Marshall Amplification BLUESBREAKER II BB-2 - Manual (Page 3)

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Introduction
The Bluesbreaker II takes the philosophy of our original
Bluesbreaker pedal one step further and features two modes,
Blues and Boost. This effectively makes it two pedals in one.
Boost Mode is designed with the vintage valve amp or ‘tone
purist’ type of guitar player in mind. If you don’t want to alter
the tone of your amp at all, but want to drive the front end
harder to push the amp further into natural overdrive. The
Boost mode features a clean boost controlled by the pedal’s
volume control, which will not affect your original tone. It can
also be used for boosting the signal which can sometimes be
lost when using long leads (particularly with single coil pick-
ups).
Blues Mode is reminiscent of the tonal and distortion
characteristics of our non master volume amps such as the
classic Bluesbreaker combo from the 1960s. This Mode
produces a wonderful natural style overdrive for crunchy
chord work and singing single notes for truly inspirational
leads, all delivered with the warmth and tonality of those early
Marshalls.
The Bluesbreaker II features a true full passive bypass for the
main signal path to ensure complete tonal integrity and has a
quality of tone matched only by its versatility.
This booklet provides a guide to the Bluesbreaker II’s features
for your information. We have also enclosed a number of
suggested settings to help you to get started. It should be
remembered that these are only suggested settings and you
should really experiment whenever you can.
If you take the time to explore the many different overdrive
and distortion characters of the Bluesbreaker II, you won’t be
disappointed.
Features
1. Out Jack Socket
This is the output of the Bluesbreaker II and is for connection
to the amplifier or to another effects pedal.
2. Mode
Allows for selection of Boost and Blues modes.
Boost Mode completely bypasses the Tone and Drive network
of the Bluesbreaker II and adds a clean boost to the signal
controlled by the Volume (Item 7) control. This will give your
guitar an extra lift and is ideal for driving the front end of a
valve amp into distortion without affecting your all important
tone. This is particularly suited for amps that are already
naturally slightly distorting, giving them an extra kick over
the edge, or for boosting your sound for solos.
Always use good quality shielded leads.
Always use 9V regulated DC supply with centre negative.
Although it may seem obvious the first action in achieving a
good effected sound (be it duration / compression etc.) is to
find the perfect bypassed sound. This will then allow the
correct level to be set with the effect unit to allow a cut or
boost in volume and a realistic tone.
On clean channels it is advisable to set the gain (or volume)
to a setting of no less than one quarter maximum so as not to
get unrealistic results due to any volume dependent tonal
shaping on the amplifier preamp.
Setting Up
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ENGLISH