Fulltone Full-Drive 2

Very easy to use this pedal. 4 knobs, 2 foot switches, that's it. But fulltone's black knob is easily moved with light touch.

I usually use fulltone fulldrive 2 with my PRS Hollowbody 1, PRS McCarty Soapbar, PRS McCarty Standard, Sadowsky NYC Stratocaster. I say full drive 2 has a very standard overdrive tone. It's not so unique, not so vintage, not so modern. This has standard sound. Especially there's boost switch, it's useful for soloing. I hoped that that boost switch could operate seperately, but it was impossible.
And it has 3 channel-Compcut, Modern, Vintage. Compcut mode has so loud volume difference that it should not be toggled during playing, but it is really nice comp cut sound with full-tube amps.
In Vintage/Modern modes, there's not much differences. Not so vintage, and not so modern sound. So so...

it's full tone~!

I haven't had any problems with my full drive 2.

Really really standard sound and noiseless, useful boost switch. This pedal match with various music - blues, Rock n'roll, old rocks, etc.
I recommend this pedal for any guitar players.

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it?

Very easy to get gorgeous tube amp like dynamic & tone or tube screamer preamp crunch/compression , takes a bit to get used to the 3 very different choices of sound/dynamics selectable from the 3-way mini toggle switch - which makes it like 3 distinct pedals, and a FOURTH boost pedal - 4 pedals in one

How about Editing patches?
NO PATCHES, or digital diarrhea blur - pure, clean, smooth, real analog sound

Bought it used from craiglist, no manual - don't need one at all, my ears know when it's right (whats left of em)

First off, let me say, this is the best, most versatile overdrive AND BOOST pedal I have ever experienced, I have tried and owned many over the years.

What setup (i.e. what guitars and amps) are you using this with?

Tele Standard MIA or Gibson LP or Ibanez AK??somthing Hollow body > FT2 > Very nice modded VOX AD-30 or All Tube Music Man RD-112 or Marshall AS-80 or Roland AC-60 or Crate Limo TX-50 or Roland Micro Cube.

Is it noisy? On what settings?
NO!

My favorite all around Amp to use it with so far, as strange as it may seem is the ROLAND AC-60, it sounds like the best clean over driven tube amp I have ever heard - my favorite tube amp is a Fender Blues Jr. with good tubes & a good matched AlNiCo speaker. This pedal and the AC-60 sounds better to me, and Roland's reverb (and Chorus)or phenomenal.

My fav artists are Niel Young, Stones, CCR, Dead, Beatles and almost any band that's not to metaled out. To get almost counterfeit close to their heavier guitar sounds, I would usually use the VOX AD-30 and pick and dial in a amp model. On a big stage I would push the Music Man with this pedal - frigin rippin beautful tube heaven (It's got a JBL AlNiCO, like Santana uses). Often I do solo gigs and the Roland AC-60 (it weighs only 21 pounds with this pedal is perfect)!. Musicians come up and look at my rig and say things like "How did you mod that to get THAT INCREDIBLE SOUND?" or "Where is your AMP? How can that have so much Power, sounds like a studio VOX AC-30, etc.."

2 other reviews that I totally agree with on this pedal are :

Submitted 11/24/2005 at 09:22pm by caucajun
Submitted 08/31/2005 at 01:27pm by dub-D

This one is at least 4 years old & the prevous owner had it on his pedal board - and IT WORKS LIKE NEW IN EVERY WAY - THE POTS ARE SMOOTHE - NO CRACKLES - The stomp buttons are dead silent and always click on or off

Other reviews over all say YEA!

??What style of music do you play?
Classic American & Brit rock, contemporary, Folk, Americana.

?Is this a good match?
Like a match made in heaven!

?Did you compare it to other products? Which ones? Why did you choose this one?
My 2nd favorite is a VOX Big Ben, it's very good, but know where near as flexible, it's actually a bit more tube like in it's distortion, but not as tube like in it's dynamic - not very good stomp switch either. Another good simple overdrive pedal - especially if short on money ($40) - is the Rocktron Austin Gold, but it's not as good as the Big Ben or FT2.

I've already reviewed this but I discovered something cool. I bought an Xotic RC Booster a couple of months ago. It works great on it's own but I just found how great it can sound blended with the FD-2. I set the FD as I want and then use the RC to give it an additional kick. I set the drive high on the RC and it gives the FD a more "singing" quality without too much volume. Sounds sort of like a Larry Carlton tone..I am very please with it.Check it out!

Fulltone Fulldrive 2, handmade overdrive until made by Fulltone in California USA. NOT the newest MOSFET version. Simple to use...pretty much plug in and expirament with the various settings. Controls for volume, tone, overdrive, and boost. 3-way mini toggle for compression cut/flat mids/vintage. Nice discernable differences in the 3-way toggle settings, and the controls for vol, tone, overdrive, and boost are very effective and noticable throughout their respective ranges. Controls are self explanatory and actually do what they are designed to do.

If you're looking for a truly musical and usable overdrive, this is the unit. I am currently using a Fender TC-90 with Seymour Duncan P-90's into either a Peavey Classic 30 combo or a Classic 50 head/Fender 4x12. With the overdrive engaged, the sound of my amp and guitar remain true, there's just more of it. The overdrive control adds gain in a subtle yet clear manner, reatining all of the original tone while providing varying amounts of drive and sustain. In the cut-comp mode, the sound is cleaner with alot more sparkle and definition, and a tad more output. In flat-mid mode, the overdrive becomes a little more "saggy" while flattening the e.q just enough (NOT a scoop). Vintage mode is where the good spongy gain starts to happen, with a little bit softer attack. The volume control is very effective in dialing up the amount of difference between on/off settings, and as you pump it a little things really start to sing, with a good push to the tube power section of the amp. The tone control offers fantastic and usable control over high end (much like a presence control or a cut control on an old Vox. Hitting the "boost" switch adds even more volume, but even more of an increase in gain for the really over the top stuff. Put this box in front of your dirty channel and you instantly have 3 channels at your disposal. On the clean channel, the volume boost when you engage the unit is nice for goosing clean lines into subtle break-up and really making clean lead lines stand out. Some noise noted when using the "boost" fucntion with overdrive settings past 12:00. It's really hard to get a bad sound out of this overdrive. Juat for fun I wired up an 18 volt battery adapter, and WOW! This thing REALLY shines when subjected to 18 volts.....HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!! The sound just opens up and blossoms, just when you thought it couldn't get any better.

NO experience with any reliability issues thus far. The thing is built like a tank, and the wiring is clean, neat, and spot-on.

No experience here yet either.

I am currently using the Fulltone with a variety of different musical styles....blues/r&b, classic rock, 80's metal stuff, and some current "F.M." popular stuff. I have found the unit to be as versatile as it is effective, and I can generate appropriate tones for each different genre. I have been playing for 25 years, and have run the gamut of gear, from junk to Marshall and everywhere in between. My current setup of an EL 84 tube amp and the P-90 equipped Fender finally have me in tonal nirvana. The Fulltone is just icing on the cake, and takes me from mediocre tone-wise to tone to die for. I have not one negative thing to say about this unit, and if it was stolen i would definately get another. In fact, I may get another just to have around!! I have tried many other overdrive units in the past (Boss, DOD, MXR, Ibanez Tube-KIngs, etc..) but none compare to the musicality og this unit. It truly will help you get that sound you hear on so many records from guys with great tone.

Easy as all the other overdrives meaning that it no brainer to use.

Like all 369 other users YES it's a pleasant sound to hear and to CONTROL.

With this overdrive you will get use to it and with time you will discover all that it can do.

It is a LOT better than a TS-9, and lot better than all overdrive that I got before.

With a Strat and a Fender Reverb it sings like a bird.

I'm using it not at a loud volume since I live in a condo.
The stuff I practice is Deep Purple and some old Rush.And just finished practicing some JEFF BECK Wired,Goodbye Pork Pie Hat song.


And while practicing you noticed older 70's band never uses distortion on album, just a cranked up Marshall and Fender.
So this is the pedal to get for a nice overdriven amp sound.


Go and chech it out....

Looks sturdy....the inside is nicely done, wiring all nicely done.

it is what it is

This is not a great pedal. I have three others that sound better. A ts 9, a barber direct drive ss, and a 808. It just doesn't sound as good as everything else I own. I take it out all the time put it in and turn it off. Just not that good.

Dependable, so what. It sounds thin compared to other pedals. Kind of fuzzy not overdrivy.

It kind of works I'm sure they don't care about what I think.

I play blues/rock, 43 years Ive been playing. I have played many amps. Many pedals.

Fairly simple layout.
Everyone else covered this pretty well.
No need to waste time.
No manual, bought used (Ebay)
If you need a manual for this, you probably stole it because you wouldn't have enough sense to get a good enough job to buy such nice things...let alone have the sense to buy a decent product like this.
So, if you need a manual, you're probably some retarded rich kid and your dad gave it to you.

I did tons of research on overdrive pedals (including reading these reviews) and listened to several sound clips of different boxes.
On the advise of a PRS forum member, I checked out Fulltone.
After hearing the clips, reading the reviews, talking to other forum members and looking on Ebay (Ebay can be very insightful) I decided on a Fulltone (either an OCD or a Full-Drive).
The OCD was actually the one I was focusing on, but I saw the Full-Drive II and felt it would do nearly the same job plus it had the boost switch for leads.
When I went to get one off of Ebay, I found an earlier model (without the Mosfet switch) that was Cream colored (a Custom Shop model).
I took a chance that this was an "extra good" one and I got lucky...it is!
This box has 3 settings;
Vintage: Plain Average Distortion Box fequency range (compressed sound)
FM: Fuller range (more highs but still compressed somewhat)
CompCut: Full Range sound! Wow! Much louder that the other two settings, too. The boost switch is more effective, too. This is gonna be the setting I use. If your rig has lots of highs, this setting will burn you ears up! Be prepared to cut the brightness switch off!
Seriously, this box brings out many of the harmonic overtones that get lost or subdued by other boxes. Also, I'm utterly speachless at the tone of my pickups! That's right, I said my pickups!
I've been playing through the same crap for several years, never truely happy with my sound, but I knew it wasn't the fault of my Seymour Duncan 59er pickups. Now with the Full-Drive, my true pickup sounds are shining through...and it sounds great! (just like they should)
I've owned many boxes and played for 30 years...Fulltone stuff is awesome. I wish I had bought their stuff 15 years ago.

I looked inside to check the build (and install a battery).
Having the battery clip on the opposing side wasn't the best of design ideas, but you do what cha gotta do. (I guess)
The unit is pristine inside, built with top-of-the-line components (it's very obvious) and looks to be fully hand-made.
It's the most impressive looking stomp box I've ever seen.
You get what you pay for, American made, for sure!
Can you depend on it?
Would you use it on a gig without a backup?
These would be questions for other companies products.
I'm sure Mike Fuller would agree.

I wrote Mike just to see if he'd respond, but I posed no burning questions so I doubt he'll reply.
I seriouly doubt I'll ever need his services.

What style of music do you play? Is this a good match?
I bought this box because my Fender "Evil" Twin didn't have the drive sound I wanted (not enough). This box pushes it right to the edge (just right!) No, it's not a Marshall sound, but it's close (and it's better!).
How long have you been playing? What other gear do you own?
I've played for 30 years, my past equipment list is long. My three favorite amps (Fender, Mesa/Boogie and Soldano...all 6L6).
If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?
I'm planning on buying ONLY Fulltone boxes from now on. ('nuff said?)
What do you love about it?
Love the tone! The boost feature is a plus.
What do you hate? Hate the lack of volume the boost gives. (Need more cowbell)
What is your favorite feature? Other than the CompCut setting, just the sound itself. Having lights on it is a must for me but might be a plus for some people.
Did you compare it to other products? Oh, just every box I've owned since 1978.
Which ones? Boss SD-2, Boss DS-1, Boss Blues Driver, Ibanez TK-999 Tube King, Pro-Co Rat, Rocktron, Fuzz Face, MXR, DOD, Electro Hamonix Big Muff, Rockman, Mesa V-Twin, Digitech, Ibanez Tube Screamer, etc.
Why did you choose this one?
Because I wanted good tone!
Anything you wish it had?
Telepathic switching
Does it help you make music, or does it get in the way?
I bake cookies on it, the non-stick surface works flawlessly.
Anything else you'd like to share?
I played one of those "Epoch" guitars from Target the other day. Not half bad for $100 bucks.

Its easy to use, unless you are handicapped. Mine is the MOSFET edition.

This thing is a rebuilt tube screamer period...with the gain stage altered so that it can have a boost..There is nothing invative about it the drive is terrible IMO it is very well built but as for electronics no where nere the crazy money it cost. That being said the boost when on in the MOFET mode sounds damn good when driving other higher quality pedals. Like a Blue Boy deluxe. Those 2 together sound amazing..But so do any good boost or TS clone in front of the Blue BD..If you are in the market for a flexable Tube screamer clone get a Blue Boy if you need 2 switches get a Diamond J drive...it blows the fulltone out of the water. I build amps and pedals all the time and the Fulltone line is all hype.. with the exception of the wahs and Chorus. Sorry but the truth hurts....alot of guys spend allot of money on gear and then say raving things about them because they just droped 200$ on a tube screamer rebuild..its sad..Even though I can build any pedal I want I still buy after market pedals because there are some really smart inovative guys out there making us all proud. When you are buying a pedal and you are new to the pedal world look for one that will do allot of different tones or do one tone really well. Dont get suckkered in my the "this pedal looks cool" stuff or the hype..
The best OD pedal I ever used wasn't even painted and had 2 knobs..so keep your eyes and ears sharp!

Its well built and works everytime I use it...which is rare unless I need to OD another drive pedal..Very transparent...contrary to what others have said on this site...it IS a transperent effect..

