Fulltone GT-500

Not the easiest pedal for dialing in a good tone. It has two channels (OD/boost and distortion), seperate EQs for both, and the ability to blend the two (OD/boost into distortion or distortion into OD/boost) - alot of variables, and frankly a lot of really bad tones. On the other hand, there are a lot of sweet spots as well. A tweekers delight, maybe, but not a pedal for those who like things simple.

I use it primarily with a MIJ strat and a Crate Palomino series V50 -not a stellar amp, like a classic fender, which Mike Fullertone favors and basically designs his pedals for, but a damn good one for the money. I get the best results plugging directly into the effects loop in jack and bypassing the amp's pre-amp section altogether, thereby making the pedal the preamp for EQ, effects, and volumn. I also have it plugged into a BBE Sonic Stomp, which lets me fine tune the treble and bass, and adds clarity and body to my tone.

Some might wonder why you would want to bypass the pre-amp tubes in a tube amp, but it works, and some of the players who gave this pedal bad review might find that would work well for them to, especially if you're like me and basically like clean to slightly crunchy tones. I'm not a fan of pre-amp distotion and like my crunch to come from overdriven output tubes.

Having said all that, the OD/boost side works great - lots of boost on tap, and a fair amount of gain for Rolling Stones type crunch. The distortion side doesn't work as well - sounds hollow somehow and difficult to dial in. Works great, however, blended with the OD/boost side.

Once you find your sweet spots, and that's no easy task, you'll probably like this pedal a lot, but its not for metal or other highly distorted tones.

I can't give it a 10 because there are too many bad tones and it takes a lot of work to find the good ones, but the good ones are sweet indeed.

Builty like a tank. A 10.

Don't know.

Good match for blues and classic rock. Don't know if I would replace it. I'd probably go with something simpler. All I need is a good OD/boost pedal, and this one has more options than I need and it takes to much tweeking to dial it in. Having said that, however, the good tones that I do manage to get are fuller and richer than than the Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive, which I liked a lot until I got the GT-500. The SD stil has its uses, but it sounds somewhat thin and hollw compared to the GT-500.

Lots of knobs, but easy to dial in once you get the hang of it. The manual is a double sided single page. Not much use and not really needed.

I've played with Strats and Teles into a Germino Classic 45 2x12, Reeves Custom 6 1x12 combo and a Peavey Delta Blues 1x15. Excellent tones throughout. The boost side gives nice low gain overdrive on higher settings and beefs up the tone considerably. The higher the drive, the more high end. The distortion side is more a crunchy style distoration in the British vein. There's some minor noise when settings are maxed, but this pedal sounds best to my ears at about 1/2 to 3/4, with the volume pushing a few db's above unity. The "order" switch adds compression when in one position and opens up the tone in the other.

With the two channels combined and the volume rolled down / off on my Strat, I was getting some serious Eric Johnson-style violin tones. I've not found a bad tone in this one yet. This pedal offers outstanding tone and versatility.

New, but I own lots of Fulltone pedals. With the exception of a mis-wired battery terminal on my Fat Boost version 1, which they promptly fixed, I've not had a single issue with any of my Fulltone pedals. I would never gig without a backup boost / overdrive pedal, but that's no reflection on the perceived reliability of this pedal. It is solid, well-finished, and the pots feel smooth with just the right amount of resistance. My rating is based on my past experience with Fulltone pedals.

As stated above, Fulltone was responsive to my problem with my Fat Boost and fixed it quickly. Email's to them pre-purchase have been hit or miss. But I think they stand behind their product, which is the most important part.

I play mostly rock and blues and have been playing for over 25 years. It's only in the last 6 years or so that I've become a gear whore. For overdrives/distortion/fuzz, I own mostly Fulltones: 69, 70, Soul Bender, Distortion Pro, OCD version 3, Fat Boost version 1, Fulldrive II, Fulldrive II MOSFET. I also own Boss SD1, DS1, Electro Harmonix Little Big Muff, D*A*M 1966. My guitars are Strats, Teles, Epiphone Elitist Les Paul. Amps are Germino Classic 45, Reeves Custom 6 and Custom 12 combo's, Ceriatone Lightening, Ceriatone 18-watt EF86 combo, Peavey Delta Blues, Fender Blues Junior, Mojotone VibroChamp, Mojotone Tweed Champ.

My favorite feature of the GT-500 is its excellent and articulate distortion tones and flexibility. Beautiful Red metal flake finish with cream knobs. It's a beauty. Compared to the Fulldrive, it has more of an open / British-voiced tone. It matches very well with my British style amps (Germino, Reeves) while I'd say the Fulldrive matches better with my American style amps (Delta Blues so far).

I was actually shopping for a Way Huge and was trying all three but none of them really appealed to me. I wasn't looking to buy this particular pedal, thinking it would be redundant for me, but I was wrong. This pedal gives me excellent distortion and singing lead tone. I would definitely replace it again if needed.

It's no longer the flavor of the month, but it is an oustanding pedal of impeccable build quality and superb flexibility. The price is a bargain for what it brings to the table and compared to what other boutique builders are charging nowadays.

Highly recommended.

Fulltone makes the best pedals. Thsi pedal is diverse and adjustable for all types of gain. I especially liked the separate switchable gain which can be set before or after the distortion circuit. I wish the Drive II had this option. This is not a plug in and play pedal, you do have to twist the knobs to find your tone for that reason I give it an 8, otherwise a 10 for those who understand the basics. A little adjusting and you can find your tone. The High pots are not 12:00 passive, leave them all the way up unless you want to cut some high end.

