Fulltone OCD

First off, I bought this thing about two years ago. At the time, I was enamored with my old ProCo Rat. The OCD was played sparingly for almost a year. Now, I can't play without it. The Rat is semi-retired. The OCD is very easy to use. Dialing in warm distortion tones is this pedal's specialty.

The sound quality is top-grade. If set-up right, you can get damn near Clapton-esque sound. You can also pull back a bit to get that nice warm, slight overdrive of 70's era Jerry Garcia. The tone range of this pedal is amazing; heavy classic rock distortion to warm overdrive and everything in between.

It is built well. I would feel comfortable without a backup.

Fulltone doesn't give their customers the time of day. So don't waste your time! Find a friend or guitar store pro to help you out.

In my playing, which combines elements of blues, jazz, psychedelia, folk rock, and rock, this pedal helps me get the tones I need. I never touch the dials on the pedal, except minor increases or decreases in level. My other effects are just compression, two other distortion boxes, and sometimes a chorus for Leslie simulations. Nestled between the other distortions, the OCD reacts as well as any pedal I've ever played. Through only a 1998 Fender Hot Rod Deluxe 1x12, and playing my Mexican Strat, Gibson SG Classic, or Peavy Predator Strat, I get the tones I want without the interference of all-too-common things like wah-wah's and flangers. I've noticed also that when playing heavier riffs, the pedal's sound for chords stays tight and doesn't morph into undefined mush. It just sounds like, well, the D barre chord in "Feel Like Makin' Love" by Bad Company.

Almost impossible to get a bad sound out of it. Plug and play.

More like a professional "tool" or instrument than an "effect". This pedal makes a great guitar and amp better and a great player better. I have used a lot of pedals and gadgets, including a few Fulltone pedals, and I usually wind up sitting with a frown looking for "the sound". This thing doesn't just produce "the sound" it does makes multiple sounds and does everything well. I actually prefer to have it on when I play "clean" with the drive setting down low because it just enhances my tone. As an overdrive, with drive set low to 11:00, it sounds like an overdriven tube amp. It just sings. As a distortion, with the drive set at higher settings, you are in wailing Clapton and Pete Townsend crash chord territory.

You have to play this one to believe it and I wouldn't say that about a lot of pedals. I've had Soul Bender, 69, and Full Drive2. This pedal kills them all.

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If you like classic tones buy with confidence.

Ready to go right outta the box, usual drive/level/tone controls. The drive doesn't quite go silent with the knob all the way to the left, but the bypass is solid true. See more about sound below.

I'm running this with a Fender Strat SSS, and an Epiphone Wildkat hollowbody (p90's). My amp is an '85 Jazz Chorus.

I gotta say right up front, I've never had an overdrive that has sounded so good with the JC-120 (and I've had quite a few, store brands and boutiques)! I sat in the store last week for two hours trying out every overdrive they had, and this on came out on top over several $200+ models. It's got a rich harmonic saturation, and great EQ that I can confidently say makes my JC-120 compete with my tube amps. Not to mention DUAL VOLTAGE so you can run it at 9 or 18 volts, giving you serious tonal options. You gotta love fulltone for that. I'll knock a point off for it not having the bass response of my ts808, but it's easily comparable because the highs are much more musical when ran through a solid state amp. Go buy one!

Only had it for a few days, feels nice and sturdy, and also has some very sexy hand-turnable machine screws on the sides. I'd feel comfortable gigging without a backup.

Haven't needed to deal with them yet, won't rate this section either.

Great for blues, all forms of rock, WONDERFUL for jazz with the gain down. pre-gain to your tube amp and really make it sing. I would replace it in a heartbeat, because I don't think I would use my solid state amp without it at this point. It would be nice if it had seperate low and high controls, but the tone knob is true to that, and not just a low pass filter (like some green overdrives we won't name here).

I had this pedal for all of 5mins and it made its way to my board. Very easy to use. I got a great sound within minutes and the controls havnt been touched since.

Ive gone through alot of pedals. I own a marshall anniversary amp and wanted just something to enhance my crunch setting. All other overdrives colored the tone but this kept the sound the same and added to it!! Thats what I wanted to perfect a tone and not to change it. I thought my amp sounded beautiful for that mild hendrix crunch sound but with this pedal I feel I am Jimi hendrix lol! I love it. No noise and sounds great with my strat and les paul.

