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