Fulltone Distortion Pro

Lots of choices. Two large knobs cover volume and distortion. Four tiny knobs cover resonance (lows), voicing (presence), highs, and saturation (compression). Despite all the knobs, it was pretty easy to get good sounds out of the unit. I haven't even touched the manual yet. I will say that the little knobs are tough to get a hold of. Some earlier reviews say they sometimes "disintegrate", so I'm being careful not to squeeze them or anything.

Fender American Strat with Dimarzio stacked humbuckers in neck and middle, Seymour Duncan JB Jr. in the bridge; Epiphone Elite Les Paul (stock); Warmoth Tele, ash body ebondy board with SD vintage single coils...all through a Peavey Delta Blues with 15" speaker and Fender Blues Jr. I run this pedal into the clean channel just on the verge of some power amp drive.
The Distortion Pro is very quiet, though it can put out a huge amount of gain. I've not taken the volume past 10 o'clock. The sound I like best so far is the Les Paul bridge with the distortion at 10 o'clock and the volume at 10 o'clock, mini knobs at about 1 o'clock but the saturation at 9 o'clock. With this setting, the humbucker gives me a nice classic rock lead and rhythm sound. It also cleans up pretty well. The Strat sounds ok with it, but the humbuckers are better. With saturation relatively low, this box preserves your picking dynamics very well. I don't like an overly compressed sound (saturation clockwise), but if you're into that sort of thing this unit can deliver. That saturation knob is, in my opinion, the single most flexible pot on the Distortion Pro. It can dramatically change the feel and sound in a good way.
I would recommend this pedal to people looking for a good classic rock sound, especially with humbuckers (you know the sound). It's not an overdrive pedal. True bypass, which is essential.

Fulltones are solid. This is my fifth Fulltone pedal and none of them have given me anything but great tone. 5 year warranty.

One email answered, one ignored. No rating.

I've been playing for over 20 years, have owned various overdrive / fuzz / distortion effects, etc. I play mostly classic rock and blues, with some metal and pop thrown in.
Great pedal for getting various shades of classic rock, especially with humbuckers. I prefer my Fulldrive 2 for the Strat. The Distortion Pro sounds very much like a good tube amp with power section being pushed. Nice dynamics, great flexibility, great sound. I do wish the mini knobs were larger, but cant't reasonably ask for that in such a compact box. It's nice that these knobs exist at all, adding to the unit's flexibility. I would replace this unit if I had to.

I found it fairly easy to get a good sound out of it, but it wasn't the sound "promised" by Fulltone, nor was it the sound i was looking for.

Playing a Suhr classic with single coils into a Fender Blues Jr at modertaely loud volumes. While very musical, this pedal didn't have near the gain i was looking for. Decent sustain, but where's the dirt? The only way i could get it close to what i wanted was by running my Fulldrive 2 into the front of it. The Fulldrive is the best overdrive pedal i have ever plyed, but i was looking for something to give that serious shred sound, and i could only get close with the Distortion Pro by combining it with the Fulldrive. I suppose there are those who would find this to be exactly what they want, but it just didn't cut it for me.
I will say that for what it does, it sounds excellent.

Fulltone stuff is built to withstand WWIII. I'v eno doubt that had i chosen to keep it, this pedal would've lasted a long time.

My only dealing with him was one email, to which he responded to a couple days later. No complaints.

A nice piece of gear, just like all fulltone products, but not what i was looking for.

You have to tweak very much to get a great sound of this unit. Four interactive controls that are very touch sensitive. The suggested settings on the manual don't work for me.

My setup is Tom Anderson Classic Swamp Ash, Valley Arts M Series, PRS Custom 24, Custom Made Strat with Rio Grande Pickups and Burns Bison Custom Shop.
Sounds good but not great, my Keeley DS 1 Ultra sounds much better. Definitive not a Allan Holdsworth sound. Good Sustain, can handle complex chords, not noisy, not good for scooped mids. Tone controls inetractive a real pain in the ass.

Built like a Sherman Tank, practically indestrutible, I can gig without a backup, althought little tiny controls seems fragile.

Never have to deal with Mike.

I am a professional musician for over 23 years playing fusion, rock and pop music gigging 3 to 4 times a week. If it were stolen or lost I look for somewhere else since I like this pedal but not love it. I think this unit is overpriced for what it does. Good but not God.

Borrowed the DP and a Fulldrive from a buddy for a couple weeks and found both to be great pedals. Chose the Dp due to the versitility(sp?). This pedal has it all!

This pedal still amazes be after almost 3 months! Countless shades of drive to all out fuzz! Will kick the crap out of many fuzzfaces! as well as serve up great overdrive tones. I currently run a DP in place of my double TS-9 set-up with an original Dunlop cry. My main amp is a Kendrick 410 (Bassman replica) with 3 spring reverb and other custom goodies. With the DP It doesn't matter if I plug in a strat, 335 or Les paul, the pedal is very transparent and also works well for tough volume situations... Lively rooms, small stages,garages, basements ect.

