Fulltone Full-Drive 2

Pretty straightforward little fella. 2 channels: clean boost/od and boost/od, depending on what mode you are in. I give it a 7 because the modes are not clearly defined in the manual.

Setup: '62 reissue strat or bastid tele>clyde deluxe wah>keeley comp>FD2>line 6 modulation modeler>original rat>boss dd-20 "gigadelay">boss rv-5 reverb>fender '63 vibroverb reissue or marshall jcm900 212 combo.

In my opinion, this is an average sounding pedal that would not have gotten so much attention without the 2-channel hook. It is not a holy grail of overdrive. I found it to be thin and very difficult to get a truly great sound. The best tone it made was when I put the keeley comp after it and accidentally hit it with +20db of clean boost - but that was the first stage of the keeley distorting. Yeah, I can hear my pickups through this pedal, but that's because its kind of a boring pedal. Overrated and anonymous sounding to me. I'm selling it and continuing my quest for tone.

Built very carefully and solid as a rock. Impressive.

No contact with them.

I play alternative rock and try to draw from a palette of classic tones with a little twist here and there. I insist that anything on my pedalboard have a personality that combines with my playing to create something new and cool and inspirational (to me at least). I found this pedal to be disappointing. I wanted to like it - I tried running it at +18v dc and sagging it down to +4.5v. I could not get it to really happen in my rig. I'm glad it has worked for so many others here!

Newer model with the 3-way toggle. Lot's of options but still very easy to use. Nice layout.

Fantastic. Great transparency on the regular overdrive side. The boost side adds a nice thick overdrive with its own independant gain knob. 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 for crisp singing overdrive from my Burriss amp. The pedal really brings out the best in your amp (assuming you have a great amp). The 'vintage' setting doesn't sound as good as my Burriss Boostiest's overdrive but it's still pretty good. The whole point of purchasing the FD2 was to escape the midrange overkill of TS style pedals (which is cool in some applications).

Rugged powdercoated box- opened it up and everything is very tidy. Great soldering and component placement.

Boutique company! You never can tell.

Semi-professional gigging musician playing many different styles. I would buy another in a second (funny I never liked the other version of the FD2). Greg V and David Grissom use the Fulldrive II with killer results, it truly is head and shoulders above most other overdrives (low gain, transparent overdrive pedals that is). The three way toggle is really what makes this pedal.

Plug in to your amp. Play with the dials. Not rocket science.

Weel average. Over rated.

Played it throught a 65 Fender twin reverb - and it sounds flat and plastic. Dialed around for hours - best to the stick to VOX valve tone pedal for this amp.

2nd amp: Roland Jazz Chorus (120) - again. average. Better than the twin, but had to wack an Ivan Roberts Rich Blues pedal infrom of it, and a Kelly Clean boost after it- then it rocked.

Marshall JCM800 - well, stick any mild drive pedal infront of this anf you'get a half decent tone.

Overall not impressed. Now sits in pedal box with my Boss EQ pedal and my Time Machine Boost. Extended holidays for pedals I think.

Looks reliable - Seems solid.

A little abrupt. They got back to twice out of 4 emails. 50% Strike rate.

If I lost, I would only spew chips about the cost, but I will sell it. HBE seem to have better kicks than this.

I was expecting something different after all the reviews I read and the ChoralFlange I have rocked too. I guess people get horny about their fav pedal builders.

Easy to use. Manual could use a few touch-ups here and there, but not bad. Mine is number 6561.

I'm using it with a stock Fender Deluxe Reverb reissue. The FD2 is about as quiet as disto pedals get. From my experience, it's very difficult to find a distortion box that works with the DRRI's reverb channel (that channel has a lot of top-end). The FD2 smooths that out. I've tried several pedals including the Tube Screamer and the Boss Blues Driver. I've liked the Blues Driver with other amps, but with the DRRI many distortion boxes produce a high-end fizz that sounds like broken speaker paper. The FD2 gets rid of almost all of that, because it sounds so smooth. Even when cranking the tone, it doesn't get fizzy, because the tone's freq bandwidth isn't in that range.

Anyway, the FD2 is very smooth sounding without being too dark. I don't like a pedal that's too bright or too dark sounding. The FD2 seems to simply add gain to the tone you already have. The Tubescreamer is overrated, and the Blues Driver is a bit mid-scooped.
The only disappointing thing about the FD2 is that the Boost channel doesn't boost volume, it mostly boosts the gain. However, in all fairness, pedals don't typically boost volume when going through an amp's input, they just increase the clipping.

I'd tighten up the ass on the tone a bit too.

Built as quality as they get. Quality of construction reminds me of the several Mesa amps I've owned in the past.

