Fulltone Full-Drive 2

This overdrive has tremendous range when used with a tube amp. You can barely touch your signal all the way to monster overdrive. As a result, your sound is fairly senstive to the knob settings.

Here's my setup: FD-2->6L6 JMP 50w MV. Amp Pres 5, Bass 4, Mid 6 Treb 6, Vol 5ish, Preamp 5.5. FD2 volume on max w compression on, tone 1/4 to match guitar, OD on Zero, Boost on 3/16. Guitar is Les Paul Std played mostly on the bridge. With no effect I have a great jangly distortion and crisp crunch. Activat the FD-2 and I get clean volume boost and a monsterload of harmonic disortion (JEW'ish). Hit the Boost and I have even a bit more volume, awesome ringing sustain, and clear awesome clear palm muting crunch (think Descendents but a little more clear in the low end). I can't say enough about the clarity of this effect and the harmonic richness it adds to the old JMP. The added compression is perfect. Also, the value of true bypass cannot be understated. I now have three usable guitar levels, all of which sound awesome.

Dunno, sucker has great build quality.

No opinion yet.

I am discovering good quality analog effects and loving it. I'm a distortion guy and this is the shiznit. If you have an old marshall half-stack, there's no way you can go wrong with this one. I haven't used this on a recording yet, but my band is http://www.splitchristie.com

I read the reviews on this site and had a reference from a professional jazz guitarist friend that Fulltone products were high quality and excellent sound. Upon setting up the pedal alone with either my Am. Tele or Am Deluxe Strat into a late model Reissue Deluxe Reverb amp, the 12 o'clock settings I started with were amazingly full and provided natural complementary tone to both guitars. So immediate tone, no tweaking required. And getting good OD from fender stuff is not easy.

Haven't tried it with all my humbucking guitars yet, but the SG standard, L6S and Explorer through a Rivera Jake combo set on clean in either channel are smooth and dynamic, even with the comp setting down. I am a chord junky and even the most complex chords are articulate and three-dimensional with the pedal. Muted arpeggios and sweep picking have never been more fun to play becuase of the sweet OD timbres obtainable with the FD2, and these are the rhythm styles I enjoy the most when playing support/backing guitar.

Compared to other pedal I own andhave previously owned, this one is built right up there with the best, the baked enamel paint is well done and looks quite durable, the hardware is top quality switches and LEDs, and the smoothness of the pots attests to the attention and care of the manufacturer. I would use this on a gig without a backup as I have used lesser quality pedals without problems without backups. But then I don't abuse my equipment.

Haven't had to contact them yet, but I hear from my musician friend that Mike Fuller is professional and is very helpful, courteous and responsive to customer needs. My 10 is based on a trusted friend's experience.

I have been playing for 31 years in a variety of settings, mainly rock guitar and bass, professionally and as a project musician. I own and have owned amps by all the major manufacturers (Vox, Marshall, Fender, Crate, Peavey, Rivera) and guitars by Gibson, Fender, Rickenbacker etc. I also have been searching for THE OD for a long time, having invested in Pandora, SansAmp, Boss (SD1,OD2,MT2,GT6), Digitech, DOD, Ibanez, ProCo Rat, EH Big Muff Pi, TubeWorks Real tube, boxes and non of them rivals the FD2 for quality OD, right at that point where it breaks up. The tone of all my guitars remain intact. Well worth the bux IMHO.

I posted a review a couple of days ago, and I wanted to add something I forgot to mention. I am playing on a Fender Pro Tube Twin Amp. The gain or distorted channel is totally awesome!! It stands on its own! The Fulldrive 2 does not change that great sound, but it enhances it. It boosts, and intensifies the wonderful tube distortion that the amp naturally has. It does not muddy or color or change the sound. It also adds sustain. I have not spent any time trying the clean channel and the FD2, eventually I will.

posted in previous review

Mike emailed me again, responding to an email I sent him. I have no complaints with him. I have never had any actual breakdowns or problems with any of his products, so I can't comment on customer service

The more I use it, the better I like it!!

I,m pretty slow, so it took me about30-45 minutes to find the sound I wanted, and to figure out other settings I may want to use. If I can do it, anyone can

I'm playing on a Fender Pro tube Twin Amp,, Fulldrive 2, Fulltone 69, Clyde Deluxe wah, American series Stratocastor. The FD2 is very quiet,Until you turn it on, then all I can say is WOW!!! you can play it with the boost switch off, and it is very clean, even when distorted, hit the boost and it gets really nasty in a good way. The sound cuts through very nicely, it doesn't get mixed together. I'm still learning how to utilize all the different options ths pedal offers. But what I found today, I would be happy with if that was all it could do, but it is very versatile, and I know I will find out a lot more as time goes on. I guess you can tell I like Fulltone pedals, the true by-pass is a nessecity, They are hand made in America, and they do kick ass. This pedal is without a doubt my favorite

These things are built like small tanks, I would never worry about anything major going wrong.

When I got the 69 pedal, I emailed Mike and thanked him for the quick delivery. He emailed back and just said cool,and reminded me that I could eliminate some of the fuzz by turning the volume on my guitar. I've read some negative things about him, but I have never had a problem with him, He seemed cool to me

I play blues,60's & 70's rock, Cream, Hendrix, Skynyrd,etc. And this pedal is perfect for what I like to play. It gives you the early style distortion and sustain that I love. I've been playing for 30 years, mostly accoustic( Takamine acc/elec.) I quit playing for5 years, I started back 1 year ago, I have bought 5 amps, 2 guitars and several pedals. I started researching gear on the internet, and thats where I found Fulltone pedals. I will always play A tube amp, probobly always play a Strat, and I will absolutely always use Fulltone pedals. I would replace all 3 of them in a heart beat,and may be buying more later.The Fulldrive 2 is a super pedal, and I could not be happier. Don't settle for D.O.D's or some of the designer pedals, save your money and buy something that sounds great and will last.

IT PRETTY EASY TO DIAL IN SOMETHING YOU WOULD LIKE...JUST GIVE IT SOME TIME . AND MAKE YOUR TUBE AMP IS MAINTAINED WELL. BAD TUBES BAD TONE NO MATTER WHAT OD YOU USE

I USE A FENDER VINTAGE RE-ISSUE STRAT HITTING A MXR DYNA COMP ,FD 2 ,BIXONIC EXPANDORA [ORIGINAL],BOSS GE-7 EQ AND ACOUPLE OF DELAYS AND CHORUS EFFECTS GOING INTO A FENDER HOT ROD DELUXE WITH A CELESTION VINTAGE 30 SPEAKER........MY SOUND IS VERY MUCH LIKE DAVE GILMOURS AND ALEX LIFESONS WITH THIS SETUP. NOW,AS FAR AS THE FD 2 IS CONCERNED?...I FRIGGIN' LOVE THIS PEDAL. I'VE HAD ONE FOR OVER A YEAR NOW AND IT HAS NEVER DISAPPOINTED ME ....THE ONLY TIME IT SOUNDED BAD WAS WHEN MY TUBES WERE IN NEED OF REPLACEMENT...A FANTASTIC UNIT..IT DOES EVERYTHING I NEED IT TO DO.

THIS PEDAL IS VERY DEPENDABLE. I NEVER HAD A PROBLEM WITH IT SO FAR..AND I WOULD AND DO USE IT WITH OUT A BACK UP. SOME GUYS HAVE WRITTEN THEY WORRY ABOUT THE SWITCHES BREAKING BUT I DONT FORSEE ANY PROBLEM WITH THEM

I NEVER HAD TO CALL MIKE FULLER YET...IWILL SOON THOUGH ...I'LL BE BUYING MORE OF HIS STUFF

I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS UNIT TO ANY ONE LOOKING FOR A REAL NICE WARM, TRANSPARENT ROCK/ BLUES TONE I'VE BEEN PLAYING FOR 22 YEARS AND TRIED JUST ABOUT EVERTHING. ITS WORTH THE NEARLY 2OO DOLLARS FOR IT...NO HYPE ..I'M BEING HONEST...GO GET ONE IF THIS IS THE TONE YOU'VE BEEN AFTER.ALSO, THESE REVIEWS FROM OTHER GUYS HAVE HELPED ME IN GETTING ONE ...SO READ ON BELOW

I own the last version, with the black knobs.
Very easy to use and to get a good tone, manual is short but well done, and quite useless if you have ever use an od. pedal ..
The push/pull knob could have been replaced by a switch, but it's not a big problem ...
Oh this pedal has a true pedal, which is a great feature.

In one word: fantastic ! I've played many drive box, but this thing beats everything.
Very warm, transparent, dynamic, not noisy ... can get every sound from a clean boost to a hard distortion (with the boost).
I use it with a std. Telecaster and a Marshall Bluesbreaker reissue. I mainly play "rock" music and it fits me very well. Can't say enough good things about THIS sound.

Mine is 1 year old, and is like a new one ...

After spending a lot of money in effects, i finally found the ultimate drive box. It's not a cheap pedal, but it really woths the money.
This thing is just perfect: 2 chans, true bypass, sounds like a tube amp at any volume ... a dream.

Easy to use and sounds great REGARDLESS OF THE COLOR OF THE KNOBS!!!!!!!

The last reviewer seems in a pooey mood because of the "black knobs"!!!!! Dude who cares,man get over it.Why piss and moan over such a little issue.Paint the fucking things if it bothers you THAT much!!!Mine sounds awesome in every way an overdrive can be,hell it's like having 2 pedals with the boost on it.Always wanted a pedal with one of those.Oh,and I as well have the one with the black knobs too.

Looks solid and reliable

I would hate to have to deal with whining asswholes who shits out the mouth over such things,I never spoke with Mike but if I did have to call him,it would be because of a SOUND DEFECT in a product I've bought,not color.That's just juvenile.

If anything,this is a fine piece of gear,it stays on most of the time in our sets and souds WAY beefier than any TS9s AND it has true bypass.Hey Mike ya might want to put new pics of your products on your website just to let "some" people know you ran out of white knobs,but for the most of us,I'm sure it doesn't REALLY matter,or does it?To me it's always been about the sound,and at the end or begining of a gig,that's where it's at.

yes, so easy. had a good sound dialed in 3 seconds.

I am playing a prs ce22 into a budda wah +,whammy1(o.g.), fd2,fulldrive distortion pro, loop station, dd5, into a vox ac 30( the one with GREEN speakers). The full drive 2 sound is really smooth, the best over drive I have heard next to the natural break up of the ac 30. the boost kicks it up a bit so I can rock it little harder. this pedal lets me ease up on the volume of my amp a bit. i would rate this a 10 . for overdrive pedals, this one is surely the best I have ever used. dumped my v-twin for it.

