Boss BD-2 Blues Driver Pedal Reviews

Strap in, guitar lovers, because you're about to be taken on a ride on the Blues Highway with the Boss BD-2 Blues Driver. This pedal isn't just a tone shaper; it's like an old friend who shows up with a six-pack, a pizza, and a head full of amazing stories. You won't even remember what life was like without it.

When I plugged this baby in, I felt like I had a direct line to the souls of all the great guitar legends. It's warm, it's fuzzy, and it wraps you up like your grandma's quilt on a cold winter's night. Forget about playing the guitar – with the BD-2, you're feeling the guitar.

As for tone, the Blues Driver is like having a small, bluesy wizard in a little metal box, waiting to cast the perfect spell on your guitar. Turn the gain knob, and you've got that sweet, warm overdrive that hugs you just right. Crank it up, and you'll think you're playing in a smoke-filled dive bar, even if you're just in your living room annoying the neighbors.
It's one of those pedals that you never want to turn off. Seriously, it's like turning off the sun or telling your dog he's not allowed on the couch anymore. The sound is so good, it's practically an extension of your soul. I'm talking about playing so much that your fingers start to grow little denim jackets because they're getting as bluesy as the tone coming from the BD-2.

In short, if the BD-2 Blues Driver were a person, it would be the cool uncle who shows up at Thanksgiving with a guitar in one hand and a bottle of something in the other, ready to tell the best stories and jam until the turkey gets cold. This pedal's got the goods, and it'll take your playing from 'kind of cool' to 'blues legend in training.'

I was looking for a pedal to add some grit to my sound. I play blues, and some almost/maybe swing/rockabilly.
This is perfect.
It was easy to add to the pedal chain, simple as heck to use, and very, very reasonably priced.
There may be other and better pedals that could add the same edge to the sound, but for $ it's tough to beat.

A great addition to my pedalboard.

So different from my Tube Screamer. Love it

It's a blues driver. It does its thing, and does it well.

There is a reason this pedal has been around so long, it's an industry standard classic. Looking for that glamorous pedal that your musician friends will ogle on your board, go elsewhere, but if you want a pedal that does a little of everything and does it well, this is it. Of course, it's built like a tank, like all Boss pedals. Great blues tones but versatile enough for country and rock. You can back the gain down and use as an always on boost or crank it up into near distortion. Couple this with tube screamer type pedal and you'll have everything a board ever needs for most players.

This should be called the Rock Driver! Amazing pedal. Again, thanks to my rep Austin for always being helpful!

You can never go wrong with a BD-2. Great for most genres.

This od pedal has fast become my favorite to date. The SD-1 is great, my Blackstar dual drive is better, but the Boss BD-2 is just outstanding. I can get every tone I want and it still has enough bite left that I can crank it more. It adds a incredible amount of tone to whatever you're playing through. I say it adds, it doesn't mask the tone of the amp. I've had other drive pedals that once you engage it it buries the tone of the amp but this enhances it. Simple and compact, built like a tank, and easy to use with only three big knobs that dial smoothly(something I've noticed that other brands lack). I could not be more pleased. It's why Boss is still the boss.

A big thank you to Sweetwater and my sales engineer Nico. Always a pleasure to work with.

I can't praise this pedal and its amazing sound high enough! I've owned the same pedal since the late 90's and it has survived several moves and multiple shows. It has held up strong all that time.
It has a tone and character all its own. It's a bit scooped in the mids, with clipping that has a nice edge. There's really nothing else quite like it. It can be harsh and aggressive and right in your face, and yet it can be smooth and creamy. My leads sing better with this pedal than any other overdrive I own. If you prefer a sound that has a mid-frequency emphasis like the TS, this may not be the pedal for you. Or it may be just the pedal to give your sound palate more color.

