Marshall BB-2 Bluesbreaker II

The manual is a bit basic but straightforeward enough.After plugging in and a bit of experimenting i soon got the tone i was after.

There are two modes on this pedal, blues and boost.THe blues mode played through my amp on clean really gives me an AC/DC style crunch and is perfect for my sound.The boost mode though not as effective as a Tube Screamer, still gives a good edge to your soloing.Dial in a bit of extra gain and some volume from your amp and your guitar will be squealing and popping with the best.I am running it through a Line6 Spider jam 75 at the moment ,until i can afford a decent valve amp.My guitar is an ESP LTD EC 100qm.

I have not gigged this yet but will.The thing is built like a tank and will stand up to most knocks(i've dropped it twice).

Have not had to deal with the company as of yet,so cannot commment.

I play 70's style hard rock and metal,and have been playing on and off for ten years.As well as the ESP LTD i own a Yamaha Pacifica 112v.If this pedal was stolen i would get another one,for this price you can't go wrong

I never got a manual with this pedal, I bought it used. It is pretty easy to use this pedal if you have an ear for getting the sound you like. If you can't get the sound you like, then this pedal is probably not for you. very straight forward pedal.

This is a very good sounding pedal. I use it through my marshall tsl 100 half stack(t75's). I put it through the clean channel with the amps master volume cranked at 10. You can get some plex-ish sounds with this pedal. Good imatated sounds. If you want a plexi sound buy a plexi, or better yet make your own plexi with the "metro amp plexi kit". The effects i use with this are:
Guitar...tuner...marshall bb2....boss fb1...boss dd7 delay(effects loop)
soon to be added brent mason hot wired pedal by brian wampler
& rc booster by exotic pedals

this pedal is not noisy, even at loud levels, you do get a pop low noise when you didengage the pedal or engage it. i think of jimmy page guitar sound when i use this. i used it friday night at a gig for something different and new...i loved it and so did my band mates. if you like plexi tones or that sort of sound, try one.

very reliable, built very tough, steel casing, no worries here.

never had to deal with marshall...i own alot of marshall stuff.

I play blues, rock, bit of jazzy stuff, nothing too heavy.I have been playin 23 years, and i;m 33 years old. i don't like the boost on this pedal, i think it sucks, but i never bought it for that. i never use it.

Well I found this to be easy to use. The knobs are kinda close together But Other that Very easy to use, If your using the boost channel you have 1 knob that will function. That is level. On the Blues channel you will have the functions of drive tone and level.

I bought this pedal for one reason, That is to use the boost channel, I play a Gretsch 5120 and a Frnder Blues Deluxe. At the level I can play at my APT I cannot get the drive out of the amp i need, so I got this, For this purpose alone it was well worth the money. It does not change my tone it makes it sound like I have it cranked all the way and it sounds awsome. I did try alot of pedals before this one I.E. All the Boss, and Tubescreamers, and they just didn't work for me. This pedal did, and I bought it without even trying the Blues channel. I got home and did use the blues channel. While it's not the best on this channel for me, It did give me That Marshall Bluesdriver sound, witch isn't bad, I am sure if I wanted to make it sound like I have 2 differant amps I could use it, But for me the boost channel is what it is about. I will say this, If you have a solid state or crappy tube amp using the boost channel will sound like crap. it does what it says, it boost your natural tone into overdrive. For what I bought this for I am giving it a 9 noting deserves a 10. that would be perfection and to me perfection is not needing a pedal.

Well it is a Marshall and I am sure if something went wrong I could exchange it for another one.

I have never needed to call cust support so I wouldn't know

I play a strange mix of jumpblues,rockabilly and roadhouse country. I have been playing for a few years and believe in something alot of people have forgotten about TONE. I love my tone and I love what this pedal does for me. If you are looking for a distortion pedal to give you that Meatl tone look elsewhere. This pedal is great for classic rock and blues. Right up my alley. The only thing I hate about this pedal is calling my friends and telling them I bought a marshall pedal. HAHA! but after they hear it they cry with envy. I can't campare this to other pedals because I don't know of any other pedal that does what this did for me. Once again I wish it had a little bowl because everybody has cried when they heard this trough my set up. Once again everybody is differant this may not work for you like it did for me.

It is easy to use, but not to get a good sound out of it! This requires a little work... I bought it from a friend so there was no manual.
It has two modes, boost and blues, and three controls, drive, tone and volume, with the first two working only with blues mode.

I've used this pedal with a Gibson SG '61 reissue, and three amps: a solid state marshall mg 30dfx, a solid state marhall 30 watt cd and a tube fender twin reverb combo. The marshalls I mentioned are crappy amps, so I won't judge the sound out of them (it is very bad indeed)!
With the fender twin reverb so...
In the boost mode, with the clean channel of the amp, you can get a mediocre I could say crunch sound, but with a little work it gets better. It can even sound like the retarded twin sound-bother of the sound of Rory Gallagher in Bad Penny!!! When I used the overdrive channel of the amp, with the boost mode on, it had a boost indeed in the gain. It can sound bright, with some sparcle, but not always. It can sound very muddy is some times too. That is not bad at any occasion, because it sounded like early cream, or blue cheer, so I liked it!
The blues mode is a disaster. The balance of the volume between the two modes is terrible, the volume for blues mode is LOW, very low compared to the volume of boost. So you can't use both modes in the same song I suppose. The sound is terrible, I think it reminds me the sound of black metal bands from poland, in their demos... Holy crap!

It is a very reliable pedal, metallic cover and all, so no back up is needed (who uses a back for a pedal anyway???!!!!).

Don't know, never contacted with them.

I play blues/rock, and it's a good match... I 've been playing for 10 years, and I use this pedal with a Gibson SG '61 reissue. The review made with a tube fender twin reverb combo, but my amp is a solid state marshall mg 30dfx, and the sound is crap, either with the pedal on or not. If it was stolen I think I 'd buy another overdrive pedal, or nothing at all... I don't use pedals often.
With my crappy solid state marshall it helps really, and makes the sound a bit better, I can't even hear this amp without this pedal! So my opinion is that this pedal is quite an option for someone who owns a crappy amp, and doesn't have the money to buy a decent amp. The pedal is cheap, so the value for money is good.
My favourite thing about this pedal is that I can get a cruch sound out of an amp that didn't have this feature (crap marshall solid state's!!!)
BUT I would never use it in my tube Laney VC30-212 combo...

4 knobs which all are easy.

BAD sound quality! It adds a tad of distortion, but it destroys your tone, man! Please go try a tubescreamer instead of this one, as you will regret buying this pedal the moment you fire it up with a band. Your guitar will sound like a piece of crap..

Very heavy and sturdy built, although it looks a little cheap (and it is)

I don't think Marshall knows what Customer Support means.

This pedal gets in the way. I liked the tone in the beginning, but when I tried it alongside other pedals, it really fell through. I'm sure this pedal could serve you if you like playing easy classic rock riffs like AC/DC or that kind - but then you're playing a lot of tones and playing them with your band, your tone will destroy the whole musical image of your band. I'm sorry..

Very easy to use. 4 knobs. 2 settings for distortion- "Boost," which acts as simple overdrive, pushing the guitar's signal into the amp rather than creating its own artificial distortion, and "Blues" which emulates a distorted tube amp.

Tone knob, Level, and drive are all pretty self explanatory.

I use a variety of guitars into this- Fender single coils (Tele and Strat), but most often use a Les Paul or Gibson 335.

There is some slight noise on high level settings, but nothing unreasonable. I primarily use this pedal through a Vox AC30, Blackheart 5W tube head, or a custom built 60W tubs amp.

I think there are a lot of people with misconceptions of what this pedal is supposed to be. In my opinion, it's best to consider this a "modelling" distortion pedal. On "blues" setting, it sounds very much like a driven Marshall Plexi (I.E. Marshall Bluesbreaker...hence the name). You're not going to tweak that into sounding like something else- just won't happen. I'f you're trying to find your favorite artist's sound, you won't, unless they record on a Plexi. But if you're looking to emulated the plexi sound, this pedal absolutely nails it.

On the "boost" setting, however, this is really just a signal booster. So if you're using a solid state amp on clean tones, you're pretty much gouign to get a louder solid-state sound. With a tube amp, the boost will push the power tubes to saturation, so you'll get a cruchier soudn otu of your amp, but it won't be an artificially created sound- it will be YOUR amp's sound.

I know several people who bought this pedal thinking it would act more like a tubescreamer. It doesn't. It simply is what it is- a way to boost your signal or a way to make your amp sound like a 1960s Marshall Plexi. For that, it's FANTASTIC.

I've gigged with it and used it for 3-4 years regularly. No problems at all.

Never had to use them.

I play a lot of classic rock- from Zep to AC/DC, as well as a lot of Britis indie music. Been playing for about 10 years. I own a couple tubescreamers and a boatload of random effects pedals.

I would definitely buy another one if this was lost or stolen. It's sound is great if the plexi sound is what you're going for. That being said, it's not a versatile pedal, so I won't give this a 10. It's not my primary overdrive or distortion pedal (that would be my tubescreamer).

Fine. 4 knobs and a button to step on; ordinary stompbox.

This pedal frustrates me. I can't get the right sound out of it. On the blues setting, the drive is always thin and weak or too muddy. The tone isn't too responsive either. Wherever it is, it sounds quite scratchy.. if that's the right word to describe it. No power etc.
I tried having my amp on clean and using the boost to push it into overdrive and using that for my rhythm playing. But, as someone else described it on here perfectly, i found it very 'shrill' - although it was marginally better than the blues.

Fine. Doesn't seem to falter or anything.

I think that you can't ever go for a cheap stompbox with a drive pedal; if you want a great sound, then you have to pay up a bit more than this. This is more suited to a teenage garage band practice.

I've had this piece for a couple of years. It's a stock one. It's pretty easy to use and it's pretty easy to get the most out of it(believe me i've tried every possible setting, and nothing sounds horrible). Easy to use and good sounds are fairly easy to produce, not perfect but close.

I've gotten past trying to sound like anyone in particular, but i suppose it's good at getting those early 'zeppelinish' tones, not at all the same level of quality, but again it's getting there.
The overdrive is rather open sounding imo, not at all a bad sounding pedal by any means, i quite like but still it won't be producing quilty overdrive like that of a good tube amp, then again i wouldn't expect it to. Unfortunately this unit suffers from lack of definition. This both with my Les Paul and Tele. The tone knob isn't very responsive and the quality of the drive decreases as you turn the drive knob eastwards. Unacceptable.
Another point that makes me wonder if the guys at marshall really know what the heck theyre doing. TRUE BYPASS?! in a drive unit?! you must be kidding me. The unit makes quite an audible 'Pop' when switched on/off.
Furthermore it has a tendensey of getting rather noisy even with drive at 12 o' clock. Sounds are ok, not bad not great. The boost on the other hand can be horrible, shrill and thin, very uinspirering.

Has never failed me, and with its record so far won't for a long time. Everything on the casing is very solid, it's metal. Though something could allways fail, never gig without backup.

Never dealt with them.

I play rock and blues. Fine match, though don't expect to use it for shredding. I've been playing for around four-five years(i think). I have an LP and an american Telecaster as mentioned earlier on. I play through a rig consisting of a guitar-> Dunlop Crybaby fasel-> BB2-> TS9DX -> Emma Reezafratzitz(stupid name but the best distortion money can buy)-> Boss DD3-> Fender Blues Jr.-> Homemade 2x12 cab made to matchless specs.
I deffinetely like it better than my POS TS9DX, but i wouldn't buy it again, i would probably buy a Carl Martin drive unit, but for now it's an allright solution def. good value for the money, by far better than boss units i've previously owned.

Extremely easy to use, 3 effect knobs and 1 function knob.

I'm using this with a Vox AC30 and an old Acoustic Control amp. I was looking for a higher gain pedal to get some really good distortion out of my AC30, and this has fit the bill perfectly. I prefer the 'Blues' setting rather than the 'Boost.' The boost is a little shrill in my opinion. It's useable, but it's not really what I was looking for. The drive on the pedal is very focused, and really gives the Vox a Marshall sort of tone. I keep the gain right around 9 o'clock, which gives me a great crunch and some decent sustain on single notes. I don't really dig the gain over noon, it's more than I use and gets a little out of control. The pedal can be pretty bassy on the neck pickup, but loves the bridge. I'm giving this an 8, because while it's nearly pefect for my needs, it has some short comings.

Built like a tank.

I play all sorts of music, and I use the BB-2 for mid-distortion type stuff. Compared to the Boss Blues Driver, this has much more of a mid-hump, though focused in just the right frequencies. Gives you a great crunch and does a great job of giving you that classic Marshall sound.

I dont use the blues dist. mode i only the use the boost function mainly to get that extra chunk out of my marshall valvestate overdrive channels since i like the natural sound of a distorted amplifier other than that it's your basic od/dist pedal w/drive,tone and vol which i dont go past 6 it just clutters up the overall sound making alittle too muddy.

I use a les paul w/active pickups(EMGS) running through a AVT 150 watt marshall which sounds pretty beef up on its own using the OD2 channel.I also crank up the amp gain no more than 6 with that combination with the pedal i get a super overdriven sound with clarity which add some tightness chugging on the low E/heavier notes and it can get kind of noisy i just turn the pedal off during pauses when im not playing.

I've play numerous gigs with this pedal never broke down every now and then the screws get loose from constant plugging in and out it just a matter of tighten them back or put some tape around it which works just as well sometimes the tape can get loose at times.

I play rock and metal if it was stolen i would try out some diffrent type of boost pedals to see if theres anything better if not i'll just hold on to this one or hopefully one day they'll make a marshall valvestate with even more heavier type of gain so i would never need a pedal lets hope.

It has 4 knobs: Mode(Boost and Blues), Drive, Tone and Volume, it's pretty ease to configure the pedal, just turn the knobs and see what happens!

I was a little worried about the way it would sound: what a mistake! The pedal is awesome, I can get from bluesy tones from hard rock crunch sounds, it can go from Eric Clapton to Van Halen very easily, and that's not all, the Boost mode is pretty good too, it adds a lot of gain in the signal, very good to use on tube amplifiers. I Use a Yamaha Pacifica(Strat like), a Meteoro Thor Plus and a Jim Dunlop Cry Baby GCB95, it sounds perfect with my equipment.

I totally depend on it beacause it's my main distortion unit, and I'm happy with that, and it's very well-built, built like a tank, it's kind of heavy, very good.

I play a lot of styles of music, from jazz to heavy rock, I'm a professional musician for 10 years and I was looking for an overdrive pedal that could give me extra gain, and I found it on this unit, I'm very satisfied with its tone.

The usage of this unit is very easy and self-explanatory. Actually I didn't buy this pedal because of it's Drive-Sound. I was only interested in the boost mode. In this mode there is only one (!) poti to deal with ... that's what I call simple! I got good results after a few seconds. But take care! When the volume-poti is cranked up to levels beyond 2 o'clock, a crunched amp will tend to feedback easily!!!

I compared the boost of the BB2 with other boosts (like the Daniel D by Reussenzehn etc.) and now I think that one gets a lot of value for a relatively small amount of money. If you know how to work with your guitar's volume poti and your technique-level is post-beginner, you will get nice boost effects with the BB2. Ideal for harder rocking parts or striking sololines. I use this unit with Les Pauls, Strats and a Telecaster and can use all guitars without changing the setting of the BB2 ... surprising, ha?

It looks very stable and trustworthy. But the base plate is the very weak part of the pedal! I bought a Warwick stageboard with velcro fastener to fix the pedals on the board. A few days after I arranged my pedals on the board, the BB2 fell off the board. The rubber material of the base plate showed reactivity with the glue of the velcro and began to resolve into a sticky, kind of liquid material!!! Uaarghh!!! Therefore I can only give 5 points here.

I contacted the german Marshall distributor via mail and they answered immediately, apologized and sent me a new base plate. Very friendly! Good service!

I use this pedal in the boost modus only, mainly to boost sololines or hard rocking bridges. The last 2 years I've been playing rock/pop etc. although I've already played a lot of different styles (crossover -> jazz) during the last 22 years *uff*. This pedal meets all of my demands with a very interessting price-quality ratio. I would actually prefer a valve driven booster for a bit more warmth and dynamics but as longs as this pedal survives our touring, I don't consider buying a new / another booster.

Incredibly esay to use. Four knobs: Boost/Blues, drive, Tone, Volume. Manual offers some suggestions and they are pretty good starting points. However, your ears must be your guide. Once you dial your tone in you probably will not mess with it too much.

Very good boost and Blues sounds are possible with this pedal - I actually belive it is a bit better than my original Tube Screamer I bought many years ago (and still have). No Noise with my setup which is: Fender Princeton Reverb from 1964 - a tone monster in its' own right! I am playing three guitars through it: 2006 Les Paul Standard with Burstbuckers, 1981 Dean Elite with Super Distortion pickups (WOW X 3), and a 2006 Squier Telecaster Blonde with original pickups.

The pedal has true bypass -excellent. When you crank the drive past 3 o'clock -watch out! You will fall in love and want to play and play and play.......

Built out of some serious heavy metal with solid construction - no cheap plastic on this one. This pedal will be around long after I'm pushing up flowers!!

I don't gig any more but I know I could depend on this 100% if I did.

Marshall made - no need to call them at this time.

Compared to other distortions like the Bad Monkey this pedal will blow it away. Same for the Tube Screamer. I have been playing since I was 15 and I am now 53 - you do the math. I have a sense that until you play for awhile you really do not get a feel for the "right" tone. Me, I play old rock classics like Badfinger, Stones, Skynrd, Chuck Berry, and am starting to get seriously into the basic Blues sounds - music that comes from the soul.

This pedal drives my Fender Princeton into pure heaven. For those of you starting out, do yourself a favor LISTEN carefully to what the great music makers sound like. Billy Gibbons, Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison, Chuck Berry, Johnny Johnson, Robin Trower, Mick Ronson and so on. Do these guys play music that is noise? Don't think so.

Try one out for yourself. Like I said before - LISTEN!

The pedal is pretty straight forward to use, and for anybody that's used to operating various guitar effects pedals then they could use this one in their sleep. It has 4 robust large chrome knobs, with the first being a 2-click option between 'boost' or 'blues'. The blues option is the overdrive part of the pedal, and the next 3 knobs operate the amount of drive preferred, next the tone, and finally the overall volume when the pedal is in operation. When in 'boost' mode then both the tone and drive are totally bi-passed, and all you then have to play with is the volume. There's a small manual provided with it, but just looking at the knobs basically is self-explanitory.
As for ease of use, no problem in well-lit conditions, but if you needed to reset the pedal during a live performance on a darkened stage, then you'd struggle to really assess the correct position required. Each knob has a very fine black half-stripe on it, and there are NO markings on the surround underneath them (with the excpetion of the first one, boost/blues). Not very practical for musicians that require different settings from this pedal for various songs. It's more practical to use this pedal where you have just 'one' preffered setting that you need, and then to simply stomp it on or off.

