Boss Bd-2 Blues Driver Schematic

13.02.2020by

The Boss Blues Driver is one of those pedals that everybody has owned or at least played through once. I’d venture to say it’s nearly as popular as the Boss BD-2 Mods. For just a touch of dirt and push, the Boss BD-2 Blues Driver has been a perennial favorite for both bedroom players and celebrities such as John Mayer and Brad Paisley. Falling somewhere between your amp's natural clean tone and the mid-soaked scream of an Ibanez TS-9, the Blues Driver hits the sweet spot of articulation and grit.

More than 20 years on, the Boss BD–2 Blues Driver has become a staple for players across genres. In its time, it has inspired pedal tinkerers, builders, and even its own parent company to make the humble overdrive even better.

The BD–2 earned its place in the stompbox hall of fame thanks to those evolutions and the ways it continues to inspire new and creative applications.

The Boss Blues Driver is one of those pedals that everybody has owned or at least played through once. Gear • DIY • Pedal Projects • November 2008 • Boss Boss BD-2 Mods. Brian Wampler. Before we get into the mods, let’s break down the circuit a bit and see what is going on. Looking at the schematic we see that it is. Any boss blues. The Boss BD-2 Blues Driver creates the feeling of plugging into a vintage tube amp. With the BD-2W, Boss has equipped its timeless design with all the bells and whistles one might expect from a Dr. Scientist The Elements - Schematic. Boss Blues Driver Bd-2 Schematic Read/Download.

Coreldraw home and student x7 download. In this respect, the story of the BD–2 is really a story of all of the different ways people figured out they could use this pedal. What follows is the story of the humble BD–2 and some usable examples of how this Boss classic can sound fresh on any pedalboard.

The Ongoing History of the Boss Blues Driver

By March of 1995, Pearl Jam’s “Better Man” off Vitology had been sitting comfortably at No. 1 on the Billboard rock charts for a solid seven weeks. That same month, the Boss BD–2 Blues Driver first hit guitar store shelves, targeting a different sort of player.

While grunge was going strong, the powers that be at Boss realized that blues music was about to make a comeback. For most of 1995, albums by Eric Clapton, Jeff Healey, and Stevie Ray Vaughan dominated the blues charts for longer runs than many grunge albums on the respective rock charts.

The strategic release of the BD–2 meant that fans of the new blues craze could emulate those tones on records by the greats with the help of an economical, accessible Boss pedal.

The Blues Driver not only quickly captured its targeted audience, but its versatility and character helped it to transcend genres equally as hastily. That wider use also colluded with a growing pedal mod movement, as the BD–2 was a prime candidate for tweaking due to its affordable price and solid tone.

Enter Robert Keeley. Starting in the early 2000s, Keeley developed what is arguably one of the most famous and sought–after mods to any guitar pedal, referred to simply as the Keeley Mod.

With this mod, Keeley upgraded all of the components for a warmer, cleaner tone. He also offered an optional “Phat mod,” adding a small toggle switch under the gain knob that provided players with two levels of bass response.

One mode produces a tight and clean tone, while the other sounds “phat” and boosted. Aspects of this same design eventually resulted in the popular Keeley Katana Blues Drive.

Given Boss’s past success with and continued demand for the BD–2, it was a natural choice for inclusion in the company’s new line–up of premiere pedal designs under the Boss Waza Craft banner.

Under the hood, the new BD–2W includes an all–analog circuit that both retains and refines the distinctive responsiveness and clarity of the original. On the enclosure, however, a tiny switch toggles between classic and custom modes — the latter giving the original tone fuller body and deeper sustain.

The latest chapter in the BD–2 history was written by its most hailed modder. After 15 years of tinkering with the original pedal, Robert Keeley released the Super Phat Mod Full Range Overdrive.

The Super Phat Mod is inspired by the original BD–2 sound, came with the expected gain, level, and drive knobs, as well as a flat to phat toggle that fully integrated the notorious bass boost of Keeley’s original mod.

