The BD-2 Blues Driver delivers the creamy, yet crunchy sound associated with great blues guitar. This popular pedal provides instant access to the kind of warm overdrive and emotive distortion usually reserved for 30-year-old tube amps.
In this photo of John Mayer's pedalboard, his Boss BD-2 Blues Driver pedal can be seen in the bottom row of the board. If you look closely, you can see the ["Keeley Electronics" sticker](https://images.equipboard.com/uploads/source/image/72187/Kee2.jpg) on the back of the pedal, meaning his BD-2 was the Keeley-modded version.
moreFrom Billie Joe's guitar tech speaking about his pedals, "Blues Driver, and that's it. I'll just kind of, depending upon the song, manipulate it to get feedback or gain or whatever." "There was some stuff where to get a really big tone, we’d just plug a guitar through a Boss Blues Driver and mess around with different echoes and delays." - [Guitar Player.](http://www.guitarplayer.com/artists/1013/green-days-billie-joe-armstrong-once-again-proves-the-power-chord-is-king/61018)
moreIn this video you can see a glimpse of his board. The colouration and shape of the end pedal appears to be that of a Boss Blues Driver.
moreIn this [interview from the April 2000 issue of *Guitar World* magazine](https://web.archive.org/web/20040213203727/http://archive.guitarplayer.com/archive/artists/thecure.shtml), Robert explains his pedalboard circa the recording of the album *Bloodflowers*.
moreAt 8:40, Frank says "currently for my main tone...it is a [Orange Thunderverb 200 watt](https://equipboard.com/items/orange-thunderverb-200-watts), which I overdrive with a Blues Driver."
moreAt second 0:13 of this video you can see Tash's pedalboard with the Boss BD-2 blue pedal.
moreYou can see the 'BD-2' with tape above the Boss grip in the first and last photo, and without tape in the second photo. It's easy to identify by its 'Boss StompBox' shape and it's three knobs and classic colour.
moreA pair of Boss BD-2 Blues Driver Pedals can be seen next to each other on Kelly Jones' pedalboard used in Stereophonics. They are labeled "1" and "2". This pedal can also be seen in [this](http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/photo-of-javier-weyler-and-kelly-jones-and-stereophonics-and-richard-picture-id85349346) photo.
moreCourtney Barnett uses a Boss BD-2, according to [this article](http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/22424-courtney-barnett-the-new-sensation?page=2).
moreThis is a picture I took at a Highly Suspect concert back in August of 2015. You can see in the bottom row of the pedal board that the third pedal from the right is a blues driver.
morezoom in and you can find that blues driver on his pedalboard, nothing shaped like that except the BD by Boss
moreDaniel from That Pedal Show build Gem his new (30th May 2017) pedalboard, where this pedal can be seen.
moreOn the right of this photo from inside Carrie's house, a Boss BD-2 Blues Driver is seen on the pedalboard.
moreAt 1:27, the Blues Driver can be seen at Andy's feet on the right side next to the tuner.
moreIn the middle of the image you can see a bunch of pedals. There is a blue pedal with something in yellow.This is the BD-2. (Between the POG and the Boss Digital Delay).
more"I’m having a custom pedalboard developed as we speak, which will include a [BD-2] Blues Driver, a Flanger [BF-3], a DD-3 Delay, and a Reverb pedal [RV-5]."
moreSeen on Carlson's pedal board in this photo and [at Lunario del Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City on October 8th, 2011](https://www.flickr.com/photos/hipster_bebop_junkie/6284977986/in/photostream/).
moreUsed for Jones' Wurlitzer 200A on the The Fall Tour, as mentioned by keyboard, guitar and drum tech Futz in this July 9, 2010 *Mix Online* interview. > “We also have a stock ’70s Wurlitzer 200A electric piano going through a Boss BD-2 Blues Driver (for extra crunch) and an Ibanez AD-9 analog delay before going to the bass input of the Fender Bassman,” says Futz. It is also visible in [this photo](http://fohonline.com/site/wp-content/uploads/10/02/nora.jpg) from [this February 2, 2010 *Front of House Magazine* article](http://fohonline.com/newsroom/news/norah-jones-rocks-with-sennheiser-and-neumann/) and [this 2010 live performance](https://youtu.be/H8rv0s2zwfQ?t=10).
morea Boss BD-2 is clearly seen between an MXR Phase 90 and an Electroharmonix Big Muff Pi
more"Listening to playback during recording sessions has made me aware of the nuances of my playing. When I was just banging away and not paying attention, my tone sounded more youthful and energetic, but as I’ve gotten older, I can’t help thinking about the subtleties. Sometimes you can get to a point where you know too much; luckily, I’m not there yet. But I do know a lot more than when I started."
