Boss BF-2 Flanger

4 Knobs>>Manual/Depth/Rate/Resonance

I think this has been the hardest pedal to use for me IMO because i never had a flanger pedal b4 this being my 1st. It has got many characters with the turn of each knob.

Mine is black knobs Made in Japan (November 1982)

I do struggle with this so a 5 from me

I'm plugged to my chain of effects which is as below

Guitar>>>Dunlop 535>>Vox Satchurator>>Boss CE2>>BF2>>Boss DD2>>Boss DD3>>Digitech Digidelay(for reverse delay or tap tempo or loop)

Here is just the beginning of my problems. i found that despite it being a great effect but overall i really struggle to try to get it to sound different to the CE2. The pedal gives the guitar a huge frequency/volume boost when activated. Sometimes to the point it annoys me as it doesnt fit the mix. Too strong an effect too when kicked in the distortion. can see why its called a flanger but damn i need a more tame unit IMO.

On the clean channel its nice and warm but very chorus like in its zone i like but i'm trying to get it to sound different to the chorus on clean too but when done so...damn annoying effect. It def nails 'Message in a bottle' tone but i dont know...Its testing my patience.

i'd giv it a 10 for lasting this long. Wouldnt cry if it breaks

Boss support? LOL don get me started

I use this for instrumental, funk, blues, rock, metal, u name it this pedal shud fit the mix well but its not finding favor in my ears. The best of my lot is the Satchurator, CE2 and DD2. This bf2 is like over the top kind of flanger. Like overly strong coffee.

A unique pedal but i think i might go for ibanez FL9 next. I need time to nail some good sounds i think.

First of all I've had this pedal for 7 years, so I decided to write a review just so people get an opinion from an experienced user and not someone who just bought and is all excited about it! :) It is very easy to use; it may take a while at first to get the exact settings you desire, but when you do, its awesome and addicting. Plus the manual knob is fun, it's great for recording with. You can make many sounds from it. And i never used the manual. 10.

I have the simplest set up ever, Schecter C-7 through a Crate GFX-212, through a Crate 4x12 cab. It sounds just awesome. It does exactly what you want it to do. I even like to turn up the speed to max and turn down the resistance to get that watery-vibe, throw some delay on there and you can make some really cool leads. Its just the perfect flange sound.

Always works, no problems. I even bought it used.

Never had to deal with them yet.

I've been playing guitar for 12 years. I play all styles of rock: progressive rock, metal, jazz, blues, experimental, pop. And this thing rocks, its one of the essential pedals every electric guitarist should own. I personally think every guitarist should own a delay and flange. But I gig with it everywhere, I use it almost every day, it's just a great long-term pedal that you definitley will NOT regret buying! If i could give it a 19 out of 10 i would.

It is real easy to get a good sound out of it... with that said the manual and resonance can be a little tricky to wrap your head around at first glance.

The pedal is pretty well known to have a metallic-ish quality to its sound, I happen to love this about it. The way I run mine it feels almost like it's crawling up your skin or something.
The BF-2 knocked my old FL-9 off my board- the FL-9 is a very smooth analog flanger, never really did it for me. The BF-2 is perfect for me.

Very clean sound- no noise other than what you put in to it.

Boss pedals are built really well- they are tough.

Over all I love the BF-2 but I think it would not be every ones cup of tea. I love it for its slightly uncomfortable metallic-isqe qualities and I run it more subtle than your big old jet swooshes and whatnot.
I wouldn't say that it lends its self to any type of music ether.
I imagine that you'd ether love or hate the pedal.

I use it in concert with several other pedals, but I find it's a lot of fun with delay in particular.

I would replace it in a heartbeat if it was lost or stolen, one of my favorite pedals.

I would say medium for easy of use. I had to take a look at the Effects Guide from Boss to get an idea of a good starting place. It was a lot of fun tweaking the knobs and creating all those sounds.

Setup = 84 American Strat equipped w Noiseless pickups, 91 Charvel w Dimarzio Area 58 and 61 pickups, or 73 Ibanez Les Paul copy equipped with Seymour Duncans. All w gauge 10s. Crate Palomino v32 212. Connect by itself with monster cables and thru my Carl Martin Combinator 2 with George L cables. Also tested with Vox Pathfinder model v9158, Fender FM 100 head, Marshall MG 250 DFX.

Settings = no noisy. found a lot sounds good for funk, soul rhythm work, some for rock, and some for lead.

Sound = the effect sounded great and actual boosted the overall volume level. great for that swoosh and swirl, short delay, watery chorus sound, funky phase sound. I can get sounds for Maroon, Seal, Van Halen ...

Great clean or with distortion.

No issues what so ever. Gig all the time with a variety band playing all kinds of music. Its found a permanent spot on my pedalboard.

