Fulltone Distortion Pro

Simplistic in its layout, this pedal is very easy to manipulate and use. Manual is very useful illustrating how to taper some innards of the pedal (and how to reset them).

This is a very musical and muscular pedal. Used with my Budda Stringmaster head (Budda's take on the ol' charged-up Fender - Dumble-esque design), it accentuated the amp's natural harmonics and feel - but with 10x gain. It gives a very natural amp like distortion (iMO), it is very expressive, and it brings out your guitar and amp's natural characteristics (which i like). Through my rig, this pedal can also give you sounds ranging from soft Plexi-esque gain to Black Sabbath-esque tapped out Laney distortion. I prefer to operate it in a medium gain mode, which gives you bluesey shaded of grit and overtones (Knopfler esque). This is also the quietest distortion pedal I have ever ever ever ever heard - with the drive maxed out, it is still dead silent (!!). It compresses the sound slightly is a very musical way - evening out the attacks and accentuates legato techniques.

I haven't managed to break a distortion pedal before... delay pedals yes, but not distortion... don't know why... Don't think this pedal will break the trend...

haven't had to contact them yet.

If I had to pick two words to summarize this pedal it would be "musical" and "quality". Very few pedals are capable to retaining your amp and gitar's natural characteristics while giving it this much gain. It's well worth the price of admission.

As mentioned, it is a very versatile pedal... small changes in the settings produce a wide variety of sounds... perhaps that isn't such a good idea, after all, although it sounded like a great concept. After owning this pedal for 6 months, I haven't found a use for it, as it doesn't give me a tone that I really connect with. I am developing a taste for simpler pedals with stronger character. Instructions are adequate, describing a few basic settings to start you off.

Again, I agree with most other users in appreciating this pedal's versatility. However, it has an underlying, if slight, buzz that is difficult to dial out without becoming muddy. I have played this through 3 different strats ( 2 fat strats, one with Texas specials and a Strat Plus with Kinmans) as well as a dot 335, '73 LP Custom and a '52 Tele RI. I play through either a VHT ST-50 with 2x12 cab or an Allen Old Flame with a single 12" EV SRO... numerous pedals before and after. I'm sorry, it 's an okay pedal, but I'm putting it on eBay. It never sounded smooth without some major tweaking of both the pedal and the amps, leaving me with the challenge of re-setting my amps to bring out the best sound in my other pedals, all of which express their best sounds with pretty much the same universal setting on the clean channel of both amps. For tone references, I look mostly to Eric Johnson, Allan Holdsworth, Mike Landau and Scott Henderson. ( at least for what I wanted this pedal for.) Again, there just seems to be a high end buzz or rasp that I can't dial out and can't ignore. Probably sounds great to someone else, but not to me.

All of Fulltone's stuff has a good reputation. I am keeping my Octafuzz and am picking up the Fulltone Uni-vibe clone (product name?) although I did return the FullDrive II... same issue, but a less versatile and more mid-rangey pedal than the DP.

My brief experience has been a non-response to one email with a question about control settings. Doesn't seem to get good marks for bedside manner, but they probably get a lot of dumb requests. It's hard to get any work done, if you have to answer questions all day. I give them the benefit of the doubt and rate my one non-encounter a 6.

Not much more to say. Like most high end pedals, it must be someone's cup of tea. I'm selling mine and have a Banzai Fireball II on order. I also sent back a Barber pedal (can't recall which one, now, but a popular one) that seemed similar in it's drawbacks and tone, but not as nice as the Fulltones for construction.Right now, I'm using a combination of an old Marshall ShredMaster and an Analogman Silver Mod TS-9. Between the two of these and my amps, I get most of the tone I'm looking for. I have been playing for 33 years, play part-time right now in a funk/blues/fusion band. Love all kinds of jazz, blues, fusion, some classic rock and shred, some country. Not really into grunge, metal or alt rock, but try to appreciate it, anyway. I know that many people love everything made by Fulltone and Barber, and you really should live with a pedal for a week or two at least, to see where it fits in. This one just didn't quite do it for me and I realized lately that it's just taking up space on my pedal board. My ears tell me it's time for something else.

Several controls (volume, distortion, saturation, lows, mid, highs) which interact with each other to produce a wide range of usuable sounds, unlike other pedals I've used. Of course, it takes a little exploration to find the sounds that you need, but it's well worth the effort.

Wow. I've been trying to get my Telecaster/Fender Twin setup to give me a Les Paul/Marshall sound in addition to the trademark Fender clean sound. I've tried several distortion/overdrive pedals (Tube Screamers, Maxon SD-9, Boss Distortions, to name a few) and several compressors (Keely, Carl Martin, etc.) to go with my drive channel, but I hadn't found the sound. A few months ago I replaced the stock speakers in my Twin with Celestion G12H's, and that helped. But the Distortion Pro is the ticket. It gives a wide range of sounds, from near-fuzzy to thick-mid power-tube overdrive. There's very good string definition, and it reacts well with the different channels on the Twin to produce several distinct types of distortion. It's like my 3-channel amp has added three more channels. Cleans up well when you back off the volume or play more softly. Sounds better than I had imagined. By far the best distortion pedal I've ever played. I also like it better even than my Clyde Deluxe Wah (sounds very good) and my Choralflange (which may someday give me the sounds I'm looking for, but I haven't found them yet). I know it sounds stupid to say that my Tele and Twin sound like a Les Paul through an old Marshall, and I'm sure the purists would beg to differ, but the Distortion Pro gives me that sound - and many others that I didn't know I was looking for but am glad I found.

I've had it for only a few weeks, so I can only speculate, but it seems well made.

I have 3 Fulltone pedals, and have had no problems with any of them, so I have not had any dealings with the company other than the purchases.

I've bought lots of musical equipment over the past 27 years, and in most cases the satisfaction curve for each new item purchased drops off shortly after the first use. Not this pedal. I like it more each time I play it. I don't know how this pedal would work with other guitar/amp combinations, but for mine, it is perfect. Now I can get the sounds I want. Eureka.

Very awesome pedal, very tweakable, but you must take time with your guitar and amp to find what works with what you have. Well worth the effort. Minor adjustment are the key to good tone.

