Fulltone Full-Drive 2

Simple to use.

Sounds great.

Definitely reliable.

Haven't needed them

This is an update to a review I wrote in August of 2005. First of all I just want to say I was a little to quick to mouth off about this peddle. I'm sorry for that. I didn't sell it and soooo glad I didn't. Its the only peddle I use. If it were ever lost I would have to replace it. I really love the tone and when I kick in that boost its just so sweet. It really helps me cut through the mix when I get my lead breaks. I leave it on all the time and then use the boost when needed. I run it in "CompCut" mode only. I use the overdrive channel on my amp (sold the Deluxe and got a Deville 212) with the drive setting at about 2 when I need it. It sounds great to me and have had many compliments. Its well worth the price!!! Looking to buy a Fat Boost in the future. This stuff always costs me double though (I'm married). hehe, One more thing, I've depended on this peddle through 12 gigs since my first review and its still works great!

i've never found a pedal that's so easy to dial a great tone out of! simplicity itself! totally idiot proof!

these have a very "amplike" sound. i really like it's ability to produce a smooth "soft clip". sounds like a vox AC30. and to have a boost on a separate switch......like 2 pedals in 1! and, the true bypass.......no affect to your real tone when the unit's off.......why aren't ALL pedals made this way?! i like the vintage tone, but, should i want the FM sound.....hell! it's awesome! i can play ANY style with this!
incidently, i sold my first one because i had sold my super reverb, and was playing through a VHT pittbull.....which sounded SO much like the fulldrive, i figured to own the pedal was redundant.

i haven't owned one long enough to comment with any authority, but, if you look inside, you'll notice that there's not alot of components to breakdown.....and they all appear to be high quality. the box is a good quality gauge steel. the jacks are metal. the switch is sturdy......it INSPIRES confidence!

when i got my first one,(traded for a used one) the boost LED didn't work.....i contacted fulltone, and they fixed it as a warranty repair!
that's good business in MY book!

this works with all my styles. great dynamics and tone. i've been playing 27+ years. i just sold a TS-9, which sounded OK, but was lacking the magic of the fulldriveII. i'll be playing it through a peavey bravo, but would be comfortable playing it through any amp. i would definately buy another......as a matter of fact......i'm doing that right now! love the tone, dynamics, boost, FM switch, color(yellow), durability........ . hate the price......but, i hate the price of gas, too. fave feature......the ability to get a great tone at low gain settings. i compared it to every thing i've used in the last 27 years.....including a TS-808 that i bought for $40 and sold for $20 about 2 years before their value skyrocketed...(thanks alot stevie!). i chose this on a whim.....it just worked out. if i were to change anything.....jacks on the sides, maybe a wider box, super-bright LEDs.....trivial stuff, really. helps me make music........more to the point......MAKES ME WANT TO PLAY!

ALL MY STATEMENTS ARE HONEST ONES. I SWEAR "I AM NOT AN EMPLOYEE OR AFFILIATED IN ANY WAY WITH ANY MUSIC GEAR MANUFACTURER OR DISTRIBUTOR". I REALLY OWN AND USE THIS PEDAL. I KNOW.......HC SAID I SHOULDN'T BE TO GLOWING IN MY APPRAISAL......BUT AFTER 27 YEARS OF USING JUNK AND MARGINAL QUALITY JAP PEDALS......THIS FULLDRIVE 2 IS EXTREMELY REFRESHING, AND I JUST WANTED TO SHARE MY ENTHUSIASM. i hope you get to read this review. 10'S ACROSS THE BOARD!

bon chance, and "shut up and play yer guitar!"

Mine is the newer version. It's a fairly complicated pedal with the toggle switch and 4 control knobs, but all modes sound great and with a little time dialing in great tones became a snap.

