Boss/Keeley Blues Driver REVIEW (Guitar Lesson GG-202) How to play

Hello dudes and dudettes.

This is the review for the Boss Blues
Driver.

Also called a BD2

I have two of these pedals.

One is the original Boss BD2 Pedal.

Sounds great, really good pedal.
Used it for years.

And then I discovered, another one.

Which is called, the Keeley modified BD2.

Modified by a guy called Robert Keeley.

You can see his website at
robertkeeley.com

He modifies pedals and makes them sound
better.

And the difference is quite remarkable
really.

It gives you a lot more grunt,
kind of a lower end sound with these

Keeley modified blues drivers.

If we just talk about the standard one
for a second, it's a really

straightforward kind of a boss pedal.

Boss pedals are really good strong
pedals, solid metal things. You know.

They take a regular battery underneath
the lid of the pedal.

It's pretty simple controls on these
things.

And they take a regular 9 volt power
adapter in the back.

The Keeley one is essentially,
it looks the same except they've added

a little, I think it's called the
'Fat Switch'.

It's the little switch that I'll go
through with you in just a sec.

Essentially looks the same, just sounds
a little different.

They change various components inside
the pedal.

I think it's capacitors and stuff if my
memory serves me right,

but I could be wrong.

Okay, so here are the two different pedals
side by side.

The one on the left hand side is the
Keeley pedal.

You can tell, two ways you can tell the
Keeley pedal

First of all, it's got a blue 'on' switch.

And the boss traditional one has a red one

Second thing that's slightly more obvious

is the Keeley one has this little switch
here.

I think they call it the 'Fat Switch'

I've always had it up actually.

I haven't experimented much with it being
down

so, maybe we'll have a little look at
that in a sec.

The three controls on each one

First one, is the level control.

Which as I said before, the thing that you
want to probably be doing

is setting that so it's the same volume
as your clean sound.

Unless you want it to be a volume boost
in which case you'd set it slightly

louder than your clean sound.

We've also got here a tone control.

Which is generally adding more top
end or more low end to your sound,

depending on what it is that you
want it to achieve.

And last of all, you've got your
gain which is how much distortion

you have on.

So that's enough on pedals
at the moment.

This is just again, my fender teli cast
bridge pick up

It's a hum blocker it's been put
in the teli.

And messer boogie express 525
amplifier.

Set on the clean channel with
no distortion.

So, if we have a look at the different
variations in kind of color you got here.

If you turn your gain quite low,

You get a bit of crunch.

And then,

-music plays-

The clean sound.

Here it is, just a really low gain.

So, it's kind of, you know,
a little bit crunchier

it's a really nice Blues Driver.

It's using not too much gain kind of
effect.

If we crank that up a little bit.

You're back into having a little
bit more

Here it's quite bitey.

It's got quite a good level of crunch
there without it being over the top.

If we whack it up,

This is kind of around the setting
I normally have it I guess.

It's quite chunky, you know.
You got a nice, -music plays-

Nice distortion.

Of course you can wind it right up
to max.

Which is pretty damn heavy.

It's not- it's still kind of bluesy.

It's not like a heavy metal kind of
distortion.

It's just a nice crunchy blues distortion.

Generally, I've found this to be better
set lower.

This is kind of the maximum I guess.

Where I think it sounds good.

Tone control, very versatile.

Again, if we wind it right up,

it's really crunchy and really bright.

Wind it back the other way.

All that top end disappeared,

so it doesn't
tend to sound quite so nice there.

It's not bad.

Either side of 12 o'clock is
not bad.

tend to prefer on the brighter side.

Maybe it's because my hearing has gone a
bit.

But otherwise, tend to have my guitar
sounds a little brighter than normal.

That's kind of where you're looking
at there.

Somewhere between say 10 o'clock and 2
o'clock would be the normal kind

of settings for your tone control in
this instance.

So, if we just
-music plays-

Just have a flick of that switch now on
the Keely one.

Not a whole heap of difference.

Seems just a little touch fatter here

with the uh.
-music plays-

Seems to be affecting the kinda upper mid
range a little bit.

But it's, yeah.

Generally I've always just had that
switch up if you've got the Keely one.

Okay, so if you haven't got the Keely
one,

what's going on?

So, basically, the pedal's gonna be
pretty much the same.

-music plays-

So, if I turn it off now.

Turn the Keely one back on

And back again.

The regular boss one is kind of,
I'd describe it as being slightly

thinner.

It doesn't have quite the same
amount of grunt as the Keeley one has.

So, this is for me, quite a preferred kind
of, they call it a mod.

Yeah, a modification of the pedal.

So, but I still think this is a great
pedal.

It's got all the same thing

You can run the gain low

Sorry, that was the wrong
control there.

You can turn the gain down low
and get the -music plays

Off.
With a little bit of crunch.

Turn the level up a little bit actually.

Or you can run it up again up around the
sound or something.

Gain back down a bit.

Often, as you turn the gain up,
you've got to turn the level down

to keep it at the same volume.

If we wind it right up, you know,
go into the full thing.

-music plays-

You know, it's got a pretty decent
kind of proper level of distortion there

with the old blues driver.

Now, just one little find

so, both of these, great pedals.

I prefer the Keeley modified one.

But you know, the plain Boss Blues Driver

if you're looking for a first distortion
pedal,

is a really good one.

Just a cool little trick for you that
you might like.

If you put your pedals
quite close together like that,

a common trick is to have

say, one with quite low level gain

So as being, you kind of hear,

-music plays-

Your rhythm sound if you like.

And then another one,

Off.

-Music plays-

As being your lead sound.

So, if you put your foot down on the
two of them at the same time

of course it turns one on and one off

So, you'd have your rhythm.

Jump on them both at the same time.

And then,
-music plays-

Back off we go.

And you're back to your rhythm sound again

So, that's a cool little trick

If you get a couple of this boss style
pedal

with the two things together.

That's a really nifty little trick.

Definitely worth checking out.

Both of these are running on batteries
at the moment.

But of course, they both have the

the little thing, space in the top there

For you to plug your 9 volt power
adapter in

which is definitely a good idea.

And my phone is ringing, so I'm going to
have to go answer that now.

But uh, yeah. Hopefully that gives you

a good look
at your Boss Blues Driver Pedal.

I hope you enjoyed my little review of
the boss blues driver

and the Keeley modified boss blues
driver.

Don't forget to check out the website
where I give you links to

all the manufacturers.

And loads more info about gear

and playing, and stuff.

You know, discouraged. I'm sure you've
been there.

If you haven't, you should go and
check it out!

I'll see you soon for another pedal review

See ya.