Never dealt with them but they have a reputation in the industry as being
Big A holes...money hungry and Ego driven which is the type of people I stay away from...however since I never met them its unfair to comment..anyway like the last reviewer was saying you don't play them you play the pedals...the Chorus they make is awesome..

Well my pedal was free (got it as a demo for a project I am working on) so I use it I wouldnt buy one now that I have played on it but if you want a TS that is well built and has a Boost (that only works when the overdrive is on...unlike the Diamond J-Drive)
Then you cant go wrong...its not a high gain effect at all and I get less gain from it then all my other TS clones (I have 34 of them =)Yep everyone has made a clone of this pedal..best ones are in this order:

J-Drive- by Diamond (Amazing Drive tones med gain, outstanding boost sounds like my DreamTone Magic BOOst)

Landgraff (not for tones but flexibility everything is socketed!)

Blue Boy Deluxe (can sound like a TS or be very high gained A amazing pedal)

Night Owl by Asonix (i think thats the company they have a loop built into the pedal which is very cool)
Plus a dozen more other great builders that I dont have time to mention shop around before you buy there is normally dozens of people making the same stuff you need with slightly diff features dont jump on what everyone else has..be unique!

Very easy to use.

I Love Stevie Ray Vaughan, since I was 7 years old I'm looking for a way to play something like him, when I was 20 years old I decided that I had to play my thing. So I retired my old TS 808. That day on I started to look for an overdrive that makes me sound like me, but sounds a little bit like tube screamer.
FullDrive 2 covers 4 different pedals when I'm on stage, Usually when I need to have a nice, smooth, shine sound I use Keeley Compressor> Keeley katana > TS 808.
On Stage I only use Fulldrive 2, It covers all the effects I wrote before in only 1 blue box.

My stage set up

Fender mex with texas special pickups,
Whawha > TU-2 Boss > Fulldrive 2 > Chorus > Analogic Delay
Fender Princeton 112

The Boost is not a clean boost, it adds a little gain to your sound.
The compression is too much, and when you use the boost with the comp. on looks like you are using a distorsion effect.

But after a while you get used to this behaviour.

on other hand this is a very good effect. I won't change it for anything in the world. The best stage overdrive I ever heard.

There's no noise at stage, and I'm not using a tube amp !
I have tried also fulldrive 2 with my 72 Silver face Twin reverb, and fulldrive sounds even better.
You can purchase it without fear.

I use the old one with the volume knob push /pull for compression cut. I have it for 4 years and never had any problem.

Never needed

I play Soul/ Funk and Blues. I play for 18 years.
I would purchase it again hands down.
I love have 4 effects at once...
I compare it with TS 808, Keeley Katana, Sparkle Drive, BB-2, Mod BD-2.

With three different modes on the pedal, you get a wide range of distorted and overdriven effects. Add to that a Boost function, and Level, Overdrive, Boost, and Tone controls and it's quite possibly the most versatile good sounding overdrive pedal ever! The manual is pretty small and concise and gives you all the information you need.

With the three different modes you get a great sounding tube screamer mod "Vintage", a slightly less dirty and brighter "FM" setting, as well as "CompCut" which will drive your amp into amazing overdrive, just be prepared for the increase in volume; I love it for loud settings. The tubes love it even more. I use this amp in front of a Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue and it really accepts it quite well. I had originally gotten this pedal because the amp is quite particular about overdrive in front of it, I later learned that it loved these boutique style pedals (Think Fulltone, Xotic Effects, etc.). These pedals are really great for a non-distortion application (read: simply overdrive) where an amp might be more sensitive due to it's wiring. But don't get the wrong impression, with Normal and Boost both engaged you get an amazing singing "lead tone."

Rock solid, a lot of weight to it, and no problems at all with the product. I did notice, while on a tour to Colorado, the "looseness" of the knobs was quite evident (being that they turned easier) this was probably do to a massive climate change (50% humidity, 80F weather to probably very little humidity and very cool weather). But it didn't affect anything, and the pedal worked wonders. I've even thrown cables in my gig bag which have moved around and put scratches on the product, however it's only visible in the right light, the powdercoating has not come off, nor the wording and labels on the Fulldrive! Super-tough finish. Reminds me of Analog man but with a smooth finish.

I haven't had to asked them anything, or fix anything. It's quite a reliable and heavy-duty product.

This pedal is great for those who are looking for an overdrive pedal. It works wonders, is incredibly versatile and for a little bit more money, you can expand your tonal possibilities even more with the Mosfet edition. Main styles include Jazz, Blues, Fusion, and some Rock. Works great for all of them. Brilliantly designed and brilliant sound.

Incredibly easy and user friendly. Controls are as straightforward as it gets - with a few minutes of turning the knobs you'll dial in the sounds you need. Volume, Tone, Overdrive, Boost and a switch for "Comp/Cut"(a clean boost), "FM"(the natural, transparent sound), and "Vintage" (a dirtier, old school overdrive sound). Big knobs make it easy to adjust as you're playing too. Manual (2 pages) with it tells you everything you need to know, explains the functions in clear language and gives some good suggestions on how to get started.

This is the best sounding, most natural and most versatile overdrive pedal I've used. It's just very musical (not trashy or muddy sounding like a lot of the junky overdrive/distortion pedals out there, and doesn't color your tone). Personally I like it better than the Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer, which is good for certain things, but more limiting and tonally muddy than the Fulldrive in my opinion.(doesn't have the extra boost channel like the Fulldrive, so you just have to set it to one level for rhythm and solos).

I wanted to start out with an excellent clean tone and have an overdrive pedal that would be natural and transparent sounding without altering or muddying up my tone and the Fulldrive does that really well. Obviously, the separate boost channel really sets it apart from other pedals like the TS-9, and is ideal for me, since I can set the overdrive for my standard rhythm-distortion/light soloing, and then hit the boost to kick the solo into full gear. It's super quiet - True Bypass is another nice feature, so you can rest assured it won't affect/diminish your signal when it's off - Mike Fuller is a guitar player, so he thinks of all these things! I find it works well by iteself (usually run a 1980 Gibson ES335 into a Fender Hot Rod Deville 410) but does equally well in a chain (I often run it with a BOSS GT-6 and occassionally a cry baby wah too). Range of tones you can get from this thing is incredible and should work for all kinds of music (except for metal/punk). (One cool trick is to put it on "Comp/Cut" mode, set the Overdrive all the way up, and Volume way, way down and it's the equivalent to overdriving the amp and getting that crazy naturally overdriven tube amp sound)

Only complaint is that the "Boost" just isn't quite aggressive enough. Sometimes it could use a bit more "oomph," or edge, especially to help cut through a band. The tone tends to get darker with the boost on also - you lose some of the highs that are in the regular FM Overdrive stage. This is about the only complaint I have though.

Fulltone builds incredibly solid pedals and this is no exception. Gig and play with it constantly and never had any problems. I tend to baby my equipment (I keep it in the original box when I'm not using it, never dropped it etc.), but still seems very durable. I'm not concerned about a backup.

Never had to deal with them, although I've heard they are helpful.

I play everything from straight up rock to blues, country, funk, R&B and fusion and my Fulltone works great for all of it because it's such a versatile and natural sound. As overdrives go this pedal is incredibly musical and tasty (read - doesn't color your tone, so whatever you're tone/style, the Fulldrive is just there to provide the overdrive).

Been playing about 12 years and this is the best pedal I've ever bought. I still would like to try the new Fulltone GT-500, since it's supposed to be even more versatile and offer "distortion," and there's a couple other great pedals out there I'd like to try eventually, but my Fulltone isn't going anywhere - this will be a part of my rig for a long time to come.

Again my only complaint is that the "Boost" just doesn't feel like enough of a boost sometimes, and it could be more aggressive. (Running it with a separate clean boost pedal would probably solve that, since the main issue is strength/volume - the Boost has plenty of saturation/sustain when it's all the way up). Otherwise, for reliability, ease of use, versatility and it's natural sound, I think this pedal is a great investment!

Lovely pedal, just plug it in, twiddle the knobs some and you are pretty much there!

It sounds pretty sweet, i used it in a gig with one of my jokebands the other week, have a look http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhpWEKAe-8s
where i just plugged my ibanez into it through a fender twinreverb. it's got all the tone i needed for that gig anyway =)
really makes my guitar sound cool IMO! view the clip and see for yourself!

i always have my sansamp psa1 with me when im trying new stuff out, but it can become a primary tool!

This pedal is lovely for some styles of music, and through the right amp. its kinda pricey, but for those pub gigs its good tone in a small box. i like it anyway!

Easy to use, no problem.

I bought this pedal with high hopes. I have a American Tele and Gibson Les Paul special. I have a modded Fender Vibrolux reissue. I wanted a warm easy overdrive. This thing is high-endy, fizzy, and clippy. Not a nice growl like I was looking for. I got my TS7 to sound way better.

The build is the best thing about this pedal.

Might be the right pedal for some, but seems like an expensive way to go just so you can say 'i have a fulltone'.

This pedal is Cake. Literally, tastes like heaven and looks like batter (i have the cream version, very nice!) Turn a few nobs to set the initial settings, and you're off.

Great sound and selection of sounds. The sound guy at the church always says that he loves the sound of this pedal. I really dig the boost on this. Sometimes on the rhythm channel on my LP it gets a little muddy on the initial bypass switch (I set the overdrive lower, about 8:30-9:00) but on the middle selection and treb, sounds freakin ridiculous. I'm playing this through a blues deluxe (which tends to take pedals well anyways) but this will remain on my board even if i get rid of my TS808 or my modded BD2. this is my staple pedal.

I would gig with this alone, no backup. In fact i'm going over to hungary this summer and will bring only a sample of my pedalboard. This, my dd5, tu2 and my keeley comp are coming with. Excellent reliability. Sometimes if i get excited i will tap the knobs adn they move really easily... so that may detract a little bit from teh reliability. Mark out your settings or take off your knobs if you are traveling a ton, cause they might surprise you when you kik the boost and it doesn't add a boost at all, making you look dumb on stage.

haven't delt with them

I'm a worship leader in a contemporary/modern setting. I'm always looking for a grunge/bite pedal, and this does it for me. even if i'm playing and singing, i just hover my foot right next to this and set volume accordingly to boost into chorus's and heavey bridge. If it was stolen, i would buy another, maybe the new blue mosfet... i didn't like the red one, but the blue looks nice. or another vintage orange (thats what originally turned me on to the fd2). This thing has more songs written on it than everything else in my distortion arsenal, and has beaten out a dozen other pedals (some which cost more) to remain on my board. I've been using this particular pedal for over 4 years now, great stuff.

Pretty basic set-up. Volume, Tone, Distortion, and Boost control knobs. A 3-way switch for Comp-cut, FM, or Vintage mode. Very versatile pedal and fairly easy to get a good sound out of it.

I have a pretty basic set-up...1977 American Strat - Full Drive 2 - Hot Rod Deluxe - (preamp out) to Podxt Live - stereo out to mixer. I use the Hot Rod Deluxe in front of the Podxt Live to warm up the input signal with the preamp tubes on the amp. It also gives me a little stage noise which I like. I keep the HRD clean and use the Full Drive as my only overdrive (Podxt Live's distortion/overdrives are very weak and thin). The Podxt Live is basically used as a modulation and delay effects processor (also as a stereo direct box).

I don't have much use for the Comp Cut mode unless I get another one and put it after this one for a boost. The boost mode is not much of a difference and kind of disappointing, but I didn't get it for the boost. The tone in Vintage mode is UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!! The clarity of each note is unsurpassed by any effect I have ever used. The Drive channel on the HRD is flabby and the notes mush together. With the amp in clean and running the FD2 as the overdrive makes me glad I haven't gone out and put tons of money in modding the HRD or getting another one.

I use the FM mode as a true overdrive sound. I play with the neck pickup on the Strat and it sounds like the tubes are just on the edge of breakup. Picking attack really affects the gain level in this mode.

I only rate this a 9 because I will never be completely satisfied with my tone.

Never had an issue, seems solid, not worried, but we'll see.

Have not had to deal with them. Thinking about writing them a thank you for creating such a great pedal.

I play Contemporary Christian stuff which requires a vast range of styles and sounds. If I played most of my own stuff, I would just run the Full-Drive with a delay pedal into the Hot Rod Deluxe. It sounds so great, I can't stop thinking about playing with it again. I have tried a few of the amp models on the Podxt Live and the FD2 shines through them as well. I went to Guitar Center looking for a pedal that would help my rig sound like a Marshall stack. Most of the "distortion" pedals sound very much like a transistor amp (sterile, digitized, etc). I decided to take home the FD2 to see what I could do with it and didn't even change any of the knobs. Just plugged in my guitar, turned on my amp, and was blown away. I really haven't changed the positioning of the tone and distortion knobs because I love the sound so much.

About as easy as a pedal can get. Vol., Tone, Overdrive, & Boost knob. Mini toggle switch is very easy to use as well. Medium to heavy od's switch to vintage, lower gain switch to f/m (flat mids), clean boost switch to compcut. Pretty easy stuff.