I play teles with the occasional strat, Fralin pickups, usually through a Dr Z Maz 38 2X12 or a Carr Rambler. It sounds great with both amps and gets along well with my other pedals. I use the FM setting with volume at 12 o'clock, tone at 11, OD at 10, and boost at 9. Comp cut is great for clean boost but I use a Bad Bob Boost running at 18 volts(cleaner than at 9V). Vintage is very Tube Screamerish, but I love my Aramat Green Machine. The FM mode is very transparent and "natural" sounding. In this mode the boost increases the mids a bit but not to the extent of a TS, and there's no bass loss. The tone control acts more like a presence control and is handy for reducing a little shrill, as I play a lot on my Tele bridge pickup.

I've had it for 2 years with no problems.

No dealings.

I waited 2 years before writing this review to make sure I didn't change my opinion. I too cannot understand why people trash this pedal. There are other pedals with more overdrive, but there is plenty in the vintage mode and a lot of great fuzzes out there if that's what you want. This pedal is so versatile and sounds so good in every mode that some of the reviews just leave me scracthing my head. I read one review that said it was too bassy and another that said it needed more bass. Gotta be those solid state amps! I A/B d this with a lot of boutique overdrives at Junior's Music in CT and this was the best for what I play - country, rootsy r&r, and blues. Been playing 42 years.

VERY EASY TO USE. FOUR KNOBS ( VOLUME, TONE, OVERDRIVE, BOOST). THREE MODE: COMPCUT, FM, VINTAGE.NICE LAYOUT!!!!!!!!

FANTASTIC!!!!!!!I LOVE IT!!!!!!!! I'M RUNNING WITH '66 AMERICAN FENDER MUSTANG+ FULLDRIVE2+E.H. SMALL CLONE+ IBANEZ AD80 INTO MY FENDER SUPER 60 AMPS.Great transparency on the regular overdrive side.Comp cut offers a nice boost for cleaner sounds, FM is my favorite setting, 'vintage' is traditional style TS. 90% I use the FM setting also.The sound quality is, however, excellent. This pedal is very versatile......

Very reliable. Never any trouble. Knobs are solid, and the footswitches quiet and clean. I don't imagine I'll ever have a problem with it.

I play a whole lotta different things. My solo stuff is contemporary rock,Its THE PERFECT overdrive pedal.I recommend this pedal to people that want a reliable, good sounding pedal for many diverse musical styles.

Pretty straightforward...paper that came with it was very detailed on all aspects of the pedal. I plugged it in and immediately came up with the tones I was looking for.

I think it sounds amazing. I play some with a Maxon 808 (modded) and sometimes and OCD but this is my favorite distortion. I play a pair of heavy 70's strats through my FD2 into a Dr. Z Maz 18 and I get exactly what I want. I set my volume at noon...my tone at ten...my overdrive at noon...and my boost at 10 and I keep the switch in the middle on comp/cut. Then I dial in a great clean tone to my Dr. Z and use the first channel as my clean sound on the FD2, playing with the guitars volume a little bit. Then I roll in more volume and step on the boost side for distortion. I love the dynamics of the pedal because my fingers determine how broken up my sound gets...real players know what i'm talking about. I feel very in control of my tone just by watching the dynamics in my fingers and rolling back and forth on my guitar's volume.

I have never had any problems with it and I gig it without a backup usually as my only distortion. I use a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2 as well with it which I highly recommend. Fulltone stuff in general really is tip of the top.

I have heard bad things about Michael Fuller but I have never needed to contact him so I don't know how he is. I am sure he is very arrogant and prideful about how good his stuff sounds but I think he is a good enough player/manufactuer to warrant that.

I can not even fathom why people rip on this pedal. If you are a 'true' player than this might not be the overdrive for you necessarily but I can't see where true players could rip on it. If you play a crummy solid state amp or a low-end tube amp or you play terrible new-metal or than buy some cheap boss junk. If you own a class A tube amp and are concerned with tone versus how muddy you can get your overdrive to sound than this is definately worth a look. Basically if you are not happy with it than you use a bad amp, a bad guitar, or you are a bad player. Simple as that.