Very musical pedal. Actually and extention of the amp. Very little noise at high gain settings, cleans up real well with guitars volume knob. I use it with and SRV strat and a HW-1 strat with Van Zandt pickups. Sounds like I am playing through a marshall half stack. I bought this pedal after hearing a guy playing a les paul into an orange half stack. Thats all it took for me i was sold.

I have had this pedal for 2 years now. Absolutly no problems with the pedal. Not one. I would and do gig with out a back up. No need for one.

I have an older model and they have since upgraded the op-amp. So I e-mailed Mike Fuller about what it would cost to have it upgraded. He e-mailed me back within 24 hours and said just the cost of shipping. That's what I call service

I play in a conteporary praise and worship band and have to cover blues, rock, vintage rock and modern sounds. This pedal does it very well, though I am partial to the brown sound with small tweaks here and there. Buying this pedal kept me from having to by a marshall half stack. I just use my Fender blues deluxe and it rocks the house.

Well you have many options here. This pedal really is the swiss army knife of Distortion Boxes. There are two internal trimmers that affect the tone along with four EQ controls on the face. All of them are very active. If you just want to stomp and go - you probably want something else. If you want to tailor you Drive then by all means this is a great pedal.

I own just about everything Mike makes and this a keeper just like all the rest. With my Vibrolux reverb and Les Paul it just sounds beautiful - Smooth buttery tones. With my JTM 45 just as nice but different. Like I said above you really can get a huge range of tone with this thing. If I were to have one Drive box this or the FD2 would be topping the list.

Built like a Tiger Tank.

I sent my 2002 DP1 to Mike for an upgrade to the 03 spec. Got the pedal back in less than a week. (I am LA based as well.) Spoke with Mike on the phone regarding my 70's pedal problem. He set me up on both accounts. If you have legitimate business to contduct with Mike he will bend over backward to help. If you just want to shoot the shit - call a drinking buddy.
Fulltone across the board is top notch.

I am a professional Session Guitarist and Audio Engineer in LA. I really only buy the best my Ear can find. I don't buy the cheap stuff anymore. I want to get it a forget about it. If your Distortion / drive pedal is playing you instead of you playing it. Then this will slove your ills. A great Pedal!

I've owned this unit for about 3-1/2 months and I can tell you that the Distortion Pro is an intelligently designed pedal that I believe could be tweaked to achieve great to awesome results with virtually any guitar/amp/effects-chain combination. The price to be paid for this versatility, however, is that you need to play with the knobs for a while to get your tones down. (Or maybe I?m just slow?? Or very picky??)

I first heard this pedal at my local Guitar Center. I asked the gal at the counter what was the best distortion pedal in the house. She pointed at the little red pedal with the big sticker price and I though, "Yeah, that's your favorite." (You know, sales commission). I had to ask her at that point if she played guitar. No. She's a singer, but the guitar player in her band uses a DPro.

She set me up with an American Strat through the Distortion Pro through a Hot Rod Deluxe. I crank up the amp, switch on the bridge pickup and nearly freak out when I hear the sounds I'm getting with this thing!

I then asked to try Fulltone's Fulldrive 2. To make the story short, I walk out with both pedals. When I get home I play with a few of my guitars and amps and just have a wonderful time.

I am not a wealthy man, but when I heard these pedals, I knew I was very shortly going to put all my other distortion/overdrive pedals up on eBay.

Built strong to last long.

After I'd had my pedals for a short while (but before I started to take them out to play) I noticed a hairline crack in one of the knobs on my Fulldrive 2. I e-mailed Mr. Fuller, telling him that I didn't know whether the crack was there when I bought it or if my wife or somebody had stepped on the pedal. Withing a few days I had a replacement knob (and a spare!) delivered to my door (no charge). I thought that was cool.

Later, I noticed a noise in my DPro and I e-mailed Mr. Fuller. He wanted me to be VERY sure the problem was his pedal before I sent it back to him. My initial reaction was that he was rather short with me. On a second reading of his e-mail, however, I decided that he was damned sure of his product and had so few bona fide problems that he felt it his place to demand that I check out the problem thoroughly before sending the pedal back.

The problem turned out to be no big deal, and I fixed it myself by moving a couple of wires (had someone at Guitar Center opened this pedal up and played around in there??).

This pedal has its niche. It doesn't do everything, but what it does do, it does very, very well. It really does allow subtle playing nuances to come through at most settings. Just tonight I hooked it up to my Twin Reverb for the first time. I plugged my SG into my Carl Martin compressor --> Distortion Pro --> H2O echo. Sheesh! I couldn't believe the sounds coming from that old amp!!! Got some really nice Third Door down tones from that antique relic (who'd a thunk?). My son soon stole the guitar away from me and played for a good while, smiling all the time! I also tonight came to understand this so called ?woman tone? I?ve been hearing about. And I thought Twin Reverbs were for ?Clean? playing!

Very easy to use. Not difficult. Read the manual to understand the dials, and its like dialing a telephone number.

This is where I'll get more specific. When I bought the pedal, I originally was going to buy a Fulldrive 2 because I own several distortion pedals that I was just not satisfied with: Boss DS-1, Danelectro, Ibanez Tube Screamer, etc. All the pedals I just mentioned are OK, but something was missing (maybe some serious modifications). Getting back to were I was going earlier- I was in Nashville a fews weeks ago, and I noticed all the players had either Sparkle Drives or Fulldrive 2's in use. Awesone clarity and musicality in the sounds produced. Right up my ally. Keep in mind that I was wanting to find a more organic, smooth less metallic sound. More of a classic rock/blues sound. I took all of my guitars: stock Les Paul Standard, American Tele with a 59 in the bridge, and an American Texas special. I took every pedal (Maxon 808, Maxon OD -9, Fulldrive 2, and the Distortion Pro) in the music shop in a backroom and tweeked away. Also, I used the same model of amp that I play - Fender Hot Rod Deville. I was going to buy the Fulldrive (Awesome Pedal!), but the Distortion Pro was more geared to my style of playing Classic Rock to Modern Rock. Very versitile, very natural distortion. Not too over the top. Does the "brown sound" very well. Very quiet!! Also cleans up well to give a very good blues tone. What I liked the most about the pedal was how it interacts with the volume knob. Can have a highly distorted sound, but by turing the volume down, can produce very clear lightly distorted sounds. Must note that the pedal also sounds awesome through Mesa Nomad, and a Marshall JCM 2000. Expensive pedal, but if your in to natural sounding distortion, this pedal is a keeper.

