Fulltone Full Drive 2

[Gtrplyr]

So I just pulled the trigger on a new Fulltone Fulldrive 2 with the comp cut/FM/Vintage toggle switch. I got the itch after reading a thread here and seeing the a majority of members recommend the Fulltone Fulldrives.

I was slightly tempted to try Radial's Tonebone "Classic" pedal but after much see-sawing finally decided on the Fulltone. For the past 15 years I've been using my old trusty Boss OD-1 pedal but after getting back into playing through SF Fenders I wanted to try something a little more complimentary in tone. Well chaulk up another one for this forum for fueling my GAS!

[pc]

Unlike most OD pedals in my life, I'm now moving into my third year with the Fulltone FD2 as my main crunch box.

There may be one out there I've yet to discover that I'd like more, but it's such a happy marriage. Why stray?

[Kap'n]

Originally posted by Jack w/his radar
Unlike most OD pedals in my life, I'm now moving into my third year with the Fulltone FD2 as my main crunch box.

There may be one out there I've yet to discover that I'd like more, but it's such a happy marriage. Why stray?

I've been using my FDII for the past five years or so as my primary dirt box. It works.

[Franklin]

I love it!

[Dwell]

Every time I record someone I have them use my FD2. And so far, every player has bought their own soon after. It's a wunnerful thing.

[grito]

I've been using an FD2 for the last 6 years...

[Gtrplyr]

I gathered it was a pretty safe bet going with a Fulltone. What kind of battery life should I expect. Does it eat batteries? Will a Boss pedal A/C type adapter work with this?

[Kap'n]

Originally posted by Gtrplyr
I gathered it was a pretty safe bet going with a Fulltone. What kind of battery life should I expect. Does it eat batteries? Will a Boss pedal A/C type adapter work with this?

The FDII was, IMHO, the first to make it OK to spend more than $100 for a SS dirt box. A really nice tube screamer with boost. Taking a good thing and making it better. MF gets a lot of crap for various things, but if this was the only thing he ever made, he'd still be legendary.

Very low battery drain on this circuit. You could have a battery last a year.

[Dwell]

And yes, the standard Boss adapter works well.

[grito]

Better yet, get 18volts to your FD2!

[Kap'n]

Originally posted by grito
Better yet, get 18volts to your FD2!

Flavor of the month. A while back, MF was saying that you should only use cheap-o carbon-zinc 9V to get the best tone with the low volts... Whatever works.

[Gtrplyr]

Just caught this 04 Custom Shop model.

Custom Shop Fulltone



The only thing that appears custom on it is the color. I am I miising something else?

[Fender Ping]

I just bought and am currently waiting for a new FD2...I couldn't see anything that justified the xtra 40 to 50 $'s

[CocoTone]

Originally posted by Kap'n
Flavor of the month. A while back, MF was saying that you should only use cheap-o carbon-zinc 9V to get the best tone with the low volts... Whatever works.

I find this to hold true to all OD`s and Fuzz, and my Vox wah,,they prefer old carbon type batteries. Trouble is, they`re getting harder to find. Most are Alkline type, or zinc.

CT.

[curtisstetka]

There's a lot of gear issues that are still in flux for me. But OD is not one of them. My FD2 is there to stay. You can't go wrong with the thing. I defy you to get a bad sound out of it.

[Gtrplyr]

I just received my FD2 and am quite pleased with it. Nice smooth OD that can let the guitars natural tone come through. The one feature that still is kind of puzzling me is the boost.

The boost is very apparent in the compcut mode but in the FM/Vintage modes if the OD is already high the boost seems rather transparent.


I'm also not so sure how I like the compcut mode. It comes across to me as a clean bright boost. Then the boost take its over the edge like a Tele through a Twin on 10 lol!

[CocoTone]

Honestly that much better than a good TS?? and how does it compare to the MJM Blues Devil?

CT.

[pc]

Coco, the FD2 is a different animal from a stock TS. That's an odd thing to say, since it was obviously designed to be a boutique Tube Screamer.

That huge mid-hump is absent from the FD2. [Well, from most of them--there is that new "reissue" FD2 that lets you add the hump back in if you want]. It makes a huge difference in your sound. Mind you, there's plenty good (IMHO) about a nice Tube Screamer, but the FD2 is a hundred times smoother to my ears.

Can't answer about the Blue Devil.

[grito]

It all depends on what your looking for. I was trying to find a pedal that made my Vibrolux sound like my Princeton dimed. The FD2 NAILED it. Oh, and if anyone is thinking about getting the custom shop version and really want a yellow one, I'll trade...

[pc]

Grito (or anyone),

Do I understand on the new models that the "comp cut" is on the same toggle as the vintage/flat-mid?

I.e., you can't have comp cut AND vintage?

Just curious. Mine's a blue 2002 model.

[Gtrplyr]

Originally posted by Jack w/his radar
Grito (or anyone),

Do I understand on the new models that the "comp cut" is on the same toggle as the vintage/flat-mid?

I.e., you can't have comp cut AND vintage?

Just curious. Mine's a blue 2002 model.

Yes, the compcut is on the toggle switch with the FM & vintage.

There is a Q&A on the manual which answers your question I think:

"FM and vintage are tweaks to the Clipping curcuit of the FD2. Comp-Cut mode removes the clipping section...so there is no difference between Comp-Cut/Vintage or Comp-Cut/FM.

[pc]

Thanks Gtrplyr. I get it now. I didn't realize exactly understand how comp cut worked, but that makes sense since the tone gets SO MUCH louder with comp-cut engaged.

[hawkeye2u]

Has anyone out there come across a schematic for this pedal????

[Kap'n]

Originally posted by hawkeye2u
Has anyone out there come across a schematic for this pedal????

There were some schematics floating around the web a few years ago that implied ["Fullclone"] that they were for the Fulltone device. I haven't compared mine to the one I saw, partly because I'm lazy, partly because part of the circuit is covered in goop, and partly because it really doesn't matter to me all that much. Why the schematics disappeared from the web is a topic I don't know enough about to comment.

It's pretty much acknowleged that the TS is the basis of the Fulldrive. If you read R.G. Keen's "Technology of the Tube Screamer"

http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folder...ch/tsxtech.htm

You can probably get pretty close to the Fulldrive sound, or perhaps your own circuit which might sound better to your ears.

All the "magic" of the TS pedals is in how the circuit distorts. The clipping diodes are in the negative feedback loop, so there's a "duel" in the circuit between trying to make a clean amplification of the sound fed to it and a distorted"correction" factor. Because of this, the chip does make a difference.

When all is said and done, a FDII isn't a bad deal, a nicely tweaked circuit, hand built with good components, with boost, comp-cut, and now FM/non-FM options. Unless of course, you like the challenge/learning opportunity of rolling your own.

[edited to correctly credit RG Keen.]

[hawkeye2u]

Yes Kap'n
I have read that article, AFTER I posted my last message! DOH
I Also came across this page
http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/...=page&SubMenu=

I d/l the Overdone Fulldive2 after recomendations from the DIY stompboxes page ( Supp the Fulltone FD2)

[Kap'n]

Just as an FYI, I'm fairly certain that neither of the "Fulldive" schematics are a direct copy of the Fulldrive II. The clipping circuit is different. My FDII appears to have three or four blobs under the gray stuff. One looks like the same green capacitors used throughout the unit. The other two or three look like resistors or diodes.