Fulltone Full-Drive 2

Easy to use, although there are quite a few settings possible. Luckily most of them sound pretty good. On/off switch, boost switch, drive, tone, volume, boost knobs. Toggle switch with three different "modes".

Sounds absolutely fantastic with single coils. So the set-up Fender guitar into FD2 into Fender amp is an absolute dream. With humbuckers not all settings are quite as nice.

There are basically 6 different settings here. Compcut (drive and boost), FM (drive and boost) and Vintage (drive and boost).

Compcut is a fair bit louder than the other two settings. It's a clean boost. Normal position it's just that... A very clean boost. Once you kick in the boost switch it's overdriven ever so slightly but with a lot of sustain. I just LOVE the compcut boost channel with a Strat. It's great for blues and country.

The FM (flat mids) mode kicks things up a bit gainwise. FM in boost position gives you loads of sustain and enough gain for most classic rock stylings.

The Vintage position has about the same amount of gain, but it sounds a great deal fatter (more mids). The tone is a bit like Robben Ford.

All sounds great, even through a solidstate amp.

Looks very well built. Switches all seems rugged enough to withstand even the heaviest stompers. I guess time will tell, but I'm willing to give it a 9. I got faith.

I bought mine second hand, so I e-mailed them to get a manual. They sent me one by e-mail within a couple of hours. Good enough for me.

Well, I bought this to take care of my country, blues and classic rock sounds, played with single coils. Fits the bill perfectly, and then some.

For my classic rock - metal sounds I got my SG going into either an MXR Distortion+ or an original Marshall Guv'nor. All the humbucker bark I need.

I don't think there's anything I dislike about the FD2. What I love is being able to get that sweet sustain with minimal gain. It's loud, it's got lots of clarity and definition and sounds exactly like I'd always imagined it.

This one's a keeper.

Four knobs: volume, tone, overdrive, and boost. Also has a three position mini-toggle to go from "comp cut" to "flat mids" to "vintage". Also two footswitches, one to kick on the effect and the other to engage boost. I can be a bit of an idiot when there are too many choices, and it did take me a while to get the hang of this pedal and the various options. It's not the pedal's fault. I think a more thorough manual would've been helpful though.

Fender American Strat with stacked Dimarzio humbuckers in neck and middle, SD JB Jr. in bridge; Warmoth Telecaster with SD vintage single coils; Epiphone Elite Les Paul Standard; all through a Peavey Delta Blues with 15" speaker and a Fender Blues Jr.
The pedal is very quiet and the true bypass means the pedal doesn't color the tone when bypassed. Nice. This pedal has a huge range of sounds it can bring to the table. It's not a distortion pedal, but the amount of grit and gain it can add to my sound makes a distortion pedal redundant (though I should be getting my Fulltone Distortion Pro in the mail soon!).
The CompCut setting is very transparent. It adds some body to the sound, almost like a fat boost. In this mode, you can also engage the boost, which changes the voicing to a more aggressive-sounding overdrive.
The Flat Mids setting lets the sound of the guitar and amp come through loud and clear while allowing for a greater level of overdrive.
The Vintage mode has more pronounced mids and reminds me of the classic Tube Screamer, but it sounds more musical than I remember those being.
I've used this pedal on several gigs and it's always managed to deliver the sounds I'm looking for. I can get great clangy Strat sounds like SRV, crunch in the vein of ZZ Topp, and pretty much anything else short of metal. I generally run it into my clean channel, which I drive JUST to the point of breakup. This pedal basically gives me three channels to work with. Putting this in front of my amp's lead channel brings out more dynamics and meat to the sound, to the point where the naked lead channel, which I used to think was great, sounds wimpy without it.
Also, all my other Fulltone pedals, this one cleans up very well with the guitar's volume knob. Overall though, I'd say I like the sounds better through my Fenders, but the LP sounds great through it too. This pedal is my go-to pedal for when I need to dial in a sound. It's always in my signal chain.