No problems yet.

You should experiement with it before you buy it - always a good suggestion before an equipment purchase. You will not be disappointed. It will speak for itself.

I have the newer 2003 model which apparently sounds much better than the first Distortion Pros produced. Takes some time to get your sound coming out of it but it just takes patience and a good ear. With 6 knobs and 2 internal trimmer knobs that all seem to interact with each other, it takes some time to get what could be considered as your dream sound. But the important thing is...your dream sound IS in there!!!!!

I think the most important thing to do is look at this effect unit not as a pedal...but as a great sounding Marshall Plexi in a very small package. I don't know why the knobs aren't labled easier but hey...they sound fancy. Ressonance should be bass, voicing should be middle, highs should be treble. Volume and distortion knobs are self explanitory. The saturation knob is a mystery to me...it sounds crappy to me when set past 12 o'clock...I use mine on zero. The two internal trimmers are where the real magic happens with this pedal. Man what a differance when i changed them (i turbed the left trimmer full up and the other just an 1/8 of a turn from where it was from the factory). The pedal went from a mild overdrive to almost an exact replica of the tone i got with my Tube Driver, and for me it's perfect.

I use a Strat, Tele (and will soon get a Jaguar) through a Fulltone Clyde Standard >> re-issue three knob Tone Bender (a Fulltone Soul Bender is in my future) >> Fulltone Distorion Pro >> Fulltone Fat Boost >> EXH Small Stone phaser >> EXH Small Clone chorus (a Fulltone Choralflange is also down the road) >> Ernie Ball Volume Pro JR >> all George L's cables with unfinished ends >> Marshall JTM 45 re-issue with Tesla 6l6's and a solid state rectifier >> Doyle CE Stereo 4x12.

I bought this pedal to replace my old Chandler Tube Driver because it was getting to fragile and noisy. The Distortion Pro doesn't make a noise and makes some of the most natural distortion tones i've ever heard. It works well with my other pedals and is true-bypass. It takes a lot of tweaking, but i suggest you sit down in front of your amp and just spend a couple of hours (or even a day) in complete silence save for the sound you make with your guitar amp and pedal to fine tune and tweak this pedal.

My guitar idols are Jimi Hendrix, John Frusciante of Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Eric Johnson. With this pedal I can nail any possible distortion tone i want. I realize for some, the ammount of distortion will not be enough for some players. This is not a metal box or a fuzz....it's is a great natural, tube sounding distortion. I'm 20 years old, I've been playing for nearly 10 years and I've tried it all. If you have it in your hands you can make this pedal sound as heavy as you want but don't get discouraged if you can't....just practice playing more!!!

Simply a fantastic sounding pedal...couldn't be happier!!!!!!!!!

Built like a tank in the Fulltone pedal building tradition. I don't see any reson to take a backup on the road. I haven't had any problem whatsoever. In my opinion, Mr. Fuller should have enginered the battery compartment better....in the car after i bought the pedal, as soon as i looked at the knurled knob that screws out I thought "well this is the first thing i will lose" and seconds later as I was screwing it out it fell out onto the floor of the car and had to be retrived with extreme patience. I think Mr. Fuller would just shake his head though :)

I have chosen incredibaly kind and helpful...here is why...
Mr. Fuller and his company make some of the best sounding pedals known to man. I would rather him be building and designing pedals than being on the phone with me gabbing about how I lost the knurled knob for the battery compartment which I know is why a lot of people call him: things they can figure out on their own!!!! If you have an honest question....make it simple and to the point and as short as possible. E-mails always come back very quickly....don't ask stupid questions and you wont get mean answers. We should all be so lucky to be able to talk directly to the man responsible for our godly tones. Props to Michael Fuller for doing everything he does as far as customer assitance goes!!!

This is the perfect distortion pedal for me period. I play in a Canadian band called See Spot Run and have been playing guitar for 9 years. I work in a restaurant and bakery for my day job and make very little money doing it. These pedals (all Fulltone) are incrediablly expensive for me but I want the best. There is no reason why money should come into question when considering what you are getting for it. This pedal is compact, versatile, responsive to attack, quiet, and reliable. I would definatly buy another if it got stolen. It inspires me to keep playing for hours on end. Thank you mr Fuller for making such an amazing sonic tool for me to create the most amazing form of expression with: music.

Well, it's got a lot of knobs, and I found that a lot of settings actually produced "bad" sounds, despite all the reviewers who scream, "Impossible to get a bad sound out of this magical red box!" etc. "Bad" meaning (to my ears) artificial, buzzy or harsh types of tones. Not smooth and rich like my Fulldrive II. I found the four small knobs sort of awkward to operate. I think there are some great settings on this pedal, but they're not that easy to dial in. The manual is a good place to start, although somewhat limited. Compared to other distortion pedals with two or three knobs, this thing is like rocket science, so I give it a 6.

I bought this pedal after reading heaps of praise and owning some great Fulltone products, and I just don't understand the hype. I found one really usable setting with which I could cop a super-saturated type of lead tone. Add some chorus with the Choralflange and it's pure Slash circa Use Yr Illusion. The thing is, I'm not really into that sound. In fact, I find it kind of ludicrous. I actually used this pedal live to play an ironic 80s guitar solo with a friend's band. And it nailed it! The crowd went nuts. But when trying to find "my" sound, the sound in my head, I came up empty-handed. I ran across tons of shitty settings on this thing, and I really had to tweak like a fiend to get the harshness out of this pedal. By contrast, I recently got a Foxrox ZIM. I thought it might be a bitch to tweak as well because of all the voicing settings, but to my surprise, it's the complete opposite of this pedal in that almost all of the settings, even the extreme ones, are totally musical sounding. It's like Dave Fox found this entire SPECTRUM of sweet spots and you can just precisely dial in your favorite flavor. Impressive. I sold my Distortion Pro on eBay shortly thereafter. To be fair, I never tried one of Mike's newer models, so maybe he's improved on the circuit. I don't know. I'm not out to bash Fulltone here, I just wanted to add a contrasting opinion to all the hype on this board. (For reference, I ran this pedal through a Dr. Z MAZ-18 combo. It sounded flat and artificial... definitely didn't make my amp sound like a Marshall, except for that one corny setting I mentioned above.)