My current rig is an American standard strat>fulldrive 2>true bypass box (not sure about the manufacturer)>boss tu-2 tuner>boss dd-6 delay> vox ac15 1x12 combo. It takes a little while to find the "sweet spot" on this pedal but once you do you will be happy with it. DO NOT BUY THIS PEDAL UNLESS YOU HAVE A TUBE AMP!!! I've tried it through a Roland 1x12 blues cube (solid state), Dr.Z MAZ Sr. (NR) 1x12, and my VOX ac15 and the Roland didn't do justice to this pedal. I have mine set up with vol/od/boost at 9 o'clock and the tone at about 5 o'clock with the mini toggle switch on vintage. I have tone set pretty high because i like my clean sound a tad thicker than most. Got the pedal because my favorite artist Lincoln Brewster suggested this pedal and the other electric guitarist at my church has the first model of the FD2 and his sounds great. I can come pretty close to Lincoln's strat tone with this pedal which is superb in my opinion. If you ever get a chance to pick up his "All To You" Live cd then you'll know what i'm talking about. There is a pretty fine line when your in vintage mode with this pedal because the slightest turn clockwise gets a bit fuzzy and the slightest turn counter clockwise gets a good tube like sound. In f/m mode the distortion is mild and very transparent which I like for certain sounds. The compcut mode is more of like a clean boost then an overdrive which is good I guess if your a jazz guy but look out when you hit the boost because your volume goes through the roof with the boost on in compcut. The boost is a very good feature which I like for soloing and just cutting through the mix for more edgy stuff. The only problem I have found with the boost is that it adds some bass to your sound when it get's past about 10 or 11 o'clock but about 9 o'clock should give you plenty of boost for almost any situation. The pedal is dead quiet unless of course have standard single coil's. This pedal comes standard now with the mosfet switch which I have heard great things about so if your thinking about getting one then go for it. You won't be disappointed.

This thing is built like a tank. My buddy has had his since they first came out and the only problem he has had with his is a little static in the switches that was a little stubborn to get out.

I play mainly contemporary christian music which this pedals suit's the style perfectly. There are several christian artist's that use this pedal and I know why now. I have been playing for a little over 5 years and this is the best od I have played on with the exception of a Menatone Fish Factory which sounds excellent as well. Compared it to a Fulltone OCD which is a great pedal but the fulldrive 2 is a better value. If it were stolen I would definately replace it.

Easy enough to use. Even without a manual, with a bit of finicking you'll figure it out.

I'm loving it. As far as it being a solidstate (read: zero maintainance) stompbox, it sounds super! Even better than some tube pedals I've owned/tried.

Loved it with my Strat or my Yamaha Mike Stern to playing jump, swing & blues music. That was initially why I bought it. I dunno, just sounds very... Organic.

Found a new use for it recently! Classic 70s Rock!!! AC/DC all the way! Here's my set-up SG into FD2 into Laney TF200 (hybrid amp - tube preamp / ss poweramp). I switch the Laney to OD2 with the gain set to about 3, then kick in the FD2 with the gain on about 4. FABULOUS for AC/DC riffing! Then kick in the boost set to about 6 for solos!

Classic SG bark, baby! And that's another thing I like about this pedal... It lets your guitar's natural sound ring through.

I am lo-ving it! I've got tons of OD and distortion pedals, but this one's been my NO.1 for the past 2 years.

I could probably throw it off a cliff and use it to play rugby, stomp on it and I'll bet you a 100$ it'll still work.

Haven't dealt much with the company, but I bought my pedal second hand. E-mailed them for a manual and got a reply within 1hr. Good enough.

Anything from country, blues to classic rock. For blues it can do those nice and fat Robben Ford tones.

Like I said: my no.1 pedal for the past two years. This one's a definite keeper!

4 knobs, one puch pull. All are well defined and have very easily distinguishable effects on the tone of the instrument. The manual is very informative, although I thank experimentation for my understanding of the pedal.

It can push a tube amp to a full throated bark or drive to a smooth violin like sustain. I use a Les Paul Class 5 with Lollar Pickups straight through the TR100 into a Savage Blitz 50 head and old Marshall 4x12 cab. I also use the TR100 to record on the Les Paul or Fender strat though a 60's Harmony (single 6v6) amp through a solid Celestion G10. Essentially, sounds like the ones I get have most likely been produced before, but very rarely. The sound this pedal can creat alone will keep you playing for days at a time. This pedal works so well with the amp youd think it was a part of it.

Never had a problem.

Ive heard he's a great guy, but no first hand experience.

If this pedal were stolen I would cry. I would probably look for a 1990's fulldrive two and hope it compared. This is a very musical pedal and it has essentially broadened the horizons of my tone all on its own.

Even with minimul pedal overdrive or amp experience you are up and running in minutes without reading a manual. Straight forward, just experiment with the amp model switches and four knobs and you'll find what you're looking for very quickly. The manual gives a couple of basic settings to get you going - just working off those is a good starting point. My Mesa Boogie Triaxis preamp has 8 modes of clean / overdrivs, and this pedal adds at least two more that do not exist in the Boogie - that can easily be combined with the Boogie sounds for even more flexibility.

This is not a heavy metal or hard rock pedal in my opinion - it shines more in the blues, fusion, jazz overdrive arenas, i.e. Robben Ford, Larry Carlton sides of music. The sound is not agressive or huge like a Marshall stack - instead it's more like a botique combo amp that sells for 10+ times it's price. Very quiet, lots of sustain, mid-range sweetness, or that elusive touch sensitive breakup dumble-like quality. It's probably more satisying to experienced players with a refined ear looking to dial in that range of touch sensitive sustain and breakup that retains the guitar tone on top of the grind instead of the reverse.

It's built like a tank, and the quality is obvious the instant you take it out of the box. The knobs are silky smooth and functional - meaning they do what they are labeled to do, in the way you would want or expect them to. There is every reason to believe you are getting what you paid for and then some - this is a hand-built product that far surpasses the qualtiy you get from the mass produced brands of gear - as it should be considering the price is somewhat higher. Looks like it will last for years of professional use and abuse - time will tell.

No opinion since I have not had to contact Fulltone so far.

I play funk, jazz fusion, aggressive blues, and jazz rock which this pedal is perfect for. I've been playing for over 35 years - the gear used with this pedal includes a Mesa Boogie Triaxis with the 20/20 power amp (also own a Stereo Simul Class 2 Ninety), TC G-Force Effects rack, Keeley Compressor, Keeley Mellow Wah, and an assortment of guitars including Gibson 335's, Fender Strats, etc. I would replace if stolen. I like my Triaxis overdrives, but this adds and extends tones that the Boogie is not capable of achieving - so for me, the more tones the better. I wish the sound were a little bigger / fatter, but the Boogie helps in that department - they have a sinergistic effect on each other.

The sound is pretty much the same across the board. Barely noticeable.

The sounds really are not all that different from all the switches that are on the unit. The boost was dissapointing as well, not a huge difference. I'm using a JCM 800 50 watt head from 1984 with a full stack and a Fender Strat, I know my equipment is good. The effect level is very weak, maybe I'm spoiled with my JCM 800 and this pedal is trying to "emulate" that sound. Not really impressed.

This unit seemed well built, lots of attention to detail, quality contruction. I think thats as far as it goes. All show no go.

Here is the email that I had sent:
I'm writing in regards to a purchase that I made a couple of weeks ago. I was looking to purchase an overdrive pedal, it came down to 2 choices, Hughes & Kettner and Fulltone. I heard great things about Fulltone Products and felt that I couldn???t go wrong in purchasing the Fulldrive 2. My current setup is a Marshall JCM 800 full stack with a hotplate to minimize "loudness". I have a typical setup, no effects loop etc. I have my guitar going into the fulltone then to the amp. I was quite surprised by the lack of overdrive that I experienced in using the pedal. The difference of the use of this effect is barely noticeable, the boost is also not what I expected. The effect level is pretty much transparent to my current configuration. I have a Fender strat that I'm using for that "bluesy" vintage sound, my equipment is good its just that I thought I would get more out of this pedal than I had read about. Maybe there is something that I'm not doing correctly, I've checked the battery etc., even tried a power supply (PFS-1), again unless I'm not doing something correct, or have a "lemon" I'm not at all impressed with this pedal, not for the cost. I'm thinking is this just "hype" about these products, are they all this way? The pedal seems to be constructed very well and with quality parts and attention to detail. If there is a "magic" configuration that I should be doing please advise, otherwise I am returning this pedal for a full refund.

Still waiting to hear from them.

Like I stated earlier, it was a choice of two pedals. I heard a lot about the Fulltone so purchased it. I am dissapointed, I hope that "maybe" I'm doing something wrong with the unit and thats why it's not operating as the "hype" suggests. I'd like to think thats the case because this pedal is built great and I assume that that same level of detail carries over into the effect pedal responsivness. My JCM 800's overdrive sounds better than this, maybe thats why I'm not impressed, hopefully I cant get an answer as to why there is an apparent lack of overdrive with this particular pedal otherwise its Hughes and Kettners turn...

As noted below, fairly easy, but it does have a quirkiness factor that you need to experience and adjust to: and that's mainly the reaction of the Boost switch to Volume in either Comp or Cut mode. In Comp there's a respectable amount of gain when you kick on the Boost, but in Cut- whoa, it's just too much unless you dial back the Boost. Once you understand this relationship you've got it. In my use of the pedal, I stick to Cut mode and dial my Boost accordingly. On rare occasions I'll use the Comp (for additional sustain properties) and I know where to put the Boost dial for personal taste. Since I wish these variables did not require 'operator input' - I'll give it a '7' for the Ease of Use.

Here's what it all comes down to: I've been playing this particular pedal for 10 years (so you know, it doesn't have that modern switch, but the up-down pull pot from Comp-to-Cut, one of the old ones). I am always looking for better tone, and I keep on searching for 'the One' that'll be better than the last. And I know that's never going to end, but lately I've been struck by how versatile and indispensible this old pedal is to my rig. I've added other stuff, and taken some out to make room for newer boxes, and that'll keep happening. But this FD-2 could never leave my rig. It's on almost constantly during shows. I use a variety of amps for different sized venues, and the FD-2 is always on to pick up the sound of whatever amp I'm using and give it a little extra edge & clarity.
The Boost function is not a Clean Boost, so it's not all that great for just stepping forward on a solo - I do use other boxes for just that purpose - but it adds some useful distortion, at times. The best I can say for the Boost side is that, tone-wise, it stays true to the sound you're getting from your Comp or Cut side, but it adds a lot more hair to it. Sometimes that's good; sometimes you just don't need the extra hair. The left side of this pedal gets a "10" for sound; the right side rates a "6" - there are better boost effects. That equals "8" overall.

I've owned this pedal for 10 yrs. 7 yrs ago a switch crapped out on me. I also remember that I had dripped a lot of sweat on the unit, and the switch washers were kind of rusty. I emailed Mike and he told me that the old switches were crap, so he had invented new ones (which I now see a lot of other builders using) and he sent me a pair of new switches-- for free. That was 7 yrs ago, and this thing is still going strong.
I definitely depend on this for every show. And, uhh, yeah- I've been depending on it without a backup. I guess that won't be one of our better shows if this thing ever tanks on me....

See above- I got better than I could have expected from any 'normal' company. That's a real nice feeling, I've got to tell you, and it's served Mike well: I've bought and will keep on buying more Fulltone stuff. Hey, it's a sickness - so what? Just get the good stuff and you don't get hurt.
(But to rate this category a "10" H-C asks if he's "incrediby kind and helpful"? no, no, no. That's just not the way Mike is; that'd be Robert Keeley.)

The FD-2 is such a mainstay of my sound that even though it's the oldest pedal on my board, it is the primary tone-shaper of my sound: any other pedal has to blend in with it or gets tossed. That's because whatever amp or guitar I'm playing through comes out sounding better with this pedal. I'm long-past the first blush of a new toy here: I'm writing this now because, after all this time, I'm a bit surprised how well it's held up against each of the next "must-haves" that I've been able to acquire and try out. This one's a keeper.

It is very easy to get instantly a very good sound. But it is worth to spend a little more time for tweaking, cause there are lots of good sounds in the pedal. But you have to work a bit on it,
since you got three different settings (using a mini toggle switch) and an additional boost for all settings

It is not a heavy distortion type of pedal, while there is a lot of gain if you want. I play it with a RMC Picture Wah, Barber Tone Press, Analogman chorus, Keeley Fuzz-Head, Sweetsound Mojo-Vibe, Carl Martin Delayla XL into a Marshall 6101 LM / Fender Super-Amp (4x10).
With the FD2 you can cover all needs of overdrive, from crunch to distortion, from the vintage tubescreamer-sounds to sweet and creamy high gain lead sounds in one pedal. It is good for all clean stuff, blues, classic rock and harder rock, but not for metal. Because of the three modes and the additional boost it is the most versatile overdrive-pedal I played so far.
Though there are other very good overdrives on the market (e.g. Keeley, Barber, Analogman, Xotic ???), one sound of the FD2 is uncomparable: the FM-mode with a (Strat)-Singlecoil-Neck-Pickup. I haven???t found such a warm and clear sound with other overdrive-pedals yet and for me just this sound is worth having the FD2.

The Pedal is ??? as far as I can see ??? very solid and till now I had never problems when I used it.

Had no need to contact Mr. Fuller yet.

I play Blues, Classic Rock and Hard Rock and this pedal covers all my overdrive-needs. I would replace it, if it was lost.

turn knobs, get what you want, very easy to use

Love this pedal. Only wish is more control of the boost setting, I don't understand why there is such a volume difference when switching to compcut mode. Make it unrealistic to switch between modes at a gig. The other nice thing would be a foot switch to switch between the modes. They are all good and I'm gonna have to buy 2 of them to use it how I want.

Bottom line, there are great tones to be found with this pedal. If you can't get what you like out of it, there is something else wrong with your signal flow. It made a HUGE difference what order I put my pedals in. Play with that and you will fall in love with this pedal.

I play an American Deluxe Strat and a Fender 410 Deville RI.

Yes I feel comfortable using it without a backup, only had it 2 weeks though....

Never tried

I think all Tone purists should have one.

Very easy to use. You just turn the knobs and you get that warm rich tone you have been looking for. The manual is helpful and easy to understand as well as looking at the website for further questions.

