Fulltone
Michael Fuller built Fulltone in California from 1991, and for two decades its pedals were the boutique benchmark — the OCD overdrive, the Full-Drive 2, the Tube Tape Echo and the Supa-Trem. The OCD in particular sold in numbers most hand-built pedals never approach, and its circuit has been argued over, cloned and revised more than almost any modern drive. Fulltone appears across our overdrive guides and vintage-gear features as one of the fixed points players compare new releases against.
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Master the art of gain stacking. Learn how to combine overdrive, distortion, and boost pedals to create a professional, multi-layered guitar tone that cuts through any mix without losing clarity.
- Effects pedals
- OCD
- Full-Drive 2
- Clyde Wah
- Tube Tape Echo
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Fulltone FAQ4 questions
What is Fulltone known for?
Being one of the first boutique pedal companies. Michael Fuller founded Fulltone in California in 1991, and the brand became best known for its overdrives — the Full-Drive and the OCD, the latter described by MusicRadar as one of the most legendary overdrive pedals. The company is now based in Nashville, Tennessee.
What is the Fulltone OCD?
An overdrive with an unusually amp-like response — it cleans up hard with the guitar volume and gets genuinely loud, which is why it is used as much for pushing an amp as for making distortion on its own. It has been through several revisions, and players do argue about which version they prefer.
Are Fulltone pedals made in the USA?
Fulltone USA Inc. builds in the United States, and did so in California before relocating to Nashville. Domestic manufacture has been a stated part of the brand since it started, which is part of why its pedals cost more than mass-market equivalents.
What was the Full-Drive 2?
Fulltone's earlier and equally significant overdrive — a Tube Screamer-derived circuit with a boost section and a switchable clipping mode, released before the OCD and still in the range in updated form. Between the two, Fulltone shaped a great deal of what players expect an overdrive pedal to do.