Marshall BluesBreaker Reissue Overdrive Pedal Review
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- čas přidán 25. 03. 2023
- #marshall #overdrivepedal #pedals #guitarfx
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Welcome to this review of the new Marshall Bluesbreaker Reissue Overdrive pedal! Is it worth it? What do you think? Playing into a Fender Bassman with a Gibson Les Paul and a Fender Stratocaster. Find the alternatives here:
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The ONLY "amp in a box" Marshall pedal, that manages to sound warm and squishy without the dreaded "beehive" top end. It sounds exactly like a 62 Bluesbreaker (through a clean amp) to my ears, so I'm over the 🌙 with mine. Thanks for the helpful review.
MJ
I want to say I think it's totally worth it, even at this price. No other BB clone I've owned, save from the Ceriatone Horsebreaker, comes close to the Marshall BB Reissue (Wampler Pantheon, Snouse Blackbox, Mooer Blues Crab, AM Prince of Tone all sounded either too "flat", tiny or harsh). If you want the low gain, John Mayer-y tones, the Marshall is by far your best option. My $0.02.
Totally agree, 100% worth it
I just got one in Sweden. Cost about 170 pounds. Yes a bit pricey, but I like it a lot. No regrets. Sound is fantastic.
I have an OG Blues Breaker. My mom bought it for $60 in the early 90s as a bday or Xmas gift for my dad (the receipt is still in the box 🤣). Years later he passed it down to me. Love the pedal a lot.
Northumberland, England & looking forward to this Jack!
Thanks Jack, very helpful!
I got one and love it, and I’ll admit a lot of it is psychological. The enjoyment I’ll get using it for years to come and knowing it’s a Marshall BluesBreaker is worth the money up front.
It is all relative - considering that the old version of the pedal used to sell for 1 grand (or thereabouts) on Reverb or Evil bay, it is a good bargain...; I paid £160 for the re-issue in the UK. Worth it? Yes, for ME, every penny. I have used every single boutique iteration of the pedal ever made, including the Pantheon, Blues Crab, Snouse, Mount Pleasant, Morning Glory, etc. .....; no-one of them replicated the BB 100%. The BB is warmer, and thicker sounding - one trick pony, and not versatile at all, but it does what it does (i.e., the John Mayer pushed clean sound that you can hear on the Continuum album)better than anything else out there. So...., for ME, £160 well spent. And that is just like, well, my opinion man.
In the U.K. the Bluesbreaker is £170 , the Pantheon is £200 ! Crazy differences between different countries .
Oh that’s interesting - I wonder if that has to do with the international distribution of either of them.
Yep, in the Netherlands the BB is € 182, the Pantheon € 209. I thought I made mistake when looking up those prices, reading the comments here. now that I think about it, those pedals aren't actually made in the UK are they? If they are, the price differences would make sense: cheaper to buy it in the country that made it or in a country close. But if they're made in Asia, that all goes out the window and the pricing doesn't make any sense to me.
Mine cost $195 US from a famous British gear distributor, who shall remain nameless. I probably won't get it until June perhaps, but it's worth that to me. I have several of the clones, but never was able to spend any significant amount of time with an actual Blues Breaker.
Pantheon is $299AUD. Haven't even looked for the $AUD of the reissued Marshall BB yet.
That’s crazy! Like the other U.K. guy I got both the Bluesbreaker and Guv’nor from Andertons for £169 each. Funny enough I’ve preferred the Black Box 2, Morning Glory and Carbon over the Bluesbreaker, go figure!
As it is a U.K. made pedal it is cheaper than the Wampler or JHS here.
Marshall also went to a lot of trouble to make these authentic which will have added to the cost. So I think price wise these are fine for what they are. What they haven’t done is create a pedal line in modern enclosures so that offerings from Marshall aren’t either straight reissues or the old silver box ones.
Got mine today, been thinking of getting a BluesBreaker type for some time and now the original is back with good reviews I thought it was the best place to start. I'm in the UK, quite a bit cheaper over here. It does sound excellent, I'm selling my Lightspeed
Thanks for another honest review/opinion. Nostalgia vs. Wallet means I’ll stick with the Wampler Pantheon for now. Perhaps add this if/when they either drop in price or start showing up used. I am still considering the Gov’nor though. Thoughts?