It aint cheap, but is frickin hand made the man signs all the pedals himself, and answers the emails and phone calls and plays in a band and invents new pedals, I think it is more than worth the price, boss is made by robots and it sounds that way too. This is my second fd2, because it was STOLEN! This over drive is rich in sound and it is inspiring.

Four knobs can't be that hard to figure out, right? If you got past preschool, this shouldn't really give you any problems. Never got a manueal, I bought it off EBAY.

I'm running a Am. Tele Plus with Lace Sensors through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, 1x12, everything stock. For fx, Ernie Ball volume, Boss DD-5, and maybe a Vox wah. A fairly quiet pedal, barely hisses at all, but I also tend to keep everything down below 3 o'clock.

The thing sounds wonderful, although I seem to have trouble with my bottom end distorting, when ever I plug into the pedal. However, I have problems with my bottom end even when I plug straight in. I can't say that the pedal does mess with my bass, but I can't say it doesn't either.

This thing is built like a rock. I'd bet you could throw out of a plane and it'd still work, but I'm not willing to try it. Can't give it a 10 because it hasn't seem too many gigs yet.

N/A

Like I said before, I tend to play very bluesy, and this pedal is the perfect fit. If it was stolen or lost, I would first cry, because I don't have the money to replace it. Eventually I probablly would get another.

I compared to tons of other products, including Tubescreamers and Maxon re-issues. I loved the warmth of this pedal.

I do wish it came with a goldfish. I like goldfish.

Original orange version, no Comp-Cut and pre-flatmids, dated 06/97 on inside of the pedal. Bought it used on ebay, it's a bit scratched up on the outside but works great, although the Volume knob is a little looser than the other knobs. I tested it to make sure it worked before submitting ebay feedback, so I quickly plugged in my Guild SG copy with very old strings and all I can say is this pedal is AMAZING. Once I got the volume dialed in, it had the basic sound I've been trying to capture for the past five years. Fat, thick, overdrive. The last time I got this sound was through a Marshall halfstack cranked in a studio setting, not too easy to do with a 2x12 openback combo at bedroom volume levels. This pedal will do that, easily. The Overdrive control on this version interacts with the regular drive channel, not just the added Boost section (I think this is different on the newer Blue version), and the Boost setting doesn't add too much but more distortion as far as I can tell. But again, that's just at bedroom volume levels and as soon as I can open this thing up, I'm pretty sure I'll hear more of a difference between the selected boosts. I tried a new Blue version and it sounded cleaner, but not as thick and fat as this one does. That's what I'm looking for with my Overdrive.

I set it up going from my Guild S100 (sg copy) with a stock Guild humbucker in the bridge and a Gibson PAF in the neck, through my VHT Valvulator, to my Teese RMC2, to the Fulldrive, out to my Rivera Hundred Duo-Twelve on the Clean channel. It gives a warmer overdrive in this way than I've been able to get out of the Dirty channel of the Rivera. I'll probably set that up for solo/leads, keep using the FullDrive2 for dirty rhythm. Also, I'd been using my Teese into a Danelectro Daddy-O before I got the Fulldrive2. The boost setting on the Teese was overdriving the Daddy-O in a really ugly way. No such problem with the FullDrive2.

It came in worse condition (in my opinion) than the ebay seller described, much more scratched up and dinged than I would have expected and missing not only the rubber feet but one of the four screws on the bottom (in his defense, it was being used in a pedalboard so the feet had to be removed). But the switches and knobs work great, as do the leds. If I could get another one for backup I would, but I don't think it would be needed. I may get a new Blue version, but probably just for different tones not for backup. I'd be more than happy to gig with this without a backup, and not worry at all.

Never dealt with anyone at Fulltone, but to be honest I was happy that it worked fine so I wouldn't have to try to get it repaired. I've thought about adding the comp-cut mod, but I don't think it adds much to the new Blue version and I've read that Mike Fuller is opposed to adding newer mods to his older pedals.

I've recently been getting back into indie-rock styles, after studying Jazz for the past few years (I'm going back to school for a Bachelors in Music Theory, Jazz Studies). Sort of Slint, Jawbox, Fugazi style stuff. I was thinking about trying to find a good Marshall JCM 800 halfstack if I want to start playing in a band again, but this will do what I needed for that style. In addition, it will work great for any rock style, blues-rock, even electric style jazz (I hate to say fusion, but think more like Sonny Sharrock/David Torn stuff). My gear now is either a mid-70's Guild S100 (SG copy) or a '98-'99 American Strat Deluxe with the early Noiseless Vintage pickups, into a VHT Valvulator > Teese RMC2 > Orange Fulldrive2 > Danelectro TunaMelt Tremelo > old Ibanez Phase > DOD Analog Delay > Rivera Hundred Duo Twelve with Los Lobottom 300w powered subwoofer. After playing for almost 18 years I've finally started to discover really good tone(s) and also started acquiring the gear that helps me get those tones in my head. The Fulldrive2 will definitely be a big part of those tones. The only thing I'm disappointed in is the minimal amount of change to the tone when the Boost function is engaged, but again I've only tried it at bedroom volume. I did compare it to a new Blue version, which was cleaner sounding but also not as thick sounding as the Orange version. I've already come up with new riffs, just from plugging it in for five minutes, so I really feel it will be an assett to my playing in years to come.

controls are self explanatory, it takes a few minutes to dial up a decent tone

im using pretty much a strat and a fender hot rod deville 2x12 with this pedal, it sounds ok but i dont care for the boost mode, any setting higher than 9 oclock produces this horrible bassy sound, maybe i just got a dud? i wish i could get the sound i use now in normal mode then switch on the boost and it actually sounds usable, oh well

fuller does make quality stuff

never dealt with the man yet, maybe i will try to get in touch with him about this boost mode problem

i play everything from blues to rock to fusion to jazz and country , this is not my main source of tone but it has been getting alot more use lately, i doubt i would buy another one

Very easy to get a good sound out of it esp you are looking for Robben Ford, Larry Carlton's bluesy fusion-style tones. You don't have to look for a dumble amp. The manual is simple but is effective as far as basic instruction is concerned.

First of all, I am not a metal guy, so my needs is a bluesey rock, fusion guitar sounds. I owned Gibson 335, fender strat, godin LGX and PRS CE22. I have played through them with FD2 and with the same amp (a blues jr.) I found FD2 seems to work particularly well with Strat only. For other guitars, I would rather use a tubescreamer or bluesbreaker since they have more high ends. On strat, if you play a rosewood neck, I have to put the treble knob near to 10 and my tone knob of myt FD2 clockwise to max. I haven't try a maple neck with it which I am looking forward to try. The pedal performs without much noise and can be used in better playing situations including in studio. When I jam with other guitars (using PRS+GT6+Boogie Amp), I found this combination give you a very classical sound that gets through very well. So I win with a smaller sum of budget!
n the other

The pedal is robustly built. I do not play in gigs that often, so I can't say anything on this.

No need to call. So far it is working poperly

I am amateur player for about 20 years, playing mostly rock, blues and jazz fusion. I must say it is good match for my music style. I would highly recommend this pedal if you were a "strat" man even if you have a TS808 or TS9. If it was stolen, I will buy again without hesitation. I wish it can be cheaper! It is quite expensive since I live overseas and have to play dearly for the shipping costs.

This pedal takes alittle while to figure ou, then it's easy to set up.

I tried this with a 65' Tremolux head with a JBL D120-F 1-12" extention cab. My first thing to do was to set my amp on a nice clean setting with a good amount of punch and headroom. Then I hooked up the FD-2 and listened to it in bypass mode. That seemed pretty nice and transparent. When I switched to the overdrive setting the tone immediately lost the highs and could not dial in a clean sound, even with my guitars volume rolled back. This pedal is not transparent!! The boost setting was ok but I was still disappointed with the loss of my amps tone. With the volume pot comp cut pulled out it did a better job but still I could not find the amps true tone. I thought this was a better pedal because I had heard and read good things, but I was disappointed when I got it home. (by the way, my amp sounds incredible plugged straight in!) This pedal didn't make my amp sound better, but worse!

I don't think this pedal would be a problem as far as reliability is concerned.

I play rock, blues, fusion, and heavy rock styles. Been playing for over 30 years. I've had lots of overdrives and distortion pedals along with many killer amps. This pedal doesn't help me get the overdriven tones that I want but its not all that bad. Wouldn't buy it again.

I know the knobs are very straight forward, but the pots are so easy to turn and can be prone to moving when bumped. Also the " Comp-Cut " pull out knob would be better if it was a switch, it is also prone to be bumped and pushed in by many-a-drunk-people in clubs. Doesn't need a manual, I didn't even know it had one untill later. I plugged it in and turned all the knobs to 12 o' clock and it sounded good.

I use Fender Telecasters of all kinds ( because there are so many different ones ) into a Fender '59 Bassman re-issue, with the tube rectifier replacing the solid-state hockey puck. This pedal is very quiet. You can crank up the overdrive and boost and get very minimal noise, that impressed me. No overdrive I've ever heard is perfectly quiet, it comes with the territory. This pedal is my baby. I really feel like my money was well spent. I am absolutely thrilled I have it! I have been searching for a good tone for 12 years and was always left dissapointed by pedals that were said to be " the best. "( 808s, alot of botique pedals, even tube driven pedals ) This pedal lets me sing, it makes my amp happy and alive. It uses the JRC 4558 chip like the old Ibanez-Maxon 808 Tubescreamers, but doesn't lack the bottom end like those do. Also, true-bypass, a big one in my book. The presence control helps alot, it either takes out or puts back in the high end that is useful unlike some pedals where the tone control just makes it sound muffled when down an abrasivly harsh when turned up. It focuses on a good frequency range. It is a very warm sounding pedal, very musical. It has that nice " clean-over-dirty " sound where the pedal has like two signals one clean one dirty, that I used to hate and now I love after I cranked up my amp. Chords don't sound fuzzy and unrecognizable on either channels. Its almost as if he designed this pedal for guitar players! (lol) I don't use any other effects. I know this pedal sounds good, because I keep coming back to it after I go out and look for new ones. We finally have a good relationship now, my guitar and I. I would never put this pedal any where near a Boss or most mass produced pedals.

I've never had a problem. I would use this without a backup at a gig.

I don't know. I heard Mike Fuller is nice to his customers, but a royal jerk to the stores who sell his stuff. That's a shame if it's true.