I've owned a few tube amps over the years from Peavey and Fender. I've lately invested a LOT of money in the Synergy tube preamp system, with modules from several major names. I have 3 major guitar plugins for my DAW. But none of that beats the BD2 for tonal character and expressiveness. I still come back to the BD2 for all of the heavy work. Which is why it remains in my studio while other pedals and amps have come and gone. It just has a voice that really speaks to me. Nothing compares. Nothing.

What I love about this pedal is the ease/simplicity of achieving some really nice OD tones. Also, a great gain staging OD pedal too. If you aren't into playing with modelers and effects software and just want a plug and play pedal, you can't go wrong with the BD-2.

As I have recently been prepping for work with a small country group I bought a Telecaster and started reading online about getting that "sparkling" kind of sound as heard on many recordings. I think it was Vince Gill who mentioned the pros using a the Blues Driver dialed in at a low level of gain. This works well for background fills with any amp so I am happy the BD as with I have been with all BOSS products.

The blues driver was my first overdrive pedal. I sold it to try other, more "boutique" drives. Came back to it, and later sold it again still thinking I'd find something I liked more. Well, I'm back to it again, because I just can't find a drive pedal I like more. It does everything I want, from light drive to thick distortion, and cleans up well with touch or volume knob. Do yourself a favor, throw this on your board and leave it there.

I have tried so many pedal brands over the past 40 years. Back when I started there were the Boss OD-1's and Ibanez TS9's. This BD 2 is sweet for that old Atlanta Rhthym Section Doraville type smooth overdrive. And it really makes the tube amp work harder. Makes my JCM 2000 half stack so much smoother and tighter bottom end. The SD-1 pedal also sweet if used correctly. I think it would be so awesome to have every Boss model in one room to demo. I know there's collectors with most of them. I'm an Ibanez pedal collector. The TS9, CH9, DX2, TR9, PS9, CE9 & RV9. They aren't noiseless but all analog and nice. The Boss BD-2 is an +AAA Boss pedal.

Got this on sale from sweetwater so it was a no brainer. I have the Behringer BO-100 clone of this and love it so I was curious on the sound difference. The boss one has a bit more full/openness to it but they are very close. With the prices for used Behringer ones ( which are also discontinued) going for the same price as new and used boss ones The new Boss ones are are great option. I would think of these as a more full, low to mid frequency bumped SD-1 type sound and yes they stack well with other drive/boost pedals.

Has a nice comfortable sound

Having used Tube Screamers forever, I couldn't stand it anymore. Everytime I read a review, or heard anybody talk about it, it was always a good one. One day I was in my local store with money burning a hole in my pocket and lo and behold, they had one with my name on it. Awesome sounding pedal. Whether it's used as an overdrive or a boost. You can't go wrong with this one.

Great pedal! Get a good sounds out of it

Me and a friend started a hair band and this blue monster is now my number one pedal. It should be called Rock Driver (RD-2). Also, thank you Austin for being so helpful. Customer service is outstanding!

What an awesome Driver Pedal, from.cristal clear to angry driven riffs, a very wide tonal range

Just incredible! Sweetwater reached out to me immediately upon the purchase of my Boss Blues Driver to see if I had any questions, and to let me know my purchase was on the way. I am so impressed with the interest Sweetwater invests in it's customers!

Perfect. This pedal rocks. Great cleans and you can drive it hard and still get a great tone! I can't say that about too many effects. Simply incredible.
josh at Sweetwater answered all my questions and made the experience enjoyable. Kudos to Josh for a job well done.

I tried a few pedals out. This one has the tone I was looking for. I could not recommend it more. It does clean overdrive as well as a nice distorted break up.

I own a vintage amp head that was custom built in the 1970s. Cranking this pedal sounds almost exactly like cranking that old amp. It's clean, smooth, and handles highs and lows with grace and ease.

This pedal is not just for blues. It's more like a mini-amplifier. You can a wide variety of useable tones just by making a few subtle adjustments with the tone and gain knobs. Some good blues, classic rock, fuzz tones to be found here. You can even use this as a simple volume boost (more or less). Either way, it's not a bad thing to have in your studio or pedal board.

