Fulltone '69 Pedal

- The other reviews tell the tale - this is an elusive, retired, germanium fuzz pedal made by that wizard, Mike Fuller. I refused to believe the hype surrounding this pedal, and ended up with many other fuzz pedals while searching for "that sound". I finally gave in and tracked one down on eBay. (a coupon I earned over at PayPal lessened the financial blow) No regrets, I haven't gotten a bad sound out of it.

- It even works well with the Fulltone Clyde Deluxe wah in front of it, dispelling the notion that wah and fuzz don't mix for mere mortals below Hendrix's talent level. Not sure what happens if you try other companies' wah pedals... but the family heritage of Fulltone connected to Fulltone gives no problems.

- Is it worth paying almost twice what it cost new in its day? YES! The bottom line is this pedal just plain lives up to the hype. Mine came with original box and manual, and the manual does explain such things as the subtlety of using the bias knob. Experimenting, however, works just as well as Mike Fuller's suggested settings.

- I run this pedal into various tube amps including EL84's (Fender Blues Junior, Orange Tiny Terror), 6V6's (Fender Princeton Reissue, Rivera Venus 3), 6L6's (Fender Evil Twin, Marshall JTM45 Reissue), and EL34's (Marshall TSL60, Marshall Artist 3203, THD BiValve)

- The trick to this pedal, like any good fuzz, is to start with the cleanest amp setting possible. Obviously, the clean base tone you color with fuzz will vary from amp to amp. Some may like the over-the-top sound of a fuzz pushing the dirty channel of an amp, but I feel the effect is stronger starting out clean, then adding the desired dirt in layers.

- The '69 excels by itself but also works very well as a conduit feeding other overdrive pedals. No surprise it works well in front of the OCD, but I like it in front of the Boss Blues Driver (with Keeley mod) or the Lovepedal Les Lius. For me, the combination of a Tele into the the '69 into the Les Lius pushing the Evil Twin's clean channel (using the LOW input I might add) is the sound of the vintage Deluxe Reverb without the vintage price tag, IMHO. (I make that statement after having played a vintage '66 DR a few days ago...)

- Used alone, I get exactly the results Mike Fuller describes - "leave the '69 wide open and use your guitar volume to give you what you need."

- Sweet, articulate, dirt-on-tap best describes this wonder box. The harmonics and tone of your guitar come thru, enhanced by the coloration of the chosen level of dirt. TONE TONE TONE, period.

- Fulltone products are built like tanks and Mike Fuller's reputation for being a bug for details shows. I own many, many Fulltone pedals and have yet to find reliability an issue.

- Use it at a gig? Not a chance. Not because it will fail, but because now it's too valuable/rare to take on the road. It's like taking a '59 Les Paul or '57 Strat on tour - why? The nuances will be lost live. Same goes for rare pedals. Other fuzz boxes will get the job done live, save the best/most irreplaceable you've got for use in the studio.

- Haven't had any problems with Fulltone gear, so no comment.

- I've been playing old school rock and blues for about 20 years. To get there, I play Les Pauls, Stratocasters, Telecasters, ES-335's, V's and SG's. What can I say? I've spent a small fortune on gear because the tone matters. Now, I'm certainly not knocking the various other fuzz boxes I own from MJM (London Fuzz, Dallas Boost), Electro Harmonix (Big Muff Tone Wicker), Way Huge/Dunlop (Swollen Pickle) and even Fulltone ( '70, Catalyst). They all have their voice/tone... but they just aren't the '69.

- I guess the intangible is the subtlety of the tone. It can go from purr to throaty roar based on guitar volume, amp setting, and player touch. In other words, you play this pedal. It is a very organic addition to your tone, extremely responsive to player touch.

- If I had to nit pick, I don't understand why germanium boxes are still built with positive ground jacks. A minor annoyance, but I guess the tone makes up for that little polarity issue. I'll dock a point for having to worry about such things when reaching for the wall wart adaptor.

- Don't just take my word for how great the '69 pedal is. Read what others say here and listen to YouTube demo's, especially the "shootout" comparison types offered by Gearmanndude. His excellent demos have persuaded me into many of the pedals I own today... without regret. He clearly shows what this pedal is capable of... then, you'll just have to take the plunge ($$$) on eBay to find one.

