Fulltone Distortion Pro

Very easy to tweak the knobs, but there is no great sounds usable so im giving it a 2.

We tested this on a 6100 4x12 Marshall and this is the worst pedal that we've heard. Guitar used was an ibanez PGM301 loaded w/ paf pros.

All the worst tones in a pedal in a small package!
- fizzy & cheap sounding.
- fake/sterile sounding
- too many knobs and no good sounds
- did I mention fake sounding?

Looks durable but the sound ain't usable.

Fulltone is the ICON of 'no aftersales support' so i'm giving them:

1

I have a fulltone OCD and it's good, but this.. this pedal is the worst ever!

Even if it sold at a price of $10, I still wouldn't buy it.

Very easy. EQ responsive with saturation being X factor in tweaking sound.

My setup is a 79 Strat, MIJ 93 50's re-issue tele & a ESP Eclipse customized with passive PAF humbuckers through a Fender Vibrolux & Fender Pro Jr Amps. I also use a Mesa Pre-amp pedal, a Vox Wah, a Xotic BB Preamp, MXR Carbon Copy, MXR Stereo Chorus & Boss Compressor in my chain. The Distortion Pro is what it is. You are not going to get great blues and clean tones out of this but usable clean tones can be dialed in. It is a Vintage Marshall like tone for musicians using clean tube tones who desire an occasional Marshall tone without buying another amp. Like any pedal it's tone varies on "your mood" when you engage it. Somedays it sounds great & other days it just sounds OK. Overall, sounds very good for what it does. Classic marshall like rock tones.

Built like a truck. My mid knob broke in half but I don't care because it doesn't effect it's usability.

Never used them.

Kind of a one trick pony but very useful as a tool for higher gain marshall like sounds.

easy plug and play, but tons of options if you want them. the settings in the manual are a great starting place, i actually really liked this pedal. great drive unit.

I was running this into a Framus Ruby Riot and a fender deluxe. sounded great. Fulltone does the overdrive distortion thing really well. clear and punchy. you have to be careful with teh eq or you can kill the sweet spots, but at the same time they overlap slightly to let you get exactly what you're looking for if you spend time with it. hard to change things up because some knobs were really small and hard to turn or see where they were live, but great if you are looking for one sound to stay solid all night long.

fulltone quality. this thing was packed too, weighed like 3 pounds and is a small unit.

I was pleasantly surprised by this unit. if i didn't send it to my buddy in europe to try (and they didn't discontinue the pedal) i would still have it. this is one that i wish i still had.

It may be more difficult for some, but I did my homework so it took about 5 minutes for me to dial in the tone that I have read so much about with this pedal. Just put your amp on clean channel, then turn the volume at about half way, distortion turn it down, and the little knobs put them at 12, and tweak from there it won't take long.

I have a Fender 65 Super Reverb Reissue with a G&L Legacy
I started to give it a 9, but honestly it is a 10. I can't believe how much Marshall like tone, and drive this pedal gives my Fender amp. I considered buying a second amp , but now I don't have to, and I saved 1900 bux in the process. If you want to know how it sounds got to www.myspace.com/postblunt and listen to the solo's on Hell's Doorman

I wouldn't worry about it from everything I know about Fulltone now it's not an issue.
No fear of not having a backup.

Never dealt with them, but I hear they're not difficult.

I play, Metal, Punk, Alternative, and this does them all.
I've been playing for 12 years, and this is the best pedal I've owned,
I would replace it in the blink of an eye if it were misplaced.
I love that it makes my Fender sound like a Marshall.
I'm not crazy about red, but thats the only thing i'm not completely smitten with about this pedal.

What a nice pedal! Great looking too in that candy apple red!
Great versatility all the way from a nice clean boost to real
nice distortion capabilities. You can really sculpt your tones
with the 4 little knobs under the level and distortion knobs.
You've got "resonance" (bass frequencies) "voice" (mids and more)
"highs" (self explanatory) and "saturation" (really varies the pick attack and sponginess).
Very interactive controls with a lot of sweet spots.
It cleans up REAL WELL when you lower your guitar's volume pot too!
It's one of the more transparent distortions I've heard. You really
hear your strings and guitar tone through it.

There is no discernable noise or hiss that I can hear.
I use it through a RI 59 Bassman LTD. and it works great with it.
Works great for a wide variety of music styles.

It's a Fulltone so yeah, I can depend on it. Mike Fuller is one
of the better boutique builders out there! I haven't used it long
but I expect no problems.

I liked it's sound when I tried it out before buying it. So I suppose it's really easy to get a good sound out of it. With that said, there are a few more knobs than on many other distortion pedals, and they're all quite sensitive to slight adjustments. This allows for a lot or fine tuning--sculpting your sound. It's necessary to adjust gain and output settings depending on how hot you're running your amp. It's also necessary to adjust gain and output settings when switching between single coils and humbuckers. Adjustments to EQ significantly effect output and gain too. So it's not the easiest distortion pedal. I haven't found a bad sound though, not that I've been looking for one.

I found the sample settings provided in the manual to be very useful starting points for experimentation.

What setup (i.e. what guitars and amps) are you using this with?:

I alternate between a Les Paul Studio model and a Squire Strat. I use two Fender Blues Junior amps run in stereo with various other analog effects in front of the amps.

Is it noisy? On what settings?:
Higher gain settings are of course, noisy, especially with single coils. It is a distortion pedal with a lot of gain.

Are the effects weak or do they always sound great?:
The Distortion Pro is not weak. It can boost your signal enormously. I think it always sounds great. I think it sounds fantastic.

Can you get the sound of your favorite artists? Who are they?:
My favorite artists are legion, but they include Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Santana etc. I also love a host of old blues greats (all of 'em). Really dig the Stones. Anyhoo, this pedal covers all of that territory capably.

With the distortion knob set to full CCW (absolute minimum)it can be used as a clean boost with a VERY responsive EQ. Moderate to low distortion (9:00 to 11:00) sounds great for Blues and Bluesy rock. 12:00 and above is seriously crunchy distortion for hard rock. When I say hard rock I'm thinking Hendrix, Led Zeppelin or AC/DC. Black Sabbath at most. The Distortion Pro isn't a pedal for modern high-gain sounds.

To utilize the full potential of this pedal in any setting one must place it in front of a tube amp with the power amp section cooking. I play mine through one or two 15 watt tube amps (Blues Juniors) with their master volumes (power amp section) cranked and volume (pre-amp section) set low (2-5, depending on how loud or quiet I need my basic tone to be). This provides a slightly overdriven sound than can become sparkling clean by rolling back the volume knob on my guitar. Engaging the Distortion Pro gives me my distortion sound (unless I'm using Fuzz) and to me it's beautiful. It makes my 15 watt Fender amps sound like a pair of cranked Marshalls. I believe this is exactly what it was designed to do and it does it superbly.

The Distortion Pro cleans up beautifully when I roll back the volume knob on my guitar. I set the Distortion Pro up for a crunchy distortion sound (from 9:00 to 12:00 depending on whether I'm using a strat or a gibson) with the guitar volume full up. Rolling back the guitar volume to around 7 gives me a nice overdrive sound. Below 5 is a boosted clean sound. A very versitile, great sounding pedal.

I believe I'm getting the results I'm getting at reasonable volumes because I'm using low wattage amps (they can be run hot and not be too god awful loud). Playing the Distortion Pro thru an amp that wasn't overdriven, or a non-tube amp (yuck!) wouldn't sound so good.

I've owned a total of 3 Fulltone pedals, and they are all extremely well built. They could very well outlast me.

I've no experience whatsoever with Fulltone customer support. This speaks to the reliability of their products I think.

I'm a blues/rock/funk/psychedelic player. I like jam/improv based music as well as just playing The Blues. I've been playing for 23 years and have owned an assortment of guitars amps and pedals. My current set up:

Les Paul or Strat into:

Ernie Ball Volume Pedal with tuner out > Snarling Dogs Super-Bawl Whine-O-Wah > Electro-Harmonix Tube Zipper > Fulltone Ultimate Octave > Fulltone Distortion Pro > Fulltone Fat Boost 2 > MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay > 2 Fender Blues Junior amps.

My pedal board routing module allows me to have my MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay (awesome pedal at a great price!) going to just one of the amps. I must say, my setup sounds so bitchin' I can hardly stand it. The Distortion Pro is an integral part and I use it a lot. The Ultimate Octave is a Fuzz pedal with an optional octave up (the Purple Haze guitar solo sound). The Distortion Pro covers all of my non-Fuzz distortion needs (blues and non-psychedelic rock).