Finds it's way onto every build I've put together or break through lead that's needed. Get it.

I had the intension of buying the DS-1 but it was out of stock at the time. I after reading a few reviews I decided to take a chance on this BD-2. Very cool indeed. I'm still experimenting and it has a great range from crisp to crunch. I even got a nice follow up call from my sales engineer Reid Bright to make sure everything was ok and I had no issues. I would definitely recommend this pedal. Thanks Sweetwater!!!!!

I bought one, used it for years, sold it, bought another, sold it, bought a third.
I can't get away from this pedal. I can come close to duplicating it in the Helix, but only close. This is not a Tube Screamer copy. It really does have its own sound. In short, I would say that it lacks the mid boost of the Tube Screamer wannabees, and adds a little low end warmth. It is a great pedal that will serve you well. Just get one and don't sell it. You'll just have to buy another one.

A friend gave me an old Fender tweed twin that she inherited.
As shocked and grateful as I was, it was not producing the deep rich sound of my portable Blues Jr Cannibis Rex or my Blues Deville before that. Having only a single volume knob it is un-crunchable in the good Fender manner.
Lacking a master volume to find the sweet break up spot, and not having a positive result in tweaking my Fat Boost and Spark pedals to match the established sound of our band, I covered the Twin and put it off to the side.
The Boss Blues Driver was recommended to me as a solution and it was like a jaw dropping improvement. It seems to do everything right, from a really clean boost as a master volume would provide to a strong sustaining break down without any annoying artificial distortion.
I don't play blues, we're more like Cheap Trick meets REM, but the sound of this pedal is universally rock, and I'll probably be keeping it on as long as I play through the Twin, which I now can appreciate a lot more.

First, I get why blues players love it: If you love the sound of your guitar and amp and just want to be able to just push it harder, the BD-2 can be a beautiful, super expressive, super touch-sensitive Boost with the Gain dialed way down and the Level and Tone set to your personal tastes.

That alone is reason enough to make it a classic pedal, but if you're adventurous and start exploring the Gain knob, you discover very quickly this is an Overdrive with lots of personality that does its own thing. And it's glorious. Everything from great warm OD to biting Distortion to a wild almost-Fuzz toward the end of the Gain knob. And every bit of it is so beautifully touch-sensitive to how hard you hit the strings.

If you're even more adventurous, you'll discover how wonderfully this pairs with other Drive pedals. It can Boost another pedal as beautifully as it boosts an amp, and it can take a Boost too. Hit it hard with a Overdrive or Distortion or Fuzz and open a new palette of sounds. It's a lively pedal that really invites experimentation and never disappoints.

I play it mostly into my Vox amps, but I've played it through quite a few Fender-style amps too, and unlike some ODs, it really sounds incredible with both.

Built like a tank, legendary reliability, etc... All the usual praise you hear is all true. My favorite and my go-to OD for years. It's a real thing of beauty.

This pedal rules, for some reason I would recommend it to people for years but only bought mine last week. It's so good and makes you sound better, I use it as a transparent boost, almost as a preamp. Also sounds good with the tone and volume up as it is very touch sensitive. I should have bought it years ago, and with that line of thinking, my next pedal will be the MXR Carbon Copy, another pedal I have put off purchasing even though it sounds amazing.

Really a great pedal. Can be used for many different applications and sounds great. Has become my go to overdrive.

If you ever doubted whether or not you should go with the Boss Blues Driver then you have made yourself miserable for no reason: turn your amp on and set your controls just to the point where you get that sweet point where it starts to break. Now turn on your Blues Driver and set it to the points of clean and dirty begin to merge and start to jive! You will be astonished by your attack and decay charistic and how that sound---The Sound, will be there, influenced by your inspiration as you flow through the movement of your sound, all compliments of your Boss Blues Driver. "5 Long Years" won't seem so long as you put heart and soul into your music, your performance, your style, your sound. Your Sound. The Sound, courtesy of your Boss Blues Driver!