Leave averything way north and kick it from there.

Soldano Amps only !!!
Noizzz ? comon, I have many Fulltone effects and no one makes noize.
Maybe my Shur Strat with the Frallins in the Spot light on stage but thats not the Pedal.
I love it with my other guitars ( Teles, Paula, Prs etc. ).
When you know whats the trick with a Fuzz, it works wonders for youre sound !

Never had any Probs with Fulltone products. thats pure craftmanship.

Yeah nice people.

I play only high quality gear, becouse my Job needs that.
This is not the only Fuzz I have but one that is work the most.
I love the sound, the quality, the style and vibe I get with this.
Very Road trusty ! Yes it opens my horizon a bit for some sound I need. I dont mind it can damaged, somebody steal it ? Yes, Mike must build anotherone ;-)

I love this pedal! It's ideal for the Hendrix lovers as, it has his sound nailed to the max. The original Fuzz Face that Hendrix used had to be moded by Roger Mayer to work (match up) properly with his Strat to Marshall set up. Mike Fuller has designed this pedal so your can match your guitar, '69 Pedal and amp perfectly. The "Bias", "Contour" and internal "Trimmer" all work to get me to that tone. If I back off the volume knob, it cleans up great (love that feature). It took a little time to get things dialed in but, that's why I got it, to dial things in, HA!

I play a modified '63 Telecaster Custom with a Strat middle pickup (ala Brent Mason) and this pedal definitely loves single coil pickups. I've used this through my '67 VOX TB, '75 JMP Marshall Combo and '60 Tweed Bassman. My fav-rav tone is the Class A VOX. Pure and simple, this pedal smokes. Again, it cleans up really nicely backing off on the volume. I do a lot of chickin' pickin' and love the detailed over tones this pedal delivers as I go from Hank to Hendrix in my styles of playing. I use the '69 Pedal with an old VOX Clyde McCoy Wah and an original Uni-Vibe, what a blast! It does the Hendrix thing but, also has tons of character for any player's personal style.

It's built like a tank, no problems or noise to speak of.

I've had extremely good dealing with Mike and his crew. I'm located in Los Angeles and Fulltone's around the corner in Culver City. I always got a quick email response with questions about their various Fulltone pedals.

I play Hank to Hendix with a lot of the old school British and Chicago Blues tossed in. I've had a guitar in my hands for 40 years so, I also have a '58 Historic Les Paul with Burstbuckers and a '56 LP Special. However, I only use the '69 with my single coil Teley. I have two '69 Pedals, if they were stolen or lost, I'd immediately get them replaced. I got this pedal for that Hendrix sound and it delivered that for me but gave me a lot more mojo than anticipated, what's to hate? I also love the Fulltone Soul-Bender but, that's more of an early Yardbirds tone. I could play on these pedals for hours.

You'll need to spend a little time experimenting with the contour and bias knobs. The written descriptions of these two functions defy translation to your ears. The LED is a bit dim. The fuzz control adds distortion uniformly up to about the 4:00 position. The last, say, 10% of the fuzz control (clockwise) travel adds most of the effect all at once. The same applies when using your pickup volume to control the effect; you'll get full effect at 10, you'll drop off a cliff at 9, then be reasonably uniform down to 1. The '69 offers lots of gain.

This pedal sounds bright and aggressive. It's not particularly smooth-sounding. Lows are a little "farty." Sustain is fair and unremarkable. As others have noted, the effect backs-off very well by decreasing your pickup volume. The lighter distortion you can roll down to sounds good, though not quite in the same league as something like a Fulldrive II. I like the '69 better with single-coils.

PRS Custom 22 Artist, Gibson Les Paul Custom, Fender American Deluxe Strat, Fender '52 Reissue Tele, Gibson ES-335, Mesa Maverick 2x12, Fender '65 Reissue Super Reverb.

I've never had a Fulltone product fail, but the build quality is impressive even to a layman.

Customer support is responsive. They seem genuinely interested in helping their customers get the most enjoyment from their products.

