Boss BD-2 Blues Driver

Extremely easy to use - 3 knobs etc etc. Can get good sounds out of it with single & humbuckers

The main reason i am writing this is to share my own experiences of this pedal and how i feel i've got the best out of it.

I bought this pedal to use as a standalone drive for solos, i had moved from a three channel amp to a two channel and wanted extra flexibility ie turning amp to clean channel and switching BD2 on - this allowed me to get a big volume boost. Although this did the job - the pdeal won't do higher gain sounds particularly well, as other folks have said you can only get a nice sound out of it up to about gain 3 oclock max, past there it sounds fuzzy and horrible.

I felt i wanted extra "beef" for solos as i was purely using this pedal for for drive into the amps clean channel. The solution came when i ran a Boss super overdrive (SD1) into the is pedal, i've read alot of reviews of this pedal being used to smooth out and boost amp overdrives - you'd expect it to do the same with a drive pedal. I had originally bought the SD1 to use as a low gain drive for less "loud" songs.

The result was really good - i only had the SD1 set on low settings (everything about 10-11o clock - this is a very trebly pedal) - you get extra gain/sustain and no fuzzyness. I have tried this with both Gibson LP and Strat - they both sound nice, i usually insert some delay between amp and the two pedals with a boss GT3.

Pedal settings:

SD1
Vol, treble, gain 10-11 oclock

BD2
Vol - 10 - 12 oclock usually depending on levels reqd for solo
Treble - 12-1 oclock
Gain - 2 oclock, above here is dangerous territory for this pedal

My effect chain goes as follows

SD1 > BD2 > Bypasser for boss GT3 > Boss GT3 multi FX (mainly for delays) > Marshall JCM900 (clean channel used for solos)

I feel the use of these pedals is a very cheap way of getting a nice solo drive, the BD2 was 40 GBP second hand and the SD1 can be bought new for 30 GBP.

A demo of the sound you get with a Gibson les paul can be heard on the song "The Night" recorded with my band invisible vegas - the solo sounds is using this pedal combination.

myspace.com/invisiblevegas

All boss pedals are very reliable - pity power supplies are not as sturdy when it comes to chucking them about...!

never needed to

the BD2 was my first standalone stomp box, its a really good alternative to the tubescreamer but i wouldn't ever recommend using is on its own for solos - maybe for lower gain blues stuff ok but not higher gain stuff. Combining pedals seems to be the way for it.

My next purchase will be a Blackstar HT drive - they are getting very good press - why buy an 808 tubescreamer at ~200 GBP when you can have three really good pedals for the same price...?

3 buttons, 2 switches (for extra gain and bass boost). Tone knob modified to have a wider spectrum of treble and bass response. Various resisters and internal parts changed.

These mods smake the BD sound much more pristine and bring out the nuances in your playing, giving you countless options on hand. Fattens up my strat and teles and I can dial in as much gain as I need and shape the tone how I want. I can play soft and sound clean, and with a swift down stroke get some killer overdrive tones. Don't hesitate to contact Gary about modding your pedals, he'll get whatever sound you want.

Built and modified like a tank.

Gary was extremely helpful through email conversations and even phone calls about my wants and specifications for modifying my pedals.

I love having many tonal options on all my instruments and effects, and this pedals allows me to dial in any tone imaginable.

As usual as most overdrive/distrotion pedals. You probably wont have problem to dial in the tone you want.

I use this pedal with many others my chain is as follows: guitar->proco rat2->little big muff->boss bd-2->small stone->boss ce-3 chorus->stereo memory man with hazarai->mxr 6band eq->fender hot rod deluxe. I use the proco rat for mild overdrive tones, the big muff for distortion and for solo work, and the boss blues driver for those crunchy in your bones sound. Some times i use the 3 pedals at ones in low gain to achiewe those pink floyd tones. The sound quality is really good, not noisy at all. Can play radiohead with it. Its really good both with humbuckers and single coils, but i prefer the sound with single coils, maybe just becouse my bucker is a little bit muddy... the pedal is a bit mid scooped, so its not a tube screamer type effect. It is ideal for boosting other distrortion units like the proco, or muff, then you have a good chain saw like sound, good for soloing. What else can i say. I am satisfied with it although for me it took some time to find the perfect tone. As with everything you should try before buy

no problem its a boss :) would survive an h-bomb

I play lot of alternative music, like radiohead, sonic youth, blur, bush, some blusier stuffs like hendrix, little bit of pink floyd, but i also play grunge music. This pedal suits the blues and the alternative tones with the proco rat. If it where lost i would probably buy again, i like the sound of this unit. If i could find an affordable tube overdrive in the same size so i could fit in my pedalboard maybe i would try out, but i am not sure. I like the simplicity of this unit, but i would like a mid boost control on it, so when i need more mids i could turn on...

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

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

The unit is very quiet.

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

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

No experience yet.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I'ts boss, let's move on.

Never dealt with them .

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

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

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

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

Never delt with them never needed too.

I love this pedal.

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

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

Its in a solid metal case. Enough said.

Never had to use it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

step on it, 3 knobs, easy

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

it's a tank

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Very easy to "use"...

Terribly weak and kind of noisy...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My setup is as follows:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Standard layout easy peasy

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

It's a Boss

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

Easy to use. Gain, level, tone.

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

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

Never dealt with them.

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

pedal is very easy to use

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

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

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

boss shell mine is like new

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This really is a fantastic pedal.

This is my set-up:

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

Very simple set-up for a very powerful sound.

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

This pedal will never need them.

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

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

My other pedals I have are

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

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

EASY! 3 knobs and they all react very nicely.

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

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

No idea. The website is slightly helpful.

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

Easy to use three knobs volume,gain ,tone.

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

Tough as nails

Never dealt with

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I really have no idea. I never needed it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It is a Boss. Enough said.

Never needed it.

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

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

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

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

Never dealt with Boss.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It'a about as simple as it gets.

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

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

NEVER had a problem with it.

Never dealt with them.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So far so good

Haven't needed it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I've never dealed with them.

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

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

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

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

To make a long story longer...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Once again...

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

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

Last thought...

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

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

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

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

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

Couldn't say, never had to call

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Haven't dealt with them.

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

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

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

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

Not needed / not used.

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

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

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

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

I have never had to deal with them.

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

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

ias easy as any i guess

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

never a problem

wouldn't hold my breath

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I dont know why anyone would need to mod these.

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

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

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

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

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

MY SET-UP IS:

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

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

more than a year - heavy use

OTHER GEAR I OWN:

everything - my kitchen cabinets are stuffed with pedals.


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Built like a brick. Throw it through a window.

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

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