That 'blues' tone

[BenHagerty]

I have been listening to the Black Keys a lot, and I really want to get a bluesy tone. Now, you really can't get that out of a cheap solid state amp, so I will have to go with a pedal. Is there anything else besides Boss BD-2 that will help me achieve this?

[kle]

A Marshall Blues Breaker pedal, maybe?
I also like my tc electronic Vintage Overdrive.

[Professor Plum]

a telecaster and a 5w toob amp at the brink of explodeing...

or id try this thingy...

http://olcircuits.com/olc_supreaux.html

if i had some cash id so buy one...

[Legolas]

I have been listening to the Black Keys a lot, and I really want to get a bluesy tone. Now, you really can't get that out of a cheap solid state amp, so I will have to go with a pedal. Is there anything else besides Boss BD-2 that will help me achieve this?

What exactly do you mean? Those nice overdriven sounds or the crazy fuzz? Cause Dan uses both I'd say pretty much equally.
But in any case, I'm not sure how close you can get with stock pedals seeing as Dan has all (or almost all) of his modded by some local guy in Akron, OH. I now that before, he used to use a Maestro Fuzz, but lately (that is, while promoting the last album) he often just uses an overdrive pedal (sorry, don't know which one) and a (probably modified) green Russian Big Muff.

[jgs61]

Legalos is right about Dan's sound. But if you want a nice "bluesy" overdrive, I'd go with an Ibanez Tube Screamer. The vintage ones are insanely expensive, but the reissues aren't too bad. Tubescreamer purists will say that the reissues suck, but that's bullshit. The reissues don't sound EXACTLY like the originals, but they're still great overdrive pedals. A lot of bluesmen have used the Tubescreamer, like SRV. I'm a huge Black Keys fan and I love Dan's sound, but he's mostly a fuzz guy. I use both a Tubescreamer and a Big Muff. Between the two of them, I can get pretty much any sound I want. Those are seriously the only effects I use regularly.

[stevejamsecono]

Yeah, I'd say Black Keys sounds like more of an "amp almost exploding speakers slashed" sound than necessarily a traditional bluesman tone. That being said, I think any of the mentioned pedals could get you there (or close)
the TS9 is probably the definitive "bluesman" overdrive, that being said however I've found it to be too mild for my own use, so I'm not a fan.
the BD2 has been on my board for a few years, and i love it. It's basically Boss's take on the TS9, but in my opinion it does a lot more (that being said, nothing can match that trademark "ts9" sound, but I think the BD2 makes a lot of its own interesting noises). I've managed to get simple volume boost all the way to a full blown Bob Mould-ish fuzzy overdriven mess by setting the tone and gain all the way up and adjusting the volume to taste.
A nice fuzz pedal could also probably get you to where you want to go, depending.
The guitarist in my band uses an Ibanez Fz7 from the tone-lok series, and gets some great fuzzy "Dead speaker" sounds of it. They're really cheap, so I'd check the Daddy's Junky Musics in the area (the one in Nashua is a personal favorite of mine).
I also recently got an MXR Hendrix Fuzz reissue (little red box, with two knobs) that also gets some neat sounds too.

-Steve

[shadowplay]

you could try a pignose amp they're cheap and as well as sounding suitably rural can also be used a a preamp for your existing amp.  Plenty of blues guitarists have used them.

http://www.pignoseamps.com/index.php?di ... t=portamps

there is also a pedal but i've never used it.

I should say my Pignose is 15 years old so don't know how the new ones compare.

[rickenmetal]

It's not a typical blues sound, I would say it usually sounds like a fuzz, but the fuzz knob is not all the way up. Still, the main ingredient is not the gear, but the playing style, I think he plays with his fingers or something.

[phibes]

Nailing a a "blues tone" on a solid state amp won't be easy.

[BenHagerty]

Nailing a a "blues tone" on a solid state amp won't be easy.

Yeahhhh, haha.

[Superfuzz]

A fuzz face..and use your vol knob.

[rickenmetal]

I strongly disagree with the comment about the solid-state amps. B.B. King used to use solid-state amps.

[MrShake]

+1 on the Fuzz Face.  And +1 on callling bullshit on the people who say that reissues suck.  I bought a stock red Fuzz Face and with the fuzz at full and the volume at about 2 o'clock, it sounds pretty wooly and fuzzy.  I.e. very good.

[JazzBlaster]

When I play blues out at my uncles I just use my Roland cube 60 on the tweed setting, yeah it's solid state but I like it. Plug straight in with my jm and use the neck pup sounds blusier than my uncles strat to me.

[RumorsOFsurF]

Nailing a a "blues tone" on a solid state amp won't be easy.

My attempt on my Cube 20 with a Tele (AVRI '52 pickups)  Click on "Sky is Crying"

I didn't think it sounded too bad....aside from my playing.