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 :)

4 knobs. i still dont know what the manual knob does tho...

im satisfied. if set right, sounds nice. set wrong, and its a little to twangy but then again, every pedal set wrong sounds like shit.

boss...

just a good pedal to have in your arsenal

4 knobs! simple

I bought a Guyatone fl-3 which sounds cool :) I was originally after the Boss but I heard such great reviews on the Guyatone. To be honest, I picked this up in near new conditon in a secondhand store for the weird price of 15 British pounds??! so I grabbed it! I must say, I think I prefer the sounds of this Flanger to the one Ive been using and now the Boss sites on the main board! to my ears it has a warm digital sound where the Guyatone has a more natural sound, if that makes sense? they both sound different, I like them both but the Boss fights in best with my playing. Anyway, you can hear the Boss on Blurs/Graham Coxon Albums, its used loads and thats when I first become more aware of it, check out Blurs Popscene track, the intro uses the Boss BF-2, with a high setting, its a great Flanger

Boss

This Pedal suits me great, I love its sound as found on Blur albums, its very warm. Ive plugged the Boss and the Guyatone Fl-3 in together, you can get some very warm, natural, digital, mixed up, cool sounds :)

anyway, if you dont like this pedal, please check out the Guyatone FL-3, it has its own Flang Sound, I love both pedals

It is more than adequate. Just dial it in and off we go. Get some some weird metallic tones, as any flexible flanger should do. Note: I origanlly bought this because I was unhppy with the various flange setting on my long-gone Boss ME-50- BIG IMPROVEMENT.

Mine was a Japanese model. You have just to know your flanging stuff.

Fender USA Lead 1/Ibanez Talman TC420->Boss autowah->Boss bass overdrive->Boss feedback/distortion->Yamaha Jap flanger->trem->MXR Phase 45->volume pedal->Boss EQ->Boss delay/sampler into a variety of different solid state and valve amps (mostly Fender Super 210 valve).

It's at least adequate, if not very good. I only just sold it in favour of an old Yamaha Japan flanger. No noise or distorting of existing tones, as you would expct from, especially Japanese Boss.

Boss...

Lame with customer support unless you've got a CE-1 or the first DS-1 ever made. At least they don't charge anymore for their 'manuals'.

We play indie pop and a decent flange is vital. I've been playing for 15 years. This was a good flanger- it is just that the Yamaha one (which, by the way, self-oscillates!!) suited my purposes. Excellent pedal.

It's super simple. Funny thing is that when I first got it over 10 years ago I never really tweaked crazy. I was doing the shoegaze/darkwave/cocteau-twins thing so I had it on one setting all the time. I never even knew it was analog until a few days ago.

Well, at the time it was good enough. Now I'm so used to it that other flangers sound too clean, unless they are old school analog flagers of course. It does sound very metallic and a bit harsh. Last night I opened it up just out of curiosity and tweaked the previously mentioned trim pots and *HOLY!* this pedal can sound pretty insane in da membrane! With the resonance tweak you can have awesome feedback effects, and of course controlled with the manual knob gives you super tweakability.
I will be using it with synths from now on.

I've had it for about 12 years and it still works. What else can I say...

If you sit down a few hours and really work out what each of the four knobs can do you will find loads of great sounds-everything is in there if you are patient. Manual is of limited help.

I have the MIJ version-but the MIT version is really close. It's analog so expect some noise in exchange for that rich, deep tone. The noise level is no worse than any other analog flanger. You can get everything from subtle sounds to really outrageous effects-the key is you have to work with this pedal a few hours to figure it out. It may not be quite as good as the older MXR,EH, or ADA pedals but do you really want to spend upwards of $200 for one of those when this Boss will give you what you need at a much more reasonable cost. Plus, the Boss is alot more reliable.

As the saying goes-"It's a Boss". Much more reliable than a vintage, or reissue, MXR or Electro-Harmonix.

This Boss pedal will do all the flanging sounds the majority of guitarists would ever want or need. Sure, you can say that the vintage MXRs, EH or ADA pedals give slightly better effects but do you feel like paying the outrageously high prices for those brands, and then having to worry that those pedals will work each gig. The BF-2 will do what you need, at a fraction of the cost, and is the most reliable brand around. All in all, you can't beat this flanger.

Quite a tricky one to get right, the range of effect is great, and you can really hear the flanging with the resonance all the way up, which completely overpowers everything, but sounds very cool. I have it set up on: meter 8 o'clock, depth 7.30, rate 5, resolution 8 and this gives me an almost chorus type sound, it gives it a very metallic reverb type of thing at the same time, and is very good for making your sound jump out at certain moments, like soloing.

I use an Ibanez RG custom with dimarzio evolutions at the moment through a boss cs-2 compression sustainer (which took me ages to work out how not to sound rubbish, but works really well now, is always on), an SD-1, a US Big Muff Pi, the flanger, then a Boss RV-3 (something everyone should own), into a Hiwatt DR103 and a standard 1960A. This pedal does add a slight hiss when you tread on it, but this is not really important. The effect is very strong and can be quite difficult to temper, it sticks out a lot if you're too over zealous with the depth and resonance. But if you like that, then it's cool.

Only anti-theft clamps would make it more dependable, for if it ever got nicked. I can't see it, or anything else made by Boss, ever breaking.

Bah, customer support?

I use it for heavy rock type of stuff, Isis, Mastodon, Tool, and I like it. I think it's a handy pedal for lighter stuff though, flanging is nice.

Easy to get a likeable sound.

I first bought this pedal to get a Tom Morello sound, which was easy enough. This was also the pedal Billy Corgan used on the song 'Love'. But I joined a funk/hard rock band and wanted to create my own sound with it.
This was harder than I thought, as I also have the Super Phaser and I found myself using it instead.
I was fannying around with the flanger one day and I maxed all the knobs except the Manual, which created a trippy, watery sound that perfectly suited my playing.
It may not be to everyone's tastes, but it is a big part of MY sound.

Boss.

never needed to.

it's the shizz.

This pedal took me a little bit of getting use to when I first got it 7 years ago but now I can't seem to get a bad sound out of it. Seriously you can set all the knobs at 12 o'clock and get a solid sound. Just start from there and come up with your own unique tone.

Awesome!!!! Let me just remind people one thing which is pretty obvious, great gear makes all the difference. When I first bought this pedal (was my first stomp box) I was using a crappy little Crate amp and a knockoff Strat and this pedal sound good. Now 7 years later I upgraded to a Gibson SG and a Peavey Classic 50 and let me tell you, THIS PEDAL JUST LIT UP!!!!! It's amazing how much range this pedal has and how classic it sounds. It especially goes great when I kick in a DS-1 before it for solos. I'm always rocking it on a sweet jet flanger setting. I've heard many people complain about how the pedal has a little bit of a volume boost but personally I like it. I want that flanger to stick out when I turn it on. I've tried many other flangers out before and they all have their own unique characteristics to them but this one just fits my style and looks great on my pedal board :)

Can I depend on it???? I seriously think Curt Schilling could throw this thing 95 MPH at a brick wall and it wouldn't break. Boss pedals are know for their dependability and all of mine have held up quite well to my abuse. I'm almost always play at least 3-4 gigs a month and I'm a big guy (250lbs, shut up!) and I've been jumping on them for years without any cracks or broken part. I would gig without a back up, I just don't think it'd need it. If it was lost or stolen I'd be all over a new one. 10 ALL THE WAY!!!!!!!

Never had to deal with them but I've heard good things.

Anyone looking for a classic flanger should check out this pedal. I play your general rock music (classic/hard rock), and this pedal fits in great. Sounds great all all sorts of guitars (single coil, humbuck, solid body, hollow, etc) and amps (tube and solid state). Even though it only has 4 knobs, once you get use to it the possibilities are endless. It is definatly worth checking out!!

The BF 2 is simple enough to use if you have ever used a flanger before. The knobs are common on most all brands of flangers. It took about an hour to tweak this pedal up to my setup. I use it for 2 different sounds so I bought 2 of them and never touch them now that I've set them up in their pedalboards. I have a manual which did help to setup this pedal at first. I use a Keeley Looper to turn a group of Boss pedals on and off together. 8/10 because without the manual some beginners will get frustrated and spend a lot of time tweaking until they find the sweet spot for them. A Manual for beginners is wonderful.

I was looking for a good flanger sound for David Gilmour and some 80's type tones and tried several brands and this Boss model gave me a light flanger sound without that harsh metalic grading sound like a lot of brands give you. I bought one MIJ and the other is a MIT. Unless you really listen really really close you can't tell one from the other. I had the insides checked out by a pedal guru and he said one piece was all that was different and it was on the output stage. So a lot of this MIJ vs MIT is hype. Check it out for yourself.
I use a '62 reissue Strat or a Les Paul sometimes a Tele Plus thru a Fender 2ch The Twin amp or a Soldano SLO head thru Boogie 2x12 EV12L loaded cabints. I use several other pedals in the chain: CE 2>EH 2>DM 2>RV 2>OD 1>OD 2>OS 2r>the BF 2>Klon Centaur into the amp. I use a simular setup for the second pedalboard.
I had to set the other pedals differently around the BF 2 because of the volume gain when it is on but that is normal with all Boss pedals, you just have to work with them in a chain. 10/10 because as far as flangers go this one is light and clean.

It is a Boss so it is built like a tank as most everyone agrees on.
I have two so I always have a backup.
10/10 because Boss doesn't build unreliable gear, ever!

Boss is very easy to get help with. I called and was sent to a rep. I gave the rep a message and in 3 working days I got a return email. I was told where to ship the pedal and in about a month I rec'd a new pedal. It wasn't this BF 2 but another model bought new with a switch problem but the back their products. Over 25 years of making pedals shows you they have to backup what they sell and they do.
10/10 because Boss stands behind their products and out of all 100 or so I own only one pedal needed to be replaced. All still work and some after 23 years of stomping on.

I play my own music mostly but do play some Pink Floyd and other classic rock stuff. I play a lot of jamband music. Like Gov't Mule, Widespread Panic Allman Bros. But I have been playing for over 30 years I guess so I have been thru everything from INXS to Led Zep and everything in between now. I love Blues and I love rock of all kinds. I really like classic rock guitarist like David Gilmour Jimmy Page those guys are masters at their style. If it were slolen I would replace it with the same model. I compaired it to about everything out there. I bought and sold over 12 flangers until I settled on this BF 2, remember I bought 2 of them. If does make my music better sounding. I found that this model is a light flanger in tone. It doesn't color your guitar sound. The harder you play the more it is in front of the sound. Using the volume and tone knob on your guitar really effects the way the pedal responds. The place it is put in the chain matters what sound you get so it took about an hour for each pedalboard to get it in the right place and the settings of each pedal to work well with each other. I record 99% of the time so hearing these pedals as true as I can make them is important to me. No use to record sloppy or unclean tones when all it takes is a little time and patience to work the tone out. If you use a lot of other pedals as I do each pedal reacts differently around other pedals so time is what you will need to setup everything to suit you. If you play live try to not use it with overdrives after it. If you record with it use it before the overdrives so you can control the amount of flanging going into the OD's. Live playing you should use a looper or a A/B or a A/B/C box and use 2 different effects loops not to mix the different types of effects. I am just use to running them in a chain and have spent enough time tweaking everything since all I have is time. These BF 2's sound great ao enjoy them and stop believing all this hyoe about MIJ vs MIT. It's in your guitar and hands anyway not in a Boss Taiwaneze pedal. Believe me if made in Taiwan was not up to par Boss would not have sold over 7 million pedals in a little over 25 years. MIJ stuff is over with, get over it and rock on! 9/10 because over all it is one of the best flangers for the value, it does cost a little more new than some of the other new models but for the money buy a Boss.
I am happy with both BF 2's I own, both setups sound better because the Boss BF 2 is in them. Thanks and I hope this helps you young beginners out there, for the players that don't need my opinion or don't agree it's like a ***hole, we all have one! Rock On and Peace to you all! missinmikey!

Extremely easy to use. Four knobs and it's not too hard to get at least 3 or 4 cracking sounds out of it. Didn't have a manual but you don't really need one, just plug in a get going. Excellent stuff!

Great quality. Sounds brilliant through distortion, clean, reverb, delay and chorus and alongside any other effects you want to slip in. The occassional wobble in the sound quality if you just don't have it set quite right but surely down to the ineptitude of the musician and the human error in setup.

Solid as a rock, it is a BOSS!

Never needed a thing. It's a BOSS!!

Along the Jim Dunlop Cry-Baby Wah this is the best pedal ever made. John Squire certainly agrees, check the huitar on any classic Roses tune circa-1989. Myself I cannot gig without it after initially buying it only out of curiosity following listening to the Stone Roses. Listen out for it!! - www.CensoredOnline.com

It is a highly useful great sounding pedal and an another element to any guitarist style. Although don't be tempted to overuse, you will just sound shit. If put to good use i'm sure everyone would agree this is a truly exceptional pedal!!