The pedal is easy to use as long as you understand what it designed to work with and it's operating capabilites. This pedal is made for an individual who has a "Blackface style" amplifier, i.e. clean with reduced mids. The first gain stage is for mild overdrive and the boost channel is for lead playing. The pedal is not designed to provide heavy overdrive on the first gain stage, you can do this but when you hit the boost you will not get much of a volume increase. If you have a solid state amp or something which is not voiced like an old Fender chances are the pedal will not give you the results you want.

This is my 3rd Fulldrive, I owned an orange one and the first version with the comp cut. I like this pedal the best because it gives me all the features in one box. The key to this pedal is setting the 1st channel below 12 o'clock, higher settings will basically render the boost channel ineffective. I found that when using the tone control settings around 3 o'clock it produces an EL-34 tube type sound. To my ears this is a great sounding overdrive as it sounds very Marshall like and really sounds like a pushed amp. It generates or should I say passes a little less bass and you can make the highs a bit brighter or darker then the amp without the pedal on. It is not an overly bright pedal as it shouldn't be seeing it was designed and voiced to work with blackface Fenders. It doesn't clean up as well as my Blackstone Appliance pedal but I'm starting to consider this quality to be somewhat overrated. It is not a full out fuzz face tone but more of an old school Marshall or tweed amp. There is a little bit of highend fizz but not enough to make unhappy. Some say the bass is tubby, but if you have ever turned up a tweed amp to the point of breakup, you will actually see it represents the real thing pretty well.

I have never had any issues with Fulltone products that weren't handled in a totally professional manner. This pedal should fine.

Mike's been helpful when I had a problem.

I don't get all the slams on this pedal, no overdrive is perfect and everyone expects different things to happen when the plug something in, but give me a break slamming a pedal because you can't figure out how to use the controls. My advice is learn the capabilities of something before you slam it. Reserve your judgements until you know what it does for you and buy it because you have a blackface or similar amp. Don't buy the pedal because you want to make your solid state amp sound good, the pedal is not designed to operate with it. Instead of spending money based on reviews, read what the manufacturer was trying to do with the design, this will save you a lot of aggravation. The pedal has a certain kid of sound, it will not do modern metal, or scooped mid tones, it will however provide old school tones oozing harmonics and taste.

The manual is a good starting point. Go from there.

Im running a 93' American Standard Strat with a solid steel Tremelo block and Lindy Fralin pickups (late 50's early 60's style) with a base plate on the bridge and a 93' AM Tele with stock pickups through the pedal (FD2 Vintage Cream) into a Fender Hotrod Deluxe. The pedal isn't noisey, the clean setting is just that and the "crunch tones" are great.

I believe one could depend on it in when gigging, however, be sure to use a proper power supply with it or be sure to unplug the input jack from the pedal when taking breaks. This pedal is built right. The fit and finish is great and the solder joints looked good.

Don't know? From what I've read in some of the reviews, I don't think I want to. I do think the 5 year warranty with 1 year on the footswitches to the original owner speaks for itself.

The band I'm currently playing with plays old country, new country, southern rock and blues rock. I've been playing gutiar off and on since 1972. If the pedal were stolen or lost I would not replace it. There is nothing that I particulary love or hate about the pedal except the price. IMHO...This pedal doesn't do anything for me. I can achieve what I'm looking for right from my guitar into my amp. I was just wanting a little "more". It's for sale....I'm thinking about trying Fulltones "Fat Boost".

Four labeled knobs, two switches . . . come on . . .

