Fulltone GT-500

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.

The Boost side is easy to use of course but the Distortion side requires a LOT of tweaking to find a decent tone if there is one to be found.

I play Telecasters, Am Deluxe Ash and Classic Players Baja. Initially I used it with a good solid state amp and didn't think the pedal added much to the OD channel of my amp alone. OK, it's designed more for a tube amp. I plugged it into my tube amp and heard some improvement using the Boost/OD side but the Distortion side still didn't impress me with any quality tones no matter how much I worked with it. Also, either side of the pedal was always noisy (hissing) when used in conjunction with another pedal. Then the pedal got noisier and the distortion side would only provide gain but no distortion. All right, this thing is a lemon.

My experience with it has shown it to be very unreliable based upon the above detailed malfunctions.

After it developed the above described problems I attempted to contact Fulltone for warranty service. They require that you have a return authorization from them for warranty service. They do not provide a telephone number, just an e-mail address and a caution that they are real busy and etc., etc. Well excuse me for interupting your busy day but I dropped $200. for your P.O.S. pedal and it doesn't work. I took the time to purchase your hyped up product and I don't think it is too much to ask for some customer service. I sent them a detailed e-mail and requested warranty repair, replacement or refund. That was a week ago and I haven't heard from them yet.

I play blues, classic rock and some country and have been playing for 40 years or so. This particular pedal has been a big disappointment. If it were lost or stolen I certainly would not care and would replace it with something else (as I probably will anyway). I was seriously considering the purchase of additional Fulltone products but due to my experience with this product and Fulltone's lack of customer service to this point I don't think so now.

This is my first Fulltone product I had my eyes on OCD - but my local GC was out of it and they recommended me GT500. My OD/Distortion setup was Boss Metal Zone and Ibanez TS-9 (Analogman Mod). So I did have a OD/Distortion combination setup. Well when I decided to get it GC were out of stock on this too - now I really wanted. I saw some video on YouTube - was impressed. Pretty simple setup - actually video on YouTube got me good idea on how to use it - also some of the posting on HC.

I had it for 2 weeks. I had some issue with my Pedal Pad Board I was not able to officially put it in to my board until last week. I thought I needed to get rid of Metal Zone and Tube Screamer due to spacing on my board. My set up is Fender EJ - Boss Noise Suppressor - (EB Vol - Dunlop Wah - TS-9 - MZ - Digitech Delay) - Boss Chorus - Fender DRRI. ( ) Pedals are inside NS10's loop. I still had my hopes on TS. So I crammed in GT500 and TS which turned out to be great. Basically replaced MZ for GT500 It gave my TS extra gain that I always thought was lacking. I always had TS8's gain all the way up. Now I got it about it on 12 and level on 10 (clock hand position) tone 11-12 not too bright. I can use TS alone for rhythm crunch and then use GT500 Boost/OD to kick in more gain. This set up makes my EJ Strat sing.. even get a slight feedback on long sustain notes. smooth and really brings out the TS9's character out.

Distortion side - I am still stuggling. May be I need a Humbucker PU for this side but. I wanted different distortion than what MZ gave which was harsh - gain. Although MZ is very quiet and very responsive and does have wide rage. My personal taste had issue with it. with gain up high pass 2-3 - there is this fizz. boosting midrange and cutting treble helps a little bit but.. the fizz does not go way. I used to own a 1/2 stack marshall early 70's head with master vol - forget what model - but it had that fizz. So I am figuring distorion side is remenence of Marshal/Vox type over drive. Now I can back off on my volume and fizz calms down..actually I loved the tone with distorsion on with volume backed off a little. Is this a single coil thing. With distortion setting on 9 - it is better managed.

I am totally sold on the OD side.. a simple solution to problem that I had for years

Built like a horse

????

I still want to try OCD.. everyone say this is totally diferrnt so

Although I'm not sure where the cutoff was, I'm pretty sure mine has the modified tone circuit. It was easy to get a good sound...I started with everything flat and it didn't sound bad...I'm happy the distortion doesn't work like the Distortion Pro...I hated the controls on that one. This is simple.

