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View Full Version : Going to demo the Boss BD-2 Blues Driver tonight



Tone2TheBone
October 18th, 2005, 02:42 PM
Just picked up a used one today and I'm going to see if I like it. I have the Digitech Bad Monkey and I really like that pedal. When I first plugged in the Bad Monkey I immediately knew it was the pedal for me.

I had bought an Ibanez Tube Screamer a few months ago...and HATED IT. BLAH. No matter how I set it...it totally robbed my low end. Compressed everything into middle frequencies. I quickly took that thing back. :rolleyes: The Bad Monkey restored my faith in "overdrive" pedals and I'm hoping that this Blues Driver will do the same.

Rob

ps- I'm going to be setting up a pedal board myself soon...cept I'm too lazy to make my own. :cool:

Tone2TheBone
October 19th, 2005, 09:20 AM
OK...here is my review of the Boss BD-2 Blues Driver...

GET ONE.

Marnold...whatever you do today...or this week...go out and buy the Blues Driver...you won't be sorry. It will practically bring all your sonic dreams to life.

First thing I did when I got home was pull the Strat out of the case and plugged in the unit. I set all my controls on the pedal to 12:00 as a starting point. I used the pedal on the UK70s model...number one, because I wanted to try out the Les Paul on it later for Marnold...and number two, because I feel that the UK70s model is a fantastic starting point for hard driving blues. NOTHING beats a plexi Marshall. Anyway I turn the amp on and here are my settings on the UK70s...

Gain almost all the way up...probably to about 4:00.

Volume all the way up.

Treble at about 1:00.

Mids at about 12:00

Bass at about 12:00

Effect on reverb only.

Master at about 12:00.

Power attenuator knob in back at about 75%.

Remember that with the UK70s model on full gain...you still don't have a really hi gain amplifier here. On a strat the tones are still fairly clean...if you hit the strings hard on chords or passages then yeah they will break up...but overall its still clean...just more louder.

Once the tube warmed up on the Vox I had already had my guitar volume at about 5 which is pretty standard for me. I like the clean bright tone at that setting for playing and for leads I turn it up slightly for a fuller sound.

HAPPINESS. I couldn't believe how good the amp sounded at those settings. It was perfect. Blues bliss. With the volume knob on my guitar turned half way down I had the killer overdriven strat sound aka SRV on the stomp box. The highs were very glassy...sweetly overdriven. The mids smooooooooth still very much transparent...the bass frequencies "enhanced" but not increased which is a good thing because nothing was muddy at all. Basically the pedal boosted my signal set the way it was with everything on the pedal straight up at 12:00. I did not have to adjust the pedal nor the amp AT ALL. I played for a few minutes noodling on blues runs and rhythms. I was just amazed.

Then I traded the Strat for the Les Paul...leaving my pedal and amp settings alone. Without changing anything and with my volume on my guitar backed off to about half way...I got instant hot rodded Plexi Marshall. Marnold...your George Lynch/Dokken sound is THERE. I did not even HAVE to turn the gain up on the pedal at all for the UK70s to saturate the way I like it. I did so anyway just to hear what it sounded like and it was crazy all out hi gain. In fact...it was too much gain. It sounded like the NUMETAL model...very gainy and fuzzy on top. I had to back it off to get it tighter and more defined...YET it still had the balls and gain of a modified amp. If you want balls to the wall hi gain with the pedal I probably might leave it at about 3:00 or so. Anymore than that is too much I think. But it might vary with your own guitar and playing style.

I was astounded that a pedal would bring the UK70s model to life in that way. You should hear the pedal with the same setttings on the other clean models!!!! This pedal will give you so much more versatility. You can always come down from 12:00 on the gain for some not so Hendrixy and Vaughany lead work...but then again just use the volume pot to do that. I like how the pedal hits the amp when the gain is at 12:00. After playing all these years I've learned to utilize my guitar volume more as a sort of gain reduction which makes things more versatile. When I first started playing when I was a kid I maxed everything out...on my amps and on my guitar. Everything was either very clean...or very dirty. I prefer using the volume pot to help me achieve the tones and drive I want. The Blues Driver is very different from the Bad Monkey. As a comparison as far as actual gain goes...I have to set my Bad Monkey at 3:00 to get the same results on my Blues Driver at 12:00. (Robert...the Monkey however does sound a little better on my real Marshall on a side by side without tweaking any knobs test).

I'm completely happy with this product and even more so because I got it for $40.00! The unit is in great shape. I highly recommend this overdrive pedal to anyone that ever plays with any kind of overdrive. GO GET ONE!

Rob

Robert
October 19th, 2005, 09:56 AM
Thanks for the review Rob! Since I have both pedals mentioned, I have to say they are both good to have. They sound quite different, but each has its place and are both winners in my book.