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King Loudness « Not really worthy of the Fulltone name... »
Published on 04/18/11 at 09:00The Fulltone Distortion Pro is basically a standard looking stompbox that has a fairly typical layout of controls. There is volume and distortion (amount of gain) controls, and below these there are four smaller knobs labeled "Resonance," "Voicing," "Highs," and "Saturation." These basically act as further EQ shaping for the pedal. It promises to be a fairly good sounding and versatile pedal with all these features and the legendary Fulltone name backing it... but in my opinion, it just misses the mark, especially when compared to Fulltone's OCD or Fulldrive II.
UTILIZATION
As I stated above, there are six controls to tweak your tones. However, (much like the reviewer below me) I felt that the pedal sounded much more processed and "fake" sounding compared to Fulltone's better known pedals like the OCD. The controls seemed to be fairly responsive which was nice, but there was a very digital quality to the sound that I couldn't seem to dial out no matter what I did. I found it sounded cool with the highs rolled down and the saturation turned up for a quasi Eric Johnson "violin tone" sound. Mind you, it still sounded fairly digital, but it was at least a decent tone in a group of fairly sub-standard ones.
SOUND QUALITY
I tried it mainly with superstrat type guitars into either of my tube amps (Mesa Mark III head or Peavey Vypyr Tube 60 1x12 combo). At it's best tone wise, it's very "pedal" sounding. I was hoping for something more organic, especially from Fulltone, but it really wasn't happening with this pedal. Aside from the Eric Johnson esque violin tone I dialed in one evening with my Ibanez PF300 guitar and Peavey Vypyr amplifier, I really couldn't get a tone that didn't sound like a very digital distortion. If a very "pedal based" distortion sound is your thing, you might enjoy one of these. For those of us who prefer a more organic tube amp type tone... definitely look elsewhere.
OVERALL OPINION
Overall, I was just generally unimpressed with this pedal. I won't bother trying to compare it any further to the OCD (a killer sounding overdrive) or the Fulldrive II. Basically, it was a pedal that, in my opinion, tried to be something that it wasn't. I can see where Fulltone was trying to go with this (an organic sounding, versatile distortion pedal) but really, it just sounded digital and processed. Like I said above, if that sort of tone is your thing, it might be worthy to look into, but otherwise, I'd just stick to one of the truly good pedals out there. There is a reason that Fulltone discontinued this pedal...
UTILIZATION
As I stated above, there are six controls to tweak your tones. However, (much like the reviewer below me) I felt that the pedal sounded much more processed and "fake" sounding compared to Fulltone's better known pedals like the OCD. The controls seemed to be fairly responsive which was nice, but there was a very digital quality to the sound that I couldn't seem to dial out no matter what I did. I found it sounded cool with the highs rolled down and the saturation turned up for a quasi Eric Johnson "violin tone" sound. Mind you, it still sounded fairly digital, but it was at least a decent tone in a group of fairly sub-standard ones.
SOUND QUALITY
I tried it mainly with superstrat type guitars into either of my tube amps (Mesa Mark III head or Peavey Vypyr Tube 60 1x12 combo). At it's best tone wise, it's very "pedal" sounding. I was hoping for something more organic, especially from Fulltone, but it really wasn't happening with this pedal. Aside from the Eric Johnson esque violin tone I dialed in one evening with my Ibanez PF300 guitar and Peavey Vypyr amplifier, I really couldn't get a tone that didn't sound like a very digital distortion. If a very "pedal based" distortion sound is your thing, you might enjoy one of these. For those of us who prefer a more organic tube amp type tone... definitely look elsewhere.
OVERALL OPINION
Overall, I was just generally unimpressed with this pedal. I won't bother trying to compare it any further to the OCD (a killer sounding overdrive) or the Fulldrive II. Basically, it was a pedal that, in my opinion, tried to be something that it wasn't. I can see where Fulltone was trying to go with this (an organic sounding, versatile distortion pedal) but really, it just sounded digital and processed. Like I said above, if that sort of tone is your thing, it might be worthy to look into, but otherwise, I'd just stick to one of the truly good pedals out there. There is a reason that Fulltone discontinued this pedal...