The GuvNor is a great pedal and there are probably less competitive pedals around that match it - still a little pricey, but a great tone and really fun.
Absolut fantastic pedal. Worth every single coin.
I've never used the pedal myself but I'm very intrigued. I love that tone a lot. Through a reissue 59' Bassman ? Love that sound
Thank you, nice video, Sir. And very nice playing too! *sorry for my English. I have Cmat Mods Butah (Marshall Blues Breaker "copy" from Chad Matthews) since 2015 I think & love it a lot especially for my single coil Fender guitars & P-90s too. It's an elegant, smooth but not bassy overdrive/booster & quite "chimey/" for the "Blues overdrive guitar effect". I lives in Bali island, hope the prices of this reissue of Marshall Blues Breaker is not too much for my money 'cause it's so tempting & sound really really nice too
In Europe (Thomann) these are sold atm for 159€ which is around 170 USD. I’m guessing that Marshall will discontinue these in a couple of years.
It’s a great pedal and I don’t think it’s overpriced considering the quality components and the fact that it’s made in England.
I’m lucky and grateful enough to own a JHS Morning Glory. Unfortunately in this brutal current economy , I can’t fathom paying $300 Canadian for the Blues Breaker. As nice as it would be to have one…
Great job on the videos Jack, appreciate the honesty.
I had an original Guv'nor but sold it, thought it was too big for my board but I liked the sound, I just purchased the reissue and to my ears it sounds and feels just as good as my original, perhaps even better, Definitely too much money for what it does.
I bought an original when they came out in England and I gave it to a friend who was hunting for one about five years ago. I'm more than happy with my Wampler Pantheon. You're right about the price.
Pantheon is a superb pedal
Yes, the pedal is actually too expensive, but the price for an old pedal is four times as high. In Germany. On the other hand, it's actually o.k. But it is what it is. Actually too expensive. But good and a legend! There must be a reason why Marshall is putting it back on.
Great sounds as always Jack! I really like my Blammo Electronics Blues Blaster for those that want a smaller enclosure plus a Shredmaster-style high gain switch. It's $100 cheaper than this reissue!
I actually really want to try some of the Blammo pedals but I haven’t had the opportunity yet - his Blues Blaster, Rangemaster and MkI Tone Bender are tops on my list!
I just got it and seems like much better value. Smaller, top jacks, high gain mode, more output, $100 cheaper lol
$250 is expensive. Here in the Uk £169, about $207. You have import charges etc. it works both ways. However with all respect to you & subscribers it’s an amp in a box. Compare it to the Bluesbreaker JTM45 amp, not a boutique pedal or the latest pedal porn. It does what it and the original were supposed to do. It’s a fact that nowadays many modern pedals can produce the same tones and more, for less money. The Boss Bluesdriver for e.g. I bought the reissue because I have the BB-2. I also have the Guv’nor GV-2, and I’ve ordered the Guv’nor reissue which is the same price. That’s based on the JCM800 amp. In both cases I drive them with other pedals through my Fender amp clean.
Mr Jack!!! plug the pedal in a marshall bluesbreaker 1962 reissue amp!!!!! please!!!! Thanks
I own an original 90ies Shred Master from this series. I have thought of selling it several times over the years. But with all the hype I think I'll keep it though I don't use it anymore. I find the newer Jackhammer is way more versatile and much easier to dial in with very different amps and so its on my boards regularly. It's exactly like Jack said: You do not buy these pedals for the tones sake nowadays.
I like the big footprint of the original, no wobble. If a pedal does something important I don't mind it taking up space. I have 3 originals BTW. I have a Tone City Blues man and it's great, it works on a pedalboard that doesn't have room for the original. These reissues should go down 25% in price, but everything is more expensive at the time...