Four knobs, and about 2 1/2 hours to get a good sound, along with the muddiness at low res settings(Mainly in the off position). no volume drop, or spike for that matter. didn't get a manual with it.

for an analog flange it sounds pretty good. there is some noise with it (but analog is always a little noisy) Mine is MIT, and i know that ppl don't like MIT's but come on ppl even the japanese outsource work to taiwan. i use an ibanez GAX 70>>DOD Compressor>>TS7>>Ibanez DS10 Distortion>>BF2>>DD3>>Ibanez SC10 Chorus>>Boss EH2 Enhancer>>Amp.When I first bought this pedal i felt that it was kind of weak, but after finding settings on this site I was happier with it but it was still missing something. After i bought the Enhancer that's when i was finally content with the sound. the enhancer brought the sound to the forefront, very lush with just a hint of that often bitched about metallic sound. soundwise with effects 9 (nothings perfect)butwithout the enhancer i'm gonna give it a 8. P.S a compressor will bring out nice tones too, but the enhancer is my personal choice.

It's a tough pedal! i would gig without a backup.

n/a

a great but tough to set pedal, i can see why alot of ppl don't like this but for my needs (rock, metal, some alt rock)it works! if it were lost or stolen i would off the person who took it and use his head as a hood ornament, or i would just cut my losses and try to buy a new one.

To get the classic flange sound, you have to really play with the "Manual"and "Res" controls. This is not the easiest thing to do.

I'm into blues, funk, fusion and straight ahead jazz. I own about a dozen guitars and about a half dozen amps from solid state to boutique tubes.

I own a made in Japan version of this pedal, purchased new in the mid 80's. For the most part, I have never used this pedal, since classic flanging was really never my thing. Recently I decided to unload gear that I didn't use anymore and decided to fire it up one last time and made some interesting discoveries.

This first thing I noticed was this pedal produced a very respectable chorus sound. The depth of the chorus was very impressive and comparable to my Analogman Clone Chorus. The Analogman is a bit more transparent and provided more note detail, but also cost a lot more. I was pleasantly surprised.

One of the other reviewers mentioned Ernie Isley used this pedal to get his sound. So I tried to replicate this and in the process discovered I could get Santana's sound on the cut called "Taboo," from his Santana 3 LP. It's not a classic flange sound, but a rich 3 dimensional effect that was kind of a cross between a touch of slow chorus and a hint of flanging. The depth of the tone was what caught my attention.

The pedal sucked a bit of highs, but the overall effect using overdrive was very nice. I found I could pretty much replicate Ernie Isley's tone and the Santana tone mentioned above. I ended up noodling around with this for quite some time and had a lot of fun with it. In the end, I've decided to keep this pedal (at least for now).

The classic chorus sound can be had by setting the "Manual" and "Res" controls to zero and setting the Depth and Rate at approximately 12 o'clock.

To get the Ernie Isley and Santana tones from above, I set the manual between 10 and 2 o'clock, while keeping the rate and depth at approxiately 12 o'clock and the "Res" at "0."

My pedal did not cause a volume boast as some of the other reviewers had indicated. Where the pedal lacks in transparency and detail, it made up for in richness and depth in sound. Used in the context described above, this pedal is hard to beat for the money.

From day one this particular pedal had a slight problem with the on-off switch. I may have to step on the pedal a couple of times to either turn it on or off. Aside from that I'm assuming it with hold up.

Never contacted customer support.

This pedal allowed me to rediscover nostalgic sounds from the past and I'm currently having a lot of fun with it. If it was lost, I will probably not buy another. It appears there were a lot of inconsistencies in the production quality of this pedal, judging from the many comments that the pedal caused a huge jump in volume when activated. I'm keeping the pedal for the sounds I discovered and not for the clasic flange effect. For that, I'm sure there are better alternatives.

Feel free to email me if you have any questions. I've been playing guitar for over 30 years and fairly picky about my tone.

This flanger is easy to use, but getting a good sound out of it is hard. The controls have a good range of sounds - I'll miss that variety, but that's it. The sound itslef is horrid. I'm not a fan of metallic hollow sounding flange, and the BF2 is the king of metallic and hollow sounding flangers. Ick!

I was looking for an analog flange and I was warned not to get one of these, but I didn't listen to anyone's advice. I should have. Mine was a NOS made in Taiwan version. I hear that the older made in Japan's are better. I now have played both versions and should have got the Japanese one. Mine had a HUGE volume boost when switched on that made it not sit well with the rest of my band. The boost was so big that I couldn't stand practicing alone with this thing. Non-musicians even noticed that it wasn't right. I could have just used the volume knob on my guitar to counter-act the volume boost, but I shouldn't have to do that! Your pedals should not dictate your dynamics or how you play. The boost was worse with any level of gain no matter where I put it in the signal chain, what guitar used, patch cords, or amps.

I found out that I could open the pedal up and mess with the trimpots to bring it to unity gain. I could lower the volume, but it messed with the flage sweep. For two hours I slowly turned the trimpot, "V6 Bias" or whatever it was called I forgot now, and going both clockwise or counter clockwise it either turned the effect off completely or really distorted the sweep. The flange sounds best where it was factorty set at about horizontal. Adjusting the other two trimpots did not help. Besides, it should not be neccasssry to spend that much time tweaking a Boss pedal. I don't want to sacrifice the sound quality just to have a good volume level. Whatever Boss did to the circuitry this late in BF2 production was really stupid. The older ones sound better.

I have one Boss pedal. A DF2 that I got used in 1989 for maybe $30 and it is still kicking ass! If I kept the BF2 I'm sure it would provide many years of crappy sound!

Never dealt with them.

I tried really hard to like this pedal and justify keeping it. But with all the other flanger options out there it seemed a joke to keep it especially since I don't use flange often. It would just sit collecting dust. I returned this pedal and got a Rocktron Hypnotic Flange which has an Effect Level control!!!! That is something I wish the BF2 had. The Hypnotic Flange also is a warmer flanger. I thought about getting the BF3, but it's digital and I wanted an analog flanger. I have never rated any of my gear so low, but I was actually embarassed that I had this pedal.

This pedal is mysterious to me-it appears so simple to use, yet it takes a LONG TIME to get that sound you were looking for. It really does take some tweaking to get a good sound out of it; it's not one of those pedals that sounds good at every setting. But be patient, and you will probably like it.

Pretty good-it's not a deep whoosing flanger, but it has a very very nice subtle flange if that's what you're after. You can also dial in some really metallic pingy sounding stuff too. Place some fuzz in front of it and you can get a deeper sound. The speed range is very good, but I docked it two points for lacking depth, but hey, very few flangers do have a lot of depth, and this one is pretty affordable.

It's a Boss.

Very nice-for the money, you can't go wrong. It will last you forever, so that's well worth some of the money right there. It's no MXR, but it's a very nice subtle flanger that you can get some great swirly sounds out of if you monkey with it.

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it?

Hard. It's really dynamic. I actually put it away a year ago thinking it was junk. I pulled it out recently and to my chagrin have found it's quite good.

I use it to get a Frank Zappa Shut up and play type sound. (Post fuzz)I also use it clean to get an "In the metal bucket" sound and a clean double. Very effictive.

Mine came out of a pawn shop. The body is busted up and it's held together with duct tape. I gig with out back up.

This is a cool box. But I think is comes from an era when there was a need for lots of flexibility. Hence it's pretty wierd for modern (young) players who have a limited idea of what you can do with flange.

It;s a bit hard to get your head around at first but after some tweaking of knobs you get the hang of the whole thing quite easily.

I use a 1969 Stock Fender Stratocaster and an original Marshall JTM45 and the sonic possibilitys with the my setup and this pedal are amazing.
Anything from subtle tremolo, twangy morphed spaceed out sounds, chorus and even a tiny bit of delay can be had if you know how to set it. I has a bit to much volume boost when it's turned on though.

when i got if off a friend the switch woulden't stay on but this was fixed by some spray contact cleaner and it has never failed me since. And i have been using it for about 2 stage hours and 5 practice hours a week for 2 years. this pedal only needs a backup if someone dropps sumthin' really heavy on it. You cant kill it.

Never needed any CS

I play Jazz, Funk, Blues and a bit of 80's rock. This effect adds some nice depth to your sound and realy brings out your picking technique on some settings. I wish it had a volume control to adjust that boost when it's turned on.

Mine is a Green Label Made-In-Japan model about 18 years old by the serial number. Inside it has two JRC4558D's. I don't know how the chips affect the sound in this pedal but they're REALY sought after in the old Tube Screamers.

I'm always looking for more hints on cool settings for this so please email me if you have some tips!

Very easy to use. The manual is pretty good.

I'm using mostly super strats with DiMarzio super distortions, and Seymour Duncan JBs etc. at the bridge, into Marshall amps. It's not noisy because it's a Boss. Boss makes great stuff. It sounds better through a clean amp. It sounds pretty good through a distorted amp too. This effect is kind of hard to describe. It's a spacey kind of sound. It's more intense than a phaser. I sometimes add a Boss DD-5 digital delay to this effect to make it even more out there. Sometimes it sounds thunderous. I played a DOD flanger years ago and I think it sounded better. But then again that was about fourteen years ago, so who knows? I've read that Malmsteen owns one of these. And he's one of my favorite artists so I'll keep it. It's a fun effect. But I get tired of it after about fifteen minutes. My cousin heard me playing it once and said that the effect sounded like Heart.

It's a Boss. So it's reliable. No need for a backup.

I've never had to contact them. Hardly anyone ever has to. Making good reliable products is the best customer suport.

I play rock and metal type of tunes. Mostly 70s and 80s stuff. I've been playing for twenty-eight years. I own about seven electric guitars, two Marshall amps, and about seven pedals. I don't know if I'd buy another. I may though, because nothing else sounds like this. You can get all kinds of tones with this pedal. Here's what I named some of my settings: 'outer space', 'the UFO has landed', 'twelve string reverb'. 'laser guitar', 'slow space tunnel', '1950s space movie', 'flange on ice', 'space sitar', etc.. If you want a one of a kind effect, this may be what you're looking for.

This is a big problem with this pedal. It's really hard to understand the effects causeb by turning the knobs. They should give some suggestions on the manual.

I use 2 stratos (american standard and a japanese Ritchie Blackmore). I use a Marshall AVT150H, Marshall Jackhammer, Digitech Whammy, Boss Compressor, Boss super pitch shifter, Boss turbo distortion,line 6 dl4, mxr phase 90, mxr auto Q, Dunlop wha, dunlop uni-vibe, ernie ball volume pedal. I plug the pedal into a rocktron patch mate and I use anArt midi controller. This is the worst pedal i have on my pedal board by far. The effect is very poor and I've been using the phase 90 instead of this (i know that they are different monsters by the mother is the same so we can find some points in common)

No problems until now

i play rock and funk some times. If you are lookin for a real flanger you should try the new BF3. I never plaued with it but I heard a few greats souns at the roland's site.
Forget this one. Waste of time and money.

it's easy to use, once you know what kind of sound you want to get out of it...the knobs are easy to 'tune' if you know what they do,
if you don't just play with 'm and you'll figure it out fast enough!

if saw other reviews that said it has 3 trims on the inside, I haven't found 'm yet, where are they!!!if anybody knows or could make a pic. of it, please E-mail me at: outlaw_torn87@hotmail.com:

ahh.the sound...I have come to find it somewhat weaker than my PH2(which dominates over al the other effects-levels, which sucks!)
and that's a good thing, 'cause this BF2 is just 'loud' enough to get a nice mix of effects, when I use it with distortion(HM3/DS2) it still lets my distortion through!(wonder-f-u-l-l) and that's what I like, I want my distortion to remain distorted, with just a bit(or bit more!)of the effects thrown in. overall the souds is 'really' amazing, just the way i like it.
from a 'nirvana - come as you are'-intro-kinda-sound right to a 747 landing in your backyard. (from sweet melow intro's, to grunge solo's, back to blues to rocking metal)

it's a BOSS duhuh! if you break it, they'd(ROLAND) probably give you a new one just for being able to break it in the first place!(won't happen but you get the idea: indestructable and super gig-able)

read above! (I live in holland so they'd probably do nohing for me anayway...US only I think)

I play mostly metal/punk/grunge...(metallica/nirvana/korn/blink182/more crap..etc.)and as said before, it's great for all of this, I'm very pleased I'd bought it, to be honest I'd never used a flanger before and I got it second hand over Mail(so didn't test it), I played with it a bit in a shop but not excessive.) and when I finally hooked it up, I was amazed, after just a couple of minutes I got a great chorus sound, which sounded even better whith slight distortion.

if you're planning on buying it, do so. if you're not planning, get to it! :>

yeah...great pedal, really awesome!