I play alt-country, and American-roots-rock 'n roll. I have been playing for 12 years. I don't own anything else. I would buy another one if anything happened to this pedal, after I stopped swearing and throwing things. I love the classic, musical, pleasent tone it gives me. This pedal is a gem. I recently tried out a Boss "Drive Zone" Multi unit because it had a Fulltone Fulldrive setting on it. I was offended by the claim and the atrocious sounds that came out of it. This piece of garbage couldn't even come close. When will they learn? I hope Mike had nothing to do with that. I've tried so many pedals and I always come back to this one. It inspires me to play more. Hand signed too, very classy.

Very easy to use. Setup in seconds.

I was blown away by the sound. This is the first overdrive/distortion pedal I've ever heard that doesn't color the sound in some way. It's totally transparent. The overdrive function is subtle and sweet, the distortion is very nice, there could be a bit more distortion IMHO, but it's workable.

I'm running this into a fender hot rod deluxe with the only other effect being a visual sounds H20 chorus/delay. Mostly I'm playing a Parker P-44 or a Stienberger GM4T.

I can't say enough about how impressed I am with the transparency of this pedal.

I've only had it a short time, no problems at all.

I love this thing. Highly recommended

Very Easy

Perfect for older vintage amps, new tube amps, any amp with a great sound. This is because it does not color or add to the tone, it just gives your amp a great overdrive sound without having to turn it up to 10! True Bypass. This gets great creamy distortion, and you can adjust it the way you want it. Not for Thrash or Hard Core Metal, but great for the Zepelin, Hendrix sound etc.

The only thing that ever broke was the foot switch when I kicked it a bit hard by accidnet (not stomped from above, but kicked the distortin on off switch straight on when I thought it was in a different place). I had it over a year. Mike replaced the button for free and I got it back within a week.

Responded to email within a day, I shipped it out and got it back within a week (I live in California). Only cost was the shipping. Short and to the point.

I have had this pedal for about 2 years.
My setup is Wah>Deja Vibe>Full Drive 2>Line6 DL4> into a Fender Custom Vibrolux Reverb. It sounds great with this or my 69 Deluxe Reverb. Perfect for tube amps that dont have a distortion Channel. It lets the amps tone shine through while still being distorted and great.

It's very easy to get good sounds right off the bat. The pull-comp and boost features are nice additions that require extra tweaking.

I'm a strat player that needs to cover a lot of different styles. I also have to play through a variety of amps for studio work. Therefore if I'm playing through a super clean Blackface twin, my Fulltone '69 or '70 won't like it without a hair of overdrive. That's where the FD2 fits in nicely. Plus, when it's in the chain with the '69 it doesn't monkey up the sound with buffers etc...I tried the Line6 Distortion Modeller because it claims to be true-bypass (maybe it is) but it kills the sound of my fuzzes. I was surprised to find that I really enjoy the pull-comp feature for cleaner boosts. There are so many positive things to say about this pedal, but as one of the most reviewed and discussed overdrives, there is not much I can add. I do know that I will not go anywhere without it. Just like the '69 and '70 it has become part of my sound.

Extremely solid construction. The inside wiring is a work of art.

No problems. Mike has always answered my emails. What else could you want?

Overall it is an outstanding product. I'd be a fool to assume that everyone shares my opinion , but Fulltone just happens to make guitar pedals that fit my style and sound. After 25 years of playing, I've seen and owned alot of gear, but the FD2 is by far the best Overdrive/Boost I've come across. Thanks to SRV, almost all guitar players think they need a Tubescreamer modded to the max. I know cause I went through that phase too before I realized I don't want to sound like everyone else. You can get a Tubescreamer sound from the FD2, but much more. Classic rock, blues, jazz and country it does very nicely + making a fuzz pedal go over the top when you need it.

Easy to use. Volume, tone and 2 overdrives.

Setup: Gibson LesPaul + BOSS stage tuner + Fat Boost + Full Drive 2 + '69 + Hughes & Kettner Tube 20

It's totally transparent for starters, which is what you pay for. I always keep the volume at about 10:00, jack the tone up almost all the way and turn both overdrives all the way up. Then I switch on the right overdrive while keeping the left one off, so that the unit stays on a totally transparent standby - ready to go completely over the top. I use this pedal to overdrive my amp on top of distortion for instant and controlable feedback mostly, and for that over-the-top boost of heavy distortion on occasion, as well.

So why use this unit instead of some cheaper overdrive? First: It's so easy to use and to control tone and amount of distortion. Second: In a pinch (like when my old overdrive pedal crapped out on me live acouple of times - before I got my '69 pedal) it works as two fully-functioning overdrives. Third: The transparancy of the tone, and the fact that you can't even hear the switch make it all worthwhile.

Overdriving my amp while the '69 distortion is already on is just plain fun, and live it is thick and still grinds without getting too buzzy or dropping tone or volume. The feedback is pro, too, not thin or wimpy.

Played live with this gear numerous times and have never had a problem with any Fulltone equipment. Just be sure to keep the batteries in check...no biggie. The heavy-duty construction can take a serious beating. I'm a plug and play kind of guy. I don't like fooling around with gear that's messing up or that constantly needs to be readjusted. Fulltone settings tend to hold pretty well, even after the pedals have been tossed into my gig bag in haste after shows. Unfortunately, due to the cost, I cannot afford to play with backups for any of my pedals. Maybe some day.

Never needed it.

I play guitar-heavy indie stuff. Think Dinosaur Jr., Pavement, Swervedriver, Superchunk, etc. Fulltone gear has been completely worth the cost. It's really the only way I know to get the rich tones and vintage/clear sounds I'm looking for. I've been playing out for 4 years. If my setup (see above) were lost or stolen, I would HAVE to replace them. In my experience, Fulltone gear is easy to use, especially live, and can take a beating. Durability is key. I've tried a bunch of other pedals, and Fulltone is the only way to go, as far as I can see. Hands down. I'm working up to getting the choralflange for that flow and that Leslie-like grind it can get.

"Tone" control is a treble cut. All other dials explain themselves.

Setup is telecaster or Heritage 150 (LP) to Full-Drive to
Rivera 50. Sometimes run effects after the Full-Drive and sometimes in the effects loop. Slightly noisy but amp should be better grounded. Two channels: overdrive and boost. Overdrive has a subtle edge at low setting to smooth crunch at higher settings. Adds attitude
to your sound. Very male. Boost has more distortion,
rich in harmonics. Wails at higher settings. Both channels very transparent: you don't lose your guitar's natural sound. Responds very faithfully to your picking style. Wonderful ringing sustain at higher settings on both channels. Has a true bypass; when it's off it doesn't affect your sound at all. Best pedal I've ever owned.

Looks solid. I'm very careful with my stuff. Don't have a back-up. Rating 8 since only time will tell.

Haven't dealt with them.

Play church worship music (from mellow to brash), blues, some jazz. Use the pedal for a number of different tones. Absolutely worth every penny. Would replace if lost. I have had several distortion pedals; none has come close to the full, rich sound of this.

Very easy to use! I took the sample from the manual and it gave me exactly the sound I was looking for.

It is not a one for all! But it sounds great with my '62 strat in front of a fender tone master with a 2*12 closed cabinet.

I was lookin for a texas blues sound (SRV, Bobby Mack etc.) at lower volumes and the FD2 gives it to me. The clean channel of the Tone Master has a great sound itself when breaking up - but it blows your head away!

BAD -> the FD2 cuts the high and the low ends. It ist much better than my ts9 reissue, but the pure amp has much more bass and brilliant trebles - in other words the pure amp is more open.

1. '62 strat + fd2 + tone master is an ideal combination for texas style blues.
2. Jimmy Vaughn Strat + fd2 + tone master = not so authentic, more mids, more agressive
3. '79 (ash body/maple neck) strat +fd2 + Tone Master = also nice more crisby
4. '52 Tele (custom reissue) + fd2 + Tone Master = the fd2 cuts too many treble - the twang is away - but somewhat nice, reminds me of Keith Richards

I also tried the fd2 in front of my humbucking guitars - IMHO forget it!! (I used a '58 gibson les paul historic collection, a '60 LP Classic, a 335 Reissue, a '72 tele thinline all guitars with fd2 and the tone master - only my Ibanez 335-Style jazz guitar give nice jazz tones with the FD2 - but it gives nice jazz tones with any amp :-)).

I think the FD2 is for fender Strat sounds and nothing more!

If you want more, buy other guitars and buy other amps.
(I use my humbucking guitars with marshall and mesa boogie amps without any pedals for all other kinds of music)

But for me it is ideal, because it gives, what i was looking for.

If it were more open and would not cut the bass and treble - I would have given a 10 - so it was a 9.

It is new, but it looks very reliable.

Can't say anything about it.

I bought it for texas style blues and thats the one for me.

I am playing for 20 years but I am not a very good player. I am not a friend of many pedals. In the first years I looked for a One-For-All-Guitar and a One-For-All-Amp. But that was stupid. Over the years I bought special guitars and special amps for any special music style I want to play.

For me, the FD2 is only for fender style texas blues and I would give it an overall 9 if it was cheaper.

I compared it with my ts9 reissue and I will throw the ts9 away.

If it's gone lost I would buy it again.

But EURO 340,-- (about US$ 290) is too much money - so I give it a 8.

I play guitar in the NYC-based Progressive Rock band Gates of Summer (www.gatesofsummer.com); I have a lot of gear, including Rivera Knucklehead (review on HC), ESP George Lynch, Ibanez JEMs and a '79 Strat. The Strat is my main guitar and is fitted with Joe Barden pickups.
I began looking for a stomp box that I could take to rehearsals in Manhattan that would sound good and could fit into my gig bag. I had pretty much settled on the Budda Zenman, but that pedal is HUGE! A friend of mine MADE me check out the FD2, and I'm glad he did!
This pedal is very easy to use. I disagree with some people who say that the boost channel doesn't have enough gain. Setting up the pedal is very easy (make sure to "prime" it first, to avoid static popping). Just set the volume, overdrive and boost levels, adjus the tone if you need it, and go!

I generally play this pedal going straight into the Low Gain input on my K-100 head. In the distortion channel I play with the boost engaged and the volume on 10; I set the master volume around 2. This is a LOUD SOUND! All audio and power cables are custom made by Syngergistic Research (www.synergisticresearch.com).
The FD2 adds a nice creamy edge that sounds MASSIVE, without the breakup of a distortion pedal. I can do full-on metal palm muting, screaming harmonics and shred playing.
The clarity of this pedal is breathtaking! You can hear all of the nuances of your playing, with violin-like sustain. I generally play this pedal in the Boost mode with the gain all the way up, Tone @ 12:00, volume at 12:00 - 1:00.
When taken of the boost, and in the overdrive setting (OD all the way down), I turn the volume down on the guitar and get a great sound just on the VERGE of breaking up on chords. Beautiful!
In the clean channel of the K-100, with the overdrive engaged, I get a sound similar to a vintage Marshall or Fender (not suprising, given Paul Rivera's history).
If you play a Strat, you MUST get this pedal!!
I'm a Metal guy, definitely NOT Fulltone's target customer, but I will tell you, if you care about your tone, regardless of the style you play, you will want to get this pedal and add it to your arsenal.

