Fulldrive 2: Do you use your boost channel?

[SMurphy28]

I like the sound of my Fulldrive 2 but I find I never use the Boost channel. Would I be better off with a Tubescreamer to take up less room?

I know a Fulldrive and Tubescreamer have different clipping but I mostly use the overdrive in combination with the second channel on my amp to get more sustain/feedback.

Just looking for some opinions.

[Al Watsky]

I use the boost on my full drive , and like the FD2 better than my TS alone.IMG_2058_1.jpg
I like the boost, seems to boost the highs a bit and a little more gain.
Its subtle, almost too subtle for me. I'll miss my Guyatone "Hot Drive" for its over the top raunch. Not a very transparent pedal though.
Here it is in my current mini board. We're goin' to Roskilde Denmark this week.
Gonna make some noise.
I dig my TS when used with another buzz box for more gain. The TS isn't enough for me. I like saturation. The FD2 gets very close yet isn't over the top.
Almost shred but still "natural". I really like the FD2 a lot. Did a bunch of Festival shows up in Canada last summer ,with the FD and I was beyond happy with the tone.

[SMurphy28]

Do you use the Fulldrive as your main overdrive/distortion? I use my amp's overdrive/distortion channel the most and use the Fulldrive to push the amp's channel when going for leads which is why I don't use the boost much. Maybe I'd use it more if it was my only drive.

[Al Watsky]

SM28 Yep. On this board its the only drive. I'll be using Twins mostly this summer unless some of the rental Co's have Super Reverbs on hand. Which I prefer.
What amp are you using ?
If it has a great OD/Dist. sound the FD could be cool, but a Boss BDII might be better , I think of the BD as more of a boost pedal. Thats a small format pedal that works nicely as a boost.
I was using a couple of different modded pedals for crunch and drive for a while with the amp drive as a 3rd flavor. So for several years I always had 2 on my board. With both on I had a real shred situation.
It was variously a BDII with a TS , or DSI or an SD1 , any combination of these worked fine for me. All were modded by Keeley so they were quiet and pretty transparent.
If I had the room, no weight limitations I would make other choices. More everything I guess.

[SMurphy28]

I'm using a Fender Hot Rod Deville 4x10 (MIA). It's been serviced by Dave at Dave's Sound in Whippany and the drive channels are very useable.

Basically if I ditch the Fulldrive and Trem, which I don't use much anyway, I could get a Tubescreamer and my channel switcher on the Pedaltrain Jr. I use.

[pinkspider]

I use the fulldrive as my main drive, rhythm and leads. I mostly use it in FM mode (boost off) and pick lightly for cleanish rhythm, then step on the boost to go into smooth leads.

Since you're only using it to boost your amp's drive, I'll replace it with another TS type pedal. I actually hate the pedal space that the fulldrive takes up but nothing comes close to replacing it.

[Al Watsky]

I was using HRD's for a couple of tours. The drive works fine if its been tweaked.
Go for the TS or other boost ped. The FDII "is" huge size wise.
NJ Rocks ! BTW

[SMurphy28]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I was even thinking of trying out a Keeley Katana clean boost or the Maxon OD-9 I have with the gain turned low and the volume high.

Enjoy your tour Al. Do you guys play around NJ at all? What's the band called?

I'm in a cover band called Big Bad Irish and we play all over the state. It would be cool to meet up sometime.

[kidfortuna]

That's exactly why I ditched mine in foavour of an Xotic BB preamp + Keeley Fuzzhead for leads. I was just never using the boost because of the fact there's no volume increase with it - major oversight imo.

The bb is great though, can't do 'on the edge of breakup' thing quite as well but is a lot better at preserving the gutsy-ness of the guitar signal, the FD2 made the sound quite flat to me. Now I use my Cornford for those break up sounds and the bb as a dist.

[Al Watsky]

SM28
Thanks, this ones a run out. 5 days.
We're out again after a couple days, Canadian festival then back to Europe, then back to Kanada.
We're mainly in Europe , check youtube. "You Are Never Alone"
The band is Socalled.
Out of Montreal.
We may be touring in the states in the next couple of years.
Depends on lotsa different stuff, label things.
The list needs a Jersey Rocks Jam Fest.

[vegetablejoe]

To my ears, the FD-2's boost function gets too over the top too quickly, so I haven't been using mine. Is there an internal pot to tweak just the boost side so that it ramps up slower and smoother?

[AngryEL34s]

Originally Posted by SMurphy28

I like the sound of my Fulldrive 2 but I find I never use the Boost channel. Would I be better off with a Tubescreamer to take up less room?

I know a Fulldrive and Tubescreamer have different clipping but I mostly use the overdrive in combination with the second channel on my amp to get more sustain/feedback.

Just looking for some opinions.

I use my FD2 as my main drive with a Traynor YGL3 (similar to a Twin) and I love it! On the other hand, I use a TS to push my cranked BJ and that's awesome too. Unless you're using the FD in Comp-Cut mode, I don't think it would work as something to push an amp unless you set it with low gain and high volume. But I don't think that was the intent of this pedal in the first place.

I set my FD so that the OD channel is a somewhere between low and mid gain, and then I use the boost to go into heavier OD.

Originally Posted by kidfortuna

That's exactly why I ditched mine in foavour of an Xotic BB preamp + Keeley Fuzzhead for leads. I was just never using the boost because of the fact there's no volume increase with it - major oversight imo.

I don't know what settings you were using, but I find there's more than enough volume boost on the boost side for it to stand out. And when you use Comp-cut mode, it gets loud enough to really really hurt your hearing.

[Al Watsky]

Angryel34 has it right. In comp cut its loud as heck.
The boost in comp cut is not subtle.
The boost with the comp in on the other hand is in my experience more a EQ shift with a slight boost.
I went through about 5 different combinations yesterday and still came back to the FD.I went through a bunch of things my TS,BD/DS , DS/SD, went with the FD more natural.
Its gonna boost in comp cut no doubt.

[vjf1968]

Originally Posted by vegetablejoe

To my ears, the FD-2's boost function gets too over the top too quickly, so I haven't been using mine. Is there an internal pot to tweak just the boost side so that it ramps up slower and smoother?

I have one and I do not think there is a trim pot. I think the boost function is an on or off kind of thing.

[Mike H.]

It depends on the tune I'm playing. I generally use a Barber Tone Press to boost the clean volume and add some compression for my solos. If I need more dirt, I'll use the FD2 boost too. If I just need a clean boost with no compression, I'll use a Fulltone Fat-Boost.