Overall it's the best sounding disto pedal I can find for the DRRI. It does what it claims, and can turn a single-channel clean amp into a 3-channel blues machine. The tones are very transparent. Using a 9-volt adaptor yields a slightly clearer sounding signal than a battery, and the 18 volt adaptor claims to enhance this even more. Overall it's excellent and makes no false claims.

Easy to use, difficult to get a non bassy sound out of it.

Tried it with a Strat thru a Fender Deluxe Reverb, Hot Rod Deluxe, Super Reverb. It wasn't noisy at all. The effect is very subtle. I couldn't get the sound I wanted out of it. Too bassy. I can't imagine it cutting thru the mix in a band situation.

Don't know.

Don't know

Didn't like it at all. I had to crank the tone all the way, and it still had way too much bass. BTW, the boost doesn't add more dB, for say a lead boost, but rather more saturation. Overall I was incredibly disappointed.

It's quite a simple pedal. Manual is informative.

Sunn Beta Lead - Boss SD-1 - Fulldrive - Zvex Fuzz Factory - Dititech Whammy - Gibson SG. I have to say i'm rather surprised with this pedal in some aspects. I expected it to have a bit more kick on the boost setting. Fuller tries to say in the manual that the overdrive and boost knobs will dramatically increase the gain, but they really don't. At least, nothing compared to my Vintage Japanese SD-1, which is a much more aggressive and moody pedal. Having said that, it can do many things my SD-1 cannot. It's certainly a far more transparent pedal than the SD-1, and in some ways more versatile. The SD-1 is more versatile from a distortion standpoint, but it really can't clean up anything like the Fulldrive. All around, I would say the fulldrive is a bit more versatile. It's a warmer pedal than the SD-1, but can't produce the SD-1 bite. I do like that it retains the dark, moody aspects of my Beta Lead. I don't know, I expected the overdrive to have more range. I like it, but it's not making me want to throw my SD-1 up on ebay. But as overdrives go, it's good. Guess i'll give it an 8.

It's a pretty damn sturdy pedal.

Never dealt with him.

I play experimental, and this pedal has its uses. I've been playing 11 years. I would probably buy another one, but I wouldn't be in a big rush. It's not an "irreplaceable pedal" I can use my SD-1 in place of it in the songs I use it if push comes to shove.

This thing is really easy to get good sounds from. The manual is informative and useful, as, for example, the tone control kinda works in a not so traditional way. I have the newer model with the three way toggle switch.

I'm using a '87 made in Japan Fender Strat with the EMG DG20 "Dave Gilmour" package into either a rack of Rockman half rack modules, into a POD XT, or into various solid state practice amps. This pedal is generally quite quiet, and compared to most pedals, it's very quiet. The Comp Cut mode is VERY transparent and quiet dynamic; the other two modes I can't say much about, because I don't use them much. :) The sound quality is, however, excellent. This pedal is kinda like a transparent and dynamic tubescreamer without the mid hump. A very versatile pedal, too, considering the boost control and switch.

It seems solid. The Boy Scout motto comes to mind about gigging without a backup - BE PREPARED! I'm not worried, but backup is always a good idea.

I mostly play blues and blues based music, and this pedal is a good match. I've been playing for about 15 years, and I have an assortment of gear: lots of SR&D Rockman stuff, Keeley Compressor, Keeley Phat Blues Driver, Keeley Metal Zone, Chandler Tube Driver, Ibanez Tube Screamer, and a POD XT. If this were stolen, I'd certainly want to get another one. I love how transparent and dynamic this pedal is on comp cut mode, and there's nothing I don't like about this pedal. Comparing it to other products, it is more transparent and dynamic than a Tube Screamer, it has less gain and grit than the Keeley Blues Driver, while being more transparent and about equally dynamic, and compared to the Chandler Tube Driver, it is more transparent and dynamic, but has far less distortion and is no match for the harmonic content of the Chandler Tube Drivers distortion - however, the FullDrive II isn't a distortion pedal, it's an overdrive. This pedal does, however, help me make music instead of getting in the way.

Very.

New Am Strat (Kinman AVn Blues - awesome p/us & Am Tele with SD little 59's & other strat, LP and Tele) - into Tech 21 Comptortion - into - Dunlop 535 Q - FD2 - Fulltone OCD - Fulltone Fat Boost (also great !) - into V Lab Chorus - L6 Delay Modler - into Fender 65 DRRI

Play Rock & Blues sound in a large rocking Christian Church.

Favorite artists - Jimi, SRV, Keith, Jerry, Carlos, BB, Buddy, Eric, Freddie King, Billy Gibbons, Albert Collins, and Pete T - what can I say - I like it all !