All good so far

Never contacted him. Never had to.

Ive been playing guitar for 14 yrs. Ive owned 15 guitars, 10 amps and gone through 50 pedals of all brands for different sounds. These days im playing orange and marshalls. Strats and les pauls. Yep the typical classic rocker. Ive had the SG, the flying V, peaveys, fenders, mesa's, boss, vox, dod, digitech etc... but Ive been sucked into the boutique zone. I want those 60s/70s tones. I want to sound like them off the record! Ive got my own sound going on but I love to sound like my idols...hey that was the point we all picked up the guitar wasnt it? If your rig is great but you feel like enhancing your existing tone-this is a great pedal for it.

This is a distortion pedal with all the usual knobs. It is very easy to get a good sound. It is very musical in that no matter where you set the controls it will sound different but all usable.

I am using an array of guitars and my 1974 Twin Reverb with the OCD; strat, tele, ES-335, and les paul. The ocd makes them all sound great. I would describe the sound as a juiced-up Ibanez tube screamer without the muddyness. The OCD was my replacement for my TS-9 reissue when I decided it was robbing my tone of the clarity of my other pedals. The drive knob at 12 oclock sounds very similar to my TS9 but sounds great in other positions. I should mention though that my TS9 still focuses the mid range of a lead tone in a way that I like. The OCD has a bit more of an even mid character which is better for rhythm tones. The clarity difference makes the OCD an easy choice for most of my needs.

Seems very durable. It is housed in a metal casing and has very beefy knobs. Fulltone will replace anything that might go bad. They are very helpful and generous. I had a knob go bad on my Fulldrive 2 and they sent me a new one fast.

As I said above, they are very helpful and generous.

I play mostly with classic rock tones and this pedal is a perfect match. I have other Fulltone pedals and my impression is that Mike Fuller, founder of Fulltone, is a huge Hendrix lover. His pedals definitely are going for that tone color but they are made with such great components that you could use this pedal for any style. I have been playing guitar and bass for 23 years and have been so happy to find a company like Fulltone that is making the kind of quality gear that I would want to make. I would for sure buy another if it were lost/stolen.

Plug in and play. simple adjustments and not too many options, just what i'm looking for in a drive pedal.

Amazing. Gets a little muddy on the high gain, anything past 2 is near unusable (or little to no difference in gain structure) for me and my setup. But is quiet when you mute, and is clear and near uncompressed. I run mine at 18v which is a nice headroom improvement, and am almost always in the HP setting, the LP is nice, but ilike the grind of the HP.

Yes. never had any issues with mine.

I play fusion rock stuff, this thing is amazing. tight and articulate, stacks well with others and is easy to use. My go to when i head to jams and stuff and can only take a few pedals. small too... for the price you just can't beat it (esp in the boutique pedal world)

v4.1. So easy to use it's like falling off a log!!! Manual is straightforward too!

No noise, just great tone with a ValveTrain 315 + Jap Tele and USA Jazzmaster. I prefer the LP mode for a more Fendery tone although the HP mode may be useful for a more saturated tone

Don't know about reliability bit I have a Fulltone Supa Trem too and both are built like brick ****houses so I don't anticipate problems

Never had to bother

Absolutely fab pedal, the quality of the overdrive sounds is second to none and justlets you focus on the music!!

This pedal is a straight overdrive - coloring the sound very little. It does have a tone control and an HP/LP switch that offer some level of coloring but it's not like a distortion device, it's not a metal zone.

But that's what I like about it - just an added overdrive with a bit of tone control.

I don't think there's a bad sound in the pedal since its somewhat limited that way - it just overdrives the input of your amp.

The manual, if you can call it that, is pretty skimpy. But then there really isn't much to say about the 3 knobs and one switch.

I don't know which version I have, I bought it in May '07.

