Boss Blues Driver vs Keeley Super Phat Mod vs TC Cinders vs ToneX One BD-2 capture | BLIND TEST

Today we’re comparing four Blues Driver-type pedals: the legendary Boss BD-2 Blues Driver itself, the Keeley Super Phat Mod, the TC Electronic Cinders… and a free Blues Driver capture I loaded into my ToneX One that sounds amazing!

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At Thomann (EU): https://thmn.to/thocf/6hm8w73obf
At Sweetwater (USA): https://sweetwater.sjv.io/K03X1n
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We’re doing the comparison as a blind test too – so your challenge is to see if you can work out which pedal is which! Place your guesses in the comments and we’ll see how many you all get right… it won’t be easy!

This video came about after I picked up the Keeley Super Phat Mod pedal. Known as being one of the original and best boutique takes on the Blues Driver circuit, the Phat Mod inspired me to get my Boss BD-2 back out, one thing led to another, and here we are!

The Blues Driver has been around since 1995 – so it’s over 30 years old at this point, and still going strong. And for good reason: it’s a wonderful sounding and feeling pedal that works perfectly for everything from a sparkling clean boost and transparent overdrive tones to full-on roaring rock and metal sounds!

My Blues Driver is one I got used for €30, and a previous owner had modded it with a bass boost mod very similar to the Keeley Phat Mod. The classic BD-2 has just three controls: Level, Tone and Gain. These days a Blues Driver will set you back around $90/€100, so it’s very much an affordable pedal.

The Keeley Super Phat Mod Full Range Overdrive – to give it its full name – will cost you $125/€185. Made in the USA, the Super Phat Mod adds Robert Keeley’s Flat/Phat mod. Flat mode is standard Blues Driver, and Phat mode gives you a boost in low end.

On the budget side of things, we have the $33/€33 TC Electronic Cinders. This is from the ‘Behringer era’ of TC, and it comes in a chunky metal enclosure and features the same main controls as the others.

The final pedal in today’s comparison is a free Blues Driver capture I found for my ToneX One pedal. Being digital, it’s a different thing to the other three pedals, but it more than holds its own in the shootout here, as you’re about to hear!

So, here are the rules of the blind Blues Driver challenge: I play a succession of riffs with each of the four pedals. Each pedal has a letter: A, B, C or D. Your challenge is to guess which is which!

I’m using my Fender Telecaster for single coil tones, and my Epiphone Les Paul for humbucker sounds. I’m running the pedals into the front end of my Hughes & Kettner AmpMan Classic amplifier.

Can you guess which is which? Leave me your guesses in the comments, let me know how many you got right, and also tell me which you think sounds best!

Here are some links to the various parts of the video:

00:00 Intro and what we’re doing today
00:48 The rules of the blind test challenge
01:36 Boss Blues Driver specs and info
02:48 Keeley Super Phat Mod specs and info
03:31 TC Cinders specs and info
04:00 ToneX One specs and info
04:51 Today’s rig and plan

05:36 Amp’s clean and crunch tones without pedals
06:05 Grungey arpeggios
06:45 Hendrix inspired riff
07:09 Indie rock riff
07:39 Glam rock riff
07:59 Rockabilly double stops
08:26 Hard rock riff
08:44 Country ballad arpeggios
09:07 Pop punk riff
09:51 Bluesey John Mayer riff
10:13 Hardcore punk riff
10:29 Poppy barre chords
10:58 Blues rock riff
11:37 Chunky Drop D power chords
12:01 AC/DC inspired riff
12:14 Funky rhythms
12:39 EVH 80s rock riff
13:11 Alt rock octaves
13:36 Groovy classic rock riff
14:02 Jangly indie chords
14:26 Indie riff
14:56 Skate punk riff
15:20 Hendrix quacky riff
15:38 Hard rock boost
16:04 Ascending droning indie riff
16:32 Airbourne inspired riff
17:04 Open string indie chords
17:29 Alt rock riff
17:53 Progressive rock riff
18:22 Modern hard rock riff
18:41 Metal chugging riff

19:20 The big reveal
20:32 Blues Driver opinions
21:09 Super Phat Mod opinions
21:56 Cinders opinions
22:51 ToneX opinions
24:13 Which one should you buy? Which is best?

My setup was as follows: I ran the pedals into the front end of my Hughes & Kettner AmpMan Classic pedal amp, then went from the Red Box DI straight into my Focusrite Scarlett 2i4, which went into Logic Pro X. That’s it. No post-processing on the sounds was done. Here’s some links to those bits of gear:

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At Thomann: https://thmn.to/thocf/jkhog8l06m
At Sweetwater: https://sweetwater.sjv.io/LXqdE0
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Backing music from the YouTube Audio Library: Duck In The Alley – TrackTribe.

#BossPedal #BossPedals #BluesDriver #KeeleyElectronics #TCElectronic #ToneX #ToneXOne #OverdrivePedal #TransparentOverdrive #RichWordsMusic

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