Fulltone Fat-Boost

Very simple to use. The supplied instructions are clear, well written, and an excellent starting point.

I am a studio guy so noise is NG. This is a very quiet box.I use the Fat Boost with a variety of vintage Gibson, Fender and Rickenbacker guitars into several tweed, blackfaced Fenders, A Vox AC-15, and a Marshall 1962 Bluesbreaker. I play in standard and open tunings for slide and can emulate Allman, Betts,Knophler, Garcia, Haynes,early Clapton, Walsh & Felder.
This device is an outstanding clean boost, that a low studio levels make the amps sound like they are running hotter than indeed they are. The box adds smoothness, thickness and warmth that is very subtle but it IS there.

seems well constructed, but like any good audio gear or instruments, why would you throw it around ???

Having heard of Fulltone via touring/studio friends in Nashville, I knew nothing of the company.I communicated with Michael Fuller on several occasions and he answered me promptly and his website is truly outstanding.He is a real tonemeister and an excellent player too.

I play American roots music:blues, jazz, funk & rock all with a Southern influence.Having played for 35 years, I can tell you I have NEVER used pedals before. I keep this pedal on all the time now.My array of superb guitars and amps is extensive but I can not play at high volume.This is were the Fat Boost has helped me by giving me my regular full, clean tone at lower volumes. Instead of turning my amps up to volume 6 or 7, I can acheive MY sounds, with rich harmonics and excellent sustain at volume levels as low as 2 to 3.I can really get some great rhythmn, lead and slide tones that are richer sounding than before. I can see using this box for punching into a lead or slide solo if playing live. I certainly buy another if it were lost or stolen. It works equally well with single coil or humbucking pickups or solid body & hollow body guitars. I am so happy with this unit I am considering Fulltone's Fulldrive to add some dirt to my slide sound, and in conjunction with this should nail what I'm after. I have absolutely no affiliation with Fulltone or any of its staff.

Once the manual is read, should be no problems. The Input Gain knob might be the thing to throw people off.

Excellent boost with a gradual passive treble cut knob. Very clean and transparent when you want it to be, and fat and warm when necessary.

Fulltone.

Yeah, yeah. Fuller's up and down, but will always get the thing serviced in the rare case it's needed.

Fantastic pedal that is compact and very useful. I like it much better than my Klon Centaur, though this doesn't get as heavy of an overdrive. Doesn't matter though because the Klon has a raspy distorted tone that isn't much good for anything. I find this pedal to be a killer value. Works great with my Strat and Les Paul. Amazing for a great Tele booster too!

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My set up: '59 slab strat or 66 tele into a Klon, Menatone Red Snapper and TS-808 into a splitter to a Dr Z MAZ 18 jr with 2 10s and a '58 Tweed deluxe.

This pedal is an FET boost, much like the Boss FA-1, but with better fidelity. It's primary competition would seem to be the Klon and the ZVek Hard On. Both the Klon and the Hard-On are better boost pedals, the Klon being the best. It's too bad that Fuller feels that he has to run down someone else's product in order to promote his (as he does in his ads and on his website). It's worse when he doesn't come up with the goods. This is pretty uninspired.

N/A didn't buy it.

N/A see above

Nothing special. Buy a Klon.

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First things first....here is the set up:

AS Strat>Fulltone Fulldrive>Fulltone Fat-boost>Ibanez AD-9 Analog Delay>Fulltone Supa-trem>Ernie Ball volume pedal>Dr. Z Carmen Ghia>Mesa cab w/ Celestion Vintage 30

It's good to know this upfront. I usually get half way through a review and then realize that the person is reviewing a pedal made for tube amps and using a Crate or Peavey solid state amp. Gee..no wonder you think the Fulldrive sounds like crap. Go play your Korn tunes and leave tone up to the rest of us who care.


anyway........

I love this pedal. No, it is not better than a Klon. It is simply different. I wish that Mike had never said that this pedal will make you want to trash your Klon. They are totally different pedals. The Klon will put you way further into the overdrive realm than this pedal will. As far as clean boost goes I like both of them equally. The have different characteristics about them but each will hold it's own in the clean boost realm.

Here is where the Fat-boost shines. It works perfectly as a level booster for solos. I run it directly after my Fulldrive. This way I can set my Fulldrive at a nice volume for a great cruchy rhythm sound and then use the Fat-boost to put me over the top into lead territory. I cannot tell you how happy I am with my current set up. With these two pedals working together and a great analog delay going into a low wattage tube amp with great, raw, in-your-face power tube overdrive it is pure heaven!

