Fulltone OCD

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!!!

Version 3. 3 knobs. 1 Switch? Could it get any easier?

Using a Fender Japan Telecaster and a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. No long pedal chain. Just play guitar, and don't want effects to play for me. Excellent timbre and sensitivity coming out of this pedal. Bought unheard upon recommendation. No regrets whatsoever. Use this pedal as a cleanish boost or for blues/rock soloing. Don't want to sound mean, but if you can't get a great sound out of this pedal, either your guitar-amp setup stinks before you plugged the pedal in, or you are a moron. My tele has stock Japanese pickups that are not really that good (awaiting some replacements in the mail) and this little white box still sounds amazing! Do yourselves a favour people. Just buy it. You wont' be disappointed! There's always ebay if you can't figure it out...

Well built........
Who can afford a backup for everything?

Playing 25 years. Oned, bought, sold a lot of stuff like everyone else has. Will keep this pedal

Super simple knobs...booklet included will explain the layout if needed!

I only want to go in depth in this section as I am SICK of reading some of the bad reviews for this pedal's tone. First off, i absolutely love this pedal...but, just recently since i bought my new amp. I throw this pedal in front of a BadCat Cub IIr now and it sounds steller. I bought this pedal after trying it with a 65amps Soho at a guitar shop around my house about a year ago- when i got home to try it with my Fender Hot Rod deluxe, I was disappointed, but held onto it. with that being said, this pedal is NOTHING special when paired with a mediocre amp like a Hot Rod Deluxe...However, throw this thing before a class a amp, and your head will spin..i mean it is nasty, sounds sooooo good! I can go from SRV tone using this amp as a clean boost, to Jimmy Page/plexi type sounds just by playing with the gain and volume knobs. I will admit this pedal does not sound good with a production amp or a solid state amp....BUT! with a class A amp, It is hard to beat the tone and versatility of this guy! In conclusion, buy this amp if you have a class a unit, but be careful if you have a "normy" amp.....

P.S, I also recently owned an original 1965 twin reverb-- and again, this pedal didnt sound THAT great---it needed the class A circuitry to kick it into gear. (For all you trying this pedal with a Fender amp)

Solid metal! I want to also address the individual who said the wiring inside the OCD looked cheap like something on a cheap boss pedal- have you ever seen the inside of a mass produced pedal?. This claim is crap- the inside of an OCD is all hand wired with true bypass circuitry and quality parts- i mean, the inside is signed by the guy that hand built it along with the born on date...come on!!!

No idea, I get the idea from Fulltone's website that the owner is quite fond of himself (does not have a self-esteem problem) seeing how he shows off all is "toys", so I can only imagine it would not be fun contacting them for a faulty product, but again, I am just speculating.....

Class A amp= GO FOR IT!!

Production amps (Fender etc....)= noooope!

Pretty Straight forward. There is a "charachter" switch that gives a bit of a boost and different color to the tone.

This pedal sounds really good with just about any type of guitar. If does what it says but it's not a miracle pedal. Yes, it has great overtones, great drive quality and is better than your average overdrive pedal but it's not that flexible. This is a high gain pedal, not many low gain od sounds out of this one. The tone knob is functional in dialing in/out treble but does not offer a way to alter the ever important mids on the fly. I give it a 9 because it sounds way better at what it does than any of my other consumer grade/non-boutique pedals but is not as flexible as the name suggests.

It's a tank

Fulltone takes their work pretty seriously.

Flexibility is important in a pedal that claims to cater to people obsessed with overdrive. It's also a bit pricey to be a great value.

Simple. Volume/Tone/Gain. HP/LP switch slightly revoices the pedal. It has a wide range of gain available. This review is for the V3 OCD.

First off, I mainly use a US G&L Legacy (Strat) into a lightly modded Fender DRRI. I also have a Peavey Classic 20, and have run this pedal into my friend's Bassman LTD several times.

This pedal is very hyped and very popular. I certainly see why some of the hype is there. The best things about this pedal are how dynamic and responsive it is. It really feels like you are playing out of an amp, which is what it was designed to do. All the frequencies are there and it's pretty balanced (no huge mid hump, plenty of bass and treble). It is very amplike. HP has more chime to the highs, and more volume. LP is darker. I like HP more.

The downside is that I'm not a huge fan of the timbre or character of the gain. It's hard to describe, but in a certain way it has hints of a fuzz - expect this is an OD/Distortion, so that's not a good thing. This is exacerbated with humbucker guitars. It's not particularly smooth and it can be a bit harsh and buzzy.

What I like to use this as is sort of a light overdrive/boost. I feel kind of silly wasting all the gain that's on tap, but used with the level up and the drive low (like below 9:00) the transparency and touch responsiveness of this pedal really provide a FANTASTIC low gain sound. It preserves the sonic character of your guitar and amp very well in this manner, just adding a hint of gain.

This pedal is a bit of a paradox for me - the touch responsiveness and feel of it are addictive, the quality of the gain is meh. But it has found a home for me as a low gain boost/OD. It's not perfect, but most pedals are not strong all across the gain and tone range.

Looks very very solid. Nice switches and knobs, heavy metal box, neatly done inside.

Never dealt with Fulltone.