The sound quality of the drive part of this unit I personally didn't like. It gave a very basic bluesy distortion, and I'm a hard rock player. But the reason I bought this pedal is that I tried out the exact same one that a friend of mine had, and found the boost section to be exactly what I needed. I'm using a JCM800 Marshall amp, and even when the gain is cranked up to full, in small club settings where you need a sensibly low volume on stage, then the amp didn't have enough drive. I knew that I needed to use an effect to warm the valves up further and create a greater drive, yet other pedals that I had tried ended up masking the sound too much with their own characteristics. Yet the bi-pass facilities of the Bluesbreaker mean that when the pedal is in boost mode then the tone of the amp is not altered in the slightest. And the whole reason I fell in love with the JCM800 was because of it's huge tone. I now set the Bluesbreaker permanently on boost mode, and leave it in operation for an entire gig. I only play rhythm guitar and only have one basic sound that I use, and that's a big full-bodied classic early 80's crunch rock sound. I can now achieve that sound at low volume levels via the Bluesbreaker pedal. I don't use it in an FX loop, and instead just link the pedal directly between my guitar and my amp. I still have the gain set on full, and yet the final sound is never too fizzy, compressed, or overly-processed in any way. It sounds totally natural as if I was playing through the amp with the master volume turned up to deafening levels. The pedal doesn't sound noisy in the slightest, although of course the entire guitar does become a lot more active sounding with this amount of gain. I'm using Mighty Mite Motherbucker pick-ups on a good quality Les Paul copy, and the bridge pick-up has a 21.5k output. So my whole sound is very organic, with a strong pick-up output and a big Marshall tone, yet I'm able to control it so I can keep that big gain sound at a sensible volume with the Bluesbreaker in operation.

You couldn't wish for a more sturdy design. It's a big solid metal pedal that looks almost indestructible. It's heavy duty chasis and solid chrome knobs make it incredibly road-worthy, and I so far I've had no problems with this unit at all (and honestly can never see me having any problems with it in the future either). I never feel the need to take a back-up, and always feel very confident with it when on stage.

Never needed any customer support with this unit. There's not much that can go wrong with, nor could I even envisage anything going wrong with it.

For the heavy rock crunch-rhythm sound that I need, then the Bluesbreaker does the job for me. But only because of my own personal set-up and limited requirements. The fact that I have my amp's gain cranked up to full, plus I'm using a very high output pick-up, then the boost mode on this unit is perfect for my own purposes. But as a standard distortion unit then it doesn't seem to pack a hell of a lot of punch for a player that that loves heavy rock. Yet the pedal is named Bluesbreaker, and for a blues player then this could be a great unit to drive a valve amp with.

Drive, tone, volume knobs + mode selector knob ("Boost" or "Blues"). Footswitch. LED power indicator + 9V variable amp DC input. The variable amp power supply is great because you can use any 9V adapter that fits.

Unfortunately, the tone knob only works in Blues mode. Bummer.

BEWARE: If the pedal is on and you switch from Blues mode to Boost mode, your signal output may jump significantly louder. You can destroy eardrums that way if someone's head is near the amp. BE CAREFUL. You should always turn down the volume knob BEFORE switching from Blues to Boost.

S/S/H hollowbody strat > EQ > Bluesbreaker II > EQ > Epiphone Valve Jr. Combo

I use this setup for practice and recording at home, and it friggin' ROCKS. Put the Valve Jr. volume at about 2 o'clock and ease up the volume of the Bluesbreaker II to the desired level, and I can sit for hours playing everything from the dirtiest low-down Chicago blues to Hendrix to '70s rock to psychedelic surf (although that sounds better with more effects) to Link Wray to Radiohead to Sonic Youth to whatever. Not the soul-crushing Metallica Thing-That-Should-Not-Be, or Sepultura or Cannibal Corpse or whatever kind of deal -- but you already knew that.

The pedal introduces some noise, but it's insignificant, and it has genuine bypass so when it's off it's really off. The pedal has a somewhat bright Boost tone which you can't control because the tone knob only works in Blues mode (!?!?). At first I thought the pedal was whimpy because in Blues mode I turned everything up all the way and didn't get a screeching ultra-distorted massive harmonic sh*t-fit the way I do with my ProCo Rat. However, this pedal has some great sustain, and I can tear up with the feedback and tremolo. It really does make my Valve Jr. sound a bit like a Marshall!

My opinion about overdrive pedals: these pedals are meant to overdrive the POWER tube(s) on your amp, NOT the preamp tube(s) -- although they can do that too. Preamp tube distortion is often sold as the "tube sound." But it isn't! It's POWER TUBE DISTORTION that produces all the classic distorted guitar sounds. So if you aren't turning your all-tube 100-watt mega-amp up past 1 on the master because it's too loud, you aren't getting power tube saturation. That's why I use a 5-watt amp and crank it up all the way. It's still massive loud, but it's also sweet and saturated. Your overdrive pedal clips the input to the power tube(s) as a means of exciting the rich dynamics inherent in power tube saturation, and it boosts the signal level. The result is a sound that is almost clean, but still highly distorted. A liquid bell. Transfixing.

Metal case and controls. Seems extremely sturdy. I busk with it as my only effect pedal and it has never let me down.

Playing for 24 years, many of that in bands. I play all kinds of music from punk to jazz. I would descibe my preferred style as indy pop psychedelic raga country blues surf -- Hendrix, Link Wray, The Mermen, Jefferson Airplane, Sonic Youth, Country Joe and the Fish, Grateful Dead, Kaleidoscope, early Floyd, Spacemen 3, Chrome, Velvet Underground, etc. I make music that makes people think you've broken your guitar and/or amplifier. The Bluesbreaker II has been great for this (LOL!). HOWEVER keep in mind that I use an EQ before and an EQ after the BBII, so I have complete control over the frequency response of my tone. If it were lost/stolen I'd probably try a different pedal but that's just me being curious about trying new stuff.

Plug it in, set it to clean boost, drop the tone control a bit if you play a cheap made in China strat like me - sounds great. You could tweak it but it would just sound different - not necessarily better. I tend not to use the 'blues' mode. Not that it's bad -just don't need it.

I just love it with my cheap strat. I'm predominantly a Les Paul player which I plug straight into a JCM2000 combo with uprated tubes and GH12-30 speakers. Don't need anymore than that.

Bought the cheap strat on a whim, rewired the tone control so it works on the bridge, stuck in some decent pots and a paper in oil cap because it sounded ice picky on the clean channel and - disaster. Sounded worse. Thought about buying a Fender amp (never considered that before...) Tried it with my modded TS 7 - too boxy sounding. Tried it with my Roger Mayer Voodoo thingy - too wussy. Dug around in my box of junk and found this old Marshall pedal I hadn't used for years - I loan it to my bass player so he can get a dirty sound on Heartbreaker - instant result. It soups up the clean channel a treat for clean Hendrix/SRV - hit the bad channel and this thing whoops. Hot, smooth, bright, sweet, hollow, woody, sustain, gain, legato, controlled feedback. Luxury. OK there's a bit of fizz if you go nuts but it's a Marshall - you need that to cut through a band. It certainly isn't transparent in clean boost mode but what it adds is great - very musical and quite like, well, a hot-rodded, cranked Marshall. Geee....

Had it for 5 years. Used it for a while, chucked in the bottom of my gear box, dug it out 2 years later and the battery was still OK and it worked fine. Loaned it to my bass player who kicked it round the stage for a while. Still works fine.

I used to have JCM800 that was old and a bit unreliable and I live quite near Marshall. I'd take it in, they'd fix it up, check it through, same day and charge me almost nothing.

Plus I got to chat with Jim Marshall who is a legend, he signed some posters for me to auction and hung out as long as I wanted. His knowledge of and enthusiasm for Jimi is endless which makes him cool in my book.

I play a lot of Zeppelin with my Les Paul and I don't use this pedal -I run straight into the amp. I suppose I could if I wanted to heat it up even more but the Page sound isn't about gain particularly.

For giggles I play Hendrixy stuff on my POS strat and this pedal makes it sound like the best strat ever. Well OK it doesn't but it makes it sound about a zillion times better than it actually is.

Also it's cheap, dosn't suck tone and has a wide range of adjustabilty. I've paid a lot more for pedals and got an awful lot less. I'm not a total Marshall freak - there have been days when I would have traded my amp in for anything else - but this pedal does it totally for me.

Very easy to get a good sound, both for the Boost or Blues modes, for single-coils or humbuckers..

I've tried it with Strat US and LP with 498/490 pickups on a Marshall VS100H + 4x12 and on a Vox AC30. On both amps and with both guitars, I obtained awesome results: a rich, creamy and gutsy distortion sound for the Blues, better than everything I have heard before.
My favorite killer setting for Strat US: Drive 1 o'clock, Tone 11 o'clock, Volume 11 o'clock, to feed the clean channel.
Oh yeah, I forgot: it works very well in a chain with other ODs or a wha.

I depend on it.

Never tried.

Much better than the Shredmaster (which eats all high-end frequencies). Much better than the DS1, Big Muff US and Double Muff, waaaay too harsh and fake...
The Boost mode is incredibly musical. It not just adds volume, but also this little "sparkle", or "touch" needed to put the amp just on fire. On this, it is definitely better than my old vintage TS-9.

Simply said, I have sold all the mentionned disto boxes, to only keep the BB2, the MXR Dime and MT2. The BB2 being from far my favorite. I play pop, rock, hard rock and metal.

Why? The harmonics, the musicality, the respect of the instrument, the heat.. WELL DONE MARSHALL.

My best buy from the last 10 years (just before the POD XT Live). I did not expect so much quality from this little box. I love it more than the OD1 and OD2 on the Marshall. Yes, a fantastic value for a few bucks.

Two modes, Boost and Blues. Boost disengages the tone and gain controls, while Blues engages them. Massive difference in volume between the two modes. That can be good or bad depending on what you're looking for. For me, it doesn't make that big of a diff just yet. Traded my old MXR Distortion+ for this pedal and haven't played a gig with it yet, just through my son's practice amp. Next Friday will be the true test, I'll post another review after that.

I first tested all the Marshall pedals through a Marshall practice amp at the store. The Bluesbreaker seemed to fit what I needed the most. I wasn't blown away by it, but thought it had potential. Brought it home and tried it through my son's Behringer GM108 which isn't a great amp by any means, but it allowed me to play with the pedal a bit more. I haven't tried it through any of my practice amps or any of my stage amps yet, and I'm chomping at the bit to do so. It sounded pretty "ehhhh.." through my boy's amp, but, again, I see potential. If this thing is supposed to mimic a JTM45 combo, it must be a JTM45 turned to ten with tubes about ready to explode, because there's actually a LOT of gain with this pedal. No problem, I spent some time and dialed in a fairly adequate sound in Blues mode. I'm excited to try the Boost mode with my stage rig (various geetars through a '65 Bandmaster head, Peavey 4x10 cab and various other effects) and see how it sounds, because I kind of have begun to like the Boost mode's sound, which is gnarly and ratty, I can't wait to slam the front end of the Bandmaster with it. Don't let anyone tell you it's a clean boost with no tonal change, this thing has it's own voice. It does color your sound, but not in a bad way. As far as it's "passive bypass" abilities, I haven't noticed any tonal change in the signal path, I think it's got a good thing going on that point. I do have an old Marshall Shredmaster pedal which I absolutely love, it's my favorite pedal, so it's not fair to compare the BB-2 to the Shredmaster, whoch is such a versatile, wonderful-sounding stomp box.
Sooooo....overall, the BB-2 isn't too bad a pedal. I didn't feel my heart race at any time with it just yet, I'll let you know in a little over a week how it sounded bashing an old tube amp in the face.

It's a hell of a lot more solid than some of the plastic gizmos on the market today, it probably will be tough as nails.

I'm still playing, nobody seems to be able to get me to quit, don't try, ladies, I'll just divorce ya(had to learn that the hard way, huh, woman?). I mainly play what's considered to be classic stuff these days, but I listen to everything. That said, I prefer old-school tones: AC/DC-style overdrive, maybe a bit crunchier; just good old distorted tube amp tones, basically. My Shredmaster can give you the gamut, but the Blusbreaker seems to be designed to start with more gain than the Shred. Either way you slice it, I WILL dial this sucker in. In a year or so, I could(hopefully) post a drooling report. As for now, I know that this isn't a pedal that is a "woody staight out of the box." I love dirt boxes, I currently own my Shred as well as a Tube Screamer, DS-1(el poopo) and Dano T-Bone(yurg). I traded my old Dist. + for this, and I really liked the MXR. I've also owned an old Univox Superfuzz and I had a TS808 back when they were brand new, I can still remember looking at it in an old Schmitt's Music Center back in '80-'81 and thinking "Tube Screamer, that sounds cool, I gotta get that!" May the muse of crunch bless you all on your quest for the coolest, snarkiest dirt tones! Turn it up loud and make 'em pay!!!

Ok this baby of mine, The Marshall BluesBreakerII. When I took it out of it's box there was a small piece of paper that you can't really call a manual. But hey it was there. In this manual it didn't really say anything you can't figure out yourself, ex. how to change battery, suggestions on how to align the buttons etc.
I can tell you that information is literally useless! This thng is so simpel to use that you could get a good sound from it you were deaf, dumb and blind (yeah i know Pinball wizard;) ).
The suggestions to settings weren't very helpfull either as they are just three of a thousand, but hey they do sound good.
Deffinitly a ten'er

Currentley i play this through a marshall mg15dfx with a boss turbo distortion unit and an Epi Les Paul(very wierd setup).
but i've also tried it through tons of other marshalls all of them were valve driven; i played it trough fender amps and the likes, with countless different guitars. Per example the B.B King Lucielle(gibsons) and a "true" les paul, and for one reason or another this pedal does something special to them all. It really, REALLY creates the illusion of a pure valve driven marshall Blues Breaker, it makes my poor little epiphone feel as loved as a Gibson. This has the best sound in the world! Also it is very versitale, it doesn't just do blues i can go from pop to heavy(classic heavy, maybe not slipknot).
If you gain the amp and fire this unit up you cant tell if its pedal meant to play heavy.
I mean you can go from U2 on the boos t channel(just the volume knob on this one, creates the illusion of overheated valves; very cool indeed!) to B.B king on a clean amp and blues channel on the pedal to AC/DC with the drive all the way up and a neck pickup!
Best pedal ive tried! (and it's also very cheap)

This pedal is built like i tank! what else can i say. ill die before it! No Gig without it!

Havent have to deal with them and i doubt i ever will.

Well this thing can do anything as i said preveously. I play alot of Led Zeppelin Ac/Dc Cream and other late 60's 70's bands. This does it all, especially Cream, This is where it really shines, after all it is a blues pedal and if it couldn't play blues inspired music what good is it right? Been playing for little over two years now and i've had this thing for about a year. If it was stolen i would chase the fucker who stole it down and hit him with it, then go out and by another one to pair up with my first, that's how much i love it;)...couldn't really think of anything i hate bout it thiugh i wish it had an external swithch to alter between the two modes... but i guess that would end up kinna messy as the volume doesnt work alike.
I keep the settings as following: Blues mode; Drive 8; Tone 8; volume 7.
these may seem high out of ten but i tend to alter on the tone on my guitar. It also makes my guitar come a little more inote life you know?
Well Thats it!

Very easy - only downside is that it can be difficult to see the (black on silver) marks on the controls.

Put this up against more expensive pedals and this doesn't quite sound up to it, but when you bear in mind the cost this is excellent value for money. I tend to use the blues rather than the boost mode and this gives a fairly decent warm creamy overdriven sound when used with my American Telecaster through a Marshall Valvestate.

I have had this 18 months or so with no problems. It hsa been gigged but not without a backup.

Never dealt with the company.

Suits my style of music which is blues and soft rock. If lost I would probably get something a little more upmarket.

Difficult/impossible under stage lighting to see settings on the chrome knobs. So this seriously effects it's tweakability/useability onstage.

Controls work predictably/simply enough, though I've found it impossible to get a satisfing sound from this unit.

Blues setting is harsh and trebly, far too much gain, with a nasty fizzy top end like an overdriven tranny amp.Gives you a headache. not nice. Certainly light years away from what I would expect from a blues-based unit i.e. a subtle, three-dimensional warm crunch, (available effortlessly from my Session Award JD-10 stomp box.yum yum.)
Boost setting is dissapointing, as it's not clean: it adds a nasty fizzle on the top end of the signal, even at moderate settings on your guitar.
I've played this through various amps using my Pacifica 112 with Swineshead pickups, all with the same underwhelming, un-musical results. Would never gig with it, let alone record. I've also used it on the 'boost' setting for harmonicas live onstage for about a dozen gigs, but it adds distortion.

I don't trust Marshall pedals. Had a chrous and it bust after nine months gigging (sounded like it had squirrels inside!)

The bad sound quality of this pedal makes me instintively mis-trust its reliability, despite it's flashy appearance.

No experience of them.

This pedal has been a huge dissapointment. No roundness or fullness or musicality to be had: It's all fizzy and harsh.

I've struggled to find a use for it's harsh tranny-ness but I admit defeat and it's got relegated to using in schools workshops, to show kids the rudiments of using a stomp-box (and I mean rudiments: any kid who got beyong basics I'd show 'em an Award-Session JD-10. Now THAT's tone!)
Maybe I'll have to start a 80's hair-metal band so I can use it......

well , boost/blues switch, on/off volume, gain & tone doesn'y make it too complicated ;]

I'm using Marshall Valvestate 65R & Epihpone LP 100 / custome made "Presto Lang" guitar - fender style guitar .
On both sound great ! boost mode is clean but has this "blues sound" you're propabely lookin' for . On fender guitar it sound very similiar to SRV "sound". Blues mode is distorted blues sound .

Not have a single problem & this one, thought had some & Guv'nor - I had to take out on/off switch and connect it with rest of a circuits with wires - but it solve the bypass problem & not working at all problem ... ;/

Never have dealt with them.

I play SRV music, love texas blues .
From time to time like to play some Gary Moore as well - simple thing i just turn on that baby on my overdriven channel with overdrive to max and it ... just explodes .. ;];] (then it's noisy - but you're not suppose to do that, right ?:))

Easy to use - basic overdrive distortion pedal - 3 knobs. Knobs could have been better designed however - tiny dots indicate settings which are hard to see from above, and they block the on/of led light at certain angles.

As a front end 1st stage overdrive pedal, it does the job of providing really good sounding overdrive crunch of the Marshall variety which is a bit on the brittle side. There is a good range of tones and distortion available and one can dial in nice bluesy tones as well as over-the-top early metal tones. I use it in front of a vintage Vox Cambridge Reverb, and a 1960 Ampeg Reverberocket. If your amp doesn't have o.d. or channel switching it provides that. I do not use the "boost" setting, but some might find it useful. The distortion is smooth and has nice overtones, and backing off guitar volume gives excellent old-tube-amp-cranked tone.

Have been using it regularly without a backup. Metal case is heavy duty. Never had any problems.

Never dealt with Marshall directly. They do have an ear for good tone in my opinion based on what I've used in the past.

This is of course a great pedal for Rock & Blues, but it is also good for adding some crunch to country licks too. I've been playing for around 40 yrs and have owned a myriad of equipment. The O.D. tones from this pedal are as good as any channel-switching amp i have ever owned. If this pedal were around in the late '70's it would have saved a lot of vintage amps from being hot-rodded. If it were lost or stolen, I'd try other pedals just because there are so many out there, but i highly recommend this pedal and would not exclude it from consideration. It does the job it was designed to do for a good price.

Four controls, switchable boost/blues (overdrive) knob, drive, tone (anti-clockwise bass, clockwise treble) and volume (level). Manual has some useful examples of settings and is easy to understand. Nice and easy to dial in your own useable sounds though. Only problem is the black on silver markings on the control knobs which can be a little difficult to see.

I use a variety of guitars with the Bluesbreaker II, including a Vox Teardrop copy, an Epiphone Firebird, an early 70's Flying v copy. The guitars with humbuckers I think sound better with this pedal, giving a more creamy sound. The pedal is supposed to emulate that breaking-up tube sound of Clapton's from the "Beano" album, which I think it does a fair imitation of. Sounds better with a tube amp, but sounds passable with solid state amps too. I use it with a KMD Proamp (tube), and a new Hi-watt solid state amp, it sounds good with both, but the Proamp wins out really. The boost mode is good for pushing slighty distorted tube amp into a nice overdrive.

Really solid steel case, I would quite happily gig it without a back up. Looks like it would take a good kicking.

Never dealt with the maker.

