing is so insanely massive that I would occasionally find my other pedals in orbit around it before I velcro'ed them all to a slab of plywood. This thing influences the tides.

Some guy at a local vintage gear shop put an indicator light in it for me. I've never dealt with Roland / Boss. I'm sure they're nice people.

I play emo / spacerock sort of stuff (www.thejealoustype.com if you're really interested.) I've been playing for about 10 years now and I besides the gear mentioned above I own a LOT of other pedals. If I lost this pedal I would definately try to find another one, but since I'm pretty sure I'm the first person reviewing this 20+ year old pedal I don't think there are many more around.

I love the way this pedal sounds. I love the way this pedal LOOKS. I hate the absence of an indicator light, but that's easily remidied. I didn't really do any comparing before I bought this thing because I'm a sucker for a sexy old pedal and I probably would have bought it even if it sounded like ass. Which, luckily, it decidedly does not.

3 knobs Easy

This makes for a very good "clean" boost to get distortion out of a
channel that's almost ready to distort.
The distortion on its own is very nise and tube like but there seems
to be a bass "cut" It's as if Boss is saying you can't get much bass
out of a small vintage tube amp so you're not gonna get it here either!
That may sound crazy but why the hell would they cut the bass? I have
used this to warm up a clean sound and then hit a DS-1
(which must come first) for a more serious crunch.

Boss is Boss

Yeah, sure, hey Mr. Japanese man why don't you make a pedal that....................Like they care.

Nice for clean boost. Nice overdrive but lacks bass.
I'm using a 145 watt clean tube head into four twelves.

easy to operate. the manual sucked though

great sound. nice warm tone, and good distortion. sounds good with an american strat and peavey amp.

i would depend on it 100%

i play punk and other stuff. hardcore. i love it. i would definietly buy anouther pedal. i love the tone.

With the BD-2 you can dial in a wide variety of tones from edgy crunch to a slight overdrive. The control is quite easy with 3 controls: one for level, one for tone, and one for gain. I didn't get a manual for this effect cuz I got it used off of ebay. But it takes no genius to figure out how to use this thing.

I am running this along with a vintage Thomas Organ Wah Pedal and a Danelectro Cool Cat Chorus all through my Epi Les Paul. I have a two year old Crate GX-65 that I play through and when you pop on the Blues Driver you almost can't tell that the Crate is a solid state. The BD-2 gives your tone that bluesy tube tone you can usually only get out of a valvestate. When I dial a certain configuration in, the BD-2 nearly rivals the sweetness of an old TS-9 giving my guitar a Santana tone. When I lower the gain way down, i get a good blues tone as would be expected from the name of the pedal. I have a LP so I can't get a Stevie Ray tone. But once I played through my friends Strat and it sounded damn near close.

Never had a problem with the BD-2 and I got it used. I don't think I'd ever need a back-up.

Never had to deal with them

I play mainly bluesy-hard rock and this pedal is money. If you got the money to get a TS-9 or an overpriced TS-808 for your overdrive go right the hell ahead. I'll stick to my BD-2. I've only been playing now for a little over a year and a half but this pedal has been the most important one I have for my tone. My amp can't give me a sound as sweet as my Blues Driver. If it were stolen, I'd hop right back on ebay and buy me another one.

3 knobs... U don't even need to train the monkey to use it!
Manual dosen't say much, but does it need to???

1962 Key Silvertone (2 humbuckers) -> Crybaby -> BD-2 -> Peavy Blaser

the only noise is from the CB. I can dial in a good blues sound and get a nice hard rock too. If I want metal, all I have to do is to use the lead channel on the amp WITH the pedal, without the pedal, it sounded like Zoom distortion (CRAPPY)

METAL!!!

no idea, but I got a 5 year warrenty... that should be a good sign

Nice thing... If it were stolen, I'd beat the guy with the stomp box... it's metal and it's got a warrenty... : )

Nice pedal! Twealing it brings out some great tones.Who needs a manual? Only three knobs!

Playing a Gibson SG at the moment but my Strat is on the way! Sounds great through my Carvin BeLair 2x12! Noisy when gain turned all the way up but I don't do that anyway! Play mostly classic rock and blues and it gets some really nice tones! Can hardly wait for the Strat!

Built like a rock!

?

Blues and rock and roll and it works great! Been playing for 30 years or so and if it were stolen or lost I would go find another. I also have a Digitech rp-7 and the rp can't get the blues sounds that the BD can. Simply put, I love it.

Very easy to use. 3 Knobs: Level,Tone & Gain. Any guitar player can figure out how to use these knobs.

My setup: 1981 Sunburst Gibson Les Paul Standard( Main Axe )thru a Boss CS-3 Compression Sustainer>>Vox V847 Wah-Wah reissue w/ true bypass Switch Mods>>Boss OD-3 Overdrive or Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive>>Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer(AnalogMan Mods/808)>>Boss MT-2 Metal Zone>>Boss BD-2 Blues Driver>>EH Big Muff Pi USA reissue w/True Bypass Switching Mods(Fulltone 3PDT)>>Boss GE-7 Equalizer>>MXR Phase 90 reissue>>Morley Sapphire Flanger>>Boss DD-5 Digital Delay>>Vintage EH Small Clone 4600 Chorus>>Boss CH-1 Super Chorus>>Morley ABY Switch Box>>Amp A: Vox AC30 Top Boost reissue.Amp B: Marshall JCM2000 DSL100 Half Stack. I also use a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier Solo Head Half Stack. I got great amps but i don't know why i have all these pedals! I'm just a GearHead!! I LOVE PEDALS!!!!
It's fairly quiet even on high Gain settings and the overall sound of this pedal is Great, At least on my Setup. I also play a Fender American Standard Strat and the Blues Driver really shines on this guitar. SRV,Hendrix,RHCP(John Fruciante),Clapton Etc. Nailed!!! Very nice pedal. It's very much like Amp Distortion,it cleans up when you back off your guitar's volume a little and responds to your picking technique. I just love it.

Boss Pedals? Oh yeah, i would surely gig with it without backup. I've been using Boss Pedals all through out my Guitar playing career(15 Yrs). Non of 'em failed me.

Never dealt with Roland before. Never needed it.

I Play Metal,Hard Rock,Blues and Jazz.This pedal works great specially with Hard Rock and Blues. I've been playing for 15 YRS. now and have been Pro for 8 YRS. My band plays Originals as well as Covers from Cream to Rage Against The Machine. My other guitars are '72 Gibson Flying V,'98 Ibanez RG320DX Custom, 1960 Gibson Gold Top Les Paul reissue and a Martin D-18 acoustic Guitar. If it were stolen, i would definitely buy it again. I just love this pedal. It's awesome, totally kicked ass! It's true! just like that one other guy that reviewed the BD-2 saying: It's a TWEED amp in a box!! I agree man! Boss/Roland makes excellent products. One of the best! Considering they are commercial products in mass production as oppose to Hand built/Hand Wired Pedals. They are very consistent.Boss has been in the pedal business for more then 20 Yrs. They started the whole chorus thing in '76 (CE-1)and i've been a Boss fan since '80. I have quiet a collection of Old Vintage Boss Pedals. Just for collection. I don't bring them to gigs anymore. Too precious. Here's a few in my collection: Boss/Roland CE-1, 3 Boss OD-1 Overdrive, Boss SG-1 Slow Gear,Boss PH-1 Phaser,Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive, Boss DS-1 Distortion,Boss DM-1 Delay. Overall, The BD-2 Blues Driver is a great value fot the price range. You actually get more than what you paid for. I would recommend it to guitar players that are into Hard Rock and Blues. It works well with Humbuckers and Single Coil Pickups.

This thing is as easy as it gets, just gain level and tone. That will do..

This pedal sounds great. Try it with a strat and a Roland JC-120, you'll be surprised! When put before a slightly overdriven amp, it really nails the SRV sound!! It doesn't sound that good on any amp however. I use with a Marshall BluesbrakerII in front of it (solo boost) and a Roger Mayer Voodoo-1 after it (even more boost/gain) Turn up the amp and we're ready to rock!!

I haven't had any trouble with any Boss pedal.

N/A

I play blues, soul and funk and this one works for me. I use it in my floor board together with other effects (wah/phaser/tremolo). It really does what it's supposed to do: add a gain/drive boost.

This pedal is very easy to get great tones. When I first bought it, I was disappointed because it sounded exactly like the distortion in my amp. After some playing with it though, I could get a huge array of great tones from it.

I'm using a Fender 60's Strat and American Tele into a Morley Bad Horsie into a Boss PH-2 Phaser into a boss MT-2 Metal Zone into a Boss BD-2 into a Fender Stage 100 amp. It is noisy as any overdrive can be, but it doesn't get in the way of your sound. This pedal is extremely midrangey which I love. I can get anything from SRV to Buddy Guy to Pearl Jam. In my opinion this is better than a TS-9 tubescreamer. The only real complaint i have is that it can get very muddy with humbuckers, or 2 pickups used in unision, which is why it gets an 8.

This thing seems to be solid. I would definitely gig without a backup.

I play anything from metal to rock to blues and anything in between. For the heavier stuff, it doesnt work (which is why i got the Metal Zone) but for stuff like the who, pearl jam, some gnr, pink floyd, and all the blues guys, it blows the roof off of any other pedal I have heard. If it were stolen or lost I would definitely buy another. I compared this to the other Boss Overdrives and the Ibanez Tubescreamer. I wish that it didnt sound muddy with multiple pickups and humbuckers but that is the only thing I dislike. Overall, a great pedal.

Three knobs...

I much prefer my TS-808...

You get a great tone out of the box without adjusting the settings. Even with the settings at 12 o'clock, this thing enhances your sound. Neat little manual to offer tips on achieving Crunch, British Blues, and others.

