BluesBreaker Pedals: A little History
Let's start by checking out a little bit of the history, as it's really interesting.
People may not realise that the BluesBreaker pedal is actually an attempt to recreate an amplifier in pedal format; and not only that, but a very specific amplifier indeed:
Eric Capton's Marshall JTM 45 212 from when he was playing with John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers back in the '60s. The amp was a series 2 from 1962, and it was nicknamed the 'Bluesbreaker'.
This amp paired with Clapton's '60's Les Paul created the iconic tone that we can still hear today on the 'Beano' album, so called because you can see Clapton reading the Beano comic on the Album cover.
Fast Forward to the 90s
in 1991 Marshall decided to release a number of pedals based on some of their most popular amplifiers, and I'm sure you can probably guess what these were:
The BluesBreaker based on the JTM 45, which we've covered above.
The Drive Master, based on the sound of the JTM 800 - a more aggressive pedal and amp than the BluesBreaker
The Shred Master, based on the sound of the JCM 900, which as the pedal name suggests was aimed at the high gain market.
Obviously at this point the Guv'nor needs an honourable mention too as these 4 pedals make up the era's 'Black Box Series'.
But what we're interested in here is the first one, the BluesBreaker, which discontinued only a few years later, around '98.
Revival
However, back in 2006 John Mayer released his third album, Continuum, which was huge, and when other tone hunters saw that he had the BluesBreaker pedal on his board, suddenly everyone wanted one.
This made the discontinued pedal very desirable, and therefore, expensive.
It also led to lots of other pedal builders looking at the circuit and desinging and releasing their own pedals, either based very much on the original like the Snouse Black Box, or with pretty serious modifications, like Analogman's King of Tone.
Conclusion
One things they all really have in common though is their general sound. They are soft-clipping, low gain pedals in general, with a touch of mids in just the right place, but much less than something like a Tube Screamer or Klon.
They work brilliantly into a clean amp, but also excel into a dirty valve amp set to edge of breakup to push the preamp. They are a fantastic choice for an 'always on pedal' and also take a pedal in front of them really well, but can also be great for this job themselves too.
Here I have taken some of my favourite BluesBreaker style pedals so you can have a look at how they sound, and also maybe decide which of these four is your favourite if you are also looking at getting a great low to mid gain overdrive.
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