Cant say just yet, but optimistic. Very quiet and well built.

cant say yet.

I have been playing over 25 years, I have owned countless vintage,reissue,& modern amps. You WILL NOT be able to realize the full mojo of any (especially custom) effect box unless you have a GOOD amp period! I read the reviews below and I can see why some users' experiences are bad.If you have a solid state or so called tube amp that consist of a pc board with tubes stuck to it, the DP wont cure it all (would probably help), but if the amp has no dynamics and bad voicing you are already headed down a muddy Mississippi road! Get a real amp and then try his effects and then you will realize the potential. I have tried other pedals by Fulltone and other boutique effect pedal builders. There is some really cool stuff out there. A lot more than there was even 10 years ago. Younger players are very fortunate. They just need a good amp to begin the journey.

very easy to get a great sound, I dunno what those negative reviews were talking about either unless they just don't know how to play.

I bought mine used with no manual

The unit has not been upgraded and I belive it was built in 2004

I especially like this effect with just a single coil strat, the pick up switch on 5 all the way up to the neck pup and vol on the guitar full.
I do not find it noisy

The effects always sound great if your using good equipment. You can't take a shitty amp & guitar & expect a miricle.
I generally use it with a fender amp.
I think the pedal is al;l good for a distortion pro.

Definatly built like a tank...

I always carry backups for everything I can...just Murphys law

called once & they were very friendly & helpfull

I play blues & classic rock

I have been playing over 25 years

if lost or stolen I'd def look for another

I compaired it to all the major brands out on the marcket. This one won hands down

take your time with it & find out what it does & doesn't & use it to have fun

This is just a follow up to an earlier review - my original review was in Sept. 2003. I've had my pedal for about 1 1/2 years now and use it quite often for lots of gigs. It's actually on my "back up" pedal board which I use for outdoor gigs...my main pedal board never goes outside. Anyways - the Dist Pro works great for me - doesn't sound as good as my Tonebone Hot British distortion, but I still dig the vibe of the Dist Pro. I use it in various combinations with 2 overdrive pedals (Reverend Drivetrain II & Boss SD-1) as well as my Boss compressor.......and it really gets the job done. I mainly use the Drivetrain II for rythym work then kick on the Dist Pro for a really fat saturated lead tone......nice.

But I had to laugh when I read part of the review below:
"...one of the four little knobs has crumbled apart, it still works though."

Two of my Dist Pro's "little knobs" have also crumbled apart. What's the deal? Mine still works fine too.....but jeeeeeeez...for the money I paid for this pedal, that's not cool. For protective measures a wrapped small pieces of electrical tape around all 4 small knobs for fear of any future "crumblings". I take exceptionally good care of my gear and this pedal has always been secured on a pedal board which is transferred around inside a very heavily padded case. It didn't fall or anything.......just can't imagine how or why those knobs crumbled?

Pretty easy to use...if confused, then look at manual. Tones are above average at bedroom levels, but onstage (strat with a 66' Super Reverb, amp volume set on about 5)this pedal really sounds neato.

Although it sounds good at bedroom levels, you need to take it onstage to really apreciate the tones that the pedal is capable of. Although, for apartment jamming I found that I can get a great tone with the Distortion pro and my strat played through my little mid-1970's vibro-champ. To my ear, this pedal prefers single-coil pickups. I occasionally use this pedal with my Germino Masonette head which also sounds neat, but I prefer using it with the Super Reverb. The Germino gets a pretty great overdriven tone without any effects.

I have had it for two years and it has held up well, but one of the four little knobs has crumbled apart, it still works though.

I have dealt with fulltone and he was very helpfull.

Good overdrive pedal, goes well with single coils, but that is only my opinion. Also, I prefer it's tone with mildly cranked single channel tube fender amps.

This pedal takes some getting used to. It is not a "play in your bedroom" distortion device. Once you accept that, and work with it a real stage volume, then it gets interesting. The manual does what it intends to do, but again, the manual makes sense at stage volumes.

I use a Soldano SLO100 or a Dr. Z Maz 18 Jr, no reverb. Gibson 335 or a telecaster, it sounds great with both guitarsThe results are the same for both amps when turned up. The Soldano doesn't need any boost, but the pedal does sound great anyhow. My pedal is quiet at stage settings. It works well with both amps.

This is the most muscular booster pedal I've ever used. The tone is deep, tight, punchy, clear without harshness, and very strong. On my Dr. Z, it seems to add many watts to the little sucker, putting it into the 50 watt feel. This may be one of the all-around most powerful lead tones. And, it really does clean up to a rythm tone when the volume gets turned down.

The key is in the trim pots inside. I backed both pots down(CLOCKWISE = LESS) a quarter turn. This pedal is mighty indeed. Beware - if you want squarewave, clipped super crunch, this is not really it. However, if you want truly big-league professional solo tone for real worl stage volumes in a quality tube amp, this is a fine piece. I'll give it a 9 because I'm still getting into more of its textures and haven't stopped tweaking it.