I was a little relectant to opine on the '69, having obviously gone against the grain compared to most of the other reviews. I believe the '69 behaves just as it was designed to, and that my lukewarm review is mostly a product of my own musical preferences and expectations. I didn't have the luxury of playing the '69 before I bought it; I relied on many written reviews and some sound clips. If I had auditioned it beforehand I wouldn't have bought it, but now that I have it, chances are I'll keep it. My best shot at characterizing the sound is "rude and aggressive." I'll keep looking for a smooth, sustaining fuzz.

I would say this is an 8 purely because you obviously can't just plug in and play with a quick set up. You have to finely tweak this pedal to the exact sound you need, that being adjusting the knobs on top and then the trim pot on the inside. A lot of people probably don't try to do anything with their trim pot and then can't find a good sound. Honestly adjust it that's what it's there for I did and no it sounds even better than i thought it did before

Now this pedal (as with any germanium fuzz) has to be run with an amp that is just breaking up or is at the point of overdrive otherwise the fuzz becomes weak and tinny.
I use a Marshall JTM45 set to 6 on the high treble and normal volumes and bridged diagonally from the low bright input to the high input on channel 2
I thought this pedal sounded great without adjusting the trim pot, then one rainy day i decided to adjust and this thing really came alive. I have mine set to about 6 o clock and this is just the right amount of woofyness to sound like my amp is about to be torn to shreds lol
I haven't really tried this with other effects other than my self modified wah which does sound great to get that real hendrix solo boost sound that he often used

It's fulltone... high quality components and in a very tough enclosure. I think that people that take backup pedals to gigs either have serious amounts of cash on their hands or need to lay off the paranoia inducing drugs

I would most certainly gig without backup have gigged it for a year so far as this is how long I've owned it, however this thing has been going for 11 years now so its doing just fine!

Emailed Fulltone when asking about a power supply problem. Fulltone don't make power supplies for the U.K unfortunately, but they recommended a voodoo labs pedal power 2 to sort out the problem. Nothing wrong with the pedal, just a bad power supply i'd bought.

I play a blend of classic rock/blues rock/indie/funk and I use this for the funky solo's and the more let's say lenny kravitz esque songs.

I initially borrowed an EHX double muff from my bassist, this was then replaced by a big muff (which i thought would sound better) but i just didn't get on with at all, it lacked the sustain I needed, and when I ran it with my cranked amp it just sounded terrible. I did a bit of research and wanted a germanium based fuzz and found this

The only thing i would complain about is the LED. it's not bright enough and because of the LED being glued in I can't easily just change it unfortunately! I played a couple of festival slots and couldn't tell whether this thing was on in the loop before i engaged the loop

You must spend some time before getting the right sound though its controls are very easy. The KEY is in the 'contour' knob.

I use it with a Fender super reverb and a Telecaster even if on a DeVille it sounds really fat and great!However the sound is unique,I suggest not to use with other effects contemporary.With the bright mode on the fender s.r. you can obtain the same sound heard on 'Revolution' by Beatles...

I use it with a battery,it seems to be very strong! Just the sound changes a little according to the external temperature!Yes, it's sensitive...

I play indie rock, I use it on 2-3 songs with my band ' myspace.com/glitterballband' I also use a modded RAT and amodded TS9, so I have a wide range of sounds.I'd never sell it even because Mr. Fulltone has stopped the production,and I think it could be very expensive in a few years,becoming vintage. If u need an old style fuzz buy it if any store still got it,you will be satisfied.You could see a video of the pedal on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyWLvmJX3oA
It's me.

Four knobs on a fuzz is a little more than usual. Lots of shades in this box. It took a little while, but I've dialed in the tones that inspire me without too much trouble. As with most fuzzes, it can be challenging getting a tone that cuts through in a dense live mix. This is not a fault of this pedal, but endemic to fuzzes in general. Overall, very easy to use, but it's a fuzz so takes some experimentation.

I play this mostly through my Stratocasters through a variety of amps, including Reeves Custom 6 and Custom 12 combo's, Peavey Delta Blues 1x15, Marshall 18-watt, Germino Classic 45 2x12 combo, Matchless Lightening Clone, Tweed Champ clone, and Blues Jr. Tweed.

