Top positive review
10 people found this helpful
Perfect boost/OD for Orange amps
By Adam on Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2020
I'm obsessed with Orange amps, and like many people I have spent a lot of time and money trying to find the perfect pedal to function as a boost/OD for solos/bridges. I play a Gibson Les Paul Standard w/ humbuckers through a Rocker 30 or OR15 depending on my use case, and play mostly punk rock, dirty rock n roll, and some metal. I think what I've always wanted was my amp to sound like an Orange and somehow get leads to sound more like a Marshall JCM800. Tighter, more responsive, more percussive, and plenty of volume boost when engaged. The Fulltone OCD does exactly that and more, while preserving the Orange's natural character. I mostly use it with the volume dimed out, drive at 0, and tone at 12 o clock for boosts, but there are several other usable tones in this box. Another journey entirely, but the OR15 especially hates fuzz pedals (probably due to lack of headroom). The Fulltone OCD with the gain and tone knobs dialed in just right (also with tweaks to amp controls AS WELL AS guitar tone adjustments) pretty much nails a classic Sleep or Sabbath-y fuzz tone. You can also get a wicked Marshall-like punk tone with the gain set to around 11-2 o clock on the pedal and the gain on the amp at around 10-11 o clock. It's very accommodating for the types of music I play. If you have a similar set up and play similar genres, I'm really don't think there is anything better. I've gone through several Tube Screamer variations (Analogman modded Ibanez TS9, Maxon OD9, Maxon 808), and while the Maxon OD808 probably got the closest to what I was looking for I was still never truly happy with the way it colored my amp's natural tone. The inclusion of True Bypass on the OCD is also a win over the Maxon. I also went through a few clean boosts, like the BBE Boosta Grande and MXR Micro Amp. Both of these pedals function great for strictly volume boosts (nod to the BBE for being utterly transparent), but the option of added grit on the OCD for sustain and compression was a must for me. Side note: If you want are going down a Fuzz pedal rabbit-hole with either of these amps, here's my advice. The OR15 lacks the proper headroom to get usable sounds out of a Fuzz pedal, but using an OD while dialing in all your knobs works wonders. The amp already has a pretty great fuzz tone built-in. The Rocker 30 is more kind to Fuzz pedals, but is still very picky. In my opinion, the search should probably end with a Black Arts Toneworks Pharaoh. Lots of great tonal option with this combo.
Top critical review
6 people found this helpful
Solid drive pedal with some flaws.
By Walter on Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2018
This review is for the Fulltone OCD v.2, which is the latest iteration of this pedal. This pedal is built like a tank and appears to have quality components but can sound abrasive as a stand-alone overdrive. There's a toggle switch at the top of the pedal for HP (high peak) and LP (low peak). I've been able to get tones that I somewhat like in the LP mode. HP is just way too bright and has significantly more presence and output than LP (which is not necessarily a good thing unless your signal is already compressed to a large degree). I play through a Fender 1968 Custom Deluxe Reverb amp and have found this pedal sounds better to my ears when paired with an Ibanez Tubescreamer Mini to bring out some of the mids while using a little compression for added squish and sustain (both placed before the OCD in the signal chain). After noticing a slight buzzing sound coming out of my amp with all my pedals bypassed, I went on a troubleshooting mission. Guitar straight into the amp: clear as a bell, no buzz. After disconnecting and reconnecting each of my pedals in my signal chain, I determined it was the Fulltone OCD pedal causing the unwanted buzz. The fix: opening it up and switching it to true bypass mode from the factory set enhanced bypass mode. Voila! No more buzz. There's certainly been a lot of buzz about this new type of bypass created by Mike Fuller of Fulltone. I didn't realize it was literal buzz. My setup: guitar into a Fulltone Clyde Deluxe Wah, MXR Dynacomp, MXR Echoplex preamp, MXR Univibe, MXR Analog Chorus, MXR Script Phase 90, EVH Flanger, Ibanez Tubescreamer Mini, Fulltone OCD, MXR Zakk Wylde Overdrive, MXR Carbon Copy analog delay, into the amp (yes, I like MXR pedals; just my preference). I use a Pedaltrain Pro pedal board and all the pedals are connected with Mogami patch cables powered by a Voodoo Lab power brickand three 9V AC adapters. Is there some tone loss after the signal passes through all the cables and patch cables? A little, yes. Nothing ever sounds as pure and good as going straight into the amp. Am I 100% certain the buzzing noise was caused by the OCD pedal in enhanced bypass mode? Not entirely, but this appeared to be the case with my rig. Conclusion: this is a solid drive pedal that does a decent job emulating a broken up tube ampat volumes that won't cause you to go deaf. Four stars for the pedal itself and two stars for the frustration related to the enhanced bypass garbage that made me pull out more hair from my balding head.
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