59 RI strat -> Blackfinger -> FD2 -> 59 Bassman RI

The pedal adds a lot of guts and pushes my Bassman quite well, no complaints there, although I'm not raving. However, the following aspects of the pedal suck: 1) the tone control is scratchy and useful only after 3 oclock; 2) the distortion control is unresponsive; 3) the overdrive control is unresponsive. I tried it with the blackfinger off, no difference. I also tried 9 and 18V - don't let anybody tell you it makes any real difference, it does not. This pedal lacks character, mojo, vibe, true grit, etc. It's steril. It's really just an overrated boost. eBay time.

Just the problem with the scratchy tone pot.

The reputation is realllly baaaad, so I'm hoping never to have to call them.

Shop around. I will. There's no way this is the best overdrive, as many claim.

EAZY Does it! Stomp it, till it screams!!!!

If you got Fingers, most any box will do ok! This one is great because it eliminates most of that mid-range hump (honk) you get from a tube screamer. YET, It is still smooth.

Had it for three years. Still stomping!!!!

??????? never needed any!

Rock 'N' Roll!!!!!! 70's JMP Marshall 100 watter, 2/12 Jensen loaded cab. Tonebone Hot British. tuner and other stuff. playing 39 yrs. and still I hear! WOW!! Various guitars, one favorite (Zion). Lots of Amps, (Fender, Yamaha, Vox, Boogie, Marshall) this stomp works well with most all of them, especially TUBE! The most important thing about this stomp is that you have to have FINGERS!!!!!!!!! Fingers that have been moving for a long time. Don't matter about what you play (amp, guitar, stomps). It matters that you got fingers!!!

Go ahead, buy it! It is only money! It won't make you play better, for that you need FINGERS!!!! You guessed it!!!!

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it?
Couldn't be easier!

For guitars I have: 1968 ES345; 74 and 76 Strat with BillLawrence L-280's/290; 52 Tele RI with Lawrence 280's/290's; Gibson 75 and 89 LP standard with Fralins; 96 LP Ruby Gem with P-100's; 99 Blues Hawk with lace P-90's; Ric 350V63; Ric 660-12;
What setup are you using this with?
I am using Boss TU-2 Tuner>Fulltone Clyde wha>Fulltone FD2 Mosfet edition>Fulltone OCD>Fulltone Fat Boost>Barber Tone Press>Fulltone Supatrem>Fulltone Choral-Flange>H&K rotosphere>H&K replex.
What amp are you using it with?
I use either a Black Face Fender Deluxe Reverb, Vibrolux, Super Reverb, or Twin Reverb.
The new Fulltone FD2 Mosfet edition just added a brand new dimension to the classic FDII. The dimension phatter, richer and totaly transparent. It allows a very clear and clean singing quality that the FDII was just missing before in my opinion. I believe Mike has found the missing link to the FDII. I believe this improvement will be as huge as the OCD. Mike Fuller is a guitar player, a very good guitar player who has a passion for his music, his guitars, his amps and his products. I believe Mike is always searching for the "next level" of tone nirvana and comes up with new and better solutions. His pedals, simply, sound great to my ears. These qualities attract me to the creators and builders of musical gear.

Can you depend on it?
Absolutly, 100% all the time! Fulltone makes products to last on the stage and during travel.
Would you use it on a gig without a backup?
Absolutly, 100% all the time!

Mike has always treated me very, very, well. It's amazing what happens when you treat people with respect.

I have been playing since 1964. I attended Berkee College of Music in the early 70's. I really enjoy Larry Carltons tone, Robben Ford's tone Danny Gatton, Eric Clapton, SRV, well you get the idea. Bottom line is with all great players they leave there tonal signature with us. I have come to learn how to create a signature tone for me using good quality gear. In my case I am using a combination of guitars, pickups, guitar cable, qualty electronics in the guitars, amps speakers and pedals to acheive a satisfactory tone.
Let's face it there is a huge choice of great pedals out there. Over the past 4 years,I personally have been very satisifed with Fulltone's products and service. I think the new CustomShop FD2 Mosfet edition is a great improvment. Just check one out.
Have fun and all the best to Mike Fuller and the Fulltone Crew!