Fulltone OCD

Volume, Tone, Drive settings. A drummer could (maybe) figure it out.

I use a 56 Relic Strat and a PRS McCarty through a Dr. Z Z28 amp (1x12 Greenback, 22 watts via 6v6 tubes). My pedalboard goes like this: Boss stompbox tuner ( I don't recall model), Barber Tone Press compressor (an excellent piece of gear), OCD pedal, Blackstone overdrive, Carl Martin Tremo'Vibe, Holy Grail reverb. The OCD is surprisingly quiet at moderate settings and adds only a little noise at settings above 12 o'clock. This could also be because the Z28 is an extremely quiet amp. I don't know... When I first received the OCD I plugged in direct so as to hear it by itself. The sound of this pedal in that amp with either guitar had enough going on that any other effects would almost be overkill. The Strat is fat, dynamic, and loaded with harmonics on the LP setting, which gives, according to the manual, a cranked blackface or tweed sound, depending on how you EQ the pedal. With the McCarty I can dial up just about every great blues or blues rock tone made over the last thirty years. The tone knob has a very wide range. So much that I would say that most players would have enough of everything between the 10 o'clock and 12 o'clock settings. Beyond that, you would have to have a guitar with a broken tone pot to need more treble. With the mini-toggle in the HP position you get a good volume boost and more pronounced, or I should say pointed, mids. This does actually give you a good British type sound- sort of spiky and in your face, but still musical. The way I've been using the pedal is like this: LP setting and gain around 10 o'clock for my Strat, and HP setting and gain around 12 o'clock for the McCarty. And as I said, rarely above 12 o'clock on the tone knob for either guitar. There has been a lot of hype about this pedal and for good reason- it delivers on it's promise. The range on the tone control is the magic ingredient here IMHO. You can get satisfyingly familiar OD sounds up until about halfway on the drive setting and from there it takes you into a higher gain area, but never into the whistly Boogie or Rat neighborhood. The higher settings produce some wonderful old Marshall type sounds without the fizzy stuff a lot of pedals produce. I really didn't hear the Vox thing in here, but I've never been a Vox guy so it might be because I don't know what I'm looking for. I did hear some terrific overtones and was also able to get some nice feedback at reasonable levels. I know you've heard it before, and it's also in the manual, but it's true- it's like getting 2 pedals in 1 box. A great OD and a warm AND a smooth distortion in a neat compact package. And it cleans up nicely and that feature also gives you some useful rhythm and quieter lead sounds.

I own a few Fulltone boxes and have never had a problem with any one of them.

Blues is my first love but I also play in a horn R+B band. The high gain settings may not fly in that lineup, but who knows? This pedal is so musical that I will probably be able to work it in somewhere. I've been playing 16 years and recently let a lot of stuff go that I felt was not helping, just hindering. This pedal will always have a spot on my board. I checked out a T-Rex Mudhoney, a Menatone King of the Britains, and a Jaques Fuse Blower before purchasing this pedal. They were all cool sounding in there own ways, but I felt that for the money this box offered a lot more. I personally feel this pedal was a bargain at the price I paid. No buyer's remorse here. I would be sick if it were lost or stolen and I am considering buying another just to make sure that these sounds are always available to me.

Bought this one brand new from MusicToyz, after waiting about 3 weeks - not bad, at all! Pretty easy to use - volume, drive, tone (treble cut, from what I can tell) and HP/LP switch. Just the kind of pedal I like... it has a distinct voice with some minor degree of tweakability. I like not having to worry about minor shifts in controls causing major changes in tone - it makes your signal chain more predictable and reliable - even if a minor toe swipe gets you a little off your tone, you're not too far.

