Fulltone OCD Version 4

This pedal is straight forward and easy to use. Hard to not get great tone wherever you set it!

This is the holy grail of tone! I never turn mine off! I run an old Thomas Organ WahWah into it and then into my Blues Jr. The tone just rolls out of the "Made in England" green back Celestion. This pedal isn't for everyone.. if you want pure noise buy a metal distortion... this is a dynamic pedal that reacts to the input you throw at it... I have never in the 35+ years I have been playing used just one pedal before... This is it!... If you don't like it you need to add some dynamics to your playing and drop the fast scales.... or buy a metal pedal.

Hasn't let me down yet... Use it several times a week.

Never needed them

This is lie I said before the Holy Grail of tone.. the only problem and it is minor but still... is the power jack location....it is big and it is too close to the output jack!

Without reading the manual or checking out the specifications on Fulltone.com you might be hard pressed to know EXACTLY what the difference is between HP and LP mode simply by using it, so a point or two off for that.

Functionally this pedal is equivalent to a Boss SD-1/DS-1 in that there are controls for output/volume and amount of gain, and a Tone control that boosts or cuts the high frequencies. Like most pedals, just turn the knobs until you hear something good.

For grins and giggles, the HP mode provides more volume, a bit more distortion, and boosts the bass and upper-midrange of the EQ spectrum in order to get a bit more of that classic Marshall "honk", a la a JTM45 or low-gain JCM800. LP mode provides a cleaner, less colored overdrive tone that takes its tonal cues more from your guitar and amp than from the pedal itself. The tonal and volume differences between the two modes, in my opinion, are not very subtle. That's not a bad thing, and in fact some might view it as having two pedals in one. I tend to use the OCD in HP mode more often than not.

This is my first "boutique" overdrive and what I've learned from this pedal is that you're not necessarily getting more gain, volume, or range of control over a sound. What you're paying for is BETTER sound, a smoother, more "pro" sound compared to mass market boxes out there.

In my opinion, this is not "just" an overdrive pedal, as the amount of gain available past 3 o'clock is equivalent to most mass market distortion pedals. That said, I do use it as a higher-gain overdrive (usually with the gain set around 1 o'clock) and boost the OCD's input via a Boss SD-1 set at max level/min gain to get some extra sustain for leads or heavier rhythm work.

This pedal's range of tones fit just about anywhere - bluesy overdrive, chimey cleans, scorching rock. With the addition of a boost pedal in front of the OCD, you can get some higher-gain tones. Not scooped-mid metal, but definitely right at home for shoegazers.

Compared to functionally-similar pedals set for like tones, the Fulltone OCD has smoother treble, more defined mids, and tighter lows than other pedals. The OCD is also tremendously more touch and pick sensitive - even with a guitar's volume full up, picking or plucking lightly will cause the pedal's sound to clean up tremendously. Turning down the guitar's volume provides another means to control the amount of dirt, and unlike some other pedals, the tone does not significantly lose treble when guitar volume is reduced. For those that like to ride the volume knob, this is a good choice of overdrive pedal - not great, as there is a LOT of gain on tap here and even at minimum guitar volume settings there is still a bit of clipping. If you want your tone completely clean, you're going to have to turn it off.

This pedal is used as the primary dirt-maker between my guitars and my Crate V16 Palomino 1x12 combo, which has been retubed with a 12AU7 in V1 for more clean headroom, and outfitted with a Weber 12-5 Beam Blocker in front of the stock Celestion 70/80 that was installed in the combo.

For the price paid and the reputation Fulltone has earned/been saddled with, I would hope this pedal is as bulletproof as it looks and sounds. At this time, however, I have no opinion on Fulltone customer service as I haven't needed it.

See "Reliability" for the same answer and spirit.

The bottom line: I wish I bought this pedal years ago. I consider it almost like an amp, not just an overdrive pedal. Treated as such, the quality and range of tones available are stunning. I find myself playing much more since I've had this pedal, and I find myself playing more creatively. Better sound creates better ideas?