Still one of the best pedals for clean sound to british rock to blues to hard rock! Tried many other pedals and I went back to this one! I still love it!

Great clean boost to get a pushed clean edge of breakup tone for blues, works well for me!

It is really great. It has a range of a small, almost transparent boost to fuzz-like distortion.

Using as a front pumper on my Marshall 2555 —- all previous pumper pedals like the ocd and Duncan 808 haven't been a good match into the front of this 2555—- bought the boss due to it Not having diode clipping !! The jubilee has a diode in it already - sounded like diodes stacking on diodes - boss blues driver drives the front end like a king .... no need to look any further

Make it the first pedal you purchase. Absolutely great sounds can be achieved if your into blues,rock etc. Gives it the boost you need when you need it. Great purchase ! Thank you Sweetwater !!

Anyone with a guitar can benefit from this pedal. I've found it to be one of my most essential pedals, and can't imagine being with out it. Definitely a bargain at any price, and a big shout out to Josh Trumm for recommending it.

If you're looking for light grit or full-on distortion, this pedal is for you. I personally prefer the sound of transparent overdrive over mid-boosted, 80's type drives like the Tube Screamer, and this is the best overdrive I've ever used. It has so much range, in terms of saturation and tone. It really is a perfect overdrive.

I have owned several BD-2s over the years. Right now I have 2 on one of my pedal boards. One is set for just a little bite and the other for a bit more gain for stacking for lead work. Find the sweet spot with the tone knob and you are good to go.

Seems to be the one overdrive that I use to compare all other overdrives to.

This is one of the most versatile pedals I own, it does the clean boost thing really well, you can raise the gain to about 4 and get some really light edge of breakup tones or you could dime the gain and get a distortion almost fuzz sound. 10/10, would recommend to anyone.

This pedal has so much range in all the controls. It can go from a clean boost to brutal distortion. Thick, dark sounds to bright and cutting. It's very responsive to picking and your volume knob too.

Great personal service. Product arrived one day earlier than expected. Sweetwater is the "go to" site and my saved seller. Thank you

Sure it has a wide range of adjustment, except maybe the "tone", but you don't have to, it' s easy to get that sweeet blues tone you want! Probably does a lot more but that's what I want...

This one is a classic for a reason. It sounds great and can go from a slight bright crunch to a thicker heavier feel but it sounds great no matter where you dial it in.

I was looking for my first pedal board and all I knew was that I mainly needed a reverb pedal, compression pedal, tuner pedal, and an overdrive pedal. Since I am country fan I thought it would be perfect for me. And this pedal didn't disappoint. When I got all of my pedal set up and began playing. I love the growl it has when I turn it up. My favorite song is outlaw state of mind by Chris Stapleton and at the end he does a strange and very cool sound with his pedal board. So when I start trying replicate the and when I finally found it the ''tis pedal to s the main source. I completely recommend this pedal.

I love the sound of this pedal and from what I understand the tone is improved further with the addition of the JHS Morning Glory overdrive pedal (next on my list)..

This pedal is either the sole source of my gain tone or the foundation. It will do a wide range of tone from a clean boost to a raunchy rock and roll face burner. In times of monstrous tone requirements, I like to layer it with a Fulltone OCD. I will say, the Blues Driver is warmer and controlled. It's much more responsive to attack than some of the other pedals I've fooled with.

I traded some other distortion pedal for this one on a whim and it's been in my rig ever since. over 150 shows with the same pedal it's still going strong.

Just the right amount of crunch and sustain without getting dirty

I mostly play my Yamaha Revstar502 when I've got the blues. I love the sound of the P90's but I needed some overdrive to round out my tone. The BD-2 is the ticket with no frills and the exact tone I was looking for. The price point for what this pedal delivers is a bargain too. You can spend a lot more on tweaking your tone, but there's really no need with this pedal onboard. I play through a 200w, 6-band equalizer bass head with active input and 15" cab with horn. With this pedal, there's hardly a guitar/amp combo that I can't duplicate. From BB King to Jimmy Page and everybody in between. No disappointments. I Love it.