I'm using this with a 335 Dot RI, a 57 goldtop LP RI, 73 LP custom, Roadhouse strat with Van Zandts, Strat plus with Kinman's, 52 RI Tele and a Frankinstrat HSS with floyd setup, going through a chain as follows: Analogman Bi-comp, Fulltone Deja-vibe, Analogman silver TS-9, OCD, Marshall Shredmaster, Fulltone Octafuzz, Analogman Bi-Chorus, Boss DD-2, Boss Noise suppressor, then mono or stereo out from a Yamaha Magicstomp (for reverb and delays). Amps are a VHT St-50 with 2x12 cab and an Allen Old Flame, 2x10 combo. I was looking for a back up for the Shredmaster, which is still my favorite pedal of all time... the OCD comes pretty close! It doesn't have quite the midrange sparkle that the Shredmaster has, or the bottom end and is almost too shrill for my taste, but with the tone turned down to around 10 o'clock and the drive at 1 o'clock, both the HP and the LP settings are sounding pretty good. As I said, there's a slightly shrill edge to the OCD that seems to be present in all the Fulltones I've had (and gotten rid of - Distortion Pro, Fulldrive II, '69 pedal) but this one is controllable and I can get some very useable tones out of it, especially with the darker sounding VHT head, which can get muddy pretty quick, if you don't study the EQ for quite a while. I will say it is one of the loudest pedals I've ever had, second only to a Banzai Fireball II I just got rid of... If you need to drive the front end of an amp, this thing will do it! But, I''m not sure that that kind of difference in volume between clean and overdriven settings is all that useful.... I like a pedal that is jst a bit beyond unity, otherwise you are either killing people or they can't hear your rhythm parts. But, if you want extra juice, this thing has it. So far, I think this is the best overdrive pedal from Fulltone I've heard... I never liked the Fulldrives, and don't have enough use for the fuzz pedals, although they do sound pretty good. For sounds, I'm going for either a Robben Ford, Gary Moore or Scott Henderson tone on either humbuckers or strats. This does those tones pretty well, with some amp tweaking.

Fulltones have a great reputation for quality - seems very solid, but a minor gripe... although I use a powered pedal board, I don't like manufacturers who make you use a screwdriver to change batteries... might be more secure that way, but I prefer the rubber feet with the screwhead mounted inside - a simple twist with the thumb and fingers to change batteries. So, better than some, but worse than others in this dept. I don't know what the aversion to a battery bay door, ala Boss, et al, is, but that's the easiest way to deal with these things. I would also prefer the power plug located on the top, rather than the side... Analogman gives you a choice, on some of his pedals! As far as back up, that's what I bought it for... the Shredmaster may die some day, so I've been looking for a close replacement. This one is as close as I've come, so far.

Haven't had a need, other than one non-response to an email on another pedal. I imagine I would get tired of the guitar playing public, too, but after you deal with someone entirely professional and responsive like Analog MIke, or David Allen, you have to wonder why any one would say anything bad, unless it were close to the truth. Don't know the guy, but I give him credit for creating solid, thoughtful products... the better the build, the less the need for great customer service, but it's always nice to have both.

I play in a fusion band, love playing mostly blues, blues fusion and bebop, though I would like to spend more time with fingerstyle and country. Playing for 35 years, professionally for 3, part-time most of the rest of it. My heroes are Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall, Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Robben Ford, Scott Henderson, Anthony Wilson, Peter Bernstein, Kurt Rosenwinkel, as well as Hendrix, BB, old Clapton, Rick Derringer, etc. I'm chasing tone and chops like everyone else, trying lately to pare down to a few tones I really like, so I am not so distracted by gear. Gear is no substitute for talent, but at the same time, nothing can make your unit wilt like bad tone! As far as the OCD, it's the closest in sound to my favorite pedal, the Shredmaster... It's important to me to get a good tone at club volume... who can play at the volumes that really make an old Marshall sing, these days? My advice: find a Shredmaster on eBay... if you can't find one, get an OCD. It's pretty close, well made and easy to use.

There's not much to it, the same three basic controls that have been on overdrive/fuzz/distortion pedals for decades: Volume, Tone and Drive. I started off with the tone selector switch at LP with the Tone and Drive knobs at the Noon position, and the volume at 9 or 10 o'clock. This is a good starting point with the pedal, just play around with the knobs to your liking. If you want to give it a boost in the upper mids and more gain, turn the switch to the HP setting. The change is sort of like switching from an old tweed Champ to a early 70's Plexi, to even JCM800 territory (this thing has a LOT of gain).

