" Not content with recreating and upgrading the Ross Compressor,
Robert Keeley has also taken the industry-standard Boss Blues Driver
overdrive pedal and worked his mojo on it too. He's made around 18 circuit
modifications to improve the tonal response of the Blues Driver and
has added a phat switch which sits beneath the gain control. This is
a subtle bass enhancement tuned around the open E and A strings. We
found this to be most effective with the single coil pickups of a Strat
and it's recommended that you switch it off at very high volumes.
The rest of the controls are the same as the original Boss Blues Driver
with level, tone and gain. In use the pedal is a lively customer, with
enough gain to please the most avid metal head and plenty of tonal variety
in between. The BD-2ph is also impressive when you use the volume control
on your guitar to adjust the amount of distortion. It's very tube amp-like
and retains tone and bite where some lesser distortion pedals would
let you down.
 The
most fun to be had though is when you use both the [compressor and BD-2ph]
pedals together. We placed the compressor after the BD-2ph as recommended
and was transported to tone heaven. You've simply got to try these pedals
(JS) Rating: 5 out of 5 AND voted a Total Guitar 'Best Buy' - Total
Guitar Magazine May 2003 Issue
[©2003 Total Guitar Magazine - Re-printed by permission
and with complete acknowledgement]
"I have always been frustrated by the sound of guitar gear. Most
stuff just doesn't meet my expectations.
That's why I'm so excited to have gotten this Blues Driver mod. I
got the Blues Driver back around 97 or so after borrowing one in an
onstage emergency from one of the Black River Circus twins.
It seemed to be just a bit better sounding than the rest of the BOSS
stuff. I eventually got frustrated with it's harshness and noisiness
and retired it. I was liking my George Dennis Tube for a few years in
a single guitar band but upon joining this new thing I am sharing the
guitar duties in a more 50/50 situation. But The Tube let me down as
I simply got buried by the other guy who plugs straight into a JCM 800,
angus young style.
I opened up the pedal library and tried everything and the Blues Driver
seemd to cut thru the best, but the harshness level is even more apparant
with 2 guitars blasting...
I had heard of Keeley's BD mod via Harmony Central and figured I'd
check out his stuff online. There I read magic words like "even ordered
harmonics" and "musical tone", this described what ALL stomp ODs lack
in my book. If this guy can fix that, I'll pay cash! So I sent off the
pedal and got the Steve Austin version promptly sent back. I plugged
it into my at home setup which is a Les Paul Custom w/classic 57+ hummers
and my Peavey Classic 50 twin which is normally a nice sound amp until
you use stomps, then it gets real ugly. NOT THIS TIME!
Whoah, this thing sounds sweet, big, thick ringing open chords, singing
punchy leads, a complete and utter absence of noise and nastiness. Didn't
even need the fat boost on. I had experienced what I could best describe
was a truly musical sounding overdrive. I played for several hours and
was blown away. But the real test would be with the band. I brought
my goody to the jam room and dropped in between my Goldtop and 100w
Plexi and let er rip. This baby really allowed the guitar to shine thru
even with a good bit of distortion. The Plexi is a beast that can be
tamed if you treat her right. She really likes the Keeley Blues Driver.
So many issues were addressed with this mod I can't even go into it.
There is parity amongst the 2 guitars (at least on my side!!)
One happy camper here. If I lost this one, I'd buy 7 more to replace
it. I'm real interested in the TS-9 mod as well.." - Jeano Roid,
on Harmony
Central
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