Fulltone Bass-Drive

This pedal is very straight-forward, as most compact pedals are (especially Fulltone pedals). The controls are highly interactive, and respond very well with tube (of course) and even most solid-state amps. The manual is a two-page document, which seemed to explain the pedal's functions nicely, and provide two good presets from which to start creating your own tones.

I'm using two Gibson Les Paul Customs, one a 1969 Black Beauty, the other a 1978 Silverburst w/ Tom Anderson pickups. The amp is either a Marshall 1959 SLP reissue 100-watt head into a Marshall 1960TV extra tall cabinet w/ 25-watt Greenbacks, a Peavey 5150 II, or a Sovtek Mig100H.

The Bass-Drive is supposedly EXACTLY like the Full-Drive II, except it has an extra octave in its range to cover those extra bass frequencies. I actually prefer it for normal guitar over the Full-Drive II because the low end doesn't cut out at all, unlike the Full-Drive II. It pushes the Marshall really well. I LOVE THE CLEAN BOOST!!! Incredible pedal.....the distortion sounds almost exactly like my plexi with the power tubes cranked and distorted. Badass...especially for pushing the distorted plexi over the edge. This thing eats vintage Tube Screamers for breakfast....

I'm about to give this pedal a 10....and that should be an honor bestowed only to the best products, not a fucking Boss Metal Zone....

This thing is built like a brick shithouse. I've heard of Fulltone pedals breaking, but this one seems pretty durable. The limited lifetime warranty is a great feature (wish my Ford had one..).

Mike Fuller is so helpful. I don't think I've ever been treated with such respect from someone at a music equipment company before. I don't understand why some people have had such a bad experience with him; he's an awesome guy.

I try to play all styles of music. I can find a use for almost any pedal in any form of music, one way or another. I don't even have to try with this one. This is one of those rare pieces of equipment that is just conductive to all forms of music; its tone fits perfectly everywhere.

Fulltone pedals are worth every cent. Period.

No problem. If you've ever twiddled the knobs of an effects pedal you'll do just fine here. I quickly read through the manual, because I read here that it had a "SVT" setting and I wanted to get two things out of this baby: an old school Geezer Butler/Jack Bruce SVT sound and a screaming, feedback rich distortion. I keep the Comp-cut on, as diostorted as I play it's to loud and unruly with it off. It really works for a clean boost with lots of headroom though.

I'm using a Modulus Quantums (5 and 6 strings) with Bartolini humbuckers and 18V Bartolini pre-amps through a slew of pedals-BassDrive-Mini QTron-Small Stone-Boss Flanger-Dunlop Q105 Bass Wah-into an old Ampeg SVT200T-Ampeg 4x10HLF. My amp is solid state, the warmest I've ever heard, but it just won't get that raging SVT tube distortion. My rig has lots of headroom, but every OD pedal I've tried has squashed it into a puny signal and I've thought about trading my trusty head in (I've had it for 15 years) for a tube head. I purposely bought this pedal because I heard it could replicate a "Raging SVT," but I had my doubts. I set the Bass-Drive to the SVT setting, goosed the OD up an extra notch and maxed the Boost. This thing is NUTS!! On the SVT setting it sounds exactly like Geezer Butler's SVT distortion from Black Sabbath's Volume Four! I honestly didn't think that a transistor pedal would be able to pull this off, but it did-and that's with the OD set at 9 o'clock! Turn it up and you easily get thick Melvis/Kyuss/Stoner Fuzz with tons of head room and depth. As it is I get all of the beefy dirt that I want to give me a dark, dirty edge, but with thundering low end AND clarity of attack. Even low Cs are full, sharp and meaty-while being distorted! This thing is GREAT!!! You will loose attack and some lows if you boost the OD past 11 o'clock, but you can't have it all. Trust me the overdrive you get at 10 o'clock is enough to send any Hesher into tritone groove nirvana. Kick on the separate Boost channel and the OD becomes thicker, harmonically richer and the thing spews velvety, violin style sustain. Running this through my wah, I can hold notes lower notes at the seventh fret, give them some left hand vibrato and they will scream and moan longer than any I've ever been able to hold before. I've played some hairy distortion pedals in my search and have gotten some really menacing tones, but none of them were usable in the context of a band, none allowed be to be distorted AND cut through a guitarist tuned down to C and using a bass amp himself. This is not a distortion pedal in the crunchy/metal vibe. It is a superb overdrive that has tons of warmth, low end and clarity, like a Big Muff on steroids.