This pedal is also great for clean boosts. It will add some compression to your sound (hardly noticable and very welcome to my set up). It will also fill out the bottom end and add some sparkle. It will push your tubes just enough so they will start cookin' at a lower volume much like the Klon will. Very nice!

Bottom line...

If you are a Klon guy, keep it. But if you really want to get rid of yours I will give you ten dollars for it. My e-mail address is....just kidding. If you want a pedal that will give a tube amp some hop and bounce at lower volumes, this is your pedal. If you are tired of reaching down and turing a knob right before your solo and you want a pedal that will kick you amp and overdrive pedal up a nothch, this is your pedal.

Highly recommended!

Between me and a few of my friends we have owned almost every single Fulltone pedal on the market. Besides what I am currently using I have owned the '69 and the '70. I have only had one problem ever. The switch on my Supa-trem went out once. But it was quickly replaced and all is good! These pedals are some of the best made and most reliable pedals on the market and the fat-boost is no exception. I would and will gig without a backup.

I actually called Mike and ordered this pedal. He was very nice and courteous and a pleasure to do business with.

When the switch on my Supa-trem went out I e-mailed Mike and he had me send it up to him to see what the problem was. Before I even thought of seeing how it was going the pedal was on my doorstep fixed and ready to go. The only thing I had to pay for was shipping the first time. Kudos to Mike Fuller!

This has been covered in other posts.

Well it must be me, Im clearly in the minority with this, but I just received the new Fulltone Fat Boost which was supposed to make me chuck my Klon out the window. Well I think the Fat Boost falls way short and my Klon's not going anywhere. I was hoping the Fat Boost WOULD take the place of the Klon. I couldve then sold the Klon used and still cleared $100 for my pocket. Anyway, I wouldnt say the Fulltone sucks but it sure doesnt do what I expected it to do. Its advertised as the clean boost of all clean boosts. Maybe I dont use these things the way Mike Fuller does or most other people do. But very simply, I set my Matchless Chieftain with the volume up about 2/3 so that it is overdriving naturally. I want a pedal to very slightly boost my solos with just a bit more volume and sustain but to sound as close as possible to the unboosted tone. The Klon is not perfect but so far the best Ive found for this (as long as the gain is on zero and it is used as clean boost only). The Fat Boost, no matter how I set it compressed and thickened the tone. With my neck pickup on the LP, there is an open clarinet like sound that I have to have that filled right in with the Fat Boost. Sure it adds bottom and adds a smooth warm overdrive but to say that it alters the sound less than a Klon, well I dont get it. It works nicely if you are playing the amp very clean and want to fatten the tone and increase overall volume. But once the amp is overdriving, I feel it compresses the tone too much. Also if you have the input up about halfway and the volume up halfway it is very noisy. Yet if you continue to turn the input volume all the way clockwise, then the noise goes away but the gain is too much. Kinda strange, I dont know if its supposed to do that. Anyway, at least the Klon keeps things open and airy. The Fulltone already is on its way back. The search continues for the perfect pedal...

Im sure fine, built well

I play blues rock, use a '59 reissue LP with original PAFs and like the tones gotten by guys from Allman and Betts to Bloomfield and Green. I use a Matchless Chieftain modified with a 50w plexi output transformer that smooths out the top end and mids in the amp. I like the tone to be open and airy and I couldnt get that from this pedal. The Klon does it a hundred times better. And no I dont have any special interest in the Klon company, I was really hoping this Fulltone would do it for me. Again, most people obviously love this pedal and it IS good for smooth overdrive or boosting an amp that is set very clean so your amp sounds like it has more headroom. But for slightly overdriving solos while your amp is already overdriving, it doesnt cut it for me. I didnt like the Fulldrive at all either, so it must be a tone taste thing.

Impressive little pedal. Volume control which, in my case, doesn't make the amp louder, but controls how hard the input will be hit. Tone is a treble rolloff and input gain can create a very useful overdrive tone as it overdrives the FET's.

My setup is '64 Fender Mustang-P.E. Experience (for octave)-fuzz factory-P.E. Vibe Unit-Boss DD-5-Fat Boost-Fender Blues Junior. I can be noisy because it amplifies the noise already inherent in my setup. The nature of the beast. This pedal makes a huge difference for doing so little. I have been using it as overdrive rather than clean boost, although it excels at both. Using the treble roll-off, very useful jazz tones can be obtained.

Like any fulltone pedal, it is built like a rock. It does have the fulltone 3pdt switch contrary to some reports I have heard. Mike makes great stuff.