I play mostly late 60's, early 70's style rock, Zeppelin, Yardbirds, Stooges, Hendrix etc, plus some new garage type stuff (White Sripes etc.). This is quite a good pedal for getting those kinds of sounds. It isn't an over the top gain pedal, so it isn't going to suit all you Korn fans out there. I own a few other noise pedals, Fulltone Soul Bender, Russian Big Muff, Graphic Fuzz, and this compares favourably in it's own little way. I wish the tone control had a bit more range on the top end, and maybe just a touch more gain. Also when the drive is turned down, you have to turn up the volume to compensate, which is bit of a shame.

This is a follow-up to a post I did about 3.5 years ago (search for Carvel.) I owned this pedal then and later sold it when I needed the money. I just recently sat down with this pedal against a TS-9 reissue and the following comments are based on this new comparison. What I was looking for was somthing that could give me a very subtle breakup that was almost not noticeable. Like spinkling a hint of breakup on my tone without losing the original signal.

This isn't a TS-9 copy although the circuits I suspect are similar. It clearly has more of the british voicing than the TS-9 but they are very close. I would have bought this pedal again for two reasons (it sounds good and I didn't want to be a just another TS-9 player) but I went with the TS-9 because of one issue: when you roll the gain off on the BB-2, it eliminates the signal altogether. On the TS-9, you can roll the gain all the way back and you still have your signal with very subtle breakup. Overall, I would say the TS-9 is smoother too.

Great pedal. If you are looking for a good blues pedal with a britsh voicing, I think this thing is worth every penny (also look at the GV-2, much more like a marshall amp and more in your face.) If you want something smooth with minimal breakup at the lowest setting, I think the TS-9 or a good copy is worth looking into.

Simple.

Wow. I was looking for that British Marshall sound, and it's got it. I can get lots of Clapton's early tones, as well as modern blues tones. I hardly never use the gain channel on my amp, a big Fender 130w Ultimate Chorus DSP. Instead I just use the BB-2 on the clean channel. I tried other pedals including a Bad Monkey, and a Boss OD3 and BD-2. The BD-2 was very good, but I actually think the Marshall kicked it's butt. I returned the other pedals.

A rock.

N/a

An incredible value, beautiful tone, cheap price too!

Marshall Bluesbreaker II BB-2
Controlls:
- Boost/Blues = Switches between a volume boost or an overdrive
- Drive = Controls the level of distortion
- Tone = Sets the equalizer from more bass than treble to more treble than bass
- Volume = Sets the overall output level of the pedal

Used primarily as a volume boost the pedal is extremely simple, one knob to worry about and a footswitch on/off. When engaged to the blues mode, there is still a simple, but effective amount of controls to provide a good variation of usable tones.
The manual gives some presets for playing different styles, but after all, every sound depends on the amp and guitar, so the manuals settings are to me, useless, and its not likely the manual will be needed given the simplicity of usage.

Simply put this pedal is awesome. In the boost mode, yes there is a little colouration to the tone, but its subtle and if anything a pleasure. This mode gives just a little extra warmth to your tone, just slightly rounding the treble. The level of volume boost isn?t horrific here, but it?s a very usable range for soloing, or for added compression. A/B?d with an Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer, there was absolutely no difference, to my ears, between any setting on the TS9 and a replicated sound on the BB2, this pedal makes a TS9 obsolete. According to Marshall?s intention this, boost, mode was designed to boost an already crunchy valve amp into a thicker saturation. I have not used this with a valve amp, but it works perfectly well for that purpose before the Line6 POD2.0, or a distortion pedal in an effects chain. Used before the Marshall JH1 Jackhammer, it allows an amazing amount of compression to be obtained, and a seriously thick gain. Used after the distortion it is a phenomenal force for getting above the band, and delivering pain to a drummer.
In the blues mode we see a beautiful array of warm to crunchy tones, this is where all of the distortion comes in. With drive set around 3?O-clock, and tone set to about 10, we are in almost Eric Johnson territory. Eric Johnson?s tone is one thing this pedal comes close to. The BB2 does lack the certain honkyness that you may get from a Fulltone Soul Blender or ?69, but it?s a smooth rich sound. There is plenty of compression for sustaining and legato runs, and is able to be brought under control using the guitars volume control. Dialling the drive back some, and the tone up, we can get a SRV kind of buzzing drive. Around these settings, more of a crunchy tone is available than the smoother tone earlier, but has the same characteristics of being able to be cleaned up with the guitar volume. There is not merely only two tones from two Strat players here, there are many other tones in between, and coupled with the right equipment, ie a good Valve amp, a whole load more tones can be achieved.
Equipment used:
Fender Customshop Classic Player Strat, or Mexican 50?s with Texas Specials, Hohner L-59 Les Paul, Ibanez JS1200, into Line 6 POD2.0 or Ibanez TB100H 100watt Solid state amp, into 4x12 Ibanez cab.

For such a horribly sterile amp (not mine, but local studio?s, the BB2 warmed the Ibanez head up a great deal. A great match together.

A note for recording. If the Volume is set near maximum, and used in boost mode, the pedal can act as a rough DI box, just ramping the guitar signal up to a higher output. Used in blues mode, old early 60?s style fizzy overdrives can be easily replicated with great fun.

The pedal has been with me for 3 years, and has been used rather heavily. It is a well constructed little box. The steel casing is a good depth thick, knobs are still firm after a great deal of turning, and the switch is pretty strong and lasts well.
This pedal has been treated well and has been carried in its own box, inside a pedal bag. It has withstood hot and cold temperatures, and a change of moisture in the air from the time of entering the studio to leaving at night, over a few hours playing time.
This is a pedal that will take gigging in its stride.

Never needed them.

I tend to play a vast array of styles, and this pedal is a great asset. Anything from really, jazzy to blues, to a good thick rock, this pedal delivers. It also has the advantage, due to the boost function, or being able to liven up nearly any other drive state, either pedal or amp. That is such a useful function. As I had mentioned earlier, I have compared this pedal to a TS9 tube screamer, and there really is no difference between the two, for what the TS9 can do, but the BB2 allows more sounds to be created and is far more useful for that alone.
A simple straight forward pedal, with two modes that both are useful. A whole bunch of useable features and tones all housed in a solid well built box...and for the price they?re selling for now under 40 pounds, it?s a steal!

The pedal has four knobs to control Mode (Blues - All knobs in use, Boost - only the volume knob in use), drive, Tone (more base on lowest more treble on highest) and level. The manual was quite useful but seeing as how i only use it as a volume booster the tone drive don't do anything, so it is quite self explanitory.

I have found it better to use the pedal in my effects loop because it gives a greater volume boost this way for some reason.

Guitars: Jackson DKMGT Dinky, Jackson JS30DK Dinky, Squier Telecaster with Fender noiseless Pups and new Fender Japaneese neck.

Amps: MG100HDFX through a Marshall 1936 cab and a Fender Champion 30 as a practice amp.

I have tried this pedal out with all of my guitars through the Marshall and it is not very noisy for the punk/rock style of music my band plays. I have the gain set about 6-7 for my rhythem sound on the Marshalls OD2 setting. The only time i got it to sqeal was with the gain booster on the DKMGT.

One flaw i found is that the booster lacks treble for a lead sound if you don't already have a trebly rhythem sound. If I could suggest any improvements one would be to keep the tone control in use on the boost mode.

To be honest I can't comment properly on the blues mode because i don't use it for this.

I have said no opinion because i've only had it a month and although i have done one gig with it i don't think this is enough to rate it on.

Haven't needed them hope i won't.

I think this is a good pedal for what i'm using it for, thats what i've given it the eight for. I've been paying 4 years and have been needing a third channel for my amp for a while, this pedal mean i can have clean, overdrive then boost. The only flaw is the tone control i already mentioned in my opinion.

a fairly simple pedal to use, the usual on/off stomp switch w led, input/output jacks and power via a 9v battery or boss style adapter - battery access is via a screw on the bottom, but is easily opened with a pick or coin

the pedal has two modes, blues and boost chosen by the leftmost 'knob' (actually a rotary switch)
in blues mode it acts like a normal distortion pedal, with volume/gain/tone control
boost mode takes the gain and tone controls out of the circuit, so the only control knob is the volume control (which could confuse the people who dont look at the manual and wander why the controls have no effect..)

one small complaint, the knobs are fairly small, and settings are shown by a black marking on a shiney silver top, so not the best for viewing on a lit stage

played using a humbucker equipped guitar (either a tele or bc rich) into a Marshall JCM2000 DSL401, no other pedals at the same time

the blues mode is good, but there is something lacking in the sound, to me it always seems to sound a bit muffled, and nowhere near as cutting and present as my amp does
it is more a bluesy distortion, so not untra high gain, but perfect for rock and blues playing

the boost mode is excellent though, it sounds pretty transparent to me, and has quite a big volume boost, sticking it onfront of my amp i can usae it into a higher gain (on amp) setting to add a load more gain and balls to the sound (similar to the od2 channel - basically the od1 with a 20dB boost), or at lower gain settings it will add volume and drive the amp more.
i use it for a lead boost or for boosting the distortion into more gain and for these purposes it does excellently

it is built into a pretty weighty solid metal enclosure, so no worries about it taking much damage, the pedal is shaped to hide the knobs from feet so no worries about changing settings accidentally

i have never had any problems while i have owned it, and would happily gig with it

i have never had any dealings with marshall themselves and have had no problems with the pedal to contact them about

overall i think this pedal is well worth the pretty low prices they go for, even if you only use it for the boost mode, a great sounding pedal for little cash

A Dual purpose stomp box, press the footswitch to turn it on press it again to turn it off, simple as that. Being able to switch from boost to blues by a pedal would be a nice touch though.
Simple manual with a couple of good settings.

Epiphone Les Paul Studio standard pick ups.
Squier Strat standard picks ups.
Set up varies but all goes into a 1981 vintage Marshall 2204 50 Watt JMP valve combo with 2 x 12 Celestion GM12 speakers.

Setup either: Guitar > Cry Baby wah> BB2> amp for straight blues gigs
or: Guitar > Behringer V-amp 2 or Zoom GFX 4 > BB2 > EH Little Big Muff PI (1970's vintage) for more complex sounds.

It says Marshall on the front...nuff said.

It's built like a tank.

I'd gig without a back up but my sound would suffer.

Never had to call them.

Used with the Epiphone it sounds fabulous through the JMP on the boost setting. Rounds out and thickens the sound of the amp when it is just on the point of clipping and compressing. On the pre-amp Volume setting 10 and 2 on MV gives a wonderful rich ambrosia creamy sort of sound. Think Parisienne Walkways/Carlos Santana.
Turn it up and it becomes a monster-bags of sustain, controlled feedback, rich harmonics, Slash Sweet Child of Mine/Gary Moore Oh Pretty Woman sort of sound.
On the Blues setting even more wild-Add some treble to get Rhandy Rhoads or some Wah for Michael Schencker.

With the Strat I find it's better as a clean boost to drive the amp harder into SRV/Hendrix type tones, it's a bit noisy if you use the blues settings due to the single coils.

I've tried it on more high gain amps like the TSL at which point the distortion is a bit harsh and fuzzy and indistinct. I think it works best with an old style valve amp not a dual rectifier or high gain one.

I can guarantee a fantastic warm valvey, compressed sound with just the Les Paul the Marshall, the BB2 and the Cry Baby. I guess thats why its been such a popular set up for ppl like Jimmy Page, Scott Gorham, Brian Robertson, Paul Kossoff et al.

Used as a line driver with the digi effects you need careful control of the settings not to get too mushy but it works well at low level volumes.

The passive bypass is excellent too.

Well I am sure that we all know how to use a stomp box.

Mode (Blues/Boost)
Drive(Overdrive)
Tone (Bass Through Treble)
Level(Volume)

Any questions?

Ok, the important bit.

My setup:

Amps: Marshall SLP1959 100X Head Through 1960TV 4x12 100 cab
Fender Blues DeVille(circa 1999)

Both amps are running ASPEN 12AX7-M Preamp Valves, the marshall has the standard output valves and the fender has Philips USA 6L6's

Guitars: 70's strat (EMG SV pickups with active boost)
80's strat (scallopped with DeMarzio's)
60's Gibson LP (500T's)
00 Epihone LP (Gibson LP Std buckers)

Pedal Board: Guitar
-> Samson Wireless
-> Boss TU-12 (Tuner)
-> Cry Baby (With Volume Boost)
-> Ibanez TS-9DX (Drive low,levelhigh for gritty boost)
-> Marshall BB-2 (Main overdrive)
-> Marshall SV-1 (Chorus)
-> Boss DD-3 (Delay)

You can probably guess from my setup that I am into Blues and rock of a classic nature. My main sound/tone idols are David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) and Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple).

My settings for the BB-2 in this configuration are Mode: Blues, Drive: Max, Tone: Max, Level: 10-11'oClock. Bare in mind that the amp settings also play a large part in the overall sound. I have tried to set the Fender and the Marshall amps accordingly so that my overall sound is similar with just the coloration of the amp coming through.

Through the Fender using one of my strats the sound is very vintage, the overdrive is natural of 100W Marshall cranked. (I should know I have A/B tested it with my SLP) which is exactly the tone I like, although if you turn the guitar down as to clean the sound up, the sound changes into a warm Bassman sound (due to the ASPEN Mullards).

Once I start using the other effects in series, I can get a very acurate David Gilmour or a very close Ritchie Blackmore and all kinds of Zeppelin/Sabbath/Clapton sounds.

Through the Fender using a Gibson/Epiphone, the sound is still very vintage Marshall, although it accentuates the fat, rich sound you get from Humbuckers.

Again once using the other effects in series, I can get anything from Gary Moore/Paul Kossof/Jimmy Page.

Through the Marshall using a Fender the sound is still very much vintage Marshall (obviously) but the sound has that Marshall FAT sound, maybe even a little too much at times, you almost have to back off the drive a little on the BB-2 otherwise it can get fuzzy at times.

I can get anything from Hendrix/Clapton/Jeff Beck/Ritchie Blackmore.

Through the Marshall using a Gibson/Epiphone the sound goes into another dimension, it becomes very heavy, rich, and smooth.

This configuration is typical AC/DC/Thinn Lizzy and it is superb!

I would consider using a different overdrive pedal on the marshall pure;y for the strat as I am not entirely satisfied with the sound using the BB-2 on full drive. Maybe I will buy a second one and set it up differently.

I have a DOD YJM308 Yngwie Malmsteen on order which I intended for my strats through the Marshall, so look out for my review.

I have owned this pedal since late 1998 and I have not had any problems.

I called Marshall once about my 1959SLP 100W head and they were very helpful and knowledgable.

I would give this pedal an overall rating of 9 the 9% stands for its tone and sheer versatility. As you can tell from my review above, not all effects suit all kinds of amps. So the remaining 1% stands for the fact that although the sound through my Marshall is very good, it is not perfect to my ears.

4 knobs, easy to use if you are familiar with dist/ od/ boost. easy to get a good sound out of.

it's funny, but i've used this pedal through a variety of amps(i've tested it on ss vs tubes, etc... small/ big amps, you name it. it never fails to come thru with a good sound. honestly, i've used it hooked up to an ancient kustom pa type head with crappy speakers, and i still got a nice tone.
it has a nice spectrum. you can get all out metal on a overdriven amp, and i think the boost mode works very well.
true bypass as well.
i had the jackhammer before, and i think this is better in terms of versatility.

i've hammered nails in the apartment with it. i'm not kidding. solid metal casing. also, it seems to be resistant to scratching.

never dealt with em, except when i emailed them about a vox ri amp i had before , and they responded within 24 hrs. marshall/korg/vox all the same now.

this is a very underrated pedal. well suited for rock, metal, blues, anything. it's similar in some respects as a boss bd2 but has better overall useable amount of sounds.

Hey, it's a pedal. How hard can it be to use it? One small problem, though. When changing 'blues' to 'boost' a massive difference in sound level may appear.

Using it with Fender American Telecaster. A perfect match, so to say. I've got also Marshall's Supervibe but I use it really seldom. Oh and delay. Few of them, I love delays ;-)
It's probably one of the least noisy pedals I've ever heard. BB2 can produce a wide range of sounds, so you are really comfortable to choose a few of your fav settings. Sure one can make it sound crappy, but it needs a certain dose of talent ;-)
I use mostly Marshall Valvestate amps. Just a matter of sentiment, though.
I mostly play rock music, garage rock revival aso. BB2 loves that and I love it working for me. All in all - 10!

Totally relaible. Definitely would use it without a backup. It's a small tank.

No idea.

I'm using BB2 for like 5 years now and if it got lost, I'd surely go for another one. Unfortunately, one thing is missing with this pedal. It would be even better if one could change 'blues' to 'boost' mode while playing - using footswitch.

It's very easy and straightforward to use, with a helpful manual supplied. Not much to understand: a choice of either overdrive or a clean signal boost, with full true bypass. A double stomp switch may have been good, to change between drive and boost, because you have to reach down and flick it over.

I use this with different guitars, mostly an old Strat and a 335. It's pretty quiet and the true bypass makes it transparent when turned off.

The 'boost' setting is very useful if you have a pedalboard - it lifts the volume of your clean signal and compensates for the tone sucking of other chained together stomp-boxes. There is some colouration: your clean tone becomes slightly compressed, but play around with the settings and it's worth keeping on all the time. This is its main use for me, and the drive is just an added extra.

The drive tone is good, quite Marshally (surprise) - gritty, raunchy sound with as much gain as you would ever need for blues. Sounds a bit thick sometimes, slightly muffled and could do with some more upper register, but a powerful baby.

Looks pretty strong. The battery access is a bit awkward, but handled with reasonable care, can't imagine screwing it up.

I play mostly blues, rock, rnb, some jazz. I wanted it to give me a Marshall type sound, even using other amps, but obviously it is not an amp modeller as such. Used through a small Mesa-Boogie combo, the pedal sounds pretty much the same as the amp on 'contour', or crunch. So, the drive sound I could probably get from A.N Other pedal, but the clean boost is an imporatant part of my gear when using a pedalboard.

Simple, mode knob for selecting "Blues" (Overdrive) or "Boost" (Slightly gainy transparent boost), then you have the normal three knob setup for any drive stomper. Of course, when boost mode is selected the volume pot is the only control in use...basically giving you an MXR micro amp type gain boost pedal and a standard marshall overdrive pedal in one casing. Select the mode that you need, and set as desired for your application. Easy, very easy!!!

I only use the boost function but it is a very important part of my sound, i'll explain after i describe my setup...

My setup goes like this at the moment:
'69 and '72 Fender Thinline Telecasters, Boss TU-2 Tuner, Crybaby, Marshall BB-2, Ibanez TS-9, Boss BD-2, Marshall Vibratrem, Boss DD-3 Delay, Electro Harmonix Holy Grail Reverb all into a Vox AC30TB.

The BB-2 is the cheapest piece of equipment i use and i have tried to find a better quality item to replace it, but i cant find anything better for the job that it does for me.
As you can see i am very fortunate to use a telecaster and Vox AC30TB combination....the vox has an amazing natural overdrive when cranked, but the volume required to get this overdrive is far too much for indoor performances. BUT, when i set the volume of the Boost mode of the BB-2 just above that of my pristine vox clean sound, at gigging volume, the sound is axactly the same as the amp when cranked to the last, but at a reasonable volume. No loss of top or bottom just a clean breakup of the tubes at a managable volume....really sweet!!!
(Works like an MXR micro amp or boutique booster, but i cant justify paying so much when this is perfect and just as good as those units)

After this clean breakup i use the TS-9 for full-on overdrive and the BD-2 on top of that for leads. (The TS-9 and BD-2 sound much superior to the BB-2 for full drive sounds IMO)
I have all my overdrive needs covered from pristine cleans through three stages of overdrive to rip roaring leads, with phenominal tone throughout....unbelievable!!!
I wanted to buy a better quality booster for this purpose and after trying the good'ns i just went and bought a another BB-2 as a backup booster. In my opinion it is the best backup to have because it covers boost and drive functions if any of your overdrives let you down at any time.
For full overdrive sounds i find the TS-9 and BD-2 are better but for my clean breakup i wont be without the BB-2, Ever!!!
For Drive sounds (Blues mode) i'd give it a 7. For my purpose, as a booster in boost mode a definate 10.

