Marshall BluesBreaker: Worth the Hype?! | Friday Fretworks

A closer look at the incredibly influential Marshall Blues Breaker. Is it Worth the Hype?!
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Hey! My name's Chris Buck and I'm a musician from South Wales, United Kingdom. Thank you for checking out Friday Fretworks! As the name suggests, there's a new video every Friday. If you haven't already, please subscribe and if you have, it'd be lovely if you came to say hello on Facebook and Instagram as well. Links below!
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[@tonybrooks476]

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

[@videovuer]

Agreed. LOLOLOL

[@CorbCorbin]

Nah, Dead Fish OD STINKS 🤧

[@stephenlennartz3466]

That'd be one cool catfish. CARPe diem. Richie Blackmore's Rainbow trout ... ok ... I'll stop now.

[@ERMAV]

Hahaha

[@dr.lyleevans6915]

He could play through a Badfish and sound like Sublime

[@notplaying2379]

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

[@emptyarms6113]

does his fingers have tone, gain, and volume knobs?

[@carnivaltym]

@@emptyarms6113 Don't yours? 🤣🤣👌

[@VMRTex]

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.

[@CatharticGuitar]

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

[@videovuer]

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

[@soaringblackbird4431]

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

[@mrnewty2]

Hendrix just never gets old,, Thanks again Chris.

[@switchbacksentence1244]

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

[@BluesBroken]

Absolutely loving your uploads now. Roll on Friday.

[@yoan973]

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

[@vjensen56]

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

[@nathanielmorris3072]

i dig all of this man! absolutely love!

[@tonepoet]

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

[@Steven_SK]

Really a fantastic demo IMHO. Thanks for it!

[@shanedaniels5191]

Fantastic tone and playing 🙂

[@garyfreedom]

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!

[@airdog1829]

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

[@mattcacioppo2502]

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.

[@fivewattworld]

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

[@ChrisBuckGuitar]

Hey Keith! How’s things? Funnily enough, I don’t know whether the Blues Breaker pedal sounds all that much like the amp. I had chance to play one a little while back. At the volume EC must have been to get that level of sustain and gain, it must have been a visceral experience 😳 Accurate or not though, the pedal is bloody brilliant!

[@perromanchado]

Beautiful playing my friend.

[@7775Kevin]

Nice playing Chris. Thanks for the video.

[@chimpsticks1]

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

[@bishimatsu]

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.

[@chedhead3278]

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

[@znmaf]

Great guitar player .Unique style .Loads of FEEL

[@jeffreyholmes7216]

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

[@bluesrockngearwjoeyg8853]

Cool comparison Chris!! Thanks.

[@adrianlock654]

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.

[@brentonw.tankersley4251]

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

[@ChrisBuckGuitar]

Thank you Brenton. Very kind of you!

[@DeltaDonnaLynn]

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

[@johnstaf]

Phenomenal playing.

[@jz6965]

Hey Chris, So awesome buddy, Inspiring

[@christophp7473]

You can play, man! Outstanding!

[@andrewdarnley4608]

Great style you’ve developed Chris

[@simonplimbley5778]

Simply sublime

[@ChrisBuckGuitar]

Thank you Simon! :)

[@AlanJan_UK_49]

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 !

[@GuessMyNameOnceMore]

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

[@mattb.2594]

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. )

[@SSRT_JubyDuby8742]

Great post 😎🎸🎙✅

[@SandauxBeats]

Damn that playing, maaan! That was awesome!

[@vintagetone22]

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.

[@nicksburson1]

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

[@hjalmarbackstrom5883]

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!!!

[@taterfight]

I absolutely LOVE my Snouse Black Box. Killer tones!

[@mattelder9147]

Snouse offered to swap out one of his Black Box pedals for my Bluesbreaker on Reverb. Cheeky. Love that confidence. Almost accepted, but sold instead. Current BB type on my board is the KOTv4. I can get the BB sound out of my Kingsley Harlot v3, though it does much more.

[@11calman]

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

[@AndrewLewisHowe]

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.

[@Mikey__R]

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.

[@Los_Santos1985]

Muito bom! Parabéns!

[@georgeohwell7428]

Very tasty playing

[@richatlsomm833]

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

[@fernandes5986]

Your talent is only surpassed by your modesty. Brilliant.

[@simonwilliams9916]

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. 🤘🏻🎸👍🤘🏻🎸👍🤘🏻🎸👍

[@Furtheronmusic]

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.

[@adamlumby8754]

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

[@hkpd60]

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

[@ChrisBuckGuitar]

I did think of the Duelist actually, but I couldn't get hold of one! I met Jessy at NAMM, funnily enough - lovely guy who makes amazing pedals, by all accounts.

[@stk7778]

That left side is based on the Bluesbreaker

[@stratpuppy]

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

[@ChrisBuckGuitar]

Haha! I was wondering if anyone would notice. Cheers :)

[@stratpuppy]

I’m not stalking btw - the links and protrusion for the date gave it away :) on a more relevant note - you have / are in the process of totally transforming my playing .. so thank you .. in addition to being supremely talented, you are also so humble and grounded - it’s a pleasure to follow you .. I only wish you did private lessons .. but I assume you are way past that now

[@marcelotakemoto7684]

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

[@jima1325]

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

[@rottalmusik6563]

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

[@TheSaniwaa]

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

[@neilanderson8250]

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

[@frantisca]

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/

[@_jonnyp]

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!

[@joshscus]

I 100% second this. LOVE the BlackBox 2!

[@bradwoods371]

Snouse black box is balls on accurate

[@xjs1983]

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.