I've gigged with this a few times already, and always bring it to band practice. I love Fulltone gear also for the way it's built. Solid, analog, and no perceivable shortcuts taken in building them. The case is heavy guage metal, with a gorgeous blue finish (almost looks like it's been enameled). Knobs are solid, and the footswitches quiet and clean. I don't imagine I'll ever have a problem with it. I can't afford duplicates of these pedals, so I'd have to gig without a true backup, but I have other Fulltones which can get me through the night if this one should ever fail. Again, highly unlikely. And there's a 5 year warranty as well.

One email answered, one ignored. Won't give a rating.

I play blues and rock, some pop. I've been playing for over 20 years and have owned and long-term tested a number of overdrive/distortion effects (ProCo Rat, Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face, Danelectro Pastrami, Boss, SansAmps, MXR Distortion, Tube Screamer, etc.). This pedal is my all-time favorite. It has a huge range of sounds, while still maintaining the sound of the guitar / amp combination. It's got a permanent home in my setup. If you're into tasty, musical overdrive and value traditional workmanship and build quality, you need to check this out.

F-D 2 is as it came, no mods, no need. Clear and concise instrux. Signed by Fuller, dated 9/04. Nice array of choices, all somewhat different, and all have their purpose. See the previous 300 or so entries for more details...

That said, there's a reason that there are soooo many glowing entries...this thing works and works beautifully. Easily the most transparent out there especially on comp cut (I own 7 ODs, have owned 20+, all 'high end', all the must haves). Other settings are rich, clear, and defined. Anyone giving it low marks either didn't really try one, bought it for over-the-top distortion, or are deluding themselves so they feel better about the sub-par or other over priced/hyped brand they're stuck with. This pedal has GREAT range, considering it's an overdrive pedal. Know what you need and you will be more than satisfied. I use it with custom shop strats, historic LPs, PRS Santana, Tom Andersons, teles, etc.,etc. Amps include a handwired reissue Fender 57 twin, Carr rambler, tweed blues jr., and Marshall bluesbreaker combo. Sounds awesome w/all. Always use in my chain BEFORE my Keeley comp, sometimes adding a verb pedal or delay after. I play mainly blues, so a simple board is all I want/need.

Have only been using for 6 months, but when you've owned as much hardware as I do/have, you know quality. It is very solid and cleanly built in and out. Would/do gig with it, but because OD is so integral to my sound, I always have one of my lesser pedals for b/u just in case. I'd bet, though, I'll never need one.

E-mailed Mike twice for set-up/compatability advice and got a near immediate response. From his answer, I could tell he's decisive and opinionated, but I value clarity like that. I can, however, see how some would misconstrue that as being rude, but I am grateful for clear, unequivocating answers.

The best for a solid, transparent, and wide range overdrive unit. Lets all the bass, treble, and mid through. Sounds great with all my equipment, which runs the gamut. It's NOT NOT NOT a distortion pedal, so don't whine if you can't get that 'Paranoid' intro. sound. It will delight if you want a robust unit to accomodate all those classic overdriven tones in your head. Again, I've had a lot to compare with, all the 'great' ones (and some others are very, very good), but considering the versatlity, organic tonal variety, and overall quality of this unit, I'd buy another in a minute if lost or stolen. I's not cheap, but certainly not among the most expensive either, so I consider it a solid value. I plan to buy Fulltone's new OCD pedal as soon as they are finally available.

Very basic overtriv/boost pedal with no more functions than you really need.

I've got nr. 5537 and has solid black knobs that turn very easy around just like knobs on a good amp.

It's build very well and they have put a little toggle switch to choose out 3 modes:

- Comp cut. A little fat souning clean with high dynamics (really like this sount)

- FM

- Vintage

And at least is has a boost with a boost knob.

If you are a blues player, this could be the only overdrive you need. it is very easy to find good sound settings. It is almost inpossible to let it sound bad.

It seems to be married with fender tube amps and "stratlike" guitars. My ibanez sounds with his coilsplit very authantic with this overdrive.

