MI Audio Blue Boy Deluxe - overview.... NOT a "degoup" session !

[MartyMart]

I have not bought another commercial pedal this year apart from a Behringer Vibrato, but was so
impressed with the sounds clips of this and with the very reasonable price, that I decided to order one.

Main large controls :
Volume and Gain - very nice range from totally clean boost through "TS" area to quite heavy OD.
Very "amp-like" in sound and response

Small controls :
Bright/mid/tone/character
Bright - final brightness control for matching with various gtr/amp combinations
Mid - dedicated and very useful mid control - a nice additional knob !
Tone - sounds like a BMP control, low boost/high cut left side and lowcut/high boost right side
works very well with this circuit.
Character - modern "glassy" sounds at low settings and Fat "fuzzy" sounds at higher settings.

These guys have done a truly superb job on this circuit, while it's probably a highly tweaked TS type
of deal, it's by far one of the best and most versatile pedals that I've used for overdrive and has a LOT
of tones available - all knobs at 12 0'clock is a great starting point with a strat and clean amp/ampsim.
To fit six controls and a true bypass switch & battery space in a very small 1590B type box is no small
feat !
Nicely painted and silk screened too, wonderful stuff - this is a "keeper" and will get a LOT of use
Thanks Michael, it's a very sweet pedal and a real gem of a discovery!
Marty.

[PeterJ]

I've got one of these, too, Marty. It is an amazing piece of engineering. I agree that 12:00 on the small knowbs is the best place to start -- this thing is so tweakable that I could spend all day fine-tuning the tones. It's got a great low-gain sound. Plus, the IC is socketed, so you can swap the 4558. Right now I've got a TL072 in there, but I want to try a few others.

[MetalGod]

I'd be interested to see how close it is to the Crunchbox - I've got the CB and it's a great pedal that sounds good at almost any setting.

I like the way the volume and tone interact - you can keep the volume very low for bedroom use and the tone control keeps things nice and chunky.  All in all, can't go wrong for the price.

[MartyMart]

Glad to see that others like MI Audio stuff too
When I say "amp like" I mean that if you dig in on a medium gain seting, you get some breakup
and slightly softer notes are cleaner or "fade" into clean quite smoothly.
This is quite hard to do and I only managed that on my Tornado design, which suffered a bit from
noise problems and is quite a complex Jfet build.
It may well be "circuit snippets" joined up, but in a VERY cool way, with a great sound and response.

MM.

[Celadine]

Ah, whats wrong with a 'degoup' session?  In other words...when ya gonna strip that thar puppy!  Gutshots! Gutshots!   

[Hiwatt25]

Thanks for the review.  I listened to some sound clips of this yesterday and thought it sounded really good.  The price seemed reasonable too.  I may have to give this another look.  Overdrive/Boost/Distortion pedals are like Telecasters to me, I'd have a room full of both if I could. 

[powerplayj]

I have the Crunch Box and Blue Boy Deluxe mainly because there was nothing in the immediate DIY realm that was close to the versatility (BBD) or tone (Crunch Box) of either of these.  Plus, for hand built pedals they are relatively inexpensive.  Like Marty said, the BBD is a tweaker's dream and due to the 3 EQ and 1 character control knobs, even if you aren't a traditional fan of tubescreamers, there's probably something in there for you.  My favorite IC was the NJM2043 (which I recently lost and cannot seem to find any more) and I currently have a LM1458. 

There is a bit of slight overlap with the BBD and Crunch Box but, the Crunch Box excels at medium to high gain without getting flabby while the BBD only sounds "amp-like" at low to medium gain.  The voicing of the CB also has a lower mid growl that I don't hear in the BBD.  The gain range of the Crunch Box starts out in Trower territory and goes all the way to G'N'R Jubilee saturation.  For some reason I think it sounds better with an open back combo than a closed back cabinet but that just my experience with my Classic 30.

I guess this proves that some, possibly many of us DIY'ers aren't too addicted to building that we won't purchase a commercially available pedal here or there.

[markm]

Overdrive/Boost/Distortion pedals are like Telecasters to me, I'd have a room full of both if I could. 

Ain't that the truth?! 

[ulysses]

i tried one in a store and was not very impressed with it.

i was playing a les paul into a marshall - i guessing you are playing a tele through a fender - so i guess it depends on the guitar and amp.

cheers
ulysses

[MartyMart]

Overdrive/Boost/Distortion pedals are like Telecasters to me, I'd have a room full of both if I could. 

I'm with you on that one Hiwatt  !!

i tried one in a store and was not very impressed with it.

i was playing a les paul into a marshall - i guessing you are playing a tele through a fender - so i guess it depends on the guitar and amp.
cheers
ulysses

I've tried Strat/Tele/LP into both JMP-1 and Classic30 and it all seems to work well, just need to tweak those controls bro' 
The only down side is that there's SO MUCH control on offer !!     
MM.

[newbie builder]

I've got its rougher sounding brother, the Blues Pro, and I like it as well. Can be a little congested sounding at times, but a nice pedal for smoother sounds.