I play a 1999 Fender American Standard Telecaster through the Boss BD-2 into Fender Blues, Jr. amp. I've had this pedal for one year, and it was a great investment. The Blues, Jr. produces great tones in its own right, but the Blues Driver took everything to the next level. Amazing overdrive tones; I can get a nice classic rock crunch with the gain, level and tone knobs at 3 o'clock using my bridge pickup, or an incredibly warm British blues tone with less gain and more lead with the neck pickup. I love its versatility; the Blues Driver allows me to keep things simple while getting many different tones with minimal tweaking. You can also use this thing solely as a lead boost. You cannot achieve the high gain, scooped-mid sound of an overdriven Marshall stack; given the pedal's name, that shouldn't be a surprise. Nevertheless, the crunch of the overdrive will not disappoint most users. It sounds very authentic. I bet it would radically change (for the better) the sound of a decent solid state amp. I am saving my "10" rating for that mystical perfect pedal that (as you know) does not exist.

It is built well. Quality components. I would recommend the PSA-120 a/c adaptor for peace of mind.

N/A

This pedal is perfect for me. I enjoy playing traditional blues, blues-driven rock, and some 80s college rock stuff. Clapton, Hopkins, Stones, Who, Ronson-era Bowie, Replacements, Clash, etc. I've been playing for several years, and I also own a Fender A/E and a Peavey 112 E-coustic amp. Since buying the Blues Driver, I rarely pick up the acoustic any more. I compared it to the Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer, but this one fit my style better and seemed more versatile to me. If you're looking for a great overdrive, tube amp sound (but not hair band metal or seven-string rap-rock distortion), then you must check out the Blues Driver.

This pedal is very easy to get the sound that one might want as it can change from jazzy to bluesy by simply adjusting the three knobs.
Manual was of little use as one can find the sound they want by just turning the knobs until the "right" sound is found with any guitar.

I use the blues driver with a Fender classic Twin, also with an Ultimate Chorus by Fender. It really shines on a little Crate GFX65 that doesn't have much volume to stand out of the crowd. With the BD-2 turned on it sounds much like a tube amp with alot of volume. You run it into a four cab and you can make some music.

It's a Boss and seems indestuctable. I have used pedals by other companies such as the new little pedals that Danelecto have made and the knobs are easy to break on a stage with much moving around. I would use this pedal anywhere at any time as long as I had the a/c adaptor hooked up.

Never dealt with the company as the pedal has not given me any problems.

Usually play blues,country, or Christian country. Have been playing for over 35 years. I use a Fender telecaster, a Gretsch 6120, an accoustic electic, and a custom made arch-top. This little pedal does much more than many other more expensive pedals that I have tried. I would not even consider comparing any Zoom produsts to it. The only thing better is rack mounted effects. I still like the BD-2, just because I like the estra volume and fullness that I can get through it. I can get more bass or more treble just by adjusting the knobs. It will really scream, much more than the tube-screamer.

3 knobs, you tell me....

Alone it is O.K. in my opinion if you try to use it for a big heavy overdrive, put an SD-1 Super Overdrive in front of it and get ready to get your head blown off. I use mine in this configuration going into a Peavey Classic 100 head on a 4x12 cab, on the clean channel with the clean pre-amp at about 10. It is still very clean even at that setting. I use the SD-1 for my rhytmn sound kind of a vintage crunch, I step on the BD-2 to get a HUGE Lead Boost. I think both pedals are fine on their own but together they crank....

never had any problems, I gig without a backup...

never had problems, don't know........

AS I said before us it with the SD-1, and it will blow the doors down.
I set the SD-1 as follows: Level 1-2 o'clock, Tone 10-11 o'clock, Drive 3 o'clock. BD-2 as follows: Level 10-2 o'clock depending on the amount of boost wanted(volume wise, for lead boost) or amount of gain wanted(to get that Huge Heavy Overdrive) If using the BD-2 as a GAIN boost turn on the SD-1 and Then the BD-2 and set it's level so that it is the same volume as when the SD-1 is on by itself. finally Tone set to about 9-10 o'clock so not to get too much hi-end.. They should sell these two pedals as a package... GET THEM... Read my review on the SD-1...

Pumpkin easy! Nice & simple! Just Level - Tone - Gain

Okay -- here's the deal. I have two very nice tube amps, a Marshall 100 watt head with EL34's and a 1974 40 watt Fender Vibrolux Reverb. I have good tube overdrive when I play certain gigs or for recording. But I play regularly in a church band and the line-out from my Vox Pathfinder (15 watt transistor amp that serves as my stage monitor) goes to the mixing board and onto the PA system's Crown amp and EV speakers. As I'm restricted to this set up, which doesn't allow me to use my loud tube amps, I've been searching for an overdrive box that would sound good for both my Les Paul and Strat (yes, I do play both)

Three years ago, I tried out the BD-2 in the music store beause it sounded the best out of the lot. During the past three years, I sold the BD-2 to buy a Fulltone, went on to a MXR Distortion+, Dan Electro Daddy O, etc..., etc...

Guess what? Three years and many overdrives later, I've come full circle and bought the BD-2 again! Just last night! I took my Les Paul and Vox Pathfinder with me to Guitar Center and tried out for an hour all of the overdrive pedals. It came down to the TS9 or BD-2.

Like I said, I needed something that would work with both a Les Paul and Strat. The TS9 is great for Strats, but with the LP, it couldn't give a good crunch to chunky rhythm chords - it sounded too soft and mushy and did not articulate individual notes from chords. But the BD-2 was able to provide good crunch AND lead tones from the LP -- it's got to be the most versatile overdrive on the current market!

Boss constuction is great, but regardless of what pedal I'm using, I never gig with a backup, if an effect fails, I just compensate with my playing as I only use effects to enhance -- not to cover or hide.

Never dealt.

The BD-2 can easily be tweaked to work with any guitar/amp combination AND it has the largest palate of overdrive sounds and ranges. It can give you overdrive, blues lead tone, clean boost, distortion, etc...

The tone and gain have a nice, even taper that's equally distributed throughout the travel of the knob. (Unlike the TS9 whose tone knob only effected brightness in the 75%-100% range)

I'm convinced that effect pedal manufacturers use Strats in their test lab when they're developing new pedals. How the effect sounds and reacts is based on the Strat as it is the world's most cloned electric guitar model. Unfortunately, for us LP players, it leaves us with slim pickin's. But the BD-2 is the best overdrive box that I've found to work with humbuckers. (For the record, this must be the only Boss overdrive box to use asymetrical clipping, because absolutely all of their other overdrives produce a poppy sounding type of fizz (sorry, hard to describe in words) when used with humbuckers. The BD-2 really stands out as something special in the Boss line.

No, it's not perfect, but it's the best I've found to work with both humbuckers and single coils and it is SOoooo flexable and adaptive and offers many different shades of overdrive. I've been playing on tube amps for more years than I care to mention, and, sorry, nothing sounds like an overdriven tube amp except for an overdriven tube amp. But for me, the BD-2 comes closest.

P.S.: I saw Phil Keaggy in concert last year, and he played only acoustic guitars this particular night. On some of the really rocking songs, he had this great overdrive that made his acoustic sound like and electric. After the show, they let some of us come up on stage at look at his equipment. Besides the Lexicon looping rack units, he had, on the floor, a Boss BD-2 and old Boss Chorus-1. So, all you acoustic players out there who want to rock out sometimes, the BD-2 will work for you as well! I told you it was flexible! God bless!

It was very easy to use. I just pluged it in and started jammin'.I am very picky when it comes to tone (especially distortion), no matter how I set it the sound was great.It did anything I wanted to do punk,alternitive,metal,rock(especially) blues.

I don't use any other effects.My setup is fender frontman 15g amp and a squier double fat strat.There was no noise when I put the effect on. It always sounded great.I can get the sounds of all my favorite Artists,Like Nirvana,Eric Clapton,Stevie Ray Vaughn,Black Sabbath,Jimi Hendrix , Red Hot Chili Peppers and Offspring

This pedal goes Throught all of stompin and bangin.
This pedal doesn't need a backup

never had to deal with them

I play a mix of what I like. Punk,grunge,heavy metal,hard rock Alternitve rock,blues and classic rock.It did the job.I've been playing for 3 years I own a Fender frontman 15g amp and a Squier double fat strat. This pedal is great I buy it again if got stolen or lost. It's sound and look. When I write music it helps the sound contributes and helps on works and doesn't

Three nobs. Tone control seems to do it. Very easy to use.

I'm playing a Fender Strat thru a Peavey 60 watt 1-12. It gave me the warm blues tones I was looking for. I used the amp clean for rythum duty and just hit the petal for blues lead. Very easy and very effective.

I worked 3 to 5 times a week for over a year and it never let me down.

As lead guitar for the Barracuda Blues Band out of St Croix for two years, I found the blues driver offered the sound I was looking for at an affordable price along with the reliability necessary for our work schedule.

This unit has three knobs. And a stomp switch, of course. The knobs control Level, Tone, and Gain. Getting a good sound of it is very easy.

I have a Fender Stratocaster going through BD-2 to Crybaby to my amp.
The pedal makes some noise, but very very little afterall. Less than my Crybaby... It makes a good distortion, very bluesy and warm. The tone knob is very useful, and it needs to be used in order to get a good sound. Responds very well to picking nyances and guitar volume settings. Of course, you can't get super heavy distortions, but this pedal is not for that. Good for mild, crunchy funk distortions too!

Well, people are stating that Boss makes superb quality pedals. I agree with that. The casing is made of very sturdy metal, and the switch is under a pedal, increasing reliability even further.
I haven't used it long enough to give a good statement about this.

I'm very happy with this pedal, not a bad buy. Creates the light, bluesy crunch i was looking for. Certainly better than my amp distortion. Also, it is truly compact. By the way, my unit's color is a bit lighter than on this sites picture.

