Marshall BluesBreaker: Worth the Hype?! | Friday Fretworks 

Lets be honest Chris could play through a dead fish and it would sound sublime.

I’m 40 seconds in, the sound is in this fella’s fingers.

I was working in Manhattan when I first saw an article in Guitar Player magazine announcing the Marshall Bluesbreaker pedal. I went straight to Manny's and bought one. It was fantastic then and is still amazing today, all these years later. Without a doubt, my number one pedal. I've had Others, including a King of Tone, but my Bluesbreaker has never been surpassed.

Great to see & hear you, as always. Hope you & your family are well & safe. Catch you next week for more beautiful tunes & tones. Cheers

Chris, your playing is simply amazing. It always gets me.

Your playing is totally on another level. Another fantastic video, Chris.

Hendrix just never gets old,, Thanks again Chris.

Great video as usual!! Can't wait to see you rocking that 62 Strat!!! The restoration process is fascinating.

Absolutely loving your uploads now. Roll on Friday.

Great video - Great playing as usual... and thanks for the shoot out at the end... for those of us that wont ever be finding/buying/using the actual BB. Thanks!

Really a fantastic demo IMHO. Thanks for it!

i dig all of this man! absolutely love!

Chris I really appreciate your demos. You are a phenomenal player and you are so inspiring. Yourself and the great Matt Schofield are my favorite players to listen to currently. It’s incredible how you take bits and pieces from all my favorite players and still have managed to create the “Chris Buck” sound. Cheers from Alabama and keep up the great work! P.S. How about another Vertex demo? Maybe the Ultra Phonix Dumble style pedal? You already forced me to purchase the Steel String.

Man that was a killer lick at the beginning when you switch on the OD!

Fantastic coverage of these pedals. Good tone comparison and excellent commentary. I have an original Bluesbreaker pedal purchased 20 years ago at a normal price before they skyrocketed in price. Love the subtle overdrive of the Bluesbreaker. Also have an Analogman King of Tones which is a killer pedal, too.

Nice playing Chris. Thanks for the video.

That's sounds great bro. I will be checking this out. Thank you.

Now it’s 2024, and the reissue is sold everywhere for $250. Used for $160 and up. I love it.

Cheers Chris, always nice to get some tales from the edge of breakup. :)

I've been thinking a lot about Beano tone lately Chris, so a timely installment.

Fantastic tone and playing 🙂

Beautiful playing my friend.

Jesus, dude, you're playing is ridiculously unreal. Most intense feel ever.

Hey Chris, So awesome buddy, Inspiring

Super video. Bends from heaven at the beginning ...Everything Chris plays seems to from heaven for that matter 👍🏽👍🏽

Great guitar player .Unique style .Loads of FEEL

Chris, I'm new to your channel and loving it. The comparisons you do are fantastic. For your guitar loving audience can I recommend they watch the Lexington Lab Band starting with Rock and Roll band then Foreplay etc. etc. All helps when they lock us all down again !

Cool comparison Chris!! Thanks.

I remember this pedal when it hit the market, it was very cheap under $100 AU, never had the provillage of owning one, but could the get same tones from my tube screamer. This was the era of the Pro Co RAT and Sholtz Rockman which my other band mates of the day had. While I left them to do their flashy thing , I helped hold down the rythm with a Strat, Twin, Tube Screamer and Dunlop Cry Baby. If I wanted more boost I would kick in the Big Muff. I love hearing you play, it reminds me of the feel of Buddy Guy with a touch of Dave Gilmore. Love your work mate.

I think that super quick finger snap thing, and the neck shaking is very unique to you. I always notice it.

had this pedal years ago ,nice pedal.then sold it stupid me.but now has the klon ktr and very nice pedal too. your playing is amazing.

Wow, this guy looks like a stunned mullet, but boy can he play--- beautiful style and sound mate

You can play, man! Outstanding!

Damn that playing, maaan! That was awesome!

Apart from a nice tone... to make it sound REALLY good, that's just something you have in the fingers. Nice guitarplaying while opening the video!!!

Great style you’ve developed Chris

One of those pedals that works really well through a clean channel, and still remains on my pedal board to this day.

Love your sound when you play a strat... other guitars are great but man!!!! It’s crazy

I think that of them all, the Black Box was definitely my favourite.

I have the holy trinity. The shred master was my first pedal, bought it with a cry baby. Such a versatile pedal. I lost it somehow I think, it was the 90's. Picked one up to fill the gap 3 years ago. Bought Drivemaster to boost my twin. Still have that one, with box and manuel, I seem to remember that they were all about £45. The Bluesbreaker I found in my Father- in -laws loft conversion. Mint. Just sitting there. Once you are used to playing with it, it rarely 'feels' right without it on. It works before gain pedals so well, always adding colour or harmonics or whatever. When its on with other pedals it rarely adds noise, with my ODR- 1 and say, a Suuhrrhhu... Riot pedal, it is seamless sounding. Thanks Chris, really enjoyed that, do the other two. ( and the Guvnor, although I tell myself, its not really part of the set, some days I'm ok with that, some days not so. )

After that Pick Up Switch you put a smile on my face dude :)

Amazing - thanks for the video .. also like the new watch

Hi Chris, hope you are safe and well. I’ve had the blues breaker for 25 years great pedal, I think I paid £40.00 for it in the mid 90s. 🤘🏻🎸👍🤘🏻🎸👍🤘🏻🎸👍

Why are they so expensive? the old saying "A fool and his money are soon parted" is quite accentuate here!