Beautiful fuzz tones with all of the above. Does high gain very well, cleans up amazingly well with my Strat's volume knob. The semi clean tones are stellar, giving the lower notes a roundness that they don't have bypassed. Very dynamic to the touch. Very little noise. Does early Hendrix tones perfectly. For germanium style fuzz, this pedal is superb.

Never a reliability issue with this pedal. Open it up and the workmanship leaves me speechless. The box is heavy and solid, big rubber feet mounted with screws, beautiful textured red finish and cream knobs. It's almost as much fun to look at this pedal as it is to play it.

I've had mostly good support from Fulltone. They fixed my Fat Boost quickly. Not all email's get answered however.

I play blues and classic rock, and especially love Hendrix, Eric Johnson, SRV, Zeppelin and Floyd. I've been playing for 24 years and own lots of amps, pedals, and guitars. More gear than talent. I'd buy this again if lost or stolen, but they're out of production now. I love Fulltone pedals for their excellent tone, extraordinary build quality, and cosmetics. If you can score one in good shape, it's worth adding to your fuzz collection.

You allready known this, right ?!
4 Knpos ( cream colour ), one off/on switch simple.
9 points only here becouse the red LED is not bright enough to see on stage or outside, is it on or not.
Mike, change this.
I like the style of this Box becouse you never come close to the dail-knops with youre feet stomping the on/off switch...very praxis like.

Mh, I have it since 2 years, played over Plexi Tops with 4x12 cabs,
Engl Combos with 2x12 cabs and a little Tranny at home. Well, Ever time I start to play, I must give me some minutes to get in that sound. Its beautifull when the fuzz is at 12 oclock or Full dailed in, nothing in between works for me. So, after 2 years I must say that its nothing I want have in my "standart" effect chain. Its nice when Im getting sick of playing my " standart " gear...I also played with the adjustment weel in the inside, it can make it better a bit, but in general the "ground" sound is nothing for me.
My two settings for this 69` are:

Volumen 12 oclock
bias 7 oc.
contour 2 oc.
Fuzz 12 oc.

or

Volumen 10
bias 12
contour 3
fuzz full in

maybe it helps you?

It is true hardwired bypass so perfect when you play beautifull sounding amps. So for quality of the sound i would give it a 10. But for the sound itselfs I would rate a 7. so 8 at least.

This is the best buildet box i ever used.
Look in the inside and you see a perfect handmade work.
The finish is perfect.
Its a big metal Box, perfect.
the Knops, the potis, perfect.
I know many stompboxes but in this leauge Fulltone is a 12.

I writte them 2 times and they answer one day later.
Very nice.

I play since 1990, so Im a kid of Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Smashing Pumpkins but also of Aerosmith, Guns N Roses, Van Halen and Black Crowes...
I play sometimes in Cover Bands to earn money I Play also Hendrix, Stones, Beatles, Led Zepplin...to Popa Chubby, Eric Gales or Joe Bonamasa stuff...
My Amps are Marshall 50 Plexi with Marshall Greenbacks 4x12 cab,
Engle Souverain Combo with a Hughes & Kettner 2x12 V 30 cab.
Fender deluxe Tele, Shur Strat, Gibson Paula, Epiphone Casino.
"Standart effects " : Z vex B.O.R., Trex Replica, Roger Mayer Vodoo Vibe, Fulltone clyde Wah.
Klotz Cables.
No I dont would buy it again.
I compare it to EHX Big Muff, Roger mayer Voodoo, Proco Rat...they are all cool for *special* stuff.
The only thing i realy hate is the LED, you cant see it !
No It does not help my make music, for that I only need a Amp and a guitar and my soul. so ;-)

So thats me, maybe you like it for your stuff ?
Check it.

Lots of knobs to tinker with to tailor this to your needs. The "tone" wheel is on the inside, but that's no prob. In my opinion, it's not the sort of thing you'd mess with. Not very useful on a daily basis, just find your spot and leave it. Gets very raspy when maxed (or "minned")? I put it just on the good side of raspy, still enough woof, but note definition is still there.