I'm using this pedal with a handwired, totally stock 1973 Marshall Superbass head into a Bogner 4x12 with Vintage 30's. The main guitar used is a 1978 Gibson Les Paul Custom in silverburst. I've got to say, I'm very, very, very pleased with this pedal. The sound is extremely tight, especially on the lows. The attack on this thing is insane, almost as quick as the Diezel VH4 that I used to have. With it being that kind of beast, the pedal is super responsive to pick attack, muting and any general sort of fret and hand work. It picks up EVERYTHING, but at the same time is actually very, very quiet. On the LP setting, the pedal coaxes some great Tweed Champ tones with a little more of a hifi sound to it. I don't know how to describe it, it just sounds extremely clear and lush. The pedal cleans up extremely well on this mode by rolling your volume knob down. Rolling the tone knob down a bit and switching to the neck pickup can yield some great Duane Allman tones, and with the drive knob higher gets more a greasy sag 'ala Billy Gibbons (but clearer and tighter sounding). With the HP mode, it made my Marshall come alive more than any other overdrive that I've put in front of it. As far as high gain, imagine a cross between the wall of sound and chunk of High On Fire, but with the tightness, crispness and clarity of Malcolm and Angus. My band plays a lot of music in the stoner rock vein, and it definetly delivers.

All in all, it gives me exactly the sound that I want. Set moderatly in front of a driven non master volume Marshall gives a sound that sets the sky on fire. The best overdrive pedal that I've ever played easily. I like the Fulldrive/Tubescreamer sound, but I've never liked how mushy they sound.

I used to own a Bassdrive, and Mike was very responsive and serviced it well when one of the switches broke. Everybody gives the man shit, and I'm sure some of the "horror stories" are true, but everytime I've spoken with the man he's been awesome. Very busy, but awesome!

As I said before, I think Mike's a standup guy who stands behind his products.

I pretty much play most of my stuff in a heavy, fuzzed out rock band. I've always wanted a pedal that could pull of that sound, and still give me the tones that I love that are less aggressive but still are chimey, clear and tight. I'm very impressed with this pedal, and its my favorite Fulltone pedal, even before the Bassdrive (which kicks ASS on guitar, BTW). Check it out, if you can find one.

So easy a drummer could use it! Just kidding! Seriously, it's just like the controls on your mere mortal overdrive, i.e. drive, volume, and tone. The tone control works a bit differently than say the tone control on a tube screamer. It not just a variable low pass filter. Seems like its kind of a ganged bass/treble control with center being neutral, ... very neutral. It also has a voicing switch labeled LP and HP. The HP juices the upper mids and the LP does not. Sounds good all over the map.

I'm running one of three guitars ("Anita" a Carvin Bolt Strat-oid that I built from a kit, "Ken's Folly" a Double cutaway Les Paul-oid that I built from Warmoth parts, or a Reverend Slingshot). The guitar feeds the OCD, then a Keely modified Sparkle Drive, then a Guyatone Micro Delay and finally an MXR Stereo Chorus. I run two amps, a THD BiValve (pronounced mids, sparkly highs, with good crunch) and a Reverend Hellhound (clean & deep bass with shimmering highs). These feed a home built stereo 4X12 loaded with Celestion V30's and a G12H30. The OCD replaces a Keeley modified TS9 Tube Screamer. The TS9 is a cool pedal, but I was never able to get used to the intense mid-hump that it introduced. While this hump was welcome with single coils and a Fender-oid amp, P90s and humbuckers sounded not so good to my ears. The OCD solves this for me. In the LP voicing, the pedal is very neutral sounding, so you can leave the pedal on to juice up the amps a bit and control the amount of drive with the guitar volume control (what a radical concept!). The guitars still sound like themselves, i.e. EQ-wise there's not very much difference between the OCD being off and on. Just what I was looking for! If I need the extra mids, I can use the Sparkle Drive, but moderate it as needed by mixing in some boosted clean. Pretty sweet! IMHO You can believe Mike Fuller's description on the Fulltone website.

I haven't had the thing long enogh to provide a testimonial here. However, the build quality and Fulltone reputation inspire a fair amount of confidence.

No opportunity as yet to test this out. Hope I never have to.

