Fulltone Full-Drive 2

Extremely Easy to use other than trying to match up sound levels of the 2 different settings (normal and "boost"). To get a nice drive, the volume increase was hard for me to overcome.

The sound quality is pretty good (certainly, however, not the end-all I was looking for. I originally hoped to replace 2 pedals with this one, and ultimately gave up. The tone gets lost in a mix (in my opinion that is), and the sound of a good 808 tube screamer is better (once again in my opinion. I will say it does a good job of emulating the sound of my amps overdrive with very little coloring which I guess is something to be proud of.

Absolutely no problems. Built very solid.

Never dealt with them.

I would not replace the FD2 if stolen since I feel there are better pedals out there for the price paid. Also, if you cannot fully utilize BOTH of it's channels (which I had trouble doing) it's a waste of space. Better to just have 2 best of breed pedals.

Pretty simple to operate. The typical controls for an OD pedal; OD level , volume, and tone, with the added comp cut and flat mid (if you have the newer model) and a separate footswitchable boost. A very easy to use set up for 3 quickly selectable sounds, clean, slight OD, and boosted OD.

I have been using the FD for about 10 years with Dr Z Maz 38 Studio, Maz 18 Jr, Rivera M60, & Rivera R55-112.. Sounds excellent throught the M60 and both of the Dr Z amps, I don't like the sound through the R55. I play a PRS Custom 22 and an American Strat Deluxe.. the pedal interacts nicely with both the single coil and humbuckers. The pedal is very quiet on the settings I typically use, vol-1:00, tone-2:00, overdrive-8:00, boost-between 9:00 and noon.

I had to fix a solder joint on one of the jacks just before a gig, not a big deal. I do have a back up - for now (see support section)

I did have an experience with Fulltone and my original FD. I was not getting the typical great sound out of the unit so I thought I's simply e-mail Fulltone and see if they had any suggestions. I did not receive any suggestions by rather a note that said fill out the form and send the pedal in. So I did. The communication was practically non existant from Fulltone so I ended up buying a second FD for a recording session (they did not even acknoledge receipt for over a week). I did end up getting a note that siad the pedal would be shipped out on such and such a date... after giving more than sufficient time for shipping I contacted Fulltone again. The apologized for not shipping the pedal. Aparently an oversight. So I receive the pedal.. on the paperwork was written, pedal checks out ok, check power supply, chack cables, check EARS!. I was more than a bit annoyed and very suprised that they would insult a customer by suggesting I cannot hear. So I faxed Mike with the story and my feelings. He responded and basically felt I interrupted their production causing them to loose money because the tech had to stop making the $999 TTE to check out my pedal. We did at least agree that this whole ordeal might have been avoided with some info either on the web site or via the tech e-mail.

I play mostly a mixture of rock, blues, and funk and this pedal is killer. My setup is: PRS/Strat - COT50 - Clyde Deluxe wah - FD2 - Earnie Ball Vol Jr - Maxon AD80 delay - Mojo Vibe - Aria DMX10 flanger - Boss CE2 chorus - Amp. I would replace if lost.. oh yeah I already did that.

I loved the features and the variations possible; two chanels to select from is really nice. Cudos for that. On paper, the Fulldrive II is the perfect overdrive and offers a tremendous amount of flexibility. But in the process of moving from idea to reality, things happen, and that is where I found problems.

Less than spectacular. One reviewer mentioned that the unit is picky with amps - maybe so. My analogman Tubescreamer has a much clearer sound. I have heard there are mods that will bring out the mid-range on these units, take away that muddy slog. But before I could do anything about the sound, one of the switches went south. Okay, no biggy. I contact Fulltone and someone tells me that my year was a bad year for switches and that I can order a new one. Great. The sound problem never really improved. But this did begin a longlasting relationship between my soldering gun, both my Fulltone pedals, and sporadic emails to Fulltone.