Fulltone products are built to last. Very sturdy exterior, beautiful wiring inside. Although the little knobs on this pedal are definitely fragile, and two of them broke on me in the short time I had the pedal, so I gotta subtract points for that.

Some people really hate Mike, but I'm not sure why. He's always responded to my emails and been a professional. Being able to talk to the creator of the product you use is a rare and tremendous thing. Don't abuse the guy or waste his time and he'll treat you well.

I've been playing for about 13 years and own a lot of effects, all boutique. Currently, I'm trying to simplify my pedal board. Not only in terms of how many pedals are on there, but how easy each pedal is to use. The ZIM is a major improvement over the Distortion Pro, because I can dial in tons of usable settings on the fly, with the twist of ONE KNOB instead of the DP's FOUR. I use a Fulldrive II for overdrive sounds and again, simplicity is the key to that pedal's greatness. I have an early model, no toggle switch, just set your volume, your drive and go. I'm getting to a point where I would rather have a pedal do a few tones really well than be endlessly tweakable. I really think the best gear is the simplest. Look at the TS-808 and all the clones it has inspired. Or the Ross compressor everyone is remaking now. Or an even better example: my $50 vintage Small Stone outphases the Lovetone Doppelganger I paid $400 for! Am I alone here? Do more knobs make a pedal "better"? Unless it's a Fuzz Factory, my answer is a resounding NO. That being said, if anyone wants to trade an Analogman Clone Chorus for my Fulltone Choralflange, get in touch and help me achieve Effects Zen!

Very straightforward , if you don't mind having alot of flexability!

Absolutely tweakable, with none of the fake Boss Metal bullsh^&% sounds, just very ORGANIC Marshall-like tones here, and you can dial in the original "string" sound via the "Saturation" control and get a very articualte Dumble-like amp sound.

built like a Hummer

All questions answered quickly, Mike even steered me AWAY from buying another of his products because he felt it wouldn't work for me.
Now that's the nice thing about a successful company like Fulltone....they don't NEED the money like these other weekend booteek companies so they can and ARE objective and helpful.

Get one, try it, if you are a geek who uses the Mesa Triple rectifier or the Marshall "I got 4 channels up my butt" Metal Monster....stay clear, go away, get a Boss pedal. If you have EARS,and like Harmonics (no, not the pathetic homo-squeels that Zack Wilde does) we're talkin' Overtones, natural beautiful liquid sound) then the DistortionPro is the ONLY way to go!

See other reviews or website for the specs. Easy to use once you get the hang of the unit's fine-tuning capabilities. Read the manual for Mike's tips. Mine is the 2003 version so it has the upgrades - I can't comment on the sound quality of earlier units.

This is a REALLY good distortion pedal. I set mine as follows (o'clock positions): Volume = whatever, Distortion = 12:00, Resonance = 1:00, Voicing = 9:00, Highs = 12:00, Saturation = all the way off. I'm using a Tom Anderson guitar through a Mesa Rocket 4-Forty (4x10 Jensens). George L's cables all the way.

This setting creates a nice distortion for soloing - very warm, singing, not at all harsh, actually a very "clean" distortion if you know what I mean. If you can play guitar well and can control the distortion, it sounds beautiful.

If you can't play guitar well, turn the Distortion and Saturation knobs to maximum and you'll get a sound similar to the modified BOSS DS-1's that Analogman and Keeley churn out. Lots of compression, more sustain and dirt... makes hiding mistakes easier.

The pedal cleans up very well when backing down on the guitar's volume knob.

The pedal has a slightly dark voice, which I prefer to the overly bright BOSS DS-1. It has just the right amount of top end to sound detailed yet smooth with a clean Fender/Mesa. It must sound amazing through a good Marshall.

Open up any Fulltone pedal and take note of how immaculate and well constructed it is. Mike knows his shit.

Never dealt with Mike, and will probably never need to.

I've been learning guitar and playing music for nearly 20 years. Mostly play blues/jazz/funk. I really like this pedal. Nice one Mike!

2003 model. Very easy to use. As said before, you start with setting examples and then adjust it to your taste. Actually to get a bad sound out of it your really have to look for it.

I'm using it with a fender AV '62 stratocaster. This is the best distortion pedal I ever used. What's particularly incredible is that it makes my blues junior for instance sound big, and my custom vibrolux reverb HUGE. First time I plugged it with my band, everybody asked if I had bought a new amp or a new guitar. The is fat, present, very natural sounding. I only use the "browner sound" setting. No need for a 200-channel switching amp.

Bult like a tank, as it has become proverbial to say about fulltone pedals. Don't have backup, clever access to the battery, nice red colour, will look great when 20 years old and chipped and nicked.

Here's the rub, as Hamlet would say. Mike Fuller won't agree to sell his pedals internationnally any more, though I had bought my Fulldrive 2 direct a couple of years before. Why did it work once and not anymore? Credit card seem to be the issue, but I had sent a prepaid money order. So I ordered it through the internet from a very very nice store located in Seattle. An other thing, he wouldn't reply my emails. I know he's busy but hey if I want to spend $999 on a TTE I expect at least a one-sentence answer. Maybe he just doesn't care about some obscure French guitar player. Anyway, I decided to buy other brand's products.

Great for every guitar-driven, rock music. Turns any good tube amp into a Marshall (and a good one). That by itself is a feat. I only wish it cleaned up even better. But the crunch I'm lusting for has to be asked from my amp, and not from this pedal that is build for distortion.