I managed to pick it up for $100 used so to me the value for money ratio is very, very good. The list price new ($199.99) is high, but this is a top-quality pedal.

I tried out the GT-500, which is basically this pedal + a Fat Boost 2 in one pedal with the option to choose boost > distortion or distortion > boost. The GT-500 doesn't have the Saturation (compression) control and has a different midrange control (it's actually a wah pot). The distortion side of the GT-500 and the Distortion Pro sounded very similar. I actually liked the GT-500 slightly better, because of the midrange control--and I don't use much of the compression available in the Distortion Pro. However, since I already had the Fat Boost 2 and the Distortion Pro was available used at half the original price, I went with it instead of the GT-500. I have no regrets.

Very easy to use. No problem finding a great tone, well under certain circumstances that is, which you can read below.

If you try it at home at bedroom/livingroom volume levels: it sucks!
But as we don't gig or rehearse there, it's no problem to me. This pedal comes to life at rehearsal/gig volume! I tried it at home through a small 15Watt solid state amp and it sounded like a broke DS-1. But I read the reviews about it sounding this way under these circumstances. So I took it with me to the rehearsals of my band and.....it kicked some serious butt! I even didn't touch the knobs and used it as I set it at home. It sounded somewhere between my Sonic Distorion and my TS-9. I was really impressed. My set-up: Ibanez Les Paul '78 and a Guyatone 100 Watt full tube bassman clone with only a clean channel through two 12" celestions. It also sounded great along with my (3) other dist/drive pedals I use. I'm a happy man!

I have no idea, but it looks sturdy

no opinion

I play all sorts of music, from pop to rock to metal. I play over 20 years now. I do not consider this to be a stand alone metal pedal, but with an overdrive I'm pretty sure it does that job as well.
I was a bit sceptical at first, reading all these good and bad pedal reviews, but I'm happy I bought it anyway. This is the first drive/distortion pedal that made me go WOW! People that do not like it either only play at home, have no good amp/guitar to play, or need to get a doctor checking out their ears..

Tone shaping knobs can be misleading - READ THE MANUAL.

Basically, resonance=bass, voicing=mids and highs=treble. However, they don't necessarily react as you would expect from a traditional EQ.

Start with your voicing and highs at 12:00, and your resonance at 8:00. Volume half way, distortion at 0. Start adding the resonance until your amp sounds full. Then, flavor with "Saturation" to taste. Otherwise your tone can easily turn muddy or fuzzy.

Play this pedal loud! It works best with a driven tube amp - don't even try with your Fender Frontman in your bedroom.

Fender strat --> Distortion Pro --> '65 Fender Twin Reverb Reissue

If your amp is bright, and you want a chunky rhythm tone, turn the distortion level to 0 and volume halfway. Back off on Saturation. Great chunky tone with both humbuckers or single coil. Otherwise, your low end will sound muddy or will get a fuzzy distortion sound that you read about below.

For lead, increase distortion and saturation for sustain and grittiness. Ripping lead tones cut through the mix.

I struggled with my tone for a few weeks because I just plugged it in, turned everything to 12:00 and tried playing. My low end was muddy and the high end was fuzzy. But give it some time, and you'll find your sweet spots.

Don't see any problems.

Not needed yet.

Great in front of a clean, high-end tube amp, just like it says on the website. Why the heck are you people playing a $200 pedal in front of your Crate of Peavey? Of course it sounds like crap.

Great match for a wide variety of rock, even some metal (not thrash or death metal - you don't need a pedal this nice to play that stuff - go buy a Metalzone).

This pedal does take a while to get used to. You have to spend some time with it, and you have to use it live to hear what it is truly capable of. I found the manual helpful, I used it as a starting point and then went from there. If you have little patience and like simple devices, you may want to look elsewhere. However, if you are willing to spend the time it has some very rewarding sounds available.

First of all, I agree with what the previous reviewer (Chris) has stated about this device. This pedal has gotten a lot of unfair negative reviews. I think many people were expecting a modern high gain distortion. This pedal gives you a vintage sixties slightly fuzzed-out Plexi tone.

I am using it primarily through a 73 Gretsch Chet Atkins Tennessean, which has the original Dynasonic single coil pickups in it (similar in tone to P-90's). I play blues and fusion style music, and use the DP for my lead tones. I did use the DP briefly with my Les Paul Standard, and the pedal was much fuzzier and more difficult to set up. I do think the pedal in its factory form is better suited to single coils or very low output humbuckers. If you have higher output pickups you should lower the gain using the internal trim pot.

That said, this pedal is a PERFECT match for the Gretsch, and gives me thick, fluid fusion style lead tones with the neck pickup, and nice powerful crunch tones from the bridge pickup. The pedal does not mask the tone of my guitar, it still sounds like a Gretsch, its just more aggressive. This pedal is also very quiet, and even at high gain settings does not produce excessive feedback with my hollow guitar.

I use this pedal through a Mesa Boogie Studio Caliber DC-2 Combo, a Mesa Boogie Mark 1 Reissue Head, and a vintage 1973 Fender Deluxe Reverb amp. The pedal sounds fantastic through all amps. I use a Fulltone Anniversary Mosfet Fulldrive for lower gain sounds, and a Fulltone OCD for higher gain rythm sounds. I primarily use the DP for solo and lead work. All pedals compliment each other very well, and I would recommend this type of three pedal setup to anyone looking for the best in vintage sounds, from low gain to vintage high gain.

My primary influences are Carlos Santana, Al DiMeola, Jimmy Page, and Gary Moore. The DP really adds a fatness to the notes that I have not gotten with other devices. Great pedal for classic rock, blues, and fusion style tones. I will say I have been using this pedal for several months now, so my review is not based on the "honeymoon period", but real experience both live and at home.

I have been using this at home, and live once a week for several months now, and have had no issues. Fulltone pedals are built for professionals, and are made to last. I expect no problems.

This is not a pedal that will get you metal sounds, or ultra high gain sounds. This is vintage high gain distortion, like a Marshall Plexi, not a Marshall JCM 2000 or similar modern amp. You must tweak the pedal and spend some time with it, and dont give up on it until you have used it LIVE. It took me some time to find my settings, but now I dont mess with it, I just play.

I have been playing for 12 years now. I picked up the guitar at age 19 and was fortunate to have some amazing instructors. I used to focus on distortion, now I focus on getting each note to be as fat as it can be. I try to use just enough distortion to add fatness and sustain. If you follow this philosophy, which is fatness over distortion, you should check out the DP and other Fulltone pedals. One note, this pedal has been discontinued, so if you want a new one grab them while they are still available.

This is a fairly easy pedal to use. Everything is laid out in front of you. Plug this pedal in between different guitars and amps and find your sounds. You don't really need a manual, just your ear. Start tweaking until you find the sounds that work for the guitar and amp you are using because different pickups, guitars, and amps will each respond uniquely to this pedal. Think of it as an artist's palate. Fuller gives you 6 controls on the pedal to shape your tone not to mention the controls on your amp and guitar. This isn't a plug n' play one-sound-fits-all pedal. It's an awesome tone tool. If you can't find several excellent tones using any combination of guitars and amps you have, give up playing music and go play a radio because you don't have the ear to create good sounds.

This is where this pedal shines. It is quality tone all the way through. Whether you are using single coils or humbuckers, all tube or solid state amps, you can find plenty of awesome tones in this pedal. Every pickup, guitar, and amp responds differently and requires it's own tweaking to get the tones you need. This pedal lets a Strat still sound like a Strat and a Les Paul still sound like a Les Paul.

I use it frequently and gig with it regularly. Never had a problem. Quality components. Especially, the switch. I've never had a Fulltone switch crap out on me.

Very helpful. E=mailed for a manual for the DP-1 and got a .pdf of one, in just a few hours. Works for me.

I don't give many 10s because in my mind, there are only a few outstanding pedals. This is one of them. I've played guitar and gigged for over 30 years. Owned and played the original Big Muff, original Tube Screamer, Ratt, as well as countless other boutique distortion pedals. The Fulltone DP1 is one of the best pedals out there and is the only distortion pedal on my pedal board. (I have an overdrive (Rodenberg Gas) and a Menatone Red Snapper boost pedal on my board too, in addtion to my tube amp's crunch and lead tones.) Like I said above. This pedal is a tool that gives you 6 controls to shape your sound. If you can't get a good sound out of this pedal, it's not the pedal's fault. Rock on.