I've only had the peal for 2 weeks now, and used it for 2 rehearsals, and have had no problem with it. I have checked out the parts quality, and cannot see this pedal breaking down any sooner than my other gear.

I haven't had reason to call Fulltone, because their web site basically tells you everything you need to know about the company.

Gates of Summer combines the styles of Rush, Rainbow, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Genesis, Flower Kings, Primal Fear, Blind Guardian, and Kansas into one band! I need to be able to go from finger-picked 12 string guitar on my VG-88 to galloping madness and harmonic minor modal stuff on the turn of a dime. The FD2 works perfectly in this context; the only minor setback is that it's another pedal to press! I wish everything had MIDI... One controller for everything!
I have been playing guitar for 18 years; my playing style is notey and melodic.
Please check out www.gatesofsummer.com for more details.

2 volumes( or should I say a overdrive volume and a boost level), tone and distortion. This is as straightforward as it gets while maintaining a level of versatility that I hadn't found in most other pedals.

My general gear preferences run towards older tube amps turned up just enough to get some hair on them, and clear-sounding (but meaty) strat tones. I use Lindy Fralin pickups in my main strat. I'm also a fan of old amps and have owned or played through or repaired most of what's out there (all Fender era's, older Marshall's, Vox's, and Ampeg's)
I bought this pedal looking for an improvement on the TS-808. I loved that tubescreamer sound, but over time found that while different models had a different shading of the sound, no matter which version I tried a tubescreamer sounded like a tubescreamer. Not only that, but it didn't really matter what kind of guitar I used, the end result sounded almost identical, and certainly squashed out any changed I made with pick attack.
I bought my FD II in 200 and the first cool feature I noticed was that after kicking the pedal on, my guitar and amp sounded EXACTLY like I just reached over and cranked up the volume knob...Wonderful! The FD II kept the sound that I worked on the rest of my rig to get, and simply added the overdrive that I was looking for.
The Comp-cut was my fave setting due to keeping the picking dynamics the same, but even in compressed mode, this box does what my TS-808 never did.... responded beautifully to changes in left- and right-handed subtleties. Beautiful! (and sooo much less hiss than any other stompbox I've had. Make sure that the noise is not actually caused by noise in some other box being amplified by the gain of this pedal.)

I own a number of Fulltone pedals, after the great experience I had with the Full Drive II, and none of them has has given me a problem caused by the pedal malfunctioning. I should mention that after I first bought the pedal I did get the "static" popping sound that is mentioned inside the pedal's box, but before anyone chalks this up to faulty parts in their pedal, they should know that in trying to sort out the problem myself (before needlessly calling Fulltone) I found that the problem was due to a problem in the input circuit of the amp I was playing through (JCM-800) and totally disappeared when I plugged into a tweed Super.
Make sure your problems are actually caused by the pedals and not some other part of your gear before slamming Fulltone's realiability or sound quality!!!!

I've never had any reason to contact Fulltone for parts or service. I guess they give me all the support I need by making their pedals right the first time.

The bottom line is that no pedal, no matter how good will save you from a lack of playing skill or a crappy basic sound (no fixin' it in the mix!). But if you want stellar mild to medium overdrive tones, the Full Drive II will supply it beatifully while not squashing the life out of the music you've worked to create.

Easy to use - 4 knobs, 2 switches. One knob pulls to activate/deactivate compression.

Best overdrive pedal I've ever had. Channel one is kind of tube-screamer-ish, but it lets a little more of the natural tone of your guitar through. Boost channel has lots of sustain and warmth, and it still captures playing nuances. I mainly use this with old strats thru old tube amps to get a blues lead tone. Finally stopped searching for the right overdrive.

So far so good. I have a back up just in case, plus I can take the backup to jams without lugging my whole pedal board around or taking my main one off the board.

Talked to Mike Fuller a couple times. He responded promptly. What other places can you get the president of the company to email you back.

The fulldrive is a bit more pricey than standard stompboxes, but in my opinion worth every penny of it. Definitely for those who are discriminate about tone and won't settle for second best.

It's an overdrive pedal. How difficult can it be? In terms of ease of getting a good sound, I give it high marks. My only complaint is the Boost. It doesn't seem to do much even with the boost level all the way up. I never use it. BTW I have an older one that is orange. I think the new ones are blue and have some extra feature that mine doesn't have.

This is where you can not go wrong. If you want an overdrive you can not get a better sounding one than this IMO. I use it to pre-amp a Dr. Z Prescription and it sounds amazing. In fact, the way I use this pedal it is my main overdrive sound. I keep the level on the Z relatively low so the amp is fairly clean and then use the FD II to get a my distorted rythmn tone. It is on about 90% of the time since I rarely use a clean tone. Again I do not use the boost.

I have been using this pedal for about 5 years I think, maybe even a bit longer. It has seen hundreds of gigs in that time. It has never ever had even the slightest problem. It is built for gigging. In that same time frame I have had two re-issue tube screamers crap out on me as a point of reference. I always have some kind of backup with me but have never needed to use it.

I have sent various emails to Fulltone over the years. They are always answered. The answers are short, but my questions are answered. This is pretty amazing considering the whole operation is run by one dude.

If I lost this pedal I would buy a new one ASAP! In fact I should get a spare one just so I don't ever have to worry about not having one. The only thing I don't like about this pedal is that boost doesn't seem to be much of a boost. In fact, sometimes I wonder if the boost on mine is actually working. I've never cared to find out because I've never really felt the need. I could not make music w/o this pedal because it is a very integral part of my sound. A Hamer Vanguard thru the FDII into the Z. That is my core sound that I use 90% of the time. You can hear it on my bands two independant releases - check out www.garboswag.com.

Very strait forward. It might take you a minute to understand the difference between normal and comp-cut mode, but that's it. The only problem I have had is that sometimes I will click the pull pot for comp-cut mode back down when reaching for another pedal under stage lighting.

First of all, this is the first distortion/overdrive pedal that I have heard that lets the tone of our guitar and amp stay true. A strat stays sounding like a strat etc. Most gain pedals put their stamp on everything that comes through them.

Secondly, this pedal is very versatile/tweakable. It basically turns your amp into a 3 channel rig with drive and boost modes. I usually leave the drive mode on with just a touch of gain for an almost clean but not quite, U2 kind of sound. It can go from SRV style subtle drive that reacts amazingly to your attack to full out pumpkins madness in comp cut mode.

I didn't hear the full potential of this pedal until the other day when I rented out my rig to a band for a recording session. They had strats and les pauls running through my pedal board and my good ol' Laney(which are the best deals in tube amps on the used market). The studio was Pro Tools/Logic with a Manley mic pre. I can't tell you how good their guitar tracks turned out. I know that Manleys make everything sound fat and that things were doubled, but damn it sounded good.

For the last 2 years, I was in a band called Elseworth Dragon that stems from the Smashing Pumpkins, Filter, Manson type of vibe. I took the FD2 all over the southern california club scene. I NEVER had a problem in any circumstances except things like power strips crapping out on me and little things like that.

I wrote Mike and email just to tell him how great the pedal was working out for me. He answered it like the next day thanking me and telling me to send him a cd of our stuff. That is great service. If I could afford it I would get everything he makes, because they are great products made by great people.

These are all over ebay, you need one if you are a serious guitarist.

For someone reading this, don't think that you will put this in front of a solid state practice amp and sound like stevie. But, it will be better than any dod, boss, eh, etc. type of sound. But, put this in front of a tube amp of any kind with a decent guitar, and I dare you to try and get a bad tone, on any setting.

I have to share one last story. I was playing a gig a while back at this outdoor, carnival kind of deal. The bass player was supposed to bring my half stack, cause he has a truck and I have a nissan. Well, he didn't and I panicked. The openers had a rectifier, but they had to head back to san diego. So I scraped together an old crappy peavey PA and some unknown bass cabinet with like 6-10's. I was expecting to have crappy tone, and basically play clean all night. But, to my surprise and delight, it sounded good, damn good when that thing got warmed up. All it took was a little tweaking with the gain and tone nobs. Then I broke a string on my strat with active pickups. So I grabbed the singer's tele, and that sounded damn good too.

Very easy to use. Suggested settings were also good.

Obviously, everyone knows this is has great sound

One of the footswitches broke after having it for a very short time. It was never dropped, never mistreated, just probably defective. In general, the unit is reliable, but for this amount of money for a pedal, the standards are higher. There should be better testing. One of the selling points of this pedal was the great components (i.e. switches that supposedly last 10x longer).

The treatment I got at customer support (Mike Fuller himself?) sucked. yes i was very nice when i called. This was a defective pedal, and I was treated as if I had done something wrong. Instead of being nice about it, the person I spoke to was really jerky and defensive. The pedal was fixed but now the switches don't match: one has plastic cover, the other doesn't. That's a minor complaint, but the treatment I got totally sucked. I will not buy Fulltone ever again for this reason.

Great pedal, but my bad customer support experience really soured my on Fulltone.

Very easy to get this pedal to sound good. I bought this originally used, so there was no manual.

Using this with a Top Hat Club Deluxe and various Reverend, Fender, and PRS guitars. Other pedals in the chain are a Fender tuner, a Barber Burn Unit, a DOD FX10 for volume boosting, and a Dano PB&J delay unit. Very quiet and provides a mild to intermediate distortion for what is a fairly squeaky clean amp, at least with the settings that I use. Not currently using the pullout uncompressed settings, but in terms of noisyness these are just fine too. The Fulltone adds perfect levels of drive.

Absolutely dependable. I gig without a net when it comes to pedals, although there are usually redundancies for any breakdown that would cause trouble.

Dealt seldom with Fuller, but when I needed a warranty replacement footswitch for my Fat Boost he had it here in the Midwest within 3 working days. He may be curt and surly with people occasionally, but I sure can't fault the speed of his response.