What a great distortion pedal. Fairly easy to use but you have to learn about the fine tuning capabilities to get the fantastic variety of sounds that this pedal can produce. The two large knobs are Distortion and Volume. They have the greatest affect on sound when adjusted. The other four knobs are marked Resonance, Voicing, Highs, and Saturation. It is very interesting how sensative these small knobs are and how they interact to shape the many high quality sounds that the box can generate. Mike gives you a few diagrahms inside the manual for Clapton's Cream sound, an SRV sound, and a AC/DC distortion. The manual is laid out well and is informative without being too wordy. My unit was made in 03, and is numbered in the 2700's, so it has the latest modifications that improved the overall sound of the pedal (see other reviews or Fulltone website). Start with Mike's settings and learn how to shape your own sound. The pedal is simple to use at a glance, but you must experiment to fully understand how to produce the variety of sounds that can be made with this effect box.

Fantastic! My usual setup is a 97 Fender American Standard Stratocaster, into a Boss CS-3 Compressor, and into a 1984-86 Blackface Fender Deluxe Reverb II, all tube amplifier. It was designed by Paul Rivera when he worked for Fender. I only add other effects as needed. I also use the same setup through a 1977 Silverface Fender Princeton, all tube amplifier. I use the clean side of the amp when using the Deluxe Reverb II. The distortion tones that the Distortion Pro generates through either amp just are incredible. Complex, warm, not buzzy or metallic sounding. The Highs knob allows you to cut back the treble and remove shrill sounds even when using the bridge position pickup. You can get a very mild distortion or a very extreme distorted sound, or anything in between. Right now my settings are set for a "Reeling In The Years" tone. The box nails that sound. Also, Robin Trower's "Long Misty Days" sound can easily achieved making my small Fender sound much like Robin's Marshalls. I am really pleased with this pedal and feel better about the cost now that I realize the variety of distorted tones that can be conjured up by turning any of the six adjustment knobs. I can even take my Tube Screamer out of the chain since this pedal can make a great overdrive sound as well. True bypass is a must for every other pedal I buy in the future. With the box off there is no loss to your signal. I was really leary of spending $200+ on a small red box but now I am very glad that I did.

I have used the pedal nearly every day for about six weeks. I play out twice a week, and have used it on one recording in the studio with great results. I place it in the original box and store it inside my effects gig bag after every use and before transporting it back and forth. It is made of heavy sheet metal construction and all of the parts appear to be high quality. This is my first Fulltone box but it seems to be made in a way that will assure dependability. I don't have an exact backup, but could rely on my Tube Screamer if I had to. You wouldn't get the same sounds since the Tube Screamer is different. I will go on other reviewers rating and the Fulltone name. To access the battery compartment you unscrew a small screw with a knurled head. This can be done with your fingers. The only complaint that I have is that you have to completely remove the screw to open the access door. This opens up an opportunity to lose the screw. This is a nit so I will not deduct points. It would be nice to have the screw attached to the door somehow. That way you wouldn't lose it if you accidentally dropped it on a dark stage. Again, mine was signed by Mike and is numbered in the 2,700s. Obviously Fulltone doesn't stamp these things out like doughnuts. This is quality stuff by someone who knows how to play the guitar.

Have not used CS. Sounds like they respond well. Try calling Ibanez or Boss! I bought this pedal at my local Guitar Center. They guaranteed it for thirty days. Just enough time for me to decide if I wanted to keep it. The best part is I wouldn't have to mail it back to Fulltone. My Guitar Center plans on carrying the full line of Fulltone pedals. Keep your eyes open. They lock them behind the counter and let you demo them only with a G Center sales rep. Mike is busy hand building these things so don't pester him without a just cause. It only slows down production for the people that need Fulltone effects. I will definately buy more eventually. Maybe the Vox 847 wah mod is next. Mine is sounding limited.

I play rock, jazz, blues, folk, etc...This is the best distortion pedal that I have ever used. I compared it to MXR's $79.00 small yellow distortion box. Their box sounded great, but the number of sounds that it can produce is nothing compared to the Distortion Pro. I also compared the Distortion Pro to the Fulltone Fulldrive II. The Fulldrive II is very nice, but it is more of an overdrive pedal, and the Distortion Pro wins the comparison due to the variety of high quality sounds it produces. The Fulldrive II would be a great replacement for my Tube Screamer. I like it much better than the TS9 Turbo with the TS808 mod. The Boss DS-1 and Electo Harmonix Big Muff are okay, but still not at the level of the Distortion Pro. The Distortion Pro can do it all. Highly recommended over any overdrive or distortion pedal that I have ever played through. Do yourself a favor and get one of these. Although it is a bit pricey, you will not regret it.

This pedal is a 2002 with the recent Fulltone 03' upgrade. This one takes a small investment in time before the tonal range is explored. The upside is this pedal has many tones lurking within.

My rating of 9 requires some explanation. I bought this pedal for my rig (57' LP with Matchless HC-30). I could not get a good sound out of this set up, rolled off highs and muddy lows. I gave up on this pedal and gave it to a friend. With his set up (60's Strat with a 50 Watt Plexi) the sound was complex and dynamic. As we played around it apppears it is the Class A power amp stage that the DP does not like. This pedal clearly responds to the equipment you have. Like all pro gear this pedal is intended for rehearsal/gig volumes, if you want to hear this baby sing make sure you are at least driving your power amp stage. It will deliver a wide and impressive tonal range as Fulltone describes on their website.

Everything Fulltone makes is well made. I own several of Fuller's pedals and have been impressed with the quality, consistency and durability.

I have e-mailed Fulltone on several occassions without any response. When they have responded to my questions the response was often sarcastic and non-helpful. Oh-well if I wanted a friend I should have bought a dog.