Fulltone sounds great, no matter what unit. True Bypass, and all that.

Nothing better built out there, the componenets are top shelf.

Fuller is not one to be bothered with hair-brained notions, I am sure if you have a problem they will make it right but they probably do not want to hear your latest idea schmatic for the "fizzle-fuzz-wah-rotarism".

The GT-500 is a good pedal. Depends on what you are looking for. I recently redid my entire board, trading in everything I had and my sound closet horde. I am very particular about my distortions and I am looking for some rather specific tones and a lot of versitility. I tried out the GT-500, a fine pedal, nice boost, switchable, versitile, good distortion. It really did not suit what I had in mind. I traded in my OCD and I wanted something to replace what it was doing for my Trower tones and I also like a really high gain controllable musical distortion. I traded the GT-500 for the FullDrive II which replaces my OCD and does a little more for my tastes than it could do with it's limiting three knob approach. For high gain I went for the Boss Metal Core which rpelaces my Keeley mod MT-2, again a good pedal no problems. I just find the Core produces what I liked from the Metal Zone without having to tweak so much to find the exact mid, high and low combination. I of course use my high gain tube channels but I also like the Core through a clean channel which I find very useful as well. Both sound great and I am after verstility. The GT-500 is a great pedal, I just happened to like the MOSFET Drive II for what I needed which is more a preamping OD sound, OCD Trower-like. Nothing outgains the Boss Metal Core for the ultimate musical distortion. It;s good to have all ranges of distortion and tube melt. The GT-500 is a good distortion it might be what you are looking for, my tastes ran a different direction. I detailed my new rig in the Drive II review.

As with most things if you do not read the manual and understand the controls and theory behind what the designer has done, you might go the rest of your life thinking all tone controls are created equal, they are not. After understanding how the controls work and what they do you might consider what it is you are trying to do. Also a bad amp and not so great guitar is not the judge of a pedal, no pedal can make crap sound good. Fulltone is made for tone mavens, the ones who will understand what they are doing who most often have decent high high end guitars and amps already. such is the case with the GT-500. All that said there are few controls here and if one realized what they were doing it makes life easier. Yes, you do have to tweak on this pedal to conform it to your gear. Although no matter what it was set on, one could get something musical out of it. Guitar player is pretty picky on pedal tryouts and they realized this is a very musical pedal. They gave it their users pick award.

I recently traded in all my gear for a new batch of pedals to update my board and reduce the number of boxes I was using and the loading they provide. Even true-bypass is not always the answer in the tone forest of problems. Sometimes a good buffer makes for a better tone in your line, the Morely Vai Wah's being the case. Anyway, I digress, the GT-500 was obtained to replace my OCD ver3 pedal, which worked well for the tones I was expecting to get from it (pushed tubes without too much fizz, Trower type distortion). It did this well, I think better than the OCD personally. Still, moving ever on-ward. I chose the GT-500 to replace my current OCD and my distortion pedal, a Keeley MT-2 that is highly tweaked for my tastes. I discovered my amp was really so good (Carvin V3) it could gain the distortion level of the MT-2 with tubes and a without the pedal clipping that I worked so hard to EQ out. On the GT-500, I found I can set the boost side of the pedal to mimic the OCD drive I had, as well as better cleaner options. My amp has two clean boost foot controlled switches so I do not need the clean boost, except, here is the option of running this boost into the distortion side of the GT-500 instead of after it thereby increasing the drive of the distortion side. So right there are four or more tonal options I have in one pedal. The High control is a high end rolloff not a flat at center knob. The mid has a special band pass filter design which drastically alters the tone to suit what sort of gain tone you want. The bass seems to boost above mid. My amp already had so much low end presence I do not need more. At any rate the unit produces tones which make tubes respond better and with more tonality and headroom. If you have a cheap or small amp this is not your pedal.

Fulltone makes the best, sometimes chips or electronics fail and sometimes they can last for decades, one never knows. It's always a matter of components not the unit itself. The only thing I have had fail in 30 years of playing is a power supply brick which was bad. twice, when I got them out of the box.

They will fix any problem you might have I am sure, but they have no time to talk crap on the phone or listen to people's ideas which are largely baseless most of the time. Fuller is a genius and his products are the best pedals out there, if you have a little amp or a budget guitar do not spend your money on them, improve your basic setup first. This stuff is for high end tonal players not for those who toss their gear around and plug bad cables into crap not concerned with adjusting knobs.

Fulltone is the best. I find the GT-500 to deliver what I need in terms of a useful overdrive on clean or dirty tube settings, the distortion is very musical and adjustable. It is not a fizz or fuss distortion it is a tube pushing gain enhancement. You can switch the boost before or after the distortion side for more options. I like it, and I like few things. I only use and keep the best. I would not hesitate to add any Fulltone pedal into my board.

Returned Z.Vex Box of Rock (BOR) and got this. Many more knobs than the BOR but all are easy things to understand so no problem. Currently I have all the EQ knobs set to mid (5) and the sound is fine.

One thing I like is that the pedal is not small like the BOR so I don't have to worry about hitting the knobs with my foot, the knobs are easy to adjust and it doesn't flop around when you step on it....... like the BOR. I also like that the jacks are on the back so it takes up less room on my board.

My set up is Strat or Tele to Boss TU2, Boss Auto Wah (AW2?), Boss OD3, GT500, Fender 65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue. At first I bought the BOR to use with my OD3. I wanted a pedal that I could add to my OD3 and have a clean boost and a distortion. This way I could have OD, Distortion, OD/Dist combo and Boost to any of the three sounds. (may amp has no distortion or boost channel).