This pedal along with the Ibanez tube screamer gave me the sound I've been looking for.

Had this for a couple of years and love the dynamics you can pull out of this little blue(s) box. Didnt buy it from Sweetwater but since they are the ONLY online music store that doesnt make me wish I had more than 2 middle fingers, I will gladly help them serve their customers anyway I can.

This Boss pedal, one of my many, is so smooth and touch sensitive I can set the gain at 12 o'clock and just by varying the pick attack I can go from almost clean single notes to almost heavy crunch chords. I have SS amps and this make it sound more tube like than any other pedal I own. But as stated but an old rock star in an interview in the 90s. "Are you really getting tube amp sound when you are using SS pedals to drive it?" Yes with the BD 2 I feel like I am even thought I am not. But my little Katana 50 just loves this thing.

Wont replace the BD 2, unless it dies, since I can go from boosted cleans to hard dirt with a small turn of the dial and a change it my attack. Pull back the gian and push this with the SD 1 and you get screaming well defined lead tones all day long, add just a bit of reverb and a simple drum beat backing and you can sit and play slow solos all day long and never find a setting on the BD 2 that you wont like. Buy it you will see what I mean.

Awesome! Finally tried it out today. Defiantly what I needed and wanted. Excellent design, durability and sound. The only thing Rated better is the staff and especially Chris Sanders and the whole Sweetwater team and business.

I love this pedal. It has always found it's way back onto my board over the years and I'll never not own one. Sounds great alone and stacks well with other dirt and fuzz pedals. I can get everything from good clean boost to saturated distortion/fuzz. My number one pedal for getting that throaty blues lead tone.

You get what you pay for. Mess with it for awhile you'll get the sound you want. Good pedal, decent price, every blues player I've met has had one on their pedal board at some point.

The Boss BD-2 is a great pedal, I can't complain. It is everything I need for what I play.

I love this pedal, but it's "specialized". It's not for everyone. I play a lot of blues based rock and love classic rock from the late 60's, and throughout the 70's. I also play mostly Fender Stratocasters. As I've played around with this pedal; I have learned that it is excellent for single coil pickups, but not so great on humbuckers. Now, it can be played on a humbucker just fine, but feels like it's really made for single coil pickups. I love it with the level at about 11 o'clock and the Gain at about 2 o'clock on my middle and neck pickup; then I dial down the volume on my guitar to about 7 and get a full body bluesy grit I just love to use on lead. Kind of a Kenny Wayne Shepherd sound that make choirs of blues angles come down from heaven and harmoniously echo praises from the blues gods. Now if your looking for a heavy distortion, I would stick with the DS-1 or other Boss pedals. But if you want to muddy it up a bit and get just the right blues bite, the BD-2 is for you. Of course, your guitar and amp will be different. If you're new to boutique pedals, you need to know that it can take a while and you'll really have to play around to find "that sound" but once again if you want to play the blues... This IS a must have!

If you could pick only ONE overdrive pedal for your pedalboard, this would be it! Okay, if you need super-tight metal precision, this is NOT the pedal for you... this is loose, dirty and abit raunchy(if you want it that way ;0p). I have used it thru an already crunchy tube amp to approximate Electric Wizard's fuzzed out doom epic "Dunwich", but one can certainly dial it back and do some Clapton 'Slow Hand' licks as well. Now that's versatility! It responds to volume knob roll-back and picking changes, AND it doesn't squash the inherent tone of your guitar - a Strat still sounds like a Strat, etc. As always, the bullet-proof BOSS durability is there in spades, so you won't have to worry about the rigors of touring affecting this sweet(naughty) box of WIN. Who needs to pay $200+ for overdrive bliss? BOSS has got your back!