I use a Tim OD in front of this. I removed Tim's boost circuit and connected a loop to the boost footswitch. Now, with the GT500 in the loop I can select Tim, GT500, both or neither very easily. I'm playing Les Pauls into JCM800s. The combinations of these guitars, amps and pedals work together really well. I've set the amp at early breakup, so dialing the guitar back just a hair gets clean sounds, Tim is set for a good rhythm crunch, Tim+GT500 boost is heavy crunch or solo, and then I can add the distortion (set really low) to make it feedback easily. This is one of the things I really enjoy with the GT500: the feedback is really musical. I didn't have that with the MI Crunch Box I was using before...it just squealed. The other thing is that the tone controls on the GT are unbelievably wide-ranging. The Boost channel is voiced wonderfully. The distortion is too compressy for me by itself, but in the above config, it works great. I'd give the distortion a 6 but the boost is certainly a 10. Still, don't let the former stop you from trying this pedal...the boost alone is worth the price for me.

I expect no problems

n/a

After 30 years, I've been through a huge graveyard of pedals. This is certainly one of the best. It would have floored me if it was two boost channels...maybe someday!

Controls for each channel are basic and aptly named. It's not that difficult to dial in great sounds.

I use this with my Gibson Les Paul Classic and a Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue. My main use for it is as a boost on the overdrive side of the pedal to drive my amp; however, there are myriad possibilities on both channels for some seriously great tones. In my opinion, this pedal works particularly well for humbucker-equipped guitars. The Fulltone Fulldrive 2 is better suited for single-coils.

Built like a tank.

I play most styles from classical to jazz to rock and everything in between. This pedal works very well between my guitar and amp and immediately fulfills my need for that cranked sound at lower volumes. I look forward to experimenting with it to get all sorts of tones, both beautiful and utterly horrible. This pedal is capable of producing any overdrive or distortion tone imaginable.

Very well designed but obviously more complex that your average booster/OD pedal given the two-in-one design and the ability to alter the sequence of effects. Very well made like all Fulltone product I have every seen/used.

1989 Strat Plus Deluxe with Van Zandt Blues pickups and reissue '52 Ash Telecaster >> Boss TU-2 tuner >> Thro-Bak Stonebender fuzz >> George Dennis wah >> MXR Phase 90 >> Lovepedal Karl fuzz >> Barber Direct Drive OD >> Fulltone Choralflange >> Boss reverb and delay pedals >> Victoria 5112 and Fender Pro Junior with 1x12 extension cab. I was disappointed. This pedal takes the sweetness out of your tone. Everything sounds compressed/flat and dense. It certainly offers up tons of gain/volume and you get a very aggressive, focused, "pushed-forward" tone. If you want what I guess may be described as a more "modern" tone, I'm guessing the GT-500 would work well. But for classic rock tones, I think this pedal misses the mark.

Built like a tank.

No need for it on this or any other Fulltone products I have owned.

I have been playing for 20 years and like mostly classic rock. I'm going to try a version 1.0 Fat Boost (the old gray box) and stick with my Barber Direct Drive -- it sounds much better for the sounds I am going for.

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

Pretty straight forward. Very easy to get the sounds I was looking for. Manual covers basics well. TO me, the beauty of this pedal is in the stacking possibilities.

This is a very natural sounding pedal and you can maintain your amp tone with the EQ section throughout the different gain levels. Both sides were easy to dial in the sound I was looking for. I went back and tweaked the settings a little after stacking the two sides in both directions to get 4 very different and very usable tones. I never had a Fat Boost, but I did have the Distortion Plus, which I felt was very dark and not natural at all with my rig. However, I love the distortion side of the pedal as well as the booster side, although I prefer to dial up the gain to about 3 o'clock on the Booster side.

Most reliable stuff out there period!

I have emailed Fulltone on several occasions. Always got a very helpful and timely response.

This is a no brainer. $200 for this pedal seems like stealing. I have tried the Klon, Eternity, Tonebone, etc., but none of them sounded natural through my amps. They sounded very good, but had too much coloration to the basic tone of the amp. I think the EQ section helps alot in this respect. I love the stacking idea. It's like the ZIM(another great pedal) but higher gain. A great idea Mike. Now, how about a FD II/OCD combo pedal. You could call it the OCFD. I bet you couldn't make them fast enough.

Straightforward to use.

I have been searching for the perfect distortion unit for ages - now I've finally found one that suits my needs! Absolutely wonderful, and the Booster/OD adds to the versatility of the pedal. I also liked the booster into the distortion, but then one needs to lower the gain. Yummy!

I had some issues the first day or two, with some crakling, noises, and total disappearance of sound at times. However, that seems to be gone now, and I have no clue what happened. Maybe the circuit board mounted potentiometers makes the contact between the chassis and the print board problematic?

