Forgot I had a Fulldrive...

So I'm putting my guitar pedalboard back together and was ruminating on what OD pedal I was going to buy to complete it. I dug thru my pedal cabinet to find some power and patch cables when I came across it... DUH!!! I TOTALLY forgot I had one. So I blew the dust off and plugged her in. She sounds good, real good thru my rig. I know that this pedal isn't really "in vogue" anymore, but damn, it's working and sounding great! I haven't decided if I like the "FM" or "Vintage" setting yet. But I think I need to hear it in a band setting to decide. From what I remember, solo they sound pretty similar, but in "context" the switch makes more of a difference.

So let that be a lesson to ya'll; as hard as you try, you can still be a :da

And for those interested parties, here's what I'm rolling:

Kustom Jazzmaster or Tele
Tuner, 80's Ibanez compressor, FDII, Kustom RAT clone (built and tuned by me), Visual Sound Axle Grease delay, T Rex tap delay. Into the high gain input of my Donovan Amps B15 Flip Top (running thru two Celestion green backs) with the low gain input jumper'd into my Donovan Amps "Cowboy" amp. I'll try to get a pic up.

I liked my FDII. In fact, now that I have the PR clone, I kinda miss it! Mine was a recent Mosfet version that I used mostly as a dirty boost with the switches set to CompCut and Mosfet. It cut really well that way.

Maybe I'll add some mosfets on a switch and see if I like that. Don't know if I've ever heard one. It's funny how these used to be the sland and now they're passe.

I guess we realized that there's no magic involved. They're cheap enough used that they're worth a try. Very versatile as well.

My favorite OD pedal so far is a Rat (mine's a clone as well) with the gain set really low. It has more of a bright, "open" kind of sound. I don't know how to describe it.

You don't have to, I know EXACTLY what you mean.

Well, I went and muddled things up! Tried out my Analogman modded DOD 250... That sounds nice too! Damn. I'm gonna be playing with a friend on Tuesday, so I'll leave both on the board and see which one I like better. Doesn't matter to me tho which one wins out, both are quality pieces.

I guess in the end I'm just trying to NOT buy a new low gain OD pedal. I'd love to have a Barber Direct Drive, Timmy, or something like that. But cash is real tight right now.

I know what you mean. I really want a low gain overdrive pedal that doesn't completely screw with my "tone". I'm on the fence about buying a Timmy. It's not expensive but every dollar counts.

BTW, my statement about the Rat was misleading. I should mention that I performed the "Ruetz mod" on my Rat clone- I added a switch that removes the 47ohm resistor that's connected to the op amp and replaces it with a trim pot. That makes it much more of an overdrive pedal.

I've been eyeing the Machine Head Pedals' "72° Overdrive" also. Keith makes and mods some fine pedals!

I might have to try lowering that resistor value. I basically turn the volume knob all the way up, and the gain is set to about 10 o'clock. Any higher on that knob and I lose what I'm after.

For me, the FD2 never went out of style. :D

My FD2 has been on my board since I bought it I 1998 direct from Mike Fuller himself out of the garage he started in in Santa Monica.

Has the 2nd switch in it from stomping it so much....

Tonight was great! I played the same rig as posted, but used my old rotary speaker effect to split my signal. The uneffected signal went to the flip top, and the effected signal went to my "cowboy amp". I crank the tone ALL the way up for "shimmer" & just float it in. The effect itself was set really light so that you couldn't tell it was on, but it spread the tone out. Phychoacoustic basically.

Since I screwed my RAT up I used my DOD 250 for a lead boost, which sounded great! And, I nixed the Tap delay as I can get all the delay tones I want from the Axle Grease.

I made an 18v power lead for it, which is easy to do. I like it better now, more headroom. I'm thinking about lowering the value of the volume pot, as at church I run this pedal below unity. By lowering the value of the pot I'll get more sweep out of it as I never go past "noon" on it, it'll give me more "inbetweens" so I can dial it in EXACTLY how I want it. Nothing groundbreaking, just a little mod to get me in the "sweet spot" easier.

I'll post my results.

10K volume pot was the answer! Now I've got some sweep, and she's easier to dial in. Like I posted previously, I use this pedal at church, and im doing so it's set below unity. The knob ends up just below 9 o'clock, which makes it VERY difficult to get adjusted right. Now, I have a huge throw on the output knob!!! So it's no longer a game of "too loud, woops, now she's off"... :D

Between this and running it at 18v, I've got EXACTLY what I need. I wouldn't have done this pot mod if I were going to use it for my band.