A great pedal if it works with your set-up. I would suggest you demo this one before you buy. I can say that when it likes your equipment it will deliver an impressive range of tone. I have been playing for a mere 30 years and this opinion (I hope) reflects some wisdom of experience.

mine is a 2003 model. as stated below, these apparently are better than the older ones. with all the knobs, it may take more tweaking than usual on pedals, but the end result is that it is worth it. manual provides good starting points.

i have to say one of the best OD's out there. strats, teles, LP, 335. mostly using fender vibro king sometimes with 212 extention cab. sounds great with all, but humbuckers do change the settings.

had this about 3 months, no problem.

only dealing was i had a knob strip on my fulldrive II. no idea how it happened, but emailed company and they offered new one for no charge. sweet

been playing 25 yrs. mostly southern rock, blues, rock and country. Od is probably over the top for country. play in touring groups for 15 yrs. this is a great "ingredient" in the mix. if you have a problem getting good sound, it is probably one of two reasons. 1- you cant play and don't know the difference. or 2- you probably have crappy gear. it is amazing how much difference it makes. down to the cables. this pedal will really make a good setup sing. i use it with my fulldrive as a boost when needed. awesome. it is not cheap, but the thing about this and the fdII is that although you get the od/ sustain, different guitars still retain their voice which is rare among pedals. true bypass is a big difference as well. i never have personally used a ts9 that didn't suck tone something fierce when turned off.

This pedal is not as much plug and play as the Full-Drive 2 but taking some time to sit and fiddle with the six knobs will result in finding the tone that you are searching for. The manual is extremely helpful in terms of finding a starting point. Usually I do not even bother to look at the manuals but this one helped.

So far I ahve only played it with my Les Paul Classic. There is zero noise with this pedal and it sounds amazing. I am using it with a Full-Drive 2, Ultimate Octave, Mini Deja' Vive and a Budda Wah through a Johnson J-Station set to the Blackface for direct recording. The Blackface simulation in the J-Station is by far the best I have found and I own a Boss GT-6 and GT-5, a POD XT and a Yamaha DG Stomp. I plan on purchasing a Palmer Speaker SImulator so that I can use my all tube Fender Twin for direct recording. I can easily get anything from an Eddie Van Halen tone to a Steve Lukather tone to a flat out Tripple Rectifier.

As with Fulltone pedals, this one is built to last and has impeccable craftsmanship. No concerns here.

I have emailed Mike Fuller and got an immediate response that more than answered my question.

Overall, this pedal has gone beyond takeing care of my high gain needs. I can get as much bottom end as I desire from this all while getting crips highs and an overall tubey feel. This has become my main go to high gain pedal and has become indespensible in terms of getting a great tone.

Distortion Pro (DP-1), built in 10/03/03. The instructions in the Owners Manual are crystal clear.

I used a Gibson Les Paul style guitar (Heritage H-150CM Classic) with Seymour Duncan SH-55 Seth Lover model passive pickups (The SH-55 was designed jointly by Seymour and humbucker inventor Seth Lover. Just like the original 1955 P.A.F.s, the SH-55 utilizes a nickel silver bottom plate, butyrate plastic bobbins; plain enamel wire, an Alnico bar magnet, a wooden spacer, and black paper tape. The SH-55 uses a nickel silver cover instead of brass, which magnetically eliminates too much of the pickup's natural high-end tone. To be completely true to the original design and tone, the pickup is not wax potted. The tone is vintage P.A.F. The neck pickup will warm up even the coldest guitar, and the unpotted covers give the bridge pickup just enough boldness to break up early and really cut), a 10' and 15' Planet Wave cable, and a Peavey Classic 50-212 amplifier (retubed with JJ Electronic tubes: see www.eurotubes.com). I plugged my guitar into the DP-1, then the DP-1 into the, "Normal", input and played in the, "Normal Channel".

Can I depend on it? It's worked perfectly so far...Would I use it on a gig without a backup? Yes this pedal is an addendum to my guitar sound, not it's lynchpin.

I've been playing African American Gospel music, CCM, C&W, R&B, R&R for 24 years. This is the best distortion pedal on the planet and the first (hopefully not only :) )Fulltone pedal you should buy (see Gilbert Jones' review below).

Very easy to use. Just start turning the dials and you will soon come across many settings that you will like. As with any distortion box, the unit is very interactive with the volume control of the guitar.

I'm using the lastest version sold in 2003/2004 and have to say that it is absolutely the best distortion box on the planet sound wise. I used to use an older version of the Distortion Pro that was the one GP magazine raved about, but it was noisy and had a harsh sound to it. Although the original was good, the latest version sounds much smoother and less brittle, and is definitely an improvement in more ways than one. Comes very close to sounding like a real tube amp.

The new version is so flexible that you can get tones that are covered by other Fulltone boxes such as the Fulldrive II. In other words, if you can only afford one of Mike's pedals this is the one.

It can be used by itself for super distortion or it can be used as an overdrive device to drive an already distorted amp into thicker distortion. It seems to excel at Vox and Marshall sounds although by turning down the guitar's volume control, you can get nice fender sounds as well.

The unit is very quit.

In sum, the latest version significantly out perfprms the old original DP in many noticeable ways. Believe me, the improvement is not subtle. I can't imagine anybody not liking it.

Built great. My original DP never had problems. Expect this one to last as well.

I've corresponded with the Fulltone Service Dept once. They took care of me.

I play heavy metal, rock, classic, and some country. Been playing 20 years plus and have had many Marshall amps, Fender Amps, Mesa Amps, and even a Matchless amp. So I've had the good fortune of playing through some of the best. This pedal is right up there. In all honesty, the sound is so good, I often play it without any pre-amp distortion from the amplifier. By itself, it's as good sounding as an overdriven amp.

It it was stolen I'd buy another immediately. No hesitation.

I fooled around with this pedal alot when I first got it. Turned the internal pots everything. Everything does something on this pedal everything changes. Got it set where it pretty much sounds like a Hor Rodded Marshall stack....even when pluged in to 4X10..1X12..2X12..1X15 combos. Manual is helpful to get you started. I found it hard to leave this pedal alone for the first few months...now I make very small adjustments to it depending on the amp or guitar I'm using. Leave the thing alone and Play Your Guitar!

Most tube like and smooth distortion I ever heard in a pedal. Reacts very much like a tube amp when using your volume knob on your guitar. Almost I repeat Almost disappears completely with guitar volume down around 2 or 2.5. Works fine with my Strats or Teles. When usinig Les Paul or PRS I turn down the distortion knob to get the desired amount of distortion....with singles coils I leave it all the way up. Not Noisy at all. Used with Reissue Marshall Bluesbreaker...old Music Man combos..early 70's HD-130 4X10...RD-100 1X12..RD-100 1X15... I find the RD's cheap around here so I pick them up for a song..I can do a gig with any of them. Soldano Decatone Head in to Marshall 4X12 cab. Don't use the pedal much with this amp cause well you don't need to but it still works well driving the Decatone.