I like a wide variety of music - blues, jazz, classic rock, some hard rock. This pedal sounds good. It's not the holy grail. It's certainly made very well and will last. I also have a Barber Direct Drive which covers a similar amount of gain but is much smoother and more compressed - I use this for higher gain and the OCD for lower gain. Both are infinitely better than Boss or Digitech pedals and compared to an Ibanez TS9 much more versatile in the ground they can cover.

Bottom line, I like the response and EQ of the pedal but am not enthralled with the characteristics of the gain itself, particularly at higher gain settings. I sort of bought it on a whim which I normally don't do. If lost or stolen I might reconsider but would probably look for something dedicated a bit more to low gain sounds as the Barber has this beat for full-on Marshall crunch, at least through my rig.

This pedal has delivered on every expectation I had! Easy to dial in the tones you are looking for. I use a Strat and a Les Paul with this pedal through two different tube amps; a Marshall DSL 40 watt combo and a Fender Blues Deluxe 40 watt combo. I bypass the internal speaker on on both the amps and run them into a Marshall 2 X 12 cab. The sound and tone are AWESOME! I have the (V4) version four OCD.

No noise to speak of from this pedal and it is true bypass also so it doesn't change the color of your guitar's/amp's original tone. Very dynamic range! If you want a clean tone, set the drive near zero and the level "to tatste". This will render a punchy and strong, clean tone. When you turn up the drive, you will be rewarded with a beautiful sounding, creamy ovrdriven tone. Unlike effects pedals that are labeled, "distortion" pedals, this is (in my opinion) an OVERDRIVE pedal. Simply the most satisfying pedal (of any kind) I have ever used. This pedal also produces a very sweet sounding, natural feedback - totally ******'! I am happy to the point of eternal bliss. It is the preverbial "sound I have always searched for"! Thank you Mike Fuller!

Full tone products are top of the heap! Built like tanks. Go to their site and see how many big time musicians use their products. No worries here.

I haven't dealt with the company simply because I have had no problems. One of the main reasons I looked into a Fulltone product was because of their reputation for building reliable, quality products.

I play mainly classic rock and occassionaly blues. I have played guitar for 25 years and was never truly satisfied with my tone - until now! I didn't compare it to other products because I was completely satisfied with the results. If this pedal was stolen or misplaced I would order another one IMMEADIATELY!!! I know this sounds cliche, but I truly couldn't live without it!

If you are looking for a classic rock sound with a creamy overdriven quality, don't even waste your time checking out other pedals. This pedal is THE REAL DEAL!

Very easy to use and get going with some great tones.

I think this is V3 but it could be 4.

Im using this on my marshall plexi 50w to boost the gain or as a lead boost and also with the Peavey JSX clean tone and Elmwood modena90 clean tone for mild dirty blues. It sounds great for both these purposes.

The effects are not weak at all...very strong but also quite transparent at the same time.

Its built really well. My unit is completely solid, heavy and chunky.

Never dealth with them.

Been playing 20 years. I haven't owned a lot of overdrives as I tend to use amp distortion and the marshall I use often is great for dirty blues tones without an overdrive. I wanted a pedal that would help push the marshall in particular at lower volumes when it has les gain (even though its a modded marshall with PPI MV) or to boost thing up with effects in the loop - and also to use with some other amps when they're on clean and I want some mild blues tones. I've found this unit to very transparent and good at doing anything from overdrive to outright distortion even. A couple of songs in my band I set the marshall back to clean and need to switch between a totally or almost clean tone to a gain tone and the OCD can do this, whereas some other overdrives are too mild, or even too much gain. This is spot on. The LP/HP switch is also great in allowing a fuller fatter tone or a more transparent tone. Its a good feature. Compared to a boss overdrive Ive used for centuries its high quality sound...its smoother than a cheap DOD308 I have but not as smooth as Trex Dr Swamp I also own. The problem with the DR Swamp I have is it becomes almost too smooth or too fuzzy, whereas the OCD sort of goes along with what your amps doing.

I dont use OD a lot, preferring high gain amps like a marshall with the volume rolled back, but for the purposes I need this fits the bill perfectly (for the time being ;))

Dead simple to use. 3 knobs - Volume, gain and tone. Input and output jacks, 9V power input. What could be difficult about that !

As for version number, not sure. It's only about a month old so presume a 3 or a 4.

I use this pedal with 2 guitars. First is a very rare Japanese market only Tokai 1959 replica (not an LS guitar!) and a Fender standard strat). Amp wise, I run this into a Marshall JTM 60 head with either a JTM 2x12 open back cab or Marshall AHW 4x12 depending on venue size. Music wise, I play in a female fronted rock covers band playing stuff like GNR, Led Zep, Green Day, Skunk Ananise etc and this pedal is perfect for the hard rock genre.

I have to say this pedal absolutely rocks. I tried several differrent high end pedals when I came to buy an OD pedal and took my Toka iand Marshall head to the store with me. The store found me a nice quiet booth for me to try a load of pedals out. I also tried a Fulltone Fulldrive and GT-500 and pretty much every Keeley tubescreamer, Keeley Bluesdriver, Keeley DS-1, Boss OD-20 and all the T Rex OD pedals. I also tried a TS-808 for good measure !