Both my Fulltone pedals failed within six months. Switches. My Clyde wah emits a high pitched squeal that aliens can hear in deep space. Dogs gather at my gigs. I have the replacement switch, but I can't get Fulltone to replay to my emails, so I don't know what wires go where (the two switches are different). That leads my review into the bizzaro world of Fulltone Customer Service

After I fixed the bad switch on my Fulldrive II, the other one went out. I had a pretty good experience fixing this factory problem, in terms of Fulltone and helpfulness. When I had to do it again a short time later, I wondered why they didn't advise me to change both switches at the same time? But oh well, I fixed it then started working on the sound problem. When my Clyde took a shit soon after, it was a different story (still without end). But that is another review. Bottom line: contact with Fulltone can be okay or it can suck, depending on what you want and what your problem is. My problem was their problem (factory switch was a loser), and when I think about it in those terms I start to cringe at all the people who report bad dealings with Fulltone customer service. I look at the Fulltone website and gaze at all the georgeous guitars shown in the Fulltone museum (Mikes?). When I think that perhaps some were bought with my money I want to ask Mike how that equipment would sound through my sqealing broken Clyde and muddy Fulldrive II.

This is the first review I have ever posted (this and the Clyde review. Check that one out if want to hear a true rant). I don't use either of my Fulltone pedals anymore. There are others that do it better for me. I need to say that I think there a ton of people who have these pedals and love them, trouble free. They can leave glowing reviews. I can't: my pedals gave me grief, and Fulltone CS is still giving me grief. I just want out.

I used to be a true believer in Fulltone. But that eroded when I ended up spending more time inside my pedals than out. If you can't be personable to your customers (especially when they call about your mistakes), hire someone who will.

Mine is the newer version with the toggle switch for vintage, FM & Comp Cut settings. To be honest, I'm not sure that you can make a bad tone with this thing. Point the knobs anywhere and magic seems to happen. There is clarity in every setting. Great for chords and soloing with the boost on.

I play Rickenbacker 330s thru a Fender 65 Super Reverb. The chain goes Vox Wah, FD2 and DOD DFX91 Delay. The Full Drive has 6 different tones. The Vintage mode is something along the lines of a very beautiful Marshall overdrive with a sweet boost for solos. The FM setting starts with that ultra clear "Sonic Youth/Swervedriver" type of overdirve where all the notes of big chords come through. Then the boost on FM gives you... well... more! The there is the Comp Cut. Starts with wonderful clanging yet transparent overdrive and then the boost switch procedes to destroy your speakers for something that is truly special. I've never heard a pedal so completely take over the speakers of an amp. The Buddah is in there somewhere. Honest. I tried a bunch of different pedals to get good overdirve out of my guitars and amp. This is the only one that has been jaw droppingly satisfying. Everything else is either too muddy or too crispy. There is substitute for hand bilt mojo, great components and dedicated vision.

I bought mine used and it seems to be holding up just great. Fulltone is an A+ compnay to deal with that care about its product and artists.

They reeeeeelly care!

If you are looking for more extreme types of Fuzz I would recommend some of the other Fulltone pedals. For classic tones and the ability to let your guitar and amp work with the overdrive I'm not sure that you can buy a better pedal. Again, there are no bad tones in this thing. Worth every penny and I wished I could of had one 10 years ago.The Vibe of the tone and the clarity of dense chords through the overdrive make this a unique pedal in a land of wannabes.

Easy enough. Four knobs, and it's very easy to adjust them to get good sounds. However, I don't like the way that the comp cut switch is located under the tone knob. It makes me not want to use it because I know it will end up getting kicked off when I'm in the middle of a performance. You must also consider that Fulltone has improved their design since this one was made (mine is an older model). I'd like to see how the newer model compares in this category.