more"But Ricky was really the main reason I turned to electric guitar, and I must tell you, for all the folks listening out there, the first pedals I really got turned on to were BOSS pedals. Moving to Nashville in ’96, I had a little BOSS treble box, a TU-series tuner, the CS-3 Compressor, the BD-2 Blues Driver, and a DD-3 Delay."
moreIn this 2015 photo of Coombes performing in Cardiff, there is Boss BD-2 Blues Driver in his pedalboard.
more"Then there’s a Boss Blues Driver that’s always on, and then it goes into a blackface Fender Twin. When I record, I can just pan those a little bit side to side and it’s a great big sound. I get a distorted signal through the Twin because of the Boss Blues Driver, which I can turn up a bit to get just a little extra dirt. In certain rooms that are really small but dry, I can’t turn the Super up to 10, but I can turn up the Blues Driver and still get the dirt".
moreAccording to Premier Guitar's article, Franklin uses the Boss BD-2 blues driver pedal.
more"The only pedal I used was a Boss BD-2 Blues Driver to push the front end of the amps for solos."
more"...then the signal goes into a Boss BD-2 Blues Driver that he uses for speaker-eating distortion."
moreIn 2017, Nils Lofgren opened an online account on Reverb's website, on which he sells his own pieces of gear. So far, a lot of items have been sold, including the Boss BD-2 Blues Driver.
moreI stood right in front of him the whole concert and had a perfect view of all the gear he used that night.
moreMinute 1:15: we can see the Boss CE-2 Chorus Guitar Effect Pedal in Julia's Pedalboard. Not a Boss BD-2 Blues Driver.
moreIn this Instagram post shared by Fairchild, the Boss BD-2 Blues Driver is visible.
moreIn the instagram picture, Tim shows the pedals his been using for the new record (top row, second one).
moreAt 2:55, there is a great shot of Colin Frangicetto's pedalboard, displaying the Boss BD-2 Blues Driver at the top, second from the right.
moreIn this 2013 profile for [Australia's *The Music* website](http://themusic.com.au/interviews/all/2013/02/22/muso-midge-ure-greg-phillips/13204/), Ure indicated that he was touring with a Vox VTX150 amplifier. "Pedal-wise, Midge is keeping things fairly simple and for tonight's gig was using a Boss Blues Overdrive to compensate for the hire amp's lack of grunt."
more"On Monnos I used a Rat clone and a modded Boss Blues Driver but both on separate amps – this might explain a slightly clearer tone on the new album."
more“I have a Planet Waves tuner, a Morley A/B box, a Zoom 9000, a Boss Blues Driver, a Fulltone OCD box, a TS-9 Tube Screamer, a Boss Chorus and a Line 6 delay.”
moreOrla's blues drive pedal can be seen on this Instagram pic. Apparently she's readying for the boogie.
more"Gillard plays his ‘76 Les Paul Custom through his Mesa/ Boogie Dual Rectifier half-stack, and uses a pedal-board loaded with a Boss TtJ-2 tuner, a Boss BD2 Blues Driver overdrive, a Boss TR-2 tremolo, and an Ibanez CF-7 chorus/flanger." - 2001 Guitar World Interview, interview was found on the official Guided by Voices website.
moreThroughout this video, a Boss BD-2 Blues Driver can be seen on Dhani's effects board.
moreIn this photo Nick Sadler can be seen using Boss BD-2 (he modified it into Bus Driver lol)
moreThe pedal can be seen in this video of the recent performance of "Small Victories"
moreAccording to Guitar Geek's rig diagram, Ekstrom uses the Boss BD-2 Blues Driver pedal.
moreAn information sheet detailing El Ten Eleven's stolen gear in 2013 identifies their equipment. As they were covered by insurance, these pedals may have been replaced, perhaps even with an identical model.
more"I’m constantly trying out new compressors and this one has excellent tone and feel. I use it for heavily compressed “pedal steel” parts. The Blues Driver mod has added germanium transistors for extra gain and a Phat tone mod."
moreNick's Blues Driver is seen on his pedalboard in this photo. This was posted on the following article: https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/news/140513/
morePhillip Magee, Kodaline's [Sound Engineer](http://gdriv.es/blaiseaudio) tweets a picture of Mark's pedalboard. The pedal can be seen to the right of the [Visual Sound](https://equipboard.com/items/visual-sound-dual-tap-delay-two-channel-tap-tempo-delay-pedal).
moreHisako's also big into Blues Drivers. A Blues Driver can be seen near the beginning of her chain, right after the tuner.