1:39 is the tone I rock on mine rn. Just a slightly dirty boost. Goes into a tumnus for the dirt. Then into a ds-1 with tone at 0 for some fuzz
I will stick with my Pantheon. It’s just a better made, more versatile pedal.
Sound is subjective and very personal.
Sounds good.But doesn't the amp contribute to the great tone? Wonder how this sounds in an interface.
Hate to say it, but I bought the Reissue BB just out of curiosity... And actually it kicked off the KoT from my board... It just sounds more natural to me... The KoT is really a BB just with proteins in it... And it pushes it a bit too hard... The Reissue BB I like more...
I feel kind of hypocritical saying this, after I just spent a similar amount of money on a distortion generator that was manufactured in Japan. However, here I go. Marshall is a brand that fascinated me when I first started playing music in the 90s partly because of what it could do but also because of name recognition and association with some of my heroes like Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Pete Townsend. After the fact, I learned that their materials are frequently over priced and out of reach. I’ve always felt much more at home with clones or emulators than I have with the real McCoy. In a sense, the Marshall sound is something to covered without going for the actual brand. this pedal is definitely no exception.
Edit: The pedal I ended up getting was the Rancher GOSAT Generator. I chose it because I wanted something that could fill the quarter I’ve been trying to fill since 2001, getting my hands on the Tom Schultz distortion tone with both the Plexi tone that originated with the Marshall product line and that mid range boost associated with the Boston guitar sound. It made more sense to get this than to search for a Rockman (which I had already tried). It was worth the money I paid for it since it was a pedal instead of a module, it has the sound I was after and it can be integrated into a regular arsenal.
Maybe they could do a mini pedal version as a cheaper authorized licensed copy in partnership with MXR! The Blues Baron's Greenstick Fracture of Tone.
B.Y.O.C. has a mini clone for $69. It’ll take you an hour to build and sounds terrific.
@@LeMans512 Chicago Stompworks also has a clone, no building required! I was kind of making a joke refering to the MXR Duke of Tone.
B.Y.O.C. has a mini clone for $69. It’ll take you an hour to build and sounds terrific.
Antique Electronic Supply might have the knobs you're looking for.
bother me (remind me - leave a comment on my new album- hokum- in a few days - i will look thru my knob caddy as i may have a set of those ... i seem to remember they were heavy -some one gave me a fried marshall modulation pedal . i do not remember if they included the knobs so i will have to dig , but remind me and i will get to that for ya if i can . i built a govner and i had 2 bad components in it , i recently nailed that down so i have to test it out . i built mine with a buffer on the input side . i have to try it out , but i havent been playing much due to numbness in my rh hand . you sound great as always jack . great tone too !
I found one in East Europe music shop for 189 USD equal. Might be more fair price 150 range but who knows...
Reissues usually gets cheaper with time.
It's expensive in the UK.
Anyone buying expensive pedals after the JHS Bad Monkey video isn't paying attention.
"Everything is hype."
100% agree Jack🎯
I thought the reissue guvnor sounded dreadful and I never pursued the rest
I have heard this pedal dozens of times on CZcams, honestly I don’t see why bother getting one if you have boss BD-2 blues driver, especially one that’s been modded with a burr brown chip.
I got the bluesbreaker and the guvnur. I can’t tell you what I think because they’re still in their box. Hahaha. But yeah. They’re way overpriced but I just wanted them. The enclosure is cool and yeah. You know.
I stopped looking for overdrives when I found the Pantheon. If you have one, you know what I’m saying.
Well said Jack. This over the top pricing for very basic pedals is a pet peeve of mine. It's not a bad as seeing people littering, which makes me feel homicidal, but it is plain wrong.
I’m tremendously fed up with things being priced so much higher than they should be. I do believe this is a good, well built pedal, but it should be $150. $250 is unreasonable, and quite frankly, seems greedy.
Please don’t kill anyone over littering!
People don’t have to pay these prices though.
No one needs a Bluesbreaker and it’s not actually that great a pedal to start with. Someone managed to get a decent sound out of it back when no one wanted it.