Seems very tough and well built. No trouble yet. Did not have it long yet.

Mike gets a bad rap. This guy is swamped. People can't expect him to hold their hands. He responded to 4 or 5 e mails from me in < 1/2 hour each. Yes he is short, but would never get any work done if he were not. Very helpful. Good guy.

Great pedal. Matches up well with Full Tone Fat boost. Don't try running it with a TS 9 or TS 808 though, you can't do that with this like you would 2 tube screamers. The Fat Boost and FD 2 together get me to a much better place.

The Fulldrive 2 is easy to use. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure it out! I'd give it a 9 as the first time I tried the comp cut it blew my face off. Well, nearly!

I love it, to be honest. I read a review here where a guy was surprised that it sounded different in the shop than when it was on stage. Come on mate! Doesn't everything?! The bottome line is that this pedal will not muck around with your amp tone, it will just add drive to it. For example, using a Twin with this pedal will probably not be too cool as it's not the kind of amp that breaks up quickly. I use a Strat plus through a 1962 AC30 (no top boost), and with the volume up half way or more on the amp, the FD2 sounds incredible. It doesn't do the tight, compressed Marshall/Boogie thing, but I guess you wouldn't buy it for that anyway. I've also used the FD2 on tour through a Matchless DC30 and that was great too.

I love the sound of guys like Robben Ford, Larry Carlton, SRV and Hendrix. This pedal is the Daddy for tone that is along those lines, but don't forget that Robben and Larry play through Dumble combos, Hendrix used all kinds of amps in a mix and match way to get his sounds and SRV used 0.13 gauge strings! You won't sound like your heroes, but this pedal goes a long way towards creating your own cool and unique tone.

There is no perfect piece of gear, so give up searching for it (I liked the comment earlier about the 'tone quest being over'! My wife appreciated that too!), but the FD2 has suited me and my style and I'm extremely content with it and know that it'll keep serving me well as I develop as a player (I've been playing 16 years by the way).

Very reliable. Never any trouble. Planes, trains and automobiles have not hurt it!

Never had to deal with them, but I guess you shouldn't ask 'why don't I sound like Stevie Ray?' as they must've heard that a billion times and it would do my head in!

Get one if you have a great basic amp tone. My set up is Strat Plus with Fralin Vintage Hot P'ups, TU2 tuner, Big Muff Fuzz (mostly redundant), FD2, Dunlop Tremolo, Deluxe Memory Man, Line 6 Delay Modeler (the green one and second best pedal on my board!).

Sounds good to me and I guess that's all that I care about in this context!

I have lots of "boutique" pedals, and most of them have a limited range of pleasing or useful settings (so-called "sweet spots"). In contrast, the Full-Drive 2 has a tremendous range of great applications; I've tried it with literally a dozen guitars (various Strats, Teles, a Jazzmaster, Gretsch guitars with Dynasonics and Fitertrons, a Firebird VII with mini humbuckers, Rickenbacker w. toaster pickups, etc.) as well as with several different tube amps (Reverend Kingsnake, Dr. Z Maz 18...) and I've been able to get a wide range of very pleasing sounds, both clean and distorted. While breif, the 2-page manual Fulltone provides is helpful in understanding what the mini switch and he various pots do.

All I can say is WOW, I'm very impressed. I tend to like to get my overdrive sound by cranking the gain on a master volume type tube amp. But, not having any two-channel tube amps, it's clearly very useful to be able to vary the amp's gain w. a pedal, and the Full-Drive 2 is terrific for this. Playing bluesy kinds of songs, I like to set the amp for a clean sound that's near the edge of breaking up, then punch in the Full-Drive for a grittier sound, then use the boost switch for full on "take no prisoners" lead riffs. I like my Crowther "Hot Cake" overdrive, but I LOVE my Full-Drive 2! (and I really love the version I have for it's looks and vibe: a Custom Shop Fiest Red model, w. ivory knobs). By the way, try running the unit on 18 volts (Mike at Fulltone recommends it!), not only for more headroom, but for more clarity in the high end tone (without harshness--really amazing).

Clearly the pedal case is built like the proverbial brick sh*thouse, so you'd have to drop it from outer space to crush it. Internal construction is clearly made for the long haul. I haven't had it long, but I surely expect it will outlast me.

Aside from appreciating the amount of clearly presented information ont their website, I haven't had to contact them for service (nor do I expect to have to) or more info.

This pedal is terrific for adding some boost, grit and/or "balls" that are most suitable for a number of different styles--blues, rock, country (more alternative stuff than mainstream pop country). The Full-Drive 2 clearly isn't designed with the headbanger or liquid-mercury-swilling metalhead in mind, but for the rest of us, it's a real treasure.