Boss DF-2 SUPER Feedbacker & Distortion

I've been playing guitar for over 30 years--both with & without effects. Currently you'd most likely find me playing a 12 string at church. (no distortion though.)

I got this in the mid-80's. I already had a DS-1 & the distortion is the same as the S-1, but they added in the feedbacker part--and it's great! I tried it in the store, and as they had a 50% sale that day--I bought it. I forget how much it was--but it wasn't a lot.

It's a great distortion sound--from fuzzy to edgy to sharp.
The feedbacker part is great to have fun with--as long as you keep your foot pushed down on the pedal the note sustains! So you can play licks over the feedbacking note--or do some other tricks with it--it's a lot of fun!

There's no volume control for the feedbacker part, so you can't have it in the background while you play a lead line or riff or chords over it. it will be the same volume as the rest of it. (Although sometimes I get around that by going through my echo which has a stereo output--I put the DF-2 in one channnel where the amp is set on a lower volume. You could also put a volume pedal after the signal is split.)

Sturdy case--like Boss pedals tend to be--it's been knocked around and still works.

An excellent tool & toy, although in some ways it is more toy--but it is a lot of fun to play and use the feedback--You can use it which other effects too. It works great with echo.
If you have a DS-1 and like it, maybe try one of these if you see one available--just for that something extra. if you use a different distortion pedal or use the amp to overdrive your sound, then maybe try this for the feedbacker part. Anyway--it's a lot of fun.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The boss df2 is built like the rest of the standard boos stomp boxes. 1/4" standard input and output, 9v dc input jack, knobs for gain, tone, level, and overtone level. It can also be ran on a 9v battery.

UTILIZATION

Setting up is just as easy as all other boss stomp boxes. It's very straight forward which is probably why boss is so widely used. All you need is two cables and some power then you're good to go. The knobs are all plainly labeled making a manual pretty much unnecessary. The only extra bit of info you need is that holding down the bypass activates the feedback overtone.

SOUND QUALITY

The sound of this pedal is very similar to the classic boss ds1 distortion. It's definitely not the greatest distortion out there but can be useful in some settings and in front of amps that need just a bit more gain to get you where you want to be. This is not to be confused with an overdrive where you can set the gain low and volume high to boost an amp. It never really gets that clean and sounds pretty fizzy when used that way. I think the main crowd this pedal appeals to is the noise crowd that is looking for obnoxious sounds. The feed backer circuit is a fun feature that adds a layer of drone over your playing. Basically you play a note and hold down the bypass and the pedal infinitely repeats that note allowing you to play other parts over it. The feedback or drone takes on a bit of a synth character. It is a bit smoother sounding than an actual guitar.

OVERALL OPINION

Overall it's a fun pedal to have around but not really all that useful for me. The prices are all over the place as it's another "rare" discontinued boss pedal that has had the occasional cult following. There are much berthed ways to achieve a similar sound as the feedback circuit and surely better boxes out there for distortion

Boss has a pedal for everything except scoring a record contract. But maybe they will invent one one day. This pedal is for feedback of endless sustain. It is a distortion pedal as well but the main feature and unique effects to this pedal is being able to sustain a note endlessly until you decide to stop without having to blast the amp to usable volumes for you house of smaller gigs.

This pedal take a 1/4 instrument cable or jumper cable. It is 9v operation and a DC output for hooking it up to your pedal board power.

UTILIZATION

Specifications

Controls: Level, Tone, Distortion, Overtone
Connectors: Input, Output, AC Adaptor
Current Draw: 10 mA (DC 9V)
Weight: 450 g (0.99 lb.)
Input Impedance: 1 Mohm
Recommended Load Impedance: 10kOhm or greater
Recommended AC Adaptor: ACA Series (black label) or PSA Series (silver label)


SOUND QUALITY

The way this thing works goes like this. You just step on the pedal and remain on the foot switch and hold the note of you guitar until you release your foot from the foot switch. You have four control knobs that effects the distortion and the feedback. First you have level for your overall volume of the pedal effect. Then you have a tone knob to either darker or brighten the sound of the pedal. Next you have the distortion control knob which adds overdrive to the pedal. Finally, you have the overtone control knob which allows you to dial in which EQ overtone you want to feedback. this is something that will change with in user's rig whether it be their guitars or amps or others effects they have in the signal.

OVERALL OPINION

Boss discontinued manufacturing of these pedals back in 1994. So the used market is the only way to go to get one of these pedals. These are cool for one use really and other than that not that useful. The distortion isn't the best and not really the reason you would buy this pedal. I have an amp that will feedback endlessly so this pedal is not for me. Might be cool for the recording studio though to get interesting sounds.

The Boss DF-2 Super Feedbacker & Distortion is a unique distortion pedal that is designed for electric guitar which is the only instrument that I have used this with.  The pedal has 1/4 inch connections and can be powered by either a 9 volt battery or power supply.  This isn't a rack mountable piece of gear as it is a stomp box.

UTILIZATION

Using the Boss DF-2 is extremely easy as everything is laid out in a user friendly fashion as is the case with most Boss pedals.  The parameters that this pedal has are split into two sections - one is distortion which has knobs for level, tone, and distortion and under the feedback section is a knob for overtone.  This is pretty much all that there is to this pedal and even those without much experience with pedals will be able to figure out how to use this.  A manual isn't necessary but since I haven't it I can't say if it is put together well or not.


SOUND QUALITY

The sound quality of the Boss DF-2 is pretty cool overall.  It isn't the best distortion pedal in terms of the traditional sense as it gets quite dirty and noisy, but that is the cool thing about this pedal.  It is designed to not only give you a fat distortion but also to give you feedback on command, which is probably its best feature.  You can really get some crazy feedback type noises and sounds and I would really recommend this pedal for this reason rather than for its distortion.  I've used the pedal for recording with a Fender Strat and a '76 Fender Twin Reverb and I find this to be a great set up to use this pedal with...


OVERALL OPINION

There aren't too many pedals out there that are designed to give you both distortion and feedback, so right off the bat this was an intriguing pedal.  While I'm not all that satisfied with the distortion section of this pedal, I think that when combined the distortion and feedback can give you some great instant feedback and a ton of noise.  This isn't an expensive pedal so if you are interested in getting a pedal that will give you a ton of feedback, distortion and noise on command, the Boss DF-2 is definitely worth at least trying out.