I went with the other guitarist in my band so I could both play and listen/tweak the pedal. We were both in complete agreement that the OCD was the best by a long way (the most expensive Keeley tubescreamer was closeish but the OCD was still the clear winner). We probably spent about 2 hours just playig drive pedals of which the OCD probably had about 40 minutes worth of play we liked it so much!

The OCD is very warm and tubelike in sound and although when driven hard, it is very distorted, the clarity and definition of the notes is incredible and everything rings through. I tend to run this on the LF switch (which is quite a bit quieter then the HF so the volume sits around 3 o'clock to match the clean signal volume) which gives more of an 'American' amp type sound as the HF sound is very close to my Marshall so it gives me the option of both distortions for gigging. This pedal works particularly well with a Seymour Duncan pickup booster in the serial loop to jump on for solos.

Time will tell, although it seems to be very, very well built so I hope it will be on my pedalboard for many years without issue.

Not contacted fulltone so couldn't say.

This pedal is perfect for the hrd rock style that I play and if it got lost or was stolen, I would go straight out and buy another one without question or without trying anything else.

Been playing for around 15 years and have owned lots of drive pedals over the years including various Boss, Carl Martin, MXR, Ibanezetc but this one is definately the best of all - like a tubescreamer just warmer and tons more gain on offer which also gives a clearer tone as well. As abive, when I bought this pedal, I tried it against at least 10 other OD pedals and would highly recommend it.

I have the OCD version 3. Plug n Play

I just wanted to put in my 2 cents here. I play blues and classic rock. I love Jerrry Garcia cause he was very musical IE: played over changes and did it melodically. He didn't play blues cliches. He was understated, which shows musicianship to me and less ego. I sound nothing like him though. I've learned not to haul off and write a review before testing a product for months because, as you all know, little things start to add up over time and your opinion may change. Anyway, I've had my OCD for about a year and used it on numerous gigs. I loved this thing from the start and it hasn't let me down. I use it playing a deluxe american strat refited with van zandt blues pups into my fender hot rod deville 212. I ususally set the drive channel on the deville at 9 to 11 o'clock and eq to taste, depending on room, how I feel etc. For leads I rarely use my more drive channel anymore. What I like to do is use the OCD combined with the drive channel instead. What happens is the nice warm rhythm crunch from the tube amp overdrive is enhanced into a fantastic creamy lead sound. I usually leave the tone at 12 o'clock and the drive somewhere between 10 and 1 oclock. I've never needed more drive than that so I don't know how it would sound toppped out. Other reveiws have stated that it performs better at low drive setings. I've found the medium drive works well too. I also really like the low drive settings around 9 o'clock in combination with my clean amp channel as a rhythm setting, but when I play live I usually use it as a lead channel for simplicity. For me combining it with low to moderate tube amp grind is where its at. Seriously, there's always a better "sound" cause the search never ends. As musicians most of us are driven to find "that sound". You know the Hendrix, SRV, Clapton, Knoppfler, etc. Even those guys sound evolved over time. This sound isn't any of those. Its my sound and really works great. Long story short: the OCD would make a great addition to most anyone's (especially HRD owners) tonal arsenal.

I'm not rough on my equipmnet. I don't jump around and stuff, but this box is really sturdy. If I suddenly was 17 again I don't think I could break it without some real effort.

Emailed Fulltone to thank them for the product and I'm not sure but I think it was Mike who emailed back promptly to say thanks back.

For low to medium gain stuff I think we have a winner. I've been playing for around 30 years. My rig is the strat, HRD, OCD, a cheap pedal (beringer) tuner, a boss blues driver used for a clean boost, and a danelectro PB n J delay. I would definately buy the OCD again and have considered buying one for my band mate. I like that it helps me sound like myself, the good me I hear in my head.

Getting a "sound" out of the OCD is fairly easy. The only problem is...it's a bad sound. With all the knobs at 12:00 the OCD is an okay sounding overdrive pedal, past that in any direction and it is just plain bad sounding.

My god, the Fulltone hype machine strikes again. The setup I used to try out the OCD is/was very simple and excellent sounding. I used my 63 Gibson SG Jr, an insanely great sounding guitar through a 65 Fender Twin Reverb, the best amp for trying out any pedal. No matter what I did the OCD sucked. It just plain old sucked. I can't fathom what all these other "toneheads" are hearing when they rave about the OCD, I just do not get it. Yes, the output is massive and that is nice...but... the tone control does absolutely nothing...nothing. It goes from muddy to mud to mud with some annoying treble. Which I guess isn't nothing but it certainly is not something either. The gain is where this pedal just falls apart. It's okay at low to medium levels and I mean okay. Anything past noon is just a muddy, toneless mess. No definition, no clarity, no cleaning up when you reduce the guitar volume...just mud. I truly don't get the love thrown at this pedal. Maybe people just have to love it after the money they threw at it but all that does is make it the pedal equivalent of the emperor's new clothes. Everyone says it's a Plexi when it is actually an early 80's Peavey Classic VT series amp.

Everyone says Fulltone pedals are well made but the components I saw when I cracked it open were nothing you wouldn't find in a Boss pedal. Hype again and nothing more.