An inexperienced effect user or player may have a little trouble. Not instant gratification. One needs work with it in order to find all the great sounds.

I get a chuckle when I read the reviews on this pedal. Some talk about how the mass-produced Distortion pedals can be unnatural and lacking in good sound, and now that some one has produced a boutique Distortion pedal that delivers, people wonder why its not like a DS-1.
I think this is because there are a whole lot of use 30 somethings and younger that were weened on high gain distortion from solid state devices. Its one thing if you dont like the tone, but to say that its not what Fuller says it is, is just not true and clearly from the ill-informed. I think many of us just dont understand or havent heard what high volume tube distortion sounds like. I learned this myself trying to cop the George Lynch sound. I finally figured it out when I plugged my tube head, clean boosted, into a Greenback cab. There was the sound. A loud Marshall, clean boosted and into the greenbacks. Thats kinda what this pedal sounds like. I real thick, old Marshall, higher on the rock distortion side, than on the overdive side. If you want a bit more gain, or an edgier bass side, just run a TS into it. Also one thing to remember, its more important how you sound in the mix than in your bedroom! Thats where this baby delivers!

Very reliable....would not worry!

Mike Fuller is a great guy, answered my emails in minutes. But he is busy and he make top of the line stuff, so he going to expect educated questions

If you want a distortion sound that gives you an old Marshall sound, only a little heavier then this is your pedal. It also great because you can boost it with a tube screamer to get a more modern sound, i.e. tighter, edgier bottom, that still has a lot of the vintage Marshall qualities. But before you buy, make sure you understand that its a Marshall sound, its not going to be like a newer high gain amp, that has that pre-amp distortion sound, it sounds like power amp distortion. I personally love it, cause I can get all the classic 80's metal like George Lynch, Warren DeMartini...I can get sort of a late 60's hard rock sound, 70's.....and with my Maxon TS and Fulldrive i can get a a slightly different take on modern heavy sounds.

I felt compelled to write about this pedal. I bought it on a whim, like some other writers, and was hugely disappointed at first...yes it can be a fuzz pedal...but...tinker with it a little...don't just write it off! I was just about to bring it back to where ever, then I found a good setting. Turn the "highs" knob all the way down then crank the other little knobs and find a level of gain you like. Mine fuzzed and hissed until I turned the highs down.....lots of potential features though

Once the highs was turned down I get this great woman tone kind of sound...thick & robust with enough juice to use often enough to keep. With my strat it doesn't sound like a les paul but definitely gives it a more humbuck like tone...with emphasis on the lows and mids. Ive come to like it alot.

I can't imagine this ever having problems.

n/a

My board is: e-ball mono volume>buddwah>homebrew germania>barber burn unit>OCD>Distortion pro>Keeley fuzz head>(all through a true bypass box) out through a barber launch pad...using a strat, les paul & first act sheena into a matchless clubman 35 and fargen blackbird. I keep the darker tone pedals toward the back and cascade them with the higher toned...all in all I have alot of different tones at my feet and the d-pro is a valid portion that makes awesome creamy tones that are functional in my pop rock band. Don't write it off so fast...give it a chance.

It's impossible to get a good sound out of it - until you discover the secret (duh!). It only sounds good when driving a tube amp that's already clipping. All of the criticisms you'll read here about it being a fuzz box are true until you get your amp good and hot (loud).

It takes a lot of tweaking even when you've found the secret. Don't be afraid to turn the mini-pots on the front through their full sweep. There are interesting sounds everywhere.

Also, the box is super sensitive to the amp: try plugging into a Deluxe Reverb's reverb channel in the higher gain input. Ouch. Then try plugging it into the non-reverb channel: much smoother.

When driving a tube amp with its power output stage saturated the Distortion Pro has that Marshall snarl without sounding fuzzy. The pedal responds really well to changing pick dynamics and attack, with the amp smoothing out the spikey-ness(?) of the pedal's inherent sound.

Fulltone's site suggests that the DP will get you to the sound of Eric Johnson or Allan Holdsworth: a lead tone that is pretty smooth. The Saturation control does a great job of smoothing out the dynamics but I would say the DP is not the most direct route to the Holdsworth/Johnson tones. If you stack your Tubescreamer in front of the DP with the DP set to a low distortion level things start to get interesting yield that smooth, sustaining tone the fusion players love.

Lastly, this is a gigging pedal, not a bedroom jamming pedal. It's voiced to cut through a rock band and will sound like crap until you play it loud.

Fulltone has a well deserved reputation for building road worthy gear, with the exception of mini-pots on the Distortion Pro. The first run seemed to be made of Play Doh and deteriorated rapidly. This is fixed on new versions.

I would gig without a backup as it's unlikely to fail and I carry a TS-808 clone that would cover the territory if it did fail (not to say that a Tube Screamer sounds anything like the Distortion Pro).

I play baby boomer music (blues, rock, jazz, fusion) on a Godin xtSA (high output strat sound), Godin Montreal (335 sound), and a Les Paul (like a Godin LGX ;-). I only use a Deluxe Reverb as I haven't found a clean tone to compare after several other Fenders, Boogies, Marshalls, Traynors ... you get the picture.

I've been playing thirty years as a performing amateur (I get paid now and then but not enough to feed the dog).

I would buy the pedal again, although I would try the GT-500 from Fulltone before buying as I use the DP with a Tubescreamer a lot ( the basic architecture of the GT-500 is overdrive into distortion).

There are 6 knobs - not including the internal trimmers. You can be at this thing for days tweaking. That being said, this is not a "set and forget" pedal. Long ago, when the ADA Mp-1 was the rage everyone was saying how great it was to be able to fine tune the distortion to each and every room you played in. But that was a pain to do with the MP-1 but that benefit is derived in this pedal. You can easily adjust the overall tone from the pedal. I have to admit it does take some time with this pedal. This isnt really a pedal for amatuers.

I use this pedal with either a H&K Puretone head or a Hiwatt DR504 with a 4x12 Celestion cab. I also use on my board a Keeley Compressor, a Boss GE-7 e.q. a Fulltone OCD and a Keeley Modded Ad-9.
This pedal has the plexi Marshall thing cold. Simply put, that's what it does. The website does not lie. If you have a good tube amp with responsive tone controls than this thing will give you the great Marshall tone of yesteryear. Think AC/DC, Sex Pistols, some VH ( early ),Slash even some Allman Bros . I think this pedal gets a real bum rap on this site. It is a great pedal for what it does and that is it "Marshallizes" a loud , good tube amp. I think this part of the problem, most people dont know the open powerful sound of a good Ol' Marshall. It isnt a modern sound so fans of modern sounds probably are many of the disappointed. You can get Overdrive sounds and semi-Fuzz tones. This is not a holy grail do-it all distortion, but a good player with good equipment will tell you that this is a great pedal.

Built like a tank - No problem here.

I have 2 Fulltone pedals - I have had them both for a couple of years. I have had no problem with them so no reason for customer support. I know well enough to realize that Mike Fuller has plenty of friends & I am a customer.

I have been playing hard rock for 28 years. I went into a high end music store in NYC and asked " I got a great amp, what is the best distortion pedal to give me that classic Marshall plexi sound ? " I was sold this pedal and I can't complain. It is a great pedal for slide playing because of all the voicings that the controls provide. I have tried this pedal through a 6l6 amp and it seems more geared toward EL-34 type amps. So to recap - it does one thing ( plexi Marshall sound ) really well. It needs to be used with a good tube amp with responsive tone controls, and it needs to be played loud.
If stolen - I would get another one w/o question. Keep in mind it is a well made if not the best made Distortion pedal availiable.

The pedal has two normal sized knobs for Volume and Distortion, and four tiny knobs marked by Resonance, Voicing, Highs, and Saturation. It should be simple to use, but it turned out that whatever effort I put into tweaking, the sound was really sub-standard. I can only conclude that it was not easy to use.

I bought the pedal after it received the Editor's Pick in Guitar Player a few years ago. That taught me a lesson about the reliability of so called "bench tests" in magazines: don't believe what you read!