Bought my first in late '98 after they first came out and it is still in perfect nik on my board. And when its cleaned up looks like new. Have one as a backup now since '02...never used....probably never will be, but its there if i need it. AAHHHH, peace of mind is a great thing in this business!!!

Never needed....wouldnt bother for a measly pedal. I would be a bit embarassed. The price of the phone call from ireland would probably buy me a new pedal!!!
Forget Marshall support unless you have an expensive valve amp still under warranty.

Boost Mode, a must have for me to replicate the clean breakup of my Vox at Workable volume levels. No loss or gain of EQ in any way for me. A volume control with just the right amount of pre determined gain. Excellent for dirty clean rhythms with vocals. Puts a beautiful sparkle on lightly played cleans and a nice growl when you dig in. A great band tool....not great for bedroom use in my opinion, there are much better drive boxes for bedroom rock star moments!!! Our band plays Pearl Jam / Radiohead / Jeff Buckley kinds of stuff and it is perfect.

Well, using this pedal is not really difficult. There's a selector for "Boost" an "Blues", a knob for "Drive", one for "Tone" and one for "Volume". Just put this thing on the amp, and you'll get a great tone out of it.

I use the pedal with a Hughes&Kettner 30W combo (I don't know the right name, I bought it from my guitar teacher) and an Epiphone Les Paul Custom 50th Anniversary Model.
I play (or better, try to play ;) ) Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, a bit of Lenny Kravitz and some Pink Floy songs. With the Distortion channel of my amp, these things didn't sound very good, but by using the pedal, it nearly sounds like one of those old Marshalls. When I play "Whole lotta love" with the pedal, it sounds just like the original.

Never dealt with Marshall

Well, it's a great pedal. It sounds great and it seems to be very solid.

4 Knobs - A selection switch for "Boost" (clear volume boost) or "Blues" (vintage overdrive) mode, Drive (amount of gain/distortion), Tone and Level controls.

Input & Ouptput jack, 9v input for mains power, LED for power indication and single footswitch.

HIDEOUSLY EASY TO USE! I got a great tone in 30 seconds! However, you make want to take a few minutes to familiarise yourself with the amount of sounds this little metal box can put out.

Switching between the two modes merely cuts out the gain and tone controls when the "Boost" mode is selected. Both modes are very easy to operate. Child's play.

My current rig:

Marshall JCM900 4500 Hi Gain Dual Reverb 50w tube head => Marshall 1960AV Vintage 30 4x12 speaker cab => BB-2 => Boss TU-2 Tuner => Gibson '61 Reissue SG with '57 Classic humbuckers.

I also run a two button channel/reverb switch as well as an Ibanez Phase Tone phaser and Pearl Flanger in the effects loop.

The BB-2 is a true bypass, so no noise at all, or at least none I can detect.

I bought this for the boost option - I play rhythm guitar in four-piece emo/dark rock band, but lately I've been playing a lot of solo riffs as our lead guitarist is vocalist as well and can't always nail singing and soloing. So I've taken on some riffs and wanted a good booster to cut through on the solo stuff. The BB-2 was mint, it allowed me to get a nice gain boost and my solo work was instnatly percievable.

However, the Blues option is just as good - it's effectively given my JCM900 a third channel. I had just previously had a fairly good (for a Marshall) clean channel and dirty channel which crunched up nicely.
There were times though when I needed a gain boost to grit up my clean without having to stop and up the preamp control. The Blues mode on the BB-2 came to the party. Now I have a nice "vintage" overdrive pedal to use on my clean. It's not as ballsy or in your face dark-rock crunch as my amp's B channel, but I didn't want that. The blues tone I have (Blues mode, Drive at 11.00, Tone at 2.00 and level at 3.00) gives me an oldschool "plexi" sound, very smooth and vintage. It's great!

It's very similar to the tone used by Clapton on "Layla" (original version), and with a bit of tweaking, I get a nice Zep and Sabbath sound as well.

The only downer I have is that the tone control doesn't ever get very bright - this is overall a quite dark-sounding pedal, but never muddy. However, it is voiced for a blues sound, which is generally not as bright as modern tones. For that, I can't fault it much.

Boost mode works well, possibly too well at times as it can overdrive an already cranked amp to the point of major feedback. I am looking into a noise gate to cut back on that in future.

Overall, a great sound, really gives my SG, a "classic-sounding" guitar a very nice vintage tone, but not at the expense of removing it from the modern range of sounds, if that makes sense. Havent' tried it with single coils, but my band's other guitarist has a Strat Plus we're going to try this week.

More solid than a Boss pedal - seriously! I don't know if I would gig without a backup, but I have a Boss BD-2 for that purpose.

N/A bought it second hand, haven't needed too.

Been playing for 7 years, mostly rock based stuff - been a fan of indie/emo and the alternative scene for the last few. This pedal is the money. It get a great oldschool sound, but you can crank it into modern territory with ease.

I've been looking for something like this for ages, and seriously, it's like having a another Marshall plugged into you guitar!

it's a stompbox... how hard can it be?

bossTU12->Marshall Guv'Nor(original)->Boss DS-1->BBII-> Boss PH3->Boss TR-2->Boss DD3-> Hughes&Kettner Duotone head w/H&K Quaddie.

I use different types of guitars, for different songs (all originals) and this pedal gets used A LOT. with a beefy, humbucker guitar, the BB2 belts out a bone-crunching, toppy drive, but plug it into a single coil guitar, it's mellow's out, while still keeping a HEAP of bright, top end (If that makes ANY sense) often used in conjuntion with my original guvnor, which gives an overdrive to blow your ears out...

this pedal has been on my pedalboard rig for about a year now, and it's gigged all over australia MANY times, and has been overseas a few times, and thus far haven't had a problem. love the true bypass in it!

haven't had to deal with marshall...

personally, i LOVE this pedal... even though it was given to me as an endorsment, i'd go and buy one. it suits anything. it can be bright and brittle, and real subtle, and then it can blow your head apart. I play a well-suited style of music to it's sound, (ie, The Vines, Jet, Muse) so i like a nice drive... highly reccomended.

I was just testing this pedal out for a brief time when I bought the Guv'Nor and didn't really fiddle around with the settings.

EXCELLENT!!!!! I would have bought this pedal if it weren't for the fact that I am broke and need the Guv'Nor for its well rounded distortion. But if you need to turn your amp into a blues beast get this!!!

I'm assuming its as good as the Guv'Nor (which is really good)

N/A

Its meant to play the blues and thats it. However it does a damned good job of making a nice blues tone so I will give it a 10 because it does exactly what it is supposed to do.

This pedal is very easy to use. Select blues or boost mode and off you go. The manual offers useful starting points for settings.

I was using this pedal with the following gear: An SG with Wilkinson humbuckers, a cheap strat copy with Kent Armstrong humbuckers, through a Boss TU-2 tuner and a Morley Power Wah into a Marshall DSL100 and 1960A cab.

I bought this pedal for the boost mode only, just to get some extra level and drive for solos. I was persuaded by the manufacturers claims of a "totally transparent / clean boost". Nothing could be further from the truth. The boost mode is truly awful: hopelessly distorted with a narrow frequency range. The distortion is not at all musical - like turning up a cheap solid state amp too loud. DO NOT under any circumstances buy this unit if you are looking for a clean boost.

The blues mode fairs no better; sounds more like an inferior Big Muff than a Tube Screamer or Boss Blues Driver. Stevie Ray? Forget it, Steve Malkmus more like. Again the sound lacks space, narrow frequency range, totally masking the sound of your guitar. So, you could say it makes my Encore Strat sound like a Custom Shop Strat - nobody could tell the difference with such a muffled sound.

The pedal does have a true bypass, but this is pretty useless when it sounds so bad.

I took the BB-2 back to the shop the day after I bought it.

Never had to deal with Marshall. I've heard they're good though.

This pedal is bloody awful. If you want a clean boost, buy an MXR Micro Amp. If you want a bluesy tube overdrive, try a Boss Blues Driver, or even better, a modded one from Robert Keeley. I was really disappointed with this thing - doesn't deserve to bear the Marshall name.

It"s not that difficult considering i only use the boost switch.Even though i have read the manual,i just use my ears to be the judge of whats good or bad.

I play a black les paul standard(w/EMG'S 81-85's)plugged into a marshall valvestate 2 head(100 watts).The only way this pedal gets real noisy if you turn the volume all the way up to 10.Keeping the Volume somewhere between 4 and 6 makes the pedal sound alot less noisier.Also it depends on the amp itself,marshall valvestates are pretty chunky sounding as it is so i dont need to boost things that much just a little extra/out of control sustain that my amp needed.The blues distortion mode sounds the best on the clean channel ala led zeppelin I,but i mostly prefer marshall amp tone.I dont use the pedal so much for tone it's mostly the marshall itself.However the boost volume control provides me more than enough sustain for those classic Rhandy Rhoades/Van Halen solos combined with Metallica meets Pantera kind of chunk that i get from the marshall which describes my influence on guitar tone.As far as effects i use either a dunlop crybaby or a morley bad horsie wah their all good in their own specail way and they both sound the best with the marshall bluesbreaker 2 pedal switched onto boost given the wah a much hotter sound for shred type of solos.

I have no choice but to depend on this pedal in fact it's always on.It brings the best out of my rhythm,leads,guitar fills and harmonic squeals maybe it's the compression of gain-related devices or how i adjust the amp to sound with the pedal vice versa.I have use this pedal before without a backup meaning ive never had problems with it.Every now and then i would have to tighten up the input and output screws which is normal with pedals of the constant plugging in/plugging out.Maybe sometime in the long run i will consider getting duplicates of the same pedal just in case if it does break down.

I NEVER HAD TO DEALT WITH THEM

I play a musical style somewhere between classic rock and metal.So far this pedal has been a great match with marshall valvestate amps every from full metal tone with a classic marshall crunch.I would definetly buy this pedal again probably more for backup purposes.I haven,t really expeirement with alot of booster type of boxes so i really cant say much about other pedals.The bottom line was that the tone out of my marshall was great but i needed a little extra crunch and sustain between my rhythm/lead playing and if was a little too much for my rhythm i would just simply turn down my guitar volume knob a little bit.I just pick this pedal because it was whatever was available at the time in the music store.

Only three pots and a switch, how hard can it be? It took me about 5 minutes to find the sound I liked. Mine came without a manual because the reseller apparantly lost it, but I really didn't need it anyway.

I play a Mexican standard Tele and a Lab7 100w solid state amp. I use the drive pot all the way up so I get maximum overdrive, and it amazed me how much gain it could deliver, a typical AC/DC like sound is what I get. That Marshall amp sound is absolutely there through this pedal.

Looks real solid, an elephant should be able to kick it without problems.

Haven't needed them...

I mainly play bluesy rock tunes and I definitely like the sound of a Marshall amp. Although probably not as good as the real thing, it gets me real close to that sound without all the disadvantages of a tube amp.

Very straightforward to use. As this is a dual function pedal, the manual makes it clearer what each pot does. Also includes useful setting suggestions.

Gordon Smith GS2>Morley Classic Wah>BB2>Danelectro Tuna Melt>Dano Cool Cat>Dano Dan Echo> Fender Princeton 65.

It's only noisy in the nicest possible way: It gives a fabulous boost for rhythm and solos. It sounds great through Marshall amps too (only tried the solid state ones and they sound fine to me). Gives you a very fat, brash, late-60's Clapton tone.

Utterly dependable. Made in China to a very high spec (steel case and very heavy duty footswtich). Would gig without a backup.

Wouldn't feel I needed to get in touch as I have total confidence in the object.

I play all sorts of stuff:Always covers but with the empahaisi on tunes and melody. If stolen or lost I'd get another. For the price it's superb. The best thing about it is that on the boost setting it adds an extra level of gain which will make any amp- however cheap- come to life. I hardly ever use the blues (distortion) setting. A wonderful piece of gear for people who don't want fizz but who want loud, singing tone.

I use a Marshall 8040 combo, with a TC 2290 and a Roland RSP-550 in the loop. I play a Fender std. Stratocaster.
It comes very close to real valve overdrive, and it's very quiet (also when activated) and the bypass is very good.
I just don't like the way it is pre-equalized. The midrange is boosted and that makes it a little fuzzy. At gain settings past 9 o'clock it doesn't work well, unless you only play one note at the time.
In boost mode it distorts a little when I punch a chord, and it removes a little bit of bottom from the original signal.

I play blues, rock, hard rock and country. I've been playing for 20 years.
It is only good at light overdrive settings, and therefore not very versatile. The pre-equalizer simply colours the sound too much.
If it were stolen or lost, I wouldn't even care.

Very simple

I use it with a Marshall 8040 combo with a TC 2290 and a Roland RSP-550 in the loop. I play a Fender std. Stratocaster.
It comes very close to real valve overdrive.
It's very quiet (also when activated) and the bypass is very good.
I don't like the way it has been pre-equalized, it should not have been pre-equalized at all imo. The lower end of the midrange is boosted while the high freqencies are cut off.
It doesn't sound good at gain settings past 9 o'clock, it gets a little fuzzy.
In boost mode it distorts a little when I punch a chord, and it removes a little bit of bottom.

I haven't had it for long.

I play blues, rock, hard rock and country, and I've played for 20 years.
I'm fond of the design, but I'm not mad about the way it colours the sound.
If it wasn't pre-equalized, I'd probably give it a higher rate.
It's not very versatile, it only does light overdrive well.
If you are looking for a versatile overdrive pedal, then look elsewhere.
If I lost it, or if it were stolen, I woundn't care.

Hmm well there is a switch, and you step on it, and its on, the rest is up to the imagination...

This is a very good overdrive pedal, and a great great value. I was looking for an overdrive to crunch up my cleans a bit, and fatten up my drive channel. I went first for the tube screamer but was very dissapointed. Don't get me wrong its alright, but limited, only starts to sound good when your amp is cranked to the max. More a booster than independent drive. Next i tried out the boss blues driver, which is an awesome overdrive, a little noisy, but great for the money. Other pedals like the sparker drive by voodoo lab and american od by visual sound are great to, but not enough crunch and like the tubescreamer more of boost pedals than anything. The marshall was great, nice creamy overdrive tones, versatile, has plenty of punch, quiet, and an amazing boost feature. This thing with crank your cleans and sustain your overdrives tones for days. Like anything else in my opinion tho, you have to have the right set up. I have this going through a fender Hot Rod deville 212, with a dunlop classic crybaby and voodoo lab trem, and it kicks. And for 80 bucks you really cant go wrong.

It seems pretty reliable, switch seems a little shaky nothing major, but we'll have to see with time.

Havent delt with them

This pedal is a great pedal, more kick than the tubescreamer, and very useful and versatile. It adds a great element to any set up

It's a pedal...very easy

pretty good. Suppsedly True Bypass so it adds no noise or detracts from the signal when off. When on...it sounded horrible through my old JCM 800 Marshall. I only used it rarely as a boost for some solos. However, I'm now using an older JMP from the late 70's and this pedal really works. It sounded bad through my buddy's Bedrock combo as well. So I guess, if you get the right amp combo, it has a really good tone.

Solid, but it is pcb so if it gets into trouble, good luck fixing it. So far so good and I've been using it for years. However, the backup that I bought at the same time was DOA.

N/A

I like this pedal now with my marshall jmp 50 watt head. I'm running a '74 les paul through this then into a Nobel OD-1 or TS9 and various other pedals into the Marshall and a 2x12 cabinet with a greenback and G12h30. I like it for a good lead boost and an interesting distortion sound. However, it never worked through my other amp, a JCM 800, 100 watter. Try it out on your amp before purchase. Overall, a great pedal though if it fits your style.

Great manual, not needed anyway

I use a guild bluesbird (EMG's) and a telecaster (quarterpounder at the bridge) in combination with a mesa boogie dc-5 and a hafler T3.
At the first start i should give it a 6 for the sound but after i did a mod on this pedal the sound changed enormous.
The original sound was a bit raw and harsh, though a good sound was available if you tweaked a lot but the tone wasn't smooth enough.
Now after the mod (changed to sparkle drive and fulltone specs), the sound is very smooth, but it can deliver enough gain, not like the sparkle drive, in my opinion, the sparkle drive doesn't deliver enough gain. Don't forget one thing, everyone likes his own sound. For me the BB-2 was a good choice because of his true bypass and the price, don't forget the looks, it is a beautifull stompbox. If you like good bluessounds and early seventies rocksounds, the BB-2 is something for you, but be sure you have the mod done.

Yes, reliable.

I play in a david bowie tributeband, i play for 36 years.

the boost channel is a god-send, the drive channel is Ok but I bought it mainly for the boost. 10 for the boost, 8 for the overdrive.

ibanez, gibson, humbuckers = screamin demon, jb, alnico pro-II, hiwatt, marshall, orange. I just finished a/b test with the boost quality with my maxon od-9. the maxon was much better for making cleans a little dirty, but for overall boost flexibility, the BBII would be my choice. much more full and round sounding, really makes all the tones coming from all of my amps much more lively. it sounds exactly like the dialed in tone, just "better" PLUS quieter than most other stomp boxes i own[ed] especially in boost mode

i like to play mostly raunchy overdriven guitar. maxon od-9, guv'nor II, modded sd-1, big muff (russian), crybaby wah, flanger. I think if you have a good sound to begin with i think this would be a great boost for solos and over-the-top parts. plus the overdrive channel is fairly usable if you're willing to tweak. A superb value in my opinion for my purposes PURE BOOST

Simple to use - its mainly intuitive but there are simple brief instructions complete with pictures and settings suggestions for types of blues sounds. Even the illiterate Yanks who proliferate this site shouldhave no problems.

Does 'exactly what it says on the tin'.

Balancing between sound volumes on 'pass-through'(thats wired up with the thing switched off - no pretty red light), 'blues' or 'boost' needs a little fiddling with. This doesn't take long and is all part of the 'sound check' process.

Exceptionally well built and durable - even the battery cover.

no need to contact them

This a is a blues breaker - it produces Blues tones. Its the one pedal that I always take everywhere with me for electric and acoustic sessions - it produces tones that vary from adding a little mellow 'grunt' to an electro acoustic to hot harmonics and sustains on a cranked up electric. This is one pedal that delivers what it says it does

Easy to use. Just set the mode, adjust the controls to your liking & stand back and wail

To my ears, this pedal is really more voiced for rock than blues. However, it can do blues but its more of a higher gain type of tone(think Hendrix). But, afterall it is a Marshall pedal so I guess its to be expected. I usually play a little bit cleaner blues so it took a while to get used to this but it's got its own tone & it certainly has its place in certain songs. I think it can easily cover hard rock like AC/DC or G-N-R. I use this with an american Strat w/ vintage pups and a Les Paul w/ SD '59s. The amps I use are reissue Super Reverb and a Epiphone Galaxie Tube 10. The best combination to me is actually the Les Paul and the Galaxie 10. Makes it sound just like a baby Marshall. Really smooth OD & unmistakable Marshall tone. I wish this pedal sounded better with the Super Reverb since its my main amp but its just so-so. Strangely enough, the Epiphone flat out screams with this pedal. Go figure. The tone I get from the Fender amp is a 7, from the Epiphone a 9.

Had it about 6 months. Its steel & its heavy so I see no problems in the immediate future. Works fine so far....