So far yeah. This thing is built like Fort Knox. I doubt I'll have any trouble with it. The foot switches and knobs are all sturdy, the case is metal. They're all built by hand by the man himself, signed and numbered.

Never needed it but I hear Mike's a great guy and the only one you'll deal with if there's a probelm. Can't beat that.

I play very heavy Stoner/Doom/Rock aka Sabbath/Fu Manchu/Atomic Bitchwax. I go for a Geezer Butler/Jack Bruce dirty sound and a Duck Dunn/Rocco Prestia clean sound. Bass Player magazine reviewed a buch of ODs and said this was the action for heavy finger style rock-copped the SVT sound. I bought it, plugged it in, and played for two hours. It made me want to play, all of my other pedals sounded better. The distortion was so thick that I thought for sure my speaker cones were tearing. I kept checking my clip LED, but the signal was perfect. I knew this thing was overworking my amp, but every time I turned it off my amp sounded pristine. I play high end basses with tons of headroom and this pedal doesn't color or alter the sound, it just distorts it in a big way, but I can still hear fundamentals. If it was lost I'd cry and buy two new ones. If it was stolen I'd hunt down the fool and force them to transcribe Celine Dion's entire discography-and I'd know who had it because by some fate of the Rock Gods mine is #666. That's right, there will only be one Bass-Drive 2 #666 and it's mine suckas! Spiritu Rocks!!!

I mean, it's only 4 knobs and two switches, right? The layout is very straight forward and well labelled. It's also not that difficult to get a good sound out of it. My guitarist seems to be fond of the fuzz sound that it gets (turn all but the volume knobs all the way up) but I prefer a more punchy than fuzzy overdrive. This pedal lets me do that.

I'm using this in combination with a mid 70's DoD Phasor (nice little pedal too) thru an old Peavey 115 TNT with the Scorpion speaker. One thing I like about this pedal is that when it comes to increasing volume when switching to O/D, it rocks! One thing that I've gotta say that I love is how it fills out my sound. The difference when my band played with and without is huge. I went from sounding like just a bass to (in some songs) a "Lemmy-esque" rhythm bass sound. What also comes in handy is being able to jump right to boost mode when you need it. Just push the boost even if the unit is "off" and when you turn it on, monster sounds result.

But, I'd like the tone to be a bit more defining. It's almost too subtle sometimes.

This thing's built like a frickin' bomb shelter. Sturdy, looks kewl and the knobs turn very nicely. Don't need a backup, this thing's good to go. However, I haven't gone gigging with it so I can't say for sure. I think it'll hold up well.

Haven't had to deal with the company so I can't comment. But I like the fact that it's hand numbered and signed. For some reason it gives me the confidence that if something DID go wrong, I'd probably get great service.

Overall, I'd say that it's a great investment. It's got a nice, full sound and can really make the difference between just sounding like another bass or, in my case, stepping up to fill in my 1/4 of the sound. Like I mentioned before, I wish that it was less subtle, it could probably use a bit more punch, but it's pretty good. That and it's powerful enough to probably blow my amp (mmm... power...)

Very simple to use in all respects.

I use Fender Tweed, Brown Face, Black Face, Marshall, Jim Kelley amps
and I'm just looking for a slight to medium break up. It works well with my Strats and 50's Goldtop Les Paul. Yes I'm using it for guitar not for bass. It sounds just like a FD-2 except it retains all of the bottom end. There is no loss on the bottom what so ever compared to the slight drop in the bottom on the FD-2.