I find the distortion very very smooth. NO Hair Ball or Buzz Bomb in it. YOu can get that by changing the internal pots which I tried...but you lose how it reacts to the guitars volume knob. I like jockeying the volume knob more then i need the grainy distortion.

I like how you can retain some of your guitars tone with this pedal. I don't know about the 1000 pound violin and the Eric Johnson tones. I love the fact that it sounds like a Cranked Marshall and it fits in my guitar's gig bag. On my regular gig in a Soul,R&B, Funk band I use it for solos only. But at the weekly blues jams or open mic nights I never turn it off all night. I love how people scratch there heads when I use the same Twin they just used with there Tube Screamer or whathaveyou and I go from clean to slight breakup to more drive and more drive and more drive ect.ect.ect....all on a volume knob. There is some thing almost Hi-Fi about the tone of it...to good to call it distortion.

ps...every once in a while that 1000 violin sound comes out all by itself

It's a Fulltone. Use a lot of there stuff. Out of of 7 or 8 Fulltones only had one switch fail. That was long ago and probably caused by not have a hard case for my pedal board. Never worry about a back up for any of them.

Not to go in depth here....I have no problems with Mike or his company or his products. I love Fulltone and Fulltone loves me.

I'm your typical Jack of All Trades Master of None type guitar player. I've beening learning how to play for 30+ years. I say that cause I find myself still learning new and different things a lot lately. One day it's Wes Montgomery and Coltrane the next it's Hendrix(again), Trower, Marino, then it's Muddy, Buddy, Clapton, SRV. Oh let's not forget Joe Pass, Holdsworth, Eric Johnson. I still have so much to learn. I play a lot of covers from 50's Rock and Roll and 60's Soul/R&B..70's, 80's Rock...what... ever. Love to play straight blues in the right time and place. Gee I forgot Jimmy Page, Tommy Bolin, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Nolen, Nile Rogers,Vernon Reid,Danny Gatton, Roy Buchanan,Zappa,damn and oh Chuck Berry,ah Carlos Santana,,ect.ect.ect...

With all the different hype or likes and dislikes on here it's hard to make a dicision. All I know is the other night at a jam everyone was checking out my rig (68' Tele, $80 Music Man RD-100, DP1, Clyde) instead of the other guys Gibson Custom Shop 335, $3000 Two Rock in to JBL loaded cab. I can honestly say my tone was every bit as sweet fat round sustaining and singing as his. With a stock Tele no less.

Walk softly but carry a DP1 in your pocket.

This is a review based on the upgraded version. Fairly versatile pedal, there are so many reviews here that I'm not going to get into everything this pedal can do, but in short you can dial in any amount of lows, mid, and highs you want and with the saturation dial in a full compressed sound or back it off for blues or whatever.

My current set up is Les Paul Custom into clyde deluxe wah,into distortion pro,then choralflange into 50 watt Germino Rockgrinder with Groove tube KT66HP's and tube rectifier. My cab is a Germino 2x12 with one greenback and one Rola G1280. The reason I'm listing everything I use is because I think like most of us it has taken me years to find the tone I have heard in my head for thirty years and to maybe offer some advice to those who have listed negative reviews about this pedal. First and foremost is that tone starts with your amp. Then a good guitar, high quality cables, good pickups, a vintage cab or at least a cab that is made the way they use to make cabs. If you don't have any of these, how can you possibly fault the pedal. It even is stated on Fulltones web site that the afore mentioned thing's are almost a must to enjoy what this pedal can do to your tone. Nothing is a miracle in a box, it is simply a piece of the tone chain. If your tone chain sucks then you will continue to right bad reviews about most things you purchase! My goal here is not to piss people off because I did the same things for a long time. As far as the sound quality, this thing is absolute butter Period! No grainy distortion, it's almost as if there is no distortion, it's that smoothe. Very transparent and pure, tube tone. The best of the best out there today!

The old cliche" built like a tank and have had no problems with it. I just make sure I put a fresh battery in before I play out.

I sent my pedal on the 15th and UPS took seven days to get it ther and it arrived at fulltone on the 22nd, and Mike was going on vacation the 23rd so I thought it would be well into the new year until I got it back. Well I got it back on the 28th. They must have upgraded it and sent it the same day they received it. That's customer support!

I have been playing for 30 years and would replace it without question. I have tried the mass produced pedals and they aren't in the same class, not even close. It is dead quiet, and has True bypass and retains volume, clarity and power throughout the entire gig. It just adds to what already is a great tone. We play classic rock and with the right equipment you can nail, Cream, ACDC ZZ Top thge list goes on and on. Bottom line is Buy One!

6 knobs and two trim potis are not easy to ajust. After a longer time of tweaking you'll get it and you will know how it works.

I played it through a 73 Twin Reverb, a Blues Junior with V30, a 2554 Marshall and a JCM800 with Strats and Teles and it didn't sound good. I got a better result with my H&K 100W Tube Head. The H&K has much gain of of its own and the pedal worked best just to give that little bit of extra gain. But that's not what a high gain pedal ist meant for. The sound reminds me of that old Distortion+ from MXR that I don't like. I am shure after opening up this pedal that it is basicly a hot rodded Dist.+. It has also the same problem that after 3 a clock the distortion gets very muddy.

This ist where the pedal shines. Only made of the best parts and a very good metal box. I think it will last for ever

Never dealt with them.

This is a pedal that the world doesn't need. There are much better high gain pedals out there for a much better price. OK I bought it on Ebay for 135,00$ and sold it a few weeks later for 200,00$. That was the best experience I have made with the Distortion Pro. I wonder why there are so much people out there who pay such a high price fore a useless toy. I play guitar for 32 years. I tried a lot of pedals but I was rarely so disapointed. The problem is that Fulltone has no stomp box design of their own. They take old boxes and try some hodrodding. Mostly it works but not in this case.

2003 model. Very easy to use. Manual tone tweaking common sense knobs. True Bypass...awesome. Very easy to make this pedal sing.

