9 Best Blues Breaker Style Overdrive Pedals & Clones (2026 Edition)
Searching for the best Blues Breaker style overdrive pedal? You’re in the right place.
Maybe you want that classic Blues Breaker tone with a little more versatility. Or maybe you don’t want to drop over $600 on an original Marshall Blues Breaker.
In this post, I’m breaking down the best Blues Breaker style pedals and clones I’ve personally tried and tested.
Some of the boutique options are almost impossible to find, so I’m focusing mostly on pedals that are actually available and easy to get your hands on.
The best Marshall Blues Breaker style overdrive pedals
Top pick
Duke of Tone by MXR
This is a collaboration between MXR and Analogman, the creators of the fabled King of Tone, or KoT for short. One of the best Blues Breaker pedals around.
But the waitlist for the KoT is over 4 years long and pre-owned ones are stupidly expensive.
The Duke of Tone offers similarly fantastic Blues Breaker tones but it’s more affordable and accessible.
1. MXR Duke of Tone
The Duke of Tone is the product of a collaboration between MXR and Mike from Analogman. The pedal is a heavily modified blues breaker style pedal based on the King of Tone and Prince of Tone pedals.
King of Tone pedals are tough to get hold of. On Reverb, they go for unjustifiable amounts of money.
And if you want a new one, you’ll have to get on a waitlist that is over four years long.
The Duke of Tone allows you to skip the waitlist and save some cash in the process. That’s the main reason I bought one!
It’s a fantastic-sounding drive pedal that’s well-built and won’t take up much room on your pedal board.
Beyond the typical volume, drive, and tone controls, we’ve got a three-way selector switch. This allows you to run the pedal as an overdrive, boost, or distortion.
There’s not a huge amount of gain on tap, and it’s definitely not one for metal players. But for most genres, you’ll find just enough gain. It’s great for adding grit and warmth. You can also use it as an “always on” pedal.
2. Marshall Bluesbreaker (Reissue)
The Marshall Bluesbreaker (Reissue) is the closest you can get in terms of both tone and the visual aesthetic to the original.
It’s likely that some of the components are different to the original but if you want the original but don’t want to spend the money – this is the pedal for you.
It comes complete with the flaws of the original as well. They haven’t fixed any of the issues.
That may be a good thing or a bad thing depending on who you ask. The original pedal has “a sound” and this reissue captures it quite nicely.
The original was limited in terms of headroom and gain. Those “issues” gave the pedal a particular sound and that’s part of the magic.
If that sounds good to you, get in on this quickly. Marshall has a history of discontinuing pedals so who knows how long this will still be available. Otherwise – some of the other pedals in this article are likely to be a better fit for you.
One thing that I’m sure of is that if it gets discontinued, pre-owned prices will skyrocket again.
3. JHS Morning Glory
The JHS Morning Glory is one of the best selling Blues Breaker pedals on the market. And for good reason – it sounds fantastic and it’s incredibly versatile.
Not only that but it solves several of the main problems with the original pedal by adding plenty more output volume and headroom.
The original pedal was also somewhat limited by the amount of gain available. That has been solved by adding a high gain mode.
Across the top, you’ll find volume, drive, a gain mode toggle switch, and a tone control. On the side of the pedal, we’ve got an external jack socket for use with a footswitch which allows you to switch between gain modes.
And there’s an external dip switch to roll off the high end, should you need it. If you’ve got a bright amp with a tele/strat, you may find this particularly useful.
Overall, this is one heck of a pedal. Great tones. The JHS is an extremely versatile pedal and it can be used as a transparent boost, should you need it.
If you’re looking for an overdrive pedal that retains clarity while adding plenty of bite, give the JHS Morning Glory a try.
4. Zvex Box of Rock
The Zvex Box of Rock is a fantastic sounding overdrive that is the epitome of a high quality ‘Marshall In a Box’ style pedal.
It’s designed to emulate a cranked Marshall JTM45 from the 60s – the same amp that the original Blues Breaker pedal is based on.
I first came across this pedal, like many others, thanks to binge watching episodes of That Pedal Show.
While it’s not quite received as much hype as some other pedals on this list, it’s totally deserving – it sounds incredible.
The Zvex Box of Rock addresses the typical issues with pedals of this type, albeit in a different way.
The Box of Rock incorporates two foot switches into a single pedal enclosure, giving you a boost channel and distortion channel. The boost provides huge headroom while the distortion provides plenty of grit and rich harmonics while retaining clarity and note definition. It’s transparent as you’d expect, and offers plenty of dynamics.
