Fulltone GT-500

Very straightforward. As easy to use as Fulldrive, Box of Rock, Tube Screamer, Tube King, etc, and much easier to dial in than the Radial ToneBone Classic - Would have loved the same Midrange control for the boost side and maybe even a Fulldrive type switch to go 'Vintage' or 'Comp Cut', etc.

I have been building pedals for years and playing the guitar most of my life (I am 31 years old).

First off, I would like to say that I believe that people who truly LOVE Fulltone products as I do have a certain ear for tone, being a little darker and warmer.
Eric Johnson is a great example of this. He happens to be my favorite guitar player, so maybe my ears are tuned right into what Mike Fuller is doing. I front a band I don't write that style, My writing resembles Sigur Ros, U2, Doves, Jeff Buckley, etc.
I have owned close to 100 pedals and I have never bought into 'Analog' snobbery...BUT it just so happens that Analog usually wins my ear over. Ither Fulltone Pedals I have owned are:

Fulltone OCD
Fulltone FatBoost
Fulltone Fulldrive II
Fulltone Fulldrive II Mosfet
Fulltone Soul Bender
Fulltone Octafuzz
Fulltone ChoralFlange
Fulltone Mini Deja Vibe
Fullton Tube Tape Echo

And now the Fulltone GT-500

Certain people will not like this pedal, for better or worse, just what the individuals ear is tuned to (tone-wise). I do not like trebly tone, so Fulltones darker tone right out of the box is perfect for my ear.

The boost side is WAY more useful than the Fulltone FatBoost, which is another one of the many I have owned.
I can get just enough grit out of the boost side to add character to my playing.

The Distortion side makes an incredible OverDrive.
Sorry to say, but I disagree with most of the reviews posted here when it comes to this category.
I can really get an Eric Johnson or B.B. King style tone out of this pedal, Soft and Dark.

Do NOT buy this pedal and expect to play Metallica.
Do NOT buy this pedal and expect to play Creed.
Do NOT buy this pedal and expect to play Satriani.

This pedal has WAY too much character to mimic those sterile tones that the Radio feeds us.
Great pedal for BLUES, JAZZ, and especially U2 style playing (sounds phenomonal with Delay)

I am not a big fan of what I hear about Mike Fuller as a person, But I believe when it comes to tone, He is the best in the business.
My whole life I was searching for the perfect Overdrive pedals and I went through all of them (Various vintage Tubescreamers with the JRC4558D, T-rex, Radial tonebone, Ibanez Tube King, the list goes on)

I didn't find ANYTHING that matched driving an amp until I ran into FULLTONE (and Zvex)

Anyhow, Just get out there and try it. If you liked the Fulldrive Mosfet, this should at least 1up that.
You can mix the Drive and Boost and you can even switch the arrangement (Boost->Drive, Boost<-Drive)

Pedal is loud

I am playing it through an Epiphone Blues 30 (switches from 15w Class A to 30w Class A/B)
I am also Using a Zvex Box of Rock and a Pigtronix Echolution
Guitar is a butterscotch Tele Reissue (about 13 years old)

I have played other Fulltones through my former Vintage Marshall Super Lead, Orange AD30, and Orange AD30TC Combo

All Fulltone pedals are built very well. NEVER had any issues.

YES, I would use it at a gig without backup...actually, I plan to.

Never dealt with them, but they don't respond to my emails and I have heard so many nightmares about Mike Fullers head being the size of Jupiter...If his ego is huge because he makes the best stuff, then it makes sense.
They ignored a bunch of emails in reference to my Tube Tape Echo, then finally got one email that contained one sentance...My question WAS service related.

This may be the first Drive/Boost pedal to stay with me forever.

My music is here - www.myspace.com/thebusylights

This pedal is very intuitive as most distortions/ODs are. However, the GT-500 suffers from the same problem as the Distortion Pro: TOO much control. It's just as easy to get really bad sounds out of this pedal as it is to get good sounds, and that puts me off a little. The OCD, by contrast doesn't really have a bad sound unless the tine control is in an extreme position.

The OD/Boost side of the pedal sounds very good, but there are probably a couple dozen good boost pedals that sound just as good if not better. I was really hoping for more from the distortion side. I liked it at first, and it does sound good, but not nearly as natural as my OCD. It can get heavier, but to me that's not a good thing. The OCD has the ability to get even old-school metal tones, but you can still hear the wood of the guitar and the tone of your amp coming through. I know this is distorion and not overdrive, and maybe that should have been a red flag. It just doesn't sound as much like an amp as the OCD...but I'm sure a lot of players will like it anyway.