Sounds great! I used to use a Z Vex Super Hard On to boost my amp into distortion, but once I got into the studio with it I noticed that the SHO added something that I didn't like to my sound. Zachery Vex called it a "sparkle." Meh. I dig a lot of the other Z Vex pedals for their interesting quirks, but right then I knew that I had to replace this boost pedal with something more transparent.
I decided to buy this particular pedal because Maike Zaite from Dr. Z amplification suggested it as a great pedal to compliment my Dr. Z KT-45. He was right. I mainly use the boost end to let my amp do all the work, but the distortion is also an awesome addition to my sound. It adds susstain and beefs up my leads. It's everything I need for a well defined distortion sound. I love it.

Once I got my hands on this puppy, I opened it up to check out the craftsmanship first thing. It's dependable. Solid construction all the way. Everything was hand wired with care. Before I bought this I heard a lot of great things about Fulltone's craftmanship, and a lot of rumors about Mike Fuller's over inflated ego. Now that I actually own one of his pedals, I can see why. I imagine that it's hard to stay humble when you make such good quality shit.

I never dealt with them, but I've heard good things about their customer service. Still, I can't say.

I just want to point out that I spent $200 on a used pedal because it used to belong to Page Hamilton of Helmet, and they are one of my favorite bands. My band's music is similar to Helmet's style, except we've got more of a classic rock feel. For that I believe this pedal is a good match. Fulltone seems to want to stay true to the sounds and craftsmanship of the 50's through the 70's, which is something that I prefer when it comes to tone and quality. I dislike the digitally distorted sounds that a lot modern metal bands have been using, and a lot of new effects seems to have a shorter shelf life these days. My favorite feature on the pedal is the boost because it really allows my amp to growl, which is perfect because my KT-45 sounds great on it's own. The added distortion is the icing on the cake.

Because it has the 3-way selector switch (comp-cut, flat mids, vintage) it makes it a little more sofisticated to use....

I'm playing a strat through a Fender Vibolux amp. I placed the Fulldrive 2 after my Analogman 'silver' TS-9 on my pedalboard. The Fulldrive 2 I purchased new had a problem with the 'vintage' boost channel not working (defect). The Fulldrive 2 is a nice pedal and provides a decent 'vibe' but doesn't have the sonic clarity or headroom of the Analogman TS-9 (I didn't, however, try to up the voltage to 18 volts DC which Fuller claims increases the headroom etc..). I didn't think that the Fulltone 2 was a good match with my Fender amp (maybe a Marshall plexi type) a great pedal compared to production overdrives but mediocre in the boutique pedal race.

Mike Fuller builds great stuff, I'm sure he built this to endure the road and beyond.

The guy has helped me out on all my questions concerning his gear, even called me up after I faxed him a question. A bit intense if not a tad arrogant, decent support, above average for sure.

A decent value, but there is better out there. I know that tone opinion is subjective, Fuller builds great products, I want fantastic products!

Not much here, older blue one, with comp-cut knob. Four knobs, two switches, easy enough.

Using B-bender teles, into budda wah, seymour duncan pickup booster, boss cs2, barber direct drive SS barber Ltd, boss c5 chorus, original smallstone phaser, carl martin delaylah, into a fender twin. All fx are powered with a VL pedal power. I tried this pedal for a bit, and was unhappy with the results. I remember doing a recording with a boogie mark II, and the fulldrive, and it sounded great, so I picked one up, thinking it would be my main Od for the twin. I was wrong. This pedal is very picky with what amps it likes. I thought Mike Fuller made this to co-exist with fenders, but the only sound I could get was a rather fizzy overdrive, with way too much presence in the extreme top end. It was also a bit muddy in the 200-300 hertz range. This combined with my fender twin, which already has a decent amount of low mid honk, made a very mushy sound. I tried hard to like this box, and as I said, I dug it through the boogie, but it's just not the Holy Grail of Od that everyone talks about. Try it before you spend the $200.

Seems well made, but we've all heard the stories of Mike and his CS skills, so I hope it wouldn't break.