Great post 😎🎸🎙✅

I absolutely LOVE my Snouse Black Box. Killer tones!

I've been playing most of my life and have seen a lot of good guitar playing- have to say the into was impressive. Great job at making it "yours" Well done

Left side of the king tone duelist does it for me! Great vid once again👍

Great video. I kind of prefer the JHS pedal but all are very nice. You have such a great tone and feel. Thanks for making and sharing.

Phenomenal playing.

i Bought the higher output Shred Master version with my first electric guitar back in 1995. Still have it

Simply sublime

Interesting. I have a brand new one in the box I bought many years ago. Guess I’ll try it.

amazing tone. I got a Marshall code 50 amp and the sound is pretty much similar.

Love anything you do buddy. Keep the videos coming. I wish ya could have got you hands on a Wampler Pantheon and get tour thoughts.

I agree it flew under the radar. I have the earlier mk1 Guvnor which I bought from new in the 80s to push my then Carlsbro Rebel 30 into a decent overdrive sound. Sadly as I had that (it's still on my pedal board) I never got any of the early 90s ones when they came out.

I really love my Tone City King of Blues pedal. It's a low-gain BB with a Klone feeding it. I also really like the cheapo Rogue Blues Distortion, which is also a BB variant. It seems to have a really high headroom, and is super dynamic with pick attack. Doesn't compress much at all at low-gain, so very expressive. That said, the first one I got I had to modify by changing the caps at the T-junction to let more low-end through. The second one seems pretty good off the bat. Cheap and really expressive.

I used the Drive Master on bass to record the first and second demos of my old band in 1997 and 1998. I've never managed to recreate that exact sound since.

Muito bom! Parabéns!

Hey Chris: I have a CmatMods Butah, which is a very good modern, priceworthy iteration of the M Bluesbreaker. Coupled with an OD it just smokes !! Stay safe Cheers \m/

I’ve got a new in box still original Marshall Drive Master I must try one day.

Another fan of the Snouse BlackBox 2! I run a Tube Screamer into the BlackBox and when you combine those pedals with the boost control on the BB there are so many good sounds to be had. Only two drive pedals I use now and both relatively inexpensive!

What a great shootout at the end ! I was surprised by how much i enjoyed the Ceriatone, and how little the KOT sounded like the BB. Tbh i don't like it that much

Very tasty playing

you're a beast. subscribed

Your talent is only surpassed by your modesty. Brilliant.

Here's a handy reference for quicker comparisons! :) DEMO A / DEMO B 8:29 / 9:43 MARSHALL BB 8:42 / 9:54 SNOUSE BB OD (my fav) - prolly the closest one 8:55 / 10:05 KOT - completely different tone but sounds amazing 9:11 / 10:19 CERIATONE HORSEBREAKER (my fav) - 2nd after Snouse's. Lacking some punch 9:27 / 10:33 JHS DOUBLE BARREL - thinnest sounding

I bought one new from my local guitar shop (Andertons in Guildford) in ‘95 for 55 quid. I bought it to warm up an overly shrill/loud Fender amp at lower volumes. It’s interesting that Stratty people now like them, cos it’s always been a perfect companion to Les Paul/335’s to me. I’ve seen people say that the BB isn’t worth the money coz it “has problems” but to me, that’s the same as the noise that I heard in the ‘90s where people just didn’t get what the pedal was actually intended to do. It’s a subtle overdrive that also works with a more heavily overdriven amp to drop the volume and gain and shape a clean tone (see J Mascis’ rig and his use of a Chandler Tube Driver for details). I’ve had mine since I was 15, I’m now 40. It’s always been the centre of my rig. It’s on its third switch and has had a new pot. I wouldn’t sell it for any price.

Yo this dude playin the guitar got me buyin the pedal immediately

Oh it is! I had one of my few aha moments with this pedal! A lot more with the K-Style pedal;-)

I liked the Blues Breaker 2 pedal. I used it though an old Marshall Jcm 800 2 x12 combo. It sounded pretty epic with an old Les paul.

When the Bluesbreaker pedal came out I remember reading some discussion about it in the old CompuServe Music Forum (pre-WWW). But the Drivemaster got a lot more attention, mainly ‘cuz Slash and his JCM800s. Then the BB was pretty much forgotten about ‘til John Mayer.

Guess I have time in my lockdown schedule to go down into the basement scrapyard and find the broken one these I put away 20yrs ago. Maybe the Peavey mixer down there from the 80’s is priceless too?