There are two different versions of this pedal. Firstly, Zvex offers a custom hand-painted version. The more affordable, is the Vexter series version with UV printed artwork. Turnaround times for the hand-painted versions are quite high so I opted for the Vexter version.
It’s also worth noting that the design on the pedal is likely not the one you’ll get. They have a number of different designs. When I ordered mine, the artwork looked quite different from the picture. Mine was more Led Zep inspired than the photo listed.
They also offer vertical and horizontal versions of the pedal.
As a final note, if you notice the drive pot is noisy, don’t worry. That’s completely normal. The pot re-biases itself as you adjust it.
5. Tone City King of Blues
The Tone City King of Blues is the best pedal if you want the most ‘bang for your buck’.
Inside this pedal, we have two classic circuits – the Klon clean boost, and the Blues Breaker. Both are fairly transparent, the Klon being slightly less transparent due to its slight mid-hump.
This gives you two unique flavours of pedal in one enclosure.
I believe the Blues Breaker circuit in this pedal is based on the Analogueman King of Tone pedal. However, I could be wrong. I’m still on the waiting list for one of those. So, I’ll have to wait another 3-4 years before I can test them side-by-side.
Anyway, back to the King of Blues. When I first purchased this pedal, I wasn’t expecting much. I made a passing judgement based on the price tag but I was pleasantly surprised. It offers a lot of excellent tones for the money. And the build quality is far better than I expected.
This is a particularly nice option if you use a clean pedal-platform style amp, as it’ll give you an extra couple of channels, with plenty of tonal options.
6. J.Rockett Blue Note Pro Series
The J.Rockett Blue Note blew me away when I first heard it. And it does every time I get it on my board.
It isn’t quite as versatile as the Box of Rock or King of Blues, but the tone? It’s exceptional. So much note clarity and note definition. It gets real close to those vintage Eric Clapton tones.
The Tour Series version that I have is a bit lacking in the gain and level department.
However, the newer Pro Series solves that problem with the addition of a ‘Hot’ switch that gives you more level, gain, and mids.
Both appear to still be in production but they’re around the same price. I haven’t had the opportunity to test the two side-by-side. But if I didn’t already have the Tour Series version, I’d likely go for the Pro Series to get that Hot switch.
7. Wampler Pantheon
In terms of guitar tone, the Wampler Pantheon is quite possibly the furthest you can get from an original Marshall Blues Breaker on this list. That’s partly due to its powerful EQ controls, gain modes and clipping modes.
It’s not a pedal for purists or those who want to dial in their tone quickly. This pedal is for the tone chasers and tweakers.
Where most pedals on this list offer a single tone control, the Pantheon offers bass, treble, and presence controls. What makes the EQ section in this pedal unique is that they are active controls!
The versatility doesn’t end there, you get 3 different gain voicings so you can alter the clipping, and you can choose between 3 different gain levels.
The Pantheon has more high end and presence than other amps so this would lend itself best to gainier amps. Whereas other bb style pedals tend to sound better with clean amps.
That said, you have enough tonal flexibility to dial in a great tone on any rig.
This is what I love most about the Pantheon – whatever your rig – you have the tone shaping options to get the sound you want.
Clearly, Brian Wampler knows what he’s doing. Afterall, he did write the book on modding and building pedals.
As you can see, the Wampler Pantheon is not just another Blues Breaker clone.
8. JHS Double Barrel
The JHS Morning Glory is already a very versatile pedal but the Double Barrel takes that tonal flexibility to new heights. It’s one of the more popular dual drive pedals on the market.
With this pedal, you get a Morning Glory and a Moonshine in one box.
If you haven’t heard of the JHS Moonshine, here’s the deal: it’s based on a Tube Screamer but with some smart tweaks.
The original Tube Screamer can cut some of the low-end. The Moonshine fixes that by using a charge pump to boost the internal 9V up to 18V while still running on a standard 9V power supply. That means more low-end and way more headroom.
There’s a toggle switch that lets you go from low volume and saturated tones to high headroom and crunchy drive.
Plus, it has a clean blend control. Most Tube Screamer-style pedals set this internally, but with the Moonshine you get an external control so you can dial it in exactly how you like.
Stacking these two circuits together comes with another bonus: an order toggle switch. You can flip the order of the Morning Glory and Moonshine in your chain without rewiring your board.
9. Mooer Blues Crab
The Mooer Blues Crab is a solid option for those who don’t want to break the bank or take up too much space on their board.
Thanks to its compact size, this pedal won’t take up much space on your board.