I wanted to love this pedal after all I had read about it but I was sorely let down by the reality of it. It only took a few minutes for me to know that this was going straight back to Sweetwater. They were cool about me returning it and gave me a full refund. Thank god for that. This is the second time I was taken in by Mike Fuller's BS and the last. I purchased a Carl Martin AC-Tone pedal at the same time as the OCD and it was everything the OCD said it was and wasn't. It sounded like an AC30, was dynamic and amazing. Do not waste your money on an OCD, DO NOT! After 28 years of playing guitar in the Washington DC Punk/Indie scene, I know what a good guitar sound is and the OCD does not deliver it.

This is Version 1.4. I haven't tried the other three, I'm already OCD's on this one. As far as ease of use, this is the most complex pedal I have ever used, at the same time, it sounds great right out of the box. It has taken me several days to actually appreciate what this thing does thry My Marshall JTM 30. Many nuances. OCD is the mostproper name for this thing

I play a fender USa 70's RI For guitars. I now like to keep it to one guitar so I can really get as deep as possible with it. I use a Clyde, a Deja Vibe, ToneBone Classic, and the OCD, thru a Marshall JTM 30 (The Tube Melter) Truly this is the most amazing pedal I have ever used. Whn Fuller talks of beating your amo into submission HE WAS NOT KIDDING. It took me a little while to actually figure out what this thing does, and the sound is KILLER. Transparent, it does not change your Tone, it seeks out your most natural tone to the max. This is so good for pushing tubes to the point of The Singing one note of Machine Gun Hendrix. Sustain city, but the good kind. Roll off the volume and come back to earth YUes it is a 10

Never had any problems with Fulltone stuff ever. Couldn't break this thing if I tried

Great group of people. A while ago I called to ask a question, and got Mike Fuller. Just talked to him about music and stuff for about an hour.
I recently asked a question via email about lubricating my Clyde. response was Kind tothe point and fast.

I play rock, blues Jazz ( a little) psychedelic stuff for 33 years. This pedal influences me and allows me to play better, with more heart. Go get one, and tryt not to OCD about all the versoins

It's a classic stompbox - one in, one out. POwer input, or you can power this with an external power supply. I use the Voodoo Labs Pedal Power Plus 2, so I'm feeding it with good juice. I want to give this pedal a 10 in every category, but it's actually not a plug n' play pedal. When you are working in the analog domain, your pickups, the density of the guitar body wood, your cable quality, and the amp all interact to either make or break the tone. This is a great pedal, but it's taken me a couple of years to understand it. Not that I'm a dumb _ss, but sometimes you have to step back and really listen - both while you are jamming in the bedroom, or when you have a band behind you.

The sound quality is good. LF/HF give you a lot of tonal possibilities. There is very little noise. Fulltone says it's a true bypass pedal. I'm a gear nut... so I make life harder by experimenting all of the time with different combinations. My go-to guitars are Tom Andersons and Fenders. My go-to amps are Carr, Fender (Deluxe), Victoria, DR Z, and Matchless. I have one Anderson made of Swamp Ash, the other of Alder. The reason I say this is that some of the combinations suck, others are OK, and yet others are golden. For the most part, the OCD seems to like guitars with denser body woods (swamp ash). Although, I played last night with a magic combination of Alder Tom Anderson, Victoria amp (3x10 with 2x6L6 tubes) that rocked. To cover all of the non-metal bases, I use a TS9 and the OCD. The LF setting in OCD goes to where the TS9 likes to play. So I typically leave OCD on HF and use the TS. I'll set the distortion setting low, the tone mostly high, and adjust the volume to taste. Yep, like they say, it cleans up nicely when you roll the guitar volume back.

I've played for 35 years now. I gig about 50+ times a year. You can learn new things with the same old equipment. Fun.

I have a lot of Fulltone effects - chorus, Trem, a red and blue FullDrive2, Deja-Vibe. Some good pedals, some OK. But they won't break. You'd have to do something really stupid to break these things.

I've sent them a couple of notes. There's an attitude there that doesn't thrill me, but they make good products.

I play blues, R&B, classic Rock. The OCD does a great job in this genre.

It Doesn't get any easier except the four screws you need to take out to replace the battery. I am not complaining or really mind but for you lazy bums or non- mechanical screw driver users out there you might be overwelmed.

First off I feel this is a pedal for single coils only! especially p-90's. I found with '57 humbuckers the pedal limits or lets say strangles the pickups a tad, its not bad but for $150 dollars its not money well spent for a guitar with humbuckers. AS far as single coils this brings the true tone of the guitar/amp and just enhances them. Just lets them shine I cannot live without this after using it. I Play a mesa triple rectifier and a es-135 with p-90 and one with the '57s. The OCD simply takes the Mesa and adds the tone of a marshall/ fender. For what i play I love the mesa for the tube glass sound it produces and the OCD just warms it up adding what is missing. You can use various voltages for this pedal I found the lower the voltage(9v) the warmer the pedal is. I also used it with a 12v and just found the OCD sounding Pushed, compressed. There is so much gain on this pedal that any sound can be achieved run out and get this if your a tone buff, like me

Chews up batteries pretty quickly but nothing a cable cannot fix. Besides that this baby is a WWII tank.