I play classic rock or something like it with a fair amount of blues thrown in. My yin and yang of guitar are Santana and SRV. This pedal, along with the rest of my rig, get me into that tone spectrum with some room to spare.
I have been playing for 30 years with about a decade pulled from the middle of that while I persued other interests.
I also checked out a Radial Tonebone Classic. I thought that it had excellent tone as well as a lot of potential flexibility, most of which I wouldn't use. The Classic was also bigger and a tad more expensive. The smaller size and slightly lower cost for, what has turned out to be the nearly perfect fit for my rig, tipped the scales. But what really iced it for me was the thrill of the hunt for this currently hard to get pedal. DO NOT pay the $250+ that these things are getting on e-bay. It's good, but not that good. Contact Fulltone dealers and get on their waiting lists.

It is very easy to use simple layout and great tones are easily atainable (with the help of a good amp)Pretty self explanitory I wish the lp and hp setting were footswitchable though. I am considering running two of these I like both settings that much.
had to wait two months for mine but i think its a shorter waiting list at musictoyz website

I have a victoria 4510 bassman with mojo tone speakers and JJ tubes.I use a pedaltrain with voodoo lab power supply,boss tuner OCD, ibanez ts808 reissue,holy grail reverb,boss delay with George l cables. My main guitar is a Warmoth strat nitro finish fralin steel pole 43 in the bridge with vintage hots neck and middle.I also have a warmoth tele with the broadcaster pu's and my old gibson " the paul "I bought new in jr high.
The OCD sounds great with the vicky. my bassman is a little on the dark side and the fulltone really ads some punch. If you dial it in you can just ride your volome knob to go from edgy rythm to stinging lead. I really like it It made my old gibson breath rock and roll fire and thats something I wasn't getting out of the vicky before

fulltone looks solid to me

I havent dealt with them yet

I have been playing 32 years off and on. played country when I was young rock when I was older and like modern blues now.The OCD really works with my setup. I think If you have a bright amp or are't starting with a good warm tone you might not like this pedal. also this thing is like a good tube amp its unforgiving and very touch sensitive.I have this theory that all these modeling amps with tons of effects have created sloppy players that dis good equipment because they aren't able hide their mistakes. I LOVE THE ocd it made my amp better put the TS808 to shame

Volume, Overdrive and Tone. Nice and simple, easy to use. Choose HP or LP, another easy decision. I find myself using the HP mode.

I think the best way to rate an overdrive pedal is to compare the sound you get from the pedal's boost to the sound you get from the amp by simply turning up the volume to a higher level without the pedal. Some players may simply want "more of the same", meaning the same sound but at a higher volume, while other players may want a higher volume along with some coloration of the sound. I fit in the second category; I want "more of the same" but also richer harmonics than you get simply by turning the volume up. The OCD delivers on this account.

I'm a Fulltone fan. I have a Full Drive 2, and I just recently sold a Distortion Pro to help pay for the OCD. In a way, the OCD is a Distortion Pro that has gone to finishing school to get some added refinement. I plan to keep the Full Drive 2, though, because it has a different character.

Running the OCD through a Two-Rock Jade head produces a very Dumble-like tone that sounds like a blend of SRV, Santana and Cream-era Clapton. Try it some time!

So far so good.

Haven't dealt much with Fulltone. Mike Fuller is pretty blunt in his e-mails, so try to be businesslike if you want to contact him.

It's true there's a lot of hype about this pedal at the moment, but I feel that anyone who tries one will not be disappointed. Guitar Player's statement that it sounds like a "badass Marshall" is pretty accurate.

Easy to use, it's a distortion pedal.

I wasn't very impressed. I used it through a Top Hat King Royale and a '63 Vibroverb RI with a Music Man Albert Lee and a MIJ '62 tele. It does have a nice open crunchiness, but I found that with both amps, more so with the Top Hat, it had a very fizzy decay. Hit a chord, the attack sounds great, but it tails off into an ugly fizz. If you never hold a long note it's fine, but hey, sometimes I do.

Only had it a week. I've had other Fulltone stuff, it's pretty reliable. I do have a Supa Trem that crapped out on me, but they were pretty good about fixing it.

I emailed them regarding my Supa, no problems.

I play indie rock in a band that plays out a bit. Here are the distortion pedals I've owned - Menatone Red Snapper, KOB, Blue Collar and TBIAC, Tone Bone Classic, Maxon DS830, Maxon OD820, Maxon ROD881, SPF Greenline, Fulltone Fulldrive II, Boss Metalzone, Keely Boss SD-1, Ibanez Tube Screamer, Frantone Brooklyn, and Tubscreamer. I don't know if that makes me an expert or a retard...anyway, this pedal almost does it, but the fizz disqualifies it for me. I'll stick with my Red Snapper and Greenline.