Currently I am playing with a Les Paul Standard. Can you say Jimmy Page? The sound on this pedal is amazing. You can get such a great sound on this for playing Classic Rock, Blues ect., although I wouldn't suggest this for a metal or punk guitarist. Overall though it is great and I love the boost feature!

I don't even need a backup. Built very well like a tank.

Haven't had to talk to Mr.Fulltone

I play Classic Rock and Blues and I gotta say this beats anything I have heard and trust me I have tested a lot of overdrive pedals to see which one to get. I was looking at the Boss Blues Driver first off and it is a good pedal but if you are into Classic Rock like Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, ect, this is the pedal for you!!!!

It's great if you're into vintage tone. It will go from super-light to super-heavy. I don't recommend using the compressor (by pushing down the volume knob) because it makes your tone sound kind of pinched. I only use the compressor if I have to because I'm playing in a small room where I can't over-drive my amp at all. It provides plenty of boost. It doesn't sound as good as cranking up the volume on the amp (I use a '74 Fender Deluxe Reverb) but it's as good as it gets as far as pedal distortion goes. I highly recommend it!!!
For reference, I've played it with a Gibson LP Customer, American Standard Tele, and a Gibson ES-335... Sounds great with all of them.

Built like a tank.

Never had to deal with customer service. Like I said, it's build like a tank.

It takes a little while to dial in.

I don't like this pedal & have returned it.
The only mode the Boost works in is, Comp Cut.
The Comp Cut mode sounds good by itself. When the
Boost is on the tone is very Muddy.

It is built very well.

Mike is very easy to deal with.

I was looking to get rid of a couple pedals & thought this pedal would do the trick. I was 100% wrong. The Comp, FM, Vintage by themselves sound OK alone, but with the Boost on it's a MudFest. Kind of sounds like a Boss Blues Driver on 10.
I wouldn't say these pedals are all hype, but I've yet to try a Fulltone pedal I liked enough to keep for more than a couple months.
I play Hard Rock & Punk Rock most of the time thru my Bandmaster or Bassman. WIth my other pedals I can nail the tones I want no problem.
The Comp Cut feature does sound good on this pedal. But, not good enough for the price tag.

It's a snap. Plenty of options in the circuitry. I like "Vintage" mode with just a titch of grind, and the second stage anywhere from 12:00 to full out. The FullDrive 2 wipes the floor with any single-sound pedal I've ever tried, from the TS-808 on down the line. Definitely a keeper!

After playing for over 40 years, everything I play sounds the same---like me. I built the guitar (alder strat, maple neck, trad hardware, and Lawrence L-280s) and I built the amp (AX84 through a Marshall 4X12 Greenback cab). With a product like this, it's all a matter of degrees of distortion, and this pedal has so much capacity for dialing in just the right amount of it. It leaves the original tone intact, and simply adds as much punch and grind as you want. FM mode is cool, but Vintage is where I leave it. Does exactly what I need it to do and then some---I leave the green channel on all the time, and hit the red channel for leads. Or...when things get even more wiggy, I leave the red channel on all the time, and hit the Fulltone '70 went I want to go nuts. You can't beat Fulltone these days. Don't even try.

After several months, I hooked it up to a Danelectro D-2 and powered it with 18 volts. Momma! More of the same...it simply doesn't get any better. Still very little operating noise, much more dynamic response, and the same delicious chewy tones, only more of it. Try THAT with your Keeley or your Zach...but make a wish when you plug it in, because it will certainly blow your candles out.

Are you kidding? I could drag this thing to the gig BEHIND the van and it would work fine. I don't use a backup. Never have. Wouldn't be worth the transport. A surge protector is the only concession to bad karma that I use. Other than that, in the immortal words of Dubya, I say "Bring it on."

I have no idea. I am in line for the new GT-350, simply because of the great products I've already gotten from Fulltone. I haven't seen fit to bother Mike for anything. I doubt I ever would. I'd rather he spent his time building these puppies, not on the phone or his email inbox enduring my rambles and raves. Because of the design, anybody with a cerebral cortex and a soldering iron could fix it. So I don't plan on taking any of Mr. Fuller's time for any reason, now or in the future.

I'm a blues guy, but we all take trips into the rock realm once in a while. My band is insanely purist. If I showed up with a 24-fret anything, or a Floyd Rose, they'd beat me to death with it. Stomp boxes, per se, are also verboten. Fulltone products are totally blues-approved, however, even for the old-timers who don't like to see anything on the floor of the stage except feet. Yeah, Fulltone stuff costs more money than others, but they're worth it. I did use a one-off handmade TS-808 clone for a while, but Fulltone is simply a cut above. Well-made, by hand, without the stench of corporate hands upon it.

If Micheal Fuller didn't exist, we would have to invent him. And, far in the future, when Mike leaves us, he's going to go to the same heaven where Saint Leo has gone. Room service. Front row seats for all the Hendrix concerts. And a Porsche that never needs a tuneup.

I wrote this review simply because I am tired of reviewers trashing this pedal, or writing ho-hum so-so reviews. If your sound needs improvement, don't look to your tools, kids---look to your hands. Play for another ten years, and then another ten, til you bleed if you have to, and then we'll talk. When you can take a half-dead warped Kay, play it through a rusted-out Airline, and make the angels cry, well, then you'll know what I'm talking about. Until then, you won't.

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it? Easy

I like natural break up. This pedal handles that sort of thing very nicely. It works fantastic with both rhythm and bridge pick ups. It really does sound way better then the other Fulldrive II's I've owned. It kind of freaked me out. I'm useing it currently with a 1x12 Ghia clone and a telecaster for the last month. I liked it so much I bought another.

He makes very well built pedals. I've owned quite a few.

He's a great guy to deal with.

My favorite overdrive.

This is a good quality pedal. When you get into this caliber of gear, all the sounds coming out of it are "good", you've just got to find what you need. For me, no pedal I've heard, even the best of them, has even come close to the "best" amp gain I've heard. Nonetheless, usually, I only use gain for my leads, and play all my rhythm clean. I feel like this pedal would be a great power trio pedal. Something to leave on all the time, if you need gain all the time. It fills a lot of room, great bass response in the FM mode, good "full" clean boost. Aptly named pedal. Ease of use? This is just what came out when I played it. You've got to fool around with it for a little bit just like any other piece of gear. Manual? I don't think a manual can tell you more than your ears can.

I don't use gear to get the sounds of other artists. Does this pedal help me sound like myself? Yeah. I play this with a US strat through an old '66 super reverb. It's not an incredible sound. It's definitely different, which is cool. It can do the tube screamer thing in vintage mode, but that's not why I bought this. FM mode or the clean boost are my favorites. I bought it because it's insanely well built, point to point hand-wired and steel chassis.

Haven't used it that much but most pedals are built solid, this is no exception. It's made for getting stepped on. Cool insides, all pt to pt. I love that.

Like I said, this'd be a great pedal for a sole guitarist in a band, who needs to fill lots of room. I've got two keyboardists in my band, so I need to cut back on the room I fill. If I do a power trio thing, which I might, this'd be what I used. Been playing for 17 years, I want to like this pedal more than I do. Currently, I use a Voodoo Lab sparkle drive that's had all the metal oxide resistors replaced with carbon film resistors, and the transistor replaced with a different brand. It crunches a little bit more but loses a lot of the bottom end that the fulldrive keeps. Trade-off.

This pedal takes some time and adjusting to find the tone in your head. Take the time, at stage volume, to set it and tweak it.

This is where I believe that anyone who says can't get a good tone out of it is having a problem. If you are using a modern alkaline or heavy duty batter putting out a ton of milliamps, this pedal sucks. Hands down. Go buy cheap batteries at a dollar store( you know the 2 for a $1 kind) or carbon zinc and watch this pedal come alive. It does not get to bright, great output. And the tone!!!! I can get SRV, Clapton, Santana, John Mayer, you name it, its there. The key is the batteries. I am using it with a 65 deluxe reverb reissue.

I gig with out a backup.

Mr. Fuller is great, always takes time to answer any questions you have.

I play in a contemporary praise and worship band. I am required to be versatile in the sounds I can get and this pedal covers 80% of my dirty needs. If it were stolen I would hunt them down and make them pay!! I spent a long time and lots of money getting to this point, and now I could not live without it. It's my goto pedal. P.S. Don't forget the cheap batteries!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You will most likely have to do some extensive knob tweaking in order to pull out the sound you're looking for. This may discourage some hyperactive musicians or those that always scored low on critical thinking questions.

I'm running an American Standard Stratocaster into a Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue. TS-9's and other Tubescreamer clones always colored my strat sound with a mid-range hump. In FM mode, the Fulldrive delivers fantastic transparency. Comp-cut supplies the user with clean boost that does not lose bass snap/response. On the grit channel of my amp with drive set low and comp-cut + boost engaged, my Strat growled. Working the tone knob on the Fulldrive blends in or smooths out those singing harmonics: sheer sizzling tube bliss.

PS: This pedal will NOT make a bad setup sound good. Get a good TUBE amp, and a quality guitar. Provided, you have those, the Fulldrive 2 will make a good setup sound cosmic.

Built like a tank.

Never had to an issue with the pedal that merited a call.

It's not made for Metal, but if you're into blues/rock, this is your ticket to ride. A bit pricy for an OD box but then again, so are Ferraris.

Not partlcularly difficult to use, as long as you can live with a VERY trebly tone!

I ran my Godin LG with Duncan P90's into the Fulldrive, then from Fulldrive into my Alessandro Working Dog Rottweiler 2X12. I
was very impressed at first by the transparency of this unit. However, as I spent more time with it, I became increasingly annoyed by the tonal price one must pay for this transparency-- the fact that the tone control (described very accurately as a presence control in manual) is voiced in such a way that even turned down completely, the pedal adds in an awful lot of top end-- way more than I care for. I will admit that my ears are particularly sensitive to high frequencies. I tried adjusting amp, guitar, pedal, but could not achieve a setting that yielded a satisfying clean sound (w/pedal disengaged) and lead sound (pedal engaged), but I just got a headache and returned it. I read somewhere that Mike Fuller designs his pedals to sound best through darker-sounding amps, and that would seem to be the case, judging from my experience. I did not like the "vintage" setting at all-- it had the overly congested mids and "processed" tone typical of Tube Screamers that I'll admit I greatly dislike (no reflection on the designer).
Lots of people like this pedal. It's just voiced in way that MY ears don't find musical. In short, I would've preferred a tone control that allowed for more "control".

It's built like all Fulltone pedals-- very well.

No contact with Manufacturer.

I play blues, blues-rock, jam-band rock. Been playing since mid-70's. I'm going to try the fat-boost-- see if that is eq'd more to my liking. Bought the pedal online from Humbucker Music. I highly recommend them-- they are very customer-service oriented-- just great folks to deal with.

-Super easy to use.
-Incredible sound no matter what guitar/amp combo used.

There is nothing that sounds better than this pedal. I have owned every high end pedal on the market, and nothing comes close to the tone of the TR100. It is dripping with mojo!

Indestructible. Never have to worry about this unit.

Great service is what you should expect from Fulltone. Never had any problems.

Best overdrive pedal... hands down. Blues, Country, Rock, it does it all. Whether you use a Strat, Tele, Les Paul, etc. this thing overdrives your sound without taking away from the tone. Worth every penny!

It doesn't get any easier.

I heard rumors about this pedal and searched for three years before finding one. It was everything I dreamed and more! I tried every boutique pedal on the market hoping to find "THAT" sound. This is it.

Super durable. Have gigged and never had any problems. Solid construction and metal housing provide excellent protection.

Have called Mike Fuller on a number of occassions trying to get info in my search. Mike has always been courteous and quick in his responses. I know there are bad rumors floating around online, but I have had nothing but the best experience.

If you happen to find one of these, buy it on the spot. Better yet, get in touch with me, and I'll buy it. I would cry if I ever lost this pedal. It is everything I wanted in an overdrive pedal!

Pretty straight forward with 4 knobs and a toggle switch.

This is mainly why I'm submitting a review. I had high hopes for the Fulldrive, even though it appears to be a love it or hate it pedal. I was truly underwhelmed by the tone of the pedal.

The comp-cut feature makes a good clean boost, but there are probably better pedals out there for that function. Does have a tremendous amount of boost available, though.

The flat-mids function puts some gain into the mix, but the clarity of the tone goes away. It would seem that this mode over the vintage should be able to retain the original character of your tone, but it doesn't. The tone sounded like a blanket got thrown over the speaker. I compared with my Monte Allums H2O Blues Driver, and it was night and day in terms of clarity.

The vintage function was my last hope, and it definitely hits the TubeScreamer territory. The problem is that I did an a/b comparison with my Bad Monkey and I could get the exact same tone out of the BM that I could with the FullDrive. So, why spend $100 more on a pedal that does the same thing?

The boost function reacts differently depending on which mode you are in. Can be useful in the lower boost range.

I don't think that the Full Drive is a bad pedal, I just think it's pretty average, especially considering the price.

Well-built. Reliablity wouldn't ever be a concern.

Never dealt with Fulltone.

The Full-Drive isn't the greatest thing out there. If you want something that could nail a clean boost and the Tube Screamer range, it's a decent choice, except you can't use it for both, as the toggle switch controls that. My advice is get separate pedals that do the same thing for less $.

Easy to use. Takes a little tweaking to find the hot spots you like, but once you do, you're set. Manual is very helpful for basic understanding of the knobs and their functions.

Sound quality is almost transparent. Nice and full. I use tube amps only and keep it in the FM mode. Gooses small or large amps nicely into OD w/o distortion and w/o noise, and keeps your tone intact. I leave mine 'on' always (unless I'm using my '70 Pedal or OCD) and just adjust my guitar volume knob for tones and levels. I don't use the 'Boost' feature (too noisy and distorted for my use). Volume is on about 10-11 o'clock, Tone is about 1-2 o'clock, toggle set in FM mode always, Overdrive is about 9-10 o'clock, Boost is off.