4 control (Manual, DEpth, Rate, Regen, but become 6 if you look inside!!!). after you know what the knobs do it's quite easy to find the good setting. some people complain about the manual knobs that do nothing, this control the delay time of the effect, which is really short an inudible, but if you look inside there are 3 trim, the one left control the delay time (this is the most usefull to tweak), the one right do nothing (ecept that the effect don't effect the sound if you turn it, it's a mistery what it does), and the third one right on top controlls the maximun feedback (it's better you don't tweak it to much because you're gonna get wooshy sound/noises which are really unmusical and too strong to use with a guitar.... but for noisy peaple works...).

The sound is that of a flanger from metallic sounds too jet planes, but i like to use it for liquid chorus sound ala univibe. somethimes i use it with my Small stone and distortion for noise. nice effect

Boss are solid ones.

-boh?!?

I play a bit of all, mainly metal and heavy stuff, with some reggea/blue/jazzy stuff somethimes. i have this pedal since 5/6 year and i'm happy with it, never broke and works fine. I tried once the BF3(i was a bit curious), but the BF2 is better, analog is better than digital!!!!! I don't want to say say buy it because it sound good, buy if you like it, otherwhise try all the onther pedal you find on the marcket, it the best way to find what suits you better!

I would say easy. 4 knobs to tweak. How hard can that be? The manual is a bit vague.

Sounds average. Somewhat limited sounds. Never really cared that much for flanged sounds. I just bought it for a couple of songs we do.

Its a Boss, need I say more.

On this pedal they suck big time. My pedal has a very noticable volume boost when on. That sucks when you're on stage and kick it on and you're blowing everyone else in the band away. I contacted them about it and they wanted me to send it back. It has 3 trim pots inside and those people wouldn't tell me if one was an output level. If anyone knows, please contact me.

If it weren't for the boost it would be usable. Otherwise its for sale. Its in almost brand new condition w/box and manual. Contact me if you're interested.

I find i pretty easy to use and iam a bit simple, not reall sure what "resonannce" and "manual" do to the sound, but depth is how deep the flange is and rate is how often it flanges...
But i find it easy to get the differnt sounds that i need.

I use a warlock (double humbuckers) and a Honner panther amp, it can make some wierd alien sounds or a cool jet noise, my favourite is the chorus effect you can make, however You get this cool flange feedback, which is cool for a bit but i gets annoying.

100%

not used it

I play Punk/Ska/Metal i use it mainly to round of what iam playing, a little flange sounds good with everything. i use it with my Boss Hyperfuzz iand it makes a PHAT NOISE its a F**KING blow you bollos of sound.

Which is nice

Extremely easy to use. Plug and play action. Battery inserting process may be a bit tedious , that is what some prefer using ac adaptor.

Let me tell you guys. If you need a good flanger. look no further. The main reason I purchased this was because I discovered that Ernie Isley (from the Isley Brothers) uses one. When combined with any distortion you nail his sound . You can hear examples of his solos using this in The Isley Brothers albums "Mission to please" and "Eternal". This is also heard in Ernie Isley's rare oop cd "high wire". This pedal gives you that jet sound. Some people get flangers and phasers confused. Well this pedal will clear all confusion. With this unique sound you can easily tell the difference. If you mess around with the settings, you can get a "metallic drum" or "sitar" sound. Some people don't like the metallic sound when dealing with effects .some do. all depends on what type of music you play. I use this pedal in conjuction with a Boss DS-1 distorion and Mxr phase 90 and a Dunlop GCB crybaby. I play all these through a Johnson( made by Axl) strat through a 20 watt combo amp. In other words ....great sound.

Yes sir I can depend on it. I use it in my recordings and playing live

never dealt with boss

If you want a good flanger. get this one. you may even want to check out the never bf-3 model. Nothing in particular I don't like about this it is just that it is a lot of trouble if you are going to resolve to using a 9 volt battery. you may want to just stick to the ac adaptor

Very easy to use. There are a lot of reviews here where people give examples of settings. I started with everything at 12:00 and tweaked from there.

I already knew exactly what I was looking for, and this pedal is it. I just wanted one top quality flanger foot pedal that could get close to chorus-like tones as well as good, but not over the top flanger tones.

I didn't need the flanger tones to have the intense jet plane sound of the vomit sounds. If you want those, look elsewhere.

I can get decent chorus-like tones that work well for clean and overdrive, as well as some subtle but effective flanging, like Adam Jones' sound from TOOL.

You can dial in many other sounds, but these are the two I most commonly use. This pedal works perfectly for what I need it for.

I prefer using batteries since they tend to be quieter than AC adapters. Using a battery, this unit is very quiet through the effects loop of my Rectifier and playing on my custom Strat. I've gigged with it at very high volumes with a lot of high-gain. I've never had a noise problem. I also use high quality cables and humbuckers, which certainly helps to avoid nose.

Boss makes great stuff. I've owned a lot of their products in the past and have never had a problem.

This thing will probably be around and usuable a lot longer than I will.

Never had to call them, and can't see having to with the quality of their stuff.

I play a lot of different styles, from originals to covers in all styles. This makes the tones I need it to and can't see needing any other flanger.

Suggestion - but it used off ebay.

The BF-2, like most flangers that have four controls, is a bit tough to get around at first. I found that the best way to work it out is to set the 'Rate' control on fast, and then experiment with the interplay between the 'Depth' and 'Manual' controls. I noticed that when 'Manual' is set on low and 'Depth' about halfway, the BF-2 will give you that very strong, intense flange swirl. But when both 'Manual' and 'Depth' controls are set high, the unit will produce a more subtle, chorus-like effect. It's a bit of an unusual effect when you first plug in and experiment. It's almost like everything is backwards. But when you try it this way, you get a better understanding of its nature.

My set up is straight-forward. I run the signal from my guitar(s) through my pedalboard, straight into the amp. I set the BF-2 after my wah-wah and compressor, along with my other modulation pedals, but before the delay pedals. The box is a bit noisy, particularly when the 'Manual' control is set low and the 'Depth' control is about halfway. This is because the signal and character of the flanging effect is more intense. It produces a wavy kind of noise (a bit like listening to the ocean). Of course the noise is considerably more noticeable when combined with distortion, but like with any analogue effect, it comes with the territory. On the other hand, the BF-2 is a great little unit and it has that Boss charm about it. Some players may not be in the favour of the BF-2, opting for the early MXR, AD/A and Ibanez flangers. But you've got to remember that the BF-2 has its own unique character. I actually own an old Ibanez FL-9 Flanger and it's a fantastic-sounding box. Still, I keep the BF-2 for that different kind of flanging tone.

The BF-2 I have is an early 1980's model. It came out just after Boss changed its color from pink to purple. If anything went wrong with it, it wouldn't be hard for me to find a back-up, but I got it second-hand and it still works without the slightest glitch.

No need. It's a Boss pedal.

I play all kinds of music, because I play in cover bands. The BF-2, or any other flanger for that matter is an unusual kind of effect, so I can't really use it a hell of a lot. But wherever the spontaneous muse strikes, it's a great effect to surprise everyone with. That's the cool thing about. What I don't understand though is how so many Harmony-Central reviewers become so critically dramatic over the flanger. It's not an amp or a guitar. Just get over it, guys, shut up and play.

Very easy, no need to explain.

I got this tank (used) to use it just for screating some effects, intro, outro .. and all those other small stuffs you know. To my surprise, this one sounded far above my expectation; which was pretty low. I compared this to the yellow Ibanez FL9. The Ibanez is a bit clearer, but for the things I'm going to do with it, this will do. So I pick this one. Will put it in a true bypass loop to avoid too much tone deterioration.

Mine's used, stamped on, who knows? It still works, no clicks, no rare sound, etc. So I guess I won't need any backups for this.

Last time I contacted BOSS/Roland was in 1996 for my GT-5 (I sold this tank later). It was smooth and they updated my GT5 for free. So I guess/hope/expect they haven't change policy. No opinion for this one...

Mine's made in Japan. I saw another BF-2 which was made in Taiwan and the difference in sound is audible. Possibly because mine's used. Surely Boss makes good products in Taiwan, but it's worth trying a Japanese BOSS whenever you have the chance.

I'm surprised that there are so many unkind reviews of this pedal below, as I used a BF2 throughout the 80s when that thick chorussy sound was fashionable (thanks mostly to the guitarist in the Police). So I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents.
I find teh BF2 very easy to use, and never needed to tweak any pots inside it - in fact I didn't know there were any in there!
I find it easy to dial in any effect it will give me. Manual? Who cares?! The knobs are self-explanatory. Maybe all you chaps who can't find a sweet spot are looking for something unreasonable.
What the heck is a firmware revision number?
I've had this flanger for several years (left the one I used in the 80s in England when I moved here).

I use this pedal with all my guitars throlugh all my amps. Most usual rig is either my American Standard Tele or Les Paul DeLuxe through my old MusicMan 212 amp. The BF2 does a good job with whatever gtr/amp combination I use, though.
It's only noisy if I have the gain turned up on the amp, but then that's analogue technology, and if you dislike it, I suggest you use digital stuff with no warmth or personality.
I don't bother using the BF2 to emulate the tones other people get. I usually set it with knobs one and four at zero, and the two middle knobs anywhere I feel like it. To me, the resonance sounds ugly (someone else here calls it "metallic", well, that's how it's supposed to sound, you pillock). If I was tasteless enough to want an aircraft-landing sound, I could get it easily, but at the above settings, I get a thick, warm chorus. It helps me to get a lovely shimmering effect, perfect for the powerpop I used to play, but I don't use it so much for the blues I now play.

Like all Boss stompboxes, it's a tank. Throw it around and it'll come up smiling. It's the only flanger I'll need, so no I have no back-up, it's always dependable. Someone below said that Boss no longer makes it. Stupid gits, have they never heard the phrase, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"?

Never dealt with Boss, as the pedal is so reliable. Boss themselves have upgraded the pedal, which is okay, but discontinued the BF2, which is silly.

I've been playing for over 30 years, and used various guitars/amps, and the BF2 has sounded good with them all. I think it's a good work-horse flanger. If it was stolen, I'd try and replace it with another BF2, though if the BF3 is okay, I'd take that. I use it every week playing on the worship team at my church, but it's not suitable for my blues. I'll never get rid of it though.
Many years ago, when I first bought my previous BF2 in London, I tried out every different flanger I could find in all the music stores there, and the Boss was the cheapest AND the most versatile. It was the best quality one, too.
I can't think of anything I wish it had, as it always does what I need it to.
By the way, the helpful people at this web site have added a spellcheck option for those of you who can't spell or form a grammatically correct sentence. Please use the thing. Most of these reviews read as if they were typed by apes.

I myself do not know the effect pedal lingo. Rate-self explanatory, but the rest...? Took me awhile!
I have it on loan from a friend.

There is an extreme amount of sounds you can get from this. I am not a guitar but a keyboard player. I have a Roland XP-30 into a crappy bass Crate amp. The XP lacks a good leslie (rotary speaker) sound and me being a jazz/funk player needs one. With res and Manual at 0, and depth at 4, you can use rate to control a passible rotary/chorus sound. Rate at 5:30 is a nice fast leslie and moving it to around 3 or 4 gets a slow leslie or flange. With res up you can get wacky sounds with oscillators like a moog.


Awesome quirk:
When turning manual and playing at the same time, the pitch is detuned for a second!

Had it for afew weeks and its fine.

I like to use it to boost solos with flange and leave it running with leslie. Can do a good John Scofield Chorus. For keyboarding, stomp boxes are hard because you need to have them where your hands are for adjustments. Its a little hard to press but when tou open the top its much easier :)

Well this think has 4 knobs but its a little hard to get a sound from it if you don't know much about them. There are many sounds within it, open it up and there is more controls inside that can incress the depth etc.

I think it has a very clean flanger sound. Not to say to anyone that this thing is tame. I just mean that it's a controled sound that it doesnt clip, get distorted with too much flanging effect.
I like all the different sounds I have made it do.
Just experiment with this thing. LOOK INSIDE IT. 3 turnable things.

I havent broken it yet. I have done everything to this beast and it is still with me. For some time now the box has been yellow and it was called the Mexican Alien. Now I have painted the box purple again and re-installed the effect in the box and adjusted the sound to sound like an actuall flanger again. So I would vote this a realiable pedal, I couldnt do without it on stage.

They must have alot of free time. Who in the hell actually calls them with a problem?

What could you do without this one.
I still say it;s better then the BF-3 they have now. They shouldnt have discontinued the BF-2

Its a flange pedal, its not hard to figure out. I got mine used so it didn't come with a manual.

My setup is a Epiphone Les Paul and a Fender Hot Rod Deville 4x10.

