Fulltone GT-500

Very easy to get a good sound. Standard Volume, Gain, Bass , Middle , Treble. The manual will tell you everything you need to know. Yet if it came without it, you would not need one.

Im a metal player, thrash metal ala Exodus, testament, Kreator, Metallica etc..., I use ESP guitars with EMG pick ups. The GT 500 Gives me a high gain sound that is very similar to a cranked tube amp. Very natural and responsive, chunky without sounding thin, fizzy or digital. I run an MXR Micro Amp or Fulltone Fat Boost before it and a six band Eq after it and I get very convincing thrash metal tones.

Its wierd for a metal player to go into the boutique market for pedals, but after having plyed most metal pedals like the Metal Zones, Metal Masters, Uber metals etc....you realiza that the tones those pedals provide are utter crap. The only good mass produced matal pedal is the MXR DOuble Shot Distortion.

Havin both the GT 500 and the DoubleShot on my board lets have the best of both worlds in terms of metal tones. The GT 500 provides a very round and smooth cranked tube amp gain sound that reminds me of Dream Theater, Testament and Metallica (very boogie like), the DoubleShot provides the razor sharp in your face tones of pantera and megadeth.

I run it into a PEavey XXL solid state head. The volume and headroom of this pedal is insame, palm mutes just jump of the guitar strings with complex harmonics and the notes have incredible amounts of sustain.

The boost side is awsome to use for lead playing or add a liitle gain for solos.

The pedal is a little noisy but a use a Samrt gate and that takes care of the hisss. I also dont run the gain past half way. Dont see why anyone would need to play with so much gain. It just makes things unclear and undefined.

I own other fulltone pedals and they are built like tanks. Would gig without back up. They feel and look very tough.

Ive contacted them with questions and Ive always had reply. Very kind and friendly people. Fulltone is a great company.

I play thrash metal and Ive been playing for over 18 years. Ive played many brands of amps, guitars and pedals. Fulltone is very top of the line. I would buy it again. I compared the GT500 to a Dmage Control Demonizer, Mesa Boogie V Twin (excelent)and some other non boutique type pedal. The GT 500 came out on top.

Very easy to get a wide variety of useful boost, gain, and distortion sounds out of this unit. Not much of a manual, but the control layout is excellent and all controls are self-explanatory.

My signal path is:

Strat/SG/Tele/Les Paul/ES-135-->Dunlop 535Q Cry Baby-->Fulltone GT-500-->76 MXR Noise Gate/Line Driver-->Mesa Express 5:25

I have a Boss GT-8 going through the effects loop of the Mesa.

All the amp models OD-distortion settings on the GT-8 sounded like absolute trash (going through the loop) and I really spent some time trying to fix them up with EQ, but to no avail.

The Express has a WIDE variety of excellent sounds from very clean to everything else with the exception of mega-gain. BUT, there are only two channels. Like most in need of a third (gain) option in a song, I tried my old ???74 Script logo MXR Distortion +. It really sounded pretty poor going into the Mesa; always sounded much better with my Twin.

I have been using the GT-500 for only a couple of weeks. Overall, I am very impressed. Working in conjunction of a clean or overdriven channel on the Express, it allows me to play around with three different gain structures. For example, I might start with the Mesa switched to the crunch mode of Channel 1 with the Gain setting at 3:00 and the Master at 8:00. Then add the OD side of the GT-500, then add the Distortion side of the GT-500. Between the combinations that are possible on the GT-500 and the possible combinations on the Mesa, there are nearly and endless number of gain possibilities.

There is a BIG difference as a function of guitar pickups, especially on the gain knob on the Boost/OD side of the GT-500. I need the gain knob full up to get much crunch on the Vintage Noiseless on my Amer. Strat. The Burstbuckers on the Les Paul start to get noticeably dirty at about 12:00.

Sure looks solid inside and out. I have only had the unit one month.

Never dealt with them yet.

I play rock and blues. My cover band does mostly 70s, 80s, and 90s rock variety (female vocal) music.

The GT-500 provides a nearly endless set of options for boost/gain and distortion. It has filled the need I had for a third channel option with my Mesa Express. I have been playing for nearly 45 years and have a collected a variety of electric guitars '69 SG Standard, '91 American Standard Strat, 01' ES-135, 02' American Standard Tele, and a '05 Les Paul Standard. I have a '73 Twin Reverb in excellent condition. I alos have variety of vintage MXR pedals form the early-mid 70's, but have used a GX-700 and how a GT-8 for effects.