My home practice set-up, when not going direct into the amp is:
'78 Fender Princeton Reverb amp (reverb on 3), Arion Analog delay (*cheap but hella cool pedal...go ahead you can laugh..heheh), Fulltone Fulldrive II, Fulltone Deja'Vibe (the older Gold one) to guitar ('78 Gibson SG Custom, '81 Fender Strat, '00 Gibson Les Paul Custom). That's it.

My stage set-up is: '81 100w Marshall 2203 or 100w Marshall Plexi re-issue half-stack or stack w/vintage Marshall cabs ('75 1982B & '76 1982A w/G12H Greenback Celestion speakers), Arion Analog delay, Fulltone Fulldrive II, Fulltone OCD, Fulltone Deja'vibe, Fulltone 'Clyde' wah to guitar (see above for models).

Sometimes I add in my Fulltone CF-1 ChoralFlange and Fulltone'70 pedal. When I want to summon the 'Balrogs from Hell', I add my '78 Mu-Tron Octave Divider into the chain. Usually I just use my basic practice set-up w/the wah added, thru a Marshall half-stack.

Tons of compliments on my tone since I've been using Fulltone.
You want to sound like everybody else? Get a TS-9. Want to sound like you? Get a Fulldrive II. Like I said, I just leave it on and forget about it.

Dependable pedal. I've always been careful with gear and guitars, so I haven't had any issues. Seems very solid, but I'd hate to have someone step on it and break the toggle.

Haven't had any need for customer support.

Regardless of what style of music you play, you can get great tone out of this pedal. Been playing for over 30 years, and I play mostly Bluesrock/Hardrock with my band. This pedal kicks my Marshall up a notch to just where I like it. It's great for your home/room practice set up (Fender tube combo), also. I would definitely get another FDII if this one was lost or stolen. Sold my '80s TS-9 and never looked back. I could do w/o a couple of the features on the FDII ('Boost' & Comp-Cut'), but that's just me.

After reading some people trash this pedal in their review, I had to chime in and set the record straight...heheh. : )

Now if Mike would make an Analog Delay pedal (reasonably priced of course), that would be great!

Love your tone and just want transparent overdrive? Get an FDII.

PEACE!

Requires a lot of fiddling and tweaking to get decent sounds of it.
Many possibilities, but only VERY FEW sweet spots.

"The best overdrive pedal in the world"??? HA HA HA!
I hate it. I had borrowed it for a few weeks from a friend of mine and this pedal totally frustrated me.

Ok, the "compcut" mode is pretty good actually. It makes a nice, brilliant sounding clean boost, not unlike a Vox AC30 top boost.

But the other modes!!! Goddamn, so disappointing.
"Flat mids" mode gives a raw fuzzy overdrive. If you like this sound, buy a RAT instead. they are a LOT cheaper too!!
"Vintage" mode is total crap. Sounds like you put a blanket over your speakers. Unless you turn the tone knob to 10, this mode is virtually inusable. With the gain cranked it sounds like a boring, lifeless fuzz. Has no nice sustain. And with gain past 2 o'clock the sounds totally farts out, like a dying duck!

No, I'm not using a crappy Squier, nor a Peavey Rage 15W!!
I have tried this pedal with my beloved Fender '59 Bassman RI and a couple of good quality guitars (PRS custom 22, Fender '62 Tele and a vintage Yamaha SG 2000).
THIS PEDAL SUCKS!!
I don't know why everybody praises this piece of crap. Because it's so expensive, right??

I HATE IT ! ! !

worst overdrive pedal ever!

only the clean boost is nice, but you wouldn't pay the price for that alone!

simple controls, but it took me a while to get what i wanted out of it. i tried it through a tweed princeton and a princeton reverb (while my other amp was in the shop) and wasn't real impressed...UNTIL i got my deluxe reverb back from the tech :) then i was a happy camper...

i'll say an 8 here because it's easy to figure out if you like it with this amp or that amp, but it's a pain to try to get it to sound the same across the board with all amps...more on this in sound quality though...

i've been playing with this pedal onstage for a year now and while i try other settings all the time to see if i like comp-cut or vintage, i always come back to flat-mids with overdrive @ 12 o'clock, volume about 11...and boost at about 2. i know if i set it there, i'll sound like i want. the pedal doesn't have a whole lot of different sounds, but the subtleties keep me tweaking...i just always go back to my old settings and it always sounds a bit better than what i just tried.

a 9 here b/c i'm always listening to other stuff just in case...joe dimaggio was married to marylin monroe and said it didn't keep him from looking!

i use a vintage '69 paisley tele or a '52 reissue tele mostly on the bridge pickup for everything. i only run a full-drive for effects and use the amp tremolo from time to time on my old deluxe reverb (weber 12f50 speaker).

i love the sound of the fulldrive with this amp, and from what i understand, mike fuller designed it to be used with blackface/scooped mids amps...other amps i've tried it with were a dr.z z28, a tweed fender princeton, and a sf princeton reverb. too middy no matter what i did to those amps or the pedal. BUT with my deluxe, it's perfectly balanced and gives me a full-bodied sound without that honky, ear-fatigue inducing mid-range that i can't stand.

playing top 40 country and a few old rock tunes, i enjoy having just a simple rig that nails clean (with a little guts to it and the volume on the guitar down a hair) like brent mason all the way to past brad paisley (with the volume up) and then on to springsteen type raunch (full volume and boost engaged).

i've had the pedalboards and twin reverb...even went direct for a few years on the road for ease of set-up and tear-down, but this rig is really organic. what i love most is that my teles still sound like my teles at every point of the set...even if the boost is on and we're rockin, it sounds like my tele only the baddest, meanest version of my tele.

i don't find that i need a distortion pedal or stacked overdrives to get some balls to my sound b/c having that little deluxe fired up and breathing really helps the pedal do its job. i know it would not sound as good with a small amp 'cause i've tried that, but i am still dying to get on a loud stage and try it with a twin just for the heck of it :) i'm sure that would sound good too! and one of these days i'm going to buy a badcat hot cat 30...when i'm rich...

definitely a 10 here...i have depended on it and never been let down. i run it on a 9v battery and just change it about every 4 or 5 gigs to be safe...lasts a while...

i bought a second one just in case one day i need a back-up.

the knobs don't look that sturdy and develop stress-type cracks around the set screw on some of them, but i don't think anything could hurt the actual function of the pedal shy of backing a truck over it.

jim weider got his ts808 stepped on by rick danko and it cracked...isn't that what they were made for??? WEAK!!!

Mike gets a 9 here in my book. he's not incredibly informative or friendly, but who said he had to be? but I definitely wanted to post this section b/c like everyone says, if you have a bad experience you tell like 9 people, and if you have a good experience you might tell 2...gotta be fair...

i only contacted fulltone one time when i needed some rubber feet for one of my full-drives (had taken them off to try on a pedalboard...didn't keep the pedalboard...lost the dang feet!) i offered to pay for the feet and shipping and kindly asked how to obtain some stock replacements. i got a carbon copy e-mail that he had forwarded to one of his helpers saying to send me four rubber feet and screws for my full-drive.

like i have heard from others, he doesn't have all the time in the world to chit-chat and discuss your take on tone or the music industry or why your parents spanked you as a child, but he is a helpful businessman that supports his product and will (within reason) do his part to make you a happy customer.

if you are really that lost for a friend, check out mike's more personal portions of the website...he's got a heck of a studio and guitar rig...you'll be jealous!

for a laugh sometime, check out his "tech, tips, answers" section and read the "e-mail of the day." i'd get sick of dealing with guys like that if i were in his business :)

i have been playing country for about 10 years...been playing guitar for 15. if it says fender on it, i've owned it...no matter what it is. to copy what the nashville guys are doing on top 40 country radio, you need this type of sound. it's everywhere! even clean tele tone isn't really clean anymore!!! if it were stolen, i'd use my spare and then shop for another spare to pop-up on ebay (i like the 2003 fm model with short toggle).

i think the best feature to me is that i can do what i need with ONE pedal. the boost feature is great for adding a thicker tone and a little volume boost. i don't like the idea of having a keeley this and a analog man that and an expandora for this sound and a blahblahblahblah...one pedal and a volume control on my tele is fine with me :)

my deluxe really sounds better all around with this thing and it helps me really dig in and play more dynamically. a guy doesn't need a ton of gear, but get a few really good pieces that sound great and then do something with them...play the crap out of that guitar and quit changing pickups. mic your amp up and see if you really need that bass knob cranked so high (you don't)...see if you can find a tone that doesn't have to be song specific (leave that to the keyboard player and his patches or the guy with a pod). find a tone that just sounds great regardless of song/style/etc and play!

i'd give it a 10 overall, joe dimaggio would advise against it...have you ever noticed how marylin's toes were kind of freaky? nothing's perfect...

Very easy to use - it's hard to get a bad sound out of it.

My setup:
- Reissue '54 Les Paul modded w/Humbuckers, '60 Relic Strat
- Silverface Vibrolux (modded to pre-CBS), '68 Deluxe Reverb, 90's Blues Jr.
- THD Hot Plate attenuator

The sound is great, but if you turn the gain up too high, the boost gets a bit muddy. Pushing a vintage tube amp that's set just to the point of breaking up with the comp cut engaged is sonic joy. Try it and see.

Built like a tank. I take backups for everything, but I don't think I'd need to for this one.

This is where I differ with a lot of folks. I've communicated with Mike on several occasions, and have found him easy to deal with and friendly. He supplied me with a 3DPDT switch before he really started to sell them to the public, and he was great about modding my original Fulldrive to the FD2 circuit some years back. Personally, I think that if you're open and positive with him, you'll get that back.

This is an original Fulldrive that was modded by Mike to FD2 specs, and has the pull switch Comp Cut. I have to be honest, this pedal sat on the shelf for a few years while I used a 808-mod TS9 and/or an Expandora for Blues/Classic Rock-type gigs. But recently, I started getting tired of the TS9's exaggerated mids, and the Expandora's squashy, kind of boxey tone. I got out the FullDrive, and bang! there was the tone I was looking for. It's not completely transparent, but it's close, and the Comp Cut feature makes it extremely versatile. I'm tempted to call Mike again and see if he'll mod this to the current 3-position switch version.

This pedal even sounds great with my PODxt. This is also a great pedal to take to open mike jams where you don't know what amp you'll be using, because it can be used in so many ways.

I'm giving this pedal a 9 instead of a 10 only because it doesn't also make espresso.

I think this unit is very easy to use and offers a lot of options, considering it has the Comp Cut, Flat Mids and Vintage settings, plus normal and Boost. It also allows you to run it with an 18-volt adapter (more on that later) that allows even more tones out of the unit.

The sound quality of this unit is very good. Not noisy at all. There are a lot of different tones you can get - all the way from clean SRV "Lenny" type tones with the Comp Cut to extremely vintage Rock 'n' Roll distortion sounds.

I have recentlt purchased a Dunlop ECB-04 18-volt AC Adapter to use with this pedal. This 18-v option allows for even more tones and characteristics to come out ot his box. Now, with the 9-v and 18-v options, I can get many different tones. The 18-volt on the Comp Cut mode really seems to fatten up my clean tones.

I play a 60's Strat with Heavy Blues pickups, an G&L Legacy ASAT, a American strat (new model with staggered pole pieces) and an Epiphone Sheraton II through a Traynor YCV40 (2 X 10) amp. All my guitars sound good with this pedal and this amp. I sometimes add a Keeley BD-2 and/or a Analogman TS-9 in the chain too. The FD2 works well with both.

I don't play "out" often, but believe this is an extremely sturdy, well built unit.

Great. I contacted them via e-mail about the ECB-04 adapter, to make sure it would be a correct choice for the 18-v option. I got a prompt reply. Good communications with them.

Great value. Many sounds and option out of one pedal. Couldn't be happier. I loved the pedal with 9-volts and like it even more after getting the 18-volt adapter.

The current vanilla version of the Fulldrive is easy to get useful tones from. It has a three way minitoggle that you can now set for a flat mids sound, and this makes a big difference from the late '90s FDs that had the pull pot. My old creme knob '99 was a terrific pedal, but I finally ran into some pedals that made it's mid hump too much for me, and I sold it. A few months ago I rethought my approaches to playing, amplification, and pedals, and decided to try the new FD II and what I consider to be a virtual twin of the old one, Olaf's Banzai Fireball I.

My amps are a pair of Dr Zs: a Maz 18 Jr NR and a Maz Studio Lead 38 with and effects loop and reverb. I run an Analog Man Mini BiComp into an old mid '80s DOD FX60 chorus, to the FD, to an OCD, and then the amp. The loop contains a Zoom 508 delay and an Everman Pot for solo boosts. Not noisy; with the overdrive at 9:00, volume at unity, tone at 12:00, there's some additional grease added to the Zs' tone, already set for slight breakup. The boost kicks in a nice sustaining lead tone that can sing with the proper settings. I generally use this for modern country and classic rock leads. Not the end all of tone, but with single channel amps a very handy tool to make them virtual three channel machines.

I've never had any real problems with Fuller gear. A switch went out on a Fat Boost years ago and he sent me a replacement within days. As far as backup, I usually carry something from TC Jauernig or the Fireball with me in a gig bag in case I need to swap or have simple ear fatigue. But in a pinch the OCD and some guitar volume adjustments can cover for the missing FD II.

I've corresponded just a couple times with the company. Got an answer on the broken switch, didn't on something else, but it didn't bother me. Fuller gets dished on a lot, but as a lifelong Customer Service rep I know that I have bad days and good days, days when I'd like to reach through the phone and shake the shit out of the best customers we have and days when the biggest whiner in the world gets treated like royalty. It shouldn't be that way, but yeah, sometimes you just can't help it. So I'll cut Mr Fuller a lot of slack, since most people seem to get fair service in the long run.