You do not need support except to clean your pants out after you hear this baby sing.

i do not buy junk, and do not spend money quickly but his $150 dollars made my sound worth 10 fold. ALso I do not believe in pedals I am a guitar to amp guy so to purchase this and to use it I need to see something that is missing/ needed. Metal heads may be disappointed, but if you get your kicks out of tone, and quality and love to rock like a mother the OCD is for you.

The OCD is very easy to use.
Great awesome tones.

Splawns,Fender Blackface Vibrolux.
Not at all buzzy or noisy.
Very nice, Desert Island pedal.
I love it. I think I have the Version# 3, #4 is out now.
One of the best dirt boxes I ever played.
Touch sensistive. amust have pedal.

Reliability is the best on the market.

Never dealt with Mike fuller.

Speaking for myself.The OCD is a Gem and deserve attention by
great guitarist.I'm very glad I have one and can't see being without
it. The tone is that good. I also use a Xotic BB preamp with it.
Glorious tones.

I bought this second hand with no manual and had a good sound out of it in seconds. It's really easy to use. It was easy to improve on that sound to - very tweakable. The name is very descriptive (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).

I am using it on a MIA strat and a Maton JB6 (SG type guitar)through Faesel Crybaby>Marshall compressor>OCD>Marshall trem> Mesa Nomad 55.

Quite a quiet pedal unless its wound right out. Dam site quieter than the Boss SD-1's and DS-1 it replaced.
To my ears, this pedal sounds awsome. It produces everything from a smooth vintage sounding light o/drive to a nice thick sounding distortion. At light/moderate settings it is quite touch sensitive and cleans/dirties up nicely off the guitar volume. It is quite transparent (hey its an OD predal its not supposed to be squeaky clean)and certainly allows the character of the pickup being used to come through. I find the hp switch setting works well on single coils and the lp on humbuckers. It really interacts well with my compressor to produce mellow blues tones.
As mentioned, I have used it to replace a standard Boss SD-1, an SD-1 with a Keeley type modification and a Boss DS-1 and i AB'd with the Bosses before I sold them on. It has a far superior sound and was a definite step up tonewise.
I think the sound character would suit those who like more traditional guitar/amp sounds (most genres 50's-70's), but it still sounds good and heavy when its pushed (in an early Black Sabbath sort of way).

Built like a tank.

Never had to approach the manafacturer or agents. The thing seems bullet proof.

I love to play jazz, ragged blues, rock and old school heavy rock. Certainly covers all those bases. If I am playing modern metal I just use the high-gain channel on my amp - the OCD is redundant in this mode. If it were stolen I would be quite angry really - and slay the bastard, flay the person, sell the skin and use the money to buy another.

I love the sensitivity, tone and versatility of this pedal. For me its a real gem and suits my ears down to the ground. I'd rate getting this pedal alongside getting your first good tube amp and decent guitar. It made me think alot harder about my playing style - principaly because you can hear tonal nuances through it.

Using this pedal, especially with higher gain settings, is like putting the sound of your guitar and amp under a magnifying glass. If you have a really great clean sound dialed in to begin with, clicking on the OCD will sound great, but if your basic sound is harsh on the treble side, or too muddy, the OCD will magnify that harshness or muddiness. Working the pedal itself is a piece of cake, but it might take you to school as far as reworking your guitar and amp settings to get them to sound good to begin with. I'd say this is probably a very good thing!

It's all relative - I give it a 10 measured against other pedals, not against the sound of real tube amps like Dumbles, Marshalls, etc.

It is f________ great. The main thing here is expressiveness. It's true - like a Dumble, it responds beautifully to picking technique. Dial in a good dose of overdrive, then back off the guitar volume about 1/4 to 1/3, and you have this blistering attack when you hit it hard, or smooth, singing sustain with medium attack, or an almost clean sound with very light playing. Then crank it back up when it's time to really wail!! The playing feel BLOWS AWAY ANY MODELED AMP FROM ANY MANUFACTURER. ANALOG RULES!!!

No, it does not have all the same tube-frying tone of a real amp, but the overdriven sound rages in a way that is pleasing to the ear - more pleasing than some real real amps! If your amp sounds good to begin with, you will love it.

This thing really, really helps in open-jam situations, where you don't know what amp you'll be playing through - just bring your battery powered OCD and you can relax in the knowledge that when it's your turn, you can pretty much just go up and play without having to screw around trying to figure out an unfamiliar amp. Unless the amp is total crap, you'll at the very least have a very enjoyable sound to work with, and maybe a really great sound!

I rate this based on their enviable reputation as well as the obvious industrial-strength materials used.

My first Fulltone product, no opinion.

I give it a 10 for overall value because, even though there are a slew of decent-sounding overdrive pedals out there for a lot less money, none of them comes close to this kind of feel or expressiveness. Fulltones are nothing like the cheap stuff out there, and I can see how you will find yourself still enjoying the OCD long after having grown tired of the sound of the cheap pedals - the OCD really is a blend of its own sound plus the sound of your guitar and amp. It allows the great sounds of your carefully chosen and dialed in guitar and amp sounds to really shine, while adding a generous dose of shine to put it over the top!!