I would definitley have to replace this unit if lost or stolen.

Simple to use pretty straightfoward

I'm not sure about the bad ratings, I think this is the best pedal I've ever owned out of more than 50 over the years. The boost side is a clean boost till you turn up the drive but still is pretty transparent. The distortion side has everything you want - touch sensativity, nice distortion, gain (plenty!). Secondly the tone controls are very reactive - you can boost or cut with little effect on the other ranges. The pedal sounds best at stage volumes which is the opposite of many other brands. The only possible complaint is that is one type of distortion and cannot be changed too much even with EQ. But, it's probably the best I've heard - very organic - sounds like a great tube amp channel.

If you've owned any Fulltone product you know the score in this category!

Never used it - never had to!

I'll give it a 9 because of the one dimensional distortion. I happen to really like it but others may be looking for a different sound.

I am VERRRRRYY happy with this pedal. I waited forever and it was worth it. All the knobs and switches are easy to use but it does take time to get the tone just right. EQing this beast is not easy. I just found out today from Mike Fuller himself that there are three mods to the GT that will make the tone more managable and the distortion smoother, Yea!!!! Manual is straight forward and helpful.

What sold me in the beginning was that the boost side was independant of the distortion side. I needed to be able to boost my clean settings on both my Mesa's and a Marshall and boost the OD as well. The OD of this pedal is awesome. I don't know why some other user's were not pleased. I am not looking for some ambigious, in between sound. Get that from your main amp and set this one for balls to the walls and forget about it! The switch for boost/distortion is neet but I found what worked best for me and thats where it stays. It is very quiet and all my guitars sound great with it, LP, PRS, Strat and Tele.

Like everybody else has said, it is a tank. I like the design and the buttons are located to where they are easily engaged without bothering the knobs.Have only had it several months but I get the feeling that when I'm long gone from this earth some lucky guy will walk away from my estate sale and it will last his lifetime too!

Mike is extremely helpful and after I emailed him on how happy I was with my 500 he responded with some great tips on how to make some small mods. That will be a weekend project as soon as I can get to a electronic's shop. All hand built and hard wired so I am sure it will last long time.

I play a lot of rock and blues style Christian music. I go from very clean and chimmey to OD to the max. Been picking for about 30 years and am an extreme gear freak. This pedal put all my other OD pedals out to pasture. I don't feel the EQ is real responsive but I will have to wait and see what these mods will reveal. I also just got a RetroMan Kopy Kat delay. I am big on anything analog, so the two pedals along with my CryBaby is a great combo. I think a tube amp definitly makes this pedal sound better, but with the right EQing it would be great in a SS amp as well!

Easy to use, it's 2 pedals. the left is a clean Boost, damned great one BTW, and the right side is a smokin rich sounding OD to Screaming Distortion

I played an early GT-500, Fulltone's definitely changed it, because the early one was BRIGHT, bright bright, and mine is warm, phat, singing. Smooth as Holdsworth if I want it. With the magic Inductor Midrange, I have every sound I want, for every GUITAR I have...Tele, strat, to Les Paul.This is unbelievable, and it mates up with all other devices because Fulltone was smart enough to give it FET buffered IN's and OUT's when it's one, true bypass when it's offyou can see the circuit inside, no Goop !

There is never any question about that when it comes to Fulltone.

alway fast, helpful to me over the years, but then again, i don't ask for endorsements or try and steer 'em towards my myspace clips either.

I'd buy it for the right Hi-Gain side alone.
Don't let this fool you though, the right side does the best super low-mid gain "simulated tube amp OD" sounds I've ever heard, in fact, I never use the Distortion knob past 11 o'clock. there's so much gain available.

Pretty straight forward but offers lots of options and a plethora of tonal variations .

Wonderful rich tones available , with a sweeping highly detailed midrange control . It has 2 tone boxes built into 1 , everything from a nice boost to full on shred .

Fulltones are built like tanks , this should last forever .

Always helpful and there when you need it .

a truly amp-like pedal offering unlimited tonal control and gain , it seems to fit perfectly in many situations . Awesome stompbox !

Excellent - covers whole range of overdrive and distortion. Very musical EQ to tailor sound to almost anything.

I never post reviews on HC (too lazy - i'm bad) but I saw the bad reviews on here and simply had to post. I am simply astonished at these reviews - my best guess is most of these guys play classic rock and were after tube pushing overdrive rather than distortion?