The sound produced by this pedal was really, really bad. I tested it on a large number of high quality tube amps of various sorts, and on hybrid amps, and on transistor amps. The pedal consistently produced a sound of unacceptably poor quality. In fact, even the absolutely best tube amps in my arsenal sounded like cheapo transistor amps when engaging the Distortion Pro pedal. That was really unexpected, regarding the raving review in Guitar Player. This makes one think: what are the factors warranting a good review written by one of the journalists in a magazine? And what implications does an Editor's Pick have for the sales of a product? I bought my Distortion Pro solely on the basis of the review, but that was a huge mistake. After this, I have become really, really skeptical to any conclusion drawn in the magazine reviews, as they seem not to be objective at all.

The four small knobs were flimsy and vulnerable. Otherwise, it looked sturdy.

Never dealt with the company.

I have been playing the electric guitar for 28 years. I play mostly rock based improvisational music, and I own a motherload of seriously good equipment. My experimental duo plays a few gigs a year (alternative festivals, and some club gigs), and I perform solo about a handful of times a year. I am extremely critical when it comes to sound, and it soon became clear that the Fulltone Distortion Pro was a total miss from a sonic point of view. Therefore, I sold it, and I was glad I got rid of that hunk of junk. Instead, I spent some time testing alternatives, and I ended up with the fabulous BJF Dyna Red Distortion as my main distortion pedal. For lower distortion level (actually, more in the overdrive domain) I use a Klon Centaur.

This pedal is pretty difficult to get a good sound out off, all of the knobs are labled, but that doesnt seem to make it any eaiser. The manual is legit, contains three sample settings and blank spaces on the back for you to fill in your own settings. I even adjusted the trim pots turning them clockwise (less gain, mids, what have you) and it didnt seem to improve clarity or anything.

My rig is pretty straight forward, 90s tele standard(little 59 bridge pu), planet waves stompbox tuner, voodoo labs sparkle drive, holy grail reverb, phase 90, and a micro amp. All of that runs into my peavey classic 50. I purchased the pedal because fuller said it would make my tele "compete" with humbucker equipped guitars. Well it does a lot less than that. It seems as soon as you turn the gain up it is too much. And along with it comes this high end fuzz whenever you play. Ive tried and tried and cannot get rid of it. If youve read any other reviews that say fullers crazy this is a fuzzbox, well there right.. IT IS A FUZZBOX. The other guitar player in my band uses a full drive 2 and it sounds pretty good but i dont think ill ever give my business to fulltone again. This pedal is a very large letdown. Come on fulltone...honestly.

This thing is built like a tank, We should send these to iraq.. I would use a digitech deathmetal distortion before i used this at a gig...

I didnt even bother trying to contact fulltone, ive heard way to many bad things. People, please take your business elswhere. Places like robert keeley, radial, zvex...anything!

Im still really young (17), and ive only been playing guitar for like 4 years, but living in nashville with a band that plays out you have to know, and have, good tone. People, this isnt good tone. I think im going to go back to gc, get a tonebone, and then go out to lunch.

FYI, one of the knobs in the back is an input gain knob. If you're using high output pickups, the key is to turn this trim pot down to clean up the input stage of the clipping. Otherwise, you got Fuzz-central.

All those here saying they get a Fuzz-tone need to lower the trim pot down and then start tweaking the knobs in the front to dial in the ideal distortion sound.

Will always sound vintage, because that is what the pedal is. Designed to have a "tube-like" personality. It is quite frankly ironic, because tubes usually = warmth which is something those pedals coming out with the preamp tubes in them do not have.

Stop complaining that it doesn't sound "modern." Go buy a modern distortion box for that. If you want an all-in-one distortion pedal good luck. Personally, the all-in-one approach is a lost cause. No two people want the same things in their overdrive and distortion. So to make an all-in-one is setting yourself up for disappointment.

But I digress, the distortion pro is very toneful: fat distortion like you've never heard in a Boss, Ibanez, or what have you. You can go from fatter overdrives that the Fulldrive (TS808) really can't touch to a saturated Marshall distortion.

Will not break unless you submerge with lighter fluid and torch.

Try it out before you let any of the reviewers here pre-judge what this pedal does and what it doesn't. We all know that you have folks that really know what their talking about and folks that don't know squat. Folks here that gig regularly with huge amps and folks here that play in front of a mirror with a tine 15-watter.

For both folks and all in between, you're going to get subjective reviews. No single piece of equipment is good for all. Try it out!

Tweakable yes, but not in the right ways. For instance: I want to dial out the mids, how the heck do you do that? None of the knobs really can be used to scoop out frequencies. I want to make the distortion tighter with more of a Proco Rat like attack. How do I do this? Fiddled with the "Highs" knob and the Distortion knob that is supposed to control the first clipping stage. No luck. Messed with the trim pots in the back while sending a looped signal into the pedal thru the amp. Tweakability is a very sad thing on this pedal. Boss pedals are tweakable like an EQ pedal. The Distortion Pro's infinite knobs do not.

If you like the sound out of the box, then no problem.

"Not a FUZZ!" was the description on the Fulltone website. Mike Fuller needs to call me because we need to have a little discussion on what a Fuzz is and what Distortion is. Proco Rat = Distortion. Metal Zone = Distortion. DS-1 Distortion. Distortion Pro = FUZZ!

You gotta be kidding me. This is a Marshall Plexi classic 60's Fuzz-Crunch in a box. It is thick and has gobs and gobs of gain layered on top of gain. Think about a Proco Rat gain set at 3 o'clock where it starts to Fuzz out. The tweakability is all centered around this tone. The only palm muting you get with this is by putting a wah pedal in front and rocking it all the way forward.

Your treble strings will sound huge. Very thick and with lots of fat gain. However, the unmistakeble nature of the Fuzz gets very fat crunchy and loose on the bass strings - think 60s Cream, "Woman" tone. When you play chords all that thick fat gain intersects producing that classic Fuzz crunch. Your chords more or less sound like Hendrix "Purple Haze." You can absolutely nail this tone with this pedal.

Very good pedal for Solos; not so good for rhythm work. This is 60s Marshall NOT Mesa Boogie. Vintage not Modern. Eric Johnson not System of a Down. Sorry dudes, anyone that says modern distortion has got no tone - you all need get out of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Music is progressive and evolving - learn to embrace it.

Like a tank in munchkinland.

It's not a bad pedal, but I'm giving it an 8 because the title and description don't fit the tone. I wish the knobs were straight forward like an EQ. But it is what it is and it does what Mike Fuller created it to do. You can definitely tell it's a quality tone that comes through. Anyone that says that you can get better distortion at a third the price is a moran. Let's face it, distortion pedals are cheap little gadgets to produce compared to this beast. Use it for what it is and get your $60 distortion boxes to play side-by-side.

It's a labor of love with this pedal. Read the manuel it will gey you started buy showing you some starting points and what the knobs do. From there I found it easy to get great sounds and every time I what something a little differant a tweak or 2 and another great tone is there. I believe this is a 2001 version.

I have gottin SRV, Santana, Hendrix, and several great tones
from thi pedal. I play a SRV strat with Van zandt pickups mostly
and have used it with a Reverend Roco with humbuckers. No Hiss at all. Every knob works and they enteract with each other so you can always get that little extra you want or don't want. I play though a black face super and use this pedal occasionally at the gig for distortion at lower volumes.

This is indestructable. I'ts been strong for 3 years now.

Haven't dealt with them and probly won't have to.

I can't believe I don't see people useing these or hear anything about them. IN the 30 years i've been playing This is the first dist. pedal i've kept over a year. I've had them all.

Very easy to use - More options than your standard OD/Distortion pedal. Manual is very useful and explains each function in detail.

