Fulltone '69 Pedal

Fairly easy to use to get a good sound.

Dont need any manual to recreate the Hendrix tone.

I have been playing blues and hard rock for 12 years.
And I had many fuzz/drive effects than anyone I know in the studio.

And this pedal gave me very good impression.
Clears up very well like VooDoo-1(which I die for) and very vintage sounding fuzz that has wide tonal range.
actually its an awesome fuzz to say it shortly for Hedrix, Cream and all stuff. BUT it doesnt nail the 60's buzz fuzz sound or psychdelic sound like Davie Allen.

If you want to get some serious rich buzz fuzz tone.
You should try Fuzzrite or the 100% clon of the Fuzzbrite, FuzzBrite from Ashbass.!
I have 3of these pedals for all different use and its the holy grail of the vintage fuzz.!

For the tone and the ability the fulltone its good but Fuzzrite and FuzzBrite can do more serious stuff! : )

never dealt with Fultons;

For wide tonal range fuzz its a great pedal!
I have 70's too and this thing is pretty much covers the rest that 70's cant do.

Since I have Fuzzrite and 2Fuzzbrites so its not really been up for my pedalboard.

But Fulltone is a keeper for some later reasons!

4 knobs (volume, bias, contour & fuzz), so it's not quite as simple as an old fuzz face (volume, fuzz), but pretty close. The manual is detailed, which would be good for anyone using a real germanium fuzz (as opposed to a distortion or overdrive) for the first time.

Mine's from '98. They've just been discontinued. Had they not been discontinued, I would not have bought one.

This is a clone of the fuzz made famous by Jimi Hendrix, and the manual demonstrates how to dial in his settings with the contour adjusted for some supposed mod Roger Mayer performed on Jimi's pedals. With a strat or duo sonic into the 69 into my modded Blues Junior, it does come frighteningly close to that '67-'69 Experience guitar sound.

Rolling off the guitar's volume knob *really* cleans the tone. About midway down on my Hamer's (basically a LP special with burstbuckers) neck pickup gives a zen-perfect Keef tone, circa. "Exile on Main St." I like that even better than the full-on Jimi fuzz. At about 1 or 2, my amp is cleaner than when the fuzz is disengaged. This is why I love germanium.

I'm more of a tone bender guy, but this may find its way into my setup for occasional use where the 'bender is too, uh, bright. I'll definitely record rhythm tracks with it. The other day at rehearsal I ran my guitar into the '69 -> wah (true bypass & vintage voicing modded GCB95) -> Throbak Stone Bender -> cheap analog delay -> amp ... and just used one fuzz or the other (2 at once is a nasty, unusable overload & probably dangerous).

The '69 sounds great. The low-end response can't be had with the mass-market dunlop fuzz face, or many of the other clones. You can also dial in a better-sounding Big Muff than electro-harmonix can give you ... *** but I really wish fulltone would make their pedals more compatible with non-TB units.*** I own a Throbak fuzz, an SPF boost and modded my own wah for TB and they *never* give any issues to my buffered delay or vice-versa, but the '69 does. I imagine this is a ploy of some sort, but it's definitely one of my big gripes with Fulltone, and I do have a few. You spend top dollar for something hand-made, you should expect it to work *with* everything. Not very user-friendly, unless your rig is exclusively fulltone.

Like I said, it sounds *great*, but a friend owns the Throbak Fuzz Haze, which can do *everything* the '69 can do (maybe better), and which doesn't screw with the rest of your setup.

I bought this used, but in pretty great condition considering it's 9 years old. If I break it out at a gig, I won't have a backup, but I pretty much fly by the seat of my pants on that sort of thing. It held up through a 3-hour rehearsal ...

I haven't dealt with them personally, and I've heard an equal amount of positive & negative about the company. I imagine they're better than the major mass-market folks out there ...