Marshall doesn’t owe everyone an affordable Bluesbreaker. It’s not the companies that are the issue here, it’s guitarists putting too much faith in very particular pieces of gear and happy to throw obscene amounts of money to copy guitarists that aren’t relevant today, whilst it’s the ones picking up whatever is cheap and getting the most of it will lead the way as always and that piece of gear will be highly coveted and the cycle continues.
Had an original...sold it.
😎👍❤🖖
And retired in Bora Bora?
@@JackFossett
😉👍
Moorea...better atmosphere😎
😎👍❤🖖
Sorry--did you say "made famous by John Mayer"? Hope not. Please tell me you meant John Mayall. Otherwise, good honest review. Thanks!
Pedal, not the amp - the pedals popularity and success is largely connected to Mayer using it on Continuum.
Gup Tech's Angel Chiou. Modded Bluesbreaker w/ boost, no comparison. Get one and don't look back.
Hey Jack. Enjoyed the video as always. Curious if you'd be interested in doing an interview on my channel? I tried to send you an email but got a message back that it was no longer in service. So hope it's cool that I ask here.😬
i have an original (£$350+) version and a mooer blues crab, i play both side-by-side..
the fundamental difference? the aged components in the original give a bit more of a deadened-highs, softer attack,
the newer non-aged components in the mooer blues crab give it more presence and a biting edge.
Sometimes i'll prefer one over the other; if i want to cut through; its the blues crab,
if i want a more mellowy, jazzier sound; its the original.
buuuut to be 100? there's not really much in it, the blues crab is every bit as faithful to the original versions as these new reissues.
If you want that 'big custom marshall box' mojo then get an original, otherwise do yourself a favour and get the mini-box mooer version.
my 2c.
I tend to agree. The Blues Crab was less impressive directly compared to higher end Bluesbreakers, including the original. However, in a real life context, the differences were minimal. Certainly not $200 different.
What artists used the BluesBreaker?
Clapton
Good enough for me 👍
Clapton with the Bluesbreakers on the1966 Beano album. Does this pedal get the so called Beano tone? Who knows.
Great DEMO!
You play great! How come you are a normal person? ☺ ("WHOLE FOODS" 🤣) I have a Wampler Clarksdale.
I assure you, I am significantly abnormal.
@@JackFossett 😂 If no one is normal, then, everyone is normal, right?!
Exactly!
@@JackFossett About Whole Foods, imagine if we were super wealthy. Then, the price of anything at all, would be meaningless. At most, the process of paying for something, would be irritating. It's true. 🥲
I'm going to say
What Jack said. And keep using my Vick Mount Pleasant, Keeley 1962x, and cheap but authentic & reliable Mooer Blues Crab.
But ultimately, it's whatever Jack said. And the BB2 rules! It was my first or second overdrive pedal ever (not counting the Ibanez Fat Cat I used in my teens). The BB2 works especially well with Vox amps imo. It does this cool overtone thing, you can hear it in an old demo by Shane from the In The Blues channel
I have this one and also have several other Bluesbreaker derived pedals. As far as the Mooer Blues Crab, it’s a bit more flat in the mids compared to the Bluesbreaker. Sometimes that’s a good thing depending on what you’re going for. The Bluesbreaker is fatter sounding, it’s really great with a Strat neck pup. The Blues Crab really brings out the quack in the 2&4 Strat positions, in that application I prefer it to the Bluesbreaker. At $249 these pedals are def. a bit overpriced, the Blues Crab is really a relative bargain.
The Blues Crab is a more than solid option - I found it wasn’t quite as good as higher end Bluesbreakers when compared directly, but when used in real life, it really doesn’t make that much of a difference. Certainly not a $200 difference.
5:07 "...and then you have Whole Foods"
LMAO
Very expensive I just buy mine 159€ in France ! But it’s really the sound ! Like the ts 9 or 808 ! The real one sounds more realistic than the clone…
I have the Blackbox overdrive. For allot less $ you can get the same circuit
Blackbox 2 is one of my favorite pedals. I record with it frequently.
@@JackFossett
Basically because of your review I bought one. Keep up the good work
If you like it, it's worth it. I hate these questions.