Damn easy but you can get a good over drive or dist out of it.
Great tube amp clean tone.

I nail tube amp tone from this thing, IT'S A TWEED TUBE AMP IN A BOX.
But with my amp I cant get good overdrive it sounds muddy, my amp is crap shit.
With the gain on 1-2, and tone just mess around for a second and put volume on 4-5, and WALLA INSTANT TUBE TONE W/ OUT TUBE AMP.

......good stuff

Great tube tone, but I cant get good o/d with my amp, it's 15 watt korean amp, vantage.

This Boss BD-2 -- or Blues Driver -- is extremely easy to use... three knobs for volume, gain, and tone.

This pedal is Boss' answer to the ever-popular Ibanez TS-9 "Tube Screamer," which was made legendary by Stevie Ray Vaughn. Although these two pedals are similar in controls and voicing, the Blues Driver is better, IMO. So, my review in this area will be pretty much a comparison between the Tube Screamer and the Blues Driver. First off, the Blues Driver is more versatile gain-wise... not only can you get the classic SRV strat-fat clipping that's so loved by every white blues player on the planet, but you can get much thicker richer, ballsier gain as well. (Although, you will never get that Godsmack/Korn gain -- I suggest another Boss product, the Metal Zone, for that need...) What you can get is a a very warm, thick, rich gain that can sound very modern with some compression aka the Foo Fighters, Radiohead, Oasis, and some of the other modern alt. bands out there. This pedal is also well suited for indy/lo-fi rock aka Centromatic, Versus, or a band like Son Volt. On the other hand, the Tube Screamer does not produce a thick gain like the Blues Driver, not even the TS-9 reissue which has a "turbo" setting. It pretty much does one thing very well - give you classic rock/blues rock gain. The Blues Driver does this, too, and a whole lot more... so I would argue the Blues Driver is the better pedal... and cheaper, too. One other thing re: sound of these things: it really depends on your amp and guitar, although I've yet to find a combination where I did not get usable sound. I play mostly humbucker guitars (an LP Classic, a 70s SG, and a 335 copy...), but it seems to work nicely for Teles and Strats, too... especially if you're going for a SRV thang... But there are nuances that must be considered in different combinations and at different volumes. For instance, I noticed that I got a lot more gain when using it at low volumes on my Fender practice amp than with my 70s master-volume Marshall half stack dimed. (I particularly like it in this situation because it gives me a good amount of low end... some pedals rob you of low-end chunk, and I hate that...) On blackface Fenders, it sounds almost Hendrixy - very trebly and responsive to each note, but also noisy. It does work well with other pedals - I particularly like it paired with a Dunlop Crybaby wah - very trippy, good amount of controlable natural feedback, even at high volumes. (Some pedals just go completely microphonic at high volumes...)

Never had a problem with the two that I've owned. Just give it a new battery every so often. :-)

Never had to deal with them... If a problem arose, I'd either fix it myself or take it to a local tech... or buy a new one...

I play original, psych/indy rock in a band that gigs in small venues like rock clubs and bars. This is my only distortion stomp box in my current line-up, which also consists of a Les Paul Classic with Duncan 59s, going into a Cry Baby Wah and an Ibanez Digital Delay into a Mesa Boogie Maverick. The Mav is footswitchable, so I do have another overdrive option, but I intentionally make the amp's dirty channel very punchy compared to the smooth, mellowness of the Blues Driver -- that way, I have some distortion variety on stage.

I've owned two of these babies... my first one got stolen when I was playing a gig in college. So for a few years I used a ProCo Rat, a Metal Zone, a DOD Milkbox, and some other odd ball pedals - never really gettng what I had with the Blues Driver. Then I shelled out $150 for a puke green TS-9 reissue, only to take it back a week and two gigs later (just not enough balls on those things, IMO...)

In summary, I highly recommend - and I'm a picky bastard - this thing to anyone wanting a really versatile distortion pedal. But I'd stay away from it if you're into high gain metal - go get a Metal Zone.

Very easy to get good sound out of. Despite its name (Blues Driver) you can use it to simply gain more volume, get a crunch sound, medium distortion, and damn near that good ol SRV blues guitar sound. It's a very versatile little box. 3 knobs, can't get too much easier than that. --Its hard to get BAD sound by turning any of them.It has a control for Level, Tone, and Gain, and the manual comes with several settings to start you out. Play with it for awhile, and you can get some neat sounds.

I'm using this with a Yamaha Pacifica 412, and a Peavy Express 112 Amp. The BD-2 is a good way to get around that "hiss" sound when you turn your amp/guitar volume up too loud, and still retain volume.

I can depend on it, as long as its got a fresh battery.. takes awhile to run out. NOTE: Like most pedals, even though the red light might be off doesn't mean its not sucking some power. I've had some batteries go bad this way, just make sure its unplugged from both the in and out cables.

No problems.

I play rock, blues... even a little classical, its great all around. I'm not big on effects pedals, I usually like to keep them at a minimum. The only two I've ever needed have been the BD-2 and my Crybaby Wah, I can get virtually any sound out of these, with the turn of a few knobs. I love how it boosts the sound just enough so that you can play clean if you want to, but if you pick the string(s) a little harder, you can get a slight distortion sound.. its really great.

3 knobs, and a pedal. step on it. The only trouble i had was finding a nice bluesy sound.

I use this setup:
Epiphone SG->BOSS Octave->BOSS Blues Driver->DOD Chorous->DOD GS30 Multi-effects-> a 25 watt fender. Well, I don't think mine is very bluesy. In fact its a light OD when the gain is set low, a crunchy mordern OD when set at the middle, and a noisey, crunchy, raunch when dialed all the way. I'm not saying its bad, its very nice, but I really wanted an Incubus type of overdrive that i can run into an MXR i ordered for a massive gain assault.

Well im not gonna put a stupid BOSS cliche down, so just look at the score.

again, no cliche.

I'm gonna keep it so i can have a cruchy distortion, but its npot what i expected.

Just three knobs, LEvel, Tone, and Gain. You can't go wrong. The users manual is very helpful. It even has a few blank pages so you can record your favorite settings.

This is perhaps the best overdrive pedal I have used from BOSS. My current setup is a Standard Strat--->Boss BD2--->Boss CH1--->Peavey Bandit. The pedal delivers awewsome overdrive with no noise. The tones generated have a nice crunch, with plenty of sustain, controllable feedback, and a nice bottom end. Hats off to BOSS.

It's a BOSS pedal. Need I say more.

Never had to deal with any customer support.

I like to play classic rock (i.e. Skynrd, .38 Special, AC/DC, etc.) current pop/rock (i.e. Melissa Etheridge), and other rock (i.e. Pat Benetar, Joan Jett, etc.). This pedal delivers all the tones I need. I have played MXR and DOD, but I always come back to BOSS. While some consider BOSS a little pricey, I think the price/easy of use/sound ratios are the best in the business. Other reviews of other BOSS pedals slam them. My advise, don't buy it until you try it. And when trying it, use your guitar and amp setup at the store so you know what it will sound like. If you don't, you have no right to criticize. Remember, your sound is your sound and not someone elses. Don't copy, just create!!!

3 Bottons. Duh!

I always use my 60s Gibson Skylark on 10 and have this pedal's volume on 10 and gain all the way down or sometimes on about 2 or 3. The sound is incredible!!

It's Boss! Give me a break!!!

Never dealt with 'em!

It's is a great pedal for the blues or light rock. I love this pedal. I can dial in Albert Collins, Freddie King, SRV, whatever you want. If it were stolen I would find the guy who stole it and beat his brains in!!!!!!!

This pedal is very easy to use and isn't very complicated. It has three knobs: Tone, level, and Gain. The only thing thats anoys me about it is that the tone and level knobs are backwards from the DS-1. Thats the only thing wrong with it.

The sound on this peadal is supreme. It sounds much better than the TS-9 (Tube Screamer). It sounds like its got more gain and beef to it. I love it.

I've never had a problem with it. It's very reliable and very energy eficiant. I'm not saying don't have a back up but you'll like it.

Never had a problem.

If you like classic rock, blues, or any kind of music requiring a real beafy fat distortion with a crunch this is the pedal to use. It's got tone that'll knock you on your feet. Buy it and love it just don't use it with a Marshall.

VERY easy. Three knobs, then step on it.

Ok, this is gonna sound weird. I bought this to fatten up the tone of my Strat, played through a couple of nice tube amps. It was disappointing. I put it away, thinking it was money wasted. But I also dabble in bass, and one day I just got the urge to plug it into my 100 watt bass amp's effects loop. Let me tell ya, THERE'S where the tone was hiding! It's great for a nice volume boost, with just a touch of fuzz added. Now I'm a happy guy again.

Like all Boss gear that I've seen it's very tough.

No experience dealing with Roland directly.

For guitar - 5

For bass - 10

Three knobs and a foot switch....

I bought her to use as a boost going into my modified Reissue TS-9. What I was looking for has been answered; it adds a nice push to the Ibanez and even sounds good running before my Reissue Big Muff. It also sounds good by its self for rhythm chords and such.

So far so good....

n

Three knobs. Two Jacks. One pedal. It doesn't get any simpler. The manual is clear, gives some good settings.

I love it. I've got a standard strat, and a small peavey amp. It adds some noise, but nothing disruptive. Gives crunchy tones very easily, and if you set it right, you can get some smooth tones as well. Not very warm but it's good for a very wide range of musical styles, unless you're into really metally, obnoxiously-distorted sounds. a little muddy on low settings

Remarkably dependable. If you want to break it buy a jackhammer. I'd use it without backup IF i'd checked the batteries, or had an AC for it. (It goes through nine volt batteries like babies go through diapers!)