I bought this pedal after reading the review directly below. I fiddled with this pedal a tad, and got some decent flange+chorus sounds out of it, but that wasn't really my goal. I opened it up and fiddled with the pots, and immediately tried to get the analog sine wave the guy below was talking about. Its awesome. It took me a minute or so to get it to work, and I was able to get some interesting textures out of it. This is great if you wanna add variety to your setup, cause this will definitly give you some non-guitar noises. You can control the pitch and LFO on the pedal, so if you want you can be like Johnny Greenwood and crouch down and play with your pedals on stage.

its boss, seems reliable, even after opening it.

never dealt with them

Got this pedal and it gave me exactly what I wanted, non guitar analog noise. The flange effects are really good as well, and I'll probably buy another one and leave that one alone for flange effects.

if you don't know how to adjust four knobs and figure out the impact of each knob, then you have other issues that harmony central can't resolve.

my only complaint is that it has a slight bit of noise, but, seeing that analog freaks don't mind a little randomness in their patch, i like it fine. you have NO idea. you can open this pedal, it has three or four (can't remember) pots on the board. turn the knobs all the way up, plug your guitar in and adjust the pots. you can get so much more out of this pedal if you TWEAK it correctly. you can get the res to generate an analog sine wave. you can then adjust the frequency/pitch of that sine wave with the manual adjust knob. then you can put that pitch on an lfo with the depth/rate knobs. VERY cool. i'm more of a synth geek than a guitarist, and i can make some very nice sigur-ros ambient stuff with some old boss analog pedals. this is a bonafide analog sine oscillator!

VERY cool pedal. i haven't reviewed any of my other japanese pedals because everything's already been said about them, but this one is so so nice for ambient. i'm gonna buy a second one to do stereo effects!

if you own a japanese pedal, open it up. it most likely has at least one pot. you can adjust the sensitivity of the res or rate knobs.

look at everyone else's cheesy comments.

my favorite pedal. i own over a dozen japanese, analog pedals. and this one will fuck up your sound more than ANY! did i mention it's analog?

Easy in principle: turn knobs and stop if you like the sound, but somewhat finnicky because especially the regeneration knob has a small range where the pedal sounds good.

I *had* the made in Japan version which is supposedly better than the new ones. I didn't like it very much though. This flanger is sort of weak and harmless. It sounds alright when played clean. You get chorus-like sounds and some old school vibrato which wounds interesting but simply not very exiting or versatile. It is not the most expressive flanger. It sounds more like a chorus with delay time control (see H2O by Visul Sound). I found the pedal terrible when played with distortion due to metallic highs. It is impossible to get a good "airplane" sound. You need to crank up the regeneration knob for that. Doing that will make this pedal sound like a broken reverb coil.

I believe you can depend on it but I haven't used it live, so no rating.

No idea.

I had Ibanez and MXR flangers in the past and this is the worst I've tried. I would not recommend it and would not buy it again. It's somewhat harmless but useless. If you like effects that are not too radical this might be for you. Otherwise stay away.

This pedal took me awhile to get a cool sound out of it (without the "airplane" sound going through ... even though it would sound cool in maybe 1 sonf).

I didn't get a manual with it ... I got the pedal free.

This pedal sounds geat once you get the knobs adjusted right (at least for your sound). It's not noisy.
I set my knobs like this (from left to right): 3:00; 12:00; 12:00; 9:00.

This pedal is probably close to 20 years old (I'm guessing ... It has the "Japan" label on the back) and it still works perfectly.

Great website.

A really nice flanger. Can be used as an alternate (replacement) to a chorus or phaser pedal (even though it sounds nothing like a chorus or phaser).

This pedal is difficult to get a good sound out of. The manual that came with mine (I bought it over 7 years) was useless. It did not explain any of the knobs. What the hell is "manual" anyway? Maybe alot of guitar players do know, but Boss shouldn't assume we all do. You can spend hours sitting there turning knobs with silly names, trying ot get a decent sound

When I first bought this pedal, I used it with a 40 watt Crate amp. I used it in line, and it sucked appropriately. I hardly used it. Then, a while ago I got the Peavey 5150, and ran this flanger in the effects loop. Surprise, still sucked....only it sucked LOUDER this time. And unlike many of the newer boss pedals, there is no Effect volume control. Basically, this boss flanger is the most METALLIC sounding doorstop I have ever heard. The only time I use it is to just get a weird noise or effect. I bought this pedal in order to get classic flanger effects ala Van Halen, Queen, Extreme, etc. This pedal WILL NOT GET THOSE SWEEPING JET SOUNDS. It will get, however, sweeping tin and metallic sounds. Ever put you tongue on the end of a 9 volt battery? You know that metallic taste? That is how this pedal sounds. Now I just have it to make strange noises. You could try to get a decent chorus out of this pedal, only it will sound like chorus in a tin can. Wish I could recommend a good flanger, but I've never heard any except the old MXR's, and they are EXPENSIVE, if you can even find them.

In the 7 years I have owned this pedal, it has never failed in any way. It turns on and off fine, and while the effect sucks in horrific ways, to its credit, it sucks consistantley, and without fail.

Overall, avoid this pedal. If you want a flanger that sounds tinny, metallic, digital, and fake, this is the pedal for you. Otherwise, look for an old MXR. Seriously, I'd really like to have someone post in here if they have ever heard a nice flanging pedal. I tried every suggested setting on the internet for this pedal, and they all sounded awful. My own settings sound awful. Do yourself a favor. If you want chorus, buy a Boss or other chorus pedal, don't use this one. If you want a flanger, good luck. lol.

The BF-2 Flanger is well easy to use. even on the defult setting (which is all the nobs facing upwards) it sounds nice and mellow! the manual is abit of a let down but Boss kick ass so i recomend this effects pedal

You can get loads of different effects out of this flanger! not just flanging! u can make it sound like the chip munks and all sorts. It sounds abit bollocks when you use overdrive with it but its good enuff. when you have ur amp clean....woah it sounds NICE!!!! it sounds dreamy and distant =)

haha yeah i depend on it and yeah i went to a gig with it its really reliable! wot do u expect from boss?? they r the best man

Never needed help with it

Ive been playin for 7-8 months and i play just about anything. i own a fender telecaster which gives out a warm crisp sound. personaly i reckon the strat sounds tinny and f**k but there ya go. They should change the colour coz puruple is abit gay. The bf-2 is abit of a novilty but you can get great sounds out of it. my flanger settings for the bf-2 are:Manual (pointing upwards) Depth: (Pointing upwards) Rate: pointing at 2:00 (imagen its a clock face) Res: (almost max)

Well I bought the pedal used, and without a manual.I didn't know that Roland would try to dime for $2 bucks...
I could not figure out what "Manual" or "Resonance", other than they seemed to keep some control over feedback. Maybe the instruction manual would better direct me to understand how the dials work...
However it was impossible to dial in a a nice thick 'n sweet flange.
Ping. VERY metalic flavor.
Its supposed to go: turn the knobs around until you get a good sound. Uh uh.

Very metalic and fake. I can not appreciate that which weakens me.

If I used it as much as the rest o' my shit, it would last just about forever.
But I can't stand this peice o crap. But it will still be around long after I throw it at the next Nu Metal hero.

They tried to dime me $2 to send me a manual. $2. How am I supposed to appreciate your products when I by a used one cheap to see how they are after years of work in the trenches, and you pull THIS crap !
If your TU2 Tuner pedal wasn't the best tuner box on the planet (besides acting as a power supply for other pedals) I would NEVER have a BOSS in my rig. You'd be like DOD, only you'd be around much longer...and yes sound better.

I play HARD ROCK. HARD ROCK is warm and comfy. All the other shit is crap. It is sterile and cold. And probably flanged by a Boss. I don't want to entirely diss Boss, because if they hadn't been pretty descent for so long they wouldn't be around. But this thing did not work for me. It worked against me. Be gone !

I found it actually easy to use. I just played and turned a bunch of knobs to get a cool sound. The manual did help by explaining what the knobs meant, there are four.

I have an Epiphone SG Special into a dinky Marshall CD100 amp. I have a vintage Fender amp head, but I need $500 for some amp cabinets. The Epiphone cannot sustain a note very long at all so it's extremely difficult on some solos. There is some background noise, but that is from the guitar I think. The pedal is amazing. It can sound like echo, wah, and sometimes it makes the guitar sound far away. I don't have other pedals with it because my Wah pedal broke and my overdrive isn't working either, for reasons not linked to the manufacturer. I'm not patient enough to try to get the sounds of artists. I just do my own thing. I bought it to play Sober from TOOL, but I'll have to tune my guitar from dropped C and I'm too lazy to do that now.

It's BOSS. I rely on it. I can't afford a backup, but I wouldn't get one anyway.

Never had any problems, of course I haven't had it very long at all.

I ove it and if it broke I would buy another one of the exact model, or I'd probably get the new BF-3, it's the same but better.

When I said depth in the previous review, I actually meant effect level, as in how much flange is mixed with the ORIGINAL signal, as you can quite clearly see a DEPTH control on it... :-)

Well it sure is easy to use, only 4 controls and all pretty logically laid out, but since you can't adjust the level of the Flange in the mix I personally can't tell that well.

I didn't need to test this pedal with any of my gear, just the Fender Twin and Strat in the guitar shop told me all I needed to know. It's not a good flanger. The biggest and most obvious mistake is not being able to adjust the depth of the flanger, so you have to put up with the level it's pre-set to.

The actual flanger sound is okay, not particularly awe-inspiring as the DOD FX-747 can be when set up right. The controls allow accurate shaping of the sound, it's a shame the sound isn't that good.

It's just a weak pedal, thats all. It's the worst flanger I've ever tried (out of about 4 including the one the the GT-3 Multi-FX, the Danelectro Hash Browns) and it's also the worst Boss stompbox I've used out of at least 15 I've tried. It's odd that Boss could get it so wrong on a pedal, but do a much better (not perfect but better) job on the GT-3.

It's up to Boss' usual high standard of production. A friend of mine recently picked up an original OD-1 - 25 years old and dented and stained, but it still works. I think the same is true here.

Personally though I wouldn't be bothered if it broke or not.

Never needed to deal with them, despite owning 4/5 of their stompboxes and a GT-3 Multi FX. They're said to be good though, in most cases.

I've been playing guitar for around 5 years now, and I personally really like using effects other than overdrive or distortion every now and again to add texture to a song. As such I would say I've got an ear for it.

If I had bought this I would have been very disappointed. If I had bought it and someone stole it, the actual loss of the pedal wouldn't bother me. The money I lost would though. Then again, if I'm stupid enough to buy it and someone is stupid enough to steal it...

I know a lot of people love this pedal, but when I can only vaguely hear the sound it makes over the original sound I don't see the point of it. Save yourself some money and buy another Flanger that isn't this one.

i use flangers for that mellow, swirly, detuned sound a la the cure and tool. to achieve this, i put the flanger before distortion (ie. not in FX loop). after that it's just a matter of playing with dials.

i can't give it a 10 because the manual does not explain the "manual" knob very well and to this day i still don't know what it does. no biggy though, because it serves it's purpose

here's my setup:

epi lp/yamaha tele/fender strat->boss dual overdrive-->boss flanger-->boss dd-5-->boss EQ-->marshall AVT 150.

this pedal is very noisy when left on when you're not playing if you are playing anything other than clean stuff because it's flanging your dead air. have only ever used this flanger though, so i don't know how common that is.

this pedal is great at achieving everything from that ear-splitting shriek that adam jones from tool uses to that mellow, ethereal swirling a la the cure. i don't even have to change the settings to achieve the different sounds, just my level of distortion. because it's before distortion, the sound you're getting is really a function of how much gain your using

boss...need i say more?

never dealt with customer support

i guess you could say i play "art rock" but more on the heavy side like a perfect circle, tool with a bit of the cure.

if stolen i would replace it in a second.
a great pedal.

I think most people don't realize it makes all the differance in the world where you place this flanger in the effects line.

Place this flanger between the guitar and the overdrive and one gets a nice mellow flange.

Put it between the overdrive and the amp and the flange becomes much more extreme.

I personnally like the flanger between the guitar and overdrive.

I know, I know, Boss catalogs show the flanger after the overdrive. I guess they wanted to make sure you could hear it!

If you like flange you will like the BF-2.

I get a great Robin Trower sound with this pedal.

It's real quiet too. Anyone who complains of noise probably has their distortion turned up to high or their guitar needs help.

Turn your guitar volume off and your distortion off and see if you still have noise.

I've been stomping on my BF-2 for 20 years and not one problem. Does that classify it as reliable?
As far as my other Boss pedals go...yes, the jacks get lose sometimes and the rubber switch grommet deteriorates away. Sometimes the footswitches need replacement. Still I can't think of anything more reliable that I have ever owned. Maybe a wall clock but I don't step on that thousands of times or throw it in to the back of my van on a regular basis.