This pedal sounds very good and specializes in big fat tone. Fulltone uses quality parts and construction. Out of the box and plugged into an amps clean channel, this pedal gives you open and dynamic distortion. Not modern compressed sounds. If you like the modern compressed hi-gain amps believe me, after you hear this pedal in action it is likely you'll realize how bad those compressed modern amps really are. This pedal will give you aggressively raunchy to smooth rock and roll tones, a huge pallet from which to select. Think vintage to 'hot rodded' Marshall's. Also, this pedal is gives great harmonic. True bypass is a must, pure guitar signal in and out. The above comments are based on running it thru your amp set on a clean sound. Basically, it will get you pretty close to any marshall type sound from the 60's, 70's, up to and including VH1.
If you use it with the GAIN channel of your amp or with a booster like the Fulldrive II (highly recommended), then you can get just about any sound from the past 35-40 yrs...add a good Keeley compressor (or similiar) to capture just about any rock sound currently out there.

As good as it gets. Outstanding warranty for pedasl that gets stomped on, daily!

Excellent, pretty quick with emails and very cool to speak with on the phone.

This pedal is an outstanding value given the range of sounds possible, hand-made tough construction, 5 year warranty, and don't forget TRUE Bypass (it makes all the difference). Also, unlike other pedals, the Fulltones seem to retain their value.

the distortion pro has a fairly steep learning curve,you don"t just plug and play.as mike fuller states the controls are very interactive in a sneaky sort of way.I think 1 or 2 weeks of experience with the unit will deliver amazing tones,although shit in, shit out....

this is my chain vox wah-distortion pro-experience pedal-deja vibe2-ADA tube preamp[modified by me from a marshall style cathode follower circuit courtesy mark howell and ADA DEPOT.COM]--Alesis midi verb2-2 marshall slp plexi reissue 100 watt heads-2 marshall 4\12 cabs with 25 watt greenbacks .

I have owned 2 distortion pros the first one a piece of stem on a pot fell off misterously.I superglued it back in place,other than that there have been no problems at all

have not had to use it yet...

I am able to get any distortion/overdrive tone short of full out fuzz with it particularly good is a van halen 1-2 slightly sqished sound setting with my rig level 2 o"clock,distortion-0,res-9 o:clock,voicing4 o:clock,highs -off, sat-4-5 o"clock also can cop joe satriani live tone dead on.also,the unit prefers single coil and normal gibson humbuckers paf reissue are good unit did mud up with real hot pickups[over 12 k]I adjust the internal trimmers only to put them back where mike set them.. I find the unit a bit hot but liked turning the distortion off and using the remaining controls... Its much more like a great overdrive with powerful tone shapeing than any conventional distortion box I LOVE MINE ...

N/A

This is a follow-up to an earlier review. I had the 2002 version and felt really uncomfortable with it. The pedal was very aggressive and hard to control at gig volume. It had a grainy quality to the distortion that was unpleasent to me. I saw the 2003 upgrade offer on the Fulltone website and thought "Why not." I sent it in with $10 to cover shipping. WHAT A DIFFERENCE !!! It's so much smoother and easier to control. I've had it back a week and can't stop playing with it. How's that for inspiration. My once "razorsharp lazerbeam" twin can sound like a fat warm plexi if I want it to. The tweek buttons don't seem to respond as drastically as before the upgrade. This make them much more useable and user friendly. I can play my Les Paul on 5,6 or 7 with a good rock tone then roll up to 10 and just sizzle and sustain with very ear pleasing saturation. the pedal also responds to right hand (pick hand)technique. If you dig, you hear it in the dynamics of the pedal. Sorry to go on and on, but I can't say enough about the improvements the 2003 chip upgrade made.

Best made pedals on the market.

Emailed about the upgrade. Got an answer that day.
I sent my pedal in UPS- Fulltone got it on a Friday. I got it back the following Friday. You figure 3 days shipping each way- They had it about 2 days. That is about as fast as it gets. the charged me $10 to ship it back. It cost me $7 to ship it in. No charge for upgrade.
I'd give them a 10 if they ate the shipping.

It had internal trimmers. Woohoo. I still could not get a reasonable sound out of it. This pedal is massively adjustable, but the problem is that you have to spend many hours tweaking it to get a good sound. and, if you play a 2-humbucker jobbie, just forget about it. tweaking is everything with fulltone pedals, in my experience. if you want to spend the time on it, cool. i don't.

It sounds absolutely spectacular- on the bridge pickup of a good Strat, with a good bridge pickup. I have NOT been able to make it sound good with anything else, for lead style. i think it's possible to make this pedal sound really good for a lot of styles, but after spending 6 months on it, frankly, i don't feel like tweaking anymore.
this is not for the person who likes to just plug a guitar in, and have a good distortion sound.
one thing i've noticed with Fulltone pedals- if you don't play a single-coil pickup, all bets are off. all his pedals seem to be built for single-coils. the difference in sound quality b/w my strat and 2-humbucker jobbie (both with decent seymour duncan vintage-style pickups) was immense. single coils sounded great. humbuckers sounded like crap, even after adjusting the internal gain trimmers way down. go figure.
in it's defense- if you can tweak it, when you nail the settings, it sounds totally awesome. too bad my strat died a few weeks after that :\
but do NOT think you can buy this pedal, plug it in, and expect massively good tone. you will work, very hard, for your tone. in my case, i worked, and i found the tone was not worth it.

whatever i might have to say about tone quality and ease of use, fulltone pedals are ridiculously well constructed. the box is solid steel, the LED and switch are patented top-quality. cold day in hell before you catch me complaining about build quality or reliablity in one of these pedals. these things are SOLID.
caveat: i don't play out. but i have broken a few pedals. so, my rating on this area is not really valid.

never dealt with fulltone's customer support. the manual is pretty good, tho.

i'm selling mine. might get a foxey fuzz, or a cheapie disortion, not sure. the ts-9 does well for most of my drive/distortion needs, and is easier to use. if the pedal was cheaper, i'd be more forgiving. but this is a boutique pedal that really doesn't justify it's price. this thing was being played thru a Dr Z Maz-18, and i just couldn't take the awful sound anymore, after 6 months of tweaking.