Again, not the end all of two channel overdrives, but with the flat mid option a much more versatile pedal than before and much better than most. I play in a couple bands playing a broad variety of music, from singer songwriter stuff to classic rock to fusion jazz. I've been playing for over 30 years now. If this were stolen... Yeah, I'd probably reup with another one at this point. The Fireball is a great pedal on its own. T C Jauernig now has a dual Diabolical Gristle Tone manipulator that is a great pedal, as is his Gristle King. Dave Barber's Direct Drives and Burn Units stack up well with the Fulldrive, as does Homebrew's Power Screamer. In my experience the Power Screamer is a slightly quieter BOOST pedal in front of something like the OCD, but the Fuller is a close second.

This pedal is extremely easy to use. It's virtually impossible to make it sound like garbage. Tones abound and you can go SOOOOO many places with this thing...more later.

I mostly use Fender Strats for single coils sounds and I use SG's or an Ibanez S470 for humbucker stuff. At the moment I am playing into a modded Peavey Classic 50 with a mixed set of Emenince speakers.

I have played guitar for pushing 20 years and have a lot of experience with various amps and guitars and effects.

This thing is NOT noisy. The only time it seems to get a bit noisy is when you have it turned up really loud and then you step on the boost and it's cranked all the way up on the Vintage setting. other than that it's dead quite.

I can get TONS of tones out of this thing. It's not going to give you that chugga chugga sound. IF you want THAT...you need an amp not a pedal. For lead stuff....this thing is the real deal.

There are 3 voicings for this pedal and I'd like to take time to talk about each.
1 Comp Cut. This knocks out the compression you get in a pedal. Normally I would think this would be counter productive as I like to get a good compressed sound and in the studios compression rules the day. However, this takes your clean sound to a completely different level. It's amazing and just seems to make the amp breathe a bit more. BE CAREFUL the boost on this channel is RIDICULOUS. You can get what seems to be an EASY 30+ decibal boost on this setting. Enough to kill small children at 500 yards if you so wish. I GENERALLY leave the boost around 9 o'clock if I use this voicing.

2. FM- Flat Mid. This is truely divine on a neck strat pick up. You can just get tone for days on this voiceing. My favorite distortion by far. The boost is more of a saturation thing on this setting. Adds flavor. Doesn't really add a ton of volume at all.

3. Vintage. Like an old marshall cranked up. I don't tend to use this one a lot. I use it more for rhythm than anything. I just don't play 80's metal. Boost is nice but a tad noisy....like a slight hiss. Can't here it when playing at all.

This thing is extremely transparent and does nothing but ADD tone to your tone. It's makes good GREAT. It make GREAT....unreal. It take crap and adds some GOOD stuff to it to me.

I have used it and used it and it handles anythign I throw at it. I dropped a guitar on it and the strap lock dragged against it and it RUBBED the paint. Didn't ding or knick the paint. It RUBBED it. This thing is almost mint looking after all this time. NEVER had an issue with it and I don't see having one.

I don't have to deal with them. I paid for a high quality product and got it in spades. I feel confident that if I DID have an issue I could call them up and be taken care of. You just don't make products this good and not have an easy time taking care of your buyers.

I play all styles of music and this pedal has handled everything I throw at it. I go to comp cut for country and blues, I go to FM for blues and rock, and I go to Vintage for Rock and above.

Been playing long enough to know and that should count for something. This pedal is my desert island pedal. I won't take the stage without it and I won't go into the studio without it. It's a first grab every time.

I love the TONE of this pedal. It's second to none. It never fails to impress and everyday I can find NEW stuff with it.

My fav feature is a toss up between comp cut and FM....the boost is certainly a cool feature. This pedal make a two channel amp seem like a 6 channel amp....it's THAT versatile.

What could make it better?? Hmmmmmm....it could be FREE. That's it.

It's a little silly. The drive and boost knobs behaves differently depeding on the mode you have it in. There is a flat mids option but why have a toggle determine EQ settings?

I think I made a mistake buying this pedal. I use it anyway because the sounds that come out of it are better than average but it's not the best. It hit's that 70's sound right on the head, but that's all it seems to do, as if it were a one trick modeling pedal. The character of the distortion isn't as dynamic and interesting or as versatile as that from a TS9 or an 808. Right now I'm basicly just using it to dirty up the signal with the drive real low, right around 1. The flat mids mode works pretty good as a light transparent fizz.

I can get a realy interesting tone out of it's clean boost however, I turn the volume real low so that the out put is near equal to bypass and when activate almost any degree of boost the overdrive is kick in balls overdrive. It's realy explosive. It's muddier than the normal modes but I've never heard a more agressive overdrive. It sounds like a very heavily pushed circuit.

I have a Maxon OD808 and I much prefer it's sound for the heavy lifting.

very very sturdy

dont know

You should check out the Maxon OD808 first if you are considering this pedal. It sounds much nicer.

Extremely easy to use. I small child could figure out.

The sound is the sound of your amp. If your amp sucks this pedal will suck. It's purpose it to push a good tube amp to the saturated sound it will have at 7+. But, as you all know not many in-home situations will allow you to turn your amp to 7+. And, if you play through a '65 Twin, like I do, than you know that sound your looking for is even more elusive. Of course, the Twin is all about a brilliant clean sound, which is why I bought it versus s Deluxe or Vibrolux.

Too new to tell. But I have little doubt. It's a solid piece of equipment.

Not applicable at this time.

This is the pedal that will put your tube amp (not solid state, this isn't get the real thing on the cheap) into overdrive mode, i.e., past 7, and not lose your ear drums or piss off you neighbours in the process; this is the pedal you've been looking for if that's your goal. It is designed to keep the sound (tone) of your amp. Hence why the tone control has minimal affect - it is designed to roll of the high/low frequencies created - so ignore the fools who want the tone contorl to make their inferior amp sound good. And, for those Twin Reverb owners, wondering why they didn't buy the lighter Deluxe (or equivlanet lower wattage tube amps), but know it was because the Deluxe is nowhere near the clean of the Twin, just buy this pedal and keep working out because lugging a Twin around ain't no joke.

Oh, it's easy to use... I've been using it for 3 years now and you just spin the knobs and there you go...

On the other hand, it's not really all that easy to dial in something that sounds really good. (See Below)

OK... after 3 years here's what I think...

I'm using a '62 RI Strat with CS '54 pickups into a Twin Reverb RI with Weber Speakers. The only other effects are a Fulltone SoulBender and a Teese Wah.

The thing about this pedal is that it really is nothing more than an upgraded TubeScreamer that can be used as a clean boost instead if so desired. It doesn't get noisy or bog down your signal with a buffered bypass, but it never really gives you anything more than a TubeScreamer. I thought that I'd be able to dial in a nice transparent drive on the Flat Mids setting, but it just sounds like someone cut the balls out of a TubeScreamer. I'm constantly fighting with the pedal to try to get the right sound out of it. The other thing is that there is some really unflattering farting out on anything other than the Comp-Cut mode.

The overall sound of the pedal is not what I'm looking for, but I've come to realize that it's also not what I equate with good tone. I recently had the opportunity to A/B this thing with a Banzai Cold Fusion and the Cold Fusion blew the FD 2 away for a lower gain OD sound.

I guess that this FullDrive is great for anyone who wants to cop a slightly improved sounding (but much lower noise) TubeScreamer thing... Maybe guys who are still hung up on that whole SRV thing (Though it wasn't really hitting the SRV thing either...)

It never failed me once... It's a VERY reliable unit. Always gave the same sounds and always worked.

I dealt with Mike Fuller regarding my SoulBender and he was really pleasant to deal with despite the fact that I had only imagined the problem. I don't know what a lot of you folks expect, but, it seems to me that maybe you are the problem when it comes to bad experiences with Fuller...

This isn't a good match for the stuff I'm playing... I'm looking for something that can take the chime of my Strat into my Twin and add a bit of sustain and clipping without taking over the tone. This thing just makes me into a knob tweaker and hinders the art of music making. I didn't really have much to go by when I bought it, but I already had the SoulBender and thought that based on the good stuff that I was getting from it, I would be able to set this up to do what I needed. With 3 different modes and the boost side, I thought I'd be able to dial it in. Well, it's not nearly as versatile as I thought it would be and I've been fighting it for 3 years to get something more from it. I'm done and it's going away. I'll look elsewhere for my OD.

Very easy, traditional style layout (with a non traditional boost section).

I use a Hamer Monaco Elite with Duncan 59s with a custom made 18 watt style amp that is like a combination of a 1974x and a 2061x (burrissamps.com). I run the Fulldrive at 18 volts which makes a huge difference. The tone is fatter, solid, and has more definition. Like a combination of clean boost and overdrive. I keep the volume at 1oclock, tone and gain at 11 oclock, and the toggle in the FM position for more clarity. These settings yield a killer Warren Haynes/David Grissom type of humbucker tone that is great for almost anything. The 18 volt option is really what makes this pedal for me.

Seems very well built. When you open it up it looks very organized with nice solder connections. There is a lot of space to do a repair if needed (replace a pot or a bypass switch).

N/A

I play everything except metal, this pedal is a killer vintage style pedal. Been playing 15 years and tried countless boutique overdrive pedals. My gear was actually stolen a week ago and I bought another Fulldrive to replace the stolen one (Tulsa s*cks). As I mentioned before, the 18 volt option really separates this pedal from the rest. I haven't tried a Barder Direct Drive but I've heard it also has an 18 volt option, I'd love to a/b the two sometime. The only thing I'd change on the Fulldrive would be to remove the boost and make it a clean boost instead of a gain boost, otherwise it's perfect. The pedal is under $200, killer!

It's easy to use. I hae the version without the switch. It's a good sounding pedal, no doubt, but it's just not quite enough. If only it had just a tad more gain - it may be the perfect pedal. but it just doesn't quite do it. You will still need another pedal for singing leads. It's more of a rhythm guitar pedal, imho.

the sound that it can do - it can do well. if you're going for that classic rhythm guitar sound, say around 1976 or so, then this is the pedal for you. If you're looking for a versatile - all you need is this pedal for whatever musical situation awaits - then you should get a Foxrox Zim and be done with it, because the fulldrive aint gonna do it. But don't get me wrong, what it does do, it does it well. It's a totally pro pedal.

Totally reliable, unlike the fulltone clyde wah, which I had tons of problems with. If you open up the fulldrive you can see that this is a quality boutique pedal, no doubt

The few times I contacted fulltone - it was always a pleasant experience. no complaints here.

It's a good one trick pony kind of pedal. I eventually outgrew it and moved on to a foxrox zim. You'll still need a tube screamer for your leads, cuz the fulldrive wont go there. Maybe the new ones with all the switches do that, I don't know. All I know is the one I have just doesn't have enough gain. For a long time I thought it was the perfect pedal, but over time the thick midrange tended to muddy my sound and I kept missing being able to take my sound over the top. This is not an over the top kind of pedal. Maybe that's just what you need, I don't.

This pedal is fairly easy to use, it only takes a few minutes to figure out and works well. I give the pedal a 9 because nothings perfect.

The sound quality is better than an other overdrive I have had or tried, and I played with a bunch of them. The pedal adds a little bit of noise, but at gig levels you will never notice

no problems here, I gig without a backup for this pedal. It's already a pretty expensive pedal to shell out for another one for backup.

never dealt with

I give this pedal an overall 9 because like I said, nothing is perfect. I have the cream colored custom shop version and this is hands down the best overdrive out there, in my opinion.

Easy too use, but you need some experience in overdrive/distortion pedals, specialy because of the 3 way switch.
Maybe I'd give an 8 for beginers, but this is certainly not an average overdrive box, just check the price tag!
The manual would help the young ones.

Look, I've been playing exclusively ROCK guitar (think AC/DC) for 20 years, recorded 4 records and player many live gigs. I can say I understand a bit about overdrive pedals and tube amps.

Allways a Fender Stratocaster guy (all originals from late '60 and early '70) through Marshalls (100watts JCM800 - 1 and 2 channels models - and Super Lead reissue and 50watts 1987).

Owned MXR Distortion+ ('70s script and block logos), Ibanez TS-8/9/10, Boss (all overdrivers and distortions) and Rocktron Austin Gold and Sonic Glory Overdrive. Tried Carl Martin and Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive. Some very good and some nice, but they all add noise, hiss and color the sound.
Sure the Fulltone Full Drive 2 is my very first "boutique" stomp box.

It is the most transparent overdrive I played and that is exactly why I bought it. It is very quiet, although I play very, very loud!!! It acts like a cranked amp and is very dynamic too.

I could use the amp heavily saturated, but it would be too loud for playing in a band and wouldn't have no headroom for solos (there is another guitar player in the band, playing Gibsons through Marshalls). So, the Full Drive 2 is most like a 2 channel amp for me.

I use it on FM mode with every knob on 10, but the volume (set around 9 o'clock).

The only other pedal is a MXR Dyna Comp (compressor), script logo from mid '70s.

Does it color the sound? Of course! It's something between the guitar and the amp and it is suposed to do something to the sound! BUT... THE COLORATION IS MINIMAL and you can't notice it on live gigs or even rehearsals. Please, at home or at a guitar shop nobody can really test anything musical.

It's not for Heavy Metal players, just check the name on the box!!! Besides, it's light blue, not black or red!!!
If you don't have a very good guitar AND amp, doesn't expect any pedal would save the day! It canonly make things a bit better.

Fits well Rock'n Roll, Hard Rock, Pop, punk and probably any other style where the guitar player needs more than a clean guitar. It can rock a clean amp, being it an all tube or transistor.