Never needed these guys even after owning over 20 pedals for over 20 years

If I lost it I would buy another.

it's not bad, you really have to work at the knobs to get it right, not great for a straight out of the box thing. but once you egt the hang of it it's easy enough, the manual helps.

I'm playing this with a cheap strat knockoff with Fender '63 single coil pickups in neck and mid, and a DiMarzio PAF humbucker in the bridge. I'm also using a Dunlop wah with my marshall VS30R. I'm not really huge on flange, but it has it's uses, this one was a little weak and metallic for me. Soemtiems it's very overpowering on your sound, depending on what that may be, for me, that's a lot of stuff, rock, alternative, jazz, blues, anything that tickles my fancy at the moment. For a sixties, psychadelia-type feel, this IS NOT A GOOD PEDAL, it's better suited for a more "nu-metal" sound, which I a not into. I like my danelectro A LOT better, even Digitech's RP-300 flange is better with the right tweaks (but thats a whole separate review, comign soon)

it's a boss, ive kicked this thign around, it's fallen off a six foot stage, its even gone down a flight of stairs and it's still just like the day i bought it. i would use it without backup if it was my primary flanger, but I use my danelectro over this live.

never needed it, but i dont like the website

It's a great buy if you want a sterile, metallic flanger, but if you're like me, and into more sweeping, soft flange, then go out and BUY A DANELECTRO!!!!!!! the danelectro was a much better deal and i got it for fifteen bucks less, but I still use this sucker from time to time because I would hate to waste $105 on somethign i dont use.

This Boss Bf-2 Flanger is NOT all that easy to use. The manual didn't really halp explain to me what the different knobs do, but i kinda figured it out. I also have looked on the web for patches which help a lot, easier then finding sertant sounds myself. Maybe I'm just really dumb, but it takes a lot of expirementing to get a grasp of this thing.

I use a Fender Mex. Strat w/'74 american pickups (for clean) or a Fernandes Rev. Pro (for dist.) into the Bf-2 Flanger into a Dunlop 535 CryBaby Wah into a Boss OS-2 Overdrive/Dist. (the DS-1 SUCKS) into a Mesa Boogie (Caliber something i think). I got it because i wanted to get really strong chorus sounds but also be able to get Eddy VanHalen finger-tapping flanging sounds. This does NOT get any sort of Eddy sound at all! It's alittle too fast and sounds kinda "distant" to me. It does get good chorus sounds though, better than Boss chorus pedals if u ask me. It's so versital -> it's amazing. It also sounds awsome on bass! I do really like this pedal and can get amazing/ORIGINAL sounds out of it and it's not really noisy (only when i have the OS-2 on it "swooshes" the feedback).

It's Boss!

Don't know yet.

I play a lot of hardcore/speed metal and classic rock, some funk. This pedal is good when playing clean arpegios and fast distorted riffs, It shouldn't be used a all the time though - or it's just too much. I would replace this pedal if it were stolen but i'd get it used off ebay only, or try out the BF-3. Overall, this pedal has become apart of my sound and i use it when ever i can, it's better then buying just a chorus pedal. Also, It's not really a good "classic" Flanging sound, but a nu-metal sound.

Easy to use, except if you're trying to re-create a specific sound. The controls tend to affect one another and it takes quite a bit of tweaking to really get it right.

Unlike most BF-2's out there, this one was used with synthesisers, especially with digital ones which lacked internal effects. An analogue pedal like this can spice up the sound very well, though the BF-2 is perhaps not the best choice for this.

Even on light settings, you can tell that the flanger is doing its job and it can emulate a "filter sweep" effect very well. On the downside, it is quite noisy and it colours the sound considerably. Things can get problematic if you have to switch it on or off somewhere in the middle - the change in level of the sound is very noticeable and abrupt.

Very good. Never had any problems with it and it performed flawlessly.

I haven't dealt with Boss/Roland regarding the BF-2, but they Slovenian branch is generally very helpful and knowledgeable.

The BF-2 does breathe life into boring, sterile sounds, but not quite enough to justify its presence in my set-up. For an analogue pedal, it sounds surprisingly cold and uninspiring. Also, the flanging rate wasn't slow enough for me. This is why I sold it after nine months. It did make it on some of my songs - please e-mail me at "sartre@siol.net" to hear it in action.

easy to get the hang of, just turn the knobs til you find what you want.

i use a gordon-smith sg> ds1>phaser/flanger>50top head. i play heavy dirt-rock (sabbath/stooges). i like to keep it simple and play loud. i bought this pedal cos i love my ds1 so much, i figured boss are pretty much the business. im afraid i found this pedal pretty dissappointing, especially after i tried a danelectro hash-browns and compared the two. i dig phase more than flange really, but this pedal dissappoints on two levels: it colours your sound , and its very processed-sounding.

totally relaible, it's a boss.

never dealt with them

i guess it depends what you are after, and if nu-metal is your thing then this probably is a decent flanger. i just found it really sterile sounding, with a nasty metallic edge. i'm looking for smooth analogue swoosh sounds (which i have found with my old Ross phaser), and this just doesnt cut it. i tried a boss phaser too, and i have the same complaints about it too. even my #20 dano flanger sounds better than this!!! i suggest you shop around before going for this pedal, it just wasnt for me.

4 knobs, fairly eay to get a good sound. Just mess with it for a little bit and you're set.

OK sounding flanger. I'm not too big on flanger, but it did its job. I played this through either a Boss DS-1 or an 80s ProCo Rat. It sounded pretty good with them. The only problem was that this pedal was noisy, even with humbuckers (mustang w/ JB jr). The flange is definately NOT weak; however, it was a bit too much. No matter how I adjusted the level, the flange seemed to overpower my sound when I didnt want it to.

An atmoic bomb could go off and all that would be left would be everyones' Boss pedals and roaches.

Never dealt with Roland/Boss

If you're looking for a pretty good flanger, this is fine. I got this one cause it was fairly cheap. I sold this pedal months ago, because it ended up collecting dust. If someone had stole it (or if I wanted another flange), I'd probably look at some other companies like Electro-Harmonix or MXR.

quite simple., versatile & fun.

Quite versatile. Thinking about running two with 2 different sounds preset on it, so i dont' have to bend over & change knobs from song to song. not really "transparent".

this is why i'm posting! PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THAT I BROKE A BOSS PEDAL! I STOMPED IT SO HARD IN A BOUNCE/JUMP AT A GIG THAT ONE OF THE SCREWS FLEW OUT OF THE COVER PLATE ON THE LEFT SIDE & THE COVER FELL IN, CRUSHING THE SWITCH INSIDE! BUILT LIKE A TANK? MY 150LB ASS BUSTED IT! of course, it lasted for like 5 years first.... i'll just replace it soon.

n/a

Four knobs... Only difficult if you dont know what to do with a flanger... The knobs have weird names, but if you look in the instructions it explains it to you well, and you can dial in any flange sound you want with it...

Im playing a Gibson SG Special into a Peavey Revolution 112... seriously, you can make any sound you want with this pedal, but I bought it in search of the sound Adam Jones from Tool gets, and it took me about 5 minutes flat to figure it out... also a great bass pedal...

You could take a hammer to this thing, then throw it out your window and drive over it in a MAC truck, and then plug it back in, and chances are, it will sound as good, or better... Boss Pedals are built to last...

For any style of music that uses flange sounds, this pedal will do the job... I would absolutely replace this if anything happened to it... The only pedals I can really compare it to out of experience are the Ibanez Chorus/Flange, which is a great pedal, but the Boss BLOWS IT AWAY... UNQUESTIONED... GET A BOSS FLANGER NOW

Easy as anything else

Good in a word, but the main point of this review is to enlighten people to the fact you can tweak plastic screws inside of the flanger, find the bit marked resonance and tweak it and you will find sounds you have not heard, increase it too much and you'll just get wild feedback, this must be the case with one of the reviewers who said this was happening, ther are two other plastic tweakables I think one does gain; anyway I've had fun experimenting, I stupidly didn't remember the original settings when I first started tampering, so the bf2 stayed "broken" "out of control sounding" on a shelf for a while, but today I fiddled with it to get it back to its original state, the results are that it doesn't sound like it did from the box, it sounds better: I can now get this cool sitar effect as well as the good flange, wild vibrato, chorus sounds, it doesn't add any gain when its on and the bass stays the same. all in all I recommend that you also fiddle with the bf2 if it sounds a bit tame and you can customize your pedal.
I'll give it a 8 for its bossness; mxr,ehx good analog flangers are always going to sound best

I trust this pedal, I tell it everything about myself,

never had the pleasure

8 on a 10 scale, which is good enough for anybody

It was kind of difficult for me to find an actual sound out of the pedal that i liked, but when i did, it was a great one. four knobs: Manual, Depth, Rate, and Resonance. I have the Manual around 53%, the Depth around 30%, the Rate around 80%, and the Resonance around 47%.

It's a great flange, but the only complaint i have with this pedal is that when it's on, the volume is noticably increased. I'm not sure of how to solve this problem, without using my volume pedal anyway, and that's kind of a pain. I'm looking foward to the release of the new BOSS BF-3 Flanger. For those who don't know about that, it has all of the same knobs except a mode knob, with 4 modes, including a standard mode, which i'm assuming would be the same as the BF-2 flange. The BF-3 has a tap tempo feature too, which i'm looking foward to, and hopefully BOSS has fixed the whole volume thing, but who knows? I can't complain much anyway, especially with how much i use the pedal...

what else is there to say?

I've heard them get bashed a lot from many many people, but they were pretty helpful to me when i called about the operation specs on some pedals i don't yet have on several occassions. I assume they're pretty crappy with other aspects of customer services, since about everyone else who's talked to them will disagree with me, but here's the way i see it: if i made it a point to make pedals as reliable as BOSS makes theirs, and i spent my time making them with the quality that BOSS does, i wouldn't spend too much time worried about the three that do break out of the thousands and thousands made. I would rather have a reliable pedal that will close-to-never die and talk to a wall than have a pedal that would break down and have customer service console me about the money i wasted. Anyway, they've helped me for what i needed them for, so there you have it.

It's a great flanger, but the only complaint i have with it is the volume change when it's on, like i said above. Hopefully with the release of the BF-3 the volume problem will be fixed, along with other little things to tool around with.

Flangers kick ass. All kinds of sounds can be made by fiddling with the knobs. No matter how you set it it sounds cool.

I use a Peavey Fury Bass, this BF-2, sometimes a Boss DS-2, and then my Peavey TKO 115 amp. Sounds great with my bass, especially with the distortion going. Does not destroy the low end as some boxes do. Also has a wide range of sounds: flanger, phaser, vibrato, and something that sounds kinda like a crappy chorus pedal.

This is a Boss. End of story.

? Never dealt with them, never will need to.

This is a fun pedal to just mess around with, and can [and will] find its way into any type of music you play. I set it to sort of a vibrato and play "Bullet with butterfly wings", then I move it on over to the flange for "Come As You Are" and i can use it on any song and it sounds awesome. Would i buy it again? Hell yes. I'd like to have two, one to put on display and one to totally stomp the crap out of. Don't spend that check from Grandma on GI Joes, go out and get you a BF-2. Right now.

It's a stomp-box flanger, how damn difficult can it be!

Seriously, same controls as any other flanger out there. For those of you who have written in about the "RES" knob, it's regeneration. The more clock-wise you turn the more intens the down-sweep is.

The B-F2 I have; my wife bought it as a X-mas present for me on Ebay for $45. So there was no manual. But anybody with half a musical ear should be able to dial great flange tones in time without the manual.

I found that the less regeneration turned in, the more useable and musical the sound

I think it's one of much better stomp box flangers on the market. (once again, mines a japanese made unit that's probably 10 years old.)

Most of the tones are very useable and don't suck the tone from your guitar. I'm able to nail the tone Robin Trower used on "A Little Bit of Sympathy" running my strat plus through a Tech21 XXL distortion into my BF-2 flanger into a Peavy classic 50.

The reason I did not give this a 10 is because I used to own a late 70's MXR grey flanger. The Boss was close on some sounds, but fell shy on the leslie/univibe thang. The MXR was also a little deeper sounding.

I had a cat piss on my old Boss CH-3 chorus a couple of times at the old gig house. It still worked great (never did get rid of the smell though). And having freinds drunkenly help you tear down at the end of the night and drop your pedal board down a flight of steps onto concrete.....the Boss's survived for the next night.

Never tried

Overall this is as good as flanger as you can get for under a couple hundred bucks, including analog rack mount. The reissue MXR grey flangers are an embarresment to the vintage 70's units. That's kind of what it boils down to for most of us...$45-$80 for a flanger that works great and sounds really good or $175-$250 (depending on the market) for a original MXR grey box.