Would love to hear a track with yourself and Mathew Scott ... would be tone for days 😉

This is the best sounding Strat tone I´ve heard since here on YT I discovered the tone of Matthias Wasser´s 1962 slabboard sunburst Stratocaster. The HorseBreaker in front of a buffered split taking it to a Dumble style and a Trainweck style pedal, preamp or valve amp with good speakers would be my thing. I don´t give a rat´s arse about either John Mayer (I´m not a BluesRock man) or the second hand market´s hype of any pedal, preamp or amp. If I don´t need it I don´t buy or play it. The HorseBreaker into a double amp setup would be perfect for me,- BluesBreaker tone or not.

On neck position the Ceriatone and the JHS are nearly identical to the original one, on bridge pickup the Analog man seems to be more nasal, but i still prefer the Ceriatone and JHS. You are a fanstastic player Chris, impressive touch. Congrats.

Please do more lessons on your licks. I’d love to find new nuances to add around my playing

Haha love it how last night I checked the thumbnail "best drive ever?", now "why is it so expensive?". Could use these thumbnails to tell a story in itself if put enough effort (that most would miss as well). Or maybe I was just tired and was imagining, but I like it. Bluesbreaker circuit definitely has some magic going on. There's no arguing that analogman took it to another level with his own vision. Much prefer his idea of how it should sound. The real problem is that King of Tone is even less valid choice for price and availability. I was also happy to find out you've been putting a lot of work on your own gear channel. Looks like you're doing it right! I assume it wasn't a "thing" when you guested That Pedal Show since it didn't get a shoutout.

I have a custom dual overdrive which is a Blues Breaker on the left side and a TS808 on the right side (which I think is what the Double Barrel is, right?). I chose the Blues Breaker to be an always-on light overdrive if I can't get my Marshall loud enough to break up. Then I kick the TS-side for solo boost if I have my Strat, or a separate Treble Booster if I have bridge P90 or humbucker. If I can have my little Class 5 above 5 or 6, then the Blues Breaker is off. It works!

The Blues Breaker was popular in the late 80s early 90s. I never owned one, but I know 3 guitarists who did (one of whom was in my band at the time). And having worked in music retail, I can tell you that the Blues Breaker pedal remained popular after it was discontinued-the part exchanged ones we used to get never stayed around for long. When I worked at Marshall earlier this century, there was a push to reissue the Blues Breaker, but as happened many times, the idea was binned and Marshall, once again, failed to capitalise on a good idea.

Chris, I don''t know if you noticed but you participated to the price explosion of this Pedal ! :D

I wish you would use your PRS hollowbody more in your videos. The video that you made on it is my favorite till date, especially the intro solo. Love what you do mate! Stay safe! Cheers!

I've got one. On its own it doesn't seem to do a lot. If you put a TS 808 after it it sounds killer. If you leave the 808 on & turn the BB off you'll turn it back on again in a heartbeat.

I've found through the years...brands and effects make no difference in sound(almost, they obviously affect sound)...what is FAR FAR more important is the feel to the player...how the guitar, amp and effects react to their playing...this is what really influences the sound quality...you can tell when someone is really "jiving" with their rig...and it just sounds amazing...

Bought mine for $60 bucks about 2 years ago or so off craigslist. A Steal!

Sick 😊😊

I sold one of these just before they took off in price. Probably '08 or '09. You could even have bought mine! I remember it had a broken battery clip that I never bothered to repair. It was good, but not mindblowing IMO. Worlds better than the BB2 though!

Found a fairish price BluesBreaker yesterday and bought it! Now just need ur skills and I’m all set

Anything you play is worth the hype. Period.

I had a Guv'nor and and Blues Breaker as my first pedals many moons ago. How I regret having sold them for peanuts a few years later.

He’s the best guitarist I’ve ever seen ( I’m 64 !!! )

just the right video for me. i'm looking for a blues breaker. unfortunately I still don't know which one I like best :-)

I have a couple of these from when I was a kid, I really didn't like them (my ears didn't work right back then)... I'm going to have to dig them out... Great playing by the way Chris.

Hey Chris, great analysis. I've really wanted a B.B for some time but considering all the quirks and quality issues with the original, I just can't justify the $$$ and risk. I've tried a few alternatives, and was leaning on the K.O.T or Morning Glory, but my understanding is those circuits are fairly heavily modified... I did try a B B preamp, which was great, but still don't think it's quite what the og Bluesbreaker is sonically. One that gets kinda close is the cheap $25 Sonicake Blues Skreamer, which is kind of a hybrid of a T.S circuit. After much research I settled on a Blues Blaster from Blammo, which is essentially the same (according to owners of both the original and that pedal), which should arrive soon. It'd be cool if you could get your hands on one and test them side by side to see what you think... Cheers

I have some guitargaget BB boards I have to get on. I bought a crap ton to build and sell at college. Architecture took over. eons ago :)

VERY TASTY PLAYING!

Wouldn't the JHS Bluesbreaker pedal be the Morning Glory?

You play great, no question. I own a vintage blues breaker amp. What you played doesn't sound anything like my amp. It mostly sounds like you playing a fender amp, quite well Ill add, but what's the point.

I got mine in 1995 on clearance at my local guitar story for $35. I still have it with the original box and paper work.

You could make anything sound great