I totally depend on it! Must buy another for back up... maybe the 10th anniversary Full Drive 2...

Well, just wrote once but they never answered... By the way, I'm Brazilian, but I wrote them in English...

Bloody expensive but a great pedal!
I payed around US400 here in Brazil for a new one, but, hey, it is actualy 2 pedals in one (overdrive + boost)!!!
Sure makes me want to play more and more!!!
Enjoy!

Deca

http://www.barangarock.com.br

PS: I have nothing to do with Fulltone, I'm just a far away customer... and they not even replyed my e-mail... hehehe
Just ordered a Fulltone Fat Boost las week...

4 controls.
volume, tone, and overdrive for the first button, then boost for the boost button. Very simple. I didn't look at the manual.

Great sound quality. This is an overdrive pedal. its not a crazy distortion pedal (not an expandora). I will eventually get a sparkle drive to go with it. Mabie a tubescreamer as well. Its a really great overdrive pedal. Especially for rythm guitarists. Mine is a newer version with the 3 way switch. I leave it set on vintage.
Mexi Fat Strat> Dunlop Crybaby Wah> Fulltone Fulldrive II> Line 6 Delay> Mesa Boogie Subway Blues.

Built in all metal casing. Seems really strong. No problems yet. I keep it on my pedal board.

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awesome. Love it. If you can only have 1 overdrive pedal. This is the one (unless you play like uber super high gain).

very intuitive design easy to dial in sound
manual is good - sufficient

Setup is 2005 jimmy page custom authentic and jcm800 - a bit noisy past 11 o'clock but expected (more accentuated with jpp as it's a noisy guitar esp with the jcm800). Pedal is great as I use it to push the Marshall a bit past it's thinness - I was considering amp mods to fatten up the jcm a bit but now, thanks to this great pedal I no longer have to consider that route. Nails Aerosmith Walk this Way tone to a tee - I use Roger Mayer Page1 for early Page tones as there is a bit of fuzz in the Mayer.

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Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Santana.... great match for all three. Playing for 30 years. If stolen, yes I would replace it - absolutely. I returned a Carl Martin Plexitone and got the FullDrive2 - excellent decision and was $90 less than the Plexitone. Plexitone is not true bypass and killed my clean tones. Fantastic Job Mike!!!!!!

Very easy to use once you learn to customize your own settings.It took me a few days of fidgeting with the dials to finetune my own customized tone. With 4 control pots and a 3 way selector switch there are many options to choose from. I bought this pedal used unfortunatly it didn't come with the manual. If I did have the manual I am sure I would have found my settings easier.

I play a 1971 Gibson SG Deluxe with humbucker pickups. I mainly play through a Fender Dual Professional tube combo amp with a pair Celestion Vinatge 30's. This amp doesn't break-up or distort naturally at high volume so the FD2's overdrive capabilities really push the tubes.
The only problem I found initially was the "TONE" dial didn't do much good until after the 3 o'clock position. It was a bit muddy and uncharacteristic before that position.
I mainly use this pedal in the "ON" mode with the toggle switch in the "FM" position. This gives my guitar tone a nice subltle milky overdrive. Full chords are clear and articulate.
The Boost channel is a great addition on this pedal. It allows me to get an edgy crystal-like sustain on individual notes. The Boost switch is not as much of a volume boost as I thought it would be, especially in the "FM" and "Vintage" modes, but rather it seems to push the overdrive signal a bit farther into more sonic territories. I love the feedback from this pedal, very controllable.
I haven't use the "Comp-Cut" mode very often but I have noticed you can get a nice clean volume signal on top of your amp's normal volume level. The "Boost" mode then seems to overdrive that signal with some distortion.

I am sure I can depend on this pedal for years to come.
I would recommend purchasing the FPS-1 power-adapter that Fulltone has made for it. Or whatever other power-supply they suggest. Don't take any chances, the wrong power supply can potentially ruin your pedal. I learned that from past experience.

Never have delt with the company personally.

I play rock music. This pedal compliments my style wonderfully.
I have been an active musician for 13 years.
If this pedal was stolen or lost I would get another one. Then again there are hundreds of other boutique pedal companies out there to choose from. But I seem to have a good thing going with this pedal so why change a good thing?
I compared this pedal with the TS-9 which I am fond of as well. I found this pedal was a bit richer in it's tonal qualities and has more options to choose from, which could be a curse and a blessing, depending on perspective: For one, much time can be spent trying to dial in a setting to your individual taste. But like they say Rome wasn't built in a day and once you have your settings dialed in you can sculpt your tone anyway you like. Plus it has "True-Bypass" which is good.
My only gripe is I wish the "TONE" knob was hotter. They should make it more transparent and open. As I said earlier, only until after the 3'oclock setting did I get anything usable.
Other than that I have found this pedal has allowed me to express my music in new and unique ways.
A fine investment for any electric guitarist searching for a quality overdrive pedal. I highly recommend!

I found the full-drive 2 a very hard piece of equipment to use along side my current amp of choice... I use a 150 watt Marshall Valvestate head which as you know are at the bottom end of the range anyway. also found Compresser push/pull pot very loose and often falls from raised position.

As stated previously in my other reviews I use a Marshall 150 watt Valvestate and a Les Paul copy fitted with active pickups to compensate for the poor tone-wood. when compared with other boost pedals such as the Ibanez TS-808 Tube screamer and the MXR Wylde overdrive, i found that the pedal didnt have the high gain required for my unique metal/hard rock tone.

This is not a metal pedal!!!

I will give credit where it is due as the pedal is very well built yet i do believe that the only thing it is good for is a projectile and have and never will gig with it. WILL STICK WITH IBANEZ TUBSCREAMER!

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If your looking for that high gain shread metal sound this isnt the one for the job although i will admit that the blues tones are fantastic (as it is a blues pedal).

Every products of Fulltone are very good but in my opinion Fulldrive II is the best of the best overdriwe pedal on the world and always sound great. I used : tube sceramer TS9, analog man TS9(silver mode), mesa V-Twin, Ibanez SD9, Klon Centaur, RAT ProCo, Fulltone Distortion Pro but for me Full Drive is the best. It work perfect in booster mode and in regular overdriwe mode. Sound is PERFECT and amazing in every style of music you can image. I use my fulldrive in jazz, blues and rock. It is perfect in my style of music. I can crunch them prefectly every of my amp - bogner ecstasy, mesa road king, marshall jcm800,fender twin reverb, fender blues junior, fender blues deluxe. For me it is love for first note!
I can't image better pedal.
Good work!

I played rock, pop, blues, funk and little jazz. I've playing for 17 years. You can hear some of my mp3 on :www.wojcicki.art.pl

Fulldrive II for my is best choice in evero style of music. Maby not for metal...:))))

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!

I've owned this pedal for 3 days now. 5 minutes of tweaking and anyone can find useful settings. Very easy to use

I use a PRS Custom 24 and switch from single to double coil quite frequently playing in a cover band. I've recently had my old Fender twin get a complete point to point re-build with high end foil-in-oil caps and loaded with Weber Alnico Chicagos. The problem was, I still had to tote my old Boogie to clubs I played just for A-B 'ing it with the Twin for the songs which required more high gain leads and crunchier rhythms. I generally used two T-9s with the 808 mod in the Twin but the high end always seemed to roll off with that amp. With the twin, soloing in the upper register always sounded "plinky" when using the tube screamers. The fulltone allows for a very transparent overdriven tone without sacrificing the high end - particularly in the "FM" mode, which is my personal favorite. Its what I've been looking for. For the chiropractor bills it will save me by leaving my Boogie at home and using only the twin, its worth every dime.

I only owned it for three days...

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My old twin with the oil caps is the holy grail of tone. This unit makes a one dimensional amp into a 3 modal, extremely versitile rig. In my thirty five years of playing, I've always been of the opinion that the best overdrive or lead sounds start with the best clean sounds. I still love my tube screamers, but this adds another dimension of versitility to my set-up. Kudo's to Fulltone, they've produced a very transparent, sweet sounding overdive which fully emulated an overdriven tube complete with sweet singing harmonics in the boost mode. Its exactly what I've been looking for. My suggestion to all the budding guitarists that read and write in Harmony Central - stop trying to sound like everyone else and enjoy the ride. The quest for new and better tones is something that should never stop. Stevie never stopped trying new gear. The Fulltone is a great additional to anyone's arsenal.

Product is self-explanatorym just plug in and play. Straightforward, simple design.

I use a Fender Eric Clapton Strat into a Marshall DSL 100 half stack. The pedal does not work. I think it is defective. It does not change the guitar signal at all. One of the switches does not work at all, the other turns on the red LED but does not effect the signal.

This pedal either was damaged in shipping or was defective when it left Fulltone. It never worked for me.

The dealer told me to deal directly with Fulltone, so I E-mailed them. My E-mail was answered in person by Mike Fuller himself. He was hostile and unprofessional. He indicated that if there was a problem with the pedal, it must be my fault, and I probably used the wrong power supply with it. He told me he did not have time to look at it, and that I must deal with the dealer I bought it from. I was very disappointed to find that he does not stand behind his product, and I let him know it. The dealer finally refunded my money after I let him know how unprofessional Fulltone's correspondence was and how Fulltone refused to honor their warranty.

Play everything from jazz to blues to hard rock. I've been playing over 35 years, thought this would be a good pedal, probably would be if it worked. I will probably get a Maxon pedal, I hear they are good.
If Fulltone had been even the least bit helpful with my problem, I would give them a good review. But all this purchase did was waste my time.

The manual is extremely helpful in giving you the general direction and the rest is up yo your ears.

Just so you know what type of setup I like this pedal with...
Guitars...
'91 deluxe Plus
'94 Deluxe Plus w/ Ebony fretboard
Amps...
HRDLx--> modded heavily w/ Jensen C12N
'82 Concert w/EV(mama mia!)
'82 Deluxe Reverb II w/Jensen C12N

This pedal really shines IMO. I A/B'd it next to about 7 different type Tube Screamers, even original ones and still liked this tone better. If you are looking for over-the-top distortion then this pedal is NOT for you. If you are looking for a boost with sustain/creeping, controllable feedback, this is it. Original rock and covers by Widespread Panic, Phish, Dead, Tom Waites, JJ Cale, etc, etc...I'm starting to just use this pedal over the amplifiers own overdrive channel.
Settings are Volume 9:00 Tone 12:00 OD 12:45 Boost (This one goes to Eleven! All the way up)
Another great feature of this pedal is that if you like the sound of your amps without any pedals as I do(see Concert II above), you can make this pedal just a boost, for that extra uumph! you need when soloing.

So far so good. It is built with heavy duty components. I would use it without a backup b/c as I said earlier, I like the overdrive on my amp, period.

Never had the pleaseure...

Been playing about 16 years and I really think if you are not looking for DISTORTION, you would be remiss to not check out this pedal, it screams...
I would certainly buy again.

Well covered, this is the new one, with the threeway switch.

I use teles exclusively, one maple board with a b-bender and fralins, one with rio grandes and a rosewood board. I use a boogie lonestar, and run a pedal board that has, Vht valvulator, dunlop 535Q, Fd2, homebrew compressor, Eh small stone, line6 dl4, and a volume pedal. I am writing because I think people are misjudging what this pedal is for. First, this IS NOT A HIGHGAIN pEDAL!!!! That's what the dp1 or his fuzzes are for. Mike clearly stated that this is meant to be a low gain overdrive. If you keep this in mind, and don't max the drive knobs out, you're on the right track. Second, this pedal is very picky with what amps it will work with. I owned a twin reissue, a piece of garbage amp, and sold a fulldrive because it was too fizzy with the twin. I then borrowed a buddy's Fd2 when I had my carr rambler, and fell in love with it. It likes certain amps, and doesn't like others. I'm sure that, into a vintage amp, this pedal screams. Through my boogie which is more of a dumble-style amp than any other boogie, it provides a nice boost, or a mild overdrive, perfect for country leads. If I want high gain, I use my boogie's od channel and use the fd to kick it over the top. So, in short, I feel that reviews of this pedal are going to vary based on what amp and guitar it's going through. I will say that a quality tube amp, and guitar are essential, and it seems to like single coils more than humbuckers.

I've opened this thing up, and it really looks like there was some serious time spent in putting it together. Hats off to Mike and team for building a rugged box.

I've not dealt with them, but I immagine he'll stand by his products, as long as he's not bothered by some ridiculous questions or complaints. I read on his site that someone tried to feign sickness or cancer to get a free pedal out of him, and threatened to smear his name all over if he didn't cooperate. I say let Mike make his pedals in peace, and don't expect him to be your longlost best friend, and you'll be happier in the end.

I just want to say again, take reviews with a grain of salt. I personally had to find the right combo, but when I did, the fd2 was perfect. I like the fact that it's a dark pedal, not too muddy or bright, and it's exactly what I've been looking for.

Simple controls. Volume, Tone, Drive, Boost.

I've tried a couple of these FullDrive pedals and found them to be highly overrated. The tone is surprisingly muddy and lifeless. I play an EMG-equipped Strat and a Tele with Lindy Fralins running into a MB MK-III or a modded Fender Blues Jr. This pedal seems to sap the life out of the tone regardless of which amp/guitar combination I run. Even with tone pot at 100%, the pedal seems to cut the high-end a lot. Anything less than 100% is just not usable. I tweaked the settings as best as I could with Volume-10:00, Tone-5:00, Overdrive-10:00, Boost-10:00. I played it this way for about a dozen gigs, but finally gave up on the pedal altogether.

The first one was reliable for the couple of months that I owned it. The second one, however, had one of the pots go bad almost immediately. Very scratchy. Flushing with contact cleaner didn't help. Unfortunately, since I didn't buy it directly from FullTone, no warranty.