The Fulltone stuff is well made. Can't fault 'em there.

Never had to deal with it.

For the money, this pedal is a FANTASIC value, and it really is very versatile...so versatile that I sent it back. I just want a pedal that fattens up MY tone, and the OCD does just that. I was hoping the GT-500 would do all that but do it better, but I like the simplicity of my OCD into another boost pedal (RGW Bad Bob).

The pedal is user friendly, however the EQing takes a little tweaking to taste. The Distortion Midrange control is very powerful, tweak away!

I use this in a country rock band. The boost side works great to get a little more saturation for leads or thicken up a rhythm sound on my THD Flexi 50 amp. The distortion side took me a while to like, but I like it more every day I use it. This pedal has a natural harmonic sound, and it more than replaced my old HBE Powerscreamer. (a Nice Pedal).

No problems so far. Fulltone has a great reputation.

Never needed service.

This is a good (somewhat expensive) Distortion/Boost pedal. It is recommended highly for mid gain users like myself. It has a wide range of sounds and is very versatile. I like this unit.

Straightforward, easy to get a great sound instantly. My only criticism is that both sides of the pedal have a HUGE output. With most OD/distortion pedals, when the volume is set to 12:00 you have unity gain- in other words the level going to your amp is roughly the same with the pedal on or off. I found that unity gain was around the 9:00 position. Also, moving the output knobs just slightly created a huge jump in the sound level. I'd rather have a more gradual taper and more control.

Volume issues aside, this is the best sounding pedal I've owned. I was using two Fulltone OCDs (one for grit, one for full-on overdrive) but I like the GT-500 a lot better. (BTW, I'm not a Fulltone fanatic. I hate the Fulldrive and I thought the Distortion Pro was about the worst sounding thing I'd ever heard.) But the GT-500 really is transparent. The distortion side has that magical quality of sounding clear and hairy at the same time. You really CAN hear the sound of your amp, just with a LOT more gain. The OD/Boost is very clear but will also get into the vintage Marshall grinf zone with the gain maxed.

I used the pedal for two shows in a row last weekend, and most of the EQ controls were left flat (with a little bump on the distortion MID control). So, I have yet to really explore the GT-500's potential. Even so, right out of the box it blew everything else away. I can only imagine the other sounds this thing is capable of.

Don't know but I'm sure it's solid.

Never had to deal with him.

For $212 it's a steal. It really s two separate pedals, and each one is probably worth $200 by itself, if you look at the prices some other boutique manufacturers charge.

Well it's very easy to use pretty simple layout.

Oh well I can't tell you how psyched I was when I ordered this pedal - then how bummed I got once I plugged it in. 1st let me explain I am a Fulltone lover, I have a OCD, Choralflange, Soul-bender and a Clyde Deluxe. I was hoping I could use this pedal and sell my Klon which I use mainly as a clean boost and since they are going for $500+ now I figured I would use this and sell that. I consider the OCD the best OD/Distortion pedal in the world so I had high hopes for thes pedal. The Boost section is a joke - with the drive on 0 and the volume on 2-3 it creates distortion - who needs a boost that distorts with the drive on 0 - the tone is flat unresponsive with no dynamics. I play through a handwired JTM-45 clone and a 1963 Vibroverb clone and while the OCD is unreal this thing eats but !! Then we have the distortion side is very heavy and compressed sounding. After hearing the OCD which REALLY sounds like an amp - the GT-500 sounds identical to an MXR distortion + ala Rhandy Rhoads fizzy - dizzy distortion. Not my cup of tea and not the vintge vibe that Fulltone is known for. What a let down - I had such high hopes for this pedal and it really is so weak considering how well it's built and all the features it has.

Built like a tank light all his other stuff I have so far is great am sure it will last.

Don't know how to say it any better - such high hopes. With all the hype and guitar player editor pic awards - I am really bummed how poorly this pedal performed !!

This is a fairly simple unit to operate and as with all Fulltone products feels solid. The only problem which I will address in the next section is the claim that it is really four pedals that can be reversed.