If you only have one pedal this would be it it's a true overdrive pedal scaled-back it gets real bluesy sweet sounds. Built like all boss pedals like a tank versatile tweak it to your own sound distortion to thick bluesy sounds people will ask you how do you get that sound all from one little pedal

This is a great pedal when played with my strat with single coils, not so much with my double hum bucker USA Jackson SL2. When played through a Mesa F2 50 watt it sounds just as it does in the demo so if you like that sound and have a similar set as I have mentioned you will not be disappointed.

I run mine through an old USA bandit, tweak it, small variations make big differences. Boss doesn't disappoint, it will push you out front when you want to be. Great pedal but you have to tweak it, and you'll find bluesy sound you want! Thanks for listening

I had a Blues driver before which I bought from another company for years and it finally died, so since I've been happy with Sweetwater, I wanted to buy another one..

Thank you Sweetwater

I love this pedal so much! I wasn't happy with my guitar tone until I snagged up this pedal, and let me tell you it makes a huge difference in my tone. So much that I leave it on all the time. I just use it as a boost, but my guitar has become alive paired with the soul food, my guitar tone is unstoppable.

This is my favorite pedal in my pedal board. You really can get just about any tone you want out of this pedal. The bite,the overdrive, just the killer sound you can get from this! Just love it. Also - love the service from Sweetwater!!!

The Blues Driver has THE SOUND I want. It's dirty, but doesn't have that overly compressed mid heavy overdrive sound I hear on almost every other overdrive pedal. The BD-2 is unique. It's open, it's airy, it's jangly, and it serves a nice range of function. I currently use it in two ways, and I might need to pick up a second one so I can run them both together. Something I use it with Gain at 0 (or real close to 0) just as a boost. It makes my clean tone pop just a little bit more. It gets chimey-er, just better overall. Another use is my favorite gain sound (used with a valve amps clean channel of your choice). Gain around noon, give or take a bit. Just a wonderfully versatile gain pedal.

I am quite fond of this little decive as it pairs very well with my Marshall Class 5. I can get a very decent range of tones and I want to say that even though I am not a pedal person by any means, this one will be staying with me until it dies....then I'll get another one if they are still around! Excellent peice of equipment,

I love this pedal! The BD-2 when dialed in 50% on the gain will sound clean when picked softly. Pick a little harded sounds like a tube amp starting to break-up. Pick even harder and you got the sweetest Tube sounding Bluesy distortion ever. Thats the best thing about this pedal you can control the Gain with your guitar pick. If you want to beef up your solos without completely changing your knobs, purchase a Boss SO-1 and place in the chain behind this BluesDriver and it will create an awesome one two punch for rhythm and leads.

I got the BD-1 about a month ago. It takes a bit of tinkering but once I got the hang of it, I really like it. The only negative is that it is a very bright pedal. I have to run the tone control way down, between 9 and 10 o'clock or it is just way to bright. Otherwise, you can dial in mild gain to fairly heavy distortion. It stacks well with other gain pedals or the gain channel on my amp. It cleans up nicely when dialing down the volume on the guitar. It's almost an "always on" pedal for me. Very pleased.

If it's something your on the fence about just get it. This pedal adds that crisp if you know what I mean. This pedal with a delay/reverb and your good. Very satisfied with the cleanliness.

Great sound fast delivery awesome company

Been playing through my Rivera Suprema Jaxx Rec with my Guild Starfire 8 hollow body.
SU-WEET!!! Great sound. So glad I finally bought it!

With soooo many pedals out there its pretty cool to be able to get use out of a reliable pedal that has been around for years. Of course this pedal may sound or behave differently from amp to amp, but with my particular set up I find it quick and easy to dial up a sound. From warm low gain breakup-up or boost, to a saturated crunch. It seems to be pretty flexible. And my favorite thing about the Blues Driver is that it doesn't seem to do anything unwanted to you original signal. Simple layout, great value.