I like te vintage mode and the Compcut mode the most. The Compcut setting is very Dynamic and sounds delicious while playing rhytms and a push the boost while playing a blues solo.

By using the vintage mode I get a more classic rock overdrive for power chords. Not like a marshall or boogie but more than a fender overdrive. By pushing the boost on this mode it's perfect for rock solo's. it's smooth and warm. Real vintage sounds!!!

very very well build. Last forever

It's a little expensive thing. But If you want something good than it is worth it. The quality is like a MESA/Boogie amp or something that kind. The sound is classic like Clapton and page. Like I said, If you are only playing blues, you don't need more. For mee it is an extra vintage sound beside my Mesa/boogie V-twin what gives a thicker and more heavy sound.

Ease of use, well pretty easy.

I use a ol d Gibson Les Paul, with an '64 vox ac-30.
My chain from guitar to amp goes like this:

Ibanez ts-9 -> Boss sd-1 -> TC Parametic eq -> Boss Fa-1

-> Boss Tu-2 -> Electro Harmonix Memory Man -> Line 6 Delay Modeler

-> Ac-30 / Marshall JMP

So, as you can see I'm not using the pedall anymore...

I've read all the revieuws here and decided to buy it. Most people say it beats the Ibanez ts-9 by far... So I was hoping..
Mine ts-9 is modded with the 'brown-mod'. I compared it to an re-issue 808 and well, mine sounds much better. The modded ts-9 has a very, very organic sound. But after reading all the revieuws I just wanted to see if the Fulltone really beat my ts-9...

As for clean punch/boost it blew the Ibanez away. But...I already got a clean booster (the boss fa-1 which is the greatest booster outhere!). I'm using the Ibanez for some 'bite' to give an already cranked amp just a little bit more. So the next thing I compared was the 'bite-function'on the Fulldrive. It's good but my Ibanes ts-9 won this round.

Then I tried the really overdives modes. It was nice but to be fair the ts-9 also won this round...
I was really hoping this pedal would bring me to a higher atmosphere but unfortually it didn't work with MY set-up. Maybe with another set-up it is great, don't get me wrong, jusn't didn;t work in my chain. So I sold it and stick to the chain of pedals I curently have and very satisfied with.

I think you can depend on it! It looks very solid. I only used it twice at a gig, but I think you can definitly use it without having a back-up.

Send them an e-mail but sorry to say but they never replied..

I mainly play blues and rock (check my webpage if you like:
www.rubenhoeke.com

I've been playing for 14 years, I'm 28 now. Since my 24th I'm proffesional musician. I quess I'm happy with my set-up as it was. The fulltone didn't add much. For my taste it couldn't replace my ts-9 as for the function I'm using it for. I play like 4 gigs a week and never had problems with my pedals. Anyway, you should try it yourslef. I can imagine the fulltone fulldrive is a pedal that WILL work for a lot of guitar-players. But...always let your ears be the judge. The best thing you can do is TRY it at a gig. Then you've got your own equipment so you can compare it better!

If you think of the comp-cut /flat mid/vintage switch as 3 different stomp boxes, what remains? 3 knobs for volume, tone and overdrive as in every other overdrive-pedal and one for the additional boost, one on/off switch and one switch to engage the boost. Could it really be easier? ? No! If you?re able to twist knobs, you?ll have no problems.
A numbered scale around the knobs would be helpful sometimes.