Again, the user-friendliness/compatibility of the product is going to take this rating down, too. If the other boutiques can make great-sounding, true-bypass pedals that work with the middle & bottom shelf stompboxes, Fulltone should be able to follow suit. I really like my $40 delay pedal & shouldn't be punished b/c I cant afford a Tube Tape Echo.

I play in an indie trio very influenced by mid-period Brit Invasion & US Garage rock -- The Who, Yardbirds, Human Beinz, Tommy James, etc. ... so, yeah, it's a perfect match, but so is anything I'd introduce to my collection.

Been playing 26 years. I'm 35. Mostly self-taught. I've been writing songs in all-original bands since 1989. I have 3 electrics, 2 acoustics, 2 modded Blues Juniors, a Pignose Hog 20, too many effects to name and a bunch of analog recording gear.

If it were stolen, I'd plan to buy a Throbak Fuzz Haze at some point in my life, but not immediately. Again, it sounds great, but not crucial to my sound.

I have played the dunlop fuzz face, the DOD classic fuzz and several Big Muffs. This definitely rivals the Big Muff in Low end and blows away any mass-market fuzz face imitator. Again, it's a great clone of a classic stompbox.

I'd say it helps me -- it doesn't get in the way. I really like a lot of what it does.

for the 3rd time, *STOP MAKING YOUR EFFECTS INCOMPATIBLE WITH OTHER PEOPLE'S. THIS IS NOT NECESSARY. IT'S JUST POMPOUS AND RUDE.*

Simple to use. Sounds good on all settings. You can get anything you're after. Nice short instruction sheet with recommended settings.

You can go from Hendrix fuzz to very mild dirt. A lot of effects sound like crap if they're not close to being maxed out. The lower settings are just as good as the higher settings here. Not just less volume or fuzz, but a totally different, sweet sound in itself. I had another "boutique" lesser known fuzz and it couldn't touch this. (read more about that below)

Has anyone ever had a problem with Fulltone?

The best all the way. As I said, I had a different fuzz that claimed to be germanium based. Since Fulltone says the 69 needs to be center pin positive because of the germaniums (just like the Octafuzz) then why was my other fuzz not center pin pos? Makes you wonder. Anyway, here's my theory on effects: you're not gonna find the next best thing from some guy making pedals in his basement in his spare time. Aside from spending obscene amounts of money on Cornish and the like, Fulltone, Keeley and Analogman (and a few others) are the closest us mortals can get to grail tone. Why waste money screwing around with Whatzhisnuts Ball O' Fuzz when you can go Fulltone?

I had a TS9/808 mod, again, from some guy. Probably not a bad mod, but come on, for about $50 more I got an Analogman TS808 true vintage and it was way better. Do yourself a favor, look at what the pros play and stick with the good stuff. Fulltone all the way.

i mostly use it with the fuzz knob full on, bias and contour on about 3/4 and volume as needed..though there are some nice light fuzz chime tones further back on the dial.

i use a Fender Strat with Seymour Duncan alnico pro II pickups, a Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue, and a Fulltone OCD. and can't be much happier with my tone, but i wanted a bit extra for leads and stuff. so i got the '69 and it sounds unreal!...especially with the OCD driving in front of it. now with it full on it will muddy your chords a bit, ah, but such sweet chaos it is! and you don't have to stomp it on and off between phrases because it is quiet as a mouse. my entire life i have craved that early Jimi tone and now it is here in my hand in this little red steel box. the only problem with these Fulltone effects is that if you get one you realize how crappy all those digital effects you got in the past are. and if you try to use them in conjunction with the Fulltone they sap your tone.

i am curious how many generations of my ancestors will use my fulltone pedals?... oh and you really really don't want to drop it on your toe.

i dunno?

if you've never bought high end effects before the price may seem steep, but consider that these pedals are the price of two commercial pedals and they deliver the same solid pure tone as vintage effects that that you can't even find anymore much less afford. i've been playing for 20 years and have been searching for this quality of tone...anyway i just want to recommend going this route instead of buying some digital effects that you eventually get bored with or overpriced reissues of vintage effects that are made with inferior parts.