N/A

I'm into bluesy, alternative stuff, and this pedal is excellent for that. I haven't been playing that long, a few years, but this is the best overdrive I've come across. I love the tone, although it could be a bit warmer. For the price, an excellent piece of gear.

Any questions about the use of this pedal can be forwarded into the vast reaches of space. Completely idiot-proof.

Excellent sound. A bit muddy on the low end, but has enough heart-stopping tone to make up for it. I expected it to be pretty one-dimensional, but it covers a large expanse of sounds and styles. Sounds best (as does everything) cranked through the roof. Cleans up nicely when you roll off the guitar's volume. An excellent all around pedal.

It's a BOSS. To break this you would have to chuck it out of an airplane window.

Never needed it.

This pedal surprised me with its versatility, but I also play mostly blues and most forms of rock. My gear is as follows: Fender American Standard Strat, BOSS HR-2 Harmonist, BD-2, Uni-Vibe, and a 535 Crybaby Wah into a Fender Deluxe 112 Plus. This is a wonderful pedal for almost anything, except for punk and metal, but I can wrench that out of my amp if I need to. I've been playing for ten years, and this is my favorite overdrive thus far.

One day, I went on a hunt around town for a second distortion pedal that would do three things. 1) Have a nice overdrive that wasn't overpowering, 2) Provide added gain when placed infront of my Ibanez Tubeking, enough to noticable affect the tone, and 3) Sound good! In the second Store, I had already gone through 5 or 6 pedals including the Ibanez TS-9 reisue, the Danelectro Daddy-O, and the Boss DS-1. I was getting ready to leave, and asked to try the BD-2. (Did I mention that i had lugged both by guitar ('94 Strat) and my Tubeking to the store, and was playing through the same model amp that I had so I would know what the actual sound would be?) One of the things that struck me was how esay it was to use. Only three knobs: Volume, Tone, Gain. A child could use it. I purchased one a month later used, over the internet. Manual was understandable with some very usefull suggested presets.

I like this pedal a lot!! I play a lot in church, so I don't have as much need for a Over-the-top tube distortion. This pedal is perfect for what I need. With the Vol almost all the way up, and the gain almost all the was down, it is the best booster I have EVER heard. It makes me sound like Vaughn (Yeah Right!!) With the Vol at 9-10 o'clock, tone at 11, and gain at 1-2, it is a great overdrive, by itself, and adds needed gain with the Tubeking. With the same setup, but the gain at max, this could almost replace my Tubeking, but... It lacks in two areas, so I took off two points. 1) It is the slightest bit too muddy, and 2) It doesn't pick up the Harmonics as good as the Tubeking.

I rank this a ten, unless you don't have a AC adapter. It has never given me any problems except that I leave it plugged in sometimes, and it drains the batteries.

Never had to deal with them.

I have been playing for almost four years, but since I can't be great as solo's yet, haveing great tone is the most important this for me. I am a tone freak!!!!!!! I tell you right now, that I have good tone. I play a modded strat to a Vox wah, to the BD-2, to the Tubeking, to the Boss TR-2 Tremelo, to a volume pedal, all ran into my Fender Blues Junior. You can't tell me that that won't get good tone (Even if at low volumes.) This pedal is my main pedal. I was going to replace both distortions with a Mesa V-Twin, but changed my mind and decided to keep the Blues Driver if I do, because I love it too much!!!

Let's think...three knobs...input...output...switch. Not too tough. Easy to get a great sound out of it. I picked it up...plugged it in, played a blues riff...laughed at how good it sounded with everything set to the middle without any tweaking.

I run an stock Epiphone Les Paul Custom (white is nice) through an older Peavey Tube amp that just rips and has the nicest clean I've heard. This pedal gives me all the blues od/dist that anyone who plays blues could want. Bottom Line. Only thing is...I wish it could be a little more powerful on the high end...sometimes solos are a little weak. Other than that...perfect.

Gigging for a year...hasn't failed me once. The only damage after a 150 pound main speaker dropped on it was a little scratch in the finish.

N/A

I play blues and pretty much everything else that isn't extreme thrash or modern crap rock. It works well for all of the sounds I need besides hard rock and metal. Stick it in front of my Metal Zone and push the volume and I get all the Randy Rhoads I'll ever need.

Bought it on the way to a gig. Dialed in the preferred tone, done.

I run this pedal through both a tube and a solid state amp. Primarily and a volume boost for leads with the tone knob at 10 o'clock, gain at 4 and the volume at 10. I does the job without altering the tone of the amps and works seamlessly.

I've gigged with it for two and a half years hot glued to a piece of plywood no problemo. I was told that if you run pedals in front of your amp , as apposed to an effects loop, it helps prolong the life of your tubes. Maybe I should thing about changing em soon.

Never dealt with em so I can't say.

I play 50's,rockabilly,Surf, Blues, all with this pedal.Been playing electrics for 10 yrs.and the thing I like best about this pedal is I don't have to worry about it.

Very easy to use, basic manual (but works). Not the sound I'm looking for, but gives a good distinctive bluesy crunch.

IF ANYONE KNOWS WHAT PEDAL CAN GET ME A METALLICA SOUND PLEASE E-MAIL ME!!

Unless this pedal is used loudly, it bites. I am searching for a metallica sound but stumbled on this pedal cheaply. Good crunch, distinctive noise.

Very good, BOSS rules.

None needed.

I am searching for a metallica sound, for this obviously it sucks, but I got it cheaply and it is pretty cool.

a little harder than it looks to get the right sound.But preaty easy to figure out.

Good sounding pedal if you turn the Level up all the way it becomes fuzzy.I use this pedal sometimes as a feedbacker by hooking it up with my other distortion pedals.I love distortiuon.Noisy-quiet.

I dont depend on it.I could do without it but its addictive to use.
It never failed me.

no problems

Its a good pedal to own for a distortion lover.

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

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

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

No experience with this either.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Built like it should be.

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

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

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

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

Don't know.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

never.

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

Very easy... three knobs as descrived previously.

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

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

Never dealt with them

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

never dealt with em

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

i would say it takes a bit of time to dial in what is right for your personal tastes. it is layed out in the all familiar volume, tone and gain knobs.

i use this pedal with alongside a t.c. chorus, z. vex fuzz factory,z.vex seek wah, and a voodoo labs micro vibe. i run these through a matchless sc 30.no noise added by the blues driver. i find it to be extremely transparent. i spent literally hours testing it along a ts9, a modified ts9, a boss od1, and a fulldrive 2 and the only pedal that beats it,probably, is the fulltone. the gain boost is extraordinary. sounds a billion times more like your guitar and amp than a ts9

everthing seems o.k. i'm not worried about it.

Iv'e never had to.

Iv'e been playing for 16 years. I'm in a band that plays quite a bit around the state. I of course, have purchased a million amps, a million pedals and so on. I can't believe how well this one works for me. it maintains the entegrity of my matchless amp. when i step on it, it sounds like my beautiful matchless with a beautiful drive on top. Not like a gain mixed with my inherent amp sound. I have to admit, i first felt it was just o.k. As an excercise, try this.... It seems most people test an overdrive by listening to their clean sound and then kicking in the overdrive to hear unwanted coloration. sometimes they may listen to what the pedal sounds like regardless of how it might change their overall tone. What i do is set my overdrive the way i like,play for a bit, and then turn it off quickly and listen to the difference between it and the clean sound. It's kind of a backwards way of doing it. but what i find by doing this is that the bluesdriver is very, very transparent. It simply needs to be set properly. I do love the sound of a tubescreamer but it is one sound! the bluesdriver to me beats the tubescreamer. It beas it at mild gain to big sustain.

Keep the tone knob shy of 12 o'clock and your set. Crank up gain for crunch. Crank up volume for power boost. Hit the switch to turn on, hit the switch to turn off. It's simple and it works.

I've got a strat with lace sensors into the blues driver into a peavey classic combo. It's great to use in combination with the gain channel, but only use it for opposites. Combining high pedal gain with high amp gain gave some wacky assymetrical distortion. Not good stuff. I like to use it to overdrive the preamp tubes or to add crunch with the power tubes humming. With the gain past 12 o'clock, it takes on a bit of fuzz. Not like a fuzzface, not a tubescreamer, but somewhere in between. I'd say it's a healthy dose of page and clapton, with a little stevie and jimi thrown in for good measure. Oh yeah, when the tone knob passes 12, some unholy trebly nastiness shows up - avoid at all costs.

I've got a paint chip after a month of use. That's about as bad as its gonna get. If Boss only made tube amps and guitars, we'd all be set.

Not a clue.

Great gain channel imitator. Not quite as warm as a 12AX7, but about as good as it gets. Don't get it if you want a cheaper tubescreamer. This is a mild distortion pedal rather than an overdrive pedal. It is versatile enough to do overdrive duties, but it rocks doing the distortion thing.

Three knobs, didn't need the manual but read it anyway for something to do. Extremely easy to set up.

I'm playing a Rick 620 with vintage/SC's into a Peavey studio pro 122 amp. This pedal definitely warms up that too-clean transistor sound! It's not noisy at all, and definitely gives a blusey tone. I am really impressed with this unit! I run the volume at 9:oo, tone at 2:00 and gain at 1:00. This gives me what I need for break-through leads or blusey chording. I hardly ever use just one pickup, as the vintage single-coils are a bit thin. I adjust the BD-2 to give me my leads when I step on the pedal. One less thing to do or go wrong!

I won't dignify this with an answer!

Not applicable!