A nice pedal for blues/rock. Not really voiced for metal because its a bit too crunchy for that IMO. The boost is great for solo work or driving a tube amp's front end a little. Be careful of it's output level when switching between boost and blues mode because there is a huge difference in volume between these settings. I also use a Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive which I think is an awesome pedal for blues. If higher gain blues & rock and the Marshall tone is your thang, you'll like this pedal.

Two modes, the usual knob suspects. Easy.

I played a Les Paul through a Peavey Classic 30 to test this pedal out. The boost mode is great. It's crystal clear and gives a nice kick to your clean tone or boosting your lead tone.

However, the overdriven tone isn't exactly what I preferred. There isn't anything wrong with it, per say, just not what I like. It isn't thin or raspy, but the highs were a little too harsh for me. Maybe it was just this particular pedal, but the overdriven mode didn't sound as smooth as I prefer.

I'd give this a 6, but I'll kick it up a point for the clean boost.

Can't comment since I only test drove the pedal, but it seemed solidly built.

Again, no experience with Marshall, so I can't comment.

I play blues/rock mainly, and dabble in just about everything else (from raggae to gypsy jazz to metal to ska). I've been playing about 8 years now, and absolutely love early Clapton. That's why I tried this pedal. EC managed to get a great ballsy sound out of his Marshall and Les Paul while still having that creamy tone. This particular pedal didn't give me that sound. The treble was just a little to grating and brittle. The clean boost was great, though.

Simple. You're either playing with the boost setting or with the overdrive setting. If boost, you just set the volume for your leads. If overdrive, you have level, tone, and volume. How could this be easier?

American Standard strat with fat 50s pickups, Epiphone Sheraton 2 with Gibson 57 Classic pickups, Carvin custom with Gibson Burstbucker pickups into MXR phase 90, BB2, Crybaby to Fender Super Reverb Reissue with Vibrato.
This pedal makes my already incredible strat pickups sound otherworldly. Boost makes my strat explode with fat bright tones even in the notoriously poor neck position that strats have. Makes the out-of-phase positions irresistable. If you have a Strat, buy this pedal, period.
Gives the humbuckers in my Carvin a light natural crunch in boost mode, which is great since the Fender Super Reverb is notorious for being impossible to break up no matter what volume.
Unfortunately my hollow-body just breaks up too much with the boost setting, so that it is like a low level overdrive pedal, not very useful.
The overdrive is the best I've ever heard, bar none. At lower levels it's crunchy for all forms of rock or blues, as you raise the level it sings with greater and greater levels of smoothness, clarity and intensity. It's like having a vocalist that can go from Muddy Waters to Luciano Pavarotti. I can't imagine getting a bad sound out of it. I often change what I'm playing based on what tone I dial in, rather than changing the tone I dial in to fit what I'm playing. It sounds that good.

I've only had it a few months, but it seems pretty solid.

Haven't needed any.

I play mostly rock-funk stuff, but everyone needs a good overdrive. Lately though I've been focusing on seventies melodic lead guitar a la Mick Ronson and Brian May, as well as a little Angus Young just for fun. Oh, this pedal has Angus Young, believe me. I tried a LOT of fuzz boxes, distortion pedals and overdrive pedals, before I tried this once with a strat, and the search was over.
I'll make it simple. The boost gives my clean sounds a life I didn't know they could have, and the drive gives me growl or sing or whatever I want in between. I hate to give anything a perfect ten, but I have no choice. If I could only keep one pedal this would be it, and I have considered buying a second one so I can use the boost and drive at the same time. So, ten it is.

Piece of cake. Good and Helpful manual

Two modes:
Boost: Useful if you have a good lead channel in your amp, so you can...boosts your signal! That's it
Blues: In few words, the best overdrive pedal I had in my whole life..creamy OD, more gain and sing than Ibanez TS9

It's built like a tank.

Never dealt with them.

have 2 natural '79 strats, one with stock pu's and the other with Hot Gold Lace Sensor, 1969 Fender Vibrolux Reverb Amp and 1992 Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amp.
I have a huge OD/DIST stomp box collection: Ibanez TS9 (Mod one), SuperTube Screamer, FatCat, Maxon OD808, BOSS OD-3, Mesa Boogie V-Twin.
I had: BOSS DS-1, Blues Driver, SuperOD, OD-1, OD-2, Ibanez TS9 dlx, TS5, TS10, Marshall Guv'nor (first edition, made in england), Jackhammer, DriveMaster....so I know a little about OD/DIST
Then I assure BB-2 sounds rich and warm,you can get lots harmonics, sustain, violin sound
My actual setup is guitar-->maxon OD808 (very low drive, just nice crunch)--->BB-2 (full blues drive for creamy leads)---> BOSS DM-3 (analog delay)
I have been playing for 30 years, 15 years part time professional my own compositions (Fussion Rock) and covers songs: SRV, Clapton, Deep Purple, Zep, Rolling, Beatles, AC/DC, Van Halen
You know sound its a subjetive matter, but I think anybody who buys one won't be disappointed. Not for Grunge or Heavy stuff
If it were stolen I buy it again...and again..and again

You just step on it!

Superb warm valve tones. I used to use the GFX 707 for all my effects but it's fiddly and the distortions are ugly and clipped with no real warmth to them. Hence my purchase of this little beauty. Satisfies all my needs for blues, indie/alternative and even hard rock when the mood takes me and the drive is way up!

There's no way i can ever see this breaking...

Never had the need...

I play a lot of Led Zep, Beatles, Stone Roses, Doors, Hendrix, Creedence - that kinda thing and it's perfect! I use it with a Dunlop Standard Cry Baby, a Boss Chorus(soon to be replaced by a Marshall SuperVibe) and the GFX 707 which is a decent tuner after all. If I were to lose this i'd cry, then find and ATM and then go buy a new one.

See my other review.

THIS IS AN UPDATE.
I bought a strat, and also started to play some blues, therefore i starter to use this pedal alot more. And i started to use it alone (without other dist pedals).
What can i say? It sounds GREAT! My strat has a maple neck and fretboard, which make it really bright sounding. The BB-2 really warms it! it adds some bass and mids and the tone control allows to remove the excessive high-end. I use the strat with her tone (treble) pot on 6, and use the pedal on the blues mode with drive on 3 o'clock, tone on 1 o'clock and volume on 12 o'clock, and it really gives that valve sound, perfect for rock/alternative and old heavy-metal (like black sabath, etc; w/ the bridge pickup, 'cause my bridge puckup is mainly mids w/ my settings - treble rolled off), wich are the styles i use this pedal for. Also nails Brian May on the brigde pickup!
I don't recomend going any further that nickleback/iron maiden with this pedal (eg. Metallica, Rammstein) 'cause it does not have enough gain. I use my amp's distortion for that, and the BB-2 on the boost mode for solos and controled feedback.
It's the only OD pedal that sounds good with my strat.
Also sound great with my les paul with emg85 on neck and emg81 on bridge.

See my other review.

See my other review.

Great deal.

Cool pedal really easy to use just a bit of a fag switching between boost & blues. Its not just the knob thing but the volume level difference between the two modes. You have to kkep o the ball. Manual was cool and a helpful

I play my harmonica through this. It rocks. I can get so many different kinds of noise. from quite a nice dry crunch to a really bluesy gravel.Blowing a full chord picks up the knda low level grind, but a solo bending draw note sings and sustains. I don't use the boost much as the sound is a bit clean for my purposes but if i do need to it all ways punches me high over all the the crazzy distortion happening on stage so is great for solos. However, I having to bend down and turn a knob part way through a track kinda dampens my enthusiam for doing that. At th mo I chain it up with a boss Od3 and a cheapy Arion digital delay and am saving up for an Ibanz chorus/flanger or phaser.

Of all the pedals in my box this will be the one to survive the A bomb. The wieght and solid feel of it was a major part of persauding to par with my money. I could'nt believe a cheap pedal could feel so tuff. I mean compare it to the danoelectric crap, one stomp and you got scrambled pedal.

not yet needed any help. Which I geuss is good

Top product for the price, does all i want and more. Would definately consider another Marshall pedal in the range, although different colours would help quick identification on stage. If nicked would be replaced.

It's easy but not very practical. You can't switch between the BOOST MODE and the BLUES MODE with your foot.

Perfect for blues... "Boost Mode" gives a nice sustain and volume to play stronger solos but it's still acceptable for clean blues. Bend&Vibrato sounds perfect in this mode. The "Blues Mode" has a real warm and anti-noisy overdrive. The Mids are awesome. It's good for hard-rock, too.

Like A Stone ;)

don't know...

Probably the best pedal for blues guitar. It can be used everywhere. (gigs, recording, home etc.) BB2 is a professional quality pedal, not a toy. Very good job from Marshall.

Come on... If you can't work out how to use this you need a good long sit down and a think about yourself...

I haven't bought this but I tested it extensively through a Fender Princeton and a Fender Mexican Strat. I usually play a Parker Fly classic through a Laney GH100L or my rack with a Mesa Quad and Mesa 20/20.

I wanted this pedal to give my Laney a better lead sound so that I have my chunky distortion rhythm tone and then step on the pedal to boost it for solos. On the Fender amp I played it did this perfectly - it gave me a really thick liquid lead sound with plenty of sustain (just like John Petrucci). It is a very dynamic pedal which is good. If that's what you're looking for in this pedal then don't hesitate to try it.

When applied to the clean channel it adds a warm bluesy overdrive to the sound which is very useable.

Passive bypass is wonderful too even though if I put this in my rack it will eventually go in a switcher.

Built like a tank - I was more worried about my shoes and the state of the floor underneath the pedal. I wouldn't want it dropped on my foot.

I've dealt with Marshall in the past and they seemed helpful but at the moment (just after the Mode 4 has come out) they are quite behind on orders - my cab took ages to come when I ordered it.

If you want to use this like many people use the Fulltone FD-2, as a boost for solos then get it. I will be buying this very soon as it's a great addition to my amp, effectively doubling the number of channels.

It's pretty small as well which is great so you can just pop it in your gig back / case / pocket / bag and it's there if you need it!

Very easy to handle.
Volume, Tone, Drive and a boost on/off function
Manual is great with a page for noting favourite settings.

Rating down for the boost function not being a foot-switchable button.

I use a Strat and a LP through a Marshall half-stack. The sound is superb. Very dynamic, sensitive to pinch harmonics, nice and fat souding.

Tried it against the BB1, Guvnor, MetalZone, Jackhammer, MXR D+ etc. plus some digital things and it just destroyed them. MXR was closest to being good. Full marks!

Warning: The Boost really boosts the signal into your amp. Really boost. Beware & use the volume control with care!

Note: It says BLUES breaker. If you play Metal with a scooped sound it's NOT an item for you. :)

Yes and yes. It's very solidly built in metal! Knobs mounted in a recessed cavity so you could step on or drop the pedal in relative safety.

I play rock, soul, punk, metal. Would replace immediately if lost.
The perfect one would have a button for the boost on/off function.

4 knobs and a solid switch. No problems here. A quick twist of a knob or two takes care of a switch in musical style or guitar.

I bought this shortly after getting a 73 Super Reverb with no master volume. My old Boss DS-1 just didn't sound good with the amp. So I spent several days in several stores playing lots of different OD and distortion pedals. The BB-2 quickly came out on top.
I can keep the drive set very low for just a bit of bluesy/country overdrive or turn the drive way up for OD/distortion that sounds nothing like what you'd expect the Fender amp to sound like.
I use a mid-70's Gibson with humbuckers and a MIM Nashville Tele. It's easy to set up the pedal for either guitar...just punch the level up a bit and drop the tone for the tele and you're ready to go.
Another nice thing about the BB-2 is that it plays well with other pedals. I'll use it with a DS-1, a compressor/sustainer, delay, flanger, wah....the BB-2 is always easy to set up for different situations.

Never a problem.

n/a

I keep looking at other OD/distortion pedals to use along with the BB-2. But I don't see it ever being replaced. I like showing up at blues jams with the tele, SR and the BB2 because I get a sound different from everyone using their Tube Screamers. It also allows me to get right in with harder rock, classic rock or alternative music even though I'm using what most people would consider a blues or country rig.

Very easy to use, three controls. Enough Said

I use a strat type guitar through a preavey studio pro 112. I do not tend to use this pedal much to be honest. Occasionarily I plug it in for some blues lead but when you look at all the multi effects units out there the bluesbreaker does not really have space in the set up. Sounds good for a stomp though.

impossible to break

The bluesbreaker is Ok as a stomp box but not the most amazing ever. If yo are going to o down the stomp box route then it will cost a lot to buy the seperate pedals, and with stompts you need expnsice amps and gear to get the most out of them.

I would recconmend buying one of the processors on the markets, i hardly use the blues breaker depending on my gfx707.

Will buying a new guitar processor soon, maybe a pod xt or boss gt6. The old fashioned stomp box has had its day unless you have the money to fork out on them but for the average non millionaire guitarist there are more cost effective and good sounding options on the market.

It's a stomp box - they're hardly difficult!

My current setup - 1997 Fender US Strat/hand made LP double cut shape --> BB-2 --> Laney LC30-II.

I originally bought this pedal about 2 years ago to give a little more bite and drive to my Marshall VS65R. I then changed amps to the all valve LC30-II, and found that the Blues mode was just too dirty for my taste, but then I 'discovered' the Boost mode...

The boost mode simply adds volume to your guitar's signal with no tonal colouration, pushing your amp's drive section a whole load more, and wow, does this sound great! My amp is setup to have a nice bluesy overdrive (gain at about 4) pedal's volume set to about 7. Turning the pedal on basically makes it feel like the amp's gain is set to 11!

The true bypass makes this pedal completely transparent when it's switched off.

It's in a nicely built metal box, although I did manage to snap one of the knobs off once (see customer support below)

When I bought the pedal I managed to snap the Boost/Blues selector switch off. As I was origanally only using the pedal for overdrive, I didn't really care, but after I changed amps I decided I wanted to try out the Boost mode.

I emailed Marshall and asked them how much a new switch would cost (to save me from having to make structural changes to the case and internal PCBs by fitting a different switch) and they mailed me back the next day asking for my delivery address, but with no mention of money.

Anyway, they posted a new switch out to me for free, within about 3 days of asking. No messing about!

I hear such a lot of bad reports of customer service, especially from the larger manufacturers such as Marshall, and it's put me off using them in the past, but in this instance I have been absolutely delighted by their support.

Thanks Marshall!

I play mostly classic rock and blues, and this pedal really suits me down to the ground. If it were stolen, I would almost certainly replace it. I kind of ended up with this pedal accidentally - I bought it for one thing (it's overdrive) and ended up using it for a different reason (it's boost mode)

But Arent most stomps easy to use. the Manual is easy and neat. Its cool the way it gives recomented dial positions for diferent sounds.

Used as a distortion pedal and your not going to get the greatest deal of drive. However thats not where the beuty lies in this baby...
Its a blues pedal disigned for a softer aproach. The distortion is very warm, not in the least bit hollow but it could do with a bit more tone in the mids.

The beutiful thing about this pedal I'd have to say is the BOOST switch. This simply boosts your signal to wherever your sending it. The amount of Boost is controlled by how much volume you give it. I am currently using a Marshall Jackhamer through the Marshall Edward Compressor and then into the Blues Breaker. When its off I get no loss of signal and then I switch on the boost when soloing. My volume is jacked up and so is my distorion. Way cool. BE WARNED!!! I DID LEAVE THE VOLUME ON FULL IN REHURSALS LAST WEEK. IT CAME TO MY SOLO AND I TURNED IT ON. I NOW NEED A NEW AMP!

But if you want to get Real crazy put your blues breaker on Boos and put it infront of your distortion/overdrive pedal. Make sure your distortion is set to about half way or less to get more of a crunch than distortion and then hit the boost....... WOW!!!!!

This thing is made out of metal. It looks tough, feels tough and if that guy asks me to play Wonderwall again next week we'll find out just how tough it is as I smash his face in with it.

Seiously though. Is this pedal reliable??? Come on guys its a Marshall. What do you think?

No faults so far.

Im a blues guitarist in a heavy metal band. Imagine Slash if he joined Metalica. As a distortion pedal not the best but with a low drive setting, pleanty of tone and through the single coils on my Fender you can get a sweet non agressive crunch. I use the Jackhamer for Distortin though as I havnt found Stomp box yet with an abundance of tone and dist like it.

Boost mode is so versitle and I abslutly love it. Seriously recomend sticking it in front of your dist/overdrive and hearing harminics like youve never heared in your life.

If this pedal was stolen I'd hunt and kill the fucker. then buy another.

If your after Distortion look elswhere. But its certainly not the worst Ive played through. I mean its no Boss DS-2 Turbo, thank Christ. If your after something a little different however to increase you levels or enhance your dist/OD so your sounding like no one else on earth this is it.

It is very easy to get a great sound. The 4 knobs are self explanatory.
The dials are a little small and can be hard to turn or hard to read in dim light.

Sounds are great. I play a Fender Texas Special Strat in a Marshall DSL 2000 tube amp. My amps lead channel has too much distortion for my taste so I use the BB-2 for blues and rock.
They pure boost sound (to drive tube amps harder) is perfectly clean and does not alter the sound at all.
The overdrive is not noisy hand has a range from "drive" to "crunch" to "lead". The distortion is heavier than on Ibanez or Maxon OD pedals, some my find it too heavy.

Built like a tank, even the dials and the emblem are metal. Can operate on battery and AC adapter. Has a thick rubber underside so it sticks to the floor.

Great price, great sound. I tried a Maxon OD808 before I bought the BluesBreaker but did not like the sound so much. And the BB-2 additional has the great boost function for tube amp users and costs half of the Maxon and Ibanez tube screamer overdrives.

Pretty easy to use. It has 4 knobs (Boost / Blues, Drive, Tone and Volume).
There was a manual that came with it and it was interesting to read, but not really needed to get a good sound out of this pedal.

I use lots of guitars (2 Gibsons, 5 Fenders, plus more) and play through an Ampeg Superjet SJ-12T all tube amp.

The pedal isn't noisy on or off but does have a very faint hiss to the sound when the drive knob is turned way up.

I tried the pedal with a Fender Stratocaster through the amp mentioned above last night and I was able to get a good distrotion sound right from the start (using the Blues mode). The tone knob just adds highs to the sound, (the bass and mids are already "pre-EQed") so the pedal is very transparent and will sound more like your amp (just with the same sound being distorted / starting to "breakup"), again using the Blues mode.

Using the Boost mode the tone and drive knobs are not functional only the volume. And I tried this feature out (last night as well, using the same setup) and was able to get a clean volume boost (using it as a volume pedal) and the amp's tone didn't change one bit.

Great sounding pedal.

I've never had a Marshall product before (pedal or amp) but I've seen the amps everywhere and lots of people use them, so they must be pretty good (reliability).

The pedal I have, I got it used off of Ebay and it's made out of steel (you can tell, because the pedal is really heavy) so I would think this pedal should last for years.

I've never dealt with them, but they have a nice website (with lots of information).

A really nice bluesy sounding pedal.

I've been playing the guitar for over 10 years and own lots of gear (lots of pedals, 17 of them) and this pedal really sounded good right from the start.

I like the idea of using it as a boost or a overdrive pedal, since I don't always use the same pedal setup, with a pedal like this ... the pedal will most likely make it to every gig that I would need either a overdrive and/or a volume boost.

Very easy to use. The trick is to be a bit patient and explore the settings one by one. This can take a fair amount of time.
Take note that the settings encompass not just the pedal, but also your guitar settings (volume, tone, coil split etc) as well as your amp and other effects.
The manual was useful for about 1/2 microsecond as a jumping off point to give an idea of the pedal functions.