This is my first Fulltone pedal. I took the shiny red pedal out of the box in amazement like Ralphie on Christmas Story with his new RR BB Gun. Like Ralphie I was Excited at first but left dissappointed - OK Enough you all know the story - The pedal is solid - I plugged it into the clean channel of a 100W Marshall JCM900 with 6L6 Sylvania Power Tubes and Mullard 12AX7 Preamp Tubes. I have a custom Mahogany Hamer with Dimarzio Fred Pups. The pedal is Quiet. Strong Volume and works great in bypass mode. I read the Manual and understand all the functions. I'M into Vai, Satriani, Rhoads and VH type tones - Couldn't even get close with this pedal. The word Distortion pedal really through me - more like Fuzz Distortion. The Gain in my opinion is not smooth - no matter what I did it made my humbuckers sound like single coils - very vintage tone - It's a great pedal but not for me - I'M into more modern tone - like a modded Boss SD-1 or Kelley TS9 Baked - Like I said the word Distortion through me + I figured with all the tone shaping knobs I could get my tone - couldn't get rid of that 60s "Spirit in the sky" or something like that tone - I checked the internal settings just to make sure they were factory set - they were not touched - I put the pedal back together and back in the box it went

The Pedal is Fulltone Quality and I'M sure it could survive livn' outside in a Florida Modbile Home Park next to a Gator Pool in the middle of Hurricane Season. I wouldn't use this in a gig unless it was 1969

I have never dealt with Fulltone - I'M sure their a Top Notch Company - It's made in USA and not Mass Produced - well maybe medium produced

Very Expensive - I can't even play it - I had to check the internal switches to make sure it was working properly - It' just not my type of tone - that doesn't mean it's a bad pedal - it just didn't work for me - The price should be lower and the name should be changed to Fuzz Drive 69 or something like that - I have a Fulltone Fulldrive 2 on the way - I hope that's better - I have been paying for 20 yrs. I own mostly Marshall amplifiers. If It were stolen I would be mad - only because I paid over $150.00 for this pedal - I would not buy it again - I'M mad because I bought it the 1st time. I love nothing about this pedal - I would love someone to buy it - my favorite feature would be to get my $$ back. I bought this pedal because it has the word Distortion in it + has a lot of tone shaping and it's a fulltone - I wish with all these knowbs you could make the tone Vintage or modern - It's just vintage - Fuzzy not smooth - very single coil sounding - not solid even on my low strings.

After I read the manual and played with the adjustments, basically got to know how it functioned, it is easy to use. I feel that if a person does not understand how to use this or any piece of equipment, they will not get a good sound out of it.

After 30 years of using guitar effects, this is the best distortion I have heard.

I live on the road performing full time - it is my life - and the Fulltone pedals I have withstand the use of the road.You pay for the quality with Fulltone.

I have never had to contact them.

One thing for musicians to remember: Your sound isn't coming from the equipment, it's coming from your hands - you. If you can't pick up 5 different guitars all playing through different amps (or no amps) and have it sound good (meaning like "you") then you're bound to keep looking at the "tools" to make you sound better. With that said, this particular "tool" is of high quality and if the time is taken to understand how to use it, you can use it in any style of music and make it sound good.

Tuning this pedal in will take a little more time and effort but it'll be well worth it. The amount of flexability that Mr. Fuller has put into this pedal can be intimidating at first; but once you get the jist of how the controls interact with each other the possibilities are endless. Nothing fancy with the controls, just clockwise if you want more and counter-clockwise if you want less...

Merely pluging this pedal in and turning it on will give you a good tone . However, when you figure out how to effectively use all the "tweakability" this pedal has to offer, you will be amazed at the results. Even at extreme settings the distortion remains focused, even complex chords retain there harmonic content. After a few small, and I do mean small adjustments to the two trim pots on the inside of this pedal, the tone cleaned up extremely well when rolling of my guitar's volume. This gave me even more flexability, allowing those "in between" sounds that can give your playing a whole other relm of dynamics.

I,ve only gigged with this pedal for a couple of months now and have had no problems at all. I do however have a Fulltone FD-2 that i've used religiously for the last 2 years and not even the paint has chipped. I do try to take pretty good care of my stuff but i've dropped that pedal a few times and it has never missed a beat. I trully believe that Mr. Fuller is deticated to making a product that not only sounds good but will stand the test of time. I honestly don't even worry about the reliability of these two pedals, they are a joy to own and well worth the money I spent on them.

This category is what led me to leave a review about this pedal. Although I was happy with the tones I was getting when I first plugged this in, I was having a little trouble getting the exact tone I was looking for. I emailed the company thinking maybe somebody in there sales staff could help me out. Mr. Fuller himself emailed me back and pointed me in the right direction. All of this took place in the same afternoon that I sent the original email. I was very impressed.

Although most of the Fulltone line, including the Distortion Pro is a little more money than other pedals of the same purpose, I consider it money well spent. There durability, tone, craftsmenship, and even customer support are in my opinion, among the best. I try to play as many different styles of music as possible and this pedal has given me a new sonic range in which to play. One thing I will suggest, if you buy this pedal used or in my case new but fail to get the manual, go to the website and download it. There are some very helpful tips in the back on adjusting the internal trim pots.

Turn Knobs clockwise to increase values, counter clockwise to decrease.

Step on switch to turn on and again to bypass.

Ease of use; this is a pedal not rocket science.

One of the most expensive distortion pedals I have hade the displeasure to buy before the try.

Please do not buy this pedal on word of mouth.

Give it a nice looonnnggg test drive.

Thank God for ebay.

Built like a Tank... but why?

Needs improvment!

I have been playing 22 years, Rock/jazz/fusion/funk.

My favorite features hmm... nice shinny red paper weight, ergonmic rectangular hammer and tone destroyer.

I do own the Fulltone OCD and TTE and love them both but this one needs to be dropped from the product line.

Easy to use. I didn't need the manual to find great sounds. Fuller gives you six knobs (plus an internal pot) for a wide range of tone-tweaking. If you didn't find a good sound with this pedal using any guitar and amp combination that you can throw at it, then you probably didn't take the time to find your sound. This pedal sounds fantastic with any guitar and amp I have. All I have to do is tweak it for that particular setup. Only improvement I would like to see would be to the ability to adjust the internal trim pot on the outside of the pedal since I use this pedal with both single coils and humbuckers.

I play a '76 Les Paul Custom into a Peavey Ultra 212 with Celestions or an '83 Strat into a Music Man RD112. I was mainly looking for a good distortion for the Strat/Music Man combo and found it in spades with this pedal. It also sounded great with the Les Paul. The internal pot lets you adjust for the type of pickups you're using. Whisper quiet when off and no tone sucking. Let's the sound of your guitar shine through and doesn't mask it even when the distortion is heavy. It's my main distortion on my pedal board now and replaced my Keeley-modded Sparkle Drive. Keep in mind that this is a distortion pedal. It is perfect for classic rock. This is not a 60s fuzz face or a metal pedal, but it is a solid "10" for that creamy smooth sustain for classic rock leads or, when you back down the distortion, it's great for punchy classic rock rhythm chords.

Built like a tank with quality parts.

Got a quick reply back to an e-mail asking about the internal trim pot.

I've been playing in cover bands for 30 years - mainly classic rock, with some 50s and 60s, and new stuff thrown in. This fit the bill perfectly for getting my Strat to sound fat with smooth, creamy distortion. For me, this pedal beat out a Keeley-modded Sparkle Drive and BD-2, both Jekyll and Hyde pedals, Maxon OD808, Zoom Hyper Lead, '83 Ibanez TS-9, and others. All very good pedals, but just not quite as good as the Fulltone DP-1. If stolen, I'd buy another one.

Some tweaking is required if you compare it to a simple distortion box.

I'm sorry to disagree with many enthusiastic reviews here but to me this pedal is something of a disappointment. I would'n t call it a distortion pedal....to me it sounds more like an (overpriced)
fuzz box, with hardly any definition, no sustain and a lot of buzz
particularly on the lower strings.
I tried to tweak the internal trimmers but this didn't change my overall opinion about.I already own a Fulltone Fulldrive
and Fulltone Fat Boost,which are great, but a Keeley DS1 Ultra (which I have too) kicks the Distortion Pro out of
the window and costs half as much! I also tried a Carl Martin
Plexitone of a friend of mine, which ,for a few euros more,
puts the Distortion Pro to shame for sound and flexibility.
Fulltone products are generally great but this one is really not the case.

Fulltone products are built like a tank.

I've been playing for over 35 years. I generaly play jazz/fusion and occasionally rock/hard rock.

never seen a pedal this small w/ so many adjustments

I had the DP and just bought the OCD. I think the tone of the OCD is much better. Basically the Distortion Pro is made for the stage. I am just a hobbiest with my equipment set up in the basement, therefore I cannot crank the volume. To me the OCD sounds better at lower volume levels where I think the Distortion pro would shine at a live gig. The distortion is kick ass though.

tough as nails

they have replied to every e-mail promptly

High quality pedal. If you play live and want to spend a lot of time tweaking a distorion pedal, this one is for you. There are definetely some great sounds in this pedal, although you can find some bad ones too.

