Best Blues Breaker-Style Pedals

A Brief History of the Blues Breaker

The original Marshall Blues Breaker pedal was an overdrive released in 1991, but the history of that name dates back to 30 years earlier: Marshall took the name from John Mayall and Eric Clapton’s 1960s band, the Bluesbreakers.

Clapton’s guitar tone on their self-titled album is the stuff of legend, created from just a Les Paul plugged into a Marshall 2×12 JTM combo. The amp, which itself was based on a Fender Bassman circuit, became known as “the Bluesbreaker” after the album.

So the amp, the band, the album, and the pedal are all called Bluesbreaker – although the correct spelling of the pedal and the amp features a space between the two words – like in this image:

Vintage Marshall Blues Breaker Pedal

A vintage Marshall Blues Breaker Pedal (1992), it can be found used on Reverb for $500 or more. Click image for a demo.

How Does a Blues Breaker Sound?

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The Originals: Marshall Blues Breaker / Bluesbreaker Pedals

To this day, Marshall has released three versions of this pedal, although the third one is an identical, yet slightly improved, reissue of the first one, and the second one wasn’t very successful.

Here’s an interactive gallery of these three releases – click or double-tap for a video demo.

Best Blues Breaker-Style Pedals

While the Blues Breaker proved to be a very influential pedal, there were shortcomings that many players and builders wanted to address. The pedals on this list are not straight-up clones, they all add or modify the original Blues Breaker circuit topology in some way, whether it be adding more output volume, more gain, changing the EQ, adding different clipping options, and more.

Here are three lists of the best Blues Breaker-style pedals you can buy right now, in our opinion.

Best Single Channel Blues Breaker Clones

1. Analogman Prince of Tone
Analogman

$ 239+ | Click title for video. Buy it on eBay or Reverb.

In the early 2000s, the King of Tone set the standard for modern Blues Breaker pedals. But If you’d rather not wait 3 years or pay upwards of 800 dollars for one, the Prince of Tone is a fantastic affordable option that is simply one-half of a KOT. Yes, it is made overseas, but the circuit is the same as its bigger brother. If you want a King of Tone with even more flexibility, just get two of these!

2. JHS Morning Glory V4
JHS Pedals Morning Glory

$169 | Click title for video. Buy it on: Sweetwater | Thomann | Amazon | Reverb.

The pedal that put JHS on the map, the Morning Glory has become more famous than the original Blues Breaker, maybe more famous than even the King of Tone. And it does sound really good! Josh Scott popularized the idea of adding a JFET output gain stage to the Blues Breaker circuit to bump up the volume available. The V4 Morning Glory includes extra features such as a higher gain stage and a bright cut switch.

3. Browne Amplification Carbon
Browne

$219+ | Click title for video. Buy it on eBay or Reverb.

A high-end Bluesbreaker-inspired stompbox designed to provide the player with a wide array of tonal options with just three knobs. One characteristic of this pedal is that your tone will sound brighter the higher you have the gain set, due in part to the circuit’s massive output potential which allows it to be used also as a clean boost at lower gain settings. A Tone knob lets you fine-tune the low/high-frequency balance to complement your pickup/amp combo.

4. Origin Effects Halcyon Blue
origin

$299 | Click title for video. Buy it at Sweetwater or Reverb.

The Halcyon pedal line employs a proprietary system called Adaptive Circuitry that automatically tweaks the effect’s voicing in real-time in response to pick attack and volume changes, improving dynamics and tone consistency. The Blue version is based on the Marshall Blues Breaker. The adaptive system can be bypassed for a more authentic/vintage tone, or used in “Mode I” which makes it more subtle, compared to the “full-on” Mode II. A Voice toggle switch lets you add more bass and gain when in Mod position.

4. Snouse Black Box 2
Snouse

$275+ | Click title for video. Buy it on eBay or Reverb.

A hand-wired Blues Breaker with lots of customizable features. Demand for the Black Box went through the roof over the pandemic, and now there is a 2 year wait list. But this is a great sounding, meticulously crafted pedal, with boost and presence controls, and the options of external voicing switches.

5. Bondi Effects Del Mar mkii
bondi

$500+ | Click title for video. Buy it on eBay or Reverb.