The BOR was my first non-Boss pedal and Boss didn't make a 2 in 1 pedal like this so the BOR and the GT500 fit the need. As I said, I had the BOR at first but found that it wasn't giving me a different enough sound from the OD3, so I ended up returning the BOR and getting the GT500, but before I returned the BOR, I had the chance to test drive all three pedals (OD3, GT500, BOR) at home alone and in a rehearsal.

I found that the for OD sound I kept going back to the OD3. This pedal just sounds so transparent to my ears. The BOR made a really nice replacement for the OD3, but I was after a distortion not another OD. I just couldn't justify putting a perfectly good $100 on the shelf to replace it with a $250 pedal. The BOR was a little more warm and thicker than the OD3 which was nice.

OK, on to the GT500. The Boost section makes a really good OD pedal, a good replacement for the OD3, but I want to keep the OD3 in my chain and use the Boost as a clean boost. When playing alone the distortion sounded kind of harsh to me and I was leaning towards keeping the BOR. Then I tried the distortion in the band setting. It sounded perfect. Now I'm set up good. I hit the OD3 for an OD, classic Fender sound, which I can boost for solos using the GT 500. When I need distortion, I turn off the OD3 and turn on the GT500 distortion giving me a good rhythm crunch or distorted lead, using the boost to get that extra solo volume. And finally if I want to go over the top, I hit the OD3 and the distortion side of the GT500 to get heavier distortion.

Very happy with this setup now. The distortion is just right and the boost is pretty transparent. Plus, I can use the boost as an OD if I want to.

Don't forsee any problems. Seems well built.

No idea, site seems pretty good. I have no reason to give a lower rating.

In my current band, we play Blues, Funk and rock (not classic). This pedal suits my needs really well. Nothing bad to say about it. I would like to get the BOR again some day maybe but it's hard to justify.

I've tried the OCD, the Fulldrive2 (totally don't get that pedal), the BOR, Sparkle Drive, a few other boutique pedals and many Boss pedals. I was looking for distortion (not OD) and wanted a clean boost. This pedal was a perfect match.

This pedal has an intuitive layout. The ability to select which stage is first in the line is very useful, and the switch is right on top (yet out of the way). The tone controls are small, but that is a good thing. The volume knobs seem to maintain a unity when set to equal values. All of the cables plug into the same side (the back-- facing away from you).

I couldn't think of a way to make it anymore easy to use.

I play a PRS McCarty into a Fargen Custom Shop VOS.

The distortion stage is biting. I've seen alot of negative reviews about this, and that is too bad. It is a FET-based distortion, so it was not surprising to me when I plugged this pedal in at the store. This pedal is a bit noisy on this side, but that's also to be expected. I play some heavy parts, but nothing like deep-metal thuds, so the biting midrange in this pedal is ideal. Pinch harmonics really jump out.

The boost side does slightly color no matter what. You may as well assume that from the fact that there are tone controls (only treble and bass on this side). This is also an OD stage that is useable to get that barely breaking-up sound when you dig in. Cranking the gain in this stage will get you a nice amount of saturation that is appropriate for studio work (trust me, less-is-more when tracking saturated tones). This stages saturated tones are much more tube-amp like than the distortion stage.

Using the stages together is just awesome. There are so many combinations of tones.

My amp is a single-channel masterpiece. This pedal helps me exploit all of its greatness. I'm not sure I would like the pedal's tone as much without my amp. With the stages being used together I have a three channel amp.

For $140 I couldn't beat this pedal's sounds (there are more than one). It is not the best at any one sound, but it is very useful for getting multiple usable sounds.

I have dropped this thing while setting up for a gig. It produced such a loud thud that people in the crowd actually gasped. It worked fine after that.

I also had a cup of tea sitting on my speaker cabinet while tuning. I forgot about it and started playing through the amp. The tea shook off and spilled all over this pedal... I dried it off and let it sit until the next day. Plugged it in and had no problem.

Seems good.

Never dealt with them.

I play in an original band that is fairly progressive. I need to get a lot of sounds out of my single channel amp, and this provides that opportunity for me. I can tap without the distortion getting mushy or unclear. I can play 7th chords through the OD and not miss out on the complexity of the chords. I can use the boost to simply drive my amp into brown-sound-town.

I have been playing for 13 years. I don't own a lot of gear currently, as I have stripped down my rig. This pedal helps out a lot with that.

If it were stolen I would probably buy this again.

This is very useful for me, I laugh at the negative reviews.

The pedal is fairly simple to use. It has knobs to control distortion and volume level and some eq for both the overdrive and distortion sides of the unit. What can be a little tricky is dialing in the settings on your amp, overdrive, and distortion so that you have several good and distinct tones that compliment each other. The eq has such a wide range that this can take a long time to decide what you like. One feature that the pedal needs though is center detents on the eq pots so you can know where the middle of the eq is. You can definitely tell by ear, but that would be a nice feature nonetheless

The sound on this thing can be best described as being conceptually like a Mesa Boogie, it has several incredible mind numbingly good tones, but it takes a lot of effort working the eq to dial them in just right. People who give this pedal a bad rating probably are used to plug and play pedals. This pedal is definitely one that is a sonic chameleon that can cover a lot of grounds, but also requires you to be careful with the eq.There are several "wrong settings" that will result in squeeling or just unusable distortion that has terrible tracking. But if you take the time, you can dial in almost anything.