Three knobs (volume, drive, tone) and a switch (HP and LP). How much easier can it get without being having a brain and the ability to communicate... Hopefully that one is in the works soon :D

The guys at Fulltone have definitly picked the perfect name for this pedal. The OCD is one of the most versitle little stomps I've yet to play. The directions pretty much tell you exactly what to do to recreate any of the sounds the pedal is capible of producing. I use it for my Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier. Any former or new Rec owners know that with the gain being pushed past the 1 o'clock position the amp develops a thick film of mud in the sound and you loose any characteristics of the guitar. I have tried Analogman modded TS9s and 808s, the Fulldrive, varios boss and vintage pedals... but the OCD has one thing the others do not. The ability to keep the full bottom end and not color the sound. I do not know how this happens all I know is I love it.

I play higher gain speed metal in the vien of Blind Guardian, Iced Earth, and Dark Tranquillity. The one thing I don't do is scoop out the mids and crank the gain. This pedal helps me get the gain I want out of my amp and keep the clarity and tone of my guitar and pickups coming through clear. Every time I play it at rehearsal the band has to comment on the other guitarists dry thin tone compaired to mine.

The pedal is completely transparent which is why I fell in love with it... As a clean boost if it weren't for the obvious boost you wouldn't know you clicked it on, even on higher gain settings. As a stand alone pedal it's a great way to get a good clean distortion and not cancel out the tone controls on your amp. Too many pedals change the tone and you loose the tone you've been working with on your amp.

My set up is simple: Guitar (w/ bill lawrence L500s or Dimarzio Steve Specials > OCD > Noise gate (for pickup microphonics) > Mesa-Boogie Dual Rectifier.

So far so good. build like a tank, though the little screws they give you are hard to line up correctly sometimes and could cause them to become stripped form impatient users.

Haven't had to do anything.

25 different types of pedals, this ONE does most everything I need it to do and does it correctly the first time!

Ver. 1.4. Very easy to use; you can get a great sound with the knobs dialed almost any which way.

Not noisy at all. The sound quality is wonderful. I really wasn't expecting for it to sound quite this good. Best results will come from quality instruments. My mid-eighties Tokai Tele and '78 Les Paul Custom sound wonderful through various amps... I tried an early 70's four-input Marshall, a reissue Vox AC30TB6 and a '72 Twin Reverb (with JBL's) and each one sounded fabulous (especially the Marshall). I will say that I tried a cheap strat for comparison and it sounded pretty aweful. I'm giving it a "10" because it is going to take me off the amp market for a while thus saving me some $$$.
Go to the fulltone website and read about it. It does everything he said it will. I'm very impressed with it.

Looks very solid and heavy duty. This is my only Fulltone pedal so far, I can't imagine any one needing a back-up for this one unless they are worried it'll get stolen or something at a gig.

I couldn't contact via phone, but Scott in the shpping department was very helpful in the purchase via e-mails. He sent it out the same day he received payment. One thing to note is that the company is closed on Fridays. The pedal has a 5 year warranty which is great! My experience thus far has been fine.

Like I stated before, this pedal is taking me off the amp market for a while. I haven't even tried it with the rest of my stuff yet, but I'm sure I'll get great results. I met someone the other day who said that he didn't like his pedal and sold it. I really can't quite comprehend it. I just got mine so I know it's the version 1.4. Maybe he had a 1.3 or something.. I don't know. My pedal really makes good amps and guitars sound fabulous. I can't wait to play it some more.

Version 4

Simple to operate. Only problem is deciding where you're going to set the knobs...every setting sounds good.

I'm still not sure if this is an overdrive pedal or a distortion pedal...maybe it's a hybrid. But whatever it is, I really don't care. It sounds fantastic. Sweet classic rock tones are all over this thing. Great blues tones too. I've got other pedals to do the super high gain thing, so this low to medium gain pedal was exactly what I was looking for.