This is a refined modern mid-gain overdrive that is hard to get a bad sound out of, conceived as a combination of the best elements of a Blues Breaker, a Klon and a Tube Screamer. The two gain voicings can be switched via a central toggle, with the lower position delivering tones often associated with the Blues Breaker, and the top one offering the clean section of the Klon with a TS-style clipping stage, with all its articulate and detailed response. MkII improves the power supply and decreases the noise floor further, also introducing a new quiet true-bypass switching.

6. Jackson Audio Golden Boy
Jackson Audio Golden Boy

$239 | Click title for video. Buy it on: Sweetwater | Thomann | Amazon | Reverb.

Designed in collaboration with Joey Landreth, the Golden Boy is an end-all BB-style pedal. Three-band EQ, cycle-able gain stages, four clipping diode voicings, internal presence and tone controls, and a footswitchable MOSFET boost make this the most versatile Blues Breaker on the market.

7. Wampler Pantheon
Wampler Pantheon

$169 | Click title for video. Buy it on: Sweetwater | Thomann | Amazon | Reverb.

As is evident in the name, Wampler is taking influence not just from the Blues Breaker, but from the equally famous pedals that have followed in its path. The Pantheon has high and low gain stages, three clipping voices, and a two-band baxandall EQ and presence control for precise and versatile tonal shaping.

8. Electro-Harmonix Spruce Goose
electro harmonix 2

$129 | Click title for video. Buy it on: Sweetwater | ThomannReverb.

A refined yet affordable rendition of the Blues Breaker, of which it delivers the renowned smooth breakup, with all the clarity and dynamics you get from a driven tube amp. The 3-way LIFT switch intensifies the drive’s impact generating a compressed, saturated tone while preserving its dynamic and transparent quality, while the pedal’s EQ includes a TREBLE knob for managing high frequencies and an active BASS knob to adjust bass tones—useful for adding body to single coil guitars or refining the low end for warmer humbucker guitars. Additionally, the Spruce Goose offers mechanical relay true bypass switching with both latching and momentary actions.

9. J. Rockett Blue Note Overdrive
rockett

$199 | Click title for video. Buy it on: Sweetwater | Thomann | Amazon | Reverb.

JRAD reliably churns out quality pedals in the most compact and sturdy builds on the market. This simple take on the Blues Breaker features a Fat control in addition to the standard Gain, Tone, and Volume, which tailors the low-end trim, useful for different pickup and amp combinations. The Hot toggle switch adds extra gain and mid-range.

10. Mojo Hand FX Magpie
MojoHandFX 2

$179 | Click title for video. Buy it on eBay or Reverb.

Another well-liked pedal that takes inspiration from the King of Tone, the Magpie is a touch-sensitive transparent drive with a three-way clipping option. Up is crunch, middle is boost, and down is overdrive, for a wide range of gain options.

11. SolidGoldFX Commodore

$199 | Click title for video. Buy it on: Thomann | Amazon | Reverb.

Featuring sliders instead of knobs, this is a specially tuned, low to mid-gain BB style drive circuit feeding a very flexible yet unusual sculpting section consisting of a Tone and a Contour sliders, which allow for a variety of tones ranging from black panel spank to Vox-ey chime and British growl. It works with up to 18v for extra headroom.

12. VS Audio Straight Flush
VS Audio

$175 | Click title for video. Buy it on eBay or Reverb.

A Greek company to watch out for, VS Audio makes high-quality pedals inspired by classic designs with modern ease of use. Their Straight Flush is a Prince of Tone-style transparent overdrive with a toggle-able extra gain stage.

13. Rockbox Baby Blues

$199 | Click title for video. Buy it on eBay or Reverb.

Veteran pedal makers Rockbox have a predictably strong take on the Blues Breaker, with standard controls as well as four toggle switches to change EQ boosts and drive modes, all in a compact enclosure with top jacks.

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Best Dual-Channel Blues Breaker Clones

The “transparent” nature of the Blues Breaker, along with the fact that some guitar heroes like John Mayer love to stack their transparent drives with other flavors, make the Blues Breaker an ideal candidate for one half (or both halves) of a dual-channel overdrive. Here are the best ones on the market.

 

Analogman King of Tone
Analogman

$850+ | Click title for video. Buy it on eBay or Reverb.

