9 of Mike Fuller's Best Fulltone Pedals

Your typical Germanium Fuzz Face has only 2 knobs - while I won't buy one without some sort of Bias control - which really is essential for most Germanium transistor fuzzes - such is their temperature sensitivity. In this case you get the 3rd Input Bias control as a mini-knob - and you also get an additional mini Contour knob which allows you to dial in further mids, harmonics and sustain. This is certainly one of the most usable and versatile Germanium Fuzz Faces out there and a worthy addition to any fuzz collection. I already have several 4-knob Germanium Fuzz Faces and would look forward to adding this one sometime soon. I have a soft spot for Germanium Fuzzes and this really is one of the best.

To match the Germanium Fuzz Face - we obviously have a classic dual BC108C Silicon Transistor variety too with a spikier and slightly more aggressive counterpoint to the warmth of the Germanium. I pretty much equally like the Germanium and Silicon varieties and it's the Silicon Fuzz Faces I already have the most of - well over 25 units already. This offers a fairly novel additional Mids control which adds quite a bit of further versatility to the pedal - this is for sure another variety that will be acquired eventually - and there are plenty around currently at a pretty decent price - not sure exactly where it sits in my current priority / pecking order though!

And so to the 4th of the classic fuzzes - obviously a take on Hendrix's favourite Octavia octave fuzz. This has 3 very simple controls - Volume, Boost and a 2-way Octa/Fuzz switch so you can have the octave effect on or off. I've come very close to getting this on a number of occasions but was weirdly put off by the reverse polarity power-supply then - which I'm actually very used to nowadays. I already have some truly fantastic octave style fuzzes - but would be more than happy to add this one too. I generally like my octave fuzzes a little fatter and thicker - and this is somewhat classically thin in profile - but it's still very much one of the better sounding ones.

I actually own this variety in the Custom Shop Candy Apple Red edition, while my white OCD is the earlier V1.7 variety. This has long been one of my favourite crunchy overdrives - to the extent that I own thee varieties of this as mentioned. The latest version has some buffer/bypass options and the circuit is slightly more modern and punchier sounding. Controls are Volume, Drive and Tone with a 2-way HP/LP or HighPeak / LowPeak option switch which translates to Higher/Lower gain really. I mostly use the pedal with said switch in the up position. I believe this is Fulltone's all-time best-seller, and rightly so - it sounds really fantastic and has been much imitated and copied! It's most definitely one of my favourite flavours of overdrive / crunch - and was one of my very first own long-term overdrive pedals.

While this Custom Germanium edition has a somewhat different core sound - with a very evident warmer slightly fuzzier and spongier flavour- I still see it as being very much part of the same family. Some OCD advocates really don't like this one at all as it's quite notably different in feel - while I can still hear some of the fundamentals within the core of its tone. It has somewhat more sustain and 'bleed' as such than the original classic variety, while it is every bit as good in its own way. It's sort of teal-ish metallic enclosure looks amazing too. And it has exactly the same controls as the core model.

This has long been one of the very favourite Uni-Vibe style pedals - and I've of course included it on this site before. Most of the high-grade Uni-Vibe pedals are rather on the large side - including those great Sabbadius and Shin-Ei varieties. And Fulltone gets its formula here pretty much spot on - within a medium size enclosure. I already have the compact tap-tempo JHS Unicorn - but have always planned to get this handy DejáVibe too. It has 5 elegant controls - 2 regular knobs- Volume and Intensity - one larger sized foot-adjustable Speed knob, and 2 x 2-way mode selectors - Modern/Vintage and Vibrato/Chorus. This is a perfect marriage of quality tones and convenient form factor and should be high on the considerations list for everyone considering a Uni-Vibe style pedal. I will for sure acquire one such eventually.

And so to the very latest Custom Shop Release - a unique superb clean-up style triple Germanium fuzz - featuring 3 NOS flying saucer style transistors - meaning presumably high output Russian varieties - like we're used to seeing and hearing in the Spaceman Sputnik series. This is a gloriously fat and full-sounding fuzz with exceptional cleanup ability via your guitar volume knob. It sports 4 controls - 3 knobs - Level, Buzz and Treble, and a cool 3-way Bass toggle switch - Min/Half/Max. The first initial batch sold out pretty quickly and there are more due at Sweetwater any day soon. I really like the sound of this and may just look to acquire one in November - first movers also get rewarded by a reduction on the price down to $237 which is very reasonable for such a pedal. I really like the Queen Bee decal / badge on the pedal - for sure another quality Mike Fuller production.

I've featured this quite a bit recently on the site and have been mostly deploying it for Mark Ronson / Ronno style tones - in conjunction with a variety of fuzzes, but of course mostly MKI variants. This is fairly similar in format to the Mini DejáVibe albeit very slightly wider I think - and it sports the same big foot-adjustable knob as the DejáVibe - here for Frequency manipulation though! Other controls consist of a 3-way Mode selector for Wacked/Jimi/Shaft sounds - there's also a mini Pickup Sensitivity Compensator knob, and a regular sized Volume knob. This is one of my key tools for Wah-type sounds and alternates with the Dr Scientist Dusk as well as proper Wah-style pedals - depending on just how lazy I'm feeling!