morePhoto taken in their live concert showing their pedalboard. The entire concert can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqhlqJRqjVQ and at 33:26 we catch another glimpse of Julia's pedals.
moreat 2:15 in this video he says "i even used a blues driver pedal just through the PA and that sounded pretty awesome"
moreThe pedal is in the chain along with swollen pickle by way huge in the back cabinet along with the Line6 helix rack processor.
moreIn this photo on the amazon's instagram page from november 2015 you can clearly see the Boss BD-2 on Matt's pedalboard.
moreOn his web site Bortnick details the collection of foot pedals that he uses for his guitar, such as the Electro-Harmonix Frequency Analyzer ring modulator, Univox Super Fuzz, Boss DD5 Digital Delay, DOD FX17 wah pedal, Boss Phase Shifter, Boss Blues Driver, and Ibanez AF9 Autofilter.
more"I just use a Boss Blues Driver or a Sans Amp to overdrive the amp and an echo unit."
moreMcLeod: I play a goldtop Gibson Les Paul. It’s the most comfortable neck I’ve ever played. I’ve laid my Explorer to rest because the Les Paul is so beautiful. Onstage, I only use three effects—a Boss DD-3 Digital Delay, a Boss BD-2 Blues Driver for a solo boost, and a Vox wah.
morei dont remember if its in this video but in one of Kims like a versions you see a blues driver on his pedalboard
more"Donna's pedalboard rig, referred to by her techs as "The Starship", consists of 21 pedals across 3 interconnected boards. It was built by Craig Pattison Rig Design and includes a TC Electronic Flashback Delay, Vortex Flanger and Hall Of Fame Reverb, and a BOSS Blues Driver BD-2, Flanger BF-3 and Loop Station RC-30, among others. Donna's love of feedback is evidenced in her use of an EBow, as heard on the song "ANOTHERLOVE" from Prince & 3RDEYEGIRL's debut album, PLECTRUMELECTRUM and “MR MAJESTIC” from her debut album, DIAMONDS & DYNAMITE. Most recently, Donna has been experimenting with the Empress Echosystem Dual Engine Delay that features up to 35 presets ranging from classic to obscure sounds. She uses the pedal in-stereo creating complex delays by assigning unique settings to multiple cabinets." From Donna's website.
moreMinute 1:03:02 Elvis Costello and The Imposters - March 8, 2018 - Port Chester (complete show) Larry Rulz Published on Mar 16, 2018 Recorded on March 8, 2018 at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY
moreIn this photo, posted by Wolfe on her Instagram profile, her pedals are shown. One of the pedals visible is the Boss BD-2 Blues Driver.
moreIn this instragram photo, you can see his pedalboard. It features a BOSS Blues Driver (BD-2).
more> My wife does volunteer photography at a radio station. Here are pedal board shots from various bands: > > Sloan (Patrick Pentland / Guitar)
moreListed under Adam’s gear on Vividgreen.net. It is visible in [this photo](https://gusterroadjournal.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/adams_legs.jpg) from Guster's official road journal, aptly titled "adams_legs.jpg".
morePic taken at Life's gig for Dr Martens Play Different in Hull on 05.10.2017. The setlist of the night was: * Excites Me * Sugar God * Rare Boots * In Your Hands * Ba Ba Ba * Euromillions * Hollow Thing * Popular Music * Crawling
moreIn this photo of Shearwater's pedalboards, in the Oswald's pedalboard (which is the one below), one of the pedals that can be seen is the Boss BD-2 blues driver.
more"Boss BD-2. I bought this from Ian, our bass player. He had modded it, but neither of us can remember what mods he did. I use this pedal once in a while when I want extra dirt." Source: http://www.metalsucks.net/2012/12/07/rigged-kowloon-walled-city-guitarist-scott-evans/
moreIn this article Barnes Courtney is asked about what effects he uses. He says: > On the record, it's just a lot of clean acoustic with the bass whacked up, but if I'm playing live — especially if it's solo, no drums or bass or anything — I just send it through a Fender amp with a blues driver on it just to give it some gravitas. Because I want the gigs eventually to be quite sweaty affairs, so it just puts across that vibe. It gives it some teeth. > It's a little bit counterintuitive to run an acoustic guitar through a distorted amp, but I just think for what I'm trying to get across — which is kind of a raw, sweaty, determined kind of energy — it does the job.
moreThis picture of Mark's pedalboard was taken at the KDHX studios performance they did.
moreLewis' band Georgia June instagram // pedals pictured in middle left of the screen
moreFor me this Overdrive pedal has become one of the classic pedals that everyone knows and I think everybody knows at least one person who has one of these in their posession.