Overall, fuzzes are a difficult beast to learn how to use. If you set it for deep woofy stuff, then you'd better back off the volume or play single notes only. I think a lot of people get "Axis Disease" and try to make things too fuzzy. I'll explain more below.

Sounds very good. Most of what you'd want in a fuzz. It works best (as most fuzzes do) when not maxed out. On occasion I go nuts and blast the fuzz and bias, but most of the time I have the fuzz around 3:00 and then adjust the contour and bias to get what I'm after. When used in that way, it's very versatile and depending on the bias, almost transparent, especially with the guitar volume down. In order to get the most out of a fuzz, I think you need to spend a lot of time with one, and not killing yourself bending over to your board either. Set yourself up on the desk or table so the box is right at your hands. Spend a lot of time getting to know what it does with different pickups and different amp volumes.

Well build. Strong box and switch.

Absolutely deplorable. I emailed and got no response. From reading different things on the Fulltone website (one example being a shipment of something or other not arriving on time and Mike said "take it easy guys, it's not like an antidote to SARS" or something to that effect). Good products, but I will never, ever consider another Fulltone product again. And I don't think that's cutting off my nose to spite my face. This fuzz is good, but what's to say that there's not equally good or better out there.

I like this thing. After going back and forth and taking it off my board and then whipping it out of storage to keep "testing" it, I can't keep it off the board. It's got what I like, LED and power supply capability. I imagine not using battery power affects the tone or creates noise, but I have everything on my board powered and connected so I don't want to go using batteries and forgetting to unplug inputs. I don't know this is better than any other fuzz face out there. I have a Keeley Fuzz Head, which is a different animal altogether, but still rocks. I had some crappy "boutique" fuzz that just wasn't cutting it, and I haven't had the urge to try anything else. I'm not looking for fuzz to be my savior, so for now, it's good enough for me. I don't know that it's $250 good as that what they're going for on ebay right now, but good nonetheless. I'd say if you can get one for $200, then it's worth it.

Super easy.

I think most people buy this and probably wish they had bought the '70 Fuzz a few days later. This pedal is very nice, but not fuzzy enough, in my opinion. I have owned 3 of these to try out different ones and they all fell into the "distortion" category more so than the "fuzz" category for me.

I really, really feel sorry for all of you who are foolishly paying more than $160 for these. They aren't worth it--trust me. It's a good pedal for the retail price, but I use to buy these on craigslist in L.A. for $100-120 (mint w/box and manual). I'm glad I got this out of my system when they were cheap and no one wanted them.

I had a switch crap out on my and Fulltone finally decided to replace it after bickering with them, even though they said they knew there was batches of faulty switches in early '99. If you're buying one on ebay keep an eye out for the '99 models and stay away.

All of the later ones I owned were fine.

So so in the past.

Great pedal, but not worth more than $120 used. I hope he starts making these again for those of you who are dishing out $200 or more. Try the '70 fuzz or the Octafuzz...both far superior pedals. I think the '69 is the weakest fuzz out of all the Fulltone pedals and maybe the most disappointing pedal out of the whole line.

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

4 knobs, how hard can it be.

Big Eric Johnson, SRV, Billy Gibbons fan. Play a mix of stuff, no metal, but a bit of Vai-ish stuff. I am not a pedal snob, I'll use anything that's ok.

Brilliant sound quality. A vast range of fuzz is on tap with this pedal. I am not a "fuzzy" sound fan. I like relatively clean overdriven sounds. I (like it seems a lot of people) discounted fuzz as a means to get a really nice tone. I always thought of fuzz as for nasty no tone art rock bands/70's glam. Then I thought if fuzz is good enough for Eric Johnson I'd give it a whirl. This fuzz can be really tweaked with the bias and contour controls. And inside there's a dial which you can use to alter the type of clipping. Superb. Not only that it is incredibly responsive to touch and volume. I can go from fuzz ro clean juast by backing off on my strat's volume a little. I'd say this pedal is more responsive than my tube driver. I'm still using my bog standard DS-1 for now but it will probably be on ebay soon.

My chain is as follows: American strat with SCN pup's - seymour duncan pup booster (just to boost if I am using effects that soak up tone and volume) - boss tuner - 69 - tube driver - (holy grail if I am using my combo at home) - boss ds-1 -boss dd3 - into modded Laney LC15 or blackface twin reverb.

seems reliable, well put together, nicely crafted innards.