I have owned Fulltone in the past that I didn't like: the Distortion Pro is a total waste of money. On my way to find an acceptable distortion stomp box, I've owned a whole bunch of pedals, also some legendary stuff like the Keeley Modded DS-1, a Blackstone, and the overhyped Krank Distortus Maximus. All of these are inferior to the Fulltone GT-500, and I think my search is finally over.

It's simple for the most part , straight forward In/Out's , LED indicators , but it has many EQ options and is rather complex . it's designed that way . Giving unlimited control of tone , gain , and boosting functions .

Without a doubt the best boost / distortion pedal I have ever used ! Nearly endless tonal options and EQ'ing available , I found it worked well with all of my amps and guitars . It also works perfectly with other pedals , no loading at all . Just powerful , articulate tone , with complex overtones and a sweet beautiful chime that I have never experienced in a pedal before . Simply the best midrange control for a guitar that I have ever heard ! Well Done Fulltone ! Awesome !

It's a tank ! Or a Battleship ;) And the battery seems to still be as new after a few months use . It's U.S. built and has a great warranty . No worries here .

With so many good pedals available and many available from Fulltone , this pedal stands out . It has many useful and original design elements and is a welcome upgrade to todays sea of basic , limited and rehashed offerings . A recent magazine review said it best , If the sounds aren't in here , maybe they don't exist . I think it's the best Boost/drive machine to come out in years !

Not your average plug and play pedal but not rocket science either.
Once you get to know how the eq's work its easy.

Very amp like, thick and natural overdrive to blistering distortion. You can get so many sounds out of this. I'm running an ac-15 with a Tele with great results. I've found the best results were achieved by switching off the bass eq's as the gt-500 has a lot of bottom end. Lovely!

built like a tank

not needed

I play a lot of different styles of music and do the odd bit of session work. I've been at it for around 22 years and own al ot of gear. This is a pedal you really need to work with but once you get there it's a beautiful thing.

The Fulltone GT-500 is very straightforward, and on the surface has more than enough control capability. On the boost side there is volume and overdrive along with low and high EQ. On the Overdrive side there is volume and distortion along with low, mid and high EQ. The mid control contains a wah inductor that allows tonal shaping from totally scooped to honky midrange. This pedal has TONS of boost and gain capability. In my use of the pedal, I never had the volume over 9 o'clock. So if you like the overall tone of the pedal, the control capability is very good.

In a word, disappointed. I own a 10th anniversary Fulldrive and really love it. It is my go-to box. I bought the GT-500 based on the Guitar Player review thinking it would be nice to the combination of boost, and a heavier overdrive for certain songs. While the boost feature certainly has a lot of gain, you really have to crank the dial to get any grit. But the EQ is nice to take the edge off higher volumes. The distortion side is loose, fizzy, and covers the range from too much to useless distortion. Once again the EQ controls are very good but the basic tone is non-musical. Such a contrast to the Fulldrive. I am playing G&L guitars through a Seymour Duncan Convertible 2000. This amp has a pretty sensitive preamp and can also be coaxed into great natural overdrive. The GT-500 covered up the tone of the guitar and amp with a mushy, carbonated sound. In the end I pulled out my old Sparkle Drive cranked up gain a lot and added enough clean blend to retain some definition. Granted it does not have the tone shaping of the GT-500, but a heck of a lot more musical. Honestly I think Guitar Player won't give a Fulltone a bad review, much like they love anything with Mesa on the front. I will be more skeptical next time.

Great cosmetics and my Fulldrive has been solid. However my first GT-500 arrived with a dead boost channel and had to be returned.

No direct experience with the factory. I returned the defective pedal to Waterman Guitars (bought on eBay) and they sent me a new one right away. So Waterman is cool anyway

In the end I sold it. For the level of sound quality, I just could justify the space on my board. So I have a very simple rig: Fulldrive, Morley Bad Horsie Wah and the Sparkle Drive.

It's not the quickest pedal to get a hang of but it isn't rocket science either.
There are many things this pedal can do so you need to look for what you want out of it.

This is a loud dynamic pedal with lots clarity, lots of grunt if you want it but it can be subtle as well. There are so many things the GT-500 can do. I use Tele through an ac-15 with excellent results.
I have the od side set at a slight break up, the dist side a slightly heavier sound and I have both going for lead sounds.
Don't be scared to really mess with those eq knobs!!I've had it for a few weeks now and I've used at many gigs and I just love this thing. It's the only drive pedal I need.

built like a tank!!

not needed. don't know.