As others have discovered, Mike Fuller is a very unpleasant person to deal with. The one time that I contacted him (asking about repair charges on the above-mentioned defective pot) he was curt and rude and ultimately didn't answer my question. Others may view this as the eccentricities of a wise person, but I do not. Considering how many other companies are building similar/better products (Paul Cochrane, Voodoo Lab, Barber, Maxon, Visual Sound, etc.) there is no room for this lack of professionalism.

A mixture of jazz and blues and I have been playing since 1976. Because of the reasons already mentioned, I got rid of the FullDrive and replaced it with a Barber pedal. It's unlikely that I'll ever purchase another Fulltone product.

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.

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.

Once you read the directions for this pedal it should be very easy to use and to set to your preference. You need to read the manuel o you know what the toggle switch will do and how different variables will effect this pedal.

I use a Fender Strat " American of course" through a 65 Blackface Twin Reverb (not a reissue). I normally play a Vox 846 into a TS 9 or TS 808 Tube Screamer into a Univibe. I bought this Full-Drive 2 with the toggle switch and at first did'nt like it too much because I have played Tube Screamers for so long. Tube Screamers have a mid to high range sound w/o much bass. When I played the Full-Drive 2 I thought it had too much bass to it. After I got use to it it started to sound amazing. I love the Vintage selection on the toggle. The Full-Drive 2 sounds really smooth with more sustain than the Tube Screamer which is why I started to like the Full-Drive more. Most people mod their TS9's to smooth the sound out so I did mine too with the Brown Mod. It still doesnt sound as smooth as the Full-Drive 2. If you like SRV then through on the Comp CUt switch and get clean punch tones " like SRV's little wing ". The FM selection sounds like a smoother modded Tube Screamer and even sounds better than my original TS 808 which I paid 400 dollars for ... ouch. I now use the Full-Drive 2 instead of the Tube Screamers and think others should also.

I have only had it for about a week but I dont think I will have any problems with it. Its built like tank.

Its Fulltone. If it breaks they fix it for free. Sounds like a good deal to me.

I play blues and rock music most of the time. Its an excellent match to both types of music. I have been playing for about 15 years and this is the best overdrive pedal I have come across since the TS 9 or TS 808.

This pedal is pretty easy to use. there is allot of options but where ever you place them it sounds good......I messed around with this pedal for 6 hours trying to make it sound bad , I have failed! No matter where i put the knobs it still sounds great.

Strat to Boss TU-2 tuner to Fulltone Clyde wah to Fulltone fulldrive 3 to Ibanez delay (which i may swap out) to fender deville 212 amp

This is the tone i have searched for, for 3 years I am very happy its got that SRV/Bryan adams fender strat growl tone i love so much.

owned it for 3 days so far so good. Its been on for 3 days LOL

NA

I play rock and blues with this pedal. I have bought allot of pedals and gear searching for "that" tone i have come close but never got a cigar. this pedal makes the guitar play easier too i have noticed.

not sure yet if the boost is on when the over drive is off.

Here is the end all endorsement....I told my wife that the tone quest was over!

Any tips or tricks with this pedal you can email me.

Thanks

I have the one with the switch, it's very easy to use. Only thing I could wish for is a independable second channel

This is a classic already, the first channel gives a very wide range of boosts and overdrives, the switch gives even more options. The second channel does the same but goes further. It's just like a 2 channel amplifier, which gives your amplifier a broader range of sounds at the push of a button. This unit excels in the fact that all settings are good, there is no bad setting. It totally blends in with your amp. Just think of it as another footswitch to your from now on 6 channel amp.

indistructable, really.

well, never needed, but if you have to believe all the reviews concerning MF you shouldn't waste his time asking stupid questions. This guy is an effectmaker, not a telemarketer... ;D but I am confident that if it's broken he will fix it for me...

a must have. This is the basic overdrive for every guitarplayer and It beats all two channel overdrives on the market in sound quality. The best feature is the switch, which give you basically a ts808, a non-nasaly ts808 and a booster. Maybe over time I want a more specific other drive like a klon or something, but this thing is the basic, the standard whereby others should be judged

I have the "newer" version with the Comp-cut/vintage/flat mid switch. Its very easy to find your sound. The manual talks about the tone knob adding higher harmonics when it is above half way up. Half way up is "about" neutral and above that and it really starts to scream. I usually run it around just below half way up and it really helps to tame the bridge pickup on my 52 RI tele.

I use a 52 RI tele->clyde wah->deja vibe 2->Fulldrive 2-> Boss DD-2 delay->whirlwind a/b/y box->Bad Cat Hot Cat 30 combo. I keep mine set on the "Flat Mid" setting. It is very transparent it adds just a hint of BALLS. It makes my tele sound really FAT!! FAT is the best word I can think of to describe the flavor it adds. I have a few other Fulltone pedals (some aren't on my pedalboard at this time) and I've noticed that they work great with each other. That being said, sometimes they don't work well with other pedals (Mainly the fuzz pedals). It sounds better through my rig than any other overdrive pedal I've tried (ts-9, rat, soulbender fuzz etc.) Its exactly what I've been looking for!

Built like a tank. Fulltone pedals could be used in a bar-fight...This is important when you play crappy dives. The fulldrive could be used to clobber a mouthy drunk. It works every time I step on it. Can't really ask for more. I have a Fulltone Deja Vibe 2 that has been stomped on ALOT and has had several gallons of beer spilled on it and it has worked EVERY time I've stepped on it. The Fulldrive is constructed in much the same manner, so I see it lasting a long time. Heavy steel housing, great parts, and beautiful wiring.

For some reason people think that when they buy a pedal from someone he HAS to be your friend. Fuller has answered every pidly questions that I have had. Thats more than I can ask. His pedals speak for themselves.

Lately its roots-rock type stuff. The Fulldrive is on some of my favorite guitarists pedalboards. I see now exactly why. If it were stolen, I'd buy another one, but this time I'd probably go with the older style because I really never use the "vintage" mode. Its well built, used by pro's and sounds like GOD with single coil pickups. Great Pedal.

There four or five knobs on it but the names say it all. So I think it's there all you can tweak and listen to the difference.

Great for an overdrive unit. It's so warmmmm. almost too dark on some bassy amplifiers. the boost function does the job very well. I also use it for boosting an overdriven amp...also good sounding. Only one weak point on CS FD2 is , in my opinion, it's sometimes too bassy even I turn the tone all the way up and turn the EQ on the amp. (my set up is AM series Strat with Hot noiseless PU and HRD with Celestion V30)

So far so good. No back up.

Never deal with them yet.

Nothing is perfect...All I can say is "It satisfied me so far"

Easy enough to use. I have the one with the switch. I found a sound I like and the only thing I change is the volume (I leave my amp at pretty much the same volume whether I'm at home in the living room or at a gig?Vibro-King on around 3). It took about an hour to figure out what I liked.

I usually play a Tele through a Vibro-King, sometimes a Strat and sometimes a Les Paul. I'm not sure if it's the 'King or the FT 2 or the combination of the two (I got them at close to the same time?about a year and a half ago) but my rig sounds so good these days that at almost every gig I get compliments on my tone. I had retired my Strat but it sounded so good through my rig that I went for a long time just using that (my Tele got mad). I love the clean somewhat low volume sound of the 'King but it's a too loud to really crank it to overdrive it. The FT 2 makes it usably overdiven at low volume but allows the amp to sound natural. The trick is to get a good sounding amp to start with. A pedal isn't going to make a crappy amp sound good. The same goes for guitars. A great guitar and a great pedal will still sound lousy through a lousy amp.

So far so good. I have no choice but to depend on it. I don't like to haul around a lot of extra stuff to gigs even though I've got several other pedals, guitars and amps at home, so I make do with what I've got. If a pedal malfunctions I can always plug straight into the amp if I can't figure out where in my pedalbaord the problem is. An amp malfunction, now that would be, and has been (Hot Rod Deluxe), a problem.

After reading the other comments on this site for this category I hope I never have to deal with them.

I play Blues/Rock/Country/Funk/Jazz. I've been playing for over 30 years. Like I said before, I'm not sure if it's the amp or the pedal, but the combination of Vibro-King and Fulltone 2 works for me. No matter how tired I am or how little I feel like going to a gig sometimes, once I start playing through these things I can't do anything but have fun 'cause it sounds so damn good. The only feature I wish it had was an ATM hooked up to some really rich person's bank account.

Not too difficult at all to operate really...4 knobs and a 3 position
switch in the middle. Most children should be able to get good noises out of this one :)

I use this mainly with my 80s Gibson SG, but I also use a Gordon Smith GS-2, and an Epiphone Flying V. My main amps are a Marshall JMP (50 watt modded master) and a Sunn T50C combo. The pedal works pretty well with all of my setups, however, the Boost function on the FD2 does not do enough for me. I generally end up sticking a compressor in front of the FD2. Otherwise, I like it. Most of the time, I use a Mek Tubedrive or a Boss SuperOverdrive on gigs because most of the gigs I play wouldn't pay for the replacement of this pedal.

Built like a tank, and I wouldn't worry about a back-up. These pedals are over-engineered, so I would have no qualms about taking it
on the road, if I decided to take it on the road.

I've heard horror stories about Mike Fuller and his treatment of customers/dealers, but I've always found him to be helpful and sweet.
I think some people are overly-sensitive...He is always there for his
customers.

I play mainly rock, country, and classic metal, and this pedal is great at it. But remember kids, this is an overdrive pedal, so if you want lots of distortion and sustain, you must use it in front of an amp that is already fairly distorted. I have been playing for 2/3
of my life, and I have owned lots of gear...vintage Tubescreamers, a Mek from Germany, a couple of Boss SD-1s, and so on. This pedal keeps up with all of those. I just wish the Boost was less subtle, for the projection of power. I recommend this pedal to people that want a reliable, good sounding pedal for many diverse musical styles.

Just like standard FD2 except it is Creme and there is a special tweak inside. Not sure exactly what is different but there is a piece of the circuit rather conspicuously covered up. It sounds incredible (more in next section.) Very easy to get a great sound out of.

Schecter C-1 Classic (w/ Lindey Fralin pickups) -> Ibanez PDM1 -> CS-FD2-VC -> Peavey Classic 30. The sound is my holy grail of overdrive pedals. I have tried several overdrives (Marshall BB2, Vox Valve-tone V810), switched out the op amps in them, and various other tweaks in search of a rich warm od sound and this pedal did it. Very rich harmonics - very musical. I can have my classic 30 clean channel on 1 and this still sounds great.

Solid. Just need one.

Not sure - never dealt with them. But I had to buy the pedal through a dealer that was out of stock and one phone call later (from dealer to Mike Fuller) the pedal was on its way from California.

I primarily am into the blues and love that overdriven tube sound. This pedal does it for me. Before this, my Vox Valvetone was the pedal and this just smoked it - no contest. This thing is full of harmonics, very rich and musical.

My version has the comp cut set were you have to retract the VOLUME knob. It's fine as is, but the newer versions with the independent toggle switch is probably easier to manipulate.

I've really grown to like this clean boost/overdrive pedal. It's similar to the Prescription Germ (which is also excellent), but this pedal has a different kind of overdrive: a little woolier, a little less raspy/fuzzy.

There are all kinds of tonal options here, and it's hard not to feel like recording some rock n roll with this pedal on. It's straight ahead, honest-to-goodness rock n roll/blues. No excess coloration.

I think it would be risky to play publicly without a backup for this pedal simply because usage of it would probably demand occasionally stepping on a switch, and switches were meant to be broken.

The customer support is there if I need it. I needed it once and they performed a repair which was greatly appreciated. The best way to contact them is via email. Usually they respond in a day, unless I ask a stupid question.

Aesthetically, it's a classic pedal, with lots of possible tone configurations. It seems like everybody's got one of these things, and wth good reason. It looks like a well-preserved 1950s toy, too.

Dial-ability is very simple, it has a great sound in virtually any position, just more or less of everything. Sound is very transparent and true bypass of course.

I generally use this box in front of a Line 6 POD Pro with Mesa simul-class two ninety for power. An open back 2 12 caabinet with a mix of a Vintage 30 and a G12H30 for thicher bottom. The two speakers in the same box are truly the best of both worlds. I mainly play a PRS custom 22 with stock pickups and 5 way PRS switching. Tone-a-liscious! The fulldrive 2 is perfect to add that extra bite before hitting the preamp. Mine has the comp cut push/pull switch. I wish it had a hard switch because I keep stepping on the pot and shutting off the comp cut. I use a roland SDE-1000 for delay and a blackface Rocktron Intellifex for the chorus and pitch transposers.

Never had a backup dont think I ever will. It has seen extreme cold in the back of the car for days on end, blistering heat on outdoor stages, no problems.

Any correspondence sent to Fulltone was answered in a day or sometimes the same day, great customer support, he cares about what goes out the door. Had a switch go on my Deja Vibe, e-mailed me back that day to help me get the parts I needed ASAP

I generally play "progressive" rock some classic but mostly current hard rock in the vein of STP, King's X , Tiles, Dixie Dregs , Big Wreck, Platypus, etc. Musician for 20 some years. I also own a Gibson/Norlin Lab Series L5 "the BB King amp" with vintage 30's that just is the best transistor amp I've ever owned. With the fulldrive and that the only other item is a cord and Im happy in a pinch. Various other guitars including a Les Paul studio and a hand signed Zion Ty Tabor signature series guitar. If this pedal were to be stolen or the like I would replace it definately. I like the transparence the best it does not color the sound too much. Like I said before, the only thing I wish it had was a hard switch instead of the push pull switch because I end up stepping on it all the time. A wad of felt under the pot usually prevents that from happening. Very musical pedal! Puts you in the zone with a beautiful finish like fine cognac

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.