[@ChrisBuckGuitar]

Nice! My first gigging rig was a JCM800 2x12 Combo (4212 if memory serves) with this pedal and a Boss Blues Driver in front of it! Good times...

[@joedomingos8486]

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?

[@Guilherme81]

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

[@frankieconcepcion7860]

Its one of my favorite pedals for crazy solos

[@tomfairbairn1202]

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

[@oscarschenk]

you're a beast. subscribed

[@christophermudd3723]

VERY TASTY PLAYING!

[@mpalmerw1]

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

[@giuseppeferilli7750]

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.

[@markinthemix6055]

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.

[@ChrisBuckGuitar]

Cheers Mark! And yeah, I did think of the Pantheon but I don't have one, unfortunately. And all of my usual avenues to pop out and borrow one are a bit limited at the moment 😕

[@taijazvidfish]

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.

[@ChrisBuckGuitar]

My pleasure. Thank you for watching :)

[@JDAfrica]

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

[@cyriaquedecaritat5976]

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

[@HasyirIbrahim]

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

[@davebertoletti]

You could make anything sound great

[@davidkieltyka9]

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.

[@shaunw9270]

When the Bluesbreaker , Drive Master & Shred Master came out , the JCM900 Hi Gain Dual Reverb was the latest amp offering alongside not very vintage accurate Reissue's of the actual model 1962 combo , JTM45 , SLP100 and the corresponding 50 watter.

[@travislee9662]

Yeah I remember when they came out I would see them in ads in guitar mags. Nobody ever talked about them and I never heard of any players using them then. Now they’re these heralded magic pedals. Old+discontinued rare= awesome expensive tone I guess lol

[@omarcusihuaman4261]

David Kieltyka tell us more please!. Bluesbreaker circuit is easy to copy , no mojo there.

[@viperBSG]

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

[@christopheringram4118]

Because, a lot of people pay stupid amounts of money for overglorified Tube Screamers.

[@davidkeane2399]

I believe I payed a very hard earned £40 as a 16 year old for one. That was a lot at the time, and I flipped it soon after...

[@CharlesWillisBonsai]

@@christopheringram4118 they do, but the bluesbreaker circuit is way different from a TS.

[@stevieboy444]

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.

[@martyjoughin4569]

That horsebreaker is killer.

[@wepopcreative]

Sick 😊😊

[@jacobilton6879]

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

[@DOGrgic]

Anything you play is worth the hype. Period.

[@ulfdanielsen6009]

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.

[@rafsbio]

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!

[@maxstrandberg6714]

king of tone is such a beast pedal, love that sound

[@Steaminlidz]

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.

[@ChristopherDowning]

Yep mine from Andertons too. Agree with all you say there. It's heavier than a TS (that I had before this) and with EQ you can adjust this to be just right. I use it behind an Xotic RC - a great pairing.

[@miquelmarti6537]

I liked the BB-2 version. A super underrated version

[@LennyBonapart]

True, in the early nineties people where more into the RAT, the DS-1 (Nirvana) and the MT-2.

[@tylerhughes3750]

Great video Chris, love the bluesbreaker. But i think you missed one, Jesse Davey`s The Duellist Heavy-Hand side is also bluesbreaker inspired and sounds amazing

[@adityaghosal1000]

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!

[@ChrisBuckGuitar]

Aha! I'll dig it out again soon. It's a truly phenomenal guitar (the build quality is typically PRS-second-to-none) but I don't know why I don't reach for it more often. The pickups that are in there are especially good, come to think of it...

[@adityaghosal1000]

@@ChrisBuckGuitar You should! It really compliments your playing! Especially how dynamic it sounds!

[@davidkeane2399]

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.

[@jonnydubai]

I've got one of these and it just sits in the box.

[@pierreyveshuet1763]

I'm the lucky owner of an original Bluesbreaker that cost me... nothing! My brother bought it new in the 1990s but didn't use it much so he gave it to me. I'll never thank him enough. It is really one of the most often "on" pedals on my board.

[@TheRepublicOfJohn]

I was generously given one of these and a Bartolini Tube-it in a pile of otherwise very basic music gear. A co-worker's dad's friend had a Rock-a-billy and Country recording studio and decided to retire and pass the gear on. My co-worker played bass so she gave away everything that wasn't explicitly labeled for bass guitar. If I'd known what they were worth, I wouldn't have accepted those 2 pedals without paying her.

[@MartinCliffe]

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!

[@TonyLondonUk]

Update, thoman as of last week (feb 2022) had them up for sale for around 9 hours on there website, for £155 delivered, I was lucky enough to grab 1 while it was up, no date of delivery as of yet, some has said September possibly, hence Marshall remains silent, strangely enough I just purchased an early 90’s today at a great price of £345 slightly marked looks just as Chris does 👍🏻👍🏻

[@derekspitz9225]

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.

[@dannyllerenatv8635]

A few years later, Marshall finally caved in and did it!

[@derekspitz9225]

@@dannyllerenatv8635 Yes. I was right🙂

[@Yupppi]

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.

[@ChrisBuckGuitar]

Haha. No, you did see that. I was trying out something (change of title/thumbnail) after a certain amount of time had elapsed that a few people had recommended in regard to maximising the video's reach, so to speak. And no, I've been doing Friday Fretworks for a while now - probably about 2 years - so it would have been running when I was first on TPS :)

[@Yupppi]

@@ChrisBuckGuitar cool cool! I can see how it's difficult to optimize the video's attraction from glance. Ah, ok, it just didn't come up. Good content definitely! And that last demo before the clones shootout... With you playing it's always something surprising that makes your jaw drop. Keep doing the good work, hopefully you turn up in TPS again! :)