Using a Peavy Blazer amp,
Ashton 2*humbucker guitar w/ coil tap and gotoh/wilkinson trem(cheap prs/strat knock-off)
Pedal is dead quiet when on and can't hear any difference in bypass mode (good)
The sound output seems fine to me. Not that I can compare it to expensive rigs. I am just a lounge-room hacker. But when trying it out in the shop against a zoom 707 and Korg 100, I could hear that the quality of the effect was more focused and defined. It was better than the multi-effects unit. This was done using a low-end guitar and amp in the shop.
What really surprised me was that using the boost setting on coil tap can drive the front-end of the amp for some nice overdrive sounds. This means that boost is not just volume!. The blues setting seems quite nice and is responsive to picking dynamics. It's fun just getting the dynamics to go into and out of overdrive.
I compared it to the Guv2 and just liked the sound of this one better - personal preference I guess.

Really seems rock solid.
Dont gig so no backup needed.

havnt tried. Web site is pretty marketing oriented. Some sound clips would be useful.

Very easy. Two primary settings boost or blues drive.

My Hotrod deluxe has a great over drive channel. With this I can go (i) clean channel with clean boost for lead, (ii) blues drive into clean channel; (iii) clean boost into amp over drive channel or (iv) blues drive into amp over drive. I am very happy with the boost function which steps up the amps clean and over drive channels for lead without effecting the sound of the amp. The blues drive is great for getting cranked sound from this loud amp at bedroom volume levels.

It seems very well built. We shall see.

N/A

The price can't be beat.

Plug it in and mess with the controls until you find your sound. Knobs and inputs are situated sensibly.

Excellent. I use a telecaster into a Blues Junior and I've been looking high and low for a suitable overdrive pedal with a true bypass. I've found that the Blues Junior with a few upgrades (Jensen speaker and Tesla tubes) sounds remarkably good but putting a pedal between the guitar and the amp degrades the tone just enough to turn a great sound into an average sound. Abit like the difference between a Taylor acoustic and a Yamaha. I wish the BJ had an effects loop. I could just turn up the BJ and use the natural overdrive and adjust it with the tele's volume control, but I prefer not to have big volume changes onstage...especially as I'm in a keyboard/midi track based band where sudden volume leaps aren't welcome.
I have a Boss SD-1 SuperOverdrive which is OK except for not having a true bypass so when it is turned off I HAVE to have a chorus pedal going to play clean. It was the same for an old Ibanez Tubescreamer I borrowed. The sound I'm looking for is simply what the amp would sound like if I turned it up...but without actually doing so. I tried a Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive, and their Overdrive as well, but I didn't like them because they sounded like I was in a 'different' amp than the one I was using clean. Entirely different EQ characteristics. This Marshall BB2 can be set so that it sounds EXACTLY like your amp would sound turned up, but at the same volume as your clean sound...or slightly louder if you prefer. So for solo boosts or for going from Kenny Rogers to Nickleback (it's a wedding band...these things happen) without knocking people off their seats it's perfect.
It also has 'over-the-top' creamy overdrive if you want, and the option of using it as a pure clean boost with no overdrive at all. Gary Moore uses one for that purpose.
It doesn't hum or pop or anything like that either.

I've only had it for a short time so I can't say. It seems well built.

No idea.

I like effects that don't sound obviously effected. Kind of like well applied makeup on a woman which makes her look nicer without being too obvious in itself. Icing on the cake, so to speak. A Telecaster into a good tube amp sounds just how I like it but sometimes a little extra is nice. This BB2 will do that nicely, and having true bypass when you turn it off it's like it isn't there. I also have a Boss CH-1 Chorus but I need to get a true bypass switching unit if I'm going to use it live (I'm looking into www.loooper.com). I suppose I could've done the same with my Boss overdrive pedal but I didn't know about that option when I orderred the BB2. But regardless of that, I like the sound and usability of the BB2 more than the Boss anyway. For what it costs compared to other pedals it's a bargain.

It's very easy to get a good sound out of it, specialy if you already have a good bypassed sound (by the way, it has real passive bypass). It has one mode switch with 2 modes, boost and blues, and 3 other knobs: drive (gain) and tone (treble) (those 2 are only active in blues mode) and also volume (the only knob active in boost mode).

I'm using the bb-2 with a les paul, a marshall guv'nor plus (real cool pedal, by the way) and a marshall 60 watts amp. In the boost mode, it increases the signal coming into the amp (or other pedals after it), creating more volume and distortion, if there is some already running. When using it with a lot of distortion, if feedbacks a lot, so i guess this is for use with shlight distortion. I don't use this mode because "blues" suits all my needs. Blues mode has some great overdrive, from clean to full overdrive (lets say, radiohead, oasis, general rock). But i use the bb-2 most to give more distortion to my guv'nor plus (wich has a lot, by itself), to play real hard and agressive heavy-metal (Black Label Society and Metallica, mostly). It's just great. I use drive on 11 o'clock, level on 12 o'clock and tone on 11 o'clock. I love it. The overdrive sounds always rich and warm. Just try diferent settings until you find the perfect one for you.

Yes, absolutely. I've kicked it a lot, stomp real hard, etc, and it stays perfect, and with my setting always on. I've gigged without a backup and always will.

They were helpful, answered in a day and 1/2. (the question was not about the bb-2)

I play rock, hard-rock, punk and mostly heavy-metal. This pedal, alone or with others, is useful for all that. A real winner.

Easy to get a good sound. Some adjustment needed when swapping pickups (ex. single coil to Humbucker). Everything else is pretty simple.

I use a Fender U.S.A. Strat + A Standard Gibson S.G. through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe 112. With the Strat the boost and blues mode sound excellent with the drive set 50% and the volume 50-60%. The pedal gives you a real warm tone, but not overly fuzzy like the Rat or Big Muff. When you "chord" the pedal sounds almost high gain only not overdone like the Marshall Gov'nr or the Jackhammer. The pedal sounds this way all the time with my S.G. Adjust the tone a little bit and drive and you can get that raunchy "Foo Fighters"(i believe Dave Grohl uses a Turbo Rat) or "White Stripes"(Jack uses a USA MUFF) sound with harmonics coming into play. But this being said the pedal shines when you chord with it. Not too buzzy when on and the strings aren't touched, and when it's off, it's totally transparent. I couldn't believe it for something this inexpensive. I was willing to fork out the bucks for a Fulldrive or a tubescreamer, but i'm glad i didn't, it would have been a waste of cash and i would've sounded like everyone else. I'm really impressed with this pedal. Nice, warm, not too heavy, doesn't wreck your bottom end and when dialed correctly, gives you Santana type leads with Marshall scooped rhythms. VERY VERY IMPRESSIVE.

Don't really know yet. I've heard of some popping between on/off postition. Although I've heard this on $300 pedals and expensive amps also. Luck of the draw, i believe. We'll see...(there's always a warranty) If you're not a gorilla stomping the thing, I think it'll be fine with no backup. As for the casing...bulletproof.

Never dealt with Marshall. Don't really know anyone who has had to. I'm sure they're nice people..cheers!

I play mostly Blues (Big Sugar,Luther Allison,SRV style) to
Rock (Weezer, Unwritten Law, Hives style) and have been playing for 12 years. I've owned Marshall combos (for the distortion of course, the cleans lack, but you already knew that) now I play a Fender amp through a Marshall cab. I love the way this pedal lets you decide between running your tubes hot or using the "Marshall scooped Mid Gain" it's very versitle and not noisy at all. I've compared it to Ibanez Tubescreamers, Maxon Tubescreamers, MXR distortion+, the ProCo Rat (Vintage) and both Russian and USA BIG MUFFS. This pedal one me over because I was searching for creamy sustained leads (Rat,Muff,Fulltone)style and Tight, Warm Rhythms, (Marshall stack)style. With little effort i found both. People spending $300 and upwards on pedals are insane. Why not just save up a bit and buy another head or amp and A/B them? If you want original tone you'll have to look further than Expensive pedals, they're sold all over the world, so yes...even after spending $300 on a pedal, you will still sound like someone else! All the people with the same $300 pedal as you. Tone involves: Wood, Pickups, Strings,Amp,(pedals),How hard you Play and even, Picks. Don't over analyze something that sounds good, with talks of chips and mods. Get out and play!

Easy peasy. Distortion and tone are the key knobs and the Marshall manual gives 3 suggested positions for blues playing.

Also functions as a boost pedal

Am using this with a Hohner MX1 and a Laney Linebacker 50 Reverb. It can be a very subtle pedal - try plugging your flanger pedal - if you have one - in before the Blues Breaker.

The 'must have' pedal for me - it works with a broad range of blues and jazz styles

Fairly new but a quality build - which extends from the battery compartment cover through the chunky metal pedal to the smooth pots.

Only one criticism and that is that the level marks on the pots are narrow black bands on a chrome background - not easy to read either under spot lights or in dim lighting. I can live with that though. I've not been playing electric long but recognise this pedal as the pone that gives me the crying wailing blues lead I want or a warm rich tone for jazz - THE DADDY.

There is a manual with some settings, they work fine. 4 knobs use your own judgement

I am using this with my Tweed Bassman and my Les Paul with a 59 in the neck and a Pearly Gates in the bridge. I find the effect to be pretty stout and growly with the bridge (Gibbons) and with the neck it is pretty bluesy. I didn't care for the sound of the unit with my strat though, I find the TS-9 or Maxon 808 better for that.

Its metal and its from Marshall. I always take the two pedals mentioned above with so overdrives aren't an issue.

I play mostly Texas or Chicago blues and blues-rock, for that I think that this pedal does great. If it were stolen or lost I would probably get another because I enjoy that it doesn't add too much treble and it compliments my Les Paul wonderfully.

Extremely easy to use if you've ever used a stompbox before.It has 2 different modes+ drive, treble and volume controls and a true passive bypass.

Fantastic sound from this little box.It sound great in either mode you take time to set things just right, but it won't disguise mediocre technique, as some people seem to expect. The greatest thing about this pedal is that it has a sound miles away from the bland synthetic sound of the ubiquitous Ibanez tubescreamer series, and that includes the laughably overrated TS9 version. This is a much richer, grainier,warmer sound perhaps best suited to the experienced player who prefers a more individual tone.

Yes, I would rely on it as it seems to be very durably built.

I've been playing guitar for over twenty years now, the last fifteen of those in a professional capacity and I always resisted these Marshall pedals because I assumed(wrongly) that something so unimpressive looking and so cheap probably wouldn't sound especially good. I am glad to say that I tried this little marvel out and I find that it gets a lot of use when I play live.

Easy to use, like most good quality pedals.

Mediocre. I expected more from Marshall. Very ordinary, and takes alot of work to get something decent out of it. Have to make significant adjustments to it for every guitar, but I guess thats a good thing.

solid.

N/A

a very ordiary item, wearing the marshall name. The Ibanez TS-9 KILLS IT.

Mine was purchased used but was in new condition with box and manual.

Clean ?true? bypass mode, Clean volume boost mode, Overdrive mode with drive, tone and volume, knobs. The tone only adjusts the treble frequencies with no danger of ever being too bright. Since there aren?t a lot of treble frequencies produced by this pedal, the tone knob doesn?t vary the sound too much. Using the Drive and Volume in conjunction will allow you to set all kinds of variations of distortion and set them at any volume level you like. There is nothing tricky here. IMO most stomp boxes rate a 10 on ease of use. They just aren?t that complicated. The Boost mode of this pedal is a major plus. It really makes it two pedals in one.

My criterion at the outset of looking for this pedal were basically:
1. True bypass or something very close
2. A good transparent overdrive for texture only. By transparent I mean I can set the clean channel the way I want it and by engaging the pedal, it sounds like that same tone only driven harder.
3. Something reasonably priced. I can?t justify paying $200 for a distortion box. I found this one used but in new condition for $50. That?s a good value.

The boost function does a good job of increasing the volume and break up on the lead channel for soloing purposes. In fact, on some level it would be worth buying this pedal simply for the Boost function and forget about the distortion. It is important to keep the gain of your amp at a moderate level for rhythm stuff though. Set the pre gain too high and the pedal?s boost will only add to the gain without boosting the volume. This boost feature would not work with modern high gain amps unless you were using it to push the clean channel.

The distortion mode of this pedal is interesting. More than most pedals I?ve tried, it requires the user to have a musical approach to equipment and knowledge of how the different aspects of their set up affect each other. Rest assured, if you play humbuckers, set the guitar volume on 10 and just start strumming away, it?s going to sound like an angry bowl of warm pudding. No definition. Very little usability.

To get the transparent break up that I want, it requires relatively low output from the guitar. In my opinion, vintage Telecasters and Strats would do really well with this pedal because they wouldn?t drive the pedal hard simply by default. Their brighter tone would help to cut through the thick warm distortion. The lower, transparent end of the distortion curve is quite narrow on the BB2. With higher output guitars such as my Wolfgang, it has a tendency to automatically put out that thick, raunchy ?Sunshine of Your Love? kind of tone. I love that tone and I?m glad I have it available to me, but in and of itself, it isn?t that useable for me. And ultimately, it isn?t why I bought the pedal.

To get the transparent roughness that I want, I turn my guitar volume down to 6. On a Wolfgang, this is a pretty good volume for playing sweet sounding clean stuff anyway. At this volume, light pick attacks or finger picking can be virtually clean even though the pedal does add heat to the tone. It is very sensitive to pick attack. I can get a virtually clean tone as well as a relatively dirty distorted tone depending on how heavy handed I am.

It actually seems like it assimilates to the natural performance of the amp more believably at higher volumes. It is a very warm pedal but doesn?t necessarily add too much midrange too the tone or unduly cut the low end from the guitar.

The more I turn up the gain, the less versatile the BB2 is. At higher gain settings it is more of a lead pedal only. Rhythm chords become thickly distorted but the over all character isn?t as dimensional or lifelike as the lead channel of my Peavey Classic 100. Used as a lead distortion though, it does have an edge that carries individual solo notes with confidence and when you combine notes for flavoring, the harmonics just slam off of each other.
(My 8 rating is for the Blues mode. Boost rating would be 10.)

It is constructed of metal and is quite heavy for what it is. The stomp switch seems standard and switches noiselessly. The pots are recessed enough to keep them from getting in the way.

n/a

It is almost too heavy sounding to be used the way I use it. I can dial it in but it is pretty much on the lightest drive possible and for this tone it has a very narrow window. Turn the knob too much one way and the volume drops too much. Turn it much the other way and the drive is way to thick to be ?transparent?. My use of its distortion maybe only one tenth of what the pedal?s overdrive is designed to do. Ultimately I can get it to do what I want. I guess that?s all that matters. In the mean time I have an abundance of distortion at my disposal and it is nothing like the lead channel on my amp. Variety is a good thing. The boost function is also a nice plus. I don?t plan on using the boost all the time but it will surely come in handy once in a while.

I can see how people expecting a variation of the typical overdrive pedal could hate the BB2. It isn?t smooth or fuzzy. It?s raucous and raunchy with a lot of harmonics bouncing off of each other. It?s interesting and has a lot of character but try it before you buy it. It doesn?t matter how good it is if you can?t use the sounds it produces.

This brings me to an interesting point. Do I give it an over all rating based on how it would appeal to the average player looking for a standard O.D. box? Do I rate it based on what it actually does or how it fits into my life? For the average player looking for a BossOverdrive type of distortion (and there?s nothing wrong with that) it would probably rate about a 3. For me, I have to rate it about a 9 over all but that is an overall rating based on how I use it. 9 out of 10 people reading this might hate it though so PLAY IT BEFORE YOU BUY IT! Don?t think my high rating is an attempt to get you to go buy it. It is a good pedal but a bit of an acquired taste.

How this pedal rates with my criterion and available features:
Bypass is great. - 10
Transparent overdrive - 8
Reasonably priced (used) - 8
Boost function-10
Over all functionality-9

It's got knobs to switch modes(BOOST and BLUES)plus DRIVE which increases gain, TONE which affects the treble frequencies, and VOLUME .Only the Vol. knob works in BOOST mode. It's very easy to get a good sound right away.

BOOST mode overloads the preamp section of your amp and lets you use amplifier distortion if your happy with the basic sound of your amp. Despite the manuals claim that it doesn't affect your amps sound I noticed a slight change although I wouldn't find it enough to worry about. This is the mode to use if you want that raw, unprocessed guitar-straight-to-amp kind of sound that you hear from Bluesbreakers era Clapton, Johnny Winter, Alvin Lee, Rory Gallagher,etc. all the way to Angus Young if you turn the volume knob up. Be warned though, you really do need a good basic amp sound to get the best out of this mode.BLUES mode allows the use of the Drive (gain) and Tone controls and this sounds great even with a Marshall GRCD15, that I use for practice.According to the Marshall this mode is heavy in second-order harmonic distortion and I guess thats what gives it such a rich and warm sound.I personally think it sounds fantastic, especially at the price,much better than a tube screamer for instance.You can work your way through a whole gallery of great blues/rock sounds without any problem eg.Cream-era Clapton,Gary Moore,SRV,Page and it does a really great Paul Kossof sound.(Must work on my vibrato though!). Turn up the drive, cut back the tone and you've got Lesley West. A bit more drive ,a bit more tone and add a touch of chorus if you want play at being Robin Trower and max out the controls with a bit of Phase to get that Hendrix at Woodstock sound. A very versatile pedal with a great natural sound.

I've had it a couple of months now.the case is really solid but only time will tell whether the footswitch is reliable enough.

Never had to deal with them.

Overall this is a great pedal. I tried all of the Marshall pedals in the guitar shop where I bought his one and they were all good but this was my favourite.Some of the other reviews may have given the idea that this is a restrained sounding effect and it can be if you want to go for a sound like Albert or BB King for instance but I managed to do a convincing "Sweet Child O' Mine" a reasonably accurate Black Sabbath "Paranoid" And Iron Maiden "Number of the Beast" using just the BB2 and the amp controls. I even managed a pretty respectable sounding "Enter Sandman". But this isn't really a metal pedal (try the Jackhammer for that, its pretty good too).The BB2 does what its meant to do very well and the sound just makes you want to keep on playing. I can't ask for more than that.

While it sounds great with my small transistor practice amp it also sounds absolutely terrific through my TSL100 halfstack, so it gets a well-deserved 10 from me.Just give one a try and I'll see you down at the Crossroads :-)

Clean ?true? bypass mode, Clean volume boost mode, Overdrive mode with drive, tone and volume, knobs. The tone only adjusts the treble frequencies with no danger of ever being too bright. Since there aren?t a lot of treble frequencies produced by this pedal, the tone knob doesn?t vary the sound too much. Using the Drive and Volume in conjunction will allow you to set all kinds of variations of distortion and set them at any volume level you like. There is nothing tricky here. IMO most stomp boxes rate a 10 on ease of use. They just aren?t that complicated. The Boost mode of this pedal is a major plus. It really makes it two pedals in one.

My criterion at the outset of looking for this pedal were basically:
1. True bypass or something very close
2. A good transparent overdrive for texture only. By transparent I mean I can set the clean channel the way I want it and by engaging the pedal, it sounds like that same tone only driven harder.
3. Something reasonably priced. I can?t justify paying $200 for a distortion box. I found this one used but in new condition for $50. That?s a good value.

The boost function does a good job of increasing the volume and break up on the lead channel for soloing purposes. In fact, on some level it would be worth buying this pedal simply for the Boost function and forget about the distortion. It is important to keep the gain of your amp at a moderate level for rhythm stuff though. Set the pre gain too high and the pedal?s boost will only add to the gain without boosting the volume. This boost feature would not work with modern high gain amps unless you were using it to push the clean channel.

The distortion mode of this pedal is interesting. More than most pedals I?ve tried, it requires the user to have a musical approach to equipment and knowledge of how the different aspects of their set up affect each other. Rest assured, if you play humbuckers, set the guitar volume on 10 and just start strumming away, it?s going to sound like an angry bowl of warm pudding. No definition. Very little usability.