While some make like the added control of the trim pots, I think they make it harder to get a good tone. I think there is such a thing as TOO much control in an effect pedal. There is such a range of available tones in this box that it's just as easy to get a very bad sound as it is to get a good sound. I don't want a stompbox to have the flexibility of a rack unit. If I want 10 different tones, I'll get ten different pedals. I like pedals with a great basic tone as a foundation that allow little tweaks to adjust the sound to fit my guitar and amp.

The Distortion Pro sounds alright...but that's it. I was expecting a much more refined tone. I know it's a distortion and not an overdrive, but it didn't retain any of the qualities of my guitar and amp.

I also thought there would be a lot more gain. I normally use overdrive pedals, but I play a lot of covers so every now and then I need a heavier tone, and I thought the Distortion Pro would fit the bill.

The pedal looks solid but I've heard bad things about the trim pots falling apart...

I'm a tone NUT. I own about 70 pedals, from $50 Boss to $500 Way Huge and everything in between. I'm a firm believer in spending more to get more. But honestly, I just don't understand the hype about this pedal. I am NOT slamming Fulltone, but I have never played any of his pedals and thought "Oh my God, what a tone!" I was equally disappointed with the Fulldrive 2 and the Choralflange.

Because of the so-so tone, the lack of transparency, and the high price, this pedal just doesn't do it for me. For the same tone, get yourself a Boss SD-1 and save $130. Or for a better tone in the same price range get a Tone Bone, Barber, Maxon, etc.

This is D.P.serial #1.I won this pedal from fulltone a few years ago.After a few years of owning this Im able to give a fair and balanced report.Its quite advanced for a distortion box especially if you are used to the usual 2 or 3 knob pedals.There are 6 KNOBS!.At first,.I wasn't prepared for the versitility this thing offers and mabie even a bit skeptical however, I was pretty impressed right off the bat with all the variations you can dial in from very dynamic picky mild kinda singing tone with a little sag to full on almost a brite silicon fuzzface type sound with almost all the picking attack and dynamics removed BUT without all the radio stations or the noise you get with other pedals.Its the only distortion pedal that offers all this controll.Versitility makes up for the fiddling time for sure.Ive updated the chip and its a little smoother than before but whatever...its not as crucial as I initially thought.I figued it out without picking up the manual....thats key for me.

My settup changes depending on the situation at hand but a few basics allways apply.A decent guitar thats confortable to play with non muddy pick ups.An all tube amp that reacts well to how I play at a non deafining level and a quality 2x12 or 4x12 cab(16ohm) with broken in v30's or broken in eminence 12 inch speakers.... an essential starting point for filling the requirments of"rock tone" as we know them.From what I can tell,The D.P. was not designed to warm up...say.. a clean clear sounding solid state amp like the Roland JC-120.You could certainly be into 80's Robert Fripp and use the D.P. and achieve those bright colder fuzz tones if thats your thing....BUT...The D.P. in my opinion was ment to add ample sustain and gain to a warmer tube amp thats"in the zone" or at stage level with a mabie hint of break up.I like to run this in front of another pedal at the same time for more over the top pink floyd"Time"type soloing.Works excellent.Very noise free.Could be stiff or cold into a cold amp.

A TANK.

never needed it

This pedal compliments my set up very well.I like etherial weird art rock. For long sustained almost ebow like soloing ala Steve Hacket, I dont need his exact pedal..I just need the gain without the hisssssss.It was free.Its very rugged and compact and very usable and tweekable.Doesnt get the choas blown up... super farty or phat edgy or hissy with a scooped mid like a big muff if thats what your into.Its way more precise and controlled with more mids.A little more polite.Do not expect it to behave like a cranked up amp!!!.There is no be all end all with pedals( and I own many).....You really need to play your guitar with your amp with a band at stage volume to find out what really works best.

Volumen y Distorsi?n + 4 controles para el tono+ 2 Trim internos...un poco complicado pero tambi?n por ello realmente vers?til .
El m?o es la versi?n del 2004, con el nuevo opamp. He podido probar la versi?n antig?a y comparar, y realmente merece la pena: cremoso y con cuerpo ser?a la definici?n

Gibson Les Paul Special + Fender Deluxe 112
Nivel de ruido m?nimo, incluso a alta ganancia.
El sonido es "enorme", con mucho cuerpo: nada que ver con otros pedales de transistores.
Muy vers?til, siempre en la onda del rock, blues rock...
Desde Hendrix a Zeppelin, Allman Brothers, Clapton , etc
Paleta de sonidos muy amplia, alcanzando la frontera del Fuzz.
Simplemente , uno de los mejores y m?s vers?tiles pedales de distorsi?n del mercado.

Solido como un tanque.
Lo he puesto a prueba en directo y responde sin problemas.
Parece innecesario tener un backup (aparte del dinero que supone ;-)

He consultado en una ocasi?n con Fulltone (supongo que no contestar?a el propio M Fuller, aunque firmaba como tal! :-)
acerca de los trim pot

Por el precio y teniendo en cuenta su versatilidad y la enorme calidad del sonido, se merece un 10. Comparando con cualquier otro pedal de distorsi?n que he tenido (Boss DS1, MXR Distortion +, Vox y un largo etc) se merece un 10 sin dudarlo: es ni m?s ni menos lo que buscaba dentro de la l?nea del rock, hard rock, blues.

4 tiny knobs are not easy to twiddle with, and feel flimsy to compared with the 2 volume and gain main knobs.

A lot of possibilities allows you to dial around and look for your sound, as the manual is kept to the minimum

All pots interact with each others, again many sound variations possible but it can take time to nail your disto.

I use a Peavey wolfgang std or a Mex 60's strat with Texas S, into a fender blues junior.
The unit is not particularly noisy. I cannot find any bad sound with it. Every sound will be very organic, creamy, beautiful.It is warm, but not agressive, cutting but not harsh.


This distortion is definitely more on the vintage, Fuzz-ish side of sounds (can actually create a brilliant genuine fuzz), and is not a hard rock or metal pedal.
It oozes quality and authenticity. Highly recommended

Tank-like. Heavy case, sturdy knobs, sockets, and battery compartment
Real trustworthy gear, better be nice with the smaller knobs, though

no experience

Great for Rock lead, rhythm. Classic sounds and sheer quality

Would buy it again, or check other fulltone gear.

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.

Pretty easy. I played this pedal once in a music store through a modded fender super reverb reissue. The mod was explained to me as such that it was modded to sound like an original super reverb.
I plan on getting this pedal or a MXR Distortion 2 when I can afford it. (I'm po') The pedal has more controls than your average pedal but this makes it more diverse. I did not have time to mess with the internal trimpots as I only played on it for an hour or so. I had no problem adjusting the pedal.

I was using a G&L custom shop strat type guitar with single coil size blade buckers and George L's cable into a Fender as described above.
It sounded great! I was impressed by the amp like sound that this pedal produced. Most pedals seem to sit on top of an amps clean channel and unless combined with another gain stage, say another pedal or an overdriven amp, sound unusable and fake. Not this one.
It had wonderful sustain and articulation. I could slide up to a note and it would pick it up and sustain it. I played awhile without picking and felt like Joe Satch! Not really (the Joe part), but it was cool. I could just slide and slide! The sound was definitely what I would call brown. I mean this maybe not like others do because I know that everyone calls EVH's sound brown but it always seemed red to me. (maybe his guitars?)
But it actually seemed brown and was not at all harsh. It was a dry sound and I don't mean dry as in dry signal but dry as in it didn't seem liquid. I know that that may be seen as a negative but I didn't think so. Perhaps it was woody. It integrated with the amp very well and had room to breath unlike the Maxon D&S II I tried that same day which sounded like dog doo. Come to think of it though the maxon seemed to have an ampish quality to it as well which makes me wonder if perhaps the amp that I was using just reacted to pedals better than what I have. I am using a 5150 head and have never been able to get a good tone out of an overdrive or distortion pedal out of the clean channel. I am now using a Sansamp GT2 which works fantastically combined with my dirty channel but sounds fake through the clean. On top of the fakeness there are terrible ear shattering highs that aren't even part of the tone. Anyway this is about the Distortion Pro. Great Pedal!

???????? Would guess that it is reliable. It did have a shifty look on its face though......

?????????

