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.