Customer Reviews

Boss BD-2 Blues Driver

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Like the review above me said, it is built like a tank. It has taken quite a bit of stompin' from me, and it is giving no signs of wearing out! It provides an amazing range of tones. I've used it for 3 things. First off, as one might hope with a name like Blues Driver, for some nice Bluesy warm overdrive. You can also use it for more hardcore distortion, which can get pretty hardcore with all knobs turned to the right. But also, with the distortion turned all the way down, but the Level turned up, it is a great little Level Booster that works great before or after other pedals. I use it before my Wah-Wah, and it makes a great sounding Wah!

Wow!

This pedal surpassed my every expectation. I have been playing guitar for a long time, but am just getting into the blues. I have been gawking at all of the boutique pedals out there looking for "my" sound. I have tried several in the stores and have listened at watched hundreds of reviews online.

The BD-2 keeps the character from your guitar and delivers a variety of sounds. You can swing the dial from a tighter and softer overdriven sound with some great tone, to a wide open raunchy grit. No matter how much overdrive you dial up, it still keeps the bluesy character to your sound. It never moves toward generic nu-metal or bland fuzz, the whine and build of your blues sound always remain.

I really think that is why this pedal will stand out over pedals that cost a lot more. You get as much gain and grit as you want, but your sound keeps all of its quality. You can dial up classic rock sounds as well as some really strong SRV or Kenny Wayne type sounds. If you play any type of classic rock, blues or funk; owning this pedal is a no-brainer. I am actually buying a few so that I can add some of the after-market mods from Monte Allum and Keeley and have even more variety. You certainly don't need to mod it to have a really amazing, quality blues sound.

Since I bought this, I have learned that many guitarists that have the money to put anything into their pedal boards still keep this puppy in the mix because it is really difficult to beat.

This is built like all Boss pedals...like a tank. Solid construction, metal jacks. When you plug it in, the magic happens. Solid overdrive all the way from a gentle bluesy fell to overt crunch. Won't work for you metalheads out there, but for most of us, this is an awesome pedal.

Like the other reviews state, this is a FUN pedal! I have it connected to my massive pedal box so it simply plugged right in to my power array with no issues. It sounds clean and is very loud! The tone is nice.

BUT

I also own the Boss Heavy Metal pedal which is a fantastic pedal. I've used it for years so when I added the Blues Driver, I was deeply disappointed in how close it sounds to the Heavy Metal pedal.

I have both pedals lined up and I switch them back and forth to test. Both sound a lot alike. It's not enough to really go 3-stars but I was really hoping for a more mellow blues sound and instead I got more of a ROCK sound. It's OK as I have the tone control adjusted in such a way that it's tweaked for a different sound and not a total loss but .. dynamically, it's not all that.

The volume of the pedal is great. It really pushes the envelope, even more than the Heavy Metal. That said, it gets 4 stars as by itself, it is a kick-butt pedal.

I currently have a slew of FX going through my iPad and into my pedal box (volume -> compressor -> FX -> delay -> amp) and this pedal certainly holds its own amongst the other FX pedals linked to it. I'm glad I own it but I am not sure the price warrants what you get. If you don't already own a Heavy Metal pedal, then it would be a fantastic addition to your stomp collection.

I was very pleased when I got my bd2, after about six months it finally broke on me. Before it did I found a couple of uses for it. 1: you can adjust the settings to your taste for the blues. 2: you can set the level to match the volume of the amp and turn the gain up to really get those harmonics to pop(i was using this setting for the intro to White Wedding). 3: you can turn the gain all the way down and the level all the way up and use it for a clean boost(i was having trouble whenever playing in a band to play over the drums).

Needless to say i was missing it as soon as it broke. At first i thought it was the power outlet at my friends house(jimmy rigged extension cord with outlet attached), but when I got home and tested it the light came on for split second and went out. That's when I knew something was wrong. So I tried a different adaptor, then a 9v battery with no luck. So I figured it wasn't the power, but the switch. So i had a friend order a new one on Ebay. When I got it I replaced the faulty foot switch, and plugged it into the wall. It still did not work. Then scoured Youtube for a how to vid to no avail. Finally I downloaded the pdf file for the bd2 and after a few pages I found out that boss pedals have this neat feature where the input jack acts as an on/off switch. So after hooking up a cable to the input it worked just fine. This is my first Boss pedal and(even though it broke after a few months of use) I couldn't be happier with its effectiveness.

The Boss BD-2 Blues Driver is one of my absolute favorite pedals and has been an indispensable part of my rig for years now. The BD-2 is built like a tank, sounds amazing, and it's very easy and intuitive to use. My personal experience with this pedal spans mostly Fender and Vox amps and Fender (lots), Ibanez, Danelectro and Taylor guitars I have had great success from all brands mentioned. With a little tweaking of the Gain and Tone knobs, you can coax a wide range of different tones from a creamy howl to a crunchy, bluesy lead and everything in between. The pedal reacts well to your pick attack and you can easily get different sounds out of it just by altering your picking methods.

Though I've bought many other drivers, overdrives, distortion pedals, high-end boutique boxes and low-end affordable models, I have always kept this little blue box close under foot. Most of my input on this pedal is very similar to dozens of reviews all over the internet, but one aspect of this pedal that I've personally noticed but haven't seen in many other spots is that this pedal really plays nicely with others! Put it in front of a few modulation pedals (Small Stone phaser, Boss Flanger, etc.) and your tone doesn't break up in an unpleasant way as with some other distortion pedals. In my book, that is high and surprisingly un-sung praise.

Note: for more info on the actual tone of the pedal, I highly recommend checking out a few Youtube review vids (I like the Pro Guitar video reviews as they have better mics and higher quality sound than a lot of amateur reviews) and maybe making a quick run through one of the many quality gear forums out there. This precaution is especially advisable if you're buying this pedal off the internet and don't have the option to check it out at a local music store.

Can't really express how awesome this pedal is. Buy it, buy it, buy it! you won't regret it.

The range of sounds you can get from this one little pedal is amazing. Go all the way from a cleanish volume boost right the way through to tight crunchy overdriven distortion. The thing I love about this pedal is that is really responds to the nuance of your playing. Set it to higher gain distortion and play softly and you get a cleaner sound, then the harder you play the more crunchy and distorted it gets. Much prefer this over the standard boss overdrives. It's well worth the little bit extra money.

I have tried and tried and I can't get this sound out of any other pedals/combos. This is hands down one of my favorite pedals. It recreates the bluesy sound of a vintage overdriven amp. I like to play with my neck pickup with the pedal's tone at about 3 o'clock, and some hefty reverb - it flat out sings. If you don't have one, you should buy one.

My husband is the musician in the house, and he loves this blues driver pedal! He doesn't play on-the-road anymore, so I can't say how it "travels", but he uses it alot everyday and it works and sounds great!

i love this pedal. you can really get a great Brit-pop sound out of this. i believe the best way i could say it is that this pedal is beefy drive that is filled with power and turns innocent amps, into a Big Bad Blue Driven beast! using the tone nob i found that that is where the secret of this pedal is. and by adjusting that just right you could get any sound you want from this. highly recommended for people that play big riffs and leads.