I mainly use a LP Custom, Fender American Deluxe Strat, Ibanez R540 Custom. My effects are: Digitech Vocalist 4 -> Digitech Whammy III -> Fulltone Clyde Deluxe -> Fulltone '70 -> Fulltone OCD -> Fulltone Mini Deja Vibe -> Radial Switchbone -> 1) Marshall JCM 2000 TSL 100 full stack with Lexicon MPX 200 in the effects loop; 2) Fender HR Blues DeVille 4x10 on channel 2 with slight overdrive (I don't channel switch this amp).

I am about at the point where I leave the OCD on continuously. It adds a nice overdrive. I play classic rock sounding originals, not heavy metal, and this is the perfect pedal. I can use the boost on the Switch bone to get an added boost during leads (which affects both amps), or I can switch the Marshall to channel 3 and have it set a bit louder than channel 2 to get a boost during leads.

With this setup, and depending on the guitar and other effects, I can get a decent Pat Travers, AC/DC, Hendrix, Santana/Neal Schon set of sounds. You can check out some of my sounds at http://www.PoppaVein.com.

I believe this unit to be very reliable. I have it mounted in an SKB pedal board (see it at http://www.RandyMorter.com).

I take care of my pedals since they cost a bit of money, but it think this one is built to take playing on a stage.

I don't need a backup for this, but I have thought of getting another one because of a repair I needed done (see below).

The one point I'm deducting is that I would really like the unit (and all of Fulltone's units) better if they had some sort of protection around the knobs. I like how many (if not all) Boss pedals have the knobs protected by the raised switch area. I really like some Ibanez pedals that have knobs that you push into the pedal case so that they're completely protected and won't change if a guitar cable is dragged across them.

It's not like the knobs are really meant to be worked in real time by your feet while your playing (they're too close together). And while I appreciate the vintage look of the chicken head knobs, I'd prefer having the recessed knobs like some Ibanez pedals (TS-7).

My unit had a problem when I first got it - the volume knob would cut out completely. I contacted Fulltone by email, explained the problem, and they sent me a return authorization form. However, I hated to be without the pedal so waited over a year before actually sending it in.

I sent it in on Monday, 10/13/2008. They fixed it, sent it back, and I received it on Monday, 10/20/2008 - only 1 week! Fantastic service, if you ask me! The thing works perfectly now - woo hoo!

Fulltone offers a 5 year warranty on their products to original owners (not sure about resale items). I've got a few Fulltone items, and I'm glad to know they stand by their products.

I've emailed them twice regarding this repair and got prompt replies both times. I also emailed them to buy my Clyde directly from them - that took 2 emails before I got a response (which was that they called me and took the order over the phone and I got one of the last white Clydes direct from Fulltone).

I give the OCD a 9 overall, downgrading one point due to the knobs not being protected (see above). I have the same issue with their other pedals as well, except for the Clyde where the knobs are on the side, their detented, and positioned so that they aren't likely to be affected by a guitar cord dragging across them.

Functionally and sonically, I think this pedal is great. I've had a few distortion devices, most recently an Ibanez TS-7. There is no comparison between the two. The OCD is a nice, warm overdrive. Nothing more, nothing less. Robin Trower uses one and he too says he pretty much likes to leave it on all the time.

Well, the version I have (V.3, I think) has three knobs and an LP/HP switch. Other reviews have covered this well, so I'll sum up. Each knob is very responsive and they work together very well in tandem, which can make fine tuning this little devil a bit more complicated since altering one knob may mean you have to alter the other two as well. But, that does allow the greatest amount of control, which I personally prefer. The LP/HP control allows you to go from Fendery, low gain OD (LP) to cruchier, more aggressive drive (HP). I use both, but the HP more since I am also running a Zendrive.

Using this with a Les Paul Vintage Mahogany or Blueshawk though a recently trimmed down chain (RMC3 wah - Keeley Comp - Ego Booster - Java Boost - Zendrive - OCD - Keeley-mod BD-2 (almost a fuzz now) - Retrosonic Chorus - I-5 Delay - BBE Sonic Stomp) into a modded Bassman Reissue LTD with the original Emminence Blue Frames.

I'm not trying for a specific artist's sound, only searching for my own tone. I use my three OD's for different purposes. I think of the ZD as my OD, the OCD as my Distortion, and the BD-2 as a hybrid OD/Fuzz. They all serve their purpose.