Very simple to use and understand. You only need the volume on about 9 or 10 o'clock. There is a significant volume difference in the LP and the HP settings.

This is where the pedal really dissapointed me. After all the glowing reviews I expected to see God after plugging in this pedal. My initial reaction to the pedal was, wow, this sounds good. But one can not effectively rate a pedal if not comparing it side by side to others(IMO).

On my pedalboard I have a newer Fulldrive, a Klon, an RC Booster, and a ToneBone Distortion all plugged into a Bogner Shiva (for guitar I used a Suhr Classic Strat and a vintage 72 Thinline). I thought this would be a good test as I could compare a real tube amp on the Shiva (on the 2nd channel)and then click over to the clean channel and compare the ToneBone and the OCD on clean.

The real eye opener happened after I clicked off the OCD and turned on the ToneBone Distortion. In my opinion, the ToneBone sounded like a real tube amp distortion and the OCD sounded very fake and uninspiring. It was like comparing stereo sound to mono. When comparing the OCD to the real tube amp distortion from the Shiva, it fell far short from sounding realistic. The OCD sounded a bit nasally and lacked harmonic richness when comparing. To me, it colored the natural sound of my amp and guitar. The OCD was much more dynamic than the Fulldrive, and I could see how people would prefer the OCD to the Fulldrive.

There are downsides to every pedal, including the Tonebone, but when comparing Sound Quality only, the OCD fell short. I did feel the OCD cleaned up nicely when using the volume on your guitar. For sound quality only I would give this a 7 as it did not make the cut to stay on the pedalboard.

I have a Fulltone Choralflange and Fulldrive and all Fulltone products are made with great pride and quality. I use Fulltone products without a backup without worry.

I have had only good customer support from Fulltone and I believe they are the pioneer (and trendsetter) in the boutique pedal craze.

I play in a cover band playing a variety of rock from the 60-90s. I have been playing for close to 25 years and have a serious affliction of G.A.S. owning a variety of (9)guitars, (5)amps and (15+)pedals. I really wanted this pedal to be great, in fact, the downside of the Tonebone is that it is larger than most pedals, which made the OCD so appealing. Needless to say, the OCD is now sold and I have a new sense of appreciation for the Tonebone. I know this rating turned into a review for Tonebone, but if I had about $200 to spend on a distortion, the choice would be clear and I am sure there are other nice choices. I would not recommend spending stupid money on this pedal.

Very easy to use. Tone control is usable at all ranges to match or balance against your amp's characteristics. Good documentation.

I was looking for a good distortion/overdrive to run against a '67 Fender Pro Reverb (40 watt 2 x 12 - clean tone of pure heaven!) set on clean. Normally when playing out I'll run a Marshall and use a boost which is a great sound - My all-time favorite in fact. However, while the Pro Reverb is a great amplifier also for playing out with bluesier stuff, it's also a terrific clean tone for at home playing/practicing and so I wanted a distortion box that could do well at home and for playing out. It is VERY difficult to find a distortion pedal that can retain the full fidelity and range of the guitar when you run it. Many boxes seem really picky about what they are used with. This one accomplishes that task and worked well whether I used a Strat, Les Paul, or P-90 equipped SG.

I've owned/own a few Fulltone pedals and have enjoyed them. Tastes have changed over time and so I'm really tuned into wanting full fidelity in the signal path compared to the FD-2 or Tube Screamer type of tone (which also has its place and I used to love, but not favoring quite as much these days).

The tone of the OCD is unique - it has it's own mark of crunch in its sonics that is somewhat Marshall-like I suppose. It's not like the FD-2 which is a softer, rounder type sound like a Tube Screamer, and it's not quite like the Distortion Pro which has a lot of gain, but also has its own mark that sounds kind of like a Rat pedal that's been modified which is gainy, but really smooth. The DP-1 can also be a little tricky to dial in because it's got all of the extra e.q. options. The OCD is straight ahead and easy to get a good sound out of very quickly. The OCD is a more aggressive and crunchy tone, but it's a distortion tone that does NOT tear your ear off with ear-bleeding frequencies. It's very listenable and nicely tuned. Mike Fuller has a good ear.