In recently disbanded group of 10 years, we did everrything from Collective soul and Nirvana to the Beatles and STP plus originals and I know from some of the situations we got into, you don't want to take vintage gear onto postage stamp sized stages where drunks want to REALLY get involved with your music.

Tell you what, with the extra $130 bucks saved, I bought a 1980 DOD 690 stereo analog chorus (yummy!!!!) 20 pack of CD-R's and two cases of Killian's Red and had a hell of a good time!

If you can't figure it out...you shouldn't be allowed to drive a car.

Put it after your distortion and it is amazing. If you don't think it has a good sound, it is just hard to believe. Also if you think it is "noisy" go play with your digital "effects" which are whisper quiet, but are a joke to listed to. This is the real deal. I run Metal Zone to Flanger to Tremolo to Super Phaser to Chorus to GE-7 to DD-5 to Tu-2 and it is the best pedal setup ever. My amp is a Crate VC-50, which is also an amazing amp. For all the people who are like Crate sucks...play a VC-50 and tell me how sweet the clean is (which is all you need to base you pedal collection on). The tube distortion is sweet as well, it just growl like a Marshall. This pedal is amazing!

BOSS enough said

N/A

Like I said before it is an awesome flanger. I read the reviews for this pedal and a whole bunch of wankers were bad mouthing this pedal...I just don't understand how you couldn't rank this perfect. So that is my opinion...I'm pretty opinionated about this topic, Sorry if I offended anyone with my remarks.

A bit difficult if you are not experienced with Flangers because you don't really know what to do with the knobs, but if you think plainly, its just four regular knobs....so its fairly easy, specially if you have experience in flangers!

This is kinda funny...I have a Profile PLus (whatever company that is! I've never heard of em before) flanger i bought at a pawn shop, and the boss flanger. they have the exact same four knobs, and the profile flanger is almost exactly sounding, except its a bit better!!
Thats all i need to say! But I will also note that there is a fair amount of background noise which i experience with most of my boss pedals and it just doesn't cut the sound hard enough with my amp cranked in overdrive to give me the sound i'm looking for, and i'm even one of those tone freak assholes! for a flanger and its price, its good for the average player. Maybe...

A freakin' tank!

I've never dealt with them.

I sold it yesterday for twice as much as i bought it for. So take that whatever stupid fuck bought it....*shivers*

Fairly easy to use, it 4 knobs.

To be honest I expected more from boss. It has a very sterile digtal sound to it. It lacks that warmth that I love so much. What it does do it does okay though, it is a bit noisy however.

It's a boss, I could throw this thing a a window andit would still be okay.

It all I would not buy it again, ever. For my money the EH small clone is way better, I mean way better.

cant get much simpler than stepping on it....four knobs isn'trocket science........i use this all the time manual-all the way up, rate and depth at 12:00, and res all the way down

it does great for the sound i want, i use an gibson sg through a mesa boogie dual rectifier, it colors my tone without distorting my whole signal, it is also noiseless no hum feedback etc.....sounds good with the metal zone i use and the amp distortion........only critique i can give is that you really can't get to many different sounds for it, it is great for one or two effects and really nice clean or distorted, but if you mess with the knobs to much you can get some really sillyass sounds

10 10 10 10 10
boss is my lifeline, its a tank, if i lost this pedal 20 times i would buy it 21 times, never had a problem

boss has customer support?.....never even thought of it

i play in an emorock band and it is great, i could see using it with any music, my best friend plays music in his church and he uses one, pedal is a must

Pretty good pedal.. you can get some wierd sounds from it.. not as many as i wanted but it works ok. The Manual and Res knobs threw me off for a while..

ehh.. i bought this think for kind of an incubus sound but soon after realized i needed a phaser.. one of the things i noticed was that the flanger doesnt take up the whole tone.. phasers take up the whole tone.. which (unlike many guitarists..) i like..

Boss pedals are like black boxes on planes..

never had to mess with boss

i tihnk ill give this thing a 7.. its not really what i wanted but i found something i liked

Easy as other boss pedals, which is pretty easy, it has manual (pretty much useless unless the depth is less than 10) depth, rate, and resonance. you can get anything from jetplane to chourus to tremolo sounds

les paul copy>ds-2>bf-2>peavey blazer
sounds really good, unles you hook it up before the distortion, then you can hardly tell there's a flanger there, sounds amazing after the distortion

it's a boss pedal, so obviously it's pretty tough.

i bought it used off ebay, i haven;t had any problems with it though

it's good for tons of different sounds as i've said above

Single effect with knobs not too hard to learn if you don't have a brain, got a brain forget the manual.

Great it added some awsome color to my tone. Then when it is before my IbanezPDD1 it really shows through it is awsome... I can get about 12 dectitive sounds out of it so it is awsome, but remember most effects work in combination with others... and it shows with this flange pedal... some flange pedals try to do it all and lose there sound and tone. It is just hard with analog knobs to dial that perfect sound after the knobs are bumbed around.

ITs boss any more said is a waste of typin.

Never dealt with it.

Great addition added to my arsenal of SOUND... and if you buy boss you aren't wasting your money unless the pedal is under 40 bucks new. I enjoy it with my new setup and people say I sound smoother and less chunky.

Easy to use. 4 knobs, usual flanger deal. Manual is useless - tells me exactly what I already know about stomp box pedals.

It's weird. At low, bedroom - level noises I can get a great many sounds out of it, such as the jet-plane flange sound, chorus (and yes there are good chorus sounds to be had, with or without warble), vibrato and some crazy metal-pole type sounds that are basically useless. However when I turn my amp up to gigging volumes, the effect is not heard at all on the distortion channel - even with the gain down. However it is still heard on the clean channel. My setup is Gibson Les Paul w/ Seymour Duncan JB in the Bridge -> Boss Tu-2 Chromatic Tuner -> Dunlop Crybaby 95Q -> Marshall AVT 50. In the effects loop is the Boss Bf-2 -> Boss Ge-7. If anyone can help me with why I can't hear the flange effect on the distortion channel it would be greatly appreciated. Email me at jameznp@bigpond.com

Yeah, it's a boss. I have an AC adaptor though, they chew batteries fast.

Never had to deal with them.

Overall I think it would be great if it would work when I turn my amp up! At lower levels it really sounds great and I can use it for many songs (I am in a cover band), especially Tool songs, Adam practically never turns his flanger off!... Hopefully someone can email me or reply here as to why I can't hear my flanger at louder volumes. I've seen many bands live with flanger pedals that can be heard even at stadium volumes, so it seems weird. :(

very easy to use adds a nice color to the tone when used with lower settings

I bought is used and if it is moved too much or if it isn't hit just right will send a pop signal to my amp...very scratchy also

not totaly reliable due to its condition I bought is used and if it is moved too much or if it isn't hit just right will send a pop signal to my amp...very scratchy also

it only has 4 knobs but It took me a while to find a sound i wanted

when I first got this pedal I thought it was pretty good, but that is because I had not used many other flanger pedals. it makes alot of background noise but it is not so bad, the thing that bothers me is that fact that no matter how much i tweak the knobs the flange sound is always so weak, at times the background noise is lounder.

Manual. Forget what people have said about "delays" and junk. A flange is not a delay with "extra" controls. Consider this, your flanger travels across the frequency spectrum. It goes back and forth. The manual knob is used in conjuntion with the depth knob. The depth controls how far along the spectrum the flange will travel, and the manual is the origin, or starting point of the spectrum. Put it in the middle, and the frequency will travel evenly from either side of the center of the spectrum. Just thought I'd clear this up. This is not a delay, it doesnt sound like a delay, it bears no reminence to a delay. Get this if you want a flanger, get a delay if you want a delay.

Its a great pedal, but some punk rockers understandably can't figure out what the controls do. Don't buy something if you don't know what it does.

quite simple, although i still dunno what depth and manual do, but after messing about you get the idea

people say that it's too electronic but i dont agree....i bought an adapter which increased the sound quality loads and i always stick it in the effects loop. you get a cool wooshing sound and you can also get some cool robot stuff, which is probably quite useless but cool nonetheless

ok i spose, it used to cut out a bit but i do stamp on it a lot

dunno

if it got lost i might look into an ibanez flanger....something with more of a whoosh,...a bit deeper, but as it stands i like it, it could be a bit more versatile but it has a good sound

A BOSS classic here. No wonder they haven't made any reissues of it--it's perfect the way it is. Easy to use, just as any boss pedal is. Only confusion might be understanding exactly what the "manual" knob is for. Well, the instruction manual says that it "controls sound delay." To shorten the delay, turn the knob clockwise to shorten the delay, counter clockwise to make it longer. For all of you who are confused by this talk of "delay"--know that a flanger pedal is basically a delay pedal with a few extra controls. The manual that comes with the pedal is good, although I think it would've been nice for BOSS to go into more depth as to what the manual knob is for.

Sound quality.... being as how I only paid 35 dollars for this pedal (God bless Ebay), the quality is GREAT! And if I would've paid 100 dollars, I'd be saying the same thing. They key to a great pedal is its versatility. How many different types of sounds can you get from the pedal? Well, you can get metallic sounds, robotic sounds, classic flanging sounds, chorus sounds, feedback sounds.... all from this single pedal. That to me is enough to earn this baby a 10 for this category. Drawback--it is a big noisey. I play a Roadhouse Strat, but even with two single coils selected at the same time, I still hear noise. But.. what do you expect... it's not a freakin' rack unit. For all you Smashing Pumpkins fans out there, to get the flanging sound used in "Love"--Manual: MAX, Depth: MAX, Rate: 10 o'clock, Res: 12 o'clock.

It's a BOSS... very reliable, as always. I bought it used for 35 dollars. This one was made in Japan, and I hear that the Japan models (for all BOSS pedals) sound much better than the Taiwan made pedals. I'll have to gig without a backup for it, since I don't think I could very easily find another Japan-made flanger pedal. But yes, I can definitely depend on this pedal.

I've dealt with BOSS once--to request a manual for the retired PSM-5 Power Supply/Master Switch pedal. They were fast and friendly, and I wouldn't hesitate to call them again.

I play mostly rock and blues music, but I'm a pedal freak and I always love to welcome a new pedal to my family. Only weird thing about this pedal is that with a typical jet plane type setting, if you turn the res to max, when the sound of the flanger dips, you get a REALLY weird overtone that comes out of nowhere, gets pretty loud.. then goes away as the flanger sound rises again. It sounds very dry.. very plain. You can hear it best if you run distortion BEFORE the flanger. That's another thing.. anyone who runs their distortion after this pedal is an idiot. This is one of those cases where you had DAMN WELL BETTER use your effects loop on your amp! The difference is incredible! : )

Four controls: Manual, Depth, Rate, and Res. I've been playing guitar for about 15 years, about 12 with a Flanger, and I still don't know what the controls mean. Maybe I'm just an idiot. I know how to adjust them to get the sounds I want, but I don't know what "Manual" means or what "Res" means. Are you suppossed to turn the Manual knob WHILE playing? It's not hard to get a good sound by playing with the knobs, but I never did and maybe never will know what they mean. I should note that I never had a manual since I got it used.

OK, for the sound, this is a great Flanger, and I would expect that from Boss. My set up is: 1983 Kramer Pacer> DOD Tuna> Crybaby Wah> Boss CS-1> Ibanez TS10> Boss BF-2> Boss HM-2> Fender Princeton Chorus. Ther is no "extra" unwanted noise with the Boss Flanger- but there IS that constant swooshing background noise common to all Flangers I have ever heard. If the pedal is on, you KNOW it's ON. Flangers are very cool effects, but not to be over used. The BF-2 is an excellent Flanger.

It's a Boss pedal. I'm sure if it was run over by a moster truck it would be fine. I think the government uses Boss pedals for nuclear missle target practice because they can use the pedals again.

Never dealt with Boss or Roland. Their website stinks.

I play a lot of "classic" rock (Led Zep, Beatles, Steely Dan, anything 70's) plus some hard core (Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat, Misfits) and other "rock (Van Halen, The Cars, Kiss). The Flanger is a very specific sound- you only use it in cover tunes if it's in the original. It is not a subtle effect! Use it on the beginning of "And The Cradle Will Rock." Use it during the solo for "Calling Doctor Love." Use it on your originals. Easy to get that famous Flanger airplane swooshing sound. I like the sound you can get like an incoming bomb or a plane diving on a cartoon. Neeeerrrrrrrooooommmmm. I use my BF-2 BEFORE my distortion but AFTER my Tubescreamer. I always hear people putting the Flanger last in their effects line, but I have found the sound to be much better when the Flanger is before my distortion.
I got my Boss BF-2 in a trade. Are you ready for this???-- I traded my vintage 70's MXR Flanger for the Boss. Remember the MXRs with the cord attached? I didn't know at the time that the MXR was so desirable. BUT, I think the Boss is almost, if not just as good as the MXR was. OK, it's almost as good. The MXR had the same four control knobs and I didn't understand them either. If the MXR Flanger is a "10" then the Boss BF-2 is a solid "9." If something happened to my BF-2, I would get another one without hesitation.