To get the transparent break up that I want, it requires relatively low output from the guitar. In my opinion, vintage Telecasters and Strats would do really well with this pedal because they wouldn?t drive the pedal hard simply by default. Their brighter tone would help to cut through the thick warm distortion. The lower, transparent end of the distortion curve is quite narrow on the BB2. With higher output guitars such as my Wolfgang, it has a tendency to automatically put out that thick, raunchy ?Sunshine of Your Love? kind of tone. I love that tone and I?m glad I have it available to me, but in and of itself, it isn?t that useable for me. And ultimately, it isn?t why I bought the pedal.

To get the transparent roughness that I want, I turn my guitar volume down to 6. On a Wolfgang, this is a pretty good volume for playing sweet sounding clean stuff anyway. At this volume, light pick attacks or finger picking can be virtually clean even though the pedal does add heat to the tone. It is very sensitive to pick attack. I can get a virtually clean tone as well as a relatively dirty distorted tone depending on how heavy handed I am.

It actually seems like it assimilates to the natural performance of the amp more believably at higher volumes. It is a very warm pedal but doesn?t necessarily add too much midrange too the tone or unduly cut the low end from the guitar.

The more I turn up the gain, the less versatile the BB2 is. At higher gain settings it is more of a lead pedal only. Rhythm chords become thickly distorted but the over all character isn?t as dimensional or lifelike as the lead channel of my Peavey Classic 100. Used as a lead distortion though, it does have an edge that carries individual solo notes with confidence and when you combine notes for flavoring, the harmonics just slam off of each other.

It is constructed of metal and is quite heavy for what it is. The stomp switch seems standard and switches noiselessly. The pots are recessed enough to keep them from getting in the way.

n/a

It is almost too heavy sounding to be used the way I use it. I can dial it in but it is pretty much on the lightest drive possible and for this tone it has a very narrow window. Turn the knob too much one way and the volume drops too much. Turn it much the other way and the drive is way to thick to be ?transparent?. My use of its distortion maybe only one tenth of what the pedal?s overdrive is designed to do. Ultimately I can get it to do what I want. I guess that?s all that matters. In the mean time I have an abundance of distortion at my disposal and it is nothing like the lead channel on my amp. Variety is a good thing. The boost function is also a nice plus. I don?t plan on using the boost all the time but it will surely come in handy once in a while.

I can see how people expecting a variation of the typical overdrive pedal could hate the BB2. It isn?t smooth or fuzzy. It?s raucous and raunchy with a lot of harmonics bouncing off of each other. It?s interesting and has a lot of character but try it before you buy it. It doesn?t matter how good it is if you can?t use the sounds it produces.

This brings me to an interesting point. Do I give it an over all rating based on how it would appeal to the average player looking for a standard O.D. box? Do I rate it based on what it actually does or how it fits into my life? For the average player looking for a BossOverdrive type of distortion (and there?s nothing wrong with that) it would probably rate about a 3. For me, I have to rate it about a 9 over all but that is an overall rating based on how I use it. 9 out of 10 people reading this might hate it though so PLAY IT BEFORE YOU BUY IT! Don?t think my high rating is an attempt to get you to go buy it. It is a good pedal but a bit of an acquired taste.

How this pedal rates with my criterion and available features:
Bypass is great. - 10
Transparent overdrive - 8
Reasonably priced (used) - 8
Boost function-10
Over all functionality-9

This thing does not have that many knobs and it is easy to use. Hard to see in the dark, however, once you get your sound set then don't worry about it. Besides, any true "gig-er" would know the setting of his peddals and would adjust them during sound check if necessary.

79 Custom Paul to Dunlop Wah to 2 Blues Breaker pedals (one is boost and one in blues mode) to Edward The Compressor peddal to tuner to peavy mace VT amp with 6 tubes and a 4x12 cab. Sound you say? Wonderful....great tone! What I lov emost about it is that it does not mess with the natural tone of the guitar.

no need for a backup...they built it with the leftovers from fort knox.

never dealt with them

excellent pedal.

How simple do you want? Only a nine because the tone control is mislabelled. It only controls treble boost and cut - the bass and mid are set constant. Apart from that...stomp on, stomp off. Simple.

I'm playing a Westone Prestige with some nice humbuckers through a Fender Roc Pro. The overdrive on this amp is non-existent (it's made for metalheads) so this has completed my set of distortions. The boost thing is really good for a bit of distortion on the clean, just roughing up that old fender clean channel a bit...but stick it on blues, add it to a low gain distortion and you'll be meatier than a butcher in a sausage factory (and probably fatter too).
The only problem is that on its own you can't use the low gain blues section easily, as with low gain it is quieter with the pedal on than off (even with the volume on full). Obviously OD shouldn't be quieter than clean...but you can get the same sound from Boost mode anyway.

I'm 15 stone. I can stand on it without a creak. Solid metal and then armour plating. Built to last!!!

Dunno. Website's not up to much.

I play all kinds, blues/jazz right to punk. Great Stereophonics sound, fantastic coverage for all overdrives. Don't buy this for out and out distortion - it's a BLUESbreaker! Remember the old bluesbreaker amps and think less expensive and heavy. Buy one and you will start strutting your way through the best riffs and solos you knew you could play but never thought you would really enjoy.

Its difficult to make out where the controls are set unless your right above it.

I needed a pedal as a boost/od for my DSL-50 distortion. I needed transparency as I just wanted to give my DSL-50 a bit of a kick. This pedal works very well because of its dull sound! This dullness gives the distortion a very smooth quality which is an ideal boost for my amp which has tons of presence and treble on tap.
I must say that I got greedy and thought I could do better. I returned this pedal for the Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive. What a mistake! The Boss has a high end fuzz you cannot dial out on the pedal itself, with an EQ pedal, or on the amp! It also has a weird random phasing quality to the distortion which make the amp sound solid state no matter how the gain on the pedal is set. Definately unusable as a booster. Most importantly the SD-1's bypass is useless as you can still hear the distortion coming thru.

A good simple boost/od pedal. Very smooth. After returning the SD-1 (the store loved me) I tried the Guvnor which has a very similar sound to the BB-2 but without the boost function. The big advantage of the Guvnor is it has masses of options with 4 tone controls so I finally settled on that one. To be fair, the BB-2 could have done the job just as well - I do like the deep knob on the Guvnor though...

Very easy. Tap it with your foot and you will get the most ritch dark overdrive you could want.

I play a Yamaha Pacifica hooked into a Fender Blues DeVille 4-10 combo. When I hook up the BB 2 It dosen't tamper the original sound. When It is turned on, It sounds a lot like Eric Clapton in his bluesbreaker days when he revolutinised the guitar. I Play Blues blues rock and jazz and whatever I want this pedal will get me there. Its made to sound like a les paul hooked into a marshall JTM 45. When I play a lick, it brings a tear to my eye.

Its great, but the battiries run out all the time.

I havent had any problems yet

If you dont like this pedal you have a heart made of stone.

Fairly easy to use. Nothing really complicated here. They give you some setting suggestions to start with which are really helpful. Their book even describes the thought behind the pedal - good documentation.

The sound is really good. My amp (Peavey Delta Blues 210 retubed with JJ's - see eurotubes.com) has an incredible overdrive channel (it stunk with the Sovteks in there.) With a certain setting dialed in on the Marshall through the clean channel, it is really hard for me to tell the different between the Delta Blues overdrive and the pedal. I was really amazed because my amp is all tubes (3-12AX7s and 4 EL84s.) I test drove the pedal on a Delta Blues with the original Sovteks and it wasn't quite as impressive so I think the amp has a lot to do with how this pedal can sound - find your clean setting and this pedal will do wonders.

The only drawback I have found is that there is this "slight" upper midrange hum (not 60Hz) that I haven't been able to deal with - could be a side effect from another pedal but it comes on when the marshall is switched on. I can only hear it if my head is near the amp, otherwise, it is not too noticeable. I am using a regulated wallwart which marshall suggests.

It is a tank. It wont break because it is dropped or stepped on too hard. Perhaps only if the electronics go bad, but this is Marshall - they don't build junk. I see no reason to have a backup.

Don't know - never called them.

I am big into blues and somewhat a tone purist. The things that really attracted me to this pedal are the sound, the true bypass, and its shear weight and styling. I would not have bought it had I thought it sounded thin or digital - they have done a great job with this pedal.

Compared this to a Boss and have heard other distortions and I didn't want to be another TS-9 follower - looking to be different. It is my understanding that these are discontinued and harder to find (although MusiciansFriend seems to have them.)

It's got 4 knobs, one is the mode control (blues or boost), two actually control the tone shaping, and the last is the volume. Nothing hard about that at all, now is there? Very easy to use, and exactly what the doctor ordered!

I currently use two of these in my rig. I have one in the blues mode, and the other in the boost mode. They run into a Danelectro Dan-Echo, and a Dano Black Licorice, and then into a Pignose G40v. I'm using an Epiphone Nighthawk for my guitar. When the pedal is on, you can hear a faint, fuzzy hiss in the background, but it's not enough to really detract from the sound the pedal puts out. You only hear it when you aren't playing. It has that hollowed out sound that I like for playing blues, or classic rock. Works good for my tastes.

The way this thing is built, I'd say it'll survive anything I throw at it. Literally. Solid metal housing gives the impression of being indestructable. I'd use it without a backup, since I have other pedals that I could switch to. I've had both my pedals for a few weeks, and they haven't seen a gig yet, so we'll see just how well they do hold up. But for now they've done well.

Never dealt with them.

I've played for 11 years now, and I have a handful of guitars, and several pedals, most of which are collecting dust right now. I play mostly blues, and classic rock, and I have to say that this fits me to a "T". I've wanted a pedal that can give me that early 80s ZZ Top sound. I may need a few more effects to re-create the sound exactly, but that's not what I'm going for. The distortion is hollowed out, yet when you turn it up, it fills in somewhat. The boost mode gives me that nice overdrive that I need for playing the rhythm parts. I use these in series with a couple of Dano pedals, and it gives me a sound that's about as close as I can get to what I really want. I have to say that it sounds better with humbuckers than single coils, although, I don't use the singles on my guitars that often. There is a noticeable difference, one which leads me to use the "buckers more. I would like to see perhaps another tone control on these. Something to give it more mid-range. The Fab Tone is what first comes to mind. I have one of those too, and the gain sometimes is just too much, and I have worked hard to get a quality blues tone from it. I like that hot-rodded metal/blues sound, but I'd prefer it to be more subtle. But don't get me wrong, the BB2 is my choice, regardless of any shortcomings that I've mentioned.

see first review.

okay i have now fitted the jrc 4558d chip. the chip i took out was a 4558p chip, i got it wrong on the last post.
it now sounds a bit smoother and a little more glassy. i like it. my neighbour has one with the original chip in it so i guess i am gonna have to borrow his and a/b the two together.

it be a doddle me boy!

bejesus, its a #45.00 pedal brand new! i got mine for #30 not knowing how much a new one was: if i had known they were so cheap i would have knocked the price down more just on principal! havaing said all that its unbelievable that marshall can knock out such a cheap pedal that sounds so grreat! (well i do have an idea actually, if you look on the pedal it says made in india so some sweat shop with 10 year old kids doing electronincs for $10 a year springs into the imagination). anyways enough morality and more about the sound. it saounds great thru my marshall superbass head and orange 4x12, great thru my '66 princeton and great thru my orange head. using a p-90 gold top. i would imagine (but i dont know) it would sound good with most guitars. i am speaking relative here, it sounds great because it is so cheap to buy! in real terms a fulltone fulldrive2 has a better quality sound but thats over 4 times the price for us guitaros here in the uk! i can get almost as much gain as my pro-co rat and the bluesbreaker sounds a little thicker than either the fulldrive or the rat. now when i opened up the bluesbreaker low and behold there is a quaint cheap copy of a 4558d op-amo chip! hmmmmm i think it was a krt or summit, definitly not a jrc, anyway guess who has a spare jrc 4558d op-amo chip lying around? yes- me! soon as i can find another second hand bluesbreaker pedal i am going to sling that jrc chip inside one and a/b them. i am expecting stunning results espescially as you can pick up jrc4558 chips for around $5.00 if not less. i shall let you all know how it works out.
giving a nine here because yes it's cheap, yes it sounds great but it just cannot be the best pedal out there, can it?

i could insert this pedal up bin ladens arse and go retrieve it after the sas have finished with him, then leave it in a car that was about to be crushed in one of those scrap yard car crushing machines and then by some quirk it was crushed into more nothing on the event horizon of a black hole and i bet you quids it would still work fine!

yes i have dealt with marshall for getting spares on amps and they have to be the best. the girl on the phone sounds real pretty! have not dealt with them for spares on pedals tho and as the pedal is made in india i really wouldnt like to hazard a guess!

its a doody, i have a pro-co rat, boss sd-1, mxr dist0rtion plus and boss ds-1 which are my mainstay pedals for breaking up thy signal (the ds-1 is the worst but works well with el84 valved amps). i am about to buy a fulltone distortion pro and expect big bannannas from that. the bluesbreaker will always have a place in my collection because it surprised me so much in being so good for so little! plus i can throw it at fellow band members for a laff whilst it is plugged in during a bit in a song where my talents are not needed and i know it will carry on working even tho it has caused a cranial dent in the band memeber it connected with!

simple, no special coments here.

Ahaa, well were to start.
Y use this pedal mostley in the Boost position to give my Marshall Bluesbreaker combo( quiet a pair dont you think!) a boost.
and man let me tell you, does it sound great! Y crank my amp to about 8 or 10!! and then hit the BB2 pedal in boost mode , pure bliss.
Y must say that y use my Epi Sheraton with Dimarzio PAF classics the most. It sounds better with Humbuckers although my Strat does the job oke.
The Blues mode is very good to but y like the boost mode more because y get the most purest tube tone out of my bluesbreaker Combo.
Indeed, think Clapton on the absoluut brilliant Bluesbreaker album, thats the sound guys!Very nice crunchy open blues sounds, but when in blues mode you yank the drive level it will rock for sure.
Love It!!

No problems

No experience on that field.

I,m an rocker, a blueser, a ballader. Don,t like that chainsaw music anymore(heavy boogies and stuff)i,m a seventies guy so love that music period.This pedal is perfect for my style and amp, am thinking of buying a second one, use one as a boost for the second pedal.However y am in doubt , the Ibanez Ts9Dx sounds interesting too.
Again, y really love the way how this box in Boost mode makes my amp sing, beautiful tone, vintage , vintage, vintage.
However, it would be nice if the tone control was a bit better, instead of a single tone control bas and treble controls.
would buy it again if it was broken whatsoever.

If you know the sound you want, it's very easy to use.

This is one of the best pedals I've ever owned. This is my main overdrive pedal. I tried all that Boss overdrive/metal pedals and I don't get the sound I want. I plugged this in and without even tweaking anything, I liked it already. Gives you that vintage overdrive, well-balanced sound, crunchy... I LOVE IT!!!

As long as the battery is good and I guess as long as it's treated well, it will be okay.

I play blues, rock, anything. Been playing for 4 years now and after buying other overdrive pedals or just hearing them from other players I think this is very good. If you like the sound, Buy it.

This unit is fairly simple to use. No problems there. I could get a fairly good sound out of it without too much time tweaking.

I'm using a US strat into a SS Fender Princeton Chorus combo amp. I'm using this pedal as a distortion box, since it gets a better bluesy overdrive tone than the dirty channel on the SS amp. It also has a boost feature for driving tube amps (a la tube screamer), but I haven't used that yet.

The effect seems pretty quiet, and the manual touts "full bypass" for what it's worth.

I like the tone of this pedal. I needed a more tube-like sound, and this pedal gave it to me. A fully cranked tube amp it isn't, but I figure it can tide me over until I upgrade amps. Plus, once I get a tube amp, I can switch to the "boost" mode and use this as an overdrive pedal.

Here's where I have a problem. The unit looks sturdy and well constructed, but after about 4 months of light-duty playing on my bedroom floor, the thing bombed out on me. I'm not pleased.

I don't take this thing gigging, I don't kick it around, I don't even look at it funny. I wouldn't even expect one of the ultra-cheapy all plastic pedals to crater this quickly when it is treated this well. Given Marshall's good name in amps, I would expect a better quality product, even in their pedals.

I looked around the warranty info on their website. From what I can tell, they don't have a warranty for pedals at all. At any rate, the warranty form they give you doesn't seem to accept the information for this pedal. I am unimpressed.

Hell with it...I'm going to take the thing apart myself. If I can't fix it, I'll cannibalize it for parts.

In terms of tone, I'd say this is a good match for a bluesy or classic rock player who can't afford the full rig necessary to "do it right".

However, I'm very unimpressed by the build quality of this component. I think it is unreasonable that it died on me so quickly, particularly since I treat my equipment very well.

I do not recommend this pedal.

This pedal only has four knobs, so its not too difficult to use. However, getting a good sound out of it takes quite a bit of work. The manual wasn't very useful, but did have some suggested settings, which is always useful for people who don't know what they're doing.

I use this with a USA Dleuxe Strat, a Crybaby, a BOSS GE-7 and a Marshall DSL401. I originally bought the BOSS to use as a boost, but found that it was quite noisy, so I tried a few other pedals and ended up buying the Marshall. However, after about a day with this pedal at home, I realised that its not all that its cracked up to be. The pedal makes a slight click when switched on or off, but its loud enough to be annoying. The boost function on this pedal is crap - is just sounds buzzy and cheap, so I tried adjusting the amount of gain, tone and volume to get a good boost for solos. Although it doesn't sound too bad with the bridge pickup, it makes all the other positions sound really mushy and indistinct. The only thing that this pedal was good at was to provide all the gain when I turned up the clean volume on my amp to maximum and controlled the overall level with the Master Volume. It gave quite a good, albeit generic rock sound.

The build quality of the pedal leaves a lot to be desired. Battery access is cumbersome and in fact the screw was broken on the first pedal I tried. The switch is attached directly to the PCB, and is only held in place by the grace of god. I haven't had a chance to gig with it yet, but I don't think I could be entirely confident in it.

Never dealt with Marshall regarding this pedal, but with other enquiries they have always been pretty helpful

Overall this pedal is adequate, but it doesn't really excel in any field in particular. I think I will try and exchange if for something else, but until I do we'll just soldier on.

Ease of use? It's an analogue effect pedal rather than a multi-effect processor, what kind of difficulties can one expect? Just plug it in and play :)

Seriously speaking, it is very easy to use even for a novice.
4 knobs: Blues/Boost switch, Drive, Tone, Volume;
On/Off switch (a foot button rather than a pedal, like on combo footswitches);
9V battery cabinet;
9V DC input;
IN and OUT sockets.

In Blues mode works as overdrive pedal; Drive controls gain level, Tone is tone :) and Volume is a master volume.
In Boost mode Drive and Tone knobs are disabled, boost level is controlled via Volume knob.

Tiny manual is provided, it contains even several sample presets.

Have you ever heard the John Mayall's album titled "Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton" ? It is it. Sound of the pedal swithced to Blues mode is copied from there; and it's a kinda good copy I must confess. What I like the most there is that the drive level can be adjusted very accurately; there is a gentle buzz in the leftmost position and a ZZ Top crunch in the opposite, and you can select any sound in between.

Boost mode is especially good, it emulates clean tube sound, it is soft and powerfull. I really love it. In this mode you can even feel that your output sound becomes touch-sensitive, like when playing through a good tube amp.