Mike has been very good to me. I have owned 2 different FD-2's Octafuzz, Clyde Wah and the Bass Drive and needed a switch for the Octafuzz, I emailed him and he called me at home on a Saturday (next day) and I had the switch on the following Monday.

See above

I play Rock, Blues, Jazz and write my own material and it works very well for the milder to medium over drive sounds. I do not care for the boost side and do not use it. I've played professionally (part time now) for 27 years. I also use a Crowther Hotcake for more intense
over drive sounds and it is HUGE sounding. I've tried many overdrive pedals, and the most important thing to me is that it sounds natural, has no bottom drop out, and enough range on the tone control to even things out. Many I've tried had to much treble at the minimum treble setting. Ouch!

Just an amendment to a previous review...I sounded a bit critical, perhaps because I anticipated the pedal to be the end-all tonal salvation for me, and it wasnt. I have used the pedal for about a year now, and (trying many others) have not found a bass overdrive that I love as much. I own the Line 6 Bass POD, and it cant even compare, with all of its classic bass tube amp models. There is something very analog about this pedal, it sounds extremely natural. It doesnt sound contrived...when you switch it on it sounds like your clean tone, except fattened up with some nice grit. It is smooth and versatile and I probably overuse it (so my guitarist would say). I love the sound...it is purer than any bass OD pedal I have heard. Also, I dissed the clean boost switch in my review...well, I didnt really understand it. It is very helpful in situations where I dont want to have blistering distortion, but where I want to be able to boost my bass volume when my guitarist gets loud. It would also be great for pushing non-master volume tube amps into overdrive (more of a guitar feature; this is basically a mod of the FullDrive pedal). The boost feature is rarely used (I tend to set the drive low, at 8 or 9 o clock on the normal channel), but occasionally if I want to sound crazy I flip it on, along with my phaser pedal for a really intense swooshing tone. Reliable, toneful, and worth every cent. Now I've got my heart set on a dejavibe (but my bank account has other ideas...)

Pretty simple but takes some time to get used to all four knobs
because they affect each other at different settings.I started with
the two suggested settings in the manual("SVT"and"Fat")and worked
from there.

Savage! Great classic overdrive sounds.Very warm and tube-like.I can
get all kinds of sounds from a subtle crunch to a full on Cliff Burton.
It does't always sound as if you are using an "effect"on
your bass,it can just make your bass sound better.It has the creamy
tube driven warmth I love and sacrifices no bottom or tone.

Heavy steel box.Solidly built.

N/A

I am too cheap and lazy to mess with tubes so this pedal is a God-
send! I love this box and would replace it quickly if lost.It weighs
about 80 pounds less than an SVT and makes both of my solid state
amps sound better.(I have an Ampeg B100-100 watt 15" combo and a GK
800RB w/15" and 2x10")This unit is perfect in that it can be subtle
to radical and everywhere in between.Any music in which you want the
bass to be bigger,badder,or fatter---this pedal is for you.I like it
for "Heavy Stoner Rock"(Monster Magnet,Fu Manchu,Kyuss...etc)or any
kind of Black Sabbath/Melvins influenced type music.For heavy and
loud or classic rock lovers--the Fulltone is a huge asset.

It's as easy to use as I can imagine, given the range of options. What's tricky is that all the controlls are completely interactive; you change one setting and it affects all the others. It can take some patience to figure out the whole thing and dial in your sound.

The best distortion pedal I've used. Actually, the only useable one I've used. It preserves the low end, like everyone else says, and also preserves the character of my bass. Very organic and natural sounding. It doesn't blanket the sound and muddy it up the way other pedals do. I'm using it with a G&L L2000 and a pretty high end, clean sounding amp: a Demeter pre, a Stewart power amp, and an Epifani cabinet. The pedal alters the sound without degrading it's basic quality. Other pedals take my expensive rig and make it sound like a cheap one. The true bypass is a great feature. It works.

I trust it completely. Extremely well made. Only had it a little while though, so this is just my impression.

The guy who designed and built it answered the phone the one time I had a question. Very helpful.

