View other reviews for this product:
glassjaw7 « Touch sensitivity and complex overtones in a solid box! »
Published on 03/16/11 at 11:54The Fulltone OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Drive
is a high quality overdrive/distortion pedal with amp-like overtones and feel.
There have been several revisions of the pedal, each having slight tweaks to the sound. The pedal I am reviewing is version 4.
Controls include Volume, Tone and Drive, and a toggle switch that selects either HP or LP which I believe stand for High Peak and Low Peak, respectively.
The pedal is powered by a single 9 volt battery or a common 9 volt AC adapter.
UTILIZATION
It took me a while to find the OCD's sweet spot with my rig. The balance between gain and tone can be a bit tricky to find. I had a bit of trouble avoiding a congested, or harsh sound at first, but once I got it dialed in where I wanted, it was a blast to play through!
SOUND QUALITY
I tested this pedal with a Gibson Les Paul, Schecter C-1 Classic, G&L Invader and a cheap Hondo with Fender single coil pups, and then into three different amplifiers; a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier, Carvin MTS, and Fender Blues Deville. I felt that the humbucker equipped axes resulted in a slightly congested or harsh sound when used with this pedal. I noticed that while using the Schecter with the Seymour Duncan JB/Jazz coil-tapped, and the Hondo with single-coils, I liked the sound much more.
Using single-coils with the OCD really opens it up and lets it breathe.
Great tones can be had with any guitar however, and it just takes some experimenting with the HP/LP setting and getting the tone and drive set right. I felt that the pedal's sweet spot was with the tone just past noon and the gain at noon. I really liked this pedal as a mid-gain overdrive more than a maxed out distortion pedal.
I also tested this pedal as a boost, to kick my already driven dirty channel into higher gain territory. I feel it was only average as a boost. It always felt stiff and hard and had an undesirable edge to it. Other pedals, like the Xotic BB (which I also reviewed) do the boost thing much better, at least for my preferences and needs.
The HP and LP settings are useful, but can be frustrating. LP has a nice squishy feel. It "gives" like a good tube amp when you dig in to the strings, but this setting can also sound a tad bit muddy. Flip the switch to HP, and the pedal gets much louder, clearer and more distorted. My problem was that it got too nasty in the high end. I preferred keeping the unit in the LP setting and opening up the tone control until it just started sounding bright, but not overly so.
The great thing about this pedal is how much it resembles a real amp, both in tone and feel. You can crank the volume up a bit and strum a chord and hear subtle overtones and complex textures in the gain. Most overdrive or distortion pedals sound flat and don't have that sort of realism or depth.
Overall I'd describe the voicing of this pedal as more Fenderish and American than british. The mids are not pronounced at all in this pedal, regardless of the position of the tone control or HP/LP switch. These controls only affect the high frequencies. The mids always have a scooped sound to them.
I feel that a mid-boost function would GREATLY improve this unit!
OVERALL OPINION
All things considered, the OCD is a fantastic achievement in getting that realistic amp feel in a stomp box. It excels as a touch sensitive overdrive with complex harmonics and overtones. However it is not voiced to fit in with every rig, and a mid boost function would greatly improve this pedal in my opinion.
I sold my OCD pedal to fund another pedal purchase, but I will definitely be trying another Fulltone in the future! Perhaps a Catalyst or Plimsoul. Thanks for reading!
is a high quality overdrive/distortion pedal with amp-like overtones and feel.There have been several revisions of the pedal, each having slight tweaks to the sound. The pedal I am reviewing is version 4.
Controls include Volume, Tone and Drive, and a toggle switch that selects either HP or LP which I believe stand for High Peak and Low Peak, respectively.
The pedal is powered by a single 9 volt battery or a common 9 volt AC adapter.
UTILIZATION
It took me a while to find the OCD's sweet spot with my rig. The balance between gain and tone can be a bit tricky to find. I had a bit of trouble avoiding a congested, or harsh sound at first, but once I got it dialed in where I wanted, it was a blast to play through!
SOUND QUALITY
I tested this pedal with a Gibson Les Paul, Schecter C-1 Classic, G&L Invader and a cheap Hondo with Fender single coil pups, and then into three different amplifiers; a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier, Carvin MTS, and Fender Blues Deville. I felt that the humbucker equipped axes resulted in a slightly congested or harsh sound when used with this pedal. I noticed that while using the Schecter with the Seymour Duncan JB/Jazz coil-tapped, and the Hondo with single-coils, I liked the sound much more.
Using single-coils with the OCD really opens it up and lets it breathe.
Great tones can be had with any guitar however, and it just takes some experimenting with the HP/LP setting and getting the tone and drive set right. I felt that the pedal's sweet spot was with the tone just past noon and the gain at noon. I really liked this pedal as a mid-gain overdrive more than a maxed out distortion pedal.
I also tested this pedal as a boost, to kick my already driven dirty channel into higher gain territory. I feel it was only average as a boost. It always felt stiff and hard and had an undesirable edge to it. Other pedals, like the Xotic BB (which I also reviewed) do the boost thing much better, at least for my preferences and needs.
The HP and LP settings are useful, but can be frustrating. LP has a nice squishy feel. It "gives" like a good tube amp when you dig in to the strings, but this setting can also sound a tad bit muddy. Flip the switch to HP, and the pedal gets much louder, clearer and more distorted. My problem was that it got too nasty in the high end. I preferred keeping the unit in the LP setting and opening up the tone control until it just started sounding bright, but not overly so.
The great thing about this pedal is how much it resembles a real amp, both in tone and feel. You can crank the volume up a bit and strum a chord and hear subtle overtones and complex textures in the gain. Most overdrive or distortion pedals sound flat and don't have that sort of realism or depth.
Overall I'd describe the voicing of this pedal as more Fenderish and American than british. The mids are not pronounced at all in this pedal, regardless of the position of the tone control or HP/LP switch. These controls only affect the high frequencies. The mids always have a scooped sound to them.
I feel that a mid-boost function would GREATLY improve this unit!
OVERALL OPINION
All things considered, the OCD is a fantastic achievement in getting that realistic amp feel in a stomp box. It excels as a touch sensitive overdrive with complex harmonics and overtones. However it is not voiced to fit in with every rig, and a mid boost function would greatly improve this pedal in my opinion.
I sold my OCD pedal to fund another pedal purchase, but I will definitely be trying another Fulltone in the future! Perhaps a Catalyst or Plimsoul. Thanks for reading!