Signal chain: Several Strats & Teles, standard Les Paul > FD-2 > 65 Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue. The amp?s volume is set that it?s breaking up just a bit with the Les Paul and it?s still clean with the single coil guitars.
There has been written a lot about the 3 modes, and I want to focus on the difference between the flat mids and the vintage setting. First of all the flat mids setting does exactly what it says. Compared to the vintage mode the sound gets more transparent. I find this very useful for rhythm playing and for double stops on the plain strings, especially on neck pickups (single coils and humbuckers!). The vintage mode sounds simply fuller and rougher, and I prefer this one for single note playing.
This little box covers a really wide variety of sounds. You find the Stones like sound in the comp-cut mode and I can dial in a Black Sabbath like sound with the Les Paul turning the overdrive and boost knobs less than half way up in the vintage mode, for example, and this is far enough for me.
The combination of the FD-2 and the Deluxe Reverb seems to be the perfect match. It?s like two old friends are meeting after a long time. There?s definitely no unwanted noise from the FD-2.
The sounds you get out of this box are absolutely first class, and from blues to hard rock, they?re all in there. Never heard a better overdrive.

Very well built, i think it should be very dependable, but I haven?t got it long enough to judge it.

Never had to deal with them.

I tried to be as calm and objective as possible with this review and it?s been very hard, believe me, because I?m already addicted to this pedal. When I bought it I expected a lot and I got much more than I expected. Some say the FD-2 is pricey, but who would expect to get a Ferrari when he only pays for a Nissan? This is professional equipment and so is the price. To me it?s worth much more than I paid for it. Be aware of thinking the FD-2 will make crappy equipment sound fine. It will not, nothing will. You need a good guitar and good tube amp and they will sing with the FD-2. Try it in front of your own amp before you buy one, because it's told that it sounds much better with Fender-like amps than with others. My quest for tone has ended.

Very very easy to use. Just plug and play. It wont take long to get a great tone.

My usual ring is my Anniversary Strat into Fulltone wah, then Fulldrive 2, Choral - Flange and Fat Boost.....so you can see im a fan of Fulltone stuff. I can get great sounds from this just going into the desk. I'm the uk tour guitarist for a musical and we needed a slient pit, so i plugged my rig direct and it still sounds great! With the right power supply, (voodoo labs pedal power 2 is v.good) it is silent. Great tone all the time.

This pedal get switched on and off constantly for about 30hrs a week for 8 months, not to mention getting thrown on various tour buses and planes. It hasnt let me down at all, superbly built!

Never needed any, the thing just wont break!

I needed a smooth distortion pedal that would get me both crunchy rhythm sounds and cutting soaring leads, and it does both! I tried quite a few "similar" distortion pedals and this was head and shoulders above the rest. I've played it at the London Palladium, to tiny pubs and it just rocks!!! I'm a professional player and have recommended it to sooo many people. Take my advice....go out and get one you will not be dissapointed!!!!!!!!

Straight forward 2 channel overdrive box,if you can use a stompbox and a channel switcher on an amp then boom this is those 2 concepts in one pedal.

The only difficult thing is only deciding where to set the nobs when it sounds great almost anywhere on the dials.

This pedal is god in an overdrive box. Pureley and simply the nicest smoothest harmonic drenched stube like spobgey overdrive you can buy.

Now for more depth:

My setup is Ibanez: Jem7vwh/RG7string/RG6string, Morley BH1Wah OR Crybaby535Q wah, FULLDRIVE2 --> Mesa Boogie Nomad 100 1x12.

The bypass is very pure and when turned on there is almost no noise and hiss added to the chain. Very clean and quiet

Now this is an overdrive box and obviously if you're spenidng this much money on one little blue box you know that you're not going to be getting your primary death metal tones from it. Having said that the overdrive tones you can get from it sustain for days without being over saturated and harsh.

Many peopel use overdrives as boosts for their already overdriven amp tone. However I would have to say that this pedal works best when overdriving a warm --> to slightly pushed clean channel amp. It goes from pushing the amp and sparkling it up with a little blues grit to nice and crunchy on the 1st channel and stepping on the boost can give yo a nice creamy solo tone.

Using it as a boost may also work well for some amps but I think the tone is SOO good its best to hear the pure tone of your clean amp combined with the pure tone of the Fulldrive. Using it with a lower gain amp may produce better boost features cause I am using a mesa boogie which naturally are very saturated, and when on the recto type channel 3 it is soo mushy it is not good. I've had good results at boosting on the 2nd nomad channel which gives a nice kinda solo tone evening out what is normally a bass heavy channel on the amp and making the tone a little less american and a bit more british. But for the whole SRV blues thing stick this blue box in front of your clean tube channel and just grin from ear to ear. You can get the SRV twang rather easy.