3 knobs: vol/tone/drive. It's easy and the manual gives some suggestions. The volume boost is pretty significant. I have to keep mine at about 10 o'clock.

I love it. It's great for blues and rock. If you want smooth, rich distortion like you might get from a mod'd SD-1, this is NOT the pedal for you. I mostly play a Strat with noiseless pickups, but it sounds great with the 57s on my Gibson ES339 too. My amp is a Silverface Super Reverb. My board goes like this: (guitar) Area 51 Wah -> HBE CPR Compressor -> Fulltone Octafuzz -> Fulltone FD2 Mosfet -> Fulltone OCD -> Fulltone Deja Vibe -> Keeley mod'd AD9 -> Boss DD6 -> Boss Tu12 tuner (Super Reverb). I recently got rid of a Lovepedal for this OCD and I'm very glad I did. The Lovepedal was built like something I could have soldered up in my garage.

It's new. But one reason I love the Fulltone pedals is that they are built like a tank. Very Solid Construction--seems like it will last forever.

I've had good luck with Fulltone. I send emails and I get an answer back that day or the next. Typically my emails have been pre-sales, like pedal recommendations, but they've been quick to reply.

I put this up as 10 - fantastic value - because for a boutique pedal, it's very reasonable. This was cheaper than my Boss DD6, and it's built VERY well. Again, if you play blues or blues/rock, this is a great pedal for you. If you need high, smooth gain, I'd recommend the FD2, or something else.

Very straight forward, Volume,Drive & Tone. Plus a two way switch, HP/LP.

Well I think this is the best Overdrive/Distortion that I've ever owned. I went to a music store to try out the Fulltone GT500 {in the never ending search for the holy Grail, sound familiar?} I thought it was really good, but the store owner suggested I try the OCD also. Well it was just perfect for me. Sounds great through my vox AC30 with a tele or strat! Set the micro switch to the HP[high peak] which has more bass & upper mids and it's a joy to behold. Neck pickup sounds reminiscent of Ritchie Blackmore's Machine head tone.It let's the guitar tone shine. Very uncoloured punchy sound. Using a Marshall & a Les Paul I set the Micro switch to LP{low Peak}i.e less mids & bass, as the Gibson has more of this anyway. Great power chord rock & lead tone in the vain of Jimmy Page, Pete Townsend. Is any pedal a 10? this is as close as it gets.

It seems really well built. I Have plenty of other Fulltone pedals such as the Fulltone 2,Soulbender & Octafuzz all excellent as well.

No dealings with them.

It's very versatile. Halfway between a overdrive & distortion sonically which is great, not honky or too gritty, very amp like. I play Pop/rock in the 70's style, that's my era. I would rush out and buy another one if lost/stolen at the drop of a hat! I've had it for about 4 months now, done a few gigs and am still suitably impressed. It's the sort of pedal that makes you want to play and give it all you've got, inspiring!!

This thing sounds awesome through Deluxe Reverb reissue, and that's saying a lot. I plowed through a list of pedals that incluced a Keeley modded Tube Screamer, a ToneBone Classic, a Fulltone Fulldrive II, and a Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive, and all those pedals sounded fizzy through both channels of the Deluxe, especially the tremolo channel (which still has the notorious "bright cap" in place on the input). The OCD really pairs up with with the Deluxe Reverb, particularily for higher gain stuff. Hat's off to the folks at Fulltone on this.

Do these guys exist? I've tried emailing a few times and never received a response.

Best OD I've found for the Deluxe Reverb. Gave me a damn good gain channel to go with the spanky clean tones you get out of the reissue.

Just like any other overdrive effect, but with an extra switch.

What an effect. WOW. The sound is big and dimensional!

Seems to be built to a very high standard.

I have emailed Fulltone in the past and was responded to within a day.

I am in a cover band doing everything from The Eagle to Tom Petty to Metallica to Finger 11.

He is my set up

Musicman Sihouette -> Bad Horsie wah -> Fulltone OCD-> MXR EVH phase 90 -> Fulltone Choral/Flange _Boss DD-3 -> Mesa Boogie Dual Recto

Between the channels on the amp and the OCD I have it all. I have never been happier or sounded better!!!!!

The OCD does something special on each channel. I LOVE THIS OVERDRIVE!

One of the things i love about these type of stomp boxes is the ease of use. This has a drive knob, a volume knob, a tone knob and a switch to go between two different types of overdrive settings. How much easier than that can it get.

I have only done one review before and that was on the Boss GT-8. I try to be as objective as possible as i know what one person likes others will hate, however if you are thinking of buying this pedal i think you will know what sort of sound you are after.

I use this pedal straight into the front of my amp (as i do all my pedals) my set up at the moment is-
Fernandes Ravelle Elite
Boss TU
Fulltone Clyde Wah
Fulltone OCD
T-rex Tremster
MXR Phase 90
Line 6 DL4
Marshall Mode 4.

I play prog rock in a sort of Alterbridge meets Pink Floyd meets Porcupine Tree way.