I've played guitar for close to 30 years now and play a variety of stuff; I think this will work well. Originally bought it used for $90.00 at a Guitar Center, then really had no use for it since I was playing multichannel amps with plenty of sonic options. Sold it, put a Voodoo Sparkle Drive on my pedalboard for a mild distortion option to add to my clean sounds. Bought the Top Hat to rediscover a little simpler way of doing what I do, and found that no overdrive pedal I had sounded right with it. Borrowed this back from the friend I sold it to and it sounded great, so I bought it back. Sold the Voodoo and bought an old style Burn Unit for high gain tones. I'd more than likely buy this again if lost or stolen, but the Tone Pump or new Burn Unit would get a look too. I would love a way to toggle the red channel into a denser, gainier distortion, but at most non-wedding-band volume levels there's probably adequate gain here for most rock, aside from Nu Metal or industrial stuff. This pedal is great for a lot of Steely Dan types of moderate gain rock music; most of "Two Against Nature"'s tones sound like they came through the use of a Fulldrive. Definitely makes music, not trouble. I'm waiting for the excitement to settle a little before trying to get my hands on the Distortion Pro, which sounds like a real winner.

This is a follow up to my other review. I recently found out how to convert the newer flat mids models to the older NFM style. It's easy enough, all you have to do is cut one wire, and the FM circuit is defeated! I replaced the overdrive pot with a push/pull pot that switches between the two modes and viola! Don't waste your $$ on an overpriced TR100 on ebay, buy a new FDII and do this simple mod. The midrange hump in the green mode is similar to my old ts-9, and there is more gain available, the boost mode is un-affected by the mod. I reccomend using a push/pull pot to switch between the two modes, it increases the versatility of this pedal and is totally reversable. The mod can be done within an hour and with only having to purchase a P/P pot fo around $13, I highly recommend it!

Pretty strait-forward here. Anyone who knows how multi-channel pedals work will have 0 problems here

I have to go with a 10 in this category. I even went in to this review wanting to be critical, but in my experience with this pedal, a 10 is as critical as I can get. I am a guitar major at college and have spent many years playing through all sorts of different stuff - Marshall, Mesa, Hughes and Kettner, etc. - This pedal has made all the difference in putting my tone over the top. I use this for its sweet warm overdrive and then kick in a Rat and it screams - Very happy!

Looks solid as a rock and haven't had any problems yet - good craftsmanship.

Looks like Mike and the gang out at Fulltone is approachable enough - haven't had any problems yet.

A beautiful piece of non-digital sounding goodness. I play all different styles, and although this pedal doesn't get that "over-the-top" gain that some might be looking for, it sings, sustains, and is a real gold mine of an overdrive - THE BEST I'VE HEARD

I have had this pedal for about 2 months and I have been really impressed with how well it sounds. I have really enjoyed playing around with different sounds and I really like how versatile it is.

This pedal sounds incredible!!! The true-bypass really saves tone, where most overdrives suck tone and make a lot of noise. You can do just about anything with this overdrive.

I don't really know. Like I said, I have only had it a couple of months but it seems to be a pretty tough pedal.

I have tried to ask them questions, and tried to call them and they are pretty worthless as far as customer relations. It is really frustrating because they don't answer the phone, and they don't respond to e-mail

I don't know how many overdrive pedals I tried but this one just stands out from the rest. I play mostly rock and country in a cover band in Okc. I would most definitely buy another one.

Pretty easy to use I guess, not much different than most pedals.

My set up goes like this...Gibson ES-335>>FulldriveII>>'66 &/or '67 BF Pro Reverbs, I also use a ES-175, when in the studio. I play jazz mostly but also some funk and blues so I don't need an outrageous amount of gain. I play clean about 80% of the time and only use overdrive occasionally for a little grit ala John Scofield when soloing. Unfortunately I can't seem to warm up to this pedal, regarless of where it's set in either mode it just sounds harsh. It's the flat mids model and that may have something to do with it, I'm not sure. For rock chords and rhythm it sounds good, nice and crisp, with very good note definition, but I think it's too brittle for single note lines. I have since gone back to my original ts-9, which for what I need sounds perfect. The ts-9 sounds much more smooth, and had a better "feel". I guess I like the mid hump after all! I do like the transparency of the pedal, it doesn't mess with your eq, although a little midrange boost wouldn't hurt, it helps cut through the mix better. I have a feeling that the older, orange model FD would be a better match for what I need, but they don't make them any more, and I'm not willing to shell out $$$$ on Ebay for one. The pedal is incredibly well made and I'm thoroughly impressed with the craftsmanship, but the tone falls short somewhere. While the FDII has alot going for it that my ts-9 does not, (true bypass, comp cut, boost), the ts-9 wins out overall because of tone and feel. Chances are, for most people this pedal will be perfect, I'm just picky=) So Mike, if you do read these, you should consider offering the FDII in 2 flavors, original and flat=)

Buily like a tank, no worries here.

I've heard they're great, but I've never had to use them.

The FDII only gets a "7" because no pedal gets a "10" and I had to bump it down a little for the harshness. Great features including true bypass are a huge plus, especially for someone who only uses the pedal occasionally. Seeing that Mike Fuller appears to be a strat guy, I have a feeling the pedal is optimized for single coil pu's, and not humbuckers, but I could be wrong. If I could find an Orange FD at a reasonable price, I'd consider it, the Flat Mids one is not my cup of tea.

Very easy to use. Straight forward knobs that are very intuitive. May be a bit too senitive on the vol pot. The two switches provide a good two channel thing- great for a one channel amp

Like others have said, transparent, which I why I bought it. I play a Carvin DC135 thru a Soldano or a Carvin combo and I want to keep my tone where I've worked so hard to get it. I've used many gain based pedals and although it doesn't have the punch or the over the top nature of, say, a Sans Amp GT2, it won't add uncalculated color (although, it could it you want to go there). On that note, I was kind of hoping it would have a bit more grind in the boost setting, but if you have a quality amp set up right, at stage tube saturation this thing makes your rig sing/scream. Nice beefy, complex tones without that sterile digital sound that many of the stomps out there have. You have to play around at the sound check to find the right amp/pedal/where you stand mix. Find that and woo, bliss.

This one works fine.

Nothing to rate

This thing is one quality box! Like others have said, if you have a bad amp/axe this will only excentuate the bads. Then again, if you have a cheap shitty set up woldn't pay $200 for an overdrive pedal. Really nice compliment to a quality high gain amp, like my Soldano. Pushes the tube glow thing to where you want it to be when you want it to be there- can you ask for more? I've been on a spend it as it come in mode, as of late. If it were stolen, I would stop buying other stuff for a while to get the $ to buy another one. I'm very much a try-new-stuff-and-move-on type of guy, so for me to say that I'd buy the same thing again means a lot. Bring your amp to the store and try it out with YOURS. It's one of those finite quality (there's that word again) pieces of equipment that you'll either way love or just appreciate. I'm betting you'll love it.

BTW- i never give 10's here

I just picked this up yesterday. The vast majority of favorable reviews, here, lead me right to the unit. Well, plugged it in as soon as I got home and the thing didin't work! It's such a nice touch to see a hand applied Mike F. signature w/date and what I'm assuming is the QC guy, Bob w/date. I'm not sure what Bob was into the day he checked this one out, but for $200 and the lower producton volume boutique image thing they should at least make sure the thing works before releasing it. I'm bring mine back to the store and I'm sure the owner will take it back. I'm thinking, I should just swap it out for another one, but I'm having a hard time, out of principle, to do that. If I do, I'll submit another review that will, hopfully, cancel this one out. No excuses accepted here Mike!

4 knobs any guitarist can figure out. Volume, tone, overdrive and boost. They all do what they're supposed to do. Enough said!

I've owned my Fulldrive 2 for over 3 1/2 years so I feel fairly competent in my review. So, having said that, I'll say this. There is not another overdrive pedal, that I've played, that sounds as good as this one. Every tone your little tone heart desires resides in this little beauty. From a gentle tone boost, to screaming sustain at mid gain level, it's in there. Not too hard to find either. I do suggest using this pedal with a good tube amp and it'll shine.

I've stepped in this thing for over 3 years and it hasn't stepped back! Enough said. Built extremely well.

I've emailed Mike a few time and have always gotten a response within a day. I've also spoken with him on the phone and found him to be very receptive and helpful. Good guy who cares about his products and the people who use them!

For what it's designed for, you can't get a better pedal. You can throw money away with lessed-priced units, ie. Boss, Ibanez, etc., but for my nickel, this one rules!!!

Simple to use. Easy to dial in a variety of sounds.

I play a custom strat (Warmoth neck, Rio Grande pickups)through a custom built 1971 Princeton reverb. David Allen of Allen amplification built me this amp (upgraded power transformer, Reverend 1250 speaker, his "raw" feature) and it sounds unbelievable.

The GOOD: The Fulldrive 2 does a great job of producing overdrive tones in front of a clean amp. The overdrive is natural and sweet and the range runs from "just breaking up" to "violin tones". Additionally you can clean up the tone with volume knob tweaks and the tone stays true. You can get Stevie Ray here with ease. Very musical stuff.

THE BAD: The compressed mode really rolls off the highs on my strat. I completely lose all of the sparkle I treasure so much. When I switch on the Fulldrive 2 I immediately feel that I have lost the complexity of my guitar and amp. I am keenly aware that there is a pedal in the way. The mids are boosted a bit too much for my tastes as well so I don't really feel the compressed mode can be described as transparent.
The non-compressed mode is much more transparent but does not give me enough overdrive. I find myself switching to the second boost swith where the tones can get harsh.

In defense of the fulldrive, for my rig I may just be in the market for a good clean boost pedal. I would love to trade this for one of Mike Fuller's clean boost pedals.

This pedal is much better than some of the others I have owned: Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive, BOSS Blues driver, BOSS OD3, Various Tube screamers, Tube Works Tubedriver, Maxon OD etc...

I have only owned this new pedal for a month. The Fulldrive 2 looks incredibly well made though. Cool looking pedal and it was signed by Mike himself!

Never needed customer service.

This pedal just dosen't do "it" for me. I think I am going to try the Menatone Red Snapper. I have heard great things about the transparency of that pedal.

The most amazing pedal ever....Larry Carlton, Robben Ford, etc. You get that mature, in-between, hard to get gain/overdrive sounds.....

Use with a tube amp....you'll smile

i've had to tighthen the washers/etc. on the switches

he seems like a busy guy...his stuff is great, he's busy, so he's gonna be short and to the point

great for blues, jazz, rock, and heavier sounds too with humbuckers

This pedal is very easy to use. You have two channels and two led lights. You have volume tone and a really nice feature two separate overdrive's for each channel. The manual is very informative.