This pedal is built like a tank, I have dropped it couple times and not even a ding or little scratch in the paint. It has smooth feeling pots (don't worry about the crackle on drive pot, that is supposed to happen) and the mini pots for eq, though small and fragile looking, are actually remarkably durable and realy don't accidentally slip very easily

never had to deal with them for repairs, but they answer questions by email REALLY REALLY fast and seem to stand by their product. I also don't think I'll have to considering how well made the product is.

I have been playing for quite a while and have many many distortion pedals and this pedal is amazingly able to nearly take the place of many of them (boss ds-1, dod 250, big muff, and proco rat can all be emulated by this pedal) The only things it can't copy are fuzzface, tube screamer, and rangemaster tones (and it can't really do metal zone tones but it can do a metal tone that sounds much better than any metal zone)

One thing that you have to try with this pedal if you own a tube screamer is to try this pedal's booster going in to a tube screamer, or try having your tube screamer go in to this pedal's distortion and the distortion going in to the boost, these combinations yield great tones when eq'ed properly

Using the pedal is easy. Getting a good sound out of it is a whole different story. The controls, especially tone controls, are difficult to find good settings with. The gain on the distortion side, especially, seems to really be one sound that differs from more ear-piercing to more muddy/fuzzy.

Probably the only really cool thing about this pedal is the ability to put the boost before or after the distortion. Though it only works so well when the distortion isn't very good.

I really expected a lot more from this pedal.

The Overdrive/Boost channel sounds weak when it finally reaches overdrive on the gain control, and the boost is incapable of not coloring your tone. Wherever you set the tone controls, they impart some tone on your signal, which tends to work great when you are looking to use it as simply a clean boost. However, use the boost after distortion or overdrive for a solo and you'll notice it either makes the tone fatter and slightly duller or thinner.

The Distortion side is even more difficult to get a good sound from. The use of a wah inductor for a mid control was a good idea, and maybe someone could use it as a tone control, but not this pedal. It can make you sound like either you've left the wah pedal on or you cut the mids completely. The treble control seems to do its purpose the best of any control on this pedal. The bass control on this side does very little...even with it cranked and the mids and treble set low, this pedal is still horribly and painfully shrill. Friends and band mates have repeatedly referred to the pedal as "ear-piercing," "shrill" and "abrasive.

And now, before someone dismisses this review as being someone with a "crappy transistor amp" or "Squire guitar," I'll tell you that I'm using great gear that sounds excellent with everything else. I am using a Fender Princeton with a 12 inch Tone Tubby ceramic speaker and a 2x10 extension cab from South Vintage Valley Amps (using two Weber 10150F speakers (I think that's the right number), along with a 1965 Gibson ES-330 with Lollar P90s, a Fender American Deluxe Strat with Kinman Woodstocks, a Fender Tele with Seymour Duncan Antiquity bridge pickup and Lollar Special T neck pickup and a G&L ASAT Jr. None of these guitars sound good through this pedal. I also was using a Dr Z KT-45 through a Marshall 1960AX cab (with English-made Greenbacks) but, due to the massive volume required for this amp to really shine, have since sold it. Big surprise, the Fulltone sounded awful through that amp as well.

Short of wanting pure abrasive fizz or muddy fuzz, there is NO need for this pedal. Even when I find a good sound, I quickly am reminded by a band mate that it sounds shrill farther from the amp. There is no winning with this pedal. I've had it for 11 months now and have tried time and time again to like it and to find a great use for it. But I can't deal with it anymore.

So far I've never had problems with this pedal. However, I bought the Fulltone cables prior to this and the tip actually broke off of one of them. Both the Fulltone cables and GT-500, along with the vast majority of other Fulltone pedals seem to have won Guitar Player Editor's Pick Awards...amazing. That is, until you realize that Fulltone has advertised in every issue for years now. I work in advertising and marketing, I know how it works...you advertise regularly with a magazine and they show their appreciation with glowing reviews. Don't think this doesn't happen in real life.

I emailed Mike once. His response was rude and condescending. All I wanted to know was more about what pedal would match a certain amp/get a certain sound.

Overall, I have little use for this pedal and, even when it sounds good, I end up not being able to find the same sound again simply due to the smallest of tonal changes (say the amp volume increased from 4 to 4.5, etc.).

The best things about this amp are the od before or after dist switch and the size...now if only the sounds contained within this compact, space-efficient pedal were as good as it should be at such a price.

You can get usable tones pretty quick.

Here's the good first. The 2 channels cascade rather nice.
The Not so good! Channel 1 the OD channel would be killer if it didn't have so damn much low end. I play through a Bassman head & a Matchless Clubman. It doesn't matter which amp I play thru there's way to much low-end, even with the bass rolled off. If it had less bass this channel would rule.
The God Awful.. Channels 2 the Distortion/Gain channel is basically unusable. It squeals, it's over saturated even with the distortion rolled off. Worst of all, it Can not & will not cut through the mix at rehearsal or at shows....

I'm certain it will last forever....

They are cool to deal with..

I really wanted to like this pedal & ride out into the sunset using it. The idea is there, but the execution lacks. To have 2 separate channels that almost deliver is genius.. I really don't know why they didn't just put the OCD or something similar on the distortion side..

And why any OD pedal needs that much freakin low end is a mystery to me. Just because something sounds good in the bedroom, living room, test facility etc, doesn't mean it will ever sound worth a damn in a live band setting.
I run a channel amp rig, at low gain settings. You'd think the distortion side would eat it up with tons of volume separation from my normal amp setting.? NO!!!! It just gets buried & dies into a sound wave mess that is inaudible..

I'm not going to say this pedal is crap, because it is not. Maybe Fulltone can do some more research in the field before releasing a pedal to the masses.