Mike Piera of Analogman was the first pedal builder to take the Marshall Blues Breaker circuit and rebuild it from the ground up to his liking. As a result the King of Tone was born, a dual overdrive with 3 different clipping options on each side: Overdrive, Clean Boost, and Distortion. The King of Tone is arguably the most sought-after pedal on earth, with a waitlist over 3 years long at the time of writing this.

KingTone Duellist V2
King Tone

$349+ | Click title for video. Buy it on eBay or Reverb.

A higher gain option than most pedals on this list, the Duellist is a tone-tweaker’s delight. The “Heavy Hand” side is a highly refined Blues Breaker while the “String Singer” is a modern Tube Screamer. Each channel features “Fat/Stock/Glass” voicing switches for a variety of tonal options. A switch on the side panel lets you change the order of the channels, while using TRS cables you can create an FX loop in  between the two drives. A DIP switch panel on the side of the case allows for six extra tweaks of the the channels’ voicing.

Browne Protein
browne

$339 | Click title for video. Buy it on eBay or Reverb.

A dual-channel overdrive that gives you the same gooodness of the Carbon (featured in the single channel list above), times two. The two circuits have separate footswitches and are stacked on top of each other when both are on. They have a slightly different voicing, with the right side sounding more open and raw than the left one, which is a little more controlled and compressed. The left channel (last in the chain) has a 3-way hi-cut switch (with a flat option in the middle), which comes in particularly handy when the two circuits are feeding each other. Other features include soft-switching, adjustable startup state, and internal switch for use with a looper.

JHS Double Barrel V4
JHS Double Barrell V4 top1 e1503946391574

$293 | Click title for video. Buy it on: Sweetwater | Thomann | Amazon | Reverb.

Josh Scott combines his Morning Glory (Bluesbreaker) and Moonshine (Tube Screamer) into one compact enclosure, with order switching and all of the features of the individual pedals intact. The TS side comes with a clean blend for more “transparency.”

Ceriatone Horse Breaker
Ceriatone

$250+ | Click title for video. Buy it on eBay or Reverb.

On one side, a Blues Breaker, on the other, a Klon. Two of the most famous overdrive circuits of all time come together in this highly effective dual overdrive, with order switching and buffer or true bypass options on the Klon side. These are not deviations; they are the original circuits down to a T, with all their charms and quirks.

Wampler Dual Pantheon
Wampler

$267 | Click title for video. Buy it on: Sweetwater | Thomann | Amazon | Reverb.

It doubles down on the original, including stereo and MIDI I/O and some other useful features. Each channel sports the same controls as the single version (4 knobs and two 3-way switches for various gain and voicing options) but the Presence knob is shared by the two and at the end of the chain. The second channel has a slightly different voice, and the order of the channels can be configured via a toggle switch.

Nordvang ’83 Drive
Nordvang1

$650+ | Click title for video. Buy it on eBay or Reverb.

The same winning Klon and Blues Breaker combo, but pushed to extreme levels of build quality. The BB side features a 3-way Lows toggle for bass response options, and the Klon side features a 2-way diode clipping toggle. TRS split mode rounds out this boutique dual overdrive.

VS Audio Royal Flush
VS

$199 | Click title for video. Buy it on eBay or Reverb.

The bigger brother of the Straight Flush, the Royal Flush takes its inspiration from the King of Tone. The low and mid-gain channels are put into a dual channel enclosure and can be stomped on individually or stacked for a third gain stage.

Kasleder Toxic Twins
16399021 8001

$261 | Click title for video. Buy it on Thomann or Reverb.

The bigger brother of the Straight Flush, the Royal Flush takes its inspiration from the King of Tone. The low and mid-gain channels are put into a dual-channel enclosure and can be stomped on individually or stacked for a third gain stage.

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Other Recent Blues Breaker-Inspired Pedals

There are a lot of pedals out there inspired by the Marshall Blues Breaker. The ones in this interactive gallery are other recently released ones that offer an interesting take.

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We have similar guides for other popular overdrive circuits like the Klon, the Tube Screamer and D-Style pedals, and an overall article about the best distortion pedals organized by type.

Relevant Videos about the Marshall Blues Breaker

What Is a Blues Breaker? by JHS Pedals

That Pedal Show’s Blues Breaker Overdrive Shootout

Blues Breaker vs. Blues Driver