This is a very easy to use Flanger. To get a good sound out of it all you really have to do is put every knob at about 12 o'clock.

I currently run a Jackson Concept JDR-94 (Performer PS-4) and a Peavey Ultra Plus with this pedal. I don't use it much on the distortion channel because it makes me lose a bit of clarity, but it sounds great on the clean. a really neat feature on this pedal is if you turn down both the end knobs it turns in to a chorus pedal with a hint of swirl. It has an amazingly low amount of noise when i'm not playing.

I definetely say I can depend on this pedal. Boss is known for building long-lasting take-alot-of-abuse pedals. The switches in these things just don't wear out. It is definetely very trustworthy.

Never had to. Has anybody?

I play alot of metal with clean parts in the middle. This pedal is great for the clean parts and since the clean on my amp sounds like crap it definetely makes it sound better. I did at one point have an MXR Flanger, but it doesn't sound as good as this one does. I think MXR invented the Flanger. Thats pretty pathetic when another compan makes a copy of your product and does it better than you do. If you're looking for a Flanger, get this one.

fairly easy to use, only 4 knobs - rate (easy), depth (easy), res (hard), manual (hard), but with just a little perseverance you can get an alright sound out of this unit

i play my fender am. std. strat or tele >> dunlop wah >> RAT 2 >> BF-2 >> Jackson jx-2 preamp >> crate GFX-65. This unit is fairly noisy, you will always hear this very metallic "woosh" in the background. With this flanger, it's all or nothing, hard to get a setting where it's there, adding color and flavor to your sound without the flanging noise being dominant (i.e. you can't really tell what notes you're playing) this unit can also cause your rig to feedback at INSANELY low volumes, with no distortion or anything, which can be good or bad, depending on what you're into. For general purpose playing, however, this pedal is mostly useless

its dependable, just be sure not to get the battery cord caught in the spring

i would not gig without a backup

I play ambient/noise stuff, with a good dose of power pop and grunge on the side. The pedal works well for the noise, badly for the grunge, and worse for the pop. If it were lost, i would probably not buy another. I would not recommend this pedal for 95% of guitarists, for the simple fact that it will probably not complement your style at all

There are a lot of possibility with this pedal so it's not always easy to find the sound we're looking for...I still don't have understood the use ofr the "manual" setting

I use an Epiphone Les Paul standard and a HS 59 from Hohner, plug into a Hot Rot Deville 212 from fender.You can obtain a light flanger which is great for clean sound but you can have a jet plane sound if you put your distortion BEFORE the flanger.The flanger is not really good with distortion if you don't putv the distortion before it...But at all, it's a good pedal...Try to use it with a tremolo....

Really usefull for some kind of songs...

easy to screw around with, the manual feature is stupid and useless. who can hit strings and move the control at this time??? not me, so i find it useless.

Ok i had a real nice review for this and now i use it and im like"oh my god turn it off turn it off!!!the noise it hurts!"Clean its awesome but when my distortions on the buzz this thing adds is nuts!! i always used low volumes but now im in a band and the screech at high levels is attack-style.Plus it tends to add to much color, not a "heres my tone flanged" but a "heres my tone -3 flanged" type a thing.So now i think that this thing is extremely overatted, and i think the actual notes coming through the flange is very low, all i hear is wooshing with my note behind it.ill go back to phasers, i love them.this is a bad example of a flanger, i was so dissapointed to have allthis good DOD GEAR,THAT ADDED SO LITTLE NOISE and then hear a boss which is supposedly the best a company can create and have it make me almost blush in embarrasment when i turned it on.wow thats funny that people hate dod but when played live i found them on top.hah.mainstream companys, just like bands, suck.

its a boss ts a tank blah blah whatever.yes i can depend on it, but why depend on something to add feedback?

play it clean hell its awesome, play distortion and bang!! your band members wanna kill u.its allright ut sadly overrated.

It's not quite as self-explanatory as your average distortion pedal, but it's still far from daunting. I got it without a manual, and within one hour of playing with it, I had figured out how every knob works, and I was jotting down my own custom presets in no time. Getting a good sound is not hard, but you may need to play with it a bit if you're looking for one particular sound.

I play a Hamer Slammer (w/ Duncan pickups in the neck and bridge), plugged into a Vox wah, and into my Tech 21 Trademark 60 amp, and I run the BF-2 in the effects loop. When it's off, there's no tone drain, but a flanger is noisy by definition when it's on, so that's a useless subject. What I love about this pedal is that I can get so many different sounds out of it. I can get the typical "finger on the tape" flanger sound, and I have also found a settings that give me a great lead boost (just a little extra kick), a deep tremolo/chorus lead sound, a nice mild chorus (although it could never rival that of the Danelectro Cool Cat),an insane swooshing sound, to mention a few. I find new ways to use it all the time, and I even found a setting where I can turn my amp's volume off, turn the pedal on, and make enough noise to hurt my friends' ears.

If I can't rely on a Boss pedal, I can't rely on anything. I bought this pedal used and it looked like hell when I got it, but it still works perfectly.

Only talked to Boss once to ask about getting a manual. Never dealt with support.

I have been playing for nearly two years and play all sorts of clean and distorted styles. This pedal has quickly become my favorite because it can produce such an amazing range of useful sounds. I would not reccomend it for blues though, because blues, in my humble opinion, should never have anything more than overdrive and a wah. What I really like about it is that it can take an ordinary riff and make it sound just different enough so that it can stand out from the crowd. If it was lost or stolen (or broken, just kidding!), I would be on eBay in a flash in search of another one.

This is pretty cool pedal when you get the hang of how the manual and depth work, but I had trouble getting the right flange that I wanted. For example, I wanted a flange sound that goes from very high pitched to a moderate low. It just seems to go annoyingly low afterwards If you want a high pitched flange.

Like I said, I wanted a certain sound that I couldnt achieve, but the effect sound is nice.

It is very dependable. It also doesnt eat through batteries too quick either.

never had any major problem with it.

EASY TO USE but takes a while to get good sounds.

DOD IS BETTER THAN THIS I CHOSE THE DOD OVER THIS CUZ THE RANGE OF SOUNDS ETC.AND BETTER QUALITY-go for dod...

VERY STRONG!

OK BUT THE DOD _B MODEL IS BETTER

Straigh forward and simple. Each knob does what it says.

I use Fender Jazzmaster/Fender Telecaster and Danelectro U2 and Carvin Electric 12 through effects chain all Boss into a Peavey Heritage amp.
This is probably the best sound foot pedal for a guitarist and Flange only one pedal in my opinion above it is the TC electrics but I am going to try the new line 6 stuff the specs look good but see what reality has to say. Is better than the D.O.D. counterpart but always room for improvement but not much.

Never had a problem with the units from Boss

na

I play experimental noise rock good modulation is fun and this to me is the standard pedal would like to see on unit similiar to the digital delay boss has with different modulation dial so instead of having my phase flange and chorus I could turn one knob to change modulation type. But then I would miss the wall of noise from having all three on.

Getting good sounds from it is pretty easy,just tweak the knobs.

I'd like to begin by saying one thing...WILD!!This flanger can sound like anyother flanger i've heard!From very subtle "pond swirl" to
"fighter plane" on attack dive.With the proper tweaking it'll even give you a beautiful hazy chorus...that's right...chorus!Spaced out
sounds are as easy to get as mellow sounds.Great for lead or rythym.
Not as rich as the ADA or FL9,but this thing is Nitric-Acid in a box!
Did I mention that it's very quiet too?

Love it!

Boss's web sight isn't very good and I have trouble contacting them.

If lost or stolen I'd definatly buy another one.It's like having 4 types of flangers in one!! I have to admit Boss really scored with this one.

Getting good sounds from it is pretty easy,just tweak the knobs.

I'd like to begin by saying one thing...WILD!!This flanger can sound like anyother flanger i've heard!From very subtle "pond swirl" to
"fighter plane" on attack dive.With the proper tweaking it'll even give you a beautiful hazy chorus...that's right...chorus!Spaced out
sounds are as easy to get as mellow sounds.Great for lead or rythym.
Not as rich as the ADA or FL9,but this thing is Nitric-Acid in a box!
Did I mention that it's very quiet too?

Love it!

Boss's web sight isn't very good and I have trouble contacting them.

its hard to get the sound your looking for, and some things i still don't fully understand. Since I got mine used in MINT (no scratches, nothing wrong with it at all) with the box and unfortunately every paper cept the manual.

This is a very good flange pedal. When I played Bass I found myself usign it alot more. However I am fully back to guitar now and am not really inspired by it that much anymore. I prefer phase to flange, even though they are totally different effects. I just haven't been able to find much I can do with it. But this is an awesome pedal. I have been able to get some really nice vibrato with it (not detuned), and some other nice sounds. However no chorus sounds what so ever, so do not buy this and think yoyr all set for chorus sounds, because they really aren't there. I have been able to achieve the flange in the Smashing Pumpkin's song "Love" (since its the same pedal they used on it). But I haven't gotten any really good Blind Melon type flange with it (ex: "Soup" and "Swallowed"). I also haven't gotten many good floyd sounds with it either. But I write my own music anyway so it doesn't matter that I can't get those sounds. Also IMHO i think it sounds better with overdrive rather than full out distortion. For me it just seems to strong alot of the time. But then again maybe I am just not using it to its full potential. Do not get me wrong though, this is a very valuable good sounding pedal, its just that I am not into flange alot lately. But I am gonna keep it so that must say something.

For my $49 this was such a great deal. This pedal is really usefull and deserves to be checked out if you are remotely interested in flange and don't want to spend over $130 to get an MXR Flanger. And even if you have the money this is definitly one of the best flangers you can get, especially for the price. And it kills DODs flanger IMHO. Now go try it out!

THis is a very easy pedal to use just choose your settings and click it and your off.

The sound quality is very good ,let me rephrase that, IT IS EXTREMELY GOOD it has the best flange sound that i have heard in a long time

It is very reliable it will not break or stuff up even if you drop it off the empire state building.

it has good support if you need and help just give them a call and thats your trouble fixed

JUST GO AND BUY IT

Great pedal seems easy to use,I mean it's a pedal not brain surgery.The manual was weak.There were no suggestions as to how to set some things up on it.Boss always make tough and good pedals,and thats why I don't mind paying 92$ for one.

A big problem I had was I bought a PHASER first,and since the phaser brings alot of dramatic changes to a guitar I was expecting ten times that with this pedal.It wasn't that this pedal wasn't exotic enough but is was exotic in a different way.I use an EPIPHONE EXPLORER,and a JCM 900 marshall.The "manual" effect knob seems bland....I notice when to crank the manual knob and the "res" knob they seem to cancel each other out.It's a good pedal for light overdrive and clean guitar,but when your using a tank marshall jcm900 as your amp and the distortion off the amp the signal tends to get clumped and cluttered together.The pedal I must say is like 3 pedals in one though...you've got the quick tremolo effect,the echo like big room halway effect(which can be be made on the boss digital delay 5),the wooshing twirl speaker effect,a nice chours effect,and some reverb!!!the great thing is all theses effects can be put together or used seperately.If ya don't like the pedal as a flanger you can use it as a echo-roomy hallway effect!

HECK YES!Its a boss you could drop this thing off a freaking plane into the sea and leave it there for a year,find it and try it and it would still work.3mm of steel,it's a tank!

never dealt with them,never have to cos there stuff is so reliable!

I play alot of power pop kinda like weezer/foo fighters.I play rock and roll and punk as well,It's good match for a garage band.i've been playing bout6 years.If it were stolen I probly buy one of those cheap danelectro mini pedals,this pedal was a gift it's nice but not nice enough to not shop around and look alittle.i probly won't use it all that much,unless i'm doing rock and roll...i still gotta get use to the sound it gives.

I found a good setting, but there are no suggestions in the booklet and even at that I'm sure I could find a better sound. It could be a little easier even though it doesn't take long to work with.

It's great on guitar, but I run it for bass and it does the trick, although it can get a little muddy, and i have a GREAT stack - SWR 2X10, 1X15, 400w head. Ibanez bass. If you turn instrument treble up, it cuts through more. On the top string it's really nice.

boss

If your into melodic stuff you can use it for bass, but it's not a necessity. It's used best when your guitar player uses their's too. I'd say for bass, it's average, but better than any other flanger out there.

Easy enough. 4 knobs; anyone with an average intelligence could figure it all out in probably half an hour.

NOTE THAT I USE THIS WITH BASS. My "setup" is an Ibanez SDGR390> Boss BF-2> Gorilla GB30 bass amp. The wooshing sound when you turn it on will be the only bad noise, but other than that it's fine. This is pretty good pedal if your a KoRn fan and you want to try slapping like Fieldy.