My humbucker equiped gtrs (Les Paul,SG,335) sound full and rich and have a very tight low end with excellent harmonics. This pedal is just so musical it's hard to stop playing. But I think it sounds even better with my single coil gtrs (Strat and Tele). With the tone and gain knobs set to about 10:00 I can get that Marshall plexi type tone. I've never gotten that tone out of a pedal before.

The pedal also "plays well with others"...hitting it with either my Barber compressor or Boss SD-1 booster pedal sounds great. It also gives me a really sweet and sustaining lead tone going into my Tonebone Am Classic. Sounds great thru my Marshall and Mesa amps, but I really dig it thru my Fender Hot Rod DeVille 2x12's clean channel. Turns it into a monster amp.

The transparency of this pedal is second to none. It's quiet or a dirt box, and it cleans up well when you roll back the volume.

I'd also add that I compared to a friend's v1 OCD and while both sounded great, the most glaring difference to me was that my v4 OCD had a smoother volume pot and there was more gain in my v4 pedal.

Superb low gain and medium gain drive pedal! Can't say enough about the great tone Mr. Fuller packed into this pedal.

Seems quite sturdy. I've had great luck with my other Fulltone pedals, and I have no worries about this pedal. Too early to rate though.

This is exactly what I was looking for in a drive pedal - something I could play classic rock and blues with, nothing too gainy or metal sounding. I play mostly classic rock, Texas blues, and a little jazz fusion. I've had 2 other Fulltone pedals before the OCD. One I liked a lot (FD2), and one that I sold after a few years of trying to figure it out (Dist Pro). The OCD has given my pedal board a huge tone upgrade!

I've been playing the guitar seriously for over 30 years, and this pedal is absolutely a keeper.

This little pedal has 3 knobs one switch and you can power it with 9 or 18 V DC! So I think it's very easy of use!

It sounds amazing! I Play with a Marshall JCm 900 and I use the OCD as a Booster for bluesy sounds o n the clean channel and on the overdrive channel as a booster to make it to an heavy metal sound. Even if I use it on my clean channel as a distortion Pedal like my Tonebone Plexitube it sounds great and has enough gain to make some heavy Metal!

For sure I'll use it on my gigs!

I think if you need a booster an overdrive pedal or a distortion pedal which sounds like a marshall then you need an OCD!

3 knobs, no frills, what can be easier than that.

Anyone that states this is a bad pedal just doesn't get it. One of my band mates gave me his to use after my boost pedal went south and I must say, I was FLOORED! This may be the greatest boost/lead pedal ever made. I use a Fender strat thru a Crate TV6210 (all tube amp, no longer manufactured because Marshall filed a law suit claiming it was a perfect replecia of a Marshall, which in fact, IT IS! Its a great amp.) and the very next day, I went a bought my own. After playing with the settings, I was even MORE floored. Now I am not a big pedal player, I usually let the amp do the work but for cut thru leads and sweet ringing rock stuff, don't bother with any other pedal. Get one and forget the others.

Don't know, its new.

Time will tell, but right now, its PERFECT!

I will say the early ones sounded really good. I bought a newer one off a company on ebay, which is a different story. But, to say the least, I dont know why they say this is an improved version, but it is the biggest waste of 143.10 I ever spent. It is sad that I am now stuck with a piece of useless garbage. I will never ever reccomend fulltone products to anyone.

This is garbage.

I am sure it is reliable. It will not get used, and I will not cheat someone else out of their hard earned money. I know now, firsthand, how it feels to be shafted with a 150dollar pedal.

None from the company that I bought it from on ebay. I would never buy from them again, due to their no return policy. The only thing they could say, was that they were sorry I didnt like the pedal.

Watch out, for the makers of this useless pedal, and the worthless ebays out taking our money.

This review is for the Fulltone OCD Version 1.4 (version 4) This pedal is as simple as it gets. I tried it out at the store and within minutes I had the elusive tones I have been searching for for years.