I would say that this pedal could match just about any style of music that uses distortion. What about nu- metal scooped sounds you say?
Sure if you reaaly need more distortion and less mids combine it with a little amp distortion or another pedal and an EQ and there is no reason why you couldn't, unless you can't play, but isn't that the case nowadays. Of course there are many exceptions. I have been playing for 15 yrs I play anything I can get my hands, mind and heart around. I started with shred and metal went to funk then classic rock and blues to folk and fusion and am now working on jazz (gotta revisit the blues). Don't own it so can't say about whether I would replace it if it was stolen. I love the sound hate the price.

I was intially very disappointed with this pedal. I bought the DP-1 because my Full-Drive 2 gave me instant gratification (and, to this day, is my favorite pedal). However, the DP-1 required a great deal of tweaking and even then I was only marginally satisfied.
I felt the control knobs were labelled sort of arbitrarily. "Resonance" "Voicing" "Highs" and "Saturation" are terms I understand yet in the context of this pedal their relationships baffled me. So I put it away. I went through countless other distortion and fuzz pedals, looking for the "holy grail" distortion to complement my overdrive sound.
When I came back to the DP-1, I decided to give it one more try. Still no luck. And then, I reread the manual and realized I had missed the obvious: INTERNAL TRIMMER ADJUSTMENT.
I followed the instructions, reducing the gain for trimmer #1, and the results were very gratifying. The control knobs functioned perfectly and logically.

I play hollowbody guitars out of Fenderish amps. I bought this pedal for a solid Marshall type distortion to complement my overdrive sound. After I made the internal trimmer adjustment, the pedal no longer fought my humbucker pick-ups. My low-end didn't disappear. I got that thick, high-gain sound I was looking for.
I've read many of the reviews for the DP-1 and I believe many (if not all) of the negative reviewers would benefit from tweaking the internal trimmer#1. My initial response to the pedal was just like their's, but I'm so glad I held onto it.

I've never had a problem with any Fulltone products.

N/A

I play Pop/Rock music. No cover band stuff. Just, guitar-driven 3 minute pop songs. I've been playing for a long time. If this pedal were lost or stolen I would immediately get another one.

Mine is a 2004 model and has the usual features: volume distortion plus 4 small pots and two internal trimmers (very useful!). A lot of control is therefore possible at the expense of needing time to fiddle (but that's all part of the fun!)

I had an early version of the DP-1 which I didn't really get on with. I have to say my opinion is now completely revised with the new version. With my setup of Tom Anderson/Music Man guitars through a Cornford Hellcat combo, it is rich and smooth with lovely overtones. It nails a good range of distortion sounds but the thing I really like is the way it interacts with the amp and your guitar's controls. The best distortion pedal I've tried for my setup (and that is the crucial point - it may not be the right one for your setup and needs).

Built like a tank and well designed. No backup required.

I've never needed to contact Fulltone for anything (I also own a Clyde deluxe wah and a custom shop Dejavibe) so I can't comment.

I play everything from bluegrass to Steve Vai via the blues, rockabilly and classic rock. This pedal suits my setup and style perfectly and for that extra push, it is superb. As someone else on the forum has said, "Good things aren't cheap and cheap things aren't good". Discuss.

Well, it does have a lot of knobs - but I stil found it easy. Really, I have never seen a difficult pedal. How hard can it be.

OK. That's what I think of this pedal - good, but not god. I've owned this pedal for over a year, and coupled with my Ful Drive II (best pedal I've ever played!) it has been usefull, if not inspiring. I play in an inde rock emo band, but don't really like distortion. I like the mild chunky sounds between distortion and overdrive.
This pedal, on the other hand, ounds very smooth and reentlesly "classic rocky." This is exactly what the ads say, and obviously what Mike Fuller intended. For me it has outworn its usefullness. Ths became very apparent the other day when I tried out a Maxon D&S and was treated to much more of what I've always wanted in a distortion device. Although the Distortion Pro has many knobs it never, for me, produced a particularly great sound. Al that tweaking produced only one ok sound after another. In some ways the pedal is versatile - but in other ways it is hopelessly limited.

Rock solid!

Ok, but not great sound. One could get any number of simpler cheaper pedals, and probably be happier with the sound. If you like cheesy "classic rock" smoothness this pedal could be for you.

This pedal is easy to use, but I have a certain approach picked up from an earlier reviewer here. I turn the Saturation and Highs controls all the way to the left and basically leave them there. Resonance I leave at 12 o'clock, and Voicing at 1 o'clock.

Volume I leave at 10 o'clock and Distortion is 8 o'clock, just a little bit over "all the way to the left".

Using the above settings, you will find a nice smooth boost, my friends.

You must have a good amplifier sound to begin with, before even thinking about boosting it. The Distortion Pro is not a cure-all that will take a sterile solid-state amp and turn it into a vintage Marshall Plexi. I used an ENGL Screamer 50 head and the results are just fine. I highly recommend using speakers with hempcones instead of standard speakers in your cabinets.

In my case, using the DP instead of the ENGL Screamer 50's volume boost and channel switching definitely seemed to be smoother. "Smooth" is the watchword here. Smooth instead of fuzzy, smooth instead of harsh, smooth instead of scratchy. That's where the DP shines.

Compared to the Fulltone Fulldrive 2, the DP will give you more of that .. you guessed it ... smooth sound.

I bought a used 2002 version in May 2004. So far it has worked just fine. Not sure about long term reliability ...

I e-mailed Mike Fuller about upgrading my 2002 DP to more recent specifications. Instead of addressing my simple request, he asked some rather lame questions about what was wrong with my DP. I wrote back, saying I wasn't talking about a problem, just asking about upgrading the DP from 2002 to more modern specs. He wrote back, saying that "I wasn't hearing him" and again reacted as if I were asking about a repair problem instead of an upgrade.

Trying to restrain myself a little bit, I wrote back, semi-apologizing (even though I wondered why I should semi-apologize, considering the situation) and I explained that the upgrade of the DP from 2002 to the more modern specs was what I was referring to, citing examples from the web.

He ignored that e-mail. So, sorry guys, even though the DP is a great pedal, I think Mike Fuller's customer service leaves a lot to be desired. Too bad.

I'll probably try once again to contact Fulltone about upgrading my DP from 2002 to modern specs, maybe by phone, since I live in L.A. If I get a positive, no BS response, then I'll update this review in the future.

Come on, Mike Fuller, stop being a prima donna and remember what the words "upgrading the Distortion Pro" mean. It's the "op-amp" upgrade, remember?

Great pedal, big increase in tonal quality, highly recommended.

But hey, why is Mike Fuller lost in space? It's time for Mike Fuller to climb off that hobby horse and join the rest of us.

Just turn the knobs and you see what this can do.Simple.

Quite good as a fuzz.Wasn't really what I was looking for, I'm after more of a broken sound that can go from soft to powerful.It's not a bad sound if the distortion level is set to zero but any more it gets way too fuzzy and you lose string clarity for picking.very quiet pedal and nice compression.I play through a Roland JC-120 which is quite a bright amp.Maybe the pedal will react better to a tube amp.I've got to get my Rivera TBR 1 working, been sitting there tubeless for ages ! I wanted more 'overdrive' really.Gonna sell it and try something else, maybe the Fulltone Bassdrive for low end handling.The quietness,true bypass encourages me to try another fulltone pedal to see what they are all about. My set up is Fender Jazzmaster '63 Teese RMC-3 Wah/Boss GE-7 equalizer/Fulltone DP1/Boss DD-3 Delay/TL Audio 5051 Compressor/Eventide DSP-4000 Effects processor/Roland JC-120 with chorus half way.Gonna ditch the Jc 120 for a tube amp.Simms-Watts or Rivera.Daisy chained with Mesa Boogie Powerhouse bass cab.EV speakers.

Very solid and well built.Should last a lifetime if not more !

I play Verve/Cocteau Twins type stuff.Lots of Reverb/Chorus/delay need a powerful distotion that doesn't get lost in the effects.This is a good pedal for a mild fuzz but not very versatile.I was dissapointed.I want noise and power but with string clarity.