I've read people giving the guy who makes the pedals a hard time. So what if he is difficult? That's life. Do people email Boss or Digitech for a chat about their pedals and expect a personal reply from the boss man? The 69's not much more expensive than a mass produced pedal, so I guess if I have a problem I will return it and ask for a refund. Simple really.

Great pedal. Give it a whirl first, if you don't like it don't buy it. I can never understand how people can buy pedals they hate. How can you do that if you try it first?

one volumen, tone, bias, and fuzz poti.
???!!!
simple and flexible.
so, easy 9 points.

Fuzz, a original sound.
its raunchy and dynamic, very musical.
No way to compare it to Tube screamers.
Its not overloaded like my Mig Muff and different as my Rat.
Its very important how you play, it react sensitive in this way.
Its very easy to get Hendrix or Blues tones out of it.
I personally play also Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumkins, QOTSA stuff and this Fuzz works good for that.
Not for Metal sounds, because the big E string has no attac ! But this is normal at a Fuzz. Maybe you need sometime to get closer with this Unit, but what you want ? What you are searching for and what you mind about a Fuzz that is called " 69` " ??!!

My stuff ; 70`Strat/ Std. SG - T.C. Vintage Delay - Roger Mayer Voodoo Vibe - 69 Fuzz - Cry Baby 353 Q - Korg DT 10 Tunr. Engl Screamer 1x 12 Combo ( with the Z5 Footswitch )and a Marshall 1x12 Box or London City 69?? Plexi Top + 4 x 12 with a Maxon TS 9.

Oh, I am in Europe and needed a converter for the power supply.
And the only thing Mike can make better ; is to build a brighter LED lamp in it or just a different colour ( red box with a red lamp ?! can suck sometimes ).
Ah, and ther is a trim pot inside the box were you can turn the Fuzz intensity more or less. ( I like the original setting the most ).

Have it a year, no problems here !!
When you open it - it looks very quality like.

I mailed them two times and they answer quick.

they are a small company, so I must wait a month on this unit. but its Ok.

I play nearly 20 years,I play 1 - 10 gigs in a month.
So this is not a job I can get rich with it.
Sometimes I can record my stuff in a professional studio and this works good here. ( I can use ther different amps ).
Mind the bigger and simpler youre set up is ...the more this Fuzz shines !
For the sounds I want out of this box, the build quality, the price and and and, I must give it 10 points here.

Great tone (if you set it up right) It's a npn pedal so it can suck the sound right out of many other pedals, and vica versa. Play around with it and you'll find the best place. It took me a whole weekend to fit it in. The bias and contour knobs are easy to dial in a variety of sounds. Always play with the volume knob!

Great great great tone. I found running it first in my chain (even before wah) gives the best break up tone and just sounds heavenly when the guitar volume is backed off to about 7. Gives the wah an interesting (Edge like) effect. The harmonics, lows, highs, mids, and gain is just beautiful on this pedal. Well worth the time it took me to put it into my board the right way.
strats and pauls into 69, clyde wah, keeley overdrives, volume, ehx memory man, choralflange, into fenders, Peavey classic 50, vox ac30

Germanium transistors are a little 'moody' sometimes. Enviroment can make them sound slightly different from one room to another, but the pedal is built like a war machine, and the wiring is perfect. No need for a backup, but I'd hesitate to let it be the only gain pedal i used in case it decided to sound different some night.

Fulltone can be hard to get ahold of, and if you ask a question that is somewhere on their website they won't even respond. But if you have a real issue, they'll get back to you, and try and help you out... just give them some time. They get a lot of questions.

I play mostly rock influenced pop, blues, and some country. I've been playing a while, full time for about 2 years. This pedal is an absolutely great fuzz, very hendrix, but has inspired many riffs. I love pedals that enhance my tone and give me ideas for music. This is a good one. I expect to be using this for a while. I compared to 70, soulbender, mxr, dunlops, and a few others and this one had the best warmth and 'tone' in my opinion. Not as much gain as others. Hard to beat a homemade fuzz though!! Try em' out, almost all fuzzes are a little different, find the right one!