After 4 months of fighting the tone of this thing it's going to a new home via Ebay.. Maybe someone else can dial it in....?

Newer model red version. Boost/OD on one side, Distortion on on the other. It is FET distortion, not Germanium diodes. Toggle switch in the center for putting boost before distortion or vice versa. Solidly constructed 16 gauge steel housing with bright red powder coat paint job, very sexy looking. Nice, smooth control knobs

Well, what can you say. Mike makes a great boost pedal in the Fat Boost, a great boost/od in the FullDrive 2 and a great litlle rock monster in the OCD. This, however, sounds bad. FET distortion just does not have the warmth of germanium diodes in the clipping stage. They are very harsh and edgy, too edgy, I couldn't smooth it out with the tone controls. Did not like

Mike's pedals are solidly built, inside and out. Good components and good qc. Every now and then you get a quirky one. But if it's under warranty, he'll fix it

Emails are a little slow. And I've heard he can be a jerk sometimes, but I've never dealt with him personally, but they did fix my Fat Boost in a timely manner, so no complaints there

If you like a hard, in your face, edgy kind of raspy distortion, this the box for you. I like my distortion a bit more on the creamy side, and this just don't do it

2 separate channels.
15 minutes to dial in.

Both Channels are near perfect for what they do.
The OD is a bit too Fat sounding. (still sounds great)
The Distortion is pretty amazing with more than enough gain.
I take the bass down to -0- on the OD channel & get great results.
The Distortion channel has ton of db separation & so does the OD.
I think the OD side may be the exact same as the Fat Boost 2??
The Distortion side sounds like nothing Fulltone has ever produced.
This pedal has simplified my guitar playing life big-time.
The tones are very vintage.

I don't understand the bad reviews. I guess, no one pedal will please the entire guitar playing world.

There's a lot of gain on the distortion side, don't be afraid to back it off a bit. Fet pedals operate different, they don't have to be cranked to deliver great tone.

I'm sure it will last the test of time.

Fulltone's pretty cool to deal with.

I play thru a 65 Bassman. SG Standard, Tele Deluxe, Les Paul Special.
Rock, Punk Rock, Hard Rock, Southern Rock etc.... It all Rocks!
This pedal makes a guitarist life much easier. I stay busy playing & recording. I own 2 of these GT-500's & I'm selling all of my other OD pedals. I've owned just about every OD pedal sold in the USA. There's no perfect pedal, but this thing does exactly what I want it to do. The fact that it operates as 2 separate pedals is why I like it so much. I'm not a huge fan of most Fulltone pedals. This one is killer. Take it from a guy that only uses OD pedals & nothing else. The GT-500 has great vintage tone. The fact that the Distortion side is called "distortion" does it a disservice.
This is an Overdrive pedal.
It's a 10. I'm just sorry it took me so long to try one out!!

hard to get to know all the features...worht it though

anything you want, it's in here.
Ignore the beginners who slam this pedal,because it sounds crappy with their transistor Peavey or Fender....LAUGH.
This is for a PRO, with real guitars and amps who wants to take them in all sorts of different directions.
Period. Perhaps HC should require clips from all reviewers to establish some , uh, "frame of reference?"
I'll happily comply, in fact you can here me with the GT500 on at least 3 current TV commercials. Yah I know, but it beats your bedroom ;)

it's Fulltone.

don't answer the phone, answer emails fast

the best , most diverse, and complex distortion pedal ever made.
Amazing! If you have been playing for 10 years or less, save your money, get some lessons please.

Features already listed, easy to use, you have to spend some time with it.

The pure sound quality of this pedal is very good IMO. The tone controls offer a very good range of sounds and I found most settings useable. The boost side of the pedal was ok, I prefer the OCD and the Fulldrive 2 Mosfet as boosters. The distortion side of the pedal offers some nice sounds. However, for high-gain distorted sounds I think the MI Audio Crunch Box wins hands down. I own the Crunch Box, and did some side-by-side comparisons. The distortion side of the GT-500 by itself doesn't even come close to the gain of the Crunch Box. I had to use the booster to get anywhere near the amount of gain the Crunch Box has. In addition, I found the GT-500 to be very "polite" and somewhat tame, even with the boost engaged. The Crunch Box screams with harmonics and can be pushed into feedback easily.

This pedal is marketed as a high-gain device. I would dispute that claim somewhat, I would call it more of a medium-gain device that can be pushed closer to the high-gain range with the boost engaged. I ran this pedal through a vintage Deluxe Reverb and a Mesa Boogie Mark IV head; the unit worked well with both. The only effect used was a Boss DD-3 for some delay. The unit is fairly quiet, even with the boost engaged. Again, nice sounds, but if you are looking for a true high-gain sound this may not be for you. In addition, I thought the lead tones in this pedal were much better than the rhythm tones. You can get some nice round lead tones, but the pedal is too polite for any nasty rhythm work. If the GT-500 were advertised as anything but a high-gain device I would have given it a ten.

Very sturdy, built like a Fulldrive 2.

I have been playing for over 13 years now and am very picky about my gear. I typically like Fulltone products and had high hopes for the GT-500. To be fair, it really is a nice pedal. However, I just do not have a place for it in my set-up. My high-gain tones are covered by a Crunch Box and a 70 Fuzz. My low-medium gain tones are covered by an OCD and a Fulldrive 2 Mosfet. As such, I do not really have a place for the GT-500. I was hoping it would give me a more tweakable alternative to the Crunch Box. A nice pedal, but not a good fit for me. I wish it had as much gain as the Crunch Box, then it would have been an easy 10.