This pedal i use in two ways the first is to help balance the really distorted sounds i use, not to boost but just to add a little top end.
The second to give me a really nice blues tone on the clean setting.

I have to give this thing a huge thumbs up as it does both jobs really well.
The best thing about this pedal is it does not colour the sound of your guitar but only adds its own sound on top of how your guitar already sounds.

When using this on the clean settings it gives you a good 60's-early 70's vibe (think The Who live at Leeds or early Zep.) I like to use this on the Hi frequency setting with the tone at 10 o'clock, the volume at 12 o'clock and the drive at 1 o,clock. if like me you like to back off the guitars volume and tone and control things that way this pedal will be perfect for you because it really does respond to what your doing. If you back off the volume on the neck pick-up you can get a good jazz tone (think Ronny Jordan.?
If you use this on the distortion channel be careful about how much gain you add on, like i said i only use it to add a little more cut and top end but it does its job very well once again without changing your tone dramatically.
the two distortion types work well one gives you quite a bassy deep overdrive kind of like Albert Kings the other gives you the Who type sounds.

In short its all good!!

Not sure but you do get a 5 year warranty!

Its a small company so i hope they still use those ethics but i have not had to deal with them.

If you play out and out metal its a big no
If you play Grunge its a no
However if you play just about anything else you will find some setting you like.
Personally this is the best overdrive pedal i have owned, I will not protest to have used all of them out there but this is better than my old TS9 much better than the Boss BD and better than the Marshall Bluesdriver.
If it was stolen? Without a doubt i would get another one.

It's a plug and play pedal, tipical easy of use of a little OD box. Mine was the second version, more mid-range oriented than version 1, the other one that I've heard.

I've runned it with a Fender Pro Reverb 73' - Fender Stratocaster USA and Ibanez S2020. The best sound I reached was with humbuckers, it was more plenty of power....but this box lacks basses in power chords. Great tone for vintage rythms and combined with a BB Preamp it was very easy to dial a good sounding violin-tone. This pedal is very transparent and respects the tone of your guitar, that's something most of the guitarist like. For Marshall sounds I prefer it against the Plexitone of Carlmartin but I thing it's not the definitive Marshall sound in a box. Anyway, a high category stompbox.

It's built very consistently, no problem with this.

Didn't have any problem with it.

I play rock, blues, jazz, funk and sometimes more heavy stuff. It suits very well for rock and the styles that need less gain, for heavy rhythms I thing it's not the best choice becouse the definitin of bass notes. I used it for AC/DC riffs and things like that, combined with the BB Preamp I ghot a killer tone for soloing. I've sold it because I wanted another type of OD, a more Dumble oriented, but I thing it's a great buy for the money it costs.

Just 3 knobs, so how hard can it be?

Well, it took me a few weeks of experimenting to find the sounds I liked with it. It never sounds bad, but this is a pedal you want to work at, and when I did, I was rewarded. I can flat out NAIL Page and Hendrix with this thing. Think Page 1973 The Song Remains the Same Soundtrack. Yeah, that. Awesome. Roll off the volume on the ol' Les Paul, still got tone! Plug in the Strat, step on the wah and it's Jimi time a la Band of Gypsys. I run this pedal through a Marshall DSL401 all tube combo with a Les Paul, a Strat & a Tele. It does it all. Best distortion pedal I've ever had.

So far so good. 1st Fulltone pedal I've ever owned.

Never had to deal with them.

Pricey, but worth it. Every penny. I would buy again. It makes me want to buy more Fulltone stuff. And I will soon.

Simple pedal this is what drew me to it. just volume tone and drive with the helpfull hp/lp switch. this is stock version 3 brand new.

Sound is such a hard topic to discuss but you have to believe the hype with this pedal i have used many pedals over the years and i was and still am set on the maxon rod-881 witch is a tube based distortion/overdrive pedal. i was looking for something a bit diffrent with a more simple plug in and play attitued and the ocd has done that. without being obvious it sounds just like it says like a cranked up marshall early fender. I play through a victoria 5112 and with that cranked the tone of the ocd is very similair just with more versatility with tone and gain (the amp has just one volume knod and thats it simple!!!) i was very happy to hear that there is plenty of gain on tap for good old fashioned classic rock and some new stuff as well and it really does clean up nicely. great pedal and best of all now i can officially say all my gear is made in the USA.

so far so good but what i read about i should be fine i baby all my stuff anyway.

I play mostly good classic rock and early 90's rock this bad boy handles everything exeptional. think Zep meets Sabbath and the who the stones with a bit of pearl jam neil young and you can see what i play. like i said earlier i play out of a victoria 5112 with a Gibson LP Classic Antique with 57 classics, Gibson LP Jr with Jason Lollar P-90 (super pickup) and a American Ash tele. all great guitars through the amp and pedal great stuff here I just with I bought one a while back i would have saved a bunch on useless pedals.

It is easy to use since there are only three knobs and one toggle switch. It is not easy to get good sound of it though. The tone knob is EXTREMELY sensitive around 10-1 o'clock so getting that sweet spot tone is difficult. I am comparing this to other boutique pedals. If its boutique you should be critical and these little things should be done right. This is not done right. The drive and volume knob are done right.