So that’s the story so far. But with the list of countless contenders of innovative overdrive pedals on the market, is there any good reason to pick up the discontinued original?

Building Tones with the Blues Driver

As the throngs of BD–2 faithful will attest, the pedal’s overdrive architecture shines when hit with varying dynamics, attack intensities, and playing styles. And with the twist of a knob, it pivots from a subtle, tasteful overdrive to an edgy, grinding one. Those are the basics.

But beyond those conventional uses, the BD–2 proves incredibly versatile when partnered up with other gear. Those interactions are how it still has some tricks up its sleeve after two decades in rotation.

There’s a good chance that once you use it to sculpt your cleans, the BD–2’s LED will be on perma–glow.'

Everyone has their favorite stompbox that adds a little pixie dust to any setup, yet few fully–featured overdrive pedals find themselves in that category. When the drive knob is dialed all the way down with the tone and level set to taste, the BD–2 can enhance the clarity and precision of your clean sound.

That means that the BD–2 can perfectly prime your clean tone for the rest of your effects chain, making it easy for that clean guitar to cut through. There’s a good chance that once you use it to sculpt your cleans, the BD–2’s LED will be on perma–glow.

You can also use the BD–2 to get more out of you amp’s natural breakup. We all love that sweet spot on an amp where the circuit and tubes are pushed right to the point where crisp cleans crumble into natural drive. That tone, however, is also delicate and easy to inundate.

Economics of european integration uc3m. Download the economics of european integration ebook free in PDF and EPUB Format. The economics of european integration also available in docx and mobi. Read the economics of european integration online, read in mobile or Kindle. [8vG.eBook] The Economics of European Integration. Richard Baldwin and Charles Wyplosz Download PDF ePub You can download this eBook for Free Here, download as a pdf. Ebooks: Home > History & Society > Political Science > The Economics of European Integration. Richard Baldwin and Charles Wyplosz Richard Baldwin and Charles Wyplosz. The Economics of European Integration (UK Higher Education Business Economics) - Kindle edition by Richard Baldwin, Charles Wyplosz. Download it once. The Economics Of European Integration Baldwin Ebook Reader. 5/20/2017 0 Comments We value excellent academic writing and strive to provide outstanding essay writing services each and every time you place an order. Za: Sitemap 9. Galatians and the Imperial Cult - a Critical Analysis of the First- century Social Context.

Here is where the trifecta of gain, level, and tone knobs on the BD–2 proves genius despite its simplicity. By experimenting with a light dose of gain and adding increments of tone and level, you can get an even sweeter sweet spot than your amp would achieve on its own.

But the tastiest use of the BD–2 might be as a Centaur slayer, helping your guitar cut through your band’s mix at critical moments.

One configuration where the modded BD–2 or Super Phat Mod excel most is when used as a boost pedal set before another favorite overdrive. Not unlike the fabled Klon Centaur and its Klone army, the BD–2 gracefully nudges the level of other overdrive pedals without cluttering your sound.

A pedal doesn’t stay in active production or inspire countless modded versions for more than two decades without good reason. People use a variety of buzzwords when talking about the BD–2: always–on, responsive, transparent. But the BD–2 has been at it since before those buzzwords were popularized by the internet, so let’s just call the BD–2 a plain old Boss.

Explore the classic stompboxes from one of the biggest pedal brands of all-time.

Boss Bd-2 Blues Driver - Monte Allums Mod

Oops, looks like you forgot something. Please check the fields highlighted in red.

Boss Bd 2 Schematic

We understand the importance of online privacy and are committed to complying with the EU General Data Protection Regulation. To reflect our commitment, we updated our terms and conditions. By continuing to use Reverb, you agree to these updates, and to our cookie policy. Learn More

more.. GearDIYPedal ProjectsNovember 2008Boss
The Boss Blues Driver is one of those pedals that everybody has owned or at least played through once. I’d venture to say it’s nearly as popular as the beloved Tube Screamer. While many players like the sound of the stock pedal just fine, many other guitarists like the basic tone but just want it better—more organic, responsive and dynamic. Some feel that there are just way too many high frequencies in the pedal, making it sound brittle, especially with a single coil guitar into a clean, Fender-type amp. Luckily, there are modifications we can do to make the pedal much better.