A great overdrive to give you that crunch and dirt you want for a blues guitarist. Plenty of low end OD, but has a good range of sounds that would suit a rock player. I dont know why I didnt get it earlier

The BD 2 has been on my board for years and it's still the first pedal I hit when I need some dirt. Super strong case and simple to use.

This is a great grab and go pedal. It does fine all by itself and drives an already broke up signal with some extra pep. I compared it to my vox ac10c1 and found its almost an amp in a pedal. You can crank the gain all the way on the pedal then roll off the volume knob on your guitar and get a nice clean signal. I didnt give it a full 5 stars because i even tho i like the distortion, it wasnt as good as the bd-2 i owned years ago.

This is a great pedal, if what you're looking for is anything from a simple boost to semi-heavy distortion. It's gives your sound, from what I hear, just a real nice creamy crunch. Simple to use, and sturdy.

I really like the way it sounds . It is like having a tune amp , and it makes the blues come alive.

I have moving away from tubes for a long time and this pedal is one of the key ingredients to break the tube habit. I run this into a Peavey Stereo Chorus 400. This box provides the perfect overdriven sound for my needs. It breaks up naturally, cleans up well when you back your volume down and turns into a monster with an OD and/or another distortion (I use an MXR Distortion + BYOC clone) in front of it.

Do tube amps sound good - absolutely, are they a necessity - absolutely not. This is one pedal that proves that. By the way there's a lot of people selling mods out there for the BD-2. My suggestion - keep this pedal stock (I've tried some of the mods), it sounds great right out of the box.

It's a great Blues paddle whether your playing in your garage, on the couch or on the stage.

Sounds like a tube amp, through a tube amp or even straight into a P/A. Balances clean or dirty leads with your rhythm chords, balances single coils with Humbuckers without changing amp settings, and can take the place of a tube amp, with the gain up.

Can be a bit noisy at high gain, but the Boss NS-2 is a perfect companion. Very responsive to attack and guitar volume/tone, and the one-band EQ (tone knob) is remarkably effective at taming a Tele or brightening up a Les Paul, without having to EQ your amp on the fly.

Great pedal for low to medium gain lead work and chords. I run a EH soul preacher in front to push a bit and sounds great. Will be adding a Proco Rat as a over the top tone that I'm needing. You would regret it!

The Boss Blues Driver was exactly the pedal I was looking for. After using the OD-3 for so long, I was ready for a change in tone. The Blues Driver provided what I needed. Smooth changes between clean and overdrive effects in the strum changes is impeccable. Definitely a must-have for anyone who enjoys playing both lead and rhythm guitar.

Great sounding pedal! The BD-2 give me that extra punch when I need it. Sounds great running thru my 63 Tremolux. Great value for a great Pedal!

Thing is great. Sweetwater team is great. I'll admit I was a bit bummed that it didn't come with an adaptor, but that was my bad assumption. However, it was loaded with a battery! Thanks boys. It'd be 5 stars but my kids end up fighting over the candy! ;) God bless yall in the Fort.

I ordered this because of a famous guitar player that I like has one. Love the correspondence I had with Sweetwater, they are great! I like the pedal better than my Tube Screamer, but this is my preference.
If you are on the fence about getting it, just do it! You will not be disappointed!

Single coil Strat thru a Fender "Deluxe Rev." Takes a bit of fiddling with guitar/amp volume to get the right sound. The guitar vol 10 and amp 1.5 and making adjustments on pedal produces a nice sound that I like better than the Boss "OD" pedal.

Another great piece of gear from Sweetwater and Boss. I bought this peddle to complement my new Fender Player Stratocaster HSS while needing more options for Blues tone. I have a Mustang 1v.2 amp and while it's a pretty good home unit it wasn't giving me that tone that I wanted. This Boss Blues a Driver did a great job for moving towards the blues sound I was looking for. Still think a move to a Fender Blues Jr tube amp coupled with this peddle will be the combination I am looking for. But for now this is a great addition to my gear.