This unit is simple and straightforward. Volume, drive, bass and treble on the OD side; volume, distortion, bass, middle and treble on the Distortion side.

I've been using this as part of a pedalboard with various tube amps: Fenders, a Marshall and an ancient Traynor (a '71). The pedal reacts very differently with the amps: the Fenders (6L6s) have more headroom and a much brighter tone; the Marshall and the Traynor (both small EL-84 models) compress much faster (not so much of an audible boost) and the treble frequencies aren't as biting. This unit throws a LOT of treble into the mix, and if you have the headroom, it'll kick up the volume alarmingly---you've been warned!

It seems to be built like a tank.

I've had no reason to contact them.

As stated previously, the GT-500 is treble-biased and will boost the volume of your amp (if the amp has the headroom) explosively. I have the OD side set with the bass on full and the treble dumped, and it's still plenty bright. The distortion side reminds me of a Big Muff pedal---a real thick, heavy fuzz tone. The pedal also has another trick: when both sides are activated at the same time, there's a switch that allows the OD to go into the Distortion, or the Distortion to go into the OD. My choice is definitely Distortion into OD. I would recommend anyone interested in this unit should give it a test-ride first. Tonally, it's an acquired taste.

With all the buttons, still pretty easy to use. All the controls work like they should.

Great OD sound, and horrible distortion sound. As someone said, Fulltone does overdrive very well, but distortion? Not so much. It sounds like a Boss DS-1. And, that's just an awful thing.

I own a few Fulltone pedals, and they're built well. I doubt I'll gig with tthis pedal though.

I use a Mesa amp, and I wanted a pedal that'll get me more of the british sounds. And, the boost was a plus. Well, it turns out the boost is actually useable while the distortion was junk. This is going on ebay, and I'm going to try the MI Audio Crunch Box.

Very easy to use. Separate eq for each channel, which is very nice (and unusual for dual channel pedals).

Mainly used this with an American Standard Telecaster with Kinman Broadcaster pickups through a Fender Blues Deluxe on the clean channel. Also played around with a Gibson SG.

First, the overdrive channel is very good (to my ears)--I can get a nice fat tubey sound--when the drive is almost maxed out, I get a nice fat sound of tubes breaking up, and it keeps the tone of the guitar pretty well (but not great). The eq is very useful, and this thing never gets muddy and always cuts through a loud mix. As a pure overdrive pedal, I'd give it an 8 or 89

The problem I had with this was the distortion side (I'd give it a 3 or 4 on this side). I just couldn't get any kind of ballsy sound out of it; everything I tried sounded fairly weak, with flabby bass and harsh highs. I could get some nice overdriven sounds with the drive on the distortion side down, and on the overdrive control all the way up, but I couldn't get seem to get great pounding distortion. The distortion pro or OCD seems to do distortion better (but neither are cranked high gain type pedals).

I think the distortion side is either something people are going to love or hate (as you can see by the mixed reviews). With any piece of gear, you should buy it from someplace that will let you return it--I did and bought a Blackstar Dual, which seems to be working better for me so far (have only had it a day though).

Took it back after 3 weeks, but it seemed like it was built like a tank.

Never used it.

Overdrive channel was good for the old-school telecaster garage rock I was playing, but as I said above, the distortion side didn't do it for me.

I've been playing for about 15 years.

Very easy to use, however the levels of the tone knobs can't be seen on stage.

Using with Genz benz Black Pearl, Fender Amps and Rivera combos.Strats and Cole Clark guitars, plus Ernie Ball Sillhouette Special.The Booster is great, the distortion is brittle and easily bettered by FoxRox ZIM.The ZIM is also configurable, with various cards that can be installed.The other issue with the distortion is that it cannot be wound back.When the Gain knob is a "zero", it still distorts.This is the ONLY pedal in 35 years of playing that does this and I ask "WHY?"...why would anyone design a pedal that does this.Guitar Players Oct 2007 review stated this is "Possibly the most musical two in one distortion box going". I hope all you guys out there test this for yourself.I think this is one of the reasons why there are so many available cheap on Ebay...in my view th MI Audio Tube Zone, MI Crunch Box & Neo Fuzz along with the FoxRox ZIM kill the distortion side of the GT500, which gets few variants and is just harsh,too harsh for Hard Rock and not enough grind for Metal.Mine is going on Ebay.I also prefer the ZVEX box of Rock, also a better unit.Fulltone should redefine this unit or get rid of it.Fulltone does not know how to do distortion, only overdrive.

Extremely reliable, but then why not?.Fulltones are always well built.But this only matters to people who will use it a lot.Not me.

I emailed Fulltone twice with a question about a GT500 mod he stated he had, I received no replys.So I would say zero for support, but given he has already sold this thing why give a toss about replying to some guy in Australia that has a question.Better to spend time on "growing the business of Fulltone"

Playing 35 years, not a good match, I wont be keeping it as it does not fulfil intended function.If stolen I would just let the turd have it.What do I wish it had?....tone buddy, tone.It gets a 4 because I paid too much for a booster.

It's simple to use, just not simple to get a sound I like.

The OD eq circuit rolls off way too much bass, so the resultant sound is pretty thin. The bass boost pushes the low mids, but still there's no real low end. The low strings tend to be flappy, lacking punch and clarity.

The dist. section tends to be on/off...no middle ground, and no dial-in with the guitar volume knob. The distortion is just plain buzzy.

On to Craig's List it goes.

I opened it up, and the construction is absolutely first rate.