I am using a Gibson Les Paul Custom SG and a Dr. Z Mazerati head with a marshall vintage 30 4X12 cabinet. This pedal is not noisy at all! Has a good amount of gain and is super quite. All the controls on the fulldrive 2 dynamically affect your sound. The first being the comp cut switch which can give you a very good clean boost on the first channel and a ballsy overdriven tube amp distortion sound on the boost channel with the compression off. When you push the volume knob in you add in the compression and get a more saturated overdrive. It's nothing as saturated as distortion box's like a big muff but it's not meant to be. I can go on with all the tonal possibilities. What ever tone you want out of an overdrive pedal you can get it out of this one. I've owned a ts9 for a while and sold it when i got this thing. Ts9's are anything but transparent and muddy up your sound. The fulldrive is definately transparent. Do not expect big muff type distortion or any kind of over-saturated distortion, it's an overdrive pedal!!!

I've gigged a few times with it no problems, but don't expect any. This pedal is very well built.

Fulltone does a good job of returning e-mails quickly. I asked him if he knew anyone who could build me a good footswitch for the marshall jcm 2000 tsl 100. He didn't know anyone who could but e-mailed me quickly about that. That should say something.

I write my own songs and play in an original rock band and have been playing non-stop for 7 years. This pedal along with other fulltone affects have given me enough options to help come up with many varied tones. Options are always great and out of all the overdrive pedals on the market and believe me I've played a bunch this one is of the best quality and of the most tonal possibilities.

MIKE READS THESE!!! Very, very prompt in e-mailing me. Seems like a good guy. He was quite courteous to me considering all I wrote.

This an update on my earlier post: After speaking with Mike Fuller, who read my post, I decided to move the FD-2 around on a board. I had it between a Sparkledrive and an NS-2. I had , in that place, recieved a lot of noise and loss of tone. After switching the sparkledrive and FD-2, the problem is solved. The pedal sounds great...it is a keeper and I feel like an idiot for my earlier post. THIS IS A GOOD PEDAL...in the right position.

Tone connoisseurs:

This is quite simply the best overdrive pedal available on the market. It produces a spectrum of tones from mellow overdriven purrs all the way to compressed violin-like distortion -- compromising nothing in between.

Sounds great on rhythm as well as lead, whereas most other pedals may sound great on lead but produce an undefined blurr of noise for chords. Overdriven chords ring true with every note articulated.

Two footswitchable stages of overdrive (drive and boost) allow greater tonal flexibility without having to make changes to the knobs. And every sound you can dial up on the FD2 knobs is very useable -- turning the tone or the boost all the way up, for example, still produces a useable sound without becomeing harsh or losing tonal complexity.

What truely makes this a great pedal is its tonal transparency. I am somewhat of a tone freak, but I rely on the nuances of the guitar, pickups, and amp to define my base tone. I play a custom made alder strat with flame maple cap and maple fingerboard, using Lindy Fralin Blues Specials --> straight into a reissue 65 Twin reverb. I ordinarily stay away from pedals and gimmicks in the signal path. My clean tone is right where I want it to be, but I was looking to add some dirt to the signal. The most important thing to me is that a pedal not color the tone and take away the characteristics of my setup. The FD2 will let your true sound shine through while adding whatever level of drive you can dial up. So if you are happy with the clean sound of your rig, the FD2 will sound amazing. If you are looking for drive or distortion to cover up for ill-sounding equiment, the FD2 will probably not work any miracles.

The FD2 is also very sensitive to your playing dynamics and guitar volume changes so you can be playing calmly and cleanly for a while on the drive channel (without the drive muddying up the sound) then dig in a little harder with the pick attack and the sound will break up according to the intensity of your playing.

I've found my tone heaven with this pedal, just hoping some other tone freaks can benefit from my experience end their quest with the FD2. Tried the BD2, TS9, Jeckell & Hyde, Metal Zone (yuck), Big Muff Pi(USA) and have not been happy with any of those compared to the FD2.
Peace

I suppose it is easy. 4 knobs and lots of different tones. Decent manual, but I recommend finding your own. The only tricky part is finding a use for the comp-cut push-pull.

I got a PRS CE22 and Fender strat>morley bad horsie>VOODOO LAB SPARKLEDRIVE>FD2>compROSSer>Danelectro slap echo>boomerang>4x10 peavey classic 50. I have had this thing for 5-6 months now. I got to admit I gave into the Harmony Central Fulltone FD2 propaganda peer pressure. I listened to the sound samples and played it ,and it sounded good, but then it just sunk in how much I paid and how there are better pedals. Now, I am not that impressed. The normal and boost functions are a great idea, but I dont like the tone all that much. It lacks the balls and crisp nature of the $120 sparkledrive. I wanted a nashville>santana>srv>phish tone out of it...but I did not really get it. HOWEVER!!! I does sound good at band practice and gigging levels. It is your call. If I keep the pedal, fine. If not I'll either get a analog man ts9/808 or a BANZAI COLD FUSION (AWESOME PEDAL). THE FD2 IS EXPENSIVE HYPE. I have had it long enough to know this. As opposed to the "10" or perfect score, I give it a "so-so, eh. It is alright"

Heck yeah it is reliable. Built well

I feel (from what I have read) If Fuller read this review he would come to my house and kick my butt. I have heard he can be a little blunt/rude.

I play folk/country/jammy(phish)/blues christain music. I fits alright, but not like a SPARKLRDRIVE. I have been playing for 6 years, and it is a miracle that I could afford this thing on a college budget. If it were lost or stolen...I'd be pissed, but I'd get something else. GUYS, IM NOT TRYING TO BE A NEGATIVE JERK, BUT THIS PEDAL IS HYPE IN MY OPINION. Save less money and get a SPARKLEDRIVE($119), then save a lot of money and get a BANZAI cold fusion($199)!

Very Easy to get a good sound.
The Manual is good to show a novice how to use an overdrive.

Clapton Strat > Full Drive 2 > Soul Bender > Morley Volume/Wah > Boss RV-3 Reverb/Delay connected to SKP Powered Board then to, either, a Fender 65' RI or a Marshall JMP 2150 100 watt combo.

It's not noisy at all compared to my old BOSS, Ibanez and MXR pedals.

The Effect controls are subtle and very usable for my needs.

This pedal helps me get the sounds I like... I can't compare the sounds to any other artist since my setup is unique. I don't know another artist that uses my setup.

The overdrive is very nice and uncolored which lends to punching through the combined stage volume. I don't overdrive the rest of the group, but I can be heard distinctly folded in the sound.

It hasn't let me down and I have no reason to believe it will.

I work as an Electronics Quality Assurance Inspector (18 yr.) for a US Government Contractor in my "Day Job". I inspect high tech circuit cards and associated chassis and am used to seeing some of the finest workmanship in the world. I have seen the circuits of many amps and pedals throuhout my music equipment handlings and found Fulltones workmanship and materials to be among the best I have Ever seen. Both of my Fulltone pedals are built to exceed Mil. Spec. standards.

I would... and DO use it without a backup. If it DID quit on me in the middle of a gig... I would have to adapt. That's part of the Thrill of playing Live!

I have no doubt that Mr. Fuller would be able to get me straightened out with Any problem I may have with his pedals.

I play Classic Rock, Blues, Pop, Country, Jazz and Any other tasty tunes that catch my ear.

I've been playing since about 1965ish. Electric since about 1967. There was several years in there that playing was my Only income... I starved.

I would replace it if something happened to it.

I love that it is about the most versatile, sweet sounding pedal in a small package. It just feels comfortable to me. There isn't anything that I hate about the pedal. I like being able to have three drive options...
(1. Bypass- my guitar and amp singing in their clean voices.
(2. Overdrive- controlable sustained overdrive. (sweeten to taste)
(3. Boost- the ability to slightly pump up the volume or drive the front end of my Twin into outer space.

I can't think of anything that would make This pedal better.

It is one of my most used tools.

I have owned a Lot of pedals. I found myself buying every "Hot" pedal on the market since 1970. I found that most of the pedals were junky and weren't worth the money I paid for them. This IS an exceptional pedal. If you are looking for an Over Drive, pay a few extra pennies for this one and you'll have a true Modern Classic to hand down to your Grand Child.

It does what it was designed and built to do Very Well!

Fulltone makes World Class Pedals. You won't regret buying it.

This unit is simple enough. 4 knobs, Volume (w/ Compression Cut push/pull switch), Tone, Overdrive, and Boost. 2 channels, Vol, Tone, OD for Green channel, Boost for Red.

You'll understand below why I rated this category 5.

Hamer Mirage II -> Blackstone MOSFET OD -> Dyna Comp -> FD 2 -> Boss Octave -> Dunlop Mr. Crybaby Super -> Boss DD-5 -> Lee Jackson Boost/Gain -> BBE 482 -> Fender Quad Reverb.
I have owned the FD-2 for about 8-9 months now and have never really liked the sound of it at all. It always seems to be lacking in ballsyness. The green channel w/ Compression on is very compressed to my ears and so does not play very well with the Dyna Comp. The Red channel with Compression on does not do all that much boosting. I found more favorable results with the Comp-cut switch pulled in that the pedal intereacted more nicely with the Dyna Comp (I get that nice initail overdriven attack followed by a cleaner sustain), and the boost definitely boosts alot in this mode. I guess my problems with it are more preferential: its just not the sound I'm looking for.
I have gotten much closer with the Blackstone: alot darker sounding, more rich, fatter. I think most people like the uncolored sound of the FD-2, but to my ears it sound almost like my guitar tone in the foreground, with overdrive in the background, as opposed to the two being layered together.
My biggest complaint however is in the design of the pedal. The knobs are fairly close to the pedals, and so I have found my foot hitting the volume knob on numerous occaisions, either bumping up the volume or bumping the Comp-Cut switch to off (a problem I alleviated by placing twist-ties around the shaft of the knob so that the thing could not be pushed down.) The Blackstone has taken the other extreme and made the controls screw-pots that must be turned with a fingernail or guitar pick. I would seriously consider a way to control the FD-2s knobs if you want to buy one of these. A great sound doesn't count for much when you are constantly hasseling with knobs in the middle of the performance. Maybe this pedal would be better used in the studio.

This pedal looks to me to be very solid, both internal and externally.
I do use this without a backup.

I've never dealt with Mike Fuller.

I play mostly jam-style music. We like to try out all sorts of genres. Basically, if its interesting music, from whatever style, we'll play it.
As I said before, the FD-2 just wasn't the sound I was looking for. I'm much happier with the Blackstone, but I don't consider my dislike of the FD-2 to be indicative of bad craftsmandship on the part of Fulltone, I'm sure this pedal would sound great for some people, just not me.
I will probably hang on to this pedal just because I'm kind of a gear pack rat. Maybe I'll let someone else in the band give it a try.
Basically, if you bought a Fulltone and didn't like it either, give the Blackstone a try. I've heard Klon makes a nice unit as well.

It isn't too hard to get this thing to sound good, but it takes a little bit of tweakin'. The comp-cut lean boost is very easy even though I don't us it too much.

