Marshall Bluesbreaker II Review
Contents |
Information
Original author: Ivan Milenkovic
Weapon: Pedal
Make: Marshall
Model: Bluesbreaker II
Price: 70$ (eBay reference)
Hi guys welcome to my new review about a pedal from Marshall
Main Features
8
Marshall is not very well known for it's high quality pedals...THis baby has mode pot where you choose between drive and boost mode, in drive mode you can use pots drive, level and tone, and in boost mode you can use only level pot. Simple device.
Ease of Use
9
It is very easy to get a good sound from it of course, only couple of pots, everything is right there waiting fo you to tweak it, no hidden functions. THe tricky part of it's use lay in the fact that it responds differently to different gear, so you have to find different sweet spot sounds for different loudness and gear, but that counts for gear in general too.
Sound Quality
5
I'm using this thing mostly on Marshall's and that's abad thing, because Marshall is allready dirty, and this pedal is NOT a good drive pedal or EVEN boost pedal in boost mode on drive channel, even on dirty clean channel. It is just not good at all when plugged in some type of crunch. Doesn't eve get along with other pedals well too. The pedal itself is not TOO noisy, maybe a little hiss on boost mode when turned up and a little "healthy" noise from PA when crancked. Overdrive sounds pretty decent, it's a nice warm overdrive pedal and sounds like Marshall, but not as ruff as Marshall. Has a type of early "Cream" feel to it. The sound looses dynamic on drive - not a good thing certainly for me. Boost is terrible - never use it. I used this baby with Marshalls and Jazz Chorus amp, and it sounds like a tracktor on both of them really. I can get the sound of this pedal, but only if played on a very smooth clean with a lot of headroom, some dirt and most of the pedal presets are useless - it turns into tracktor.
Reliability
7
It is made of one piece casted metal, and pretty heavy, I don't think anything can happen to the casing, BUT you can ware out the push button for sure. It is kinda weak and poor made. Not for heavy style stompin'.
Overall Rating
7 I play blues, jazz, funk, rock, and all in between. This pedal is best suited for my rock playing, since it has a fair amount of drive for an old school rock. It is NOT for metal definitely. For the blues... maybe, but it kinda need to be more dynamic for that. I've been playing some 9 years now, own a BOSS DS1, BOSS SD1 from drive pedals besides this and both of them are better than this - more concrete, less creamy, but definitely a better universal choice for gigs, and more flexible. If it were stolen, I would be sad, but never buy the pedal from Marshall again, simply because they are not a pedal brand, they are amp brand.