A VERY VERY Fizzy product. I own a V1 and my friend has a V3 and they are different but not different enough to make it sound GOOD. There is this overlap of booming bass over the fizz so there is not middle ground and the treble sounds like a cheap pedal. Humbuckers are the worst for this pedal, single coils work best. The best tone out of this pedal is when the drive is down all the way, just like a dirty boost/drive that barely drives. This way the pedal isn't doing too much driving which then reliefs the fizzyness.
I am comparing this sound quality to other pedals that produce (or try to) a amp like gain/od sound. The Cmatmods "Signa Drive" does this sound way better (and more sounds as well and its cheaper). Robert Keeley has a few as well that does this sound better.

This is a very very dependable pedal. Built like a tank and has lasted me a long time.

I contacted them to convert my V1 to a V3 (my friends sounds slightly better) and after 7 E-mails and no responses (I tried 3 different E-mails listed on their website) I have waited over 6 months and I give up. I have done mods myself, I may just do it by myself. I used to deal with Fulltone years ago, they were very helpful but now that they are getting to be a big corporate company...well, they stink with customer service. You can get way better treatment from other companies.

Fizzy sound, terrible customer service but its a reliable pedal as far as durability goes. The tone knob is obnoxious and is very fizzy pedal overall. I am musician who has plenty of boutique pedals and I am being very realistic with my review. I am not bias just because I blew $150 on this pedal. I have had this pedal for 3 years and I am being truthful because I know many people buy it and just have this "oh this pedal is awesome" feeling because they just bought it. Fulltone has won't return any E-mails and now I am going to mod this pedal myself. There are plenty of other companies to look at before just buying this one. Frantone, Cmatmods, Robert Keeley, Mojo Hand, Barber, G2D, Menatone. All of them have pedals cheaper or at the same price. Good luck!

Just a drive pedal, three knobs for Drive, Gain and Tone plus a HP/LP mini switch. Doesn't get much simpler.

In order to give you an idea of what this pedal is great for, I need to explain a little about my tone and the history of my gear.

I play mostly strats into non-master fender amps (silverface vibrolux and super and a blackface twin). I usually set the volume to just below the break point and use my drives as a boost to saturate the tubes.
For a while I was making my own pedals and at that time I purchased a bunch of overdrives to use as a reference like Analogman's TS9/808 mod, Keeley's TS mod, Keeley's Rat, Fulltone FD-2 and so on. I still use my Mojo Drive but I rotate other drives in my pedalboard, depending on what makes me twitch at the time. Then a friend of mine came across with the OCD and I thought I'd give it shot. Man, was I surprised. This is the best pedal I have ever tried (for the purpose I use it for). I have read others saying that it's only good at the low drive settings. Well, I agree. I'd only add that at higher drive settings it is not any worse than any other drive pedal I have ever tried. I just don't like that type of tone and I wasn't expecting anything in that department.

Now here comes the best part: after I got my OCD, I called the above-mentioned friend and we put both drives in a row. This is where it absolutely knocked me down. We tested it with a 62 strat and a Fender Vibrolux set at around 5 (this is where my amp just starts to break). The settings on both OCDs were approximately - level at 2 o'clock, drive at 8 o'clock and tone at 1 o'clock. Pure heaven.
The clean was just that - the clean the only gets a bit over the top if you play really hard. The "crunchy" sound (one OCD) was what already blew me away a couple of weeks before. Excellent saturation and really nice musical drive. Now the "lead" setting (both OCDs) is something that made me buy another one as soon as I got home. It sings so sweetly and no matter how overdriven it is, you could still hear every single note, the tone of the guitar shines through and it's balanced, not middly, PLUS, it's dynamic as hell, if you play a little softer, it gets cleaner and if you play really soft, you get back to the clean department. Amazing. After our little testing session I had a rehearsal and I tested it with the band and it works in the noisy rehearsal setting, not just on its own. Well, now I am eagerly awaiting my second OCD. You won't see my other pedals on E-Bay, I love them all, but this one really IS special.

Don't expect any problems. Never had a pedal die on me, except for the cheap plastic ones.

People bitch about Mike a lot. I once asked a question (on FD-2) via email and got a prompt answer. No problems there.

OK, the questionnaire part.

I play mostly blues and soul, but I also work with some pro rock bands and use the same setup with them, only they have to supply the Marshals for the big stages :)

I have been playing for (almost exactly) 30 years. As I said earlier, I play mostly strats (a 62, a 69 reissue, a 76...) and Les Pauls (72 Custom, 72 Ibanez LP Custom). No matter what guitar/amp configuration I use, I use the same pedalboard and work from there.
If this (ugly looking but great) pedal was stolen, I'd get a new one immediately. No wait, I got a new one even before it was stolen.

As I said above, I loved the fact that the guitar tone was not screwed up, if anything it got richer. (and I LOVE my primary tone). I use it on the LP setting. To me it seems that it sounds less harsh and more adjustable on that setting.

I A/B'd it with a bunch of other great overdrives. Every single one of those is great but for what I need the overdrive for, this one is the best.

It absolutely does its job and improves my tone.

Anything else I'd like to share? Well, did I mention it was ugly? The cheap cheesy font doesn't do it justice :) Did I also mention it