Review: Fulltone FD 10th Mosfet.

omensixaxe · 02-15-2006, 01:00 PM

Price Paid: 225$ new.
www.fulltone.com
Ordered:Musictoyz.com

My Fulldrive arrived about two weeks ago, so consider that this is still somewhat of the "honeymoon" period. Having only played other FDs, keep in mind that this is my first ownership of one. Superficially, the 10th Anniv. finish looks excellent IMO. Stacks with other pedals well and as with all Fulltone products, the FD expresses excellent build quality that I am not expecting to fail me any time soon. Smooth pots, blindingly bright LEDs, and strong bypass switches. Everything seems more than solid, and im confident that this one could easily take a good thrashing.

Build quality aside, this is, in essence, a fulldrive II with the added Mosfet option. In standard setting, the vintage set remains somewhat heavy on the mids, remisicent of a Tubescreamer. This is expected, as the FD is a clone. In Mosfet-Vintage, Fulltone claims that this is "Dumble-like" in sound, but im not exactly sure i hear that. The Mosfet smooths the sound out and seems to add some of those mids, but its not exactly Dumble-ish. In Mosfet-FM, the FD emits more of a sharp, harsh sound that is not unpleasing, but more harmonic. The Mosfet-Compcut setting is my personal favorite. It's not much of an overdrive in that regard, but REALLY fattens up the sound of the amp. With the volume set to 10.00, the tone knob at 2.00, and the overdrive set at 12.00, the sound becomes very responsive, and responds well to however soft or hard i happen to be playing. I find myself leaving it on this setting constantly with the pedal always on.

In general, the Mosfet setting is not overly noticible at a first listen. But in turning back to standard after playing on Mosfet for maybe 20 minutes...the difference became evident. Im thinking that the Mosfet may be quite reliant on the amp used. Is it worth the extra 25$? Undoubtedly.

What do i not like about it? It doesn't clean up especially well when I roll back on the guitar's volume knob. It was also quite expensive, which was somewhat of an issue, in being on a budget, and having never played the Mosfet settings. It doesnt have alot of gain(low-low medium), but thats understandable as its somewhat of a TS clone, and is not intended for such.
All apologies for the length of this,I know its what could be called overkill, and just now did i realize how long it was.

iAMspartacus · 02-15-2006, 02:08 PM

pictures?

how long did you have to wait for it? (i'm assuming you had to get in line)

iAMspartacus · 02-15-2006, 02:09 PM

wait...what is this? a pedal forum...i should be asking for sound clips...

i shame even myself

jbm222 · 02-15-2006, 07:30 PM

I've never played through a fulldrive, but I've heard other people use them and liked what I heard. The MOSFET switch probably switchings input stages between a high impedance mosfet and a much lower impedance BJT. I would expect it to sound more expressive and rich sounding with the mosfet simply because they sound more "tube-ish" than a BJT pretty much any way you use them.

**jamforchrist123** · 02-15-2006, 08:02 PM

Lucky. I am really wanting a FD. I like my J&H, but from soundclips, the FD would give me much more of what I want.

omensixaxe · 02-16-2006, 07:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbm222

The MOSFET switch probably switchings input stages between a high impedance mosfet and a much lower impedance BJT. I would expect it to sound more expressive and rich sounding with the mosfet simply because they sound more "tube-ish" than a BJT pretty much any way you use them.

The Mosfet is higher impedance, if im not mistaken. and also does sound slightly more full/rich. as far as wait time, fulltone sends them in shipments as they are made i had to wait for musictoys(distributor) to recieve the next batch, which took about three weeks total. i am also not sure when i placed my order as far as the shipment timeline is concerned, so i have nothing to compare to as far as whats standard wait time here. jamforchrist. keep in mind that the J&H and the FD are two different beasts. *or atleast to my knowledge.* and therefore its difficult to compare the two. the FD has a lower output and is "tube screamer-eseque" OD with more versatility. if you get one, stack it with the J&H and let me how it works out. im not at home right now, but ill get pictures in later on tonight.