my new Fulldrive II

[davidge1]

Yahoo news informed me last week that the recession is over... some "experts" are claiming this, anyhow, but who am I to argue? I went right out and bought a new Fulldrive II.

I wanted something that was smoother and mellower than my OCD, and I guess I expected this to work in a similar way (the OCD doesn't change your tone at all), so it really took me a lot of fooling around with it yesterday to figure out what the Fulldrive is all about. Unlike the OCD, you have to really tweak the tone controls on the amp to get the right sound, but once you do that, you just get this BIG full, warm sound... its awesome. It's almost like the amp sounds louder at the same volume.

The FM (flat mids) setting is supposed to be transparent, but really is not nearly as transparent as the OCD... it still adds midrange and subtracts bass. I was initially disappointed with that until I got the tone controls on my amp set right (both the bass and treble controls set really high), now it just sounds great. I haven't used it at full-on band volume yet, so I haven't been able to really try out the 2-stage boost thing that the pedal also does, but I'm looking forward to doing that soon.

Just wanted to share my excitement (my wife tries, but she's just humoring me).

[chamberpop]

Davidge1,

I am psyched for you. The FD 2 is on my short list of warmer OD pedals to try. What guitar/amp do you use it with? Why does it work better than the OCD? Less aggressive? Less peaky? More mids?

Very interested...

Thanks,
c-pop

[davidge1]

c-pop, I dont know that the Fulldrive necessarily works better than the OCD, it's just different. Im playing a 50s Classic Tele through a Music Man amp (which generally sounds pretty Fender-ish). The amp has a solid-state pre-amp, so I need a pedal for overdrive sounds.

What I like about the OCD is that it retains the highs and lows of my guitar... it really is just a distorted version of my clean sound... so my Telecaster still sounds very "tone-y", I guess. It's more peaky than the Fulldrive, but I don't mind that at all... I don't need a lot of compression.

What I dont like about my OCD (and mine is a version 2, the newer versions might be different) is that playing on the bridge pickup at very low gain settings there is a little bit of a harsh sound in the breakup. Fulltone was selling a kit to modify the early versions to get a smoother sound, and even described it as "sizzley", which pretty much describes the overtone... like bacon sizzling. This is only on very low gain settings...with the gain at 10:00 or higher I dont notice it. Beyond that, though, I like the aggressive sound of the OCD... it's very much like natural amp breakup.

The Fulldrive has more mids, and you can get a bigger, fatter sound with it. You can switch between a "vintage" setting (which is like a tubescreamer... too midrangey for me) and a "Flat Mids" setting, which still adds some mids, but not as much... this is the setting I like. You can also switch the character of the overdrive between "traditional" (very smooth) and "MOSFET" (a little more aggressive... but not as aggressive as the OCD). So if you want the Fulldrive to be as smooth and midrangey as a TS, it can be, but on the settings I like it has a more natural sound. When I was 19 playing in rock bands, I would have given anything for a pedal like this!

One thing I don't like as much about the Fulldrive is that because it changes the tone, you can't really switch it off and on without adjusting the amp's tone controls (as you can with the OCD).

[cletus]

david---congrats on a great pedal!!

cletus

[pinkspider]

Congrats on getting the Fulldrive! It's my favorite overdrive till now, having kicked a Screwdriver and Eternity off the board. I manage to find a use for all 3 modes on the fulldrive, they all sound great for different applications, only thing I don't use is the boost on vintage mode.

I got myself an OCD not too long ago, they are very different sounding but both of them sounds great in its own league, so now I have them side by side on the board. I share your love for the Fulldrive and OCD, very happy for you!

[PixMix]

I like mine. This one's a keeper.

[quartermiler45]

I just picked up a FD2 last week.

[JTM45blues]

Its been my main overdrive pedal for 4 years. The only change I made... I got the new Mosfet version when it came out.

[WideAwake]

If I could only use one pedal, it would be my fulldrive 2.

[tellying]

+1 for FD2.

[Beerts]

Originally Posted by WideAwake

If I could only use one pedal, it would be my fulldrive 2.

+1

[quartermiler45]

I bought a FD2 about a week or so ago and now I'm GASing for an OCD and a Timmy to complete my OD section...prob overkill. I agree with tweaking the knobs to find the tone I'm still in the process of searching for my setting with this pedal.

[stanimal]

Nice work Davidge1, think you started a Fulldrive II fan club.... the perfect match for my telecaster and it will always exist on my pedalboard.... congrats....

[Steve McGinnis]

I have had lots of FD2's I had the original, then the flat mids and now I have the switchable (not the mosfet). I liked them all, but I am really looking for a Tubescreamer sound so I generally stay in the vintage setting. I have never been able to bond with the boost feature. I have tried but it just doesn't do much for me so mine is only used as a one channel pedal, which is ironic because the main reason I bought one originally was to have two pedals in one...

[Rusty]

my favorite BY FAR -- and the older the better...i love the boost feature too..........

[ProfessorBeard]

Resurrecting this thread! I just picked up the FD2 MOSFET last night, and at first I was having a hard time finding the right setting. I decided to take a break, have some dinner, and sat back down with it an hour later.

After a little more tweaking, I'm elated with this pedal. I was looking for an overdrive that would tame my Blues Jr. NOS's high end (great amp, but EXTREMELY bright), and the FD2 in Vintage mode (with MOSFET on) gives me the perfect, buttery mid-heavy overdrive I was looking for.

I also have an OCD (v4), but use it for clean boost and mild overdrive. The FD2 compliments it perfectly. Because it's so versatile, it just takes a while to find the right settings for your needs.