Noisy a bit when powered from a 3d party 220AC/9DC adaptor, but this seems to be a problem of the adaptor - it is cheap and probably gives a little more than 9 V DC which leads to a noice. Just perfect with a battery inside.
I use it with a cheapo Strat copy and Fender Frontman 15W amp. Tried it with Epi Les Paul Standard through some unexpensive Marshall amp and with humbucked Tele through Fender Hot Rod Deluxe - very good sound as well.

Hope it will live with me for a while :) I have it for 3 months, no problems yet. I've read below that the footswitch is unreliable, but I don't step on it very often as I usually don't change my sound during the song.

Never dealt with them yet. But if even I had such an experience I guess my opinion here would not be very helpfull to others since I bought it in local Kyiv music shop; how many of you guys reading the review live in Kyiv? :))) Anyway, it has one year warranty.

Its name tells everything. It's for blues and it's a good choice. I compared it with several Boss overdrive pedals, they all sound sort of flat compared to this one. Maybe it's dirty a little in Blues mode but seems to me I'm getting very picky. It's my first analogue effect pedal, I owned Zoom 505-II before but alas it burned out and I've been looking for a replace. As I mostly play the blues this is exactly what I've been looking for; Bluesbreaker does its job good.
Note it's two effect pedal which makes the BB2 even more flexible.
I strongly reccomend it if you prefer guitar-driven blues. You can develop your very own sound with it as well as copy SRV, Hendrix, ZZ Top etc etc and finally the band that the pedal has borrowed its name from - John Mayall's Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton :))

The isolation of the "boost" and "blues" features makes it extremely easy for me to use as a boost, as like, the reviewer below, paul, I primarily use this pedal as a clean boost. I have so much difficulty in finding good level settings for playing with my band on my Line 6 DM-4 due to abrupt shifts in volume, that I really appreciate the more gradual volume response in the level controls of the BB-2. The manual is adequate.

Its virtual true bypass prevents it from sucking tone, which is important to me, since I use up to eight effects boxes in my signal chain at times. The clean boost seems completely transparent to me. I have my amp set to a point where it will just start to break up with this pedal engaged if I pick hard with the guitar's volume on 10. I mostly use it to produce a louder version of my Fender HRD410's clean tones when playing Garcia-inspired clean leads; I love this tone. I also use it for additional boost if I am not getting a loud enough dirty lead tone from from my Mesa V Twin alone, which happens about once a show when the organist really leans into the Leslie and the drummer is really crashing. I like the drive ("blues") mode enough to consider it a suitable backup OD pedal should the V Twin crap out midset.

One unit that I purchase broke down into a buzzing disaster at the very end of Mars Music's 30 day return period, so I was a little concerned when I asked them to replace it the next day. They did so, and the replacement unit has lasted for about five months now with no problems whatsoever.

I have been playing for 12 years, and I am a fairly diverse rock guitarist. I expect that most guitarists could find some use for this pedal, even if it were not their single favorite drive or boost. Its versatility and bypass functions at a relatively low price were what convinced me to buy it, and I have kept it in my band practice and gig rig ever since I purchased one. I find no compelling reason to eventually purchase a more expensive, boutique version of this pedal, since it provides a clean boost in exactly the fashion that I desire. My rig is set up as follows Gibson LP Custom -> Pedalboard.com Effects Loop Switch -> Loop (Boss CS-3 -> Boss 0C-2 -> Guyatone WR-2 -> Boss PH-2) -> Akai W-1 -> Marshall BB-2 -> Mesa V Twin -> Danelectro DE-1 -> Fender HRD410. All of my effects are powered by a Pedalboard.com Juice Box.

Very simple pedal, in boost mode only has one control, Volume. In Blues mode has typical distortion controls, vol, tone, gain.

I play jazz/blues, and use this pedal primarily for the boost function, or very light distortion. I think the boost sounds great! I've used it with a Soldano Astroverb and a Fender Pro Junior (I really like tube amps). The boost sounds particularly good in front of the pro Junior. I play an Ibanez 335 with Seymoure Duncan '59 and Seth Lover pickups, through the BBII, into the Pro Junio and get a very warm overdrive sound, great for blues or groove musi (John Scofield maybe). I don't wnat to comment to much on the blues sound as I don't use it often and didn't buy it for that feature, but I think it sounds pretty good to.

Solid metal case 1/8 inch thick. Built to last.

I dunno.

I think this is a really good pedal, especially with the two in one functions. I'm not a fan of heavy distortion really, but I like the way this sounds, especially using to add just a little grit to my tone. And the boost function is great for overdriving tube amps to get a very good blues tone. I compared it to the TS9 re-issue and a DOD overdrive. I liked the special boost mode, and I think the distortion mode sounds better than the ts9 re-issue anyway. If it were stolen I don't know if I would buy it again since I don't use it much, but it's overall quality and sound makes me want to try the other Marshall pedals.

Straight ahead easy to use. Drive, tone, level & mode select. What more to say?

Sounds good, depending on what you run it through. Boost is very useful but colors the sound a bit. Drive is very "Marshally"

It doesn't work any more. Switch broke. Also have a knob that won't stay on any more. Had a look inside and was horrified at what kind of components are in there. BE CAREFUL WITH THE FOOTSWITCH. It is very cheap. Open it up CAREFULLY and see for yourself. I would expect more from Marshall. I have an old Drivemaster that blows this away as far as construction goes.

Haven't dealt with them YET.

Good sound, poorly made, thus unreliable. If it were built with a heavy duty switch and better pots it would be a pretty rockin' pedal.

Straight forward. Drive, Tone, level and a drive/boost switch. You'd have to be pretty much intellectually challenged not to find your way quick.

Very good sound. Not amazing. But definately worth what you pay for. I used it mostly for the boost mode but also used the drive from time to time. I have a number of strats: American Deluxe, Custom shop Relic, American Classic and a 62 re-issue and all of this is going into a Mesa Trem-o-verb (and V-Twin w/12AT7's) with a Replifex and TC M-one in the loop all feeding a Recto 4x12 and a Recto 1x12 wedge monitor. For pedals I have the V-twin, a Hughes & Kettner Tube Factor, a Jekyll & Hyde, a Bud-wah, a Uni-Vibe and this thing. I do find it adds a lot of high end grit on the boost mode when giving a lead channel a kick in th ass, but that is SOMETIMES desirable. On clean It can also get harsh. The drive mode is good, very warm but a little crackly for my tastes.

These things are built like shit. Underneath the seamingly tough exterior lies some of the most pathetic parts I have ever seen. My switch recently got stuck on the "on" position. I opened it up to see what was up and figured I would probably replace the darn thing with something more heavy-duty. No-can-do. What I found was this cheap flimsy piece of crap mounted to a PCB!!! You can't replace it with anything but the same piece of crap!! Open it up and see what "Made in India" will get you. (Thank you. Come again.)That's not the only component that sucks! If your switch happens to come loose, take my advice and tighten that sucker up before it breaks away from the PCB. Check it often!

Sucks.

Not for professional use. Bedroom and jam sessions are fine, just don't stomp on it too hard. Watch that switch and those dinky pots! Sounds OK, but you better have a few backups for any kind of touring application.

Very Easy. Two modes, Boost and Blues. When you choose boost, the only
knob that actually works is the volume, which controls the amount of boost to your amp. And there is alot of boost in this pedal. The other
2 knobs are drive and tone, easy enough to figure out by trial and error.

In either mode, the pedal is very quiet. I switch between a Carvin 100
watt XV-212 all tube with 6L6's and a Crate Vintage 60 with EL34's, and this pedal sounds great with both amps. When I originally purchased this pedal, I also bought the Guvnor at the same time. I tried that pedal for about a week, with numerous EQ settings,etc., but
with my rig that pedal just did not sound as good as either mode of the Bluesbreaker. So I swapped the Guvnor for another BB II pedal. I run 1 pedal set for boost, and the other set for Blues. The boost mode
is outstanding. On both of my amps, the overdrive channels are decent, but nothing to get overly exited about. When I hit either amp's dirty channel with the BBII, I got excited. Both amps had an excitement to them that I hadn't heard out of them before. Where they are right on the edge, with good harmonics, responsive subtleties, etc., that really makes you want to play. And both amps retain there inherent sound, it doesn't force either amp into sounding like any particular brand. The blues mode is good also, I am just getting around to using it a little more. It gives a good, smooth overdrive, which is what it is designed to do. However, I get most of that sound with amp distortion. Right now I have it set with not too much drive, which I use on my clean channel for dirty rhythms, or I can switch to my dirty amp channel for heavier rhythms. My signal path is Dunlop 535c, Dunlop Rotovibe, Tech21 Comptortion(I use Compressor portion only), Boss OC-2 Octave, BB II(Boost), BB II(Blues), Mini Danalectro EQ, Electro-harmonix Deluxe Flanger into amp, with an Ibanez Echomachine in the effects loop. Most of my guitars are a variation of a strat, a couple with EMG's, a couple with Duncans. Both styles of pickups sound great with the pedal. I give the Boost a 10, and the Blues mode an 8.

I've had the pedals for a couple of months. I don't tramp on my pedals too much. They seem very sturdy as far as the chassis and knobs go.

N/A

I've been playing Blues, Rock, some jazz, going on about 15 years now. I think this is a great value, at around $75 at Guitar Center, Mars, musician's Friend, etc., maybe a little higher in smaller music shops. Having the choice of using either the boost or blues mode gives you great flexibility. My only experience with it is through the 2 amps above, and a Peavey 20 practice amp with EL84's that I also have, and the Boost mode sounds GREAT on all three. I'm not sure how it would sound overdriving a Solid State amp, but if you have a tube amp, that you feel is lacking something in the distortion area, give the pedal a try. It blew me away how much it improved the distortion tone on both of my amps. I've had numerous pedals in the past, various Boss, Jeckal and Hyde, Tube Drivers, and while there was nothing wrong with any of those pedals, there was just something missing. I have always been hesitant to chunk down the $200 dollar(and higher) price on the Fulltones, Prescription Electronics, etc., especially since you still see mixed reviews on those pedals also. Those pedals are hard to find in local shops, and you really never know how any piece of equipment is going to sound until you demo it with you rig, so I'm not a huge fan on mail ordering. I got pleasantly surprised by trying this pedal. This pedal seems to have captured a certain something in my rig. And I am enjoying it.

This thing is very simple to use. The instruction booklet offers some varied settings on use so it gives you an indication of the sort of sound you want. The settings are in Boost mode ( boosts the amp )and blues mode, both very good but different settings.This gives you two pedals in one.

The sound from the boost mode is really nice and clean, think free and repulsive by reef.You can get some really nice rhythm of it. The manual suggests you should add distortion through the amp but I prefer this baby clean.
Blues mode good as a distortion booster to another distortion or fuzz box but not probabley what I would play on its own.

Only had it a day so errrrrr looking good.

Like I said only had it one whole day. I havnt contacted them.

I think this pedal rocks. I was after a vox valve tone but they have recently been discontinued. So this was what I chose instead and I think its an exellent by. Probably better than the valve tone.

This pedal is pretty simple. Two modes Blues or Boost. Four knobs. Boost really sounds the best. You can a good blues tone in front of a tube amp with this one. I use my guitar volume knob to clean it up and it responds very well. It has little more bite than the Ibanez Tube screamers. The information it came with is simple to read and use. Just turn it on and goof off for a while. I will keep this one in the line up.

I using this with a Carvin Legacy 100 watt tube AB head with a half stack with Greenbacks. Guitar to Bad Horsie Wah, Bluesbreaker II, Dan-O echo, Boss Chorus to Amp. I get a good blues sound and can rock out by just turning up some volume. The pedal is a bypass box..so it will not effect your chain. I play early 70's rock and blues from early to later. This seems to light up my tubes enough to get a nice sound without unwanted distortion. This pedal can sound very creamy and smooth if you take the time to dial it in. My amp is loud so I have to be careful not to piss everyone off at band practice. The Bluesbreaker II sounds OK at lower volumes. But as we all know, no amp does it all and this pedal has it's limits too. If you like a creamy overdrive with a bit of a attitude this one might help get you that sound your looking for.

This pedal is housed in a metal housing which appears to be
rock solid. A light comes on when you use it. The action of the pedal is nice. The knobs are easy to turn. I think this one will last longer than me. I use it without a backup and it works.

Bought it used!

Been playing a very long time. I play SRV, Hendrix, Beck..ect
Got a box full of stomp boxes thru the years and this one works for most blues and rock songs. I use my drive channel without it so I can get a good driving distortion when needed. I play gigs alot and would replace this one as fast as I could. I compared this with Tubescreamers, Boss Blues Driver, Fulltone and a few others...for the $$ you can't go wrong. It seems I leave it in Boost Mode alot but it sounds good so I think this pedal will be in my lineup for a long time.

Four knobs, Drive, Tone and Volume plus a two position knob for one ot two modes: Boost or Blues. In Boost mode, the Drive and Tone knobs are bypassed and do nothing to shape the sound, only the Volume is used. I only give it a 9 in ease of use because of that. I'm not complaining about it but it might confuse somebody who didn't know any better and didn't have the manual into thinking that their pedal was screwed up.

THIS THING ROCKS!! Amazing. Almost makes me think those Valvestates might not be that bad. BEFORE YOU SKIP TO THE NEXT REVIEW, let me assure you that I'm never selling my tube amp for no piece of shit Valvestate. This thing sounds awesome, but I'm feeding it into a tube amp.
Let's go over the two modes:
The Boost mode is for "valve purists" claims the manual (Marshall sure hates to use the word "tube"...). The manual claims that by using just the Volume knob in this mode, you can give your amp a powerful boost without losing the natural color and tone of your amp. This is very nearly true, and what an amazing drive it adds. Well, in reality-world, I guess I can't pretend this thing is the same as a fully cranked 100 watt Marshall stack, but no pedal is and this thing is damn good at what it does. Best overdrive pedal I've ever heard, way better than anything Ibanez ever made. As the several other reviews indicate, owners may decide to only use the Boost mode. All you have in Boost mode is the Volume knob. At about 9:00 position the volume will equal about the bypassed volume, with very little overdrive. Things change real fast as you turn the knob. Like I said, I keep mine at about 10:00 or a little higher and it adds a LOT. Sounds very full. This thing is impressive. Cranked it sounds great too, but since I like to go from clean to overdrive and back, the volume difference was just too great to crank it much past 10:00 in Boost mode. Fully cranked in Boost mode sounds great, but it is like WAY louder than your clean sound, so switching back and forth could be a problem. But is sounds so good, some people may opt to leave it on all of the time.
In Blues mode, the tone really doesn't suffer all that much, but some bass loss is noticed as is some coloring. In this mode you can now control the tone but you will have to crank it all the way if you want to preserve your treble end. The big advantage to Blues mode is that now, instead of the Volume controlling the Drive as it does in Boost mode, the Volume controls the volume and the Drive controls the drive. This allows you to adjust the volume so that it comes in equal to the bypassed volume if you desire no matter how much drive you use. But with this added advantage I notice a loss in tone. The thing still sounds great in this mode, but I'll stick to the Boost mode, because I'm a "valve-purist".
It has a passive bypass so that when it is bypassed it is really bypassed. This is a great plus.

It seems solid.

N/A

This thing is a great deal and a great pedal. Marshall should make a new modeal that has three footswitches. A bypass switch, a Boost mode switch and a Blues mode switch. Then it would be perfect. I could use the Boost mode for a mild but powerful boost and the Blues mode (which in this case would be renamed) would be set for searing leads. It doesn't have this, but I give it high marks anyway because it was only $80 and it sounds incredible. I could just buy another one, but then I'd have to use more cables and I'd have to turn two off with my foot to go clean instead of just hitting a bypass switch.

This Pedal is one of the easiest to use. There are four knobs, boost/blues, gain (blues only), tone (blues only), volume (volume on blues, gain on boost). It is rather easy to achieve a good sound in either mode. Though as you only have one tone knob, for blues mode, you can achieve a better tone (in blues mode) using the eq in your amp.

My setup is as follows; Fender reissue strat (with Fender Gold lace sensor pickups) into a Danelectro cool cat (chorus), into a Danelectro Dan-Echo (echo/delay)then into a Morley AB switch. A side consits of a Boss Metal Zone (best overall distortion on the market), followed by a Morley Bad Horsie wah, into a Morley Little Alligator volume pedal, into the second channel of My Amp. The B side is as follows,into an Ibanez turbo tube screamer (used, on turbo mode,to drive the blues driver),into a Boss Blues driver , into a Marshall Blues Breaker 2 , into a crybaby wah, and into the first channel of my Amp. My amp I'm currently using is A 35 year old Lafayette Reverb and tremolo,two channel and four input head into a mathing 2x12 cab (try to find one of these!). Absolutley the best amp I have ever played through. My playing style is a melting pot of Mostly Eric Clapton, B.B.King, Eddie VanHalen (get well Soon Eddie!), Steve Vai, Brian curry (my first and only guitar teacher) Buddy Guy, John petrucci, and Eric Johnson (among countless others). More exacting though it's really an Eric Clapton Meets Eddie VanHalen. ON my A side I have my Eddie and Steve Vai sound. On the B side I have my light to Heavy overdrive tones. I will make one thing clear, I do not try to sound like anyone, or play just like anyone. I draw out what I like from peoples sound and technique and blend it into my technique. So When I am using these pedals I am expanding upon and experimenting with tones that most people are familiar with. To focus on the Blues breaker though. Using My strat and only the BB-2 into the amp it sounds amazing. It is my favorite overdrive. As I said above to customize your sound to a huge extreme I would use the eq in your amp or buy a seperate eq. To give examples of the tones I can get, I can easily achieve a Eric Johnson tone (make sure to use reverb, and delay if you have it), I can get an early clapton, with the blues breakers, tone. I can also get a good Lynyrd Skynyrd tone, and for you texas blues junkies, there is even some SRV in there to. It is a very versatile pedal. I have never noticed any noise with the unit, I have used it with batteries and an AC power supply (I currently use a custom made power supply to power all my pedals). Any hum with this pedal is a result of either faulty ground wiring in your guitar or single coil pickups (The lace sensors don't hum). As I mentioned I use this with wah, delay, chorus and reverb, and they all work well with, and sound great with the blues breaker. I've also used the Boss or Ibanez OD's to drive the BB-2 in boost mode and that will give you a great overdrive solo tone. The other effects I mentioned using in my chain are all tope notch, and I would recomend them to even the most seasoned pro.

One of this pedals many attributes is that it is made of metal, and thus physicaly reliable. It is also internaly reliable. I have been giging with it, with out a back up, for over a year with no problems what so ever.

In conclusion I can only further praise this pedal. As I mentioned I play a mix of styles. I am giging with both a blues band, a classic rock band, and an instrumental band. In all honesty I could play all these stlyes with the blues breaker-2 with no problems. AS I mentioned before in my sound reveiw, I play a customized Fender strat (I replaced the stock pickups with Fender Gold Lace sensors).I have a Boss Metal Zone and blues driver. Morley AB switch, Bad horsie and Little alligator. I also have a danelectro Cool cat, and a Dan-Echo. I round it off with an Ibanez Turbo tube screamer, a crybaby wah and my prized lafayette amp. Again I would recomend all of these to any player of any style. I have compared this pedal with all the boss overdrives, DOD's and just about any stomp box you can think of. For me this gives me the perfect, velvity overdriven tone I wanted. Again this pedal also works good in boost mode to drive a second overdrive pedal or an amp's distortion channel. I'm not sure how it would ever get stolen, I watch my equipment like a hawk. However if it were stolen I would buy A second as soon as humanly possible. This gives me one of the many tones that I have been searching for and now love. The undeniable truth, though, is that a pedal is only as good as three things, 1) your opinion of it's tone, 2) the amp your using with it and 3) your playing ability. This pedal really lets you picking dynamics shine through. So in closing my review I would say that any one who likes Eric Johnson, or Eric Clapton's tone, this pedal is the best I Have found.