Various Strats > '70 Fuzz > FD 2 > Philpott tych octavia > BF Fender Pro. I've already sold my TS9\808. Don't get me wrong, I love my TS9, but the FD2 is just more cost effective, & IMHO sounds just as good or better. Now lets keep in mind that my amp sounds awesome to begin with. I believe that is the secret of the FD2. Tube Screamers color your tone just enough to help a bad amp sound good, but if you already like your tone the FD2 is awsome. I never had chance to use 2 TS in series, which I've heard is the shit, but I'd rather not spend almost $300 dollars when I can get more features in the FD2. The day I bought this pedal I only had about 15 minuted to mess with it & then I had a gig to play.Just for kicks I brought it & put it in my chain. It was the foundation of my sound the whole night.I'm hooked!!!!!

This is a beautiful pedal inside & out!! Even if I had a choice I would feel safe with this pedal.

Never dealt with Mike

I play newer blues rock like Doyle Bramhall, Kenny wayne, jonny Lang or SRV. I use this where I would have used my TS.If it was lost I would cry like a little girl because I am a broke college student & probably couldn't afford another one right away. This pedal has become my foundation.

This isn't brain surgery. It is VERY easy to dial up a good sound right away. A minor complaint is the comp-cut feature. I understand what it does & why the pedal becomes so much "louder" when cut. I can only say that I wish there was an auxiliary switch for this feature and a buffered output (either to boost the compressed signal, or to reduce the non-comp'd tome). I'm a natural born tweaker, and I basically spend an entire gig getting everything "just right", just in time to pack it up and go home. I gig with the FD2 & one of my Tube Screamers ( either an 808, a TS9/808modded, and a TS9 that actually sounds better than the 808's with its "cheezy" chip). unmodded with one of the really emarrassing chips). Each of these pedals does have its own personality, but the TS's seem to be more forgiving (I can set them up once and use the same sound all night). The FD2 requires constant adjustment in order to maximize its available tones. This is kind of a bummer since I'd really like to use a single pedal for everything.

I won't rehash all the praise this thing gets, because it's all true. This pedal sounds great for most people. This is assuming the player is also great. I seem to remember a saying about not being able to polish a turd...

I will save my comments for what I feel are the things lacking in this pedal. First, I think this pedal gives an excellant variety of rhythm tones. Its very responsive to my playing. Sadly, the thing I feel is missing is the lush syrupy tone for leads. I'm a strange type of player, I guess. I play in a blues/jazz/alt/rock/jam band kind of situation, so you'd expect a mellower sound. But in my leads, I really like the feel/sound of using 2 tube screamers together. Its not necessarily the distortion I'm after, but the clipping/compression that naturally occurs when these pedals are abused in this manner. I don't expect this pedal to act like it was two pedals, but even when used alone - it's not quite the same feel. Duh!! After all its a different pedal from a different company. But the literature does claim that the FD2 is a "Tube Screamer eater". For the most part it lives up to this reputation. It just seems that a single Tube screamer can cover more of this ground that the FD2 can (eith in the green or red mode). It almost seems like that point between the green and red, just skips over my "sweet" spot altogether.

Again, I still have to go with a very high rating. I only wish there was a control for the amount of compression we can squeeze out of each channel (the comp & comp cut built-in just doesn't do it for my leads). I know it was designed this way to reduce noise/hum, but I'm willing to suffer through a little noise for this. Also, for people like me, it would be cool if the pedal was designed to act like 2 seperate pedals running together in series. I'm sure 2 "green" channel FD2's would produce a perfect tone for me (I'm just not about to buy another one of these pedals at almost $200). Also, I must confess that I'm a little bit of a tinkerer (having modded and built some pedals from scratch). So when I got this thing almost 2 years ago, my first thought was to crack it open and experiment with different chips a la the TS mods and/or clone the "green channel" circuit, so I could replace the red one (achieving a sort of dual TS tone in one box - HEAVEN). What a schemer I am... But, when I got the pedal home and sat down to map it out I discovered that the circuit board is covered in some kind of epoxy paste. Since I did not want to sacrifice my new prize, and did not have access to an X-ray machine. I abandoned this idea. Pretty smart idea for Fulltone to protect themselves thisway. I didn't want to profit of his ingenius design, but I am a little concerned about the possibility of something going bad or getting fried. I'm a do-it-myselfer and I like to have access to the components in my personal property. But, I can't blame him at all, I'd probably do it myself if I were in the business of making and designing pedals. Again, 99.99999% of you will love this thing to death. I can personally get through a gig and still feel good about it, even If I do miss my "2nd pedal lazy man crutch".

Never had a problem. The pedal seems well built and weel constructed. Furthermore, if the switches or pots ever go bad they are very easy to access/replace. I've not had to go through any of this in the 2+ years I've used this pedal. I've read a bunch of these reviews and have seem quite a few people complain about the reliability of this pedal (specifically the switches). I just want to say that they might call them "stomp" boxes, but it only takes a little tap. My experience with my Fulltone products tells me that other users either have a particularly bad box from the factory, or they practive jumping jacks on their switches. I believe someone commented in another review that they'd rather go through warranty/repair with Fulltone, then with another Mega-Corporation-Too-Big-To-Care-About-You-the-Consumer. I'd have to 2nd this, from all accounts I've heard it is clear that Mr Fuller values his reputation for making superior music products.

I've never had a problem, and I've been using the thing for years. Hopefully, I will never have to deal with the Fulltone company, but from these other reviews, I feel comfortable knowing that they are there if needed.

Jazz/Rock/Blues/Alt/Funk Jam Band-y. Nothing too loud, too angry, or too wimpy. I've played for a little over 15 years. Current "live" rig is... Home made strats (Warmoth, etc...), Homemade Tele, Ibanez Lawsuit Artist, and Taylor Koa Acoustic. These drive one of these pedals (TS9, TS808/9, FD2) and a Fender '63 Reverb Reissue looped through a 100watt Marshall PLexi Super Lead (very clean amp - sometimes with or without jumpers if I could ever make up my mind on whether I like it or not). Ocaasionally, I'll run stereo through my Plexi & 70's Fender Twin (which has EVm speakers that way about a million pounds - so it has to be a special gig). As fra as this pedal goes it fits right in to my existing rig perfectly, but I really wanted to replace my Tube Screamers. It sure would be nice to have one little box to step on on stage instead of 2 or 3. Maybe a little bit more compression when in normal mode would help this for me. I think this Tube Screamer like comp[ression was intentionally left out to help reduce any extra noice that might creep into the signal path. Again, a litle extra noise doesn't bother me as much as the feeling of no gain. Tube screamers are popular because they seem to play themselves & provide little resistence for your strings to sustain. I guess I keep getting hung up on this aspect, although I do feel the pedal is almost as good as it gets in the analog distortion world.

Like most effects of this grade, you have to play with it. The manual doesn't say much if you want an original tone, it has the "Stevie Ray" TS 808 setting and one more setting called fusion, so the manual don't do me a lot of good! It has a function called "Comp-Cut" which is a push/pull pot, it cleans it up quite a bit so it can be used as a clean boost.

I mainly use a late '90's tele with Seymour Duncan Nashville Studio pickups, and a strat with Lace Sensors into a '63 Brown face Princeton or a Budda Super Drive 30, no other effects besides the Fulltone. It hasa very light overdrive when the boost is off, have you ever heard the Counting Crows? Yeah, thats the tone, or some of the Tom Petty stuff also. Very natural with the Princeton, the Budda takes it well, but much more of a modern sound. The comp-cut switch tosses a wrench in the tone, it makes it kind of sharp and ice pick like, but if you like the classic American amp/Telecaster tone as I do, it can be used sometimes. I also heard that Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes uses this pedal, I can hear it on the records but it's not quite that thick. This pedal is great for chord work, but not perfect for leads.

I always gig without a backup, probably because I can't afford a back up now!

I bought it from Analog Man (ww.analogman.com), Mike is the greatest, I have NEVER had any problems contacting him even thought I'm sure he is a busy man. I will always by my effects through Analog Man. I never tried to contact Mike Fuller, I've heard people have mixed emotions.
So for "Analog Man" Mike, on a scale of 1 to 10, Mike is a 15, but Fuller I have no idea.

I play folk/rock, country, classic rock, blues, classic R&B, and modern rock. I own many other stomp boxes, some of my most used pedals are a mid '70's MXR Distortion+, TS 9, Big muff Pi, Analog Man modded Fazz Face (awsome pedal, see review) an Expandora(three knob version), and a little pedal called a Black Cat Freddy Fuzz (also a great thick fuzz tone). I'm not going to say run out and buy a Fulldrive II, it is not for every one. It is great for country, but for rock or blues, by an analog man fuzz face. I really don't think that it's worth $200, I would not have bought it for a dime more than $165. My advise if you are looking to purchase a Fulldrive II pedal is to go out and buy a few records with this kind of effect on it, records like "August and Everything After" by the Counting Crows and for the stiffer tones of the Fulldrive "By Your Side" by the Black Crowes, maybe it's a crow(e)s thing? I personaly wouldn't buy this pedal again, but on the other hand, I'm not going to sell since it is wonderful for chord work and I bought it for $165!

It's really easy to operate. It has enough features to keep tweakers happy, but not enough to discourage a plug and play kinda guy. 4 knobs: Volume, Tone, Overdrive, and Boost. There are 2 switches, one for the overdrive and the other is a "boost", which acts kinda like a 2nd channel. Another cool feature is the clean boost mode, which is activated by pulling the volume knob up. The manual is okay, but not entirely necessary in my opinion, although I do like the sample settings that Mike describes.

I'll get my current setup out of the way:
American Tele -> Fulldrive 2 -> Boss DD-5 -> Ernie Ball Volume -> Fender Twin Reverb.

Here's the story (and a giant yawn fills the room...)--

Okay, if you know the Twin, then you know that thing does NOT distort at any reasonable volume. That's fine, because hey... that's the nature of that particular amp. But sometimes I like to play rock (a la Quicksand, Helmet, Hum, etc.) and I needed an great overdrive to compliment the incredible clean tones of the Twin...