I bought it used jan 2005 and it was a 2001 model. Its in mint condition and seems very solid. I would use it on a gig without a backup yep. I give 8 because only time will tell but fulltone seem to have a good rep.

never contacted yet

I play a whole lotta different things. My solo stuff is contemporary rock/alt. stuff that incorperates many kinds of tones and the Fulldrive is used to get those bluesy inbetween clean and distorted tones. I already have a very versatile amp with 3 totally independat channels however this allows me to setup only a Pristine Clean (no breaking up) a rock type tone on the 2nd channel and a metal tone on the 3rd channel. In the past for my semi clean pushed and blues tones I'd have to roll the volume back on the 2nd channel or change the amp to pushed mode on the clean channel.

With the Fulldrive in the mix its like having 5 amp channels. They all get used cause the songs are very diverse in the tones. I can now have a warm pure clean, a clean + Fulldrive channel 1 giving a slightyl overdriven grit on the humbuckers, and splitting the coils gives a very texas twang. clean + Fulldrive with boost gives a solo blues tone more overdrive and cream. Then as before leaves me for a good solid modern rock and metal tones from channels 2 and 3 respectivley.

I've been playing for 12 years now and I also own an Ovation Acoustic which bares no relevance at all for this!

I'd buy another yes.

I love the fact that this takes me already versatile setup into my perfect setup to recreate my album tones live. I also use it for my blues band, jazz/funk/fusion group and various cover stuff. The only thing that I was first dissappointed with is it not bosting my chanels 2+3 like i imagined. However I then realised those already have more gain than you can shake a stick at so why did I by this pedal? I then put in fornt of the clean channel and OH MY GOD blues tones from a solid state pedal that are better than most tube blues tones!

I compared it to the Ibanez tube screamers, the ts9 and the 808 reissue. In all honesty I cant see what the fuss about the TS is apart form the fact the fact that stevie ray used one. And most people are mistaken in thinking that he used only the 808...his own guitar tech said that for a good portion of his career he was using the ts9...the ebay prices on the origianl 808's are getting out of control cause of this silly myth. But thats a whole other rant!

Basically the Fullldrive 2 sounds about 4 times better than all of the TS i've tried. Far more transparent and does what a TS does but better. I have never tried an original 808 but to be honest I dont care I can imagine it being anywhere near the FD2 so i think i'll the SRV fanboys go bid-happy! Plus it doesnt have a boost!

I also tried the banzai fireball II which was very very nice but I just preffered the FD2 in the end. I think they are very similar products however just personally for me the FD has the edge. In an ideal world I've have both but funds aren't that forgiving.

Hmm I wish it had...well i guess nothing really. maybe a seperate tone contorl for the boost channel but thats just clutching at straws trying to think of something. It certailny doesn't need it as the tone control on the pedal only gently shapes the presence of the already great tone on the mesa.

Its THE PERFECT overdrive pedal

I give it an overall 9 because well it is not cheap by any standards. But is a lot cheaper than going for the 808 originals that are VERY RARE but seem to crop up on ebay at least 2 per week... go figure.
If you are looking for classic blues/rock tones and OR are already happy with your heavier tones in your amp setup then this is the ultimate overdrive. It allows you to keep your clean CLEAN and your heavy tones HEAVY. Giving the perfect fender cranked, + TS or voxy leads in between.

Thats all

Ive got to say first of all i just dont post reviews about anything on here but this full-drive 2 has inspired me too because im so un decided about it!

Ok, So ease of use... its really is simple. Volume/Comp cut Tone Overdrive and Boost

Ive tryed this pedal with a few amps... JCM 800, 1965 Vox AC-50 and a Kendrick Texas Crude (oh, and not to forget my peavy rage practice amp!) My oppinions are the same for all these amps.