This pedal is very unconventional so I can see why some people haven't bonded with it. I love it! it does want I want.
I've been playing for over 20 years now, I play original power pop and also make a living in cool cover bands and some session work.
I love the small compact size. I sometimes wish is wasn't as loud as it is as the volume controls are really sensitive. Apart from that this is a succesfull, original product from Fulltone and great value!!

This thing is quite simple to use. I don't understand people on here giving it low reviews, if you can't figure out how to use this pedal, then maybe you should play piano.

Finally, a real DISTORTION pedal. I play in a band, and I play rock music. I don't play Jazz, Blues, Country, Twang, Bluegrass, or rock like Nickleback or Fallout Boy. I play straight forward rock, with a little pop influence (think Jimmy Eat World, Weezer, Saves The Day, Muse, etc.) I am not looking for a TS-808 sound to drive my amp over the edge. This pedal delivers flat out distortion, and that is a good thing. I use it with a Gibson Les Paul Classic and Fender Telecaster through a Fender Twin Reverb 65 Reissue, and it sounds soooo good! I tried it with a Keeley Compressor, and it actually sounded better uncompressed (and don't get me wrong, I love Keeley.) I noticed a lot of people on here give it low reviews, but then notice what they're playing through (Peavey solid state amp?) You get what you pay for.

If you are looking for a full, bassy, crunchy distortion, this is your pedal. Don't buy it and be disappointed that it doesn't sound like a tube screamer, cause this is a totally different pedal. The boost channel is great for solos and leads.

Fulltone is great. Fulldrive was a good overdrive, and this pedal takes it to the next level, and its a level I love!

Haven't had to deal with them yet.

This pedal compliments my sound perfectly. I understand its a different type of pedal, cause people aren't used to an actual distortion pedal. This pedal is easily the best distortion pedal I've ever used, and I plan on using it for quite a while.

Don't bash it cause its not just an overdrive. It's good to finally have a distortion pedal with balls.

Pretty straight forward dialing in sounds. It's a pedal with 4 knobs....cmon.

Here is my problem with this pedal. My thoughts are there are two camps of guys (gals)that buy distortion/boost pedals. The ones that play them all the time almost with every sitting at their amps and the ones that can live with putting em in a drawer and pulling the one pedal that they didn't quite think was super hot at the time, but felt it had "potential". I'm kinda inbetween. If I don't really get on with the vibe/sound but also feel it may have an application down the road (at least a few times a years worth) them I'll keep it as long as it doesn't break the bank.

Bottom line: This pedal does not make it even in my utility drawer. I returned it today for a Fulltone 2 MosFet. I'll review that one later. The best part of the GT-500 is the boost and even that was not that great. I like my Xotic effects RC booster much more. The distortion just did not get along with my Marshall JVM 410 combo or my Bogner Shiva. A lot of midrange harsh buzz if you ask me. I'm sure there's an application for that....somewhere...

Did not break in the few weeks I had it.

I play Blues, Rock and a little Country. This pedal is probably not going to make people jump up and go shit!! This thing is amazing! It is a little sterile and harsh IMO.

This is a much less muddy sounding pedal than the OCD. A little complicated because of all the tiny knobs, but if you're a tweaker that's a good thing. A little hard to zone in on a great sound because it is fairly unforgiving. The distortion is very much in the mode of the big Warren Haynes Soldano tone. A lot of clarity, a lot of available high end, and not much compression or sponginess.

There are loads of sounds. The boost channel is one of the bestter boosts I've seen, going from a mild clean volume boost to a crunchy AC/DC type OD when the drive is dimed. The overdrive side has plenty of gain (at live levels with a clean amp 9:00 gives me plenty of grunt) for just about anything you'd like to do. Not noisy at all.

Like most Fuller pedals, it's a brick. With Fuller's new method of the controls it might be good to wait a bit and see if any issues develop, but I doubt that any will.

Always a-ok. Never been unpleasant with me, but YMMV.

A versatile pedal, but not all that. I play Dr Z Maz 38s with G&L Comanche or Hamer Sunburst guitars, have used dozens of ODs. For about the same price the Jauernig Gristle King or Diamond J Drive are both very similar, a tad easier to dial in, and will give you a great variety of tones. This one is on my grab and go board for now while I continue to work with it.