I can see this pedal being used for almost any style of music. It can be used for a nice moderate distortion or as a clean boost for leads. This was my second Boss pedal, the first being an OD-3. I liked the OD-3 until I got the BD-2, and then I wasn't quite so enamored with the OD-3. I considered selling the OD-3 to buy a DS-1 for a harder-type distrotion until I tried running the BD-2 into the OD-3. WOW! I have no need for a heavier distortion pedal. This combination will peel the paint off the walls! Now this works out as a very nice combination. The BD-2 for blusey chording and lead boost, the OD-3 for heavier overdrive in the background and the two together for a really heavy, nice sounding distortion. Sometimes you just get lucky! Would I buy it again? Does a squirrel have climbing gear? I play a mixture of country, country rock, vintage rock (50,60, up to about 1970 when all the good music stopped! I may sell other pedals, but I'd never, ever sell this one. It's become my most-used effects pedal and I just love it!

I find the Blues Driver easy to use; the instruction booklet is useful, but the workings are rather intuitive. I have always liked the straight-forward Boss approach to switching...no nonsense here.

Primarily I use the Blues Driver with my strats thru a fender tube amp (Super Reverb, a Vibrolux, or a Deluxe, depending on the size of the club). It should be noted that my strats are customized with P90s in one and Rio Grandes Muy Grandes in the other (with a P90 in the neck). The BD really needs different settings for these pickups, depending how you want to use it. I learned that the BD really didn't get the sound I wanted for leads, but it was great for boosting my rhythm work (I primarily play rhythm and 2nd lead in our band).
For me, turning the tone and gain over 12 noon produced a harsh, muddled, and messy sound without a real tone or sustain. I didn't like it, although I kept working with it. I eventually got another pedal for my lead work. But I use the BD to boost up my gain and tone for rhythm. Typically, I set the level about 10 to 11 am, and the tone and gain just shy of 12 noon. It works well with my other effects this way (delay, chorus, tubescreamer).

I have found the BD to be wonderfully predictable. This is another reason why I keep working with it. It retains the sound of the pickup and the amp, enhances it nicely in the way I want, and it does so consistently. Like your standard Boss pedal, it is rugged and made to last. I run it from a power supply and have never had a problem with it. I routinely gig without a backup, other than the other effects that I use.

I have never had to work with Boss for support or repairs.

I like the Blues Driver. For me, I like using it for my rhythm and an occasional lead here and there, but it is not well suited for the tones I want when I am to step up and carry a solo. My band is primarily blues/southern/roots oriented, and a vintage, soulful tone is what I want. I love the dependability of it and carry it as standard gear for my work. It is the first pedal in my chain, right beside the power supply!

Its really easy to get a good sound out of this box. There are 3 knobs. Level, Tone, Gain. There is a manual included, and there are some useful settings. But you dont really need the manual to get the sound you want.

I have a Strat with two single coils and a DiMarzio Air-Zone hunbucker at the bridge. I run the strat into a Marshall Valvestate. This pedal is absolutely great. Its the best overdrive pedal I've ever owned. I tried the Danelectro Daddy-O, and it doesn't even come close to the BluesDriver. The BD-2 gives me the fat overdrive I need. Its great as a booster, or you can use it as a regular overdrive. In both ways, this pedal can give you a good sound for playing Blues/Rock. It's definitely not a fuzzy pedal as some people say it is. It's not particularly noisy, and if you're using humbuckers, it's not noisy at all. You can get a variety of sounds out of this baby, everything from warm overdrive to rock lead overdrive.

If it's a Boss, you can definitely depend on it. I would use it without a backup on a gig.

Never dealt with the company.

I play Rock/Blues. This pedal is the one and only overdrive pedal I have. Its all I need. I also own a Digitech RP-6, and a Daddy-O. BluesDriver is the only overdrive I use. Nothing else I tried can compete with this pedal. If it was stolen or lost, I would definitely buy it again.

Three knobs and a footswitch. How hard could that be? The Gain knob covers a lot of range, and it is nearly impossible to get a bad sound out of this little box. The battery is well concealed, but it's still relatively easy to get at. All in all very nice.

I use this pedal between my guitars (Strat w. Texas Specials and a stock Les Paul) and my amp (Marshall Valvestate). I also use it to get a nice overdrive on my battery-powered portable amp, and occasionally on other people's amps. This pedal is ideal for pushing a crunchy sounding amp into a wailing lead sound, or crunching up a hyper-clean amp such as my portable. The BD seems to have been designed with all-tube combos in mind, since it does a really nice job of driving something like a Fender Bassman into sweet overdrive.
The actual tone that comes out of this pedal is amazing! Plugged into my Marshall (set at a moderate gain level), I can get that wailing "Comfortably Numb" lead sound on the Strat. The gain is smooth and round, with no harshness whatsoever. This pedal works great as a solo boost box with the gain set relatively low and the volume up a bit. If you're looking for any sort of heavy distortion out of a pedal, this is not your cup of tea. The BD is at its best as an enhancement to existing gain, or a driver for a clean tube amp. Very very impressive.
Noise is a minor factor when the pedal is on, but a decent noise gate should clear this up (something every serious player should have). However, it should be noted that BOSS kicks butt when it comes to static, so this is probably as good as you can get in an overdrive pedal.

All the BOSS pedals are indestructible, and this one is no exception. An AC adapter is a must-have if you don't want to keep buying batteries, but in general battery consumption is pretty good. I have had no problems with this unit and I don't expect to anytime soon.

Never dealt with them for reasons explained above.

This is the most solid, reliable, useful piece of gear I own. I would definitely buy it again. The sound is second to none, and the overall quality of the pedal is superb. I only wish all gear were designed this well; maybe I wouldn't spend so much money replacing disappointing products.

Three knobs just like any overdrive/distortion pedal. Came with a decent manual with some illustrated suggestions for dial settings to achieve particular sound styles. Onward. . .

I play a mexi/strat with a Seymour Duncan Lil'59 in the bridge position with a dial a split/tap. Standard Single coils in the Mid/Neck position. I plug into a Vox Wah and then straight into a Peavy Classic 30 w/1-12 extention cab. I retubed the 30 and I think it sounds great. I use the Blues Driver as the first pedal in my effects loop in front of a DOD Ice Box Chorus, and a Boss Reverb/Delay. I don't like the Blues Driver inline because the colors the sound of the amp too much and is too noisy. The effects loop drives the pedal with the natural sound of the amp(that I like).This drives the pedal with a hotter signal so pedal is pretty quiet in this position. I use the Pedal two main ways. First I use it to slightly boost and dirty up the clean channel in the amp. Gives just a slight grit to chords and slightly rolls off the bottom end. Second, I use it as a boost switch to the Lead channel. I set my peavey up with the mids just slightly scooped and love the sound. But punch in the Blues Driver for leads and you get a little boost and some midrange punch that just sings. Very Nice. I have the level on the Blues Driver set at about 10:00 and the gain at about 11:00. Too much gain and the sound turns to absolute mud. The pedal will do a pretty good Clean Boost. I just had to dirty it up abit and the results are great. I suggest anyone with a Tube amp to put your effects in the loop if you have one. This will keep your axe/amp sound as it should be and just lay the effects on top. The Blues Driver seems to work equally well with the Single Coils as it does with the Humbucker.

I don't gig. I am a basement jammer. I just feel lucky that I have time to play with music. It keeps me sane. Boss is solid as a rock and I have never had any trouble with Roland/Boss equipment. Used to beat the hell out of my Pad80 Percussion Module and it is still holding up.

I always buy from local music stores. I know I will be treated well. I occasionally pay a little more than I see advertised in the Discount Stores, but I don't have to pay shipping/handling so it all levels out. Support your local music stores!

I play mostly Rock -n- Roll, Modern Blues, and do some jazzy noodling. I have been playing guitar about 4 years. I have been playing drums for 20 years and the guitar has been a refreshing challenge. I like that this pedal can give a nice boost without having the gain up too high. Easy to get a little grit on a bunch. I leave the Tone Knob at 12:00. This pedal is great in my setup and I think it would give a SS amp a nice Punch.

Three knobs, gain, level and tone. Does anyone really need manual for a pedal like this? Metal casing, rugged enough like other Boss pedals.

I read previous submission by other musicians here, and it doesn't seem like a lot of people really like this thing. Well, here's what I have to say about this pedal. Yes, this pedal is not comparable to Tube Screamer or any other bluesy overdrive pedal. It's not a bad pedal, though, it has its own sound and won't really duplicate the sound of other pedals. You can come close, thought it's won't copy the sound. So here's the good way to use this pedal. Like other musicians here already noted, this pedals has its own tone and it will change the entire sound. But if you happen to like the sound that this pedal creates, then, you can use it! Eventhough this pedal is named "Blues Driver", you can consider this pedal as a fuzz pedal. The only problem I found with this pedal is this unit is pretty bad at tonal response. Very limited range. Specially on the lower frequency. It'll cut off much of lower frequency when specially playing on a strat, neck position. So it's kinda drag. But you can use this pedal as a booster and it works pretty good. It's not a clean boost, but just like any other fuzz pedals (Big Muff, Fuzz Face and others), it can push your guitar singal to over way over there than TS-9 or any other over drive would do. So if you want a huge boost, this pedal will do pretty good job. I happen to find some nice Hendrixy fuzz sound with this pedal and I decided to use this pedal for just that purpose. Oh here's another thing that you should know...is that this pedal does NOT have true bypass, and if you are picky about guitar sound, you'll realize some of your tonal loss because of this pedal in your guitar singal chain. But as long as you are not using this pedal with stock wah pedals(like Vox and Crybaby which those wah pedals kill the sound just by plugging them in your signal chain), it'll alright. I mean sometimes you have to compromise on something to get other. Anyway give it a try. Since you spent some cash on this pedal, don't just give up. Tweak around see what you can do. There are so many pedals out there...from bad ones to good ones, all of them have their own good and bad. If you are patient enough, you'll find a good thing about this pedal, too.

It's tough as hell. I've dropped, kicked, scratched, and all that, but it's still working. But backup is always neccessary of you are using this pedal as your main sound.