There are 4 knobs. Bias is sort of an irregular feature for a pedal and some may be confused by it. It controls the impedance of the device; full clockvwise is true vintage original specs (eg, Jimi's Fuzz Face). Other than that there's volume and fuzz and contour, not too complicated. There's also an additional internal trimmer that controls the shape of the distortion, but you dont even have to mess with that. I found it easy enough to tweak myself though.

Keep in mind that this thing is a fuzz... The original concept is supposed to emulate the sound of a ripped speaker... But there is something sonically pleasing about fuzzes, even though they TECHNICALLY are designed to sound chaotic and, well, fuzzy. This fuzz is excellent. Te best circuit I have played through as of yet. This is pretty much identical to the original Dallas Arbiter version circa approx. 1969 (hence the name). One thing about this device is that it doesn't sound very good unless the volume is at around 12 o'clock at least. Once it's there though, you've got a fantastic, thick, creamy, harmonic fuzz with the perfect amount of edge and grind. This thing cleans up great when you roll back the volume on the guitar. Roll it back, add a nice touch of reverb... GREAT SOUND! There's only one pedal I've played that cleans up better than this one: the Electro-Harmonix Muff Overdrive that they just reissued. I have that thing and it cleans up to become THE GREATEST CLEAN TONE EVER!

This thing is almost guaranteed to last as long as you want it to. I honestly think you'd have to try to bust this thing for it to break. It's Fulltone. Those who think BOSS pedals are the most reliable, best made pedals around are FULL OF SOOOOOO MUCH CRAP IT'S NOT EVEN FUNNY. BOSS quality is absolutely inferior to Fulltone quality and there are plenty of good, logical reasons for this.

I have not had to contact Fulltone, but I've heard that they're great. Mike Fuller owns the company. Who owns BOSS? I don't know, and you don't either. It's a small company, so the service is going to be better than most. I'm going to say here that the support is good although I don't know for sure.

I play a wide range of styles -Mike Bloomfield to Hendrix, Page to Radiohead, The Cure, Muse, jazz.... lots of stuff. I have always liked fuzzes and the typical Hendrix sound, but don't think you're getting a DS-1 because this is an animal of another sort. It does everything I want it to do and sounds fantastic. The quality is better than it probably needs to be. It's true bypass (I'm sorry Pete Cornish, I side with Mike Fuller on this one. I don't need 300 ft of cable to drive). I have guitars of all types, Les Pauls, strats, teles, 335s, you name it. I have a few different amps, all tube, all good sounding. I've been playing for almost 10 years and I am a semi-professional musician. I gig a lot, record frequently and play constantly. I have an elaborate pedal board and this thing is a valuable part.

Very easy to use, but i have to admit to getting some info on how to use it first. Bias does wonders to this pedal. Really useful feature. The only thing to be aware of is the reverse polirity of the external power connector. It is center positive and might not work with any given power ditributor (dunlop dc brick, tc electronics fuel tank, cioks power supply's...). It will work with the voodoo lab pedal power 2!

I always could get close to the sounds of my favrite artists, because i've already got an amp with a high gain channel. That was not the reason for buying the '69 pedal. I just wantet something nasty and gritty, without mushing up the guitar sound too much. And the '69 does that just the way i want it to.
It's a nice kind of fuzz. Not necessarily to the ears, but always to the guitarsound.

My set-up: American standard strat with a JB junior in the bridge position - Boss TU2 tuner - '69 fuzz - Dunlop Jimi Hendrix wah - MXR phase 90 - Sweetsound Mojo Vibe - Ibanez TS9 (reissue) - Brunetti MC2 Three channel tube amp. I use the '69 only in combination with the clean and crunch channel, occasionally with the TS9 engaged.

