BOSS Jb-2 Angry Driver Distortion Overdrive Pedal, All-New Overdrive Pedal with Massive Tonal Range

There are so many overdrive pedals on the market these days that it can seem like a minefield. Thankfully, you can't go very far wrong with the classics. After years of trying various drive pedals, I think I've finally found the right one. My tonal preference has always been for natural valve breakup, something which requires an amplifier to be cranked up to deafening volumes. Most of the pedals I've used have sounded far too "synthetic" and clinical to me. The BD-2 manages to avoid this and produce a very "amp like" drive tone... Its surprisingly transparent, and has plenty of gain available. It can easily handle anything from blues, to hard rock although I would look elsewhere if you play metal.A common complaint about the BD-2 is that it can sound "fizzy" at higher gain settings. Compared with some pedals such as the Ibanez Tube Screamer this is true, but to my ears at least, this is closer to how a cranked amp naturally sounds. It could perhaps do with a little more bottom end, but a slight adjustment your amp settings compensates for this should you feel the need to. But it certainly doesn't suck out bass and boost mids like a Tube Screamer or SD-1 might, its an altogether fuller tone, and works very well as a standalone drive, as well as a clean boost. As any good pedal should, it responds beautifully to your picking and volume level, and cleans up completely with the guitar's volume rolled off.Boss are known to produce very reliable, and tough pedals. There are thousands of 30+ year old Boss pedals, still being used all over the world... They're built like tanks. Though I've only owned this pedal for a short time, I see no reason to think that reliability will be an issue.

The sheer longevity of the Boss BD-2 is testament to its quality and effectiveness. First issued in 1995 it has become a classic, and rightly so.I am not a fan of extreme overdrive or distortion and much prefer the more subtle 'creamy' ranges of these two effects. The BD-2 is absolutely perfect for that and although it can be pushed to deliver the harsher and more extreme ends of the FX range, it is ideal if you want to explore the more subtle realms of adding that 'creamy singing quality' to your tones. For the same reason, and after a lot of experimentation, I find that for other tones in that 'softer' end of the sound spectrum, I like using the accurately named Mad Professor 'Sweet Honey Overdrive de-luxe'. If anything, the SHO has more ways in which to shape sound, but for pure simplicity and incredible clarity of tone, the BD-2 is pretty well unbeatable. As with all Boss pedals of this style, it can be powered using a 9v supply or by using a standard PP3 battery which can be changed quickly and easily.

This is a Christmas present so I am unable to pass judgement on the product - it’s what was requested so no doubt it will be well received!

Like most I've had a fair few drive pedals over the years. Primarily I play hard rock and I've always preferred getting my sound mostly from pushing the amp but at a certain point the extra gain turns into a squishy over saturation and things get flabby. To bring the focus back I've always assumed the tubescreamer route was the way to go, and so I've tried 2 of these, the boss SD1, an OCD and even some clean boost type pedals. The only issue is although these give the classic Marshall 'cut through the mix' sound in spades, the rise in mids always seems to be at the expense of the organic feel of natural distortion somehow. So, I thought I'd try something different and I'm glad I did. Most videos of the blues driver are shown using it with a more or less clean amp and to be honest, it's always come across as a bit thin sounding to me. I'm using this pedal with an all ready fully overdriven amp to give it that bit extra and its exactly what I've been looking for- perhaps for years. I set the volume and tone half way and the gain low around 9 o'clock and it gives just the right amount of extra sustain and focus but without the over colouring mid 'honk' I've found in every other overdrive. I wouldn't say the blues driver is transparent, as it also seems to add a touch of sizzle but more importantly nothing seems to be taken away. The TS9 tubescreamer always lost bass and gave rise to a kind of sterile feel and although great in some applications, always felt lacking in the organic sound of the amp by itself. The blues driver has solved my dilemma by keeping all the juicy goodness of the amp but just giving enough focus to sharpen the tone for heavier playing and leads. I'm guessing that when overdriving an amp, as the mids and compression increase naturally, adding the TS9 becomes a bit overkill. The blues driver on the other hand seems boost just the right frequencies to bring out that extra oomph I was after. This one is definitely a keeper for me and I recommend trying this pedal if you've found other overdrives to be a bit samey or mid-focussed.

I have deliberated over getting this pedal for years and I'm glad i got it now. It is not just a distortion effect, but an overdriven tube amp sort of tone with compression smeared on top. Made my cheap guitar sound really warm and full bodied. It is really responsive to playing dynamics, and like others have said, rolling the edge off the volume on the guitar cleans up the top end a bit on demand.Ignore the price and just buy it!

Good pedal. Plenty of advice on settings included. Adds a nice bit of bite on solos but also good as a general tone setting.