Never dealt with Boss customer support.

So in my opinion, this pedal happen to be quit a piece. It doesn't sound impressively great, but it doesn't sound too bad either, and as far as I'm concerned, it is doing pretty good job keeping me happy with the sound it can offer, so I think I'm going to give this pedal something higher than 6.

Basic same three controls (level, tone, drive) as a zillion other overdrive/distortion boxes out there.

Have used it with Fender Blues Deluxe and HR Deville and Marshall JCM800 combo. First off, this thing is not transparent tonally at all, imposes its own EQ which is heavy on the bass, scooped mids, and very bright highs, therefore when you step on it your overall sound changes considerably. Backing off on the tone rolls back the highs, but you still get a pretty scooped EQ sound. With tone at 11:00 or more, the highs get pretty severe. With regard to overdrive/distortion quality, it has fairly authentic tube preamp sound when played through a tube amp. Has a gritty, "loose" sound and feel. I haven't tried it through SS amp. Sounds best at lower to mid-gain, which is where you'd play it if you wanted true classic blues tone. At higher gain starts to sound more trashy and harsh than saturated and sweet. At lower gain sounds good on neck and middle pickups of Strat, you can achieve the full, gritty, throaty chords and low notes and those "whistling" Strat neck pickup lead tones on the high notes. On Strat bridge pickup, scooped EQ and severe highs make guitar sound just too thin and harsh. With humbucker guitar, again unit sounds best on neck pickup. While bridge HB pickup fills in the mids a bit, still sounds too thin in the middle, and the bass becomes boomy. Tweak amp to compensate, and you lose best clean settings when you disengage the BD-2. However, get the amp turned up and you will sound a little Marshally. But it doesn't offer any improvement at all to my master-volume JCM800 as far as "Marshall" sound goes, to the contrary, sounds cheesy when compared to the real deal. With Marshall, best used with clean channel with lower-gain setting to give a low-gain blues sound, let the Marshall preamp handle the higher-gain stuff. The Fender amps are already pretty big in the bottom and the BD-2 becomes a bit too much.
I don't know if this unit is aimed at the TS-9 or not. But it is not comparable at all. The TS-9 has a much more neutral EQ, only a mild mid-upper-mid hump, therefore you don't get a radical EQ change when you step on it. The TS-9, which I bought after the BD-2, is smoother and more authentically tubey sounding. Even with the gain maxed, it still has a sweet rather than harsh sound. I also just got a Fulltone Fulldrive 2, which is comparable to the TS-9 but more transparent EQ, refined and flexible. Now the BD-2 sits in its box. I suppose I'll sell it some time.

Like all Boss units, it's well built with heavy cast aluminum shell. Has never failed in any way.

I've never had a problem with a Boss unit which I felt was the company's fault, so I've not had occasion to seek support.

I play blues and classic rock. This unit seems to be aimed at those styles. But my comments on sound above state how well I think the BD-2 comes to the target.
Been playing 23 years. Have been through a number of OD/Dist/Fuzz boxes including MXR Distortion +, original yellow Boss Overdrive, original Big Muff, BD-2, Tech 21 XXL, Ibanez TS-9, Fulltone Fulldrive2, DOD something or other, can't remember, plus gone through phases where I just relied on amp for overdrive. Out of all of those units, I'd say my order of favorites is (1) the Fulltone, (2) the TS-9, (3) the BD-2. My experience is that some amps get their own GREAT natural overdrive, but even with those you can use a stompbox to increase flexibility -- its like adding another channel to the amp. I've gotten to the point to where my evaluation of an OD pedal is based (1) on how much it changes your EQ, i.e., I don't want to compromise my favorite clean sounds to compensate for EQ imposed by a pedal; and (2) on how sweetly and smoothly the unit breaks up. In other words, I really want a pedal that you could mistake for the real preamp of a good amp and complements a good amp, not tries to compete with it. In this respect, the BD-2 gets a 5. With respect to overall durability, reliability and value (my new favorite, the Fulldrive 2, set me back $200!), it gets a 7.

It takes about 2 seconds to figure this thing out..

The sound quality is good, reminds me of Clapton on the Blues Breakers disc... gives you the 60-70's bluesy sound..

it's a boss, i've packed this thing to school for the past 2 years, throwen in around my locker, rolled it down the hall way, flushed it down the.... well you get the idea =)

I've never needed it..

ahhh... it's just a great pedal.

u don t have to be too smart to find crunchy blues sounds too easy to use...

i have jackson and an amp of saund(made in turkey)150watts i have found cool bluesy srv buddy guy sounds gain over 8 gives a cool hard rock sound it can also be useful for those who plays pop-rock stuff it s an overdrive for soloists

no suprises no shockin problems just a cool overdrive i m lookin forward to enjoy it on a gig

BOSS...problem?????

i play soul,blues and rnb i think bd 2 is the goal in the net it gives me what i want...

Easy to dial in the sounds you are attempting to approximate, (within reason) I found it thinned my tone a little, although it was easy to tweak. The manual is helpful for suggestions, although with 3 knobs (gain, tone, level) I fail to see how complicated it could be to find an acceptable setting. Generally, this is as easy to use as any 3-knob overdrive pedal.

I use all kinds of guitars & several amps, but bought this to put a little grit into my too-clean, too-loud Fender Twin. For this purpose it worked well. Actually, I used it to emulate a pre-amp a few times. This worked well, too. The BD-2 is as quiet as any good overdrive pedal. But I found it made my tone a little thinner, even when I dialed the tone knob all the way down. My goal was to use this as my light overdrive, a counterpoint to my heavey overdrive (a TS-9). Generally, it does what it's supposed to do. I ended up getting a cheap used Marshall Bluesbreaker pedal, and prefer it to the BD-2 for this role.

Totally dependable. No surprises, no backups necessary.

N/A

I play original blues-flavored modern rock. The BD-2 was acceptable for a light overdrive. I found something else that did the job better, but I might keep the BD-2 around as an alternative. I didn't like the brightness of the Blues Driver, it just sounds a little... almost "plasticky." I wanted a truer "earthy" sound. I think a giant like Boss could have done better, but my other Boss gear has had the same sonic features. Maybe I am just not so thrilled about Boss-flavored sounds? I dunno. Last year, I would have said it was great. This year I can live without it.

Not hard! 3 Knobs, level, tone and gain. Step on it to activate!

I've heard comparisons to the TS9 but honestly, this pedal has far more gain and can also get ultra trebley. I have both pedals and use this one for my main overdrive set roughly at what the manual calls its "British sound", and then use my TS9 as a boost for leads. So when people start comparing the two, don't be mislead, they are both great pedals at what they do, but I believe their EQ and gain characteristics are totally different. The blues driver never gets noisy with my strat, however, with my Les Paul I do get a fair amount of squealing when pushing it hard. Solution? When I play my Les Paul I usually turn down the gain or adjust my guitars volume knob. Incedently, my setup is: guitar(62 reissue strat or Les paul)- wah wah - TS9 - blues driver - boss DM3 Delay - Fender 59 reissue Bassman. The BD2 is really a fine pedal you should at least consider even if blues is not your thing. Don't get confused with the title "BLUES" Driver, I successfully use it in my cover band(mostly modern), and in my original band(loud blues/rock). However, its not a metal pedal by itself. Oh, by the way, easy on the tone setting, I usually set mine at about 10 o'clock.

Had it for about 2 months, no problems yet, Boss products dont fail very often do they?

N/A

This pedal suits my playing just fine... at the moment! I say this because we guitarists can't help ourselves when it comes to equipment, always trying new(or old) pedals etc. But the Blues driver will do me for a while. If I did buy another overdrive pedal, it wouldn't be this one because I like exploring and changing my sound. I would keep it however, while still collecting and changing pedals to have more at my disposal for different ocassions.

Very easy to use: Level, Tone, and Gain.

Sounds "OK" through both solid state and tube amps. Probably better for tube though. It is similar to the Ibanez TS's, however, tends to be a bit more harsh. (not as warm)

Is new, so I have never had a problem.

Boss is pretty good so I would expect good service if I ever needed it.

Is very good for Blues/Rock. No good for metal. I would probably recommend it to those with a solid state amp that want to emulate tube blues sound. I would'nt buy it again only because I am already getting rid of it for a TS-9. Like I said earlier, it is simply Boss's stab at the TS series, and almost does it. I have been a Boss fan forever and always buy and collect Boss products, but this one is not a classic.

Real simple 3 knobs: Tone, Level, Gain. Boss Manual's are always good with giving you suggestions and getting different sounds with the pedals

I play a Gibson Nighthawk Studio w/ 3 pickups, and a Fender Bullet through a Crate solid state stack. This pedal is very quiet even on high gain settings. This pedal gives you great tube tone even though there is now tube. This pedal sounds fat all the time on all the settings. I can not find any setting on this pedal that sounds bad. If you want great blues tone or great tube sound buy this pedal. And this pedal nails the sound of a tube breaking up. I listen to hard rock music, Korn, Deftones, Limp Bizkit, Helmet, and Hed(pe). You really cant get the distortion produced by these artists, but if you use it with for example the metal zone, it really gives you thick and warm distortion.

As with all Boss products, I don't even need to send in the warranty card. I trust Boss products so much I got the store's demo. You know the one of the board. and I still refuse to send in the warranty card.

Never had to deal with them

Like I said I mostly play Hard rock but I also play alot of jazz and blues. this pedal can deliver that SRV-like tone, which is why I bought this pedal. I've been playing for over 3 years, I also own Korg Hyper Distortion, Boss: Metal Zone, Super Phaser, Fuzz. If it got stolen I would definintly buy it again. It's cheap and most importantly it sounds great A big thumbs up to Boss for making this pedal sound so great.