Have to give it a 5. It's a beautifully built box. I just don't like the way it sounds.

This is a very simple unit to use. There isn't anything overly complicated about it.

I use an Ibanez H/S/H as my primary guitar, and a 1979 Korean made Strat with Jeff Beck hot fender replacement S/S/S for my secondary guitar. Both of these went straight to the GT 500 and from the GT 500 straight to my fender tube amp. The amp gives no real destortion even on the dirty channel with the gain cranked wide open.

My findings were that my Strat didn't have enough output to really drive this unit well. It sounded good, but both sides of the unit were lacking when used in conjunction with this guitar. On the other hand, my Ibanez sounded like a dream. I have to agree with some earlier posts that this unit doesn't give a large variation in the destortion sounds, but if you want a good tube amp sound and a very professional tone, this might be the unit for you.
My only real complaint with the sound would be that it needs more range. The overdrive could go a bit higher, and the destortion side too could deal with a boost. That being said, both have wonderful tone and great sound and offer a good range over-all.

I had always been looking for a good dynamic tone with a professional sound like a wide open cranked tube destortion. This unit provided that. I found my rig sounding like the Trans-Siberian Orchestra in minutes.

This is my first Fulltone product. I've not owned it long, but I wouldn't expect any problems. It does look to be well made.

I have been playing for 27 years. I don't play professionally, but I do play in my church band as well as giving lessons to others. I have owned many destortion units, and have never really cared for them much. I've always found an amp's built-in destortion to be better and gives a wider variation of sounds. I've owned most of the Boss overdrive/destortion pedals as well as many other brands.

This is the best destortion pedal I've ever found. I could wish it had a bit more variation or a wider range on its gain settings, but I love what it provides, and it seems to provide a lot.

I play anything I can get my hands on and trick my fingers into doing, but I tend more toward rock in its various forms. Metallica and Trans-Siberian Orchestra are two of my favorite bands, and this unit really works well for playing their songs.

My only real criticism of this pedal is when both sides are turned on. With the overdrive running into the destortion, the gain goes up, but it also takes on a fizzy sound. This could be due to my not having played with both sides enough to work this issue out, however.

I run a Fender Hod Rod Deluxe and just went from using my amp distorition to this pedal. I had the pedal sounding better than my amp in a matter of minutes. It does take some tweaking, but in my opinion, great tone came quickly. Other than that, it's a simple layout.

This is a tone machine. I had my Mexican tele doing things I didn't know it could do. Great chunky low end rhythm tones. Also running that distortion on top of the overdrive gives blistering, humbucker-esque tones. I haven't quite found the exact sound I want yet, but I know it's in there. Also, due to our venue, I have to run at lower volume quite a bit. This pedal gives me great volume control without losing tone.

After 3 days, no problem!

Haven't needed any after the sale. The Fulltone website gave me way more information than I needed to know about the pedal (I'm no sound engineer), but it was very helpful in helping me make my decision.

This is a great pedal. Great blend with my amp and other pedals. It gave me the control over my distortion sounds I'd been lacking. I may eventually get a Fulldrive 2 to get more of the bluesy single-coil distortion sound, but right now, I"m lovin the sounds I get out of this pedal. The overdrive also adds just the perfect amount of dirt to that clean Tele twang!

It is difficult to get a bad sound out of this pedal, but just as difficult to get a great sound. Let me explain. You can tweak and tweak and tweak till the cow's come home, but each night in a different room, strange power, acoustics, you will need to tweak.
It never seems to interact the same from night to night.

It's an overdrive/distortion pedal. Turn the knobs and go!

My rig changes every week almost. I have a serious G.A.S problem. But for the purposes of this review I will reconstruct the rig that has lived the longest with the GT500.
Gretsch Powerjet or Strat into Hendrix Wah>Rotovibe>Boss OC3>Octavia>Tuner>GT-500>Loopstation>Analogue Delay>Orange AD30TC>Orange 2x12.
I run the Orange as clean as i can on both channels and use the overdrive side of the GT500 for a bluesy break-up and the distortion side for the high gain thing. The pedal pushes the amp nicely and i can't say a bad word about it. Though depending on the volume of the amp, i have to make a few changes. As i said earlier....tweak..tweak.

The best thing about this pedal is the ability to stack the overdrive and distortion sides on top of one another. Not only that you can choose via mini switch whether to run the OD into the Dist or the Dist into the OD. Versitile personafied.....
I play covers 4 nights a week as well as originals and wouldn't leave the house without this pedal. Real midrange control!!!!

Why would you need a backup distortion. If it failed i would just crank the gain on my amp. I guess if you had a Fender 65 twin you couldn't do that. Fulltone build the highest quality pedals and would be confident that if i dragged this behind my car on the way to the gig, it would still work when i got there.

I have never had a problem with Fulltone but i hear they take a long time to reply to emails. (Sometimes never). But again i have never had a problem, fingers crossed, touch wood, all that.

This is a Pro pedal so you need to know what you want to get out of it. I tried many pedals before settling on this one. Most don't give you enough gain or enough flexability. This delivers in all areas for me. If it were stollen i would jump in the car and buy another one.
The footswitches are perfectly spaced unlike some other dual pedal designs.
I have been gigging solid for the past 14 years and for the past 3 years 3-4 times a week. I'm the type of person the loves amp distortion but it's not alwayspossible at the volumes we are forced to play at. This is the best tool to get your amp singing.
At the end of the day it's all about taste and you got to get out and try a bunch of pedals to see what suits, but if your looking for warm tubescreamer and endless gain I'd try this one first, a few others and then come back to this and listen again.....