It's not noisy at all. Not in comparison with my TS9, and in no way compared to the EHX big muff pi US reissue which it replaced. Had no need to mess around with the internal trimmer, because i could get the sound i wanted the way it came to me. It fuzzes up the sound in a nice way.

Very musical sounding pedal! My setting on the '69 is; Volume 10 o'clock, bias 11 o'clock, contour one o'clock and fuzz at 4 o'clock.
It's a keeper!

And oh yes... I play cover pop-rock-funk in one band and quite heavy funk rock in another...

I got it used and it appears to be very solid. High build quality. The switch also feels solid. Internally it looks as simple as it can get, so no reason for worries in that department. I would and do gig without a backup.

Customer support is great. I live in the Netherlands,and when i mailed them about the reverse power connector and and asked them if rewiring was a good idea, i got a reply within just about an hour! The answer was very correct and it helped me a lot. So thumbs up to Fulltone!

In the cover department it can or cannot fit in to the song. I found some use for it and would not want to miss it. Don't use it that much, but still couldn't figure how to get these special sounds any other way. Definetely an important soundtool. I have been playing since '88, and i'm 38 at this moment. Fuzz came into my life just about four or five years ago in the shape of the big muff. After a while it turned out to be too much in terms of distortion and low end. But i was infected with the fuzz virus rightaway. My other gear is listed above, with the exception of a TS7 overdrive, the big muff, which is still laying around and a danelectro psycho flange. The flanger is also retired... If stolen or lost, i would get it again! No question! Love the tone and the flexibility. Hate the reverse polarity. But in a reply to my question, fulltone stated that it was due to the germanium transistors that the '69 has a reverse polarity. It has to be stated that the device is very economic in terms of battery use, as are practically all fuzzes. So not being able to hook it up to my dc brick is not really an issue. I only compared it by reading reviews on the net, which turned out to be really helpful. I wanted it to sound in the direction of the dunlop jimi hendrix fuzz, but somewhat more flexible. Well, it does just that. And true bypass??? Sorry people, i can't hear the grass grow, so in don't really care about that! Everithing i want a fuzz to be, the '69 is it! It does help me make music, a very impotant tool! But nohting more than that! Could live without it, but don't really want to... It's a wellbuilt pedal with great features that make it worth the price. Soundquality is pristine, if you are into fuzz. One thing more... If you are looking for the wall of sound pedal... This does not do it by itself. You will have to use it with a fat sounding overdriven amp for that.

Easy to use, but spend time to find the sweet spots that fir your guitar and playing style.

The sound is superb. And if you put it between the amp en guitar its great. Only use true-bypass pedals with this baby and it shines. Hendrix, Beck, Johnson, Trower, Clapton. Its all here, and more.

I used this with a Crybaby and it didn't sound so good. To much dirt. But once I added a true bypass wah (The Clyde) the fuzz went from great to stellar!!

If used to drive a highgain channel, hiss must be controlled. It doesnt hiss too much if set properly. But it took me some time to find the right settings!!

Good guitar, '69, Clyde, tube amp = tone heaven!! Really!!

Build like a tank, battery works for months playing daily!! Awesome!

Great support, if you ask the right questions and do your homework first. Good cables, good gear, and a clear explaination of your issues. Got great support when I was A-B ing the '69 with the Fuzzface.

Superb. Musical pedal, classic sounds, new sounds, but very very usable. Work the internal trimmer, but it was set perfect when I got it. Buy a new one if it got stolen.