The CircuitBoss Bd-2 Blues Driver Schematic

Larger Image
Before we get into the mods, let’s break down the circuit a bit and see what is going on. Looking at the schematic we see that it is essentially two cascaded discrete opamps, which are then followed by a standard opamp for gain recovery, bass boosting, and buffering of the signal. Of course, this is after it goes through a discrete buffer.
In layman’s terms, a discrete opamp is similar to the IC chip version. It does the same thing, just in a simpler fashion that some feel is more responsive and less “sterile” feeling and sounding. It uses two FETs facing each other followed by a bipolar transistor. There are two of these types of gain stages in the BD-2, controlled by a dual gang 250k pot wired as a variable resistor. Just like the IC opamp circuits, there is a resistor/capacitor pair going to ground that will also help set a frequency to clip. This pair will also help set the gain, though they are fixed values in the BD-2. R31 and C22 are the pair for the first stage, while R15 and C9 are the pair for the second stage.
We know that EQ before clipping determines the clipping feel, tonality, and response (distortion/overdrive) quite dramatically. For example, if we want a fuzzier type of distortion, we want to increase the bass before it is clipped. Then, we clip the signal as much as possible without creating a lot of noise or oscillations.
R31 and C22 in this first gain stage set a frequency of just a hair over 700hz. This is a normal frequency for most overdrives and distortion. If you want more fuzziness, increase this cap to .22uf (microfarad) or larger. If you want a tighter crunchier type of tone, make the cap smaller. If you plug in these values to my calculator at indyguitarist. com/filter.htm you will see the frequencies you can affect.

BD-2 tonestack (left) and Traditional Fender tonestack (right)

Boss Bd 2 Manual

After this first gain stage, we go through what first looks like an odd tone filtering stage. It is actually a Fender-type 3-band tonestack with fixed values (with the treble on 0 and the bass and mid on 10). This is a really cool thing to mess with if you want to go hog wild, because you can add trim pots in place of R37 (use a 250k trim pot for treble), R50 (use a 1M trim pot for bass), and R51 (use a 25k trim pot for mids). In addition, you can change the ‘slope’ resistor, R36, to a 33k, C34 and C35 to a .022uf, and change C26 to a 470pf in order to get more of a Marshall type of tonality before the signal is clipped. When you are replacing these resistors with trim pots, just connect one hole to pin 1 on the trim pot, and the remaining resistor hole to pin 2 on the trim pot. Leave the third lug untouched.
The BD-2 EQ before clipping looks like this due to this filter:

Notice how there is a ton of bass present? That is before the majority of the clipping is happening, so it’s no wonder the pedal sounds fuzzy when the gain is turned up!

Boss Bd 2 Mods


Boss Bd-2 Blues Driver Manual

A good mod at this location is to make R50 a 100 ohm, and change R36 to a 47k. That will give you a much flatter EQ response.

Boss Bd 2 Settings


After that the signal is clipped by diodes connecting to ground (D7, D8, D9, D10) with two diodes on each side and fed into another discrete opamp. This opamp is nearly identical, except the frequency response is a little different. There is more gain in the bass (set by R34 and C24, frequency is about 72hz) but it works exactly the same. Notice that since the bass is boosted yet again here it’s really no surprise that the BD-2 would be so fuzzy with the gain turned up. Boss Bd-2 Blues Driver Schematic

Boss Bd-2 Blues Driver


C17, R25, and C19 form both a highpass and low-pass filter, which will get rid of some high harmonics about 5k or so, as well as to get rid of some of the bass content that was created by boosting the lows so much previously.
Comments are closed.