Here is where I had some difficulties. First I have a Fulldrive 2 Mosfet that I love and it is the perfect complement for distortion when I want something else besides the Keely modified TS 808. Before getting the Fulldrive I tried the OCD which I found to be harsh and buzzy sounding. So if you like the OCD or at least version one (i think they are on version three now) then read no further. However if you are one of the few that did not take to the OCD then you might have the same experience that I had with the GT 500 in that it sounds harsh. In addition when you reverse the effect chain within the unit there is such a huge volume boost the sound becomes unusable. Put the GT 500 on my board for a couple of gigs and practices then moved it on Ebay. Luckily there is still a shortage so if you try it and do not like it like me you can get your money back less the fees! Put the Fulldrive back and singing the praises of Mike Fuller again

Have several other Fulltone pedals including a deja vibe and have never had any issues.

Never called. Wish they had samples of the GT 500 on their website.

I wanted to like this pedal. Did not hate it just like others better. If you have a chance try the Fulldrive 2 Mosfet and this one and decide which works best for you. Maybe when version two comes out I will give it another try. Loads of pedals out there and plenty of good choices. Fulltone makes quality gear with enough variety within their own products to suite every one

Easy to use but not much to it... a clean boost side that can get a touch of grit and a weak and anemic distorted side. Putting the distortion through the boost gives you... wait for it... yep more volume. Yay. To get any real gain at all you have to put the boost into the distorted side. Tone controls work like... standard tone controls. However backing down the mids really reduces the gain and there's not much to begin with. This is true on some other units as
well but not as pronounced as this.

Fulltone has never really had a "high-gain" pedal and unfortunately this one really doesn't change this. More gain
than their other pedals but despite the hype nowhere NEAR the amount of gain or sustain as pedals like the Radial Hot British, Tech
21's GT2 or even the Subdecay Blackstar. Disappointing.

To get any real exciting gain at ALL you have to kick the boost into the distortion side... unfortunately this shows the
worst problem the pedal has - completely flabby and farty bass response.

Dialing out all the bass in both channels won't fix this... I tried and tried hard. As you work your way down to the low A nd E strings the bottom falls apart and fizzles. Not even a usable and expected
flabby effect like from a Big Muff but an unusable incoherant fizzle. And this was with both humbuckers and
single-coils. Forget doing any rock that requires
tight rhythm... I didn't even find it acceptable for blues, etc...
no "chunky rhythm stuff" like the creator talks about. Even with
the gain set low you notice the problem but as you try to crank it
it up it's a deal-breaker. Doesn't help that backing off the mids also kills a lot of the gain.

I'm describing this as used with a completely clean amp BTW - a Mesa MK III set clean and my teaching amp... a
solid-state Peavy that has a nice neutral tone for pedals.

Seems VERY solid. Uninspiring cinder block color scheme but
well made indeed.

Never had the pleasure.

I need high gain not for metal but for smooth violin type lead work
over chord changes ala Holdsworth, Vai, etc... both the Tech 21 GT2 and the Radial offer tremendous sustain and yet keep a tight bottom
end for rhythmic parts. The Subdecay Blackstar also uses cascaded
multiple gain stages like the GT-500 yet gives far more sustain with a very tight bass response. The farty and fizzy
bass response on the GT-500 killed it for me. I really can't think of a type of music that wants or needs that. A shame
too as it has a nice clear uncolored tone that I liked.

Been playing for 30 years and teaching full-time for 20 after the "club days".
Can't get stolen as I have already eBay'ed the sucker :-P

Once i figured out that it is simply 2 different pedals split down the middle, a no brainer.

unbelievable! Easily the most natural, warm, harmonic-laden device I've plugged in to, and I am a 34 year vet with more-than-a few name studio and live gigs under my belt.
Hard to explain compared to other deistortions, which sound like CLAMP there goes all your touch, overtones,dynamics, etc.
I use the GT with everything from vintage Vox to Carr amps, and tweeds in between with the same results.
Infinite variations of sustain OD, Boost, with any frosting (EQ) you need on top. the Inductor Mid control is to die for.

Fulltone=Tank

Mike and Tech crew (Tsuguto) are minutes away at all times. None better.

I have sold more of these by merely showing up with it at all sessions. In every case, everyone there guitar-interested has run out and bought one, without exception.
Value? The world's most transparent Clean boost, sorry Klon mated with "anything you want distortion" for $200? Duh.
One downer: the wait, I waited 5 weeks to get mine, but it retired 4 pedals from my board, I swear.