I have heard varying reports on Mike, and I have only dealt with him through e-mail, but he was always quick and helpful.

Pretty much any kind of music you can name I play. I have found a use for this pedal in all of them. This and the PE Germ almost sound like the same pedal, if you are looking for a comparison. I choose the fulltone because it has the tone control, but you can switch between overdrive and clean boost on the germ. Pick which feature you want. Anyway, I am very impressed. It is a great pedal.

This is an udate to my previous post. I sold my Fat boost, but not because I was unhappy with it. I have gotten several comments questioning my rave reviews since I sold it so quickly.
The Fat boost is a fantastic pedal, and excels at clean boost. It makes your sound bigger and fuller. I sold mine because I got a power attenuator and I found that when my amp was cranked I got the same tone as the fatboost pedal. This is a good thing, I just didnt need the same sound that my amp has out of a pedal. I was very impressed at the tone of the pedal, but i found i can get all my clean boost with a cranked tube amp, compressor and volume knob on my guitar. But anyone who is looking to add some umph to their tone should check this thing out. IT does a great job of filling out your sound, especially if cranking your amp is not an option.

This pedal is very easy to use--3 knobs-Volume, input gain, and tone. This is a class A FET driven circuit offers up to 20+dB of Clean Boost without change to your EQ while making the sound bigger. The manual explains things very well, but is not really needed.

I am using this pedal with a Tom Anderson guitar going into a reissue fender twin amp, I have a skb pedalboard with a rat, boss dm-2 delay, voodoo labs tremelo, a ts-9 tube screamer, boss ce-2 chorus and boss tu-2 tuner. The fat-boost will never leave my pedalboard. It is quiet and the sound is simply amazing--very clear, crisp and very fat. I tend to leave it on most of the time.

This thing is built like a tank. I have no worries about the pedal and would use without a backup.

I have talked with Mike several times on the phone and through e-mail and he could not have been more friendly and helpful--very professional-- I honestly don't know how he does all he does

I play in a country band as well as an alternative band and a praise band at church and feel this pedal can cover all these bases easily. I have been looking for a good clean boost pedal for awhile and finally found one. I have always wanted to try a klon cause I have heard good thing about them but where I live I have never had the opportunity to hear one. If stolen or lost I would without a doubt get another one asap. Great product!!

Doesn't get easier than this.. Three knobs
1) Input gain ( determines the gain to the box VERY active, with a wide range)
2) Volume +20db control LOTS of gain to play with
3) Tone (straight treble roll off)

The sound quality is far and away better than anything else for a straight boost that is currently available

Haven't had any issues.. But if it's like anything else I've had from Fulltone, it's gonna be pretty bulletproof..

Mike has always been friendly, open and up-front with me.. There have been times when he's been real busy, but he's never been rude, just in a hurry which I can appreciate

I play blues, R&B, country, etc

Layout is easy to comprehend: Volume, Tone, and input gain. My only beef is that the input gain knob is too close to the other knobs, and its hard to get my fingers in there to turn it.

No doubt about the sound quality here. This thing is a perfect 10. I never turn it off. I'm getting the best tone I've ever had with this pedal. My tone is stronger, more broad, more dynamic and glistening.

I dropped it on the way out of my house yesterday right after I got it. It hit the concrete hard and probably every neighbor for a mile heard me yell. It now has its first "character scratches" and it suffered absolutely no functional damage whatsoever. Its a sturdy little unit like everything else Mike builds.

Everytime I've talked with mike he's been great. Great guy, great service. Tone Guru #1!!!

I'd recommend this pedal to everyone who's looking for some tonal inspiration. This thing brought my strat back to life, and makes my sg snap like a pit bull. Just go get one.

This pedal is very easy to use, I give it a 9 because the little gain knob in the middle can cause some confusion. There are two main control knobs, volume and tone, and the little gain knob that determines how much gain is going into the pedal.

Here's my setup
60s fender strat with kinman pickups>Teese RMC3 wah>EH Qtron>Fulltone Full Drive 2> Crowther Audio Hotcakes > Sweet Sound Ultra vibe > P.E Clean Octave Blend> Ernie Ball Volume Pedal>Maxon compressor>Fat Boost>Line 6 Dl4>Boomerang>1971 Twin Reverb.