You have to work with it a while because of its many possibilities. The Overdrive Section is pretty simple with treble and bass control. The Distortion section is more complicate with treble, middle and bass control. Furthermore it has a switch to change the order of the two sections, Boost/Overdrive before Distortion or Distortion before Overdrive Boost.

I use it with a Haar 60 modern Strat with H/S/S, a Fender Classic Player 60 and a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and a Fender Blues Junior. In combination with the two amps the pedal sounds great, not brittle or harsh if you don't want it to be. But it needs time to dial in the sound you want or it takes time to get used to the sound you get. It might not be at once the sound you expect but after a while you won't play any other pedal. The GT 500 is the most caracterfull pedal i ever played. I played Xotic BB and MI Audio Crunch Box before and they are great pedals but they sound a bit boaring like every other guitarist you like. The GT 500 is much different with its unique middle control and its amplike character. My advice: Give it time and may be you will love it. May be it is not the pedal for everybody, not the mainstream sound like a BB Preamp or the BB Plus, but it is a great pedal with lots of sound possibilities and high quality characterfull tone.

Built like a tank like every Fulltone Pedal

Don't know.

For me it is the best Distortion Pedal on the market and I tried nearly all of the 'boutique' stuff.

PRETTY EASY TO GET UP AND RUNNING BUT TRYING TO GET A GOOD SOUND FORGET ABOUT IT

BRITTLE AND HARSH , BAD BAD BAD SOUNDING DISTORTION COMES ON AT FULL STRENGTH AND CAN'T GET A WARM SOUND OUT OF IT AND MAN I TRIED I HAVE A FULLDRIVE II AND ITS GREAT I BOUGHT THIS FOR A HEAVY LEAD SOUND NOT IT

YEAH YEAH PROBABLY BUILT LIKE A TANK SOUNDS LIKE A TANK OH YEAH BOUGHT IT FROM TUNNELVISION LONG TIME CUSTOMER THEY TOLD ME SEND IT BACK TO FULLTONE THEY WOULD DO NOTHING FOR ME GOTTA LOVE THESE GUYS

THEY DON'T ANSWER E MAILS AND I THINK IF I EVER MEET THIS GUY I,M GONNA BEAT 202 DOLLARS OUT OF HIM CUSTOMER SUPPORT IS EVERYTHING I DON'T CARE IF YOU MAKE PEDALS FOR ROCK STARS I AM A WORKING CLUB MUSCIANS AND WE ARE YOU WILL SUPPORT YOUR BUSINNESS AMEN!

SOME OF HIS PRODUCTS ARE WORTH IT BUT I HAVE LOSS MY FAITH IN FULLTONE TRYING HOMEBREW AND CARL MARTIN

Ease of use eh? See, it's easy to turn the knobs and what not- and it's easy to switch from one channel to both- but, you have to be patient to get certain sounds, this pedal wants some attention, and once you give it to her, she'll rock your world!

I'm going to be writing to what a lot of people are saying: "The Overdrive is better than the Distortion"... I agree with the sentiments about overdrive, and I concur. This is one of the best overdrives I've played. The EQs allow you to cut the highs and give a little more bass response that my particular setup needs. I found that feature really lacking in the OCD and that is why I went with the gt-500, and I'm glad I did....

AND NOW, for the distortion side. I must say that I too was having a hard time getting the sound I wanted from the distortion. However, I spent a good afternoon after tweaking and tweaking for a month...and now? I'm so glad I did. I personally found the distortion side to be a tad muddy- however, the three EQs on the distortion side really allowed me to shape the sound I was looking for...albeit it took me awhile. I think this side of the pedal really needs a lot of attention and for me, I used my guitar's volume and tone knobs to further dial in the tone and sound. I have set the distortion at about 12 o'clock and the volume at 9 and I've really found the sound I've been craving- great clipping and great tone.

So, in summary to my fellow GTers out there- don't give up, keep tweaking and maybe you'll find what I have- a GREAT distortion and overdrive pedal in one!

I trust the Fulltone name- I think they make great pedals.

Never had to contact.

Like I said before- this baby needs a little loving and doting. My patience was rewarded, and now I have found a sound that I rely heavily upon. I play anything from jazz, country, rockabilly to driving rock. My guitars are all single coil and I play into a vintage tube amp- I think with the right setup and time this pedal blows a lot of the competition out of the water.

The two sides to this pedal are really Jeckle & Hyde. I really like the overdrive/boost side- but I find the distortion is really lacking. I have tried and tried to dial in the right sound, but have yet to do so. I figured having three eqs on the distortion side would help me shape my sound- but I have found that it hinders.

I have the sound is really different to me day-to-day on the distortion side. I really love the boost/OD side- in fact I was contemplating getting an OCD, when my local guitar guru- said to give the GT a ride. I wish I hadn't bit. As I mentioned earlier- the distortion side is what fails for me on this pedal. Even the toggle switch is a great idea- it allows you to switch which circuit comes first when both sides are engaged, but it really doesn't live up to the hype.

I think for me- I utilize the OD side much more- the distortion sounds very stale and sterile. I really wanted to like it- but it doesn't really inspire me. I would rate the OD side a 9 and the distortion side a 4- thus I have given the rating a 6

I don't know- it seems to me that the sound changes from day to day- I have no worries about the pedal itself- it's built like a tank.

Haven't dealt with them

Overall, I would again rate the OD side better than the distortion- I really think the sound is inferior to a lot of other pedals out there. I have really spent a lot of time tweaking and have finally settled on a sound that is just...okay.