BOSS BD-2W Waza Craft Blues Driver, The Ultimate BOSS TOne Experience

Product Information

Passionately designed by the master engineers at BOSS in Japan, the Waza Craft BD-2W delivers a premium stomp experience that fans of customised pedal tone will love. It does have one limitation, though. Because that switch takes up almost two thirds of the surface of the unit, there’s not an awful lot of room left for the controls. It isn’t a problem with just Level and Drive plus the slightly skinnier Tone dial, but there’s only a half-inch gap for the Waza version’s new Standard/Custom mode switch. The Japanese Boss manufacturers have developed a special breed of pedal that not only flawlessly reproduces all of that vintage, authentic tone of the older analogue circuitry, but also offers the razor-sharp benefits of modern technology, in one single enclosure. The Blues Driver is a drive pedal for blues. Incisive, eh? Of course, it doesn’t have to be limited to blues: it’s for anyone who wants tasteful levels of gain without the thinning effect of a Super Overdrive. Our Waza Craft version is exactly like the SD-1W, with the same Standard/Custom switch in the same little gap, but Drive is now called Gain. The new Boss Waza Craft BD-2W is a new take on this classic stomp-box, which faithfully recreates the sound of the BD-2 and adds some new features. Built using a refined, discrete, all-analog circuit, the BD-2W has 2 modes; ' Standard' and ' Custom'. Standard mode is the original circuit found on the BD-2 and custom mode features a new overdrive, rich in body and sustain.

In fact for some strange reason the Blues Driver has ended up as one of the world’s most modded pedals - key pedal-makers Brian Wampler (Wampler Effects), Josh Scott (JHS Effects), Mike Piera (Analog.Man) and Robert Keeley (Keeley Engineering) have all supplied modified versions at some stage, and Mike Piera still does. The Boss BD-2 Blues Driver has become a perennial favorite for beginners and pros alike searching for a solid low to mid-gain overdrive. Introduced in 1995, it delivers classic tones that, combined with an affordable price tag, regularly make the BD-2 one of the best-selling pedals in the world each year. Circuit and SoundVibrato works for everything from gentle chorus to extraterrestrial sounds. Use it to create wild tones and tasteful classics. Read more… Pedal Partners: Combining Tremolo with Other Effects Phaser is a naturally versatile modulation effect. From overdrive to reverb, it can enhance, expand, and excite a guitar tone. Read more… Pedal Partners: Combining Flanger with Other Effects A part of the Waza Craft line from BOSS, the BD-2W Blues Driver gives you iconic tube-amp overdrive with two distinct voices. Far more than a merely modified BD-2, the BOSS completely redesigned the BD-2W, using premium discrete analog components and adding a customized signal path that you can access with the flip of a mini toggle. In Standard mode, the BD-2W offers you the classically smoky and gritty Blues Driver tone, whereas Custom mode beefs up the low end and adds a healthy dose of sustain. No matter which mode you set it to, the BD-2W Blues Driver is bound to be an essential part of your pedalboard. So within my pedal chain I have 4 key low-to-mid-gain overdrives ranging from Klon Style, to Tube Screamer Style, to Dumble Style and onto Blues Driver type - the way I have it each gets progressively gainier, in fact I have a 5th medium gain overdrive - which used to be an OCD, but has now been displaced by the Hamstead Intergalactic Driver. The idea is to have the most suitable pedal in each slot - one that combines superb dynamics, tone, versatility and smart form factor and features. Flanger has been a swirling presence in music throughout the decades. Learn to combine it with other effects for incredible results. Read more… Pedal Partners: Combining Octave with Other Effects

