Boss BD-2 Blues Driver

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

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

The unit is very quiet.

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

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

No experience yet.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I'ts boss, let's move on.

Never dealt with them .

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

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

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

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

Never delt with them never needed too.

I love this pedal.

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

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

Its in a solid metal case. Enough said.

Never had to use it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

step on it, 3 knobs, easy

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

it's a tank

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Very easy to "use"...

Terribly weak and kind of noisy...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My setup is as follows:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Standard layout easy peasy

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

It's a Boss

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

Easy to use. Gain, level, tone.

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

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

Never dealt with them.

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

pedal is very easy to use

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

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

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

boss shell mine is like new

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This really is a fantastic pedal.

This is my set-up:

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

Very simple set-up for a very powerful sound.

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

This pedal will never need them.

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

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

My other pedals I have are

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

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

EASY! 3 knobs and they all react very nicely.

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

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

No idea. The website is slightly helpful.

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

Easy to use three knobs volume,gain ,tone.

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

Tough as nails

Never dealt with

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I really have no idea. I never needed it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It is a Boss. Enough said.

Never needed it.

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

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

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

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

Never dealt with Boss.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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