It's got three knobs: Level, tone and gain. Very easy to use. Nice manual too!

My setup: A strat, a Dunlop JH-1 Wahwah, sometimes a Boss HM-2 (For metal) and a BD-2 (For everything else) through a Fender Champion 110. The BD-2 sounds great, as long as I keep the tonecontrol down. It's almost at it's lowest point. This way it gives me a real fat sound. Not fuzzy like some other reviewers said. I keep gain at maximum. if I need less gain I turn down the volume on my guitar. Ofcourse this will work better on lower gain-settings, where you can even get a clean sound. The BD-2 isn't exceptionally noisy. No more than other distortion or overdrive units.

Boss......who needs a backup.

You can use it for every style of music, except metal. It's great for blues, hardrock etc...I would buy it again, though I really hope boss will do something about the tone control, which is to trebly.

Three knobs: level, tone, gain. If you can operate an amp, you should be able to figure this one out.

I am going to return it because it sounds way too much like my BOSS DS-2 Turbo Distorton, but I like the sound I get from both. The BD-2 has a lot of fuzz in the gain, which I like. This sounds especially cool on the lower notes. The only thing I don't like is that you really have to crank up the gain or your poer chords will fall apart and sound tinny and metallic.

It's a BOSS. I have been using boss for like five years and never had any problems

You shouldn't have to call them, I never have with any of my pedals.

Like I said before good for Blues and a fuzz petal, it just sounds too much like my DS-2 Turbo Distortion.

With a Les Paul, set everything at 12:00. Perfect amount of crunch yet retaining definition. Might want to roll tone back to 9:00, however.

This guitar thrives on neck-pickup-position lead tones (Strat or Paul) and chunky chords. My only complaint about the sound is that it's a bit piercing on the bridge setting. If you roll the tone back too much, however, you lose cut. To my ears, it sounds just like a vintage Fender Bassman cranked, which is its intended purpose. BTW, I use a Les Paul or Strat through a 1965 Deluxe Reverb. Works wonderfully with both, but possibly a little thin with the strat. I use it in conjunction with a compressor pedal for my lead tone. This way, I can get sustain without saturating the sound. It does however, have plenty of gain if you want it. Conversely if you want a volume boost, this unit would punish any preamp.

I've never had any problem with any Boss pedal ever.

Never needed to call them

I own this and a TS-9. Somewhere between them lies the perfect sound. If I had to choose, I would go with the Boss because it sustains better and gives you more volume and gain options if you want it. Also the TS-9 has an annoying amount of midrange but lacks highs and lows, the Boss has plenty of bass, but could use a little more mids and slightly less top end. I play alternative rock, BTW, but strive for a polished, liquid tone.

Level, tone, drive.

This is a great pedal. Despite it's moniker, this unit has the perfect amount of crunch for pop and pop-punk with a nice midrange hump. harmonics cut thru nicely at higher gain settings and palm mutes sound great thru my JCM800's clean input. Probably one of the most versatile overdrive/distortion units on the market. At lower gain settings it's great for what it's designed for - tasty blues. Higher gain settings will give you hard rock or punk. The only thing you can't get is a harsh scooped "teen eq" metal sound, which I hate anyway. If you want that, get a Metal Zone. This pedal is distortion on the creamier side, rich with harmonics and superb note definition but with a throaty crunch as well.

BOSS!

This pedal is great for distorted power pop. This is a truly versatile pedal with great rich shimmering sound quality.

Update- see my last review.

I finally got the Mesa V-Twin pedal, and I was blowna way by it. the BD-2 is very tube-like for a solid state pedal, but nothing is more tube-like than tubes. With my PRS, the BD-2 sounds almost like a fuzzbox, even with the tone on zero ( I run the gain at 10 though). The V-twin has about the same range of gain on the Blues channel, just a little bit less. The difference is no matter how much gain you run on the Mesa, it still sounds good. With my '68 SG (p-90s) the BD-2 sounds great. That was the only guitar I had when I bought it, so I was happy. It still sounds great, but not as good as the PRS/MESA.

ACtually, I'm keeping it just in case a tube dies in the V-Twin and I can't get another one quick enough.

Update- see my last review.

I don't need anything else, I have 2 out of the 3 best pedals on the market. The MESA is first, the MAtchless is second, and the BD-2 is third. If it were lost or stolen, i might buy one, but I might buy the Matchless, depending on how much cash I have. It's a great pedal, and in its price range, it's the best (depending on yer guitar) but it's not the best out there. If you have cash to burn, get the V-Twin. It just has a much more natural sound.

Pretty straight forward... Typical for an OD pedal: Level, Tone, Gain.

Generally speaking, it's very similar to the TS-5/9/808 vibe, except for... 1) the ability to dial in more gain. 2) more bottom end.
It can be a little "fuzzy" at the extreme gain settings. In fact, at the max setting, it sounded like a TS-_ in parallel with a fuzzbox!
Seems a little noisier than a TS-_, but I'm setting it with more gain than a TS-_ delivers, too.
Tone control sweep seems ridiculously bright. Unusable for my purposes beyond 10:00. Also, not quite as warm as a TS-_, but still very usable and pleasing.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with it. It has the sonic additions to the TS-_ that I was looking for.
My settings are as follows: Level: 10:00-11:00, Tone: 9:00, Gain: 3:00.
These settings, into a Fender-style tube amp, yield a Larry Carlton "On Solid Ground"-type tone and feedback.

Boss stompboxes are great as far as reliability! I really like the footswitch - it doesn't give a false "switch" - you can count on it to switch when you stomp on it.

I haven't had any correspondance regarding this pedal, but I have for another in the past. The folks didn't necessarily have the technical expertise, but they were friendly and sent out a schematic pretty quickly. Not bad...

I'd buy it again, as long as the price was reasonable. For more money, I'd buy a Fulltone Fulldrive II. But for <$90, and for the reliability, it's among the best if you're looking for a good meat 'n' potatoes tone.

Set everything at a little before 12 O'Clock, and have at it!

I trashed my 'potato bug' Tube Screamer for one of these. I play a Strat thru a silver-faced Fender Deluxe Reverb. For a punchy, crisp, warm blues tone to complement a Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Magic Sam style, this is the one. Responds nicely to pick attack and guitar volume settings. Not one trace of generic Stevie Ray tone in here like the Tube Screamer somehow adds to anything played through it. Essential to beef up a fender-on-fender tone without the annoying thin-ness of the Tube Screamer.

Seems quite reliable. I like metal housings.

Beefy metal housing, easy battery access, straightforward design. Good sound.
This box has become an essential element of my tone recipe. Again, for the fender-on-fender player who is not interested in a stevie ray tone, this box deserves a good look.
This box has also held its own vs an Expandora Pedal and a Fulltone drive unit, and a RealTube unit as well that I've tried.
My overall rating is in relation to other overdrive pedals, not this pedal vs a vintage Tweed Bassman amplifier.

This thing is as simple and as complicated to use as you would ever want. (why does DOD insist on using stupid names like 'stupid' and 'butt'?) Boss keep it just how the majority of people like it, level, tone and gain. Beautiful.

I tried this unit in series with other stomp boxes that were supposed to be the best (ie tech 21 XXL and Bixonic expandora) and every time I stepped on one of them I found myself wanting to jump back on the BD-2. It sounded warmer, clearer, it had a better frequency response and it responded to my playing nuances better. It is a rhythym players dream. Any tone you want, this has it. The gain control is very dynamic.

I cannot really comment on long term reliability but I can say that after being a recent convert to the BOSS family (I started with the TR-2 tremolo) any other pedals I buy from now on will be BOSS.

I never expect I will heave to go down this road. Stomp boxes dont get any tougher.

I have just undergone an extensive search through at least 15 distortion/overdrive pedals ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous and this was by far the best. It has it all in the one box. If you want the dynamic playability of say Johhny Greenwood of Radiohead or the crowd-pleasing rhythym of Swervedriver, get this pedal.

Easy- 3 knobs. No stupid names for them (like DOD pedals), just level, tone, and drive.

I love this thing. The only effects I use are this and a Crybaby, and it's all I need. There's not a bad sound in it. You can change the amount of distortion just by changing how hard you dig in with your pick. The reason I'm only giving it a 9 is I'v found one pedal that's better- The Mesa Boogie V-Twin. too bad it costs 3 times as much.

You couldn't break it if you tried. I'd definately gig without a backup.

Never needed them.

I wouldn't buy it again, because: 1. it will never break, and 2. If I ever buy another overdrive/distortion pedal, it will be the V-Twin. If it got stolen and I didn't have $300, I guess I'd get another one. I would definately buy other Boss pedals if I need more effects.

Very simple to operate (like all Boss units). No goofy names for the controls, just Level, Tone and Drive

I dunno. After reading all the (mostly) glowing reviews here I decided to give the BD-2 a try but I was somewhat disappointed. The salesman I spoke with assured me that this unit blows the Ibanez TS-9 away, but try as I might I couldn't get a sound out of it that I liked. It seemed very trebly and brittle even with the tone control rolled back. At higher gain levels, it began sounding fuzzy. Not what you'd expect from a bluesy tube amp. I used it on both channels of my Marshall Valvestate with no luck. I suspect, however, that if you're willing to fiddle with it for long enough, you can coax some pretty sweet sounds out of it. But for all the hype from the salesman, I wasn't very impressed. The TS-9 blew the BD-2 away.

My dog uses Boss pedals as chew toys. I just borrow them from her once in a while when I feel like playing. I suspect the roaches would be able to live in these things after nuclear holocaust.

Never need to deal with them.

I returned the pedal because I liked the Tube Screamer so much more. However, this pedal is definetly worth a look given that so many people are raving about it. Overall, it gets a seven for effort.

Look, three knobs (level, tone, and gain), one switch, that's it! It doesn't matter where you leave the settings, you will get a kick ass tone.