It's a Fulltone. Reliability is not an issue unless you beat your gear. If you treat your gear with respect and simply give it a moderate stomp for on-off, it should last a very long time. Backup? Come on - I can use either amp's own overdrive qualities to finish any gig, but this pedal's reliabil;ity is not a factor in anything. If you break this, you are doing something excessive. Does anyone bring a backup steering wheel for their equipment truck? Just in case it breaks . . . ?

I sent an old Fulltone 70s pedal in for service. I tried changing the electronics in it and fried the output signal totally. I spoke with Mike on the phone and told him what I did. He said he would upgrade the old pedal to newer specs. $39 bucks. He wasn't mean, just busy. The actual repair service was flawless. I got what I wanted on the first try. That could be considered customer service, right? No big deal.

I've played for 30 years and used a lot of gear. People say my tone is always very good. I play music that ranges from rock to metal to country. There are differences between live stage sound and studio sound, and this is a live pedal, I think. I probably wouldn't bother using this pedal for the lighter stuff, but when it's time to rock out and take a solo, this pedal is powerful and articulate. Remember - this is a professional, stage volume device, not a bedroom or studio crunch pedal. If you want simple crunch, dirt and hard edged clipping, there are better choices.

I recieved a 2004 model of this pedal, and from what I understand, it is more responsive with the volume knob than the older model in many ways, which I thought was cool. As for the controls, they're fairly straightforward, though slightly oddly labeled. Two of the controls are actually tweaked from inside the pedal through means of adjustable trimmer pots, which are vital to the pedal's tonal shaping. It takes a little work to get a good sound out of the pedal, but overall, it's pretty basic.

First, a disclaimer: I will try to be as objective as possible with this review, but this pedal was not what I thought it was going to be. I will be scoring it based on the accuracy of Mr. Fuller's description.

As for my set-up, I'm using:

Kramer Striker Custom FR-422CM with Seymour Duncan '59 Humbucker in the bridge -> Analogman modded BOSS SD-1 (TS-808 mod) -> Fulltone Fat Boost (godly pedal, by the way) -> Fulltone Distortion Pro -> Fender Hot Rod Deville 410, on clean channel

It's a relatively quiet pedal, but, here's my big problem. The pedal is nowhere near as sweet and buttery as Mike Fuller would have you imagine. I was expecting something in the ballpark of a cranked class A, handwired tube amp kind of vibe. Not necessarily of the same caliber as, say, an AC30, but something smooth like that. The only tone I was personally partial to was a kind of fuzzed out Plexi tone. It was cool for Cream stuff, but it's not really what I was looking for. I could get a pseudo-Page tone as well, but not convincing enough for the price tag. I decided to mess with the trimmer pots, and found my adjustments to be more agreeable with my humbucker-driven sound, but still not quite up to par. Don't get me wrong, it was a cool sound, but not nearly as cool as my SD-1/Fat Boost combo. The sound from the Distortion Pro was something I could only describe as buzzy and intrusive. That description may be a little harsh, but the sound was just too cold for my tastes. I wouldn't go so far as to put it on the same level as, say, a BOSS MT-2, or something equally as horrid, but I feel like it was not at all worth the hefty price tag. Final judgment: Decent pedal, less than decent price. I would give it a 6.75 if I could.

I don't think I'll answer here, simply because I didn't keep it long enough to really test it.

I've never had to deal with Mr. Fuller, but from what I've heard, that may be a good thing. I won't pass any judgments as I've never talked to him, but let's just say he has quite the reputation for being difficult at best.

I play in a band that is like a mix between Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Black Crowes, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Pink Floyd, Queen, and a little bit of harder stuff thrown in, like Guns N Roses, Alice In Chains, Motorhead, and the like, and I can honestly say that the Distortion Pro didn't really nail of the usable tones I was looking for. I'm 16, and I've been playing for 3 years, but I have a very picky taste for tone, and let's just say my amount of experience isn't representative of my playing. I've tried two other Fulltone pedals (Fat Boost and '69 Fuzz), and found much more success, and I've heard good things about his other ones, and I'm also led to believe that the Distortion Pro is the rotten apple, so to speak. If it were lost or stolen, I would most certainly not buy another one. In fact, I am going to the guitar shop tomorrow to exchange it for a Full Drive or Soul Bender. Overall, good pedal, but not great.

Hard to find the sweet spot-differs with twins and marshalls and boogies. not complicated but has only one sweet spot.

Not bad but not as good as I expected. If you want EJ, than buy a tonebone classic. Its not too bad though but not very versitile. A bit buzzy and thumpy. It just dosnt sing like my tone bone or my keeley tubescreemer. Not bad, but for fulltone-it sucks-and the price too.

fulltone stuff always stands up to abuse-except the older clydes.

I know everyone thinks Mike fuller is a pompous, snobby-ass jerk! He is actually a nice guy and will talk to you in person patiently and helpfully. And He is a very busy guy!!

Not fulltone material-should be discontinued.