The Artec MBD Blues Drive is an analog overdrive pedal made by Artec, aimed squarely at blues players. RockBoard's PedalPedia describes it as "Absolutely not like the other overdrive pedals, ARTEC BLUES DRIVE makes well-designed drive tone for blues guitar player."1 It sits in the broad family of Overdrive Pedals, the mild end of the drive range that also includes Distortion Pedals and Fuzz Pedals at the heavier end.
What it does
The Blues Drive is built to produce a drive tone tailored to blues playing rather than high-gain rock or metal. RockBoard's PedalPedia says the pedal "has refined tone-filter to provide good picking taste," meaning the tone circuit is designed to keep the character of the player's picking attack intact as the drive is applied.1
For a player, that places it among overdrives intended to respond to dynamics: play softer and it cleans up, dig in and it pushes harder. RockBoard's PedalPedia describes the pedal as "Absolutely not like the other overdrive pedals, ARTEC BLUES DRIVE makes well-designed drive tone for blues guitar player," and says it "has refined tone-filter to provide good picking taste"1.
Power and practicalities
The pedal runs on 9V DC with a center negative plug, the standard arrangement for guitar pedals, and draws 8mA of current.1 That is a light draw by pedal standards, so it will run comfortably from any standard pedalboard supply output.
At 8mA the Blues Drive is a low-current pedal, but it still needs a proper 9V DC center negative supply. Verify your supply's polarity and voltage before plugging in any pedal.
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Questions
Is the Artec MBD Blues Drive analog or digital?
It is an analog pedal. Artec lists the circuit type as analog, which means the guitar signal is processed as a continuous electrical signal rather than converted to digital data. Analog overdrives like this are typically valued for how they respond to picking dynamics and guitar volume changes, and the maker says this one has a refined tone filter designed to give what it calls good picking taste.
How much power does the Artec MBD Blues Drive need?
It runs on 9V DC with a center negative plug, the standard for guitar pedals, and draws 8mA of current. That is a light draw, so it can share a daisy-chained or isolated power supply output with other standard pedals without straining the supply.
Sources (1)
- MBD Blues Drive by Artec, RockBoard PedalPedia, 2026