Minimum “Standard” manufacturer’s warranty will now be 2-years (increase from 1-year standard, down from 3-years extended) Waza Craft demo featuring BD-2W, SD-1W, and DM-2W in combination with a variety of guitars and amps. The DM-2W’s custom mode increases the delay time to 800ms, a full 500ms more than the standard mode’s 300ms maximum delay time. It’s too tight – you cannot access it without touching the other controls, unless you have tweezers for fingers. Surely side-mounting it would have made more sense. Still, there is plenty of resistance in all the knobs so you’re unlikely to mangle your settings by accident.The Japanese word "waza" means art and technique, an appropriate name for BOSS's premium line of redesigned guitar effects pedals. You see, the pedal collectors here at Sweetwater have seen more than enough special-edition stompboxes that are only a paint job away from the originals, which is why we're so blown away by what BOSS has done with the Waza Craft series. Even in their Standard modes, Waza Craft pedals sound like idealized versions of the originals, offering the same sonic character that made them iconic, but with less noise and more consistent tone. And when you A/B the Standard mode and the Custom mod, the contrast is nothing short of astonishing. BOSS Waza Craft BD-2W Blues Driver Guitar Effects Pedal Features: This time there’s no drop in bass, and the overdrive is smoother all round. Any blues-minded stompbox should sound nice at low gain settings, acting as a booster for an amp that’s waiting to be pushed into overdrive, and the BD-2W handles that task like a pelican handles fishing. It still sounds surprisingly amp-like when you let the pedal do all the work, and there’s no loss of fatness with the dirty stuff cranked.

AC adaptor (PSA series: sold separately) Current Draw 20 mA Expected battery life under continuous use Carbon: Approx. 24.5 hours Side by side with the standard SD-1, it feels just a little more full and pure, with less wiriness in the high notes. It’s an improvement, but not a dramatic one. The gain range is moderate – you can crank Drive to full without being dragged into psycho country – but it’s aggressive enough for screaming solos and menacing power chords. The answer to that question lies in the pedals’ innards, which, we’re told have been revised for ‘premium sound’ using 100 per cent discrete circuitry rather than op amps – that is, separate components instead of IC chips. The customer no longer needs to register the product, however, a new Roland Account system/campaign will launch later this month Both pedals provide outstanding clean boost functions with the level control cranked up and the gain/drive control turned all the way down, with the SD-1W providing a greater range of midrange textures via its tone control. The BD-2W’s tone control has a less dramatic effect on the overall tone, maintaining more of your guitar’s inherent character. With the gain/drive control turned up, both deliver luscious, harmonically rich distortion with silky smooth sustain, particularly in the stellar custom mode, which pushes the front end even harder without ever sounding fuzzy or gritty.So what’s a Waza? It’s not what a sushi chef yells when he wants you to buy him a Bud, nor is it a rogue syndicate of the Yakuza. It’s a word that has no direct English translation, but rather has many meanings, including “skill” and “technique.” All you need to know is that the Waza Craft series currently consists of three impressive pedals—the BD-2W Blues Driver, DM-2W Delay, and SD-1W Super Overdrive. Octave pedals carve a path for guitarists to veer into synth tones and big bass riffs. Find out how to utilize this expansive effect. Read more… Pedal Partners: Combining Distortion with Other Effects

A distortion pedal can be a guitarist's most defining tool. Learn to pair it with other effects and expand your sonic approach. Read more… Getting the Most Out of Your Overdrive Pedal So beyond the ones mentioned we have the more obvious inspired-by-Blues-Driver - Barber LTD SR, CMATMods Signa Drive and Mojo Hand FX Bluebonnet, while I’m not 100% sure about the Katanasound Albatross and MI Audio Super Blues Pro - as they seem to have elements of each really. So this category should really be called ’Blues Pedals’ or perhaps Blues/Breaker/Driver pedals! May 2021. The following changes will bring consistency to all sales territories as currently there are local variances. In this article, we are going to highlight both the original Blues Driver BOSS units and the various mods, clones and evolutions, and also some similar-sounding drives based on a similar FET circuit. ORIGINAL BOSS BLUES DRIVER PEDALS Crafted with an ear for highly refined sound, the BD-2W takes the classic Blues Driver grit to a new level with all-discrete analogue circuitry. Standard mode captures the classic BD-2 tone while Custom mode delivers new body and sustain.

Responsiveness Outshined With a Modernized Vintage Vibe

All three pedals feature all-analog circuitry that’s designed to provide improved dynamic responsiveness and more natural overall tone. Nominal Input Level -20 dBu Input Impedance 1 M ohm Nominal Output Level -20 dBu Output Impedance 1 k ohm Recommended Load Impedance 10 k ohms or greater Controls Pedal switch The Boss BD-2 was originally released in 1995 as a response to the growing blues revival headed by artists such as Eric Clapton and Gary Moore. Boss realised that people were starting to look for the classic tube driven sounds of '50s and '60s valve amplifiers which could not be faithfully replicated with the more modern solid state amplifiers of the '70s and '80s and the BD-2 was born. The pedal has been in production since it's release and it's circuitry remains unchanged.