I have never had any noise out of this unit, but I believe that may come not only from the quality of the unit, but also my setup. I use only George L Cables (tricky but great), and the amp is quiet as a mouse. Even with the comp on, all's quiet on the Western front.

But here is the real reason I am writing this review. I had bought the pedal based on glowing recommendations on Fender Forum. At first, I liked it, then I didn't, as I had issues getting exactly the sound I wanted out of it. I was close to dumping it actually, but then decided to get rid of the Fulldrive II that I had instead. That's when I went 18v with the OCD. See, this pedal can take voltage from 9 - 18, and I am currently using Voodoo Labs Pedal Power II+ with my setup. All it took was a custom cable from the Labs (which cost a song) and MY GOD, this little thing came alive. The overtone become so much more complex and full, the sound is simply outstanding, and surprising, all the gain on the pedal is still usable. I don't think I could get rid of it now. If you have access to an 18v adapter or a Pedal Power, try this.

I love it now, but I wasn't so gassed on it before adding more voltage, so it gets a 9

Had it a year and no problems to speak of, and I am the second owner. Built like a tank, as they say. I don't anticipate it crapping out.

I did send an email to Fulltone once regarding the pedal and they responded promptly, efficiently, and (contrary to what has been said here), politely.

I've been playing around 5 years or so. I should be better. I've gone from mostly clean playing to more edgy, blues and rock driven sounds. This pedal is outstanding. It's not my blues pedal, I use the Zendrive for that, but for good indie style rock, covers of everything from AC/DC to Smashing Pumpkins, this thing does the trick very well. It's not a punk pedal (which I also dabble in), but it comes close on some settings. Given my recent GAS, I have had the chance to compare it to all sorts of pedals, and after switching to 18v, I'm glad I didn't ditch it. I would definitely buy another if I needed it, maybe try the new V.4. It definitely helps me to make music, possibly facilitating the creative mood. And, it's only like $150, so not too shabby for an OD

Original Version 1 here. Pretty easy. You have to be smarter than a chimp to use it, but not much. Volume, Tone, Drive. The Little switch LP and HP is pretty easy to figure out. LP is for lower gain, boosty stuff. HP is for more aggressive Marshally stuff. Nice variety.

This is for the 1st version (original). You know, I usually don't write a lot of gear reviews. This is the first one in a year. But upon finding this gem on Ebay, I had to say something. DANG! I am a tone seeker. I have modded pedals myself (still have some), bought modded pedals (Keeley, Analogman, etc.), and have owned about half of the "Boutique" pedals out there. I had always bypassed the OCD. Finally, on a whim I got this because it was a low serial # Version 1.

Am I a fool. This pedal will cooperate with any pedal you put before it or after it and adds no noise, I mean NO Noise to the signal. It is very open, transparent, edgie, ballsy, yet subtle and warm when you want it to be. All with a turn of your guitar's volume knob. It loves tube amps.

I run it 90% of the time now in HP mode at about 12 o'clock on the drive. I can go from just break up if I pick lightly or turn the guitar volume down a bit, to open sounding sweet edgie overdrive with enough guts to nail any classic rock song. Turn the guitar down a bit, Sweet Home Alabama & SRV, put guitar volume on 10, AC/DC & Aerosmith and beyond.

I stack it into an MI Audio Blues Pro or Crunch Box for more aggression and attitude. Talk about sustain. SHHHEESHH.

Anyone who bags on this pedal doesn't know tone, or just has very crappy gear. You can play a Jap Strat into a cheap Peavey and get good tone from this thing.

Built like a tank, very good workmanship.

Never had to deal with them.

I waisted a lot of time and money on all different kinds of low to mid gain pedals that don't hold a candle to this thing. I played 2 weeks ago for the first time live with it and the sound engineer said "Dude, What's going on, your tone always rocks but somethin's different. What ever you did, don't change it". And that is saying alot.

If it were lost/stolen, I would immediately fall down and cry like a little girl. Then after I wiped the tears from my eyes I would plot my revenge and hunt down the poor @#$^& with relentless pursuit, shoot him in the nuts and mail them to his mother. Its my security blanket, woobie, pacifier, etc. You see I have become OCD!!!