I have a very quiet setup, using top quality cables and pedals, so if I get a new pedal I will notice it's noise. This pedal is very quiet, though if you crank it to extreme settings you can get a lower frequency hum, that may just be my amp, and is very slight and not even noticeable when playing.
this pedal is best described on the fulltone website, it makes your sound BIGGER, rolling the tone back rolls off some high frequnecy and gives you very big, deep jazzy sound. (This is exactly what I was after, something that would give my sometimes thin sounding strat some balls)
It's basically a clean boost, but does a tremendous job of fattening the sound, that's what I was looking for and this pedal shines.

I've heard mixed things about Mike Fuller, I've had no personal experience with the man, but I hear he can have a temper, and may not be forgiving of people with lower learning curves. but he makes great pedals, and he's quick to respond.

Easy to use, 2 knobs, Volume,Tone ,one small imput knob...

This is a killer clean boost, you can dial it in to have a natural distortion if you want because it has FET's. You can adjust the amout of imput that is going to the pedal. So if you want to hit the FET's harder you can get that breakup that sounds killer, with out hitting the front end of your amp for breakup, if you just want crystal clean back off the input, there is a Voulme knob that does what is says, then there is a tone knob that doesnt really act like a a normal tone knob, when you turn it CCW it does add bass, rolls off the treble, like a more jazzy type of sound, if you turn it all the way CW it doesnt add treble it just takes the tone knob out of the circut, which i found to help clean up the pedal for clean boosts.I used to have the Austone Soul-O-Stomp, this is way better. The tone is warmer and not so harsh at louder setting's, probley from the FET's. Im running a US strat(frailins)or Tele plus Budda Bud wha>Ibanez TS-808>Fulltone Supa-Trem>Fulltone Choralflange>Maxon AD-80 delay>70's Small Stone>PHAT Boost>Twin Reverb. The sound is huge, i can get that Jerry Garcia, Steve Kimock clean sound to the max. For country chickin pickin leads it smokes, It also sounds great with the other pedals, Supa-trem, Small stone, ect.

dont need a back up, you know whats up with this stuff

Mikes cool to me

When i saw Mike was come out with the Fat boost i had to check it out, cause ive always been into a crystal clean sound, and a good boost to kick in to take it over the top for solos. Its a nice warm boost. I play alot of Jazz/Rock, improvisation Jam band stuff so this this works out well! It will never get lost or stolen, i already had that shit happen.

Okay, this is a short review, but I'll post a longer one whenever I get the chance to check this thing out a bit more with my rig, though I could probably tell you now what my opinion would be. At first glance, I probably would not have spent almost $200 on what is essentially a clean boost pedal. However, I was persuaded to try it (just came out) by one of the guys at a local music store that carries Fulltone (they make a point to try and have several of each unit, to be able to say "we have the full line"). I couldn't believe the difference it made with every guitar in every amp. I thought, well, I'm in the "high end" room, so that might explain it, but I have similar stuff, so what the hey. The controls consist of Volume, Tone, and a tiny Input Gain adjuster.

So, I'm on my way to a jam that night (lotta blues, but a lotta other stuff too). I hand it to one of my friends (guitarist in house band) before they take a set break. His rig consists of some nice old Strats w/EMG pickups, Marshall preamp, Rocktron Chameleon FX unit, Rocktron Velocity power amp, open-back 2x12 cab w/vintage 30's. His pedalboard includes a TC Electronics Chorus+, tuner (of course), Boss Compressor, and usually a real cool boutique overdrive or fuzz. I figured out that a lot of the "processed" thing I heard was that compressor, though I didn't say anything. He plugs in the Fat-Boost in place of the compressor when they get back onstage. The difference was immeasurable. It sounded like he was playing through a tube amp with a lot of headroom and punch (and huge sound). Only problem was that he kept overloading something so he had to switch back to the compressor. He figured out later that he could have simply turned the tiny Input Gain knob down a few hairs and solved that problem. Everyone who has tried this loves it. It just makes the difference between soundedin (or feeling) a little flat, and the notes just kind of leaping from the fretboard (or speakers, rather). It adds that fatness. Makes everyting take off. What more can you say. My next review of this will probably be even shorter. I mean, it's pretty simple. It just makes you sound (or even feel) better. Makes your amp seem more open and maybe a little more powerful. If you get the chance, try one, or just take the chance and order one. Mike's right, you may never turn this thing off, especially if you're a bluesy or other kind of "roots" player, like country "chicken pickin", or rock, or, well... ANYTHING, really. I like experimental music (I'm not as eclectic as I sound, though). I can't imagine having this thing in my rig without it being on. I give it four stars and two thumbs up.

Check it out at: http://www.fulltone.com/