Never had to deal with Boss.

like I said, I play soul, r&b, funk, jazz, latin, latin rock, tejano, rock, and pop.

i have a bf2 mij once but i sold it after a few years, now i got one but its a mit. i think the quality differs because the knobs from mij productions are tighter than the mit prods..

if you have a really good ear, you can have various sounds from this baby.. i make it as a delay and a slight phase effect for modulation when im kinda tired of flange effect..

i have an analog flanger once, an ibanez fl9.. its a good one but it is limited to though, it limits a jet flange effect.. but the warm it produces a warm sound which a bf2 lacks.

i think boss pedals really stood up in their warranty of 5 years and more coz i owned a lot of boss pedals and theyve been with me since day 1..

just go to their website and you can get all the support you can get..
manuals and stuff..

been playing for 12 years.. been playing jazz/blues/funk/soul/rnb and rock, so i pretty much wear this baby a lot.. id probably get an analog flange effect to double the effect of bf2.. if this were stolen, id get another one.. my clean tone depends very much on flange rather than chorus so this is pedal really serves me well..

easy to install if you've got a bit of confidence with a soldering iron (practice on a old radio with some desoldering braid if you've never soldered before).

clear, easy to follow instructions and a handy tips page were included with the kit on cdrom.

the boss bf-2 only has 4 knobs, the feel of them changes (but it changes for the better).

The sound is much better after the mod. There is less noise and more depth.

I got the BF-2 on ebay for $50. I had fond memories of them from the late 80's - but it sounded nothing like I remember them (unlike the CE-2 that I got recently which is great). I'm sure they sounded the same back them but to my ears today it sounds like thay had a good reason to bring out the BF-3.

After the mod - I really like the pedal now, a huge improvement. It's great for subtle stuff. I haven't tried many other flangers so I can't actually compare it against anything else.

I'm looking forward to experimenting with this unit - I reckon that it's got lotsa potential.

I've only played for an hour or so.

But, Boss pedals are built like tanks so the reliability factor is up to you and your solering iron.

Pedal Hacker kept up good email contact and went out of their way to get the mod kit from the US to Australia.

I don't see any problem arising in the future.

A great way to spice up an old pedal.

Easy to do if you want to try your hand a pedal modding - It was my first pedal mod.

I'd say that this mod is well worth the 16 bucks and a few hours of fun with a soldering iron that it takes to make it happen.

May the Flange Be With You 2

Easy to get a variety of sounds if you put some time into it.

I use this pedal with a variety of Fender and Marshall tones, and it suits all. Avoid high gain, however.

I bought this pedal with Joy Division in mind. It nails that sound, as well as David Gilmour's tones. Sounds similar to John McGeoch's work with Magazine. Also replicates Keith Levene's Public Image Ltd. tone.

My BF-2 is one of the silver screw MIJ 1980 models. It doesn't have much external damage and it works like new. I'm probably going to pass this thing down to my grandkids.

Never had a problem.

I play experimental music, particularly influenced by the New York No Wave scene of the late 1970's. This pedal works for everything. I highly recommend it.

Easy to use and edit a few knobs is all.

The sound is OK, but heard better flangers (to my ears)- I think the Digitech Flanger is much better and with more sound options, but the Digitech pedals always push on and off too stiff (can always change the springs I know, no big deal).

Yeah built like a brick sh... well you get the point. Also they are usually very reliable electronics-wise, except sometimes the pots and jacks get a little dirty, like any pedals played in too many smoke-choking-suffocating hole in the wall "clubs".

no idea

Great tough pedal but sound isn't as good as others I've heard--to MY ears anyway. Someone else would probably worship this pedal. Couldn't they have picked a btter color like puke orange-yellow, instead of girly pink (good color for the chicks tho :D ok )

Due to the 4 knobs, and the power this gives, dialing stuff in isn't quite a simple as it could be... but there are options a-plenty...

This is a late-80's Japanese BF-2... as others have said, this has a bit of a harsh tone... but i love it! I often use it with distortion, and it sounds uber freaky... i put all the knobs at 50%... a nice square-sounding yet warm flange...

it's 20 years old... i've gigged with it tons... never a problem

an excellent flange... the MIT version was also great...

4 knobs

I have modded my Boss BF-2! I purchased an on-line book that gave me instructions, you have to change about 12 things plus I personally added a very cool purple LED instead of keeping the stock red

http://www.guitartone.net/allmods.htm

Anyway, after the mod, the flanger becomes very natural, clear, clean? sounding, your guitar tone comes through first which is great :) it kind of sounds like a flanger/chorus now, it sounds great

Well? boss is top notch so it it fails, its down to my modding skills :)

The stock pedal is good but you can mod this pedal to sound very cool :)