JB-2 Angry Driver Overdrive Pedal Review

I Spent Over $ On An Overdrive And I'm Not Sorry

OK...so maybe you're thinking "You want me to pay $ bucks for an effect that comes built in to most amplifiers?". My answer? No. I want you to fork over for TWO effects that come built into most amplifiers!!! Let me explain...Unlike many other pedals that advertise themselves as "six___in one!", the angry driver features two distinct circuits jammed into what in my opinion the best… read more form factor in the industry. While the blues driver and the angry charlie are wonderful pedals in their own right, they simply don't stack up to this device in regards to the tonal possibilities accessible to the buyer. The main factor for this is the 6-position knob on the far right that allows you to select how these two circuits are wired. This allows you not only to switch between the pedals on the fly, but also run one into the other while changing their tonal characteristics individually as if you legitimately DID own both pedals this is based on. Furthermore, it evens allows you to run the effects in parallel; a process that would otherwise involve the hassle of additional cabling and fundamental changes to your signal chain. I'm not exaggerating when I say there is not a single drive tone that I've looked for and haven't been able to find at least an approximation for. It is the only drive pedal I need, and won't be coming off my board any time soon.

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An Excellent Collaboration

This is a really good sounding overdrive/distortion pedal. I state that up front because I haven't explored all the tonal possibilities since it is really easy to dial an inspiring guitar tone. This is easily attributable to the mode selection dial. The mode selection provides the following options: A JHS "Angry Charlie" tone (note that an actual "Angry Charlie" has a few more controls… read more for tone sculpting), A Boss "Blues Driver" tone, A toggle between the two with the footswitch or a remote footswitch (recommended), The "Angry Charlie" tone before the "Blues Driver" tone in series, The "Blues Driver" tone before the "Angry Charlie" tone in series, Both tones in parallel.

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Every Marshall player in box

My wife got me this for our anneversary (she's a keeper!) and I haven't turned on my Seymore Dirty Deed on in weeks! Full tone, captures all the classic rock tones and gets up there with Heavy Metal-like gain if you want. The only problem I have is I can never leave it on the floor and I'm constanty tweeking it as it can achive so many things. 11/10

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Breathtaking Drive

The pairing of these two drives- and the flexibility of positioning them as you like (including in parallel!) gives this thing a really unique timbral palette. After playing around with the pedal for a just a few minutes I found some excellent lead sounds that I've never gotten with any other pedal combinations. I use a stratocaster into a fender-style amp.

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Wow!

I received this pedal as a (requested) gift. It very quickly became my favorite drive/distortion pedal that I own (I currently have: SD-1, DS-1, OD-3, MT-2 and a Joyo Tauren.) I spent a some time going through each setting to see how they sound. Unfortunately, I don't have an additional foot switch hooked up, but based on videos I've seen, it probably works just like having 2… read more pedals. Guitars, and amp used: Ibanez RG 270 (loaded with a Duncan Distortion in the bridge and a Duncan AlNiCo II Pro in the neck) Ibanez Iceman IC500B (Dimarzio D Activators) PRS SE Custom 24 35th Anniversary Edition Peavey Bandit 112 (2013'ish) Here's a rundown of each of the circuits and how I can see them used: BD-2: Works just like a Blues Driver. For me, and probably most folks, use it in front of the drive channel on my amp to push it over the edge. JHS: This is great on its own! Very high gain and "Marshall-eque." Also works as a boost... but why? BD-2 -> JHS and JHS -> BD-2: Works just like stacking them, and in the desired order. It's pretty easy to get carried away with the controls, which ends up causing a lot of noise. IMO, these work best when going into the clean channel of your amp. I find the BD-2 -> JHS to be a bit more usable for my tastes, using the BD-2 as a clean boost into the JHS pedal. This thing will chug! Parallel: Holy smokes! This is actually why I bought the pedal. If you crank both tones and distortions (volumes around 9 o'clock,) you'll get something similar to the Swedish Death Metal chainsaw sound that's found from cranking the dials on a BOSS HM-2, but with more mids. Personally, I like cranking both volumes and tones and minimizing the gains and running it into my drive channel on my amp. I get very close to old-school Hypocrisy sounds out of it! In the end, I can see this being the only drive pedal on someone's board. It'll serve as a clean boost, a high gain beast, or anything in between.

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