At first I was not really happy with it, I felt it was very bright and brittle but I liked the fact that it is a really dynamic pedal. After a while of playing around with it I turned the tone knob completely down and suddenly it sounded 90% like my amp (Fender ´57 Twin Amp RI) but with a nice rounded dynamic overdrive on top of it. Since then this pedal is probably my favorite Overdrive, as it does not feel like a pedal or even an artificial drive on top of my amp´s original tone. It does seem to cover a lot more of frequencies than most other drives I know. There appears to be no bass cut, mid hump or treble boost with the tone control turned down. By now I only use the tone control to add treble if I am playing in a really dark sounding room.
The Blues Driver reacts very good to other pedals in front of it, often I use it together with an Ibanez TS9 to get a bit more gain. But this does not mean that the BD2 has not enough gain, in fact in can be quite fuzz-like when you crank the drive knob. There are also immense level reserves in case you want to use it as a clean boost.
So if you are looking for a pedal that has a really transparent drive then here it is!
I use this as either a boost for leads, or in conjunction with my MXR Blue Box for a thick, angry sounding octave fuzz. I prefer this pedal's bright overdrive to the Tube Screamers thick, middy cream, as it helps clean up the low end a bit more and gives my tone a great treble boost.
Boss BD-2 Blues Driver Pedal Demo W/Fender Stratocaster
One of the most versatile overdrive pedal out there. The range of this pedal can make your sound from clean boost, creamy tube overdriven and up into heavy distortion close to the border of fuzz territory
Kept buying boutique/expensive drives and this always sounded better. Second hand for £35
So, I have played with this pedal for a month or so. While it definitely adds the bluesy tone you would want, it also adds quite a lot of sustain, crunchy distortion and a crisp sound everyone will love. It gets a little wild when adding the Distortion DS-1X pedal to the mix, but that might be because my amp is pretty wack, I would be interested to try the two together as I think that you can create a really cool Blues/Rock tone. Thumbs up for the pedal.
When it comes to pedals, a lot comes down to personal choice. But for me, I'd be willing to say that the Boss BD-2 Blues Driver is a MUST. It's obviously great for blues, but it's also great for classic rock, punk, metal, and just about anything you want to get out of it. Very versatile and works great with other stomps.
This pedal is so ubiquitous that a short review is totally appropriate and you summed up enough key ideas in your 1 paragraph. Good job here.
Easy to find and are a good investment, sound great.
This was my very first overdrive pedal, and it's been clear from day 1 why this pedal has stood the test of time. It can do creamy, crunchy and everything in between. Really easy to get a good bluesy sound out of and gives a great extra punch.
My favorite use of this pedal is for soloing. It really helps your tone cut through when it has to, and when used with my Bassman pedal... game over. I need to do more experimenting with this when my board is complete, but for right now, I love using it as a smooth, but crisp overdrive.
Just one of the greatest pedals of all time... the best partner to my Strat and my Blues Junior... You can get a nice warm OD, but also an agressive lead tone...
Nothing more, nothing less, than a solid overdrive pedal; plenty of gain on tap, sounds great when you roll your guitar volume back, all that jazz. I have the gain rolled all the way off and the tone at around 2 o'clock and the level a little above unity; basically a mild treble booster. Pairs super nicely with a compressor for some beautiful low gain leads, and adds the extra little sparkle my Big Muff tones needed. I won't say it can't be beat for the price, but it's a solid option that'll suit most needs.
A good little drive pedal to add a little gain to your tone.
Definitely a good pedal for certain applications; metal not being one of them. Furthermore, I wasn't really ever able to figure out how it worked at the time. I know how it works now, but when I had it, I never could get it to sound the way I wanted.
Love the warm full tones! Many people compare this to a Tube Screamer. IMO, that's all a matter of taste. This sounds exactly like I want it to!
actually its not much like a tubescreamer internally, whereas the SD1 is 98% the same circuit as a TS9
This is my first stomp pedal ever, and previously I used just multieffects and emulators like Amplitube or Bias FX. About the BD-2, is a formidable overdrive thought can be used as booster sometimes and depending how it is tweaked, probably can be used also with other pedals to stack gain stages and get awesome sounds. I tried to nail the woman tone by putting the drive between 1 and 3 o'clock and the tone knob before 12 o'clock. I like it due the fat tone that it produces and the overdrive is really grain and mostly transparent.
Recently I noticed some peak highs in the pedal, for that can be tamed by using the tone knob before 12 o' clock. For fatter sounds, probably you need a keeley mod.