I love this thing. I had it modified and it"s even better. It"s great before modification, but if you can find somebody to upgrade, do it.

Good quality construction, adds warmth on low gain, good crunch but still smooth on high. Loses a little bass on the low end when engaged. Tone control has little range. Overall good tube type sound.

I keep an electric guitar at friends homes in different states in U.S. No matter what I ply through, the BD-2 gets me a great lead sound. It's not fuzz, it's nice overdrive. I only play Gibson guitars and I'm very happy with the sound at every JAM session that I play.

The BD-2’s is a smooth sounding overdrive (OD) that is capable of producing a wide range of OD effects that go from extremely subtle to quite hard. This pedal preserves the subtle nuances and dynamics of your playing technique and cleans up well in response to ramping down your guitar’s volume knob. Also, though I described the sound as smooth, it is an “edgier” variety of smooth than most other OD’s on the market, including the Ibanez Tubescreamer or the Boss SD-1…think more Albert King as opposed to B.B. King or Clapton’s Bluesbreakers tone as opposed to SRV’s tone. It features a trebly sound that is less focused in the midrange frequencies and has a a wider dynamic range than the classic Tube Screamer circuit. I find that I have to keep the BD-2’s tone knob at or below the 10 o’clock position to equalize treble between the effected vs. the unaffected tone; whereas, with most other OD/Distortion units, I generally set the tone between 11 o’clock and 1 o’clock for an equalized tone.

All Boss pedals feature an extremely effective buffered bypass noiseless FET switching system that preserves the signal strength of your bypassed signal, even when using long cables and chaining multiple effects together. This bypass does brighten up your tone a bit even when the effect is off; however, I do not find this objectionable. I like this livelier sound and, if need be, can always compensate for this variance by adjusting my amps treble down and/or bass up. However, if you are a real tone connoisseur who insists on completely transparent bypassed tone, then this effect may not be for you and you may wish to opt for something with a true bypass switching system. Of course, with true bypass, you may have to watch your cable length, limit the number of effects in your chain, or employ an active signal boosting device, such as an active volume pedal, MXR microamp, or Pedal EQ with adjustable level, elsewhere in your chain.

I spent a couple hours in my local guitar store looking for the best overdrive i could find. I was willing to spend about $150 and tried several that were that price, but the Boss Blues Driver was by far the easiet and best sounding for my setup.A very good deal for what you get.

The BD-2 can go from slight overdrive to emulate a singing Santana Europa sustain and drive. Perfect pedal for the casual go out and jam board. I recommend this.

Great pedal !
Total blues tone and overdrive capability.
Sounds great and being an analog pedal it is the real deal !

I bought this specifically to use with my guitar that has SD Phat Cats in both the neck and bridge position. It works great for what I want it for: adding just a bit of crunch and dirt. I'm using it with the level all the way up, and just a little bit of gain dialed in. I think it's pretty noisy, so I'm giving it 3.5 stars. If it was a bit quieter I'd happily give it a 4 or 4.5 since it does exactly what I bought it to do.

I guess I don't get "OVERDRIVE" pedals. They all sound like bad distortion pedals to me. This one sounds better than any I've tried so far...but I still feel like I get better sounds out of backing off "DISTORTION" pedals or gain channels on an amp. Most overdrive pedals sound like midrange farts. This one sounds more like a scooped crisp fart. A more Fendery fart tone?? So...I guess it's better...if your looking for that.

When I first plugged this thing in It was at first a bit disappointing, but as I played around with the tone and gain levels I created a monster blues sound that I am very pleased with. The price is a little high, but I guess you get what you pay for. Thanks Sweetwater!

Not much there sounds a bit tinny and thin this through a silver jubilee ! i wanted something to get close to the srv tone well this aint it i have a route 66 the 1st gen and its way better than this