This isn't my first fuzz, but for me it was a lot harder to get the hang of than my other one- a Voodoo Lab Superfuzz (also a great pedal). Just because it takes A LOT of knob-diddling doesn't mean it's a bad pedal though. There are tons of sounds to be had from this little red box, and it took me a couple weeks to find mine. It is definitely worth toying with the internal trim pot- I'm not going to lie, when I first took it home I hated the sound of it. After a little while of being frustrated because I couldn't get enough fuzz out of it, I remembered Fulltone puts those trimmer things inside. THANK GOD! I went from wanting to throw it out the window to wearing a huge shit eating grin in the space of about ten minutes. I'd heard Germanium transistors were tempermental about things like temperature, and this is something I noticed right out of the box. Playing at night in Victoria where it cools down quite a bit as opposed during the day when it's scorching hot made for some extra knob turning, but I eventually got the hang of it to the point where I know exactly where all my best settings are. It's a good idea to mark down your settings right on the unit with a sharpie or something once you find the sound you like the best. The manual is simple, but gives some good suggestions, a la keeping the fuzz knob maxed- you likely won't get enough gain out of it otherwise (though I guess if you're not looking for a ton of fuzz it won't matter).

My guitar is a re-issue Gibson Les Paul Deluxe. Great sounding guitar. When I first bought the pedal I also had a re-issue Fender Telecaster Deluxe. Horrible guitar, weak pickups, basically not meant to be played with anything, least of all this pedal. I live with my buddy who's got a 2000 something Gibson SG, a Fender Highway One Strat, a Lite Ash Tele, an Ibanez 335 look alike, a '65 Blackface Showman with matching 2x12 cab, and a Marshall AVT 2x12. My amp setting are always the same- treble 6, mids dimed, bass 8. All of his guitars have been put through this pedal, and since I don't currently own an amp of my own, I use his. Through the Showman, it is REALLY boomy sounding. Definitely on the smoother side regardless of how the trim pot is set. Through the Marshall it's more on the crunchy side- when you crank the output of the pedal it's enough to overdrive the front end of the amp a little. I read a comment from one of the other reviews for this pedal that said it got a good "No One Knows" (pre-chorus anyways) kind of sound. That's definitely a good way to describe it. Depending on how you have the internal trim pot set, it can get pretty Muffy sounding, to pretty fuzz-less. Most of the Muff kind of sounds were got through the Fender though, so I guess it's pretty dependant on what amp you use. With the trim pot completely anti-clockwise, even with the fuzz knob dimed you're not going to get a hell of a lot of fuzz out of it, though I did notice it made the sound a lot more boomy and bass heavy. The overall fuzz increases as you turn the trim pot clockwise, though what you gain in fuzz you lose in low end. Completely clockwise it sounds a lot like the guitar solo from Janis Joplin's "Summertime." Super nasal, kind of a warped squashy sound. The trim pot is key to this pedal's character. I have mine set at about 7 o'clock, and combined with the Les Paul I can get some sweet Billy Gibbons (my favourite guitar player) "La Grange" esque sounds. I also dig QOTSA pretty heavily, and I am a huge fan of Adam Nutter of The Music, hence the Les Paul Deluxe. The tone on this pedal kills once you find a couple good settings. "Sweet" is what I would say if I had to use one word to describe it. It is very pleasing to the ears. Even though it's apparently an Arbiter Fuzz Face copy, I wouldn't say I'm getting any Hendrix sounds out of this pedal. Then again, I'm not looking to emulate his sound. He was a great player, but his sound has been done by umpteen million pedal makers and by now is pretty generic. This pedal is VERY quiet when used alone, but there is some noticeable hum when you plug other distortions into it. I usually have a Boss SD-1 running into it to augment the distortion. This pedal is NOT an over the top distortion machine, but with tone like it has, it really doesn't need to be. It does what it is designed to do and it does it well. I prefer using medium to high output pickups with the pedal standing alone. Mini-humbuckers aren't huge in terms of output (fortunately they are in tone), hence the SD-1. It is very likely you're going to get a lot of shitty sounds out of this thing until you find your sound, but I give it a nine because I've found mine and I love it. Be patient and it will pay off.