Once you get the lay of the land, it's not that hard to get the sound that you're after. Volume and Fuzz do what you'd expect. The Bias and Contour controls are a bit harder to describe...Bias kind of adjusts the character of the fuzz (not the amount or the tone of it), and Contour is like a midrange control. The internal trimmer pot is very handy (though you have to crack open the pedal to get to it), and seems to work mostly as a global tone control while adding a little of variety with the clipping and harmonic structure. I've found that once you get the amount and nature of the fuzz you're looking for, you'll probably only touch the Contour control if anything. When the Bias and Contour are turned fully clockwise, there is some drop in the overall signal, so you may find yourself compensating with extra volume (this pedal ahs more than enough) So it's actually real easy to use once you get accustomed to it. And, it's a lot of fun to tweak anyway so you're not going to be cussing at it if you do find yourself turning a lot of knobs. Starting form the "Hendrix" setting in the manual is an excellent place to begin.

This is an incredibly versatile pedal. Everything you dial up retains a bit of a fuzzy character, but you can get such a variety of tones it's unreal. I'm really itching to try this as a cleaned up overdrive pedal (which it can do) pushing a tube amp. You can get Big Muff wooliness (though not as big and thumpy sounding as the real deal), fizzy mosquito attack fuzz, even distorted tones that sound a bit like a Boss DS-1 with a weak battery (I mean this in a good way). There is something for everyone here.

The interactivity between the '69 and your guitar and volume control deserves even more accolades. I've never played a fuzz pedal that let the twangy clank of my Fenders shine through like this one has. And to say this thing reacts to your volume control is putting it lightly; 9 for rhythm and 10 for kicked up leads covers all the ground I need. Just a quick nudge of my pinky gets me to both spots.

To be critical: While single notes and doublestops sing, chords can be a bit hard to wrangle in, even on "rhythm" settings. Tweaking your picking dynamics and volume control can help this, but attempting to figure out what will get results you're looking for requires some patience until you develop a familiarity with it.

I'm using Strats and Teles with a Vox AC30.

It looks very gigworthy, and Fulltone has a great reputation for quality stuff. The quirky thing about mine is that the travel on the knobs is weirdly inconsistent: the volume knob is very stiff, while the contour knob is somewhat loose. This doesn't bother me...I just find it weird. The LED is also very dim, even with new batteries...but that doesn't concern me either.

Classic rock, shoegaze, and blues primarily...with a bit of everything mixed in. I've been playing for 18 years.

I currently own a Big Muff US RI and an Ibanez ToneLoc fuzz and have owned several other fuzzes: a Prescription Yardbox, DOD Classic Fuzz, a Russian Big Muff and probably a couple of others I'm forgetting.

The '69 clearly beats those "other" fuzzes in my book and is probably my go-to fuzz for classic rock and blues because of its savory vintage flavor. I remain a big fan of the US Big Muff with its aggressive low end and wall of fur. The '69 is not going to make me pack that biatch up. But these are really two different beasts and I dig them both. When I want the sound of fuzz, I'll go with the Muff...when I want the sound of a guitar with fuzz, I'll go with the '69.

What kind of surprised me was how much more I liked this pedal than I liked the Yardbox...and I really liked the Yardbox (selling it was not something I wanted to do) Of course, the '69 is trying to do something different than the Yardbox is doing (Fuzz Face versus Tonebender) and maybe I'm just a Fuzz Face guy and never realized it, but for me it's no contest at this point.

Anyways, I highly recommend this pedal. The tweakability is second to none, and most settings are going to give you something interesting or usable. Not only will most find something they like, but you'll also discover a lot of tones that will kill you. Go get one.

The '69 is a PNP Germanium ransistor equipped fuzz pedal that is identical to early Arbiter Fuzzfaces and includes a few mods that were done to Jimi Hendrix's units.

Not that easy to use. You gotta understand some tricks. All the knobs work together.
- Volume
- Contour: adds Midrange, Harmonics and Sustain.
- Bias: takes out the "woofiness" and gives great Overdrive/Distortion sounds when its level is reduced.
- Fuzz: amount of distortion. It sounds best fully clockwise. You can clean-up the sound by turning down your guitar's volume control. And that's the most important thing to understand about this pedal!