I like it because it lets me play with a clean sound most of the time, but kick in distortion when it's appropriate--and to add the distortion without killing the quality of my sound. My favorite feature is the boost switch .. it lets you have a second level of distortion as a preset (so you can set it up for mild distortion when you turn the pedal on, and then full-on grind when you hit the boost). The tone control seems to ad highs (kind of a simulated presence control). I don't use it. I would definitely buy another if it was stolen. Others I tried--Boss and Tube Works--stank in comparison.

Very simple controls, just volume, tone (which is more of a presence control, not bassy to trebley), and two gain knobs, one for the boost. It has two footswitches, one for bypass, the other turns the adjustable boost on/off. It has a push pull pot on the volume, which turns it into what is called noncompressed mode, it seems more like a clean boost, but it is pretty unbalanced level-wise with the other mode, helping to make it somewhat less than useful live. 9v power jack, true bypass, two LEDs, nice...

At first, upon recieving this in the mail, I was honestly disappointed. Sitting in my basement playing through my Fender BXR 300 amp, it did not sound exactly the way I had envisioned. I gave up on it after a while. Finally, after some weeks I took it to practice, and used it extensively. Good tone, very usable. My idealistic pursuit of Chris Squire tone was not satisfied, but as hard as it is to find a decent sounding bass overdrive, this one rocks. It far outpaces that pathetic piece of junk, the Boss ODB-3 Bass Overdrive that I owned for a few hours. I mainly use it somewhat lo gain for a thicker, overdriven sound. It sounds warm and full, without harshness and buzzing. It is NOT a fuzz pedal.

These are great products, I would definately depend on them

Mike Fuller runs his company in an admirable fashion, and he is very helpful and courteous. He answers the phone. I'm sure if I had a problem he would help. Although the way this stompbox is made, I dont anticipate any trouble.

I go for prog rock and other things, and this one fits nicely with my Rickenbacker. Because of the price, I'm not sure I would definately buy it again if it were lost, but so far it is the greatest bass OD I have played through, including my Sansamp Bass Driver (best preamp and DI I've ever played through!). Anyway good product, at first I was disappointed, but only because of my incredibly unrealistic idealism. (You just CANNOT put a full Marshall stack raging at 10 into a stompbox!)

It is very easy to get some great, usable distortion tones out of this pedal. To get the "perfect" tone is also possible, but requires a bit more time, as the controls are pretty interacive, so different settings on one knob can lead to the other parameters reacting differently. It is fairly intuitive to use though, which is good because the manual looks to be a copy of the "Full-drive 2" guitar box manual with the name changed.

I play 5 string exclusively. Both my passive Fender Roscoe Beck, and my ative Alembic sound good throuhg this box, but the distortion seems to work better with the Fender's "vintage" vibe. Niether bass loses low end, and the pedal is NOT noisy at all. THe compression can be a bit heavy handed, but it can be switched out. When you bypass the effect it is GONE. Totally silent. The distortion can range from barely there... Like a good tube amp, to pretty intense, but it is always smooth, and the low end is well preserved, even at the highest gain settings. Easy to go from Chris Squire and Geddy Lee, to Timmy C from Rage. Back the gain off a bit, and you sound like every good blues bassist who ever plucked a P bass.

This thing is built like a tank. I let my guitar player use it. That is a testament to its quality if ever there was one. The switches are very positive, the knobs are out of the way, and the chassis is so thick I would hide in it if there was a earthquake... and if I was really small. I always use it with no backup.

Haven't had to deal with hte company, as no issues have arisen. They have a great web page though!

For Rock, from hard riffing to bluesy jams, this thing is great. It can be very subtle, or pretty searing, and the dual gain stages are really nice for being able to go from one to the other without having to readjust the pedal in the middle of a set, or worse, in the middle of a song. I would definitely buy this again, as I tried many other distortion boxes, (Sans amp Bass Driver, Danelectro pedals, Real Tube, Drive-O-Matic, Big Muff, Tube screamer) and this was the only one that preserved the low end at high gain settings. There is nothing lacking. If you like to kick in a bit of dirt, you need this.