I've had this pedal about two months and I'm still using the battery it came with. The light still lights and the switch works every time. Haven't gigged with it yet, but I play at least four hours everyday (when I'm not working anyways). I've played the shit out of this pedal in the short time I've had it and it performs beautifully. I've opened the thing up to fiddle around inside, and everything is solid. There's a huge difference in quality when things are built carefully by hand, and in this aspect Fulltone is practically flawless.

Haven't had to deal with the company.

I play and listen to a lot of different things under the huge umbrella of rock music. I love everything from Portishead (which is trip hop, but the guitar on their records is actually the reason I started to get into fuzz pedals). I love blues rock like ZZ Top and early Zeppelin. I love Black Sabbath, QOTSA, Kyuss, The Music, Oasis, tons of different stuff. I tune to either D standard or drop C for the extra low end. The tone of this pedal is amazing for playing the blues, and surprisingly (for me anyways) even slide guitar. It definitely suits drop tunings well. I'm not too fond of single coils, so I only use this pedal with humbuckers. It's a match made in heaven. Single coils just can't get the amount of fuzz I'm after, but a Strat neck pickup with this pedal reminds me of "La Grange." This pedal cleans up really well, so it's worth it to keep the fuzz knob dimed. I'm 18 and I've been playing for four years now. In that time I've owned an Epi SG, three Les Pauls (one Epi and two Gibson), a Fender Mexican Strat, a Gretsch Jet Special, and four different valve and transistor amps. I'm glad Long and McQuade is good about trade-ins; I wouldn't have been able to afford it otherwise. As far as pedals go, I've still got a Boss DS-1 and DS-2 leftover from my Nirvana phase, an SD-1, an old DOD Thrashmaster I nicked from my old highschool, the Voodoo Lab Superfuzz, and this. I'm not a huge effects freak in general, but I HATE the sound of valve distortion on the gain channel amps come with (my friends think I'm an alien), so I've been searching for the holy grail of distortion pedals for a couple years. So far the fuzz variety seems to be my favourite. When I bought this, I was actually looking for a Fulltone Soulbender like one of my buddies had. I loved the sound of it, so even though the store didn't have any in stock, I figured I would try something else from Fulltone. Man I'm glad I did. Bit pricey, but so is most other gear in Canada. If it were lost or stolen, I'd be pretty pissed off. Truth be told, I'd probably buy a Soulbender just to try something different, and I probably will anyways. It's not lost or stolen though, and it sounds like god. I'm definitely content to rest on my laurels with this one.

The 69 took a little patience to get the sound I was looking for. Fun to just start tweaking the knobs and see what happens. I didn't get a manual with mine since I bought it used, but it's not too hard to figure out. You need to know what you're looking for...

I'd like to give this a ten just because it's such a versitile unit. The fuzz can be fairly clean to mighty raspy. I like to use effects that enhance the tone of my guitar and amp, and this definitely does! Units that color or disguise my tone get the boot immmediately! Love the way it cleans up with the volume control of the guitar down. Love the way it pushes my other OD/Distortion units. A very useful tool to shape my tone the way I like it!! After a week or two of playing around with this my big muff was e-bayed without hesitation. This is definitely a cut above!
My tone preference runs to a fairly clean state of affairs. My setup runs like this: Gretsch falcon>voxwah847>69>boss od-3>Keeley bd2>Keeley ds1>EH memory man>Fender concert 112 combo or blues jr.

I've only had this a short while, but fulltone makes products that weather well. I have no hesitation about gigging without a backup. I don't anticipate any trouble. A 9 for the germanium thing....

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Quite possibly the best fuzz box out there. For me anyway. I play mostly contemporary worship, bluesy/jazzy, old school rock type music, and this is a great match. Been playing about 30 years and have owned a lot of guitars, amps, effects, etc. This one shines in it's category. Ubetcha I'd buy it again if it was lost or stolen! It's an integral part of my setup! The more transprent and cleaner, the better.(although you can get it to mimmick the big muff pretty good) You'll hear more of your guitar than the effect, and that makes a winner in my book!