It's Boss. It WON'T break. I mean, 3mm of solid steel is pretty good! It could surive a 3rd World War!! Anyway, as great as it is, It feasts on batteries. I had it for about 2 weeks and I already had to replace the battery.

Never dealt with Boss but I heard they aren't the best.

I like to play heavy stuff mostly and this isn't the best match for that, but it is helpful sometimes. But what's really neat about this pedal is that if you put the rate on 10, you'll get a strange, flanged tremolo sound. So you can basically get 2 pedals in one. Sometimes, I managed to get an underwater-like reverberation with this.

I have issues with modulation effects, so it took me a few hours of putzing around to get it where I wanted it. I bought it used, so there was no manual. From what I hear, all the manual said was to point all the knobs directly up and proceed from there. Once you figure out what each of the knobs does, getting a good sound out of it isn't difficult at all.

My setup is as follows: Epiphone Les Paul/Charvel Model 3->Boss LS-2 Line Selector->(loop A) Danelectro Cool Cat->(loop B) ProCo Vintage Rat->MXR Distortion +->Danelectro Fab Tone->(out) Boss BF-2 Flanger->Boss NF-2 Noise Gate->Boss 300-H Volume Pedal->Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. I've never noticed this thing get really noisy. It does have a slight whoosh going in the background when you're not playing, but my noise gate clears that up. I got this pedal for two reasons: 1. Billy Corgan uses it 2. I couldn't afford an MXR Flanger. This is one of the "vintage" Japanese-made Boss flangers with the purple color and black knobs. I've tried out the newer Boss flangers and they sound really sterile compared to this one. As far as sound goes, there's not much more I could ask of it. It has a rich, full-bodied flange to it that thickens up my tone and I can play with its presence knob to get back some of the brightness I lose in my chain. Incidently, if anyone cares, I found the setting Billy Corgan used on "Love": Manual set to about 2 o'clock, depth maxed, rate down all the way, and adjust the presence according to your guitar. I have it at 10 o'clock with my Les Paul. I love the sound of this thing combined with my chorus pedal. It gives this lovely, thick, "is it really flanging?" tone to it. I had problems when I first began using it because the rate knob doesn't really cut off low enough and I had a difficult time getting a subtle flange dialed it. I solved it with the manual knob, though, so it was really a pretty minor issue.

Well, this thing's been well-used for a few years by the look of it. The footswitch is on its last leg and often won't turn off/on even with repeated stompings. If I could get that fixed it'd be perfect. Aside from that, it's solid. I don't think there's any problem with the effect itself. I don't know if I'd gig with it without the certainty of being able to turn it off/on when I wanted to.

Never dealt with Boss.

I play metal, punk, modern rock, a little jazz, and occasionally blues. When I need it, this pedal works wonderfully. I've been able to get excellent dreamy Pink Floyd-like tones out of it. I've been playing for a couple years now and this is my first flanger. If it were stolen, I'd probably get it again (though I'd ensure the footswitch worked properly), though I'd do my damnedest to demo an MXR Flanger first. This just has the most deep, warm flange I've yet heard. I now use this regularly when writing.

Well, it has four knobs, so all you've got to do is to turn those. The
circuit schematic shows that when you turn the Depth knob to the right,
you will get the deeper modulation effect no matter how you set the
Manual knob (which sets the longest delay time of the BBD device
inside). So set the Manual knob first, and set the Depth knob later.

The Rate knob sets the modulation rate. Don't set it too right, if you
don't want to use it as a vibrato machine. The Res (for resonance) knob
sets the amount of the positive feedback from the output to the input,
though you can't really self-oscillate the machine. You can change the
amount of the feedback by tuning the VR5 of the circuit inside, but this
obviously voids your warranty, so do it at your own risk.

I have used this pedal with various settings. This one works pretty
well with keyboards and synthesizers. It has a diode-pair clipper
circuit before the input of BBD, so when you put a signal of higher
level you can get some pretty good distortion effect too. This would be
useful if you want some dirty old-fashioned organ sounds. I think,
however, this unit fits best with the electric guitars.

The BBD device gives you the real "analog" sound, which cannot be
obtained through most of digital-delay-based units. BBD also generates
some noise when the delay time becomes longer, and this sounds like the
noise at a beach-side shore.

I'm using this with a Fernandes ZO-3 mini guitar, as
ZO-3 -> BOSS SD-1 -> BF-2 -> BOSS DM-2 -> ZOOM GM-200 -> headphones
When you put this unit before a guitar amp (or the amp modeling device),
keep the amplifier at the cleaner sound settings. When used with a
heavily-overdriven amplifier this unit loses some of the impressive
flavors of sounds.

I think the aluminum die-cast case of BOSS is one of the most robust
frameworks among the musical instruments and effectors. You won't get
the device broken even when you stomp on it with your full weight.

The electronic circuitry of this effector is simply designed: two
4558-type OPamps, one TL022CP, some bipolar transistors and JFET analog
switches, one BBD and one BBD clock driver. I think this is a
well-balanced design of early 1980s, and since this device is still
under production in June 2000 and all the replacement parts are
available, you can count of this one.

I've never dealt with Roland/BOSS Japan for this one.

I've actually owned TWO of this. One is which I bought in 1982 as an
unused one. The other was on April 2000 as a used one (which was JPY
6,000 as mentioned above).

This fits any kind of music with electric sounds, including pop, rock,
techno, jazz, and whatever.

Recently I've modified this one with new electrolytic capacitors, new
better OPamps, and etc. Please see
http://www.k2r.org/kenji/bdxtech/boss-bdx.html
for the further details. The modification surely voids your warranty,
so do it at your own risk, and please don't flame me for your failure.

I will surely buy another used one (or even an unused one) if mine gets
stolen, but I hope I would be able to keep it forever, because I have
completely tuned it up.

This is my first and the only analog flanger, and I love this device.

Please note that this device consumes about 18mA so the 9V battery will
not work long. Use of an AC adaptor is strongly recommended.

4 knobs...manual, depth, rate, resonance.......all good......very easy to use really.....usually keep manual all the way to the left, depth at max, rate wherever, and resonance off, sometimes on.......you can get some fucked up sounds with this pedal, turn everything up all the way except put the rate at 3......crank out a long delay and it's "the martian's have landed!" all in all 10 for ease of use

i use this flange with a boss dd-5 delay, boss tr-1, crybaby 535 wah, digitech whammy reissue, dod eq, dod envelope filter, dod gonkulator modulator, and boss ns-2...thru a marshall 100 watt valvestate head and cab...and a charvel jackson guitar rigged with emgs.....sounds great with all that shit turned on.....adds some depth to clean and distorted shit.....good for those intros and mellow interludes....really a must for any setup....delay sounds best with it....and since it's pretty much a standard flange and everyone has one, you can get the same sounds any professional can get......

hey man.....it's boss.....no probs so far...my bassist has one too, he's in love with it....i would gig without a back up for two reasons...one, it wouldn't break, and two, i am saving up for my fuckin mesa triple rectifier!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

never dealt with them......

good pedal....different sound than dod's....i like both though.....i play a blend of clean pearl jammy shit and the standard deftones/limp bizkit heavy shit....and incubus style weird shit in my band, dysrhythm......i don't love or hate this pedal.....it's just one of those practical effects, that everyone has.....get it used though....it costs like $85 new....not really worth it.....it's al good shit though.....

Fairly easy. Just read the manual and u should be fine. If u don't,
then all u need to know is what each of the 4 knobs do. Manual controls the delay time, depth controls the sweep depth, rate controls the sweep rate, and resonance controls the feedback of the delayed
signal.

It is pretty good, but definitely pretty noisy if u turn up the depth.
I am using it with a Strat, Fender amp, Whammy pedal, metal zone, Crybaby, delay, and phaser. It sounds good overall and is the best flanger for the money and sounds better than the twice as expensive MXR pedal.

Its BOSS. C'mon ;)

Have not dealt with.

Overall it is good with the other gear that i use. I play all kinds of music and i find it fits into art rock, metal, punk, rap metal, and most situations with a need for experimental sounds. Since it sounds better than a good pedal(MXR) at twice the price, it is definitely the flanger to get.

its not too hard. i've had only one other flanger (a mxr reissue), so previous experience was probably helpful. as long as you have the patience to sit down and play with it to dial in a sound you like, it shouldn't be a problem.

compared to my other flanger (yes, the mxr reissue), this thing rocks. the mxr was way too flat sounding, whereas the boss has a little more bite to it. it depends on the type of sound you want though. . . i was looking for a more pronounced sound, along the lines of the cure, cockteau twins, etc. its not too noisey.

well, i hope i can depend on it. this particular one was made in japan. after i got it i saw that it was pretty dirty, so i opened it up and cleaned it out. there was some electrical tape wrapped around the wire coming from the battery connector, plus there was some black tar-like gunk inside.

since i bought it used, i can't imagine that they would extend a warranty to me.

i think a flanger is a great, wierd pedal that is easy enough to get ahold of and play with. however, its not so weird that its unusable. in addition to the bf-2, i also have an ibanez cp-9 compressor, a boss sd-1 overdrive, and a boss eh-2 enhancer. each of these other pedals really seems to bring out qualities in the bf-2 and make it more pronounced. i would suggest using it in combination with one of these types of pedals. i imagine that i would get this pedal again if it were to disappear from my setup.

The ease is not that hard, yet not incredably easy. It took me a little while to figure it all out, but once I did.. things hit off great. Only difficulty I had was getting the hang of the settings.

A 9 because it mostly depends on what kind of set-up you have. It sounded pretty good on a friend of mines POS starter guitar, and sounds flat out awsome on my all Fender Co. setup. The different settings can make a wavey sound, or just a solid, non-moving flang. Pretty nice I must say, especially if you add a little distortion to it.

Reliability is pretty good, doesnt drain batterys too much, and its a BOSS so you know you cant break it easily without a sledge hammer.

Never had to use it.

Overall, pretty awsome. I love this pedal, its one of my few I like to use most. If anyone took it, I would hunt them down. If I coulden't to that, I'd buy another.

It's very easy to just turn the knobs and try different interesting tones, the hard part of it is remembering all the cool settings.
The manual was good, but it should have had some example settings.
Also, it didn't tell how the manual knob will change the sound.

I use my Epiphone Flying V and Les Paul guitars trough Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Wah to Marshall VS100R Combo. I hook my Rocktek chorus, Boss Flanger and Aria digital delay trough the effects loop.
If you want some noise out of it, turn everything into 0 except the feedback...crank it up! I found out that when my amp was loud, my guitar volume all down and the flanger on, it made some feedback.
The effects I get are even more than typical flanges, I can dial in choruses, vibratos, filters and weird metallic slapback echo tones.
You just can't get bad settings out of this box, it's always cool.
I can get some Nirvana settings from my BF-2, but there's not enough depth for RFUS-type vibrato.

Boss pedals are built to last!!

I think I'll never gonna have to contact them...

My band plays some kind of Grunge-pop and I can add some cool textures on my solos and some riffs with this. I've played for 5 years now and this is the only flanger I've ever had or ever gonna need.
The only thing I hate in it is that it boosts my signal when it's on. It's sometimes very annoying. It should have a level control.
When I bought it, the only pedal I compared it to was DOD Stereo Flanger, which was horrible...
If you want to trade cool settings, e-mail me!

Four knobs: Manual, Depth, Rate, and Res. Very easy to use. I only gave it a nine because I did not get a manual and did not know what the "Manual" knob did at first.

Excellent sound. A first class flanger. I use a Fender stratocaster into a Dunlop Wah, to the Flanger, to a Real Tube overdrive, to a Fender ultimate chorus amp. This is not a noisy pedal, and has a wide range of settings. It gets a light flange, popular on many seventies records, to a really deep, fast effect, close to a tremolo, only flanged. As far as Flangers go, this is a damn good pedal.

It's boss. You could drop a brick house on this thing and it would be OK.

I play a in a "west coast" Jazz combo, and a band that plays a blend of funk, blues, rock, and soul. And although I can't see it having an aplication in Jazz, It goes great with the other band. Esp in the funk and soul songs. I've been playing five years, and have had this flanger for around two months. If it were stolen and I bought another flanger it would be a BF-2. Obviously flanging does not fit in every song. It is an odd effect, and really goes best with psych rock. But it is still a useful tool to have.

Pretty Basic... The manual goes into some detail on how to use it and the different settings but its rather simple.

This pedal sounds great... I use an Epiphone LP and Crate Amp. I mainly use this pedal for light swirling chorus effects. It does however increase the floor noise, but it doesnt degrade the overall sound.

one word - BOSS. This pedal was made to take abuse!

never dealt with them personally

I have been playing for only 4 years. The BF-2 is an incredible buy. I would definately buy it again! This pedal will be a perfect addition to any serious guitar player's collection...