You won’t get extra features like you do with pedals such as the Box of Rock or Mount Pleasant, and it doesn’t have the same headroom. That may not matter if you’re running a separate boost pedal, but it’s worth noting.
The build quality isn’t on par with some of the higher-end pedals on this list, but that’s expected—this is a budget-friendly option.
For the price, though, it sounds surprisingly good.
What is a Blues Breaker pedal?
The Blues Breaker is a light-medium gain overdrive pedal with an amp-like circuit that uses soft clipping. It’s a fairly transparent overdrive pedal but with more low-end than a tubescreamer and less mids than a klon.
Generally, this isn’t the pedal that’s going to push your amp much. The idea is to recreate amp breakup using a pedal through a clean amp.
That said, there are some Blues Breaker style pedals that do have more gain. The JHS Morning Glory is a good example because it has a high gain mode.
So, that’s the Blues Breaker sound, but for those of you who are interested in the history, here’s some background on this mythical pedal:
The original pedal, the Marshall Blues Breaker, was originally released in 1991 with the aim of recreating the sound of a 2×12” JTM combo (more on this amp in a moment – it’s a significant part of the story). This pedal became known as the “black box” version.
It’s known for being pretty quiet as far as most pedals go. This is something that some of the pedal manufacturers featured in this list have addressed in various ways via tweaking the circuit, adding a boost, or adding a high gain mode. J.Rockett’s Blue Note, like the original pedal, is on the quiet side, for example. But the tone is incredible. Or at least, it is to me.
The “black box” version of the pedal was discontinued shortly after due to poor sales. A version 2 model was later released along with a new range of pedals, but that entire range was eventually discontinued as well.
It wasn’t until people started seeing the pedal on John Mayer’s pedalboard in 2006 that the bb style pedal became popular. Pedal builders started to pay more attention to this circuit as well. Within a short amount of time, the Blues Breaker became one of the most ‘fabled’ types of overdrive pedals in the guitar market.
Then in early 2023, Marshall launched re-issues of their classic overdrive + distortion circuits. This includes the Drivemaster, Shredmaster, The Guv’nor, and of course, the Bluesbreaker. They even use the same chassis. This is a smart move for Marshall because an original pedal goes for far more than its worth. However, while Marshall have tried to make these as close to the originals as possible, chances are some of the components are different. And that’s to be expected given the availability of components.
But there’s more to the story of the Blues Breaker sound than a pedal. For that, we have to go back even further. Because it all started with an amp. In particular, a broken combo amp!
In the early 1960s, Jim Marshall started building the 1962 JTM amps based on the Fender Bassman but with different components. A few years later, Eric Clapton buys a JTM combo and joins John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. Clapton then used that amp to record the ‘Bluesbreakers’ album. Otherwise known as the Beano album.
An album that is widely considered to be what ignited the British blues rock scene in the 1960s. And it inspired a new generation of guitarists to pick up Les Pauls.
Later on, the name of the combo amp was changed to incorporate the ‘Bluesbreaker’ name. This is why if you’re searching for a bluesbreaker, you’ll find both amps and pedals.
If you’d like to learn more about the history of this amazing pedal, I’d highly recommend checking out this article by JHS.
Alternatively, check out this episode of That Pedal Show:
As a side note, you may have noticed I’m using two different spellings – ‘Bluesbreaker’ and ‘Blues Breaker’. The former is used on the Bluesbreaker album, and was incorporated into the 1962 JTM amp while the latter was used on the original Marshall ‘black box’ Blues Breaker pedal from 1991.
Choosing the best Blues Breaker pedal for you
So, which Marshall Blues Breaker-inspired pedal should you pick?
It really comes down to your needs. Honestly, you can’t go wrong with any pedal on this list—they’ll all get you close to that classic Blues Breaker tone.
If we’re talking pure tone, the Box of Rock, Blue Note, and Mount Pleasant are exceptional. The Morning Glory is right up there too, but I personally love the extra versatility of the JHS Double Barrel.
Cost is another factor. The Mount Pleasant is a steal for a hand-wired pedal. The Mooer Blues Crab is the most budget-friendly. But for just a little more, the Tone City King of Blues gives you much more tonal flexibility.
And if you want maximum tonal options, the Wampler Pantheon is tough to beat. It’s got one of the most powerful EQ sections of any pedal on this list, giving you control over every nuance of your sound.
Pick what fits your style and budget, plug it in, and start dialing in that perfect Blues Breaker tone.
Related pedal roundups:
Featured image credit: Adam Connell // Tone Island.