It has a clear layout that makes it a breeze to work with. No cryptic writings like "Resonance", "Voicing" etc. like the Fulltone Distortion Pro. You can get the specs and its details on the Fulltone website.

There is always a catch when there are too many knobs in a pedal, though. You usually have too many options about shaping your sound, and this appeals to some players, but others are really looking for simplicity and just the basic knobs (provided that they are voiced correctly, of course).

The pedal is really versatile, since it allows for the creation of many different sounds, but I got the feeling that the versatility will be there just for finding your own preference, and not as a tool for further experimentations, since they will not sound so good. However, the rating for ease of use is a 10 from me.

I tested the pedal very thoroughly with an Epiphone Les Paul Goldtop with single coil P90s on a Mesa Express 2:50 combo set to warm clean. I compared it to the Fulltone Distortion Pro that it replaces as the company's current distortion pedal, the T Rex Swamp, the MI Audio Crunch Box, the Radial Tonebone and the Visual Sound Jekyll and Hyde.

For the record, I like my distortions to range from classic (Clapton, Led Zep, Ac Dc etc) to more modern ones (Guns 'n' Roses, Social Distortion and sometimes on darker more fierce Marshall territory).

The Dist. Pro and the GT-500 are NOT pedals to provide the well known Marshall sounds (as it happens with hundreds of other pedals), but to evolve upon them, and they should appeal to people looking for all kinds of dist. shades. My personal preference between those two would be the fuller sounding Dist. Pro. Get it on Ebay, because it seems Mr. Fuller got it right the first time...

It is basically a two-in-one pedal, although neither side was the masterpiece that many people (and magazines, probably) consider them to be. The Boost / Overdrive option is a good one, transparent and detailed. Not noisy at all. However, it is not as musical as I would like, and not particularly impressive, almost one sided. The gain almost reaches up to the point that the Distortion side begins. The Distortion side was impressive, and I could set it to various famous distortion sounds, however I was really disappointed with the behaviour of the equaliser knobs.

The highs were wide ranging but harsh, and I got the feeling that it couldn't handle the bass well, something that the Dist. Pro did wonderfully. The Dist. Pro had much more musical and warm sounds, although both pedals (especially the Dist. Pro) provided "hairy" distortion, especially the Dist. Pro which had a slight fuzz kind of "hair", a very nice touch that has a love-hate factor about it.

The middle freq. knob didn't provide at all the tone shaping versatility that a wah wah inductor promises, as stated in the site. Believe me, I know what such a thing can do because I have a Keeley Nova Wah (a static wah) for altering the sounds of my pedals, and although I didn't expect it to sound similar, the tone shaping of the mids knob was somewhat poor. I am really wondering if it was a just a defective pedal (which I doubt it).

Adding the Boost to the Distortion provided better results than the Distortion side by itself (!). There was a considerable difference when I did the opposite (turn the switch to add the Distortion to the Boost), although my preference was the setting mentioned earlier.

I finally ended up choosing the MI Audio Crunch Box, which turned out to be a terrific example of what just 3 knobs (Vol - Gain - Tone) can do when voiced to perfection. Extremely versatile in the rich Marshallesque sounds it provides in the FULL range of all its knobs, without needing so many adjustments like the two Fulltone pedals I mentioned.

All in all, it would be a truly great pedal if the Overdrive side was more musical and the Dist. side had better, bassier and less harsh eq adjustments, which were the reason this pedal gets a low rating from me. It was a real pity to listen to the potential it would have if those two points were different.

I would definitely depend on it, and I would gig with it without a backup. All of its parts (including the tiny eq knobs) seem well placed and sturdy. However, since it is such a new pedal, the true feedback about its reliability should come in a year or two.

I have three of their pedals (the Ultimate Octave, the Soul Bender and the 69), and I don't have any reliability complains from them, although these days I am a bit concerned about what will happen if the germanium transistors that the two of them have will need to be changed (the two latter ones have been discontinued due to the lack of "decent sounding transistors").

Too early for that, and I don't have any experience from the customer support at Fulltone (except from an old email about waiting for ONE YEAR AND A HALF for my Ultimate Octave in Belgium, which was answered promptly but without any improvement on the time I had to wait).

I play different styles of rock, ranging from old stuff (Zeppelin etc) to modern (Queens Of The Stone Age, Fu Manchu, a bit of Gathering, Nightwish, Anathema, Guns 'n' Roses, White Stripes and a huge list of other bands, some known and some not so well known). I also play anything that I generally like listening to, from modern ballads to old jazz to metal to celtic songs to classic music (ok, the last one on my flute!).