O.K., I love this pedal. I have a Jackson Preformer PS-4 with humbuckers running through a Fender Champion 110 25 watt transitor amp. I thought my clean tone was good before... now it kicks ass! I use the pedal primarily as a booster pedal. It smooths out and fattens up your sound. I like it best with the gain turned up to 9:46 (ha ha, the tone turned up to 9:00 and the level up to 12:00. Obviously setting will vary due to your own set up but this gives me a little crunch when I hit it hard. I is great as a straight distortion pedal or tube anp simulator but it also brings alot of variety to my other effects. It gives my RAT distortion a much more tuby feel. It boosts up my wah signal. It is very quiet. I love it.

Yes, no questions asked. Because I bought this pedal, I do not have to go out and get a more expensive amp to get a great tone.

You can't get much simpler than this, except in maybe an MXR unit.

For the type of pedal, it's incredibly quiet, IMHO, but... I think it sounds great with my Strat. It'll handle the highs of the bridge pu, and the meaty lows of the neck. It retains the classic Strat neck pu tone that many other distortion I have found take away.

It's a Boss. But, I've not had it long, so I can't say from experience with this peticular one.

I don't ever forsee this happening, but a 5 year warrantee is nice to have in the back of your mind...

What can I say, I think it's a beautiful pedal. Although it is not something for all people. I'd say you have to have blues influence to appreciate the thing.

Three knobs: Tone, Gain, and Level.

It's only noisy when close to the amp, other than that it would depend more on your pu(eg hum cancelation...) All settings do not sound great on all guitars, for example, I tested this unit with a tele, it fattened her up and gave her some real nice gain sounds and dirty ones too. However, when plugging it in using my strat, it wasn't as effective. In other words, had I tested this pedal using a strat, I probably wouldn't have purchased it, It's a good thing I own a tele though. I'l rate this for a tele:

Yes, I owned boss pedals before and have never experience a problem.

I suppose

As mentioned above, for my tele, this pedal sounds fantastic. I give that rythme early stones growl, I love that stlye so I dig this pedal.

As many have stated, this is one of the finest distortion boxes you can find. The manual explains the basics and gives a few sample settings, but you really don't need it. Three knobs (level,tone,gain) so it doesn't get much simpler than that.

With the gain cranked you can expect a bit of noise, but no shock there. As far as the sound goes, it is superb acroos the board. Everything from a warm fuzz to an attacking overdriven growl. With active pick-ups you might want a noise gate, but that's totally dependent on the sound you are looking for. This effect can cover a wide range of musical styles, although it may not suit you if heavy metal or grunge are your cup of tea. I have been using it in combination with the Contour setting on my amp and the sustain is endless. It gives that warm, tube distortion that translates into an incredibly "fat" sound. If this pedal doesn't sound good with your amp, buy a new amp...

It's a BOSS! Built like a tank with an attitude, so I see no need for a backup.

Never called them, but it would be nice if they spruced up the Web page.

I would definitely buy this pedal again! IMHO this is as good as distortion gets. As stated above, it may not be suited for heavy metal, but in all other categories it flat out excels.

Three knobs - Level, Gain, and Tone, and one on/off switch. It's the easiest-to-use thing I own

This little box is perfect for what I do. I use it to boost the gain and volume of my Marshall Valvestate for soloing. The tone is fat, smooth, and sustaining when combined with the Drive channel of my Marshall, and it works beautifully on all three pickups (Strat with Texas Specials). There is a tiny bit of noise, but that is to be expected from an overdrive pedal.

Boss pedals are absolutely indestructible. This one is no exception.

Never needed help with this bad boy.

Absolutely perfect. Worth every penny.

I fell in love with this unit the minute I plugged it into my Mesa Boogie .50 Caliber.I hardly tweeked it kept most of the controls dead center and got a great blues/southern rock tone from my 79 Fender Strat.I hardly refer to manuals at the best of times but haning read it I guess its as clear as a manual should be.

not particularly noisy unless your pickups are unshielded or your amps earthing is screwed up. I find this more silent than the Boss Od 2 and the Sans Amp 9 (original) which has to be gated heavily when I plug into a mixing board. What I really love about the BD 2 is that you can back off your guitars volume pot to about 7 or 8 to get that semi clean rhythm/ lead sound and then kick the volume to full for that "rip out solo sound ".The controls respond excellently.

I,ve used the BD 2 on quite a few gigs now and its been extremely dependable I'd like to get one more for backup just incase I loose it.I'd also like to explore the possibility of using 2 BD 2's on different settings.

Ive never had a problem with Boss / Roland products so Ive never had to call them ( my trustworthy GP 8 still gives me a killer chorus sound in the studio.

I ddefinitelty buy one again, actually I wish Boss had made the BD 2 earlier so I wouldn't have wasted money buying the assortment of overdrive/ distortion pedals that I have. I play the blues and this really helps me dig and 'squeeze out the tone from my guitar(s)."Blues guitarists this pedal is a must."

This is one of the easiest pedals to use. There are three knobs (level, tone, and gain) and two jacks (input and output). That's it. At any setting, this pedal gives you a great tone. Adjusting the knobs merely changes the color of the tone. With the gain up high, and a high tone, you get ripping leads, and with a medium to low tone and almost no gain, you get a fat, deep, crunchy blues tone for rhythms. The manual is quite helpful; it gives you a few useful settings, but some of the coolest ones aren't in there. You need to play with the knobs for the sound that you like.

The sound on this pedal is outstanding! No matter how you adjust it, you always get a great tone. When you combine the different colors and sounds you can get from adjusting your pickups and your amp with this pedal, you can attain anything from a screaming yet full Hendrix tone to a mellow, lightly crunchy, deep, tubey BB King sound. You can also play with the volume knob on your guitar in accordance with the level knob to get different amounts of "gruffiness."

It's a Boss. These things could be dropped off a building and still work.

Never needed 'em, so I couldn't tell ya!

If you like rhythm and blues, mellow crunchy tones, full sounds, or flexibility in tone, this is the BEST pedal out there! GET IT! You can get a bassy, fat rhythm sound, with little distortion, or you can get a wailing lead sound with great sustain (or anything in between).

Three knobs -- Very easy

Does exactly what it is advertised to do. Has a ton of gain available if needed! Does everything from slight crunch distortion a Marshall Stack, although I am feeding it with a compressor, which increases the distortion and sustain. Great for a basic Rock and Roll Guitar sound, but best when used for subtle overdrive, leaving the heavy distortion for pedal designed for heavy distortion. As advertised, all picking nuance is preserved, even at higher gain settings.

BOSS says it all

Being a customer rep at Boss must be a very relaxing job.

It's a Strat player "gotta have". Works very well with my explorer as well, if a limiter is used as a pre. A metal player with a light touch might be disappointed though.

The pedal is easy to use. Three knobs, one for output level, another for tone and one for gain. The manual is simple to understand and recommends a few settings for you to try.

Firstly , the level control has lots of guts. To get the effect level to match the clean signal level the knob has to be put at about 11 o'clock. If you put it any more clock wise you get quite a large signal boost. I reackon that if you even had the gain at zero (ie no distortion) you'd overdrive a valve preamp into distortion easily. Secondly, the tone control is very treblely. I found it painful to have it set past 12 o'clock. I think the pedal must of been designed by an old rocker who had spent too much time in front of 200W stacks. Personally , I found I had to have the tone control turned to 10 o'clock or less to get warmth out of the effect. Lastly, the gain control has a nice wide width of effect. at 11 o'clock it gives an edge of disortion to chords and to the more agressively picked lead solos. If it is turned much past 12 o'clock it makes the guitar wail with a very bluesy feel. Also the sustain significantly increases so there must be some compression in there somwhere. The tone produced when I use the neck pick up (S. Duncan vintage staggered) of my strat when the pedal was set with tone at about 10 oclock and gain at 2 o'clock was magical. It sounded like I was playing through a stack of melting marshalls. And I only have a 20 watt transistor amp!! Overall, the effect is really amazing. So long as you don't have the gain turned up full, you keep the quality of your tone. ie you keep the unique sound quality of the neck, middle or bridge pickups. At intermediate gain settings, You control the level of distortion by how hard you treat the strings. Gentle picking gives clean tone, harder picking increases the distortion. The higher the gain setting, the earlier the distortion sets in for a given strength of picking. The unit certainly gives out a valve sound.

It's you typical boss contruction. I've only had the effect for a couple of weeks so I can't comment on it's long term reliablity.

Never had to use them.

I compared this pedal with an ibenz tube screamer (TS-5) and I thought the boss was much better. The tube screamer sounded weak with little warmth by comparison with the boss. Since buying the effect, I wish I had tried the Mesa V valve foot preamp (it has 2 x 12AX7s) but it is a lot more expensive ( ca AUD$ 600-700 vs AUD$ 200 for the boss). But that's not to say I'm unhappy with the effect. I think its great stuff as it lets the tone of guitar come through unlike many distortion devices. I think it boosts the high frequencies a bit too much but turning down the tone control on the unit solves that.

It overall very very easy to use.

The sound is perfect except that it is hard to find a very smooth but still distorted sound

Every time I pluged it into my guitar it worked so I haven't seen any problems with it yet.

I never had a problem with this pedal

This pedal works for me on any song my band plays

I haven't got it that long, but I assume it will be the same quality as other Boss pedals, and that's pretty good

It's a great overdrive/distortion unit. It's a bit like the old yellow OD-1 overdrive for low settings of drive, more like a distortion unit for higher settings. It doesn't lose as much bass as the OD-1, with a neck pickup and a low drive setting you can get a very warm, full tone, with just a hint of overdrive/distortion if you pluck lightly, then hit the strings hard and you get a nice crunch. Very responsive. The best overdrive pedal I've had so far.