Some new experiment using a chain Guitar>Boss BD-2>Echosystem>Vox AC15C1, I noticed that my plug cables are not with a good quality, this is, there is electrical loss in the signal, so instead plugging a long cable from the amp combo to the two pedals, I plugged them with a patch cable directly to the amp (normal channel).
Doing this way, the signal loss is less, resulting in a tone improvement, more dynamics and sustain, clarity on the distortion also. I've been using Fender guitar cables (Custom Shop, Tweed style) with 5' long.
So I tweaked the Blues Driver with Gain - 9 o´clock, Level - 12 o' clock and tone around 12 and 1 o' clock; the Vox AC15C1 tweaked with normal volumen and master volumen at 9 o'clock, producing a boosted-clear-fuzzy tone, very Gilmour-wise. But to achieve this sound, was because the help of a Spring Reverb with short decay and long predelay (delay+reverb mode in the Echosystem).
Right now, the blue buddy returned to the box, but it is still a good pedal. Probably it will sound better with compressed amps.
Creamy and warm sound for my Tele and Strat guitars
Not only for blues! This thing gets kinda fuzzy when cranked, and it's just all around good sounding!
The best Blues pedal i've ever used. What I like about this pedal is that you can really get that "vintage/old" Blues sound. it's just fantastic, I don't know what else to say.
Boss BD-2 Blues Driver Pedal
This was my third or fourth pedal ever, back when I was an early teenager, still on my board, my "second main distortion", great for Noise Rock, Noise Pop, Gothic Rock, Dream Pop, Shoegaze, Post-Punk (Punk in general actually) and for everything, also of course, for Blues (lmao), and even Metal, boost your amp distortion with this and you will get a killer tone, there is nothing this pedal can not do, simple awesome, so many years on my side, it had never failed me
A must for any guitar player. (Always on)
I use it as a overdrive or booster. Really enjoy it.
I have always been impressed by the versatility of this pedal; in front of a clean solid-state amp, it can deliver the flexible crunch-to-grind qualities of a hot tube amp. You can get everything from tweed Fender to growling modern half-stack out of this one pedal, and it gives you dynamic control, too. Back off, and it's sweet and clean-ish; dig in, and feel the burn.
I use this pedal for its great overdriven tones. I really like it's flat EQ response, like how it doesn't boost the mids like a tubescreamer does. It also preserves the low end like a tubescreamer doesn't. I usually set this pedal at 25% gain and that's plenty for me. I also use it as a boost after my tubescreamer for a little bit more thickness and sustain. I do find it to be a bit bright however, so I have the tone knob tune almost all the way down, around 15%.
You've gotta have one, if you wanna play the blues! One of the first pedals I bought.
One of my favorite kinds of effects, my first pedal...
It cost the same as a tube screamer, but I prefer it on its own. My first intent when looking for an overdrive pedal was to use it for its gain. This has more gain than the tube screamer and gives a little thicker tone. This pedal also works great how I use it now. I have it in my effects loop and have the gain set very low, using the pedal just as a boost. This is a common use for the tube screamer, but I think it does the job better.
The BOSS BD-2 has been on my list of effects that I've wanted since i was a teenager. My brothers friend who was a fantastic musician used 2 of them, one as his main drive, the other to boost it into saturated heaven. I only have one myself but it took me 15 years to finally get around to getting one. I've gone through roughly 20 or so drive pedals (if not more) in that time, constantly trying to find something I love that I could say is MY tone. I have that with my Battlehammer (look in my gear for that) but i had to have a BD2 because i could never escape its allure. I love stacking it with the Bad Monkey as it makes it sustain for days. I use this as my primary drive when im doing covers, the BH is for the heavier stuff. I use it a lot and dialled back a bit when writing for passages that i want a lighter drive running as i feel it sounds better dialled back than the likes of the Hotwax (I think the HW is better dimed for that amp like crunch)
I have always adored this pedal, I would think with other effects that its due to the history I had with it while learning how to play and trying to find my own sound all those years ago but i think the BD 2 speaks for itself. Its infamously fantastic and I think its a pedal all other ODs should be compared to for how versatile they are. Easily in my top 3 effects units I've ever tried!
I bought one cause Billy has one and to be fair I love his sound. This is probably the only pedal on my board that I could not be without and would buy again every time in heartbeat. So maybe you want a nice pedal that gives you a slightly broken up sound but doesn't mush your sound or put too much gain in the mix, this is the pedal for you. It can be cranked but I just like it on minima gain.
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Thorough review of a readily available effect... you forgot to mention how cheap they are to boot.
@jimmarchi1 yeah, you´re right the BD2 is really cheap, especially compared to many more praised overdrive pedals