I have been playing music since I first started going to music school, which was at the age of 8 (and I am now 29). I have been into guitar playing for about 10 years. To sum up, I found this pedal not living up to the hype, although in my poor opinion it would be a great pedal if the adjustments I described in the Sound Quality part could be made. The funny thing is, though, that I get a feeling that even if these adjustments were to be made, it would not in any way be a part of guitar history to remember.

Apart from my view, it may be the holy grail of dist. pedals for you - just DON'T buy it without playing with it yourself, and not just listening samples on You Tube or on the internet. Don't make the huge mistake of ordering it just for the sake of getting your hands on the hottest new pedal on the block. You may live to regret it, and that's something that Mr. Fuller would also say (he strongly advises everyone to try his products themselves first, which makes perfect sense).

I just received mine (low serial number) and did a gig with it. Had no time to get familiar with it and really was a bit anxious. However, I reached down on my pedal board, moved the knobs for a few seconds and got quick levels, then adjusted the gains and finally EQ on each side (Boost and Distortion). Stood up, played a few notes and the band snapped looks over to see what I was playing! More on the sound later . . . The pedal came in a box with a simple manual printed on a single sheet of paper. There was a decal (Nice) and a warning label regarding the DC Power Options "You may run this pedal on any amount between 9 and 18 volts DC as long as the center Pin is Negative... You'll be amazed at the sonic differences!". This unit is so easy to use that it really requires no more than the single page owners manual.

I was playing a Les Paul with Burstbuckers and an Eric Johnson Strat through several other pedals with this pedal being the first in the chain eventually ending up in my 1966 "Blackface" Fender Twin Reverb. The moment I heard this pedal at volume I had a huge smile on my face. This pedal sounded absolutely amazing! Very touch responsive, ear pleasing and tonally rich with harmonics and a very professional sound. When I say professional . . . I mean that this pedal gave me tone like I have always heard the pros have and wondered how they got it, always trying to mimic their setups and never getting it. I know that tone is in the fingers, I have been playing for 26 years and have tried several different amps including Budda, Two-Rock, Bogner, 65 and Zinky. Not to mention the dozens of pedal I have tried including Keely Ultra DS-1, Klon, HAO Rumble, MI Audio Crunch Box, Modded Rats, Chandler Tube , etc, etc. Seriously this pedal with my setup is the tone I have always searched for! It can sound like Michael Landau, Larry Carlton on the OD side to Vai, Satch and EVH on the other side. When both buttons are engaged I can get a jaw dropping heavy distortion sound that gives me what I need to play modern music as well. Every song I played this on sounded incrediable. It makes you realize that you can get the sounds of your favorite artists by playing the guitar a little differently, as long as you have a good fundamental tone to start with. I have always wanted to be a Fulltone fan, I have the ChoralFlange and DejaVibe but never could get a distortion or OD sound that I liked. He has done it with this pedal, I will go on record to predict that this is the top selling pedal during the next 12 months, as you guys/gals start playing and hearing these, you will all want one. A grand slam for Fulltone! Amazing and well done!

Appears to be built very well. No personal signature from Mike Fuller on the bottom anymore, just screenprinted now. Have to remove 4 screws from bottom to change out the 9volt battery. Has four rubber feet that are not stuck on with adhesive, they are screwed on. The small EQ trimpots feel rock solid. The switches are super strong. Just got it so can't say much here yet. Have had and currently do own other Fulltone pedals and have never had a single problem with them. This pedal comes with a "5 YEAR WARRANTY" in the box!!

Have never dealt with Fulltone with any customer support issues.

Once again, I predict this pedal will saturate the market as other players experience it. I play everything for Steely Dan, Tower of Power to Oldies, Classic Rock and even Prog Rock such as Porcupine Tree, Yes, Rush, etc. I am a hard working, gigging musician who plays in several different bands and does a fair amount of session work. Now that I have this pedal, I will guard it with my life, however, if it were stolen I would replace it immediately. I still can't believe the price at $225.00 on these, this pedal would still sell amazingly well at $299.99 + but regards to Mike Fuller for giving the music community a fair price for this pedal. Do yourself a huge favor and find one of these to play ASAP! Absolutely Brilliant!