In my opinion, with my gear (vintage tele and gibson) through a modded budda amp this pedal is quite simply the finest distortion pedal I have EVER PLAYED, and I've played most of the expensive stuff. In fact this is the first pedal to have a distortion as natural sounding as my budda amp - the first distortion I've found that's good enough to replace my amp's distortion.

The first boost half of the pedal has an incredibly organic breakup, if you hit a note and leave it ringing you can hear it break up in an irregular way - very amp like. It has a wonderful overdrive/crunch.

The second distortion half is the holy grail of distortion for me - the EQs can be used to attain many distortion sounds - I can get it to clone my DAM Ram's Head (the finest big muff replica around, no longer made actually) only with not quite as much sustain, but definitely as good sounding. It can do the budda amp distortion, and a bunch of other tones. It just sounds so full - it's amazing.

This pedal is so good I can sell my budda get a fender amp and just use pedal for distortion/overdrive - this coming from someone who bought a boutique amp with the best distortion he could possibly find.

Looks indestructable.

Never used them. I want to hug them though.

Best and most versatile distortion pedal I have ever used, by a *** damn mile. The only distortion pedal I feel is good enough to make me switch from amp distortion.

The GT is very easy to use, simply 2 stomp boxes in one with a switch to change cofiguration of distortion before or after.

I expected the ratings for this pedal to be higher but, as I can see what works for one person does not always work for another. Do you remember the old saying "try before you buy". With that said.. this pedal works fantastic for me and my set up. Unlike one of the reviewers below I will take this over my Xotic RC or my BB booster. The booster channel on the GT500 is really organic and huge sounding I also understand that every pedal is an aquired taste. The GT 500 sounds unlike any of my other pedals and to me this is a good thing. I also have the OCD which sounde nothing like the GT. The distortion channel on the GT sounds big, raw and nasty.. I like it. The pedal seems to be quiet and well made too. I am using the boost channel to boost my other drive pedals and it is sounding great, for me it is a keeper. My amp is a Genz Benz El'Diablo C60 combo (tube amp.) I have more effects than I can list here and have been playing for 40 years, my guitar is a modified strat wiith an EMG SA pick up system. I understand that everyones rig is different... this pedal sounds awesome with mine.

I have had my OCD since they first came out and it works like new. The GT 500 seems very sturdy and should hpld hold up well.

Never needed them... this is a good thing!

I bought this pedal based on outstanding reviews in magazines and I have not been dissapointed, It is a great beefy open raw and wild yet refined sound. You would have to hear my rig to understand.

Very easy to use.. 2 channels boost and distortion. distortion side has an eq volume and drive, boost/od has volume drive and bass n treble.

this is where it lost me. I've owned many amps and pedals. rack units etc.. i'm a professional guitar player.. i've been playing for 25 years and professionally for 17 years.. playing guitar is my job.. i play covers so i need a wide spectrum of sounds..
i've been using the carl martin plexitone for the past year.. it's amazing. not a bad tone to be had.. someone spilled a drink on it and it fried.. while it's getting fixed i figured i'd try a new pedal.. (like all of us even when we find what we're looking for we still look for something better. lol) well i'd been following this pedal for a year. when it finally hit the market i couldn't wait to try it.. it came last night i plugged it into my fender deluxe and it was horrible.. (I've had this happen w/some fenders before) but i gave it the benefit of the doubt. so i brought it to my gig put it in my pedal board and played it. i play through a marshall plexi head with a marshall cabinet from the 60's that has 2 30's and 2 greenbacks. ( as you know any od pedal sounds good through a plexi) i used my p.r.s. and it was horrible. plugged in my L.P. and still horrible.. i tried every setting every combination. i could not find a good sound.. everything sounded compressed and too much distortion. when u lower the drive you have no sustain. the od channel was horrible also. when used as a boost it would just saturate and as an od it sounded like ?? well ass.
DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY GO FOR THE CARL MARTIN PEDALS THEY'RE AMAZING AND IN THE SAME PRICE RANGE.. SORRY C.M. FOR LEAVING YOU...

don't know. i'm getting rid of it ASAP.
SEEMS TO BE BUILT WELL THOUGH

DON'T WAST YOUR MONEY.. THIS THING IS HORRIBLE..........

Very easy to use

I have no explanation here, this thing sounds terrible. The OCD and distortion Pro were pretty good. Go figure. Some people are going to have trouble accepting this because so many Fulltone products are great. This must be a case of "it looked good on paper it surely will sound great"

I've never had problems with any of my many fulltone products

no experience never had a failure (knock on wood)

Did not buy it---I wish it lived up to the hype--- but hype is 85% of the pedal market