What a dud! i could not get a good sound out of it for the life of me. GOOD FUZZ FACE SOUND!

for the price i payed i expected more. Im using it through a vibro-king and a super reverb usaly i use 2 TS808s and a klon Centaur for overdrive a Captin Coconut 2 and a RCM1 wah with a Fender 1960 custom shop master build Stratocaster with a big neck and 11-50 gadge strings. and an Gibson ES-335. the Distortion pro sounds like a fuzz face and nothing more i was hopeing to get a smoothe eric Johnson like tone but to my disopointment it sounded more flat than a Boss overdrive. maby through a marshall plexi id have more luck.Oh well. which way to EBAY!

does'nt matter

they should be sued for fraud for saying "it's not a FUZZ"

Ive been playing Rock with a bluezy edge,Fusion,Jazz. but now im in a rock band and i need a overdrive a little harder ill have to keep looking. ive been playing for 8 years

Yes, I would like to truthfully state that it?s easy to use.

But that?s not the most important thing about this pedal. I would like to vent my own subjective ill informed criticism on this pedal. Up front; Yes, I might be considered as an amateur but I can?t help that and I?ve got a pocket full of money to spent so I?ll state my opinion. I?d like to spent my money on something I can appreciate. I hope that everybody can respect that. If you can?t, I?m really really sorry.
Anyway J, I was looking for a professional distortion pedal. Not one of those crappy, no bass, super clipping until your sick with it, mass production pedals. But something with nice attributes like true bypass, overall tone and tone control, pick response, little bit of tube feel and so forth. However, when I searched the net for the usual quality producers I noticed they seem to concentrate on overdrive and fuzz pedals.

Until I found the Fulltone Distortion Pro! Of course, the brand name sounds reassuring, it?s called Distortion Pro (remember what I was looking for), reviews are raving and it?s got a price tag that can compete with the best pedals out there.
I went ahead and bought one without hearing it (yes I know, that?s risky). Sadly, I was disappointed with the pedal. I?ll state right away that is indeed a quality pedal. It?s noiseless, has got real nice controls, there?s bass response and I imaging it really resembles a ?plexi on 10?. But it has just a small amount of clipping. I really don?t want is to sound like a Boss MT-2 (I?d rather not), but it?s more a high gain kind of sound then that there?s a lot off distortion there. When I thought of that (the high gain part), I remembered what I read on the Fulltone site; ?The greatest hi-gain sounds you can imagine, from Brian May to Boston, Holdsworth to EJ in a little metal box?.

My conclusion is that this still is an OVERDRIVE rather than a distortion pedal. I like overdrive but I wanted just plain clipping in levels you can?t achieve with the kind of amp I use.

So, with decreasing hope on the distortion pedal of my dreams I bought a Keeley DS-1 SEM. Now that?s really nice as well! Of course, it doesn?t have true bypass (since it?s a Boss pedal to start with) but it is still very quiet and I haven?t noticed any loss in signal or leaking of the effect when it?s off. It resembles the character of the DP in it?s tubelike sound but offers a lot more clipping. It?s got bass response as well.
It?s also a lot cheaper. I gather that that is something the pro doesn?t complain about because ?if you want quality, you?ll pay for it? but I really wonder about why some of the boutique pedals cost almost as much as a quality amp. Furthermore, I don?t think that just accepting high prices will help anyone (except the producer).

Probably yes, but I can?t judge that on my own experience. Seems to be manufactured very well.

I?m a little bit worried about the reputation of Fulltone. It seems you can get mails if you don?t act like a professional and ask stupid questions. (I would not like to get kicked out of the Fulltone family at just the start of my pedal career.) But hey, that?s hearsay and I wouldn?t hold that against anyone. That?s just not fair.

I play rock. Use a Fender Strat+ with an Orange AD15, also fuzzfoot, wah, DS-1 SEM, MEK TB-2 overdrive (made by hand in Germany and a lot cheaper than most other boutique pedals), CE-2, RV-3.
The DP didn?t do it for me. Maybe it?s the pedal for you. Just consider the fact that this pedal doesn?t produce a whole lot of clipping. It simulates the kind of clipping professionals the likes of Jimmy Page produced by cranking their high gain amp, which in itself is distortion but is a whole other ballgame than the possibilities of distortion nowadays. I don?t know but for some reason I just like some amount of clipping in the signal and then into a tube amp after which there probably is another stage of (natural tube-) distortion and compression as well. But hey, I?m an amateur.

Anyway, if somebody wants to correct me on things described above, please feel free to mail me. Greetings, Bam

Be ware: hi end means higher than 5k, more like 7 or 8k. The bass controll is deep bass. the saturation controll is great - you can adjust the compression and the odd harmonics. I would have liked a prescence knob as well.

Especiallly great with strats. works fine with a gretsch. Can need a little fine tuning to a avoid a muddy bass with a gibson (LP or 335).
It works great with marshalls, a Koch, a Alessandro/Working Dog, but a Rivera almost collaped - it diden't seem to have enough headroom.
The best thing about it is how dynamic it is. From semi-clean to distortion just with your pick attack or the volume knob on the guitar.
It's more quiet, more dynamic, more muscular and better sounding than a Tonebone Classic [sic].

Fulltone is the best.

If it were stolen, I'd by a new one.

For ease of use I give this pedal a 7. Simply put it is not difficult to get a good sound out it, but it does take some time tweaking to acheive the desired tone. In other words I wouldn't whip it out of the box and plug it up for the first time at the gig. On the other hand, after some knob twiddling, I had acheived the desired result within an hour or so and haven't hardly touched a knob since. The only thing I do turn a little is the volume and distortion knobs, to fill up the room or vice versa. The fulltone manual describes the controls very well, but even so, the resonance (bass), voicing (mids), and highs (duh...), are far more interactive than can be adequately put in writing. Also the knobs, for the most part, have a detent at the midway position, which I suspect might help guide you on a dark stage. But seeing as how I don't mess with anything thing but the big knobs I don't really have that problem. Moving forward, mine is the upgraded model with the new chip, which really must be a godsend, because I have yet to have an abnormal noise issue. Basically the only thing I knock points off is for the tediousness of the first time dialing in your tone. After that it's pretty self explanatory.

I play a Fender American Standard Strat, all stock, through a Dr. Z Maz 18 Jr NR, and a Z-best 2x12 cab. First of all, and this is the most important thing about any pedal, if your guitar and amp combination doesn't sound good, there's no effect on earth that can change it. That being said, I really dig this pedal because it doesn't seem to alter my original tone too much. Don't get me wrong it really delivers on the distortion, but it sounds more like another channel on my amplifier than a pedal. One thing I will say is that it has far more bass response than your typical manufactured type distortion box. I thought this would be a problem as I demoed the pedal in my house, but at the club it really seemed to give the guitar some extra balls. As far as I can tell the pedal is dead quiet. I find that most noise can be attributed to either the shitty electrical wiring in the bar or far more likely, something such as a neon light running on the same circuit. Now for the big question... tone? My particular amp is a single channel model with a class A ciruit. It covers vintage fender to voxy type tones very well. With the DP-1 I can have my fender-esue clean tone and Marshall thick distortion. Keep in mind I'm not saying it sounds like a Marshall amp, but it really is that BIG sounding. Here is one place that I've encountered a problem, it that's really the right word for it. This pedal has an incredible amount of volume. I've found that if the situation doesn't allow me turn the pedal up to around the 12:00 position, then I might have to give it a little extra distortion to get the sustain I want. But what can you do? Hands down the best all around sounding distortion pedal I've ever played. Also cleans up very well with the guitar's volume control.

Short and sweet for this category. I would and do use it without a backup every time I play. No doubt about it. I looked inside this thing the first day I got it. Pure genius. Plus the casing is made of Sherman Tank steel or something like that. You could probably run over it with a car and just break the knobs. I know it sounds crazy, but for a box this small to be made of such a thick grade of steel, I can't imagine the amount a force it would take to actually make the pedal collapse upon itself.

I wouldn't know, never had to talk to them.

I play rock and blues. AC/DC, SRV, Led Zeppelin, Guns N Roses, Allman Bros, Cry of Love, Hendrix and such are what you'll find in my CD collection. I've been playing for approximately 9 years minus a couple that I can't really remember, but I still tinkered around some even then. I love the reliability and pure tone of a single channel amp such as my Z. With my Fulltone DP-1, I can broaden the range of sounds available to me without screwing around with my amp setup. For this it is invaluable. I have tried dozens of other distortion style effects including but not limited to the boss line-up, ibanez, some digital multi-effects devices (dod, digitech), and a mesa boogie v-twin, as well as various channel swtiching amps. The Fulltone beats them all. However, I still believe that good tone is primarily built on a strong foundation, such as a quality amp and guitar. If your rig doesn't sound right to begin with, the DP-1 will do you no good.