I tried the Sparkle Drive by Voodoo Labs, and I must admit, it sounded pretty good. Very funky, and decent growl...but it just didn't do the trick for me. I used to have the Daddy-O by Danelectro, and for its price, sounded okay...kinda cheesy but okay. Ibanez TS-9? Good sound, but come on, everbody seems to have this pedal, and I can't help but to think that it's overrated (IMHO, it is!). Then there's Fulltone's Fulldrive 2. Here's another one that's highly praised...but after plugging it in, I know why! It's just so much more versatile than the TS-9. You want blues, you got it. Its simple to dial in a great blues tone. The overdrive channel, or first channel as some would call it, is capable of some heavier sounds as well. Not brutal/nasty 5150 style distortion, but good throaty distortion to deep "buzzsaw" sounding growl. I've never heard such good tones come out of a overdrive stompbox. The Fulldrive doesn't seem to color the tone of my amp, it sounds very natural...I think it's what the Twin would sound like if it could break up. I do agree with the guy before me when he said that the quality of your rig determines the sound quality of the Fulldrive. If you use this on a shitty Peavey combo, you probably won't get a good sound. But use it with a decent tube amp, and you're more apt to get a good sound. I wouldn't recommend using this with any solid state amp. This is by far the best overdrive on the market, but again, this is just my opinion. Everyone hears things differently, and this is especially true with distortion.

It's built very well, with the jacks and pots mounted on the chassis, instead of the PC board. Looks like it's gonna hold up for quite a while.

I've never had to deal with Fulltone's customer support. Some people seem to love Mike, others think he's an asshole. I really can't comment on his service, but either way, he makes fantastic stompboxes.

I can't give any piece of equipment a "10"...nothing's perfect. But the Fulldrive is certainly the best OD, hands down. It seems to compliment my rig very well...kinda like the Twin's long lost preamp! Very worthy of all the buzz. If you're interested in overdrive/distortion, give it a shot. Sure it's a little on the expensive side, but if you value your tone, this is the only way to go.

Simple. Can dial in 2 separate gain levels so you can have a gritty tone or a biting solo tone. Kool. Don't mess with the comp cut, it'll tear your head off.

Makes any amp sound great (just like me!). Not noisy (no unnecessary HISS). Great sound at any setting. Makes even my polytone sound like a cranked up ol' Fender amp.

Still new so can really comment. Looks to be exceptionally well built, probably why they cost a bit more than other pedals. Definitely worth the $.

N/A

Best pedal for blues, rock, fusion, or wherever tasteful overdrive is needed. I've used Ibanez tubescreamer, boss pedals, ProCo rat, SIB varidrive, any many others but this beats 'em all. Thank you Mike Fuller.

Like you need another review, right??? Oh well, my 2 cents...

It's a pedal - very easy. 4 knobs, two footswitches, not much to figure out.

My disclaimer...I'm not really much of a distortion pedal guy. I've used a Chandler Tube Driver Rack Mount and a Tech-12 GT-2, but that's about it as far as distortion. No wait, I've also got an ancient EH Muff Fuzz that I used to use for direct recording.

The Fulldrive 2 has lost of good sounds, but I suspect it depends heavily on your basic guitar/amp sound. That is, if your basic sound is good, this will sound good. I doubt it will 'fix' crappy sound.

The first channel is very Tube Screamer like (at least from what I understand). Simple overdrive, you can back off the guitar volume and keep it fairly clean and crank it a dirty it up more. Excellent SRV thing happening there. The boost channel is a different story: much dirtier, but very smooth. Surprisingly, I was able to get lead sounds similar to Ritchie Blackmore on the Machinehead-era lps. Since I love that sound I was pleasantly surprised.

I mainly use the Fulldrive with a Mesa Blue Angel and a Fender Strat. To be honest I use it sparingly, but it's really nice to have with a single channel amp. It doesn't muddy things up tonaly - the guitar and amp are still very much the main sound, as opposed to some pedals which sound very processed.

Heavy case, solid footswitches, inside it's very clean and looks very well made. I don't bring a backup to gigs, although it's not an absolute critical element to my sound.

Haven't tried to contact Fulltone.

A great pedal - future clasic ;) ?? I like the sound of some of the Ibanez Tube Screamers and the TS-808 pedals, but with the $$ they're going for I would *much* sooner opt for one of these.

I play a wide variety of music, and this adds real nicely to the sounds I can get.

I've been playing 26 years. The only similar effects I've owned are the Chandler Tube Driver Rackmount (also very good sounding, but not *quite* as flexible) and a sans amp GT-2 (great sounding, but not as good as an overdrive pedal).

If this disappeared I would definitely look into getting another one...used of course!

Very musical pedal - not an obstacle at all!

It's Extremely easy to get a wide variety of (excellent) sounds, and it's very responsive to subtle changes in the controls. This does mean that you should spend some time playing with it and getting a feel for it's range of control and how to skillfully manipulate the sound.

It does the job it sets out to do and does it excellently. The main reason i'm writing this review is because i spent some time searching around the net reading up on the different overdrive pedals available, and i wanted to share my findings and hopefully steer other towards the pedal that is right for them. The only pedals i was able to try in stores were this, the voodoo labs sparkle drive, and the boss odr-3. (however, there are many sound samples availble through musiciansfriend.com and tonefrenzy.com that i also perused). i used a ~73 silverface with a number of fenders & gibsons for comparisons:

-Voodoo Labs- has a very clean, transparent boost that gives the sound a nice texas-style drive. it sounds excellent as a pure clean boost (turning the 'clean' mix to 100%), and dialing in the overdriven signal sounds very nice as well. i thought it fell a little flat switching over to the 100% overdrive signal, where the sound got a bit raw and crunchy - not that this is necessarily bad, but not what i was looking for. overall, this can produce many excellent sounds, but has a more limited range of effect than i desired. at ~$110, it's worth every cent (if it does what you want)

-boss odr-3- this can make for a good lead boost, but it loses much of the guitar's original tone. the sound it makes is pretty good - a nice balance of smooth & crunchy - but it will definitely disguise your guitar and color the sound for any other pedals. for ~$60, a good buy.

-fulldrive 2- the main qualities that i was looking for were transparancy of effect, range of tonal palette, and quality of overdrive. this pedal is a perfect marriage of those traits. from 0-100% overdrive brings the signal from a pure clean boost to a great blues lead, and the boost feature manages to kick up the sound into an amazing lead that can cut through the mix yet still remain smooth and round sounding. the comp-cut feature is nice for when you want to preserve the full attack of your playing, or you can turn it off to smooth things out. my only complaint, which i've seen pop up in a few other reviews and is the reason i can't rightfully give this a 10, is that the overdrive does lose some of the fullness of the bass. it's hardly a drastic change and might not even be noticeable in a band setting, but it should be mentioned nonetheless. at $189, it's an expensive pedal, but you definetely get what you pay for.

all three of the pedals had a small amount of noise, but it was virtually negligible. as for other pedals, the klon was out of my price range, but from the sound samples it seems to be a much better clean boost than the fulldrive, but very limited in range. i also talked to a guitar tech about the visual sound rt 66 - which he says is comperable to the fulltone in having a range of effect, but the cheaper price tag on it doesn't buy the same quality of sound or workmanship (which seems to concur with the sound samples). there were a number of other pedals that i read about & listened to, but the fulltone was a keeper. **note** i really wanted to try out the nobels odr-1 or odr-s, but no one in cleveland has ever heard of them, much less has one in stock to try out. it's a $40 pedal which consistently arises in overdrive discussions in comparison to the fulltone (for better or worse, depending on the person), and is definitely worth checking out if you can find one.

the pedal is extremely solid and seems like it could take quite a beating. i haven't had it long enough to comment on road wear and the like, but i'll definitely run around without a backup.

if i were using anyone else's scale, i'm sure this pedal would have received straight 10's, but i like to leave the extremes open for something i missed or might find in the future. i am completely satisfied with my purchase and would highly recommend that anyone at all interested in this pedal find a dealer and give one a test drive. please feel free to contact me with any questions concerning the pedals i've discussed.

IT JUST GETS EASIER THE MORE YOU USE IT

HAVE HAD MORE TIME TO PLAY WITH THIS PEDAL NOW AND COPARE IT TO MY OTHER OVERDRIVES. I AM NOT DISSAPOINTED. ITS A GREAT PEDAL. BETTER BY FAR THAN MY BOSS SD-1 (TIAWAN MODEL WITH A JRC4558 CHIP) AND I ALSO HAVE A BOSS SD-1 MODIFIED BY ANALOGMIKE AND THAT IS A GREAT PEDAL TOO. I SWITCH BETWEEN THE FULLDRIVE AND THE ANALOGMIKE BOSS SD-1 AS THEY BOTH GIVE DIFFERENT SOUNDS. THE FULLDRIVE DOES SEEM TO ADD (BRING OUT!) SOME REALLY SWEET HARMONICS IN THE SOUND AND APPEARS TO LET ME REALLY CONTROL THE FEEDBACK. OF COURSE FOR ALL THOSE THAT SAY "THIS ISNT A METAL PEDAL" ETC WELL THATS ALL GOTTA DEPEND ON HOW HARD YOU ARE OVERDRIVING YOUR AMP IN THE FIRST PLACE AND MORE SO HOW SOON YOUR VALVES OVERDRIVE. MINE OVERDRIVE REAL EARLY (I CANNOT GET A CLEAN SIGNAL OUT OF MY AMP UNLESS I TURN IT DOWN TO A RIDICULOUS VOLUE LEVEL) SO I CAN GET A KICKING METAL SOUND IF I WANT WITH THE FULLDRIVE. FOR THE RECORD I DONT PLAY METAL, JUST GET A SWEET OVERDRIVE WITH THIS PEDAL.

SEEMS TO BE BUILT LIKE A TANK

FURTHER TO WHAT I WROTE IN HERE EARLIER I HAVE THINK AS FAR AS I CAN GATHER THE JRC4558 CHIP HAS A LETTER "D" SUFFIX. SOETIMES "DD". ACCORDING TO ANALOG MIKES HELP THE TWO CHIPS SOUND THE SAME. I, BEING A NEWBIE TO ALL THIS WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT JRC4558 WAS A DIFFERENT CHIP TO THE JRC4558D. I NEVER HEARD BACK FROM MIKE FULLER ON THIS SUBJECT OTHER THAN THE ONE E-MAIL. BUT AS SOME PEOPLE HAVE POINTED OUT ON OTHER FORUMS IT IS NOT MIKE FULLERS PLACE TO EXPLAIN THE ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS OR HOW TO MODIFY ONE OF HIS PEDALS!
AND WOULD THE PERSON WHO E-MAILED ME WITH THE WEB ADDRESS OF THAT FORUM PLEASE MAIL IT TO E AGAIN AS I HAVE REFORMATTED AND LOST THE URL!
NONE OF THIS SHOULD DETRACT YOU FROM BUYING A FULLDRIVE2 THO, IT'S TRULY A GOD SENT PEDAL FOR PEOPLE HUNTING THAT OVERDRIVE SOUND WE HEAR EVERYWHERE ELSE!
THANKS.

AND YEP IF IT WAS STOLEN, I'D STILL STEAL YOURS!