Also an Internal Trimmer allows for adjustment of Clipping Symmetry, Harmonics, and Tracking.

The manual is good.

I'm using the '69 pedal with a Fender Strat Standard (Mexico) and a Fender Blues Junior tube amp.

Vintage sound! The best Fuzz I have ever played in my life.

With the '69 and a good tube amp, you get all those Hendrix/Led Zep/Beatles/Cream/Kravitz fuzz sounds.
The '69 is more versatile that it seems at first. You can sound very fuzzy, very warm and also when you turn down the Bias knob you get a great tube-like distortion.

Also, the '69 have True-Bypass to preserve tone when the pedal is off.

Seems to be solid.

Don't know.

I play mostly Classic Rock and R&B from the 60's-70's. You gotta hear the '69 to believe it. This pedal is THE ultimate fuzz pedal to get if you're after that kind of sound (think late 60's, early 70's).

I compared it to the Electro Harmonix Big Muff. They share some similarities, but the fuzz effect seems to sit on top of your sound with the Big Muff, whereas with the '69 it's a whole. They are not in the same league.

It really helps your playing to play through good gear, and the '69 is an amazing product.

If it were stolen, I would definitely buy another one.

easy enough to use. The '69 is my first fuzz pedal so I wasn't quite sure what to expect save for hopefully a good thick hendrix-y tone. Needless to say it didn't take long to find it. The manual was quite helpful in deciphering the meanings of the bias and contour knobs plus giving suggestions as to how to tweak the box for certain sounds.

I tested this pedal in a store against the '70, the soulbender, and some other fuzz pedal whose name I can't remember. by the end it was a close call between the '70 and the '69, but I went with the '69 because its tone felt more musical to me and the pedal seemed more versatile. I brought it home though and I'll be honest...I was pretty disappointed at first. I have a fender twin reverb and I guess I expected to plug in the fuzz and be drenched in thick creamy tone. Alas the sound was bitter, harsh, and unwelcoming. I was looking for an eric johnson/hendrix sort of smooth tone, but it sounded more like the beatles revolution sound (not that that's a bad thing, just not what I was looking for). But I knew mike made good products, so I gave it a chance. For a while I used it with a maxon overdrive and that satisfied my tonal desires to a point but it still wasn't giving me "that sound". WELL, I just got my hands on this great old amp called a kalamazoo. It's a model one, 5 watts, 10 inch speaker, class A...basically a nice little tube practice amp from 1966. In experimenting with it, I hooked its second input up to my twin and ooh la la, what a tone! Then it occured to me, the fuzz needs this kind of ballsy breakup to really shine. Sure enough I put the fuzz in front of the amps and WOW. What a tone. it's like I'm at monterey. It's just so FULL and FUZZY and AWESOME. I'm completely in love with this pedal now...it just took the right gear. And yes, the pedal cleans up marvelously well from your guitar's volume knob...an added treat!

I take it everywhere and I lost one of its little feet over this last summer. I got by with it being an awkward three legged pedal for a while but I eventually found old amp feet that sufficed...no problem. Other than that no problems here

never had to deal with them

as I said, it took me a while to find this pedal's true potential, but now that I've found it I am SO satisfied. I find it caters more to my strat than les paul (maybe it's simply the tone I'm going after) but both sound fine with it. I've found my dream amp rig now and this pedal work wonders with it. If the pedal were stolen I'd first be very angry and upset, then immediately get another one, because for what it is and does it's not that expensive. As everyone says, this is not a distortion or overdrive...it's a fuzz. that's what it does to your tone...it makes it fuzzy. If you want fuzzy tone, buy this. Mike says that this pedal is meant for fans of hendrix's first two albums because he switched from germanium to silicon transistors...blah blah...but simply judging from hendrix recordings, I can get a pretty similar tone to band of gypsys era stuff too so not to worry...just make sure you have the proper gear to work with this pedal and TRY IT OUT FIRST