My usual effect chain is Yardbox - MXR 10 band EQ (mainly for the AC50 thats quite Mid-less around 1k) - Fulldrive - Sparkledrive - Boss RV4

My main guitar is a 58 reissue LP.

Noise wise this pedal is faultless... Smooth silent controls and no offensive addition of noise, generally feels really well built.

Now when i first plugged in i used the pedal on its own. My instant reaction was "what have i done!". I hated it. For me it was just far too bass heavy with a distinct lack of tone in the high mids/highs.

Now im a retro kinda guy. I dont want endless sustain and enough gain so that i can play notes by breathing on the fretboard. Gain wise its perfect but for me i'd lost every tonal quality i liked about the guitar.

The overdrive control was giving me a nice range of overdrive... the comp cut works nicely and is a great feature. If you want that real response and dynamics its great.

The boost control added that bit more for a solo/gain boost did its job nicely.

The tone control... well im just not sure. Starting with it at 12.00 I fealt the tone was lacking so cranked it up a little. Up to 2.00 i thought it could be getting there but then 3.00... no. The tone it adds is strange and unpleasant. With the comp cut these tones get even worse.

So i dont know. You have to say its called Fulldrive... what kind of overdrive sound do you expect?! In that respect it does its job. Probably with a single coil this would work beautifully for adding that fatness but personally its just not for me and my les paul.

Ive reached a compromise now by using my EQ pre the fulldrive to change the harmonic content. Boost some high mids and nice high frequencys on the EQ to get the clarity i want... the problem with this being with the full drive off my clean sound is pretty thin and unpleasant. I suppose looping the eq and fulldrive together would be a solution.

Ive had no trouble. Maybe if i was really picky id say my volume controls become very very slightly loose with use.

So here it is. If you like the top end tone of a reissue/vintage les paul dont get this pedal.

If you're looking for a very authentic vintage sound dont get this pedal.

If you want to fatten up a thin sounding guitar or amp or want a really fat overdrive maybe this is for you.

If i lost all my pedals would i replace this one... probably not. But thats not to say its no good... it is. Its not for me. I bought a sparkle drive a year or so ago and i quite like it. Vintage great tone, clean to fantastic overdrive. I'd replace this but not my fulldrive.

It is very easy to use and to get good sounds from this unit. It naturally has good tone, which makes it easy to work with. The manual is very easy to understand.

I am using many different guitars with the pedal. I use an early 90's tele b-bender, an '89 Les Paul with P-90's, a '65 Fender Mustang, and a '69 Guild Starfire. I play them into a 2001 Bad Cat Black Cat 30 and a '68 Selmer Treb 'n Bass 50. It sounds just like a natural amp overdrive. It is somewhat noisy, but what overdrive pedal isn't? I love that this pedal has a lot of versatility and I can dial in plenty of different tones, from hard rock to country to blues, to anything in between.

I feel like a can really rely on this pedal. It has only broken on me once and even then it wasn't a bad break. It just kinda changed tones a little.

Unfortunately, the customer service is less than helpful. I do not work in customer service, thus the only way to judge this is to compare. When I dealt with Bad Cat, they were completely understanding and helped me out in any way they could. I know a little about amps, and so I could ask them if removing this or adding this would work or not. All very friendly and helpful. When dealing with Mike Fuller, he gives the impression that if anything is going wrong with his pedal, then it's probably your fault. When I described a problem for him, he gave the impression that I was sketchy and inexperienced. So, I understand that his time is money and whatnot, but his pedals are not completely unable to break or malfunction and he does not seem to understand that.

I play a lot of rock and I love that this pedal fits this style and any other style that I might attempt. I have been playing for about 13 years and do it professionally. If this unit were sto;en from me, then I would probably get a new one, just because they sound so good. I really like that the tone knob can really open it up or close it off. There is really some versatility in this pedal.