I play a Gretsch Duo Jet 6128T with filtertron pickups. My set up is:
Gretsch>>Boss TU2 tuner>>MXR DynaComp (used as clean boost)>>Fulltone OCD>>Ibanez TS9>>EB Expression pedal>>Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeller>> 1967 Blackface Princeton Reverb Amp. The amp is set clean as the Princeton amps do not have a master and volume knob. Only a volume. It is difficult to overdrive this amp without making your ears bleed. I do not play at super-high volumes, but at the volumes I do play the OCD is super quiet on or off. The guitar and amp's natural tones are not affected by the OCD in any way. They are kept very pure. I have the OCD set to a great crunch tone (Volume @ 12:00, Tone @ 3:00 and Gain @ 9:00) and use the MXR Dynacomp as a boost. This combination gives me a phenominal smooth lead tone perfect for soloing. The sustain is unbelievable. I love the touch sensitivity of this pedal. The dynamic capabilities of the OCD are amazing. It's difficult for me to describe the tones I can get from the OCD, because of it's versatility. Everyone has different gear and the OCD will react differently to all of them. I am simply saying this pedal works for my particular gear and playing style. Because of the OCD (the closest thing to boutique I've had), my Boss Blues driver and Boss Overdrive/Distortion (although they served me well) have been shelved. My TS9 (Tone sucker) is not far behind them. This pedal also sounds superb with a good strat. Back off on your guitar's master volume for light breakup and turn it all the way up for soaring leads.

The OCD is solidly built. Period. Very heavy gauge steel housing far superior to some mass-produced pedals. I love the 4 knurled screws that make it easy to access the battery. I have to be honest and say that the first OCD I bought lasted about 30 minutes and the footswitch failed. I had never heard of this happening and am very reluctant to even mention it as Fulltone has a long track record of very reliable gear. It must have been a fluke. Mr. Fuller will probably wonder what I did to break it, but in all honesty, I did nothing to the pedal to warrant the failure. I baby my gear and do not abuse it in any way. Nevertheless, the store where I purchased it were also very surprised at the failure and gladly replaced it. For this reason, I keep the TS9 on my pedalboard just in case. Because of my amp, I cannot afford to lose my overdrive/distortion tones while playing. I am only giving this a 7 rating to be completely honest, and this should NOT deter anyone from purchasing this pedal! If this one were to break, I would replace it with another OCD in a heartbeat.

I have not had to contact Fulltone.

I have been playing and recording music for over 20 years. I know the tones that get people excited, and I know the ones that are marginal. I have tried many distortion pedals and most of them pale in comparison to the OCD. My style is along the lines of John Mayer, Coldplay, U2, Neil Schon of Journey, and Elliot Easton of The Cars to mention a few. This pedal covers them all with a little delay and/or reverb sprinkled in. I love the fact that right out of the box it erased years of marginal tone that I had settled with. If I could change one thing on the pedal, it would be where the power connection is located. I would place it more toward the back of the pedal. No big deal though. I am not suggesting that the OCD is the "holy grail" of distortion pedals, but for the money, you will be hard-pressed to find one that is built or sounds as good as the Fulltone OCD. I would hope that no one would ever buy any effects pedal based on a review. Get out there and try as many as you can. Then decide which one makes you melt. The OCD did that for me.

Fairly typical controls for an overdrive but it doesn't say it's an overdrive on it which is really just lame. Also a switch labeled hp/lp might as well not be labeled at all. The position of the DC jack is ridiculous being on the lower left side.

Works OK in the bedroom but just sounds like a typical transistor fizzy and unnatural when used live. It might be good if you believe the hype and don't know any better.

As an overdrive adding some drive doesn't really sit well with an already overdriven amp which really is a fundamental flaw. As a booster it changes the tone in the wrong way, too much bass relative to the treble.

Should be fine right up until it dies an hour after the warranty runs out.

The company? well Mike has a reputation for being a first class p***k so customer support all depends on the dealer you get it from.

I have been playing electric guitar for 23 years. I own various things. Not much doubt as to why these are being dumped on ebay all the time and why there has to be a constant new version to try to sustain sales.