Opinions - Boss BD-2 Blues Driver

tombobwarland · #1 06-08-2011, 12:30 PM

Hi all, i've been experimenting with pedals for a few years now and looking at getting a pedal to give a bit of a bite to my sound.

a few years ago i tried out a boss bd-2 with a 4 string and although wasn't perfect did seem to offer alot of possibilities when playing a wide range of blues rock to funk. i've tried out the boss bass overdrive and wasnt that kean, and the same again with the big muff.

now in a band again and using a new 5 string bass with active electronics i'm looking at pedals again, and thinking of the blues driver, anyone used 1 with a 5 string or a fretless, whats your opinions? it will be going into a noise suppressor, CEB-3 chorus, crybaby bass also.

Tom

0175westwood29 · #2 06-08-2011, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tombobwarland

Hi all, i've been experimenting with pedals for a few years now and looking at getting a pedal to give a bit of a bite to my sound.

a few years ago i tried out a boss bd-2 with a 4 string and although wasn't perfect did seem to offer alot of possibilities when playing a wide range of blues rock to funk. i've tried out the boss bass overdrive and wasnt that kean, and the same again with the big muff.

now in a band again and using a new 5 string bass with active electronics i'm looking at pedals again, and thinking of the blues driver, anyone used 1 with a 5 string or a fretless, whats your opinions? it will be going into a noise suppressor, CEB-3 chorus, crybaby bass also.

Tom

i used to use on with my band, thing is i had to use a boss ls-2 to blend in some clean as it was getting lost and takes alot of bottom of your sound.

but works really well and really give a nice overdrive blues rock tone as you'd expect being a blues driver, gets a bit fuzzy with the gain cranked.

but as you can see i play a active 4 er.

but on a side note have you tried the way huge swollen pickle? or pork loin for that matter the pickle is a wicked dirty fuzz and the pork loin is a very cool overdrive.

andy

Mark Olson · #3 06-08-2011, 04:20 PM

I'm very curious to try the Analogman modded BD-2 someday. Analogman's mods are truly killer!

grue · #4 06-08-2011, 10:42 PM

It definitely sucks a lot of low end, but you can mod it to work with bass. The modded ones I have played sounded great.

If you do want to mod one, you can go with Analogman, or if you are good with a soldering iron, there are schematics floating around the net.

tombobwarland · #5 06-08-2011, 11:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 0175westwood29

i used to use on with my band, thing is i had to use a boss ls-2 to blend in some clean as it was getting lost and takes alot of bottom of your sound.

but works really well and really give a nice overdrive blues rock tone as you'd expect being a blues driver, gets a bit fuzzy with the gain cranked.

but as you can see i play a active 4 er.

but on a side note have you tried the way huge swollen pickle? or pork loin for that matter the pickle is a wicked dirty fuzz and the pork loin is a very cool overdrive.

andy

I've heard of them but never seen one, happen to know of anywhere in London i may find them to try out?

0175westwood29 · #6 06-12-2011, 06:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tombobwarland

I've heard of them but never seen one, happen to know of anywhere in London i may find them to try out?

sadly not as im down in the southwest!

theres some ok videos on youtube of them? they really are awesome pedals and tbh well worth taking a gamble on.

and it also sounds awesome when put with a big muff! i use it in line with a ehx metal muff and octave down sounds sweet!

andy

Laurent · #7 06-14-2011, 09:48 AM

I would not recommend the Blues Driver for bass and it's particularly poorly suited for 5 sting bass. The pedal has two issues: it sucks a lot of the bass frequencies and it lacks drive for bass. In other words it's too mild of an overdrive.

There are plenty of far better options in my opinion depending on how hot you want the distortion to be and what flavor of distortion you are after.

Please add more info about the tone you are after.

kreider204 · #8 06-14-2011, 01:30 PM

I have one for my guitar, and love it for that purpose. It's not bad for bass, but definitely loses low end, so that might not work for you, unless you're specifically going for a more midrangy sound.

**DosiYanarchy** · #9 06-14-2011, 05:24 PM

The BD2 looses some lowend for bass, I've owned a stock one and a keely 'phat mod' one which was much better on bass guitar. I found that its got enough drive almost be a mild fuzz, but really not deep enough for bass. If you blend it with your clean tone (using something like a boss line selector) you'll be just fine.

The swollen pickle is based on a Big Muff and is definitely a fuzz, its very tweakable but not for the faint of heart and not for the low-gain overdrive seeker.

**DosiYanarchy** · #10 06-14-2011, 05:25 PM

ps, its generally regarded as the Boss Tube Screamer (or so I understand)

rratajski · #11 06-14-2011, 05:35 PM

If you like Coalesce, then you'll like the BD-2 on bass.

**Staccato** · #12 06-14-2011, 05:52 PM

Boss' OD-3 is everything that the BD-2 should have been! And, the BD-2 is modded by so many that have bought one.

Short answer: OD-3.

tombobwarland · #13 06-16-2011, 01:36 PM

hi all, thanks for your advice, for all those who love the bigg muff and similar pedals, its not for me. i tried a big muff a while back and couldnt put it down fast enough, and i agree with comments about the od-3, a good pedal, especially as its designed for bass and copes well, but what ive been after is something that gives some grit to my overall sound, not changing it competely. i managed to get a BD-2 secondhand cheep on ebay and have been playing this evening, current setup it as follows:

_____________
bass--tuner--crybaby bass--Boss CEB-{ }-Boss NS-2--Amp
(output B)-BD-2

by having it coming out of the secondry output of the CEB pedal i get a good mix of clean and distorted.

might still get it modded though