The amount of gain this pedal has is medium-to-high, about what a Boss DS-1 or ToneBone Classic has. In fact, come to think of it, the OCD is in the similar neighborhood of distortion tone somewhat reminding of the old Boss DS-1, but really has a bit of e.q. refinement and crunch character that again sounds great and more contemporary! For those looking for even higher gain sounds, the OCD sounds really good for leads when I hit the front end of it with the Fulldrive 2. Nice combination of gain when needed.

What I especially appreciate about the OCD is that whether or not I'm running the bright switch on the Fender, the OCD's tone control can be set to where the unit sounds good in either setting. I find I like the LP setting on the OCD for being more neutral.

If you're looking for an overdrive/distortion that has a more aggressive character and is contemporary in sound, the OCD is worth checking out. Definitely a keeper for me.

I'm sure it's built well and dependable like his other products.

Mike's "reputation" of being not-nice, etc. is largely undeserved in my opinion. Just the fact that he has the sales volumes he does AND he's able to answer e-mails and calls personally is pretty impressive. People complain that he has been "short" in replies, but one needs to understand that he's a business and can only dedicate so much time to everyone. If you're looking to chat with someone for hours who is a gear builder, better to buy from someone less known who's starting out (plenty of folks on the H.C. forums who will build you stuff who'll like to talk with you). However, that said, there's a reason why Fulltone's stuff is popular - it's solid and sounds good. All said, I've almost always gotten prompt replies to inquiries.

The price is attractive and the distortion sound is great for my needs today. Matched with a FD-2, it's a versatile combo for my Fender-based rig. Who knows - I may hate the thing and want some other kind of tone down the road as tastes do change sometimes, but with the OCD I kind of doubt it. You're either going to enjoy this type of crunch that rocks or you're not. Give one a listen and try for yourself.

Very easy to use, like most overdrives, although I'm not a huge fan of little teeny switches on pedals.

I didn't care for this pedal. The hard setting is pretty nice for a certain kind of rock tone, but I just didn't like the sound of it as much as my Analog Man "King of Tone". It seemed a little thinner and grainier than the KOT. I'm being pretty critical hear but I think there needs to be some balance in these reviews. I used both the KOT and the OCD pedals on two separate gigs to compare them, and the OCD lost. I admit it is somewhat comparing apples and oranges, and comes down to personal taste. I'm not saying the OCD is crap, it just wasn't my cup of tea. The KOT has a more transparent sound and seems to interact with my guitar in a more natural way than the OCD. I think Mike Fuller's stuff is really well-made, and he pays a lot of attention to detail but I've personally never been able to bond with any of the Fulltone pedals I have owned. I guess I have a different philosophy of sound or something. For an edgier rock sound I use a Way Huge Red Llama, that pedal plus KOT pretty much covers it for me. The OCD is a box that is aimed at doing two things well, the other thing I didn't like was that the two settings vary wildly in volume/output. So it's not like you can use both settings on the gig without screwing around and tweaking the pedal everytime you switch modes. It's fine in the bedroom, but live you pretty much need to choose one setting or the other, or else have two of them. I already have two great boxes for this purpose so I didn't really need the OCD but I'm always looking to see what is out there that might be better. This pedal is good, but there is way too much hype around it. It's not going to change your life or make you play great all of a sudden. In a year or all the hype will have died down and they'll be selling used for $125.

All the Fulltone stuff is really built well and Mike stands behind his products I would have no worries about using any of his stuff as far as dependability.

I've seen people complain about Mike's attitude but I've had several dealings with him and he's always been absolutely great with me.

I play whatever I get paid to play, I'm a professional working musician. Blues, R & B, theatrical work, Country, Cajun, rock n roll etc. I specialize more in American roots music more than straight rock.

I use high-end Gibson and Fender guitars, usually tweaked with vintage or boutique pickups, into Fender and Matchless amps. The OCD just wasn't a great match for me. It would be more usefull if when you switched overdrive modes the volume difference was not so great, but I assume that wasn't possible to implement because of the nature of the design.