I heard a story from a friend of mine who worked in a guitar shop, about Mike calling him and bitching him out because he wasn't selling enough of his pedals. My friend promptly told Mike to take his business elsewhere, and discontinued selling his pedals.

I just want everyone to know, you should always, always try any pedal before you buy. It's a lesson that cost me $30 since I had to resell the pedal.

Very easy to use! I have the newer model with the mids switch.

My chain goes as follows - American Strat into RMC3LE Wah, Analogman Boss DS-1, Analogman Chorus, Analogman TS9, Fulltone Fulldrive II, ernie ball volume, EH Memory Man Deluxe, Boss EQ, Boss NS-2, into Upgraded Hot Rod Deluxe. This pedal is hands down awesome. I have used the analogman ts9 for awhile now and it is great but the fulldrive is amazing. It really just adds to your tone and doesn't color it with a bunch of mid-range nasal junk like most overdrives. Truly a great overdrive! So much range in tones!

It is in a metal case... what more could you ask for? Seems sturdy and very well crafted.

Only wrote Mike once and got a response by the next day. Good customer service guy, right up there with Geoffrey Teese and Analog Mike!

I play light rock - bluesy rock. Suits me very well for the sound I am going for. Sweet sustain and responds very well to pick attack and volume level. If it were stolen, I would probably buy a new one, but money isn't exactly plentiful these days so it might not be right away.

This pedal is way too easy to get a good sound out of. It's hard to choose which kind of overdrive you want. I got the newer one, with the black nobs, not the one with the white nobs. The new one has the toggle switch witch allows you to choose between Comp-cut, FM, and Vintage settings. The manual explains it all wonderfully, but the only way to really do it is just plug in and screw around.

I'm using a Gibson ES-335 into a Mesa/Boogie DC-3. As the name describes, this overdrive is just FULL. It can make any guitar and amp setup sound superb. My favorite setting has to be the Comp-cut which just is completly clean and it has the fattest sound. Once you turn the pedal off, you can't see how you ever survived without it. The FM and Vintage settings are amazing as well. You can get a very Eric Johnson fat singing tone. The boost switch is also great for going from Rhythm to lead when you want that extra boost, and overdrives the comp-cut a little, which makes a completly natural overdrive.

Seems totally solid and I would definatly use it without a backup... I wouldn't mind having another one though.

I play a blend of jazz and rock. This is the perfect pedal. I use the Full-Drive 2 like this ES-335>Full-Drive>Boss SD-1>ProCo RAT2> Guyatone MD3> Boss CE-5>Mesa/Boogie DC-3. I compared it to the Super overdrive and also the overdrive on my Mesa. The Fulltone sounded alot more FULL than either. It sounded more like my guitar through the fulltone than effects, and that's the way I like it. I use the Fulldrive through the SD-1 to get a searing lead tone, but you can get a perfect tone through the fulltone, I'm going to have to get another one. I would definatly buy another if stolen. It's the perfect pedal period.

Not the easiest pedal to use. There are so many combinations of tones that it's hard to find the "sweet spot." It seems to either be too dirty or too clean. Hard to find that perfect, natural Fender-like tube overdrive. It's like the manufacturer tried too hard to make it be all things to all players when they should have tried for one perfect tone.

Good sounding, but not as good as the Klon or Reverend Drivetrain. The clean boost is my favorite tone. The overdrive seems to change dramatically depending upon what amp or amp setting you choose. The response to pick attack isn't as natural as I need (either too dirty or too clean). With every room I play, I seem to spend the first set trying to dial in the right tone.

So far so good.

Nver had to deal.

I play rockabilly and honky tonk music. I was trying to find something to get that "just right" natural Fender overdrive at a moderate volume setting. This didn't really do it for me. For me, the Reverend Drivetrain 2 with the cap mod does the rockabilly thing best of all. I thought this might be even better, but it's not. The Klon is great too, but its pricey and takes forever to get.