Whole Foods... I lol when I heard that.....
Paid 179 Euro here in good ol germany, sold my Pantheon for 185.... DEAL!
Ah.. but it does sound really good 😂
No argument here
It’s pretty cheap no? I felt like it was cheap
$149 is where this should be and $100 used.
My thoughts exactly. $149 would be the priced exactly right number. Even $200 wouldn't be offensive, but $250 is over the top.
@@JackFossett great video as always! Fantastic playing! Thank you!
Pantheon is more expensive in europe marshall bb is cheaper ))
Thanks, I Gus it’s like if can afford it, only for the bragging Rights, that what makes wives Mad,😊
Cost more than my Boss Katana with all the built in Boss pedals. I'm a satisfied cheapskate 😁
It’s about the money - the money I’ve already spent. A Pantheon, a Pantheon Deluxe, a Snouse with all the switches, and I’ll throw in a Timmy just because …. I’ve move on. Bass. Fuzz. Delay. Loopers. I’ve got other things to play.
I have about 30 effefts pedals and a Helix fx. I have pedals that cost £25 up to several hundred. I have several guitars from assembled to Custom Shop nonsense. Three things to say.
First, price does not equal sound produced. They are not the same thing. If I could go back and tell myself something when I staretd in the 80s, it would be to never buy anything I don’t like the sound of regardless of who made it or who plays with it. Mooer,Landlord,Boss,EHX,MXR,Squier,Epi,Vintage…. They are as good as everything else you will ever see or play. Anyone who tells you their guitar which cost them thousands is better than your guitar which cost hundreds is absolutely in denial. It is possible to buy what you need at any price. Do you seriously think David Gilmour,The Edge,Jimi Hendrix,Clapton,Knopfler,Page,Srv… went into shops and left thousands lighter or maybe they just bought the guitar that was right for them. That sig reissues cost so much is pure marketing.
Second. Always buy the right gear for what you want to do. Save,borrow,wait… but never get something which approximates what you know actually works because it will never be right.
Thirdly. Nobody else gives a shit what you own or play with live, as long as you sound right. If 99.999% of your playing is for your own pleasure, please yourself and enjoy what you do. If you gig, get reliable gear but nothing you really cherish in case it is stolen. Nobody ever talks about insurance!
Thank me in 40 years and pass it on.
It sounds great but not $250 great.
If you looks inside and count the number of components, the price is hilarious!!
Go tweed !
For $250 they could’ve at least given it more output volume. I will gladly pass, there are better options for this circuit.
Whole Foods…..Whole Paycheck
We say that too!
Thats possible the most underwhelming pedal ever !
Pretty expensive. Pass...
No more expensive than the new red Klon reissue.
The false assumption here is that the clones are identical to the original/reissue.... That is a big assumption! If true.... then how do you explain that used originals were going for $500 or more?
Many of the BB clones have jacked up the gain and or have brighter or harsher tone (Morning Glory) or other anomalies or “improvements” - generally they are not dead on exact clones. Besides, louder is not always better. I like the lower unity/utility gain on the original/re-issue because it allows for better bedroom volume control when stacked behind another pedal. Not all players are looking for large venue/stadium level dbs.
As for pricing, who cares? If Marshall had cut corners, then maybe this could be a valid issue, but they did not cut corners!!! They did this right. And they should be rewarded. If they had cut corners then you would be screaming about that. So with quality off the table, you default to complaining about price? Seriously? $50 is not what it used to be... chump change. Who cares?
I vote for the original/re-issue. Fantastic pedal and well worth it. It has that very specific magic that many of the clones don’t have.
Ok pal 🍻
A year ago the original BB was selling for up to $1,000 or more, but now a perfect re-issue is available for only $250 - and that is too much to charge??? Really??? Does not make any sense. Did you expect Marshall to not recoup their retooling investment and instead the clones get all the profits for something they never designed to begin with?
Ok pal 🍻
Well, they are now going for $169 and I feel it is worth every penny.
That is a very fair price
For sure; thank you for your review of this great pedal.@@JackFossett