FDP - Forum

FDP Home Page / FDP Forum / FAQ's

The FDP is made possible by the following companies and individual members like you.
Please use the links below to show them we value their sponsorship.

Yellowjackets Tube Converters
Sweetwater
Amplified Parts
Jensen Loudspeakers

WD Music
MOD KITS DIY
Apex Tube Matching
Antique Electronics Supply

* God bless America and our men and women in uniform *
* Illegitimi non carborundum! *
Please help support us in our FINAL MONTH: make a Donation

THE FDP IS CLOSING AT THE END OF THE YEAR.

Search the Forums

FDP Forum / Non-Fender Gear Reviews / NPD - Fulltone GT500 review....

super mario
Contributing Member
*********

USA

tone to the bone no other way
Aug 1st, 2016 12:43 PM Edit Profile
Posting here as a review of my most recent pedal purchase, the Fulltone GT500. I have been on their mailing list for a few months now and saw the special on the "blems/factory seconds". Decided with few bucks in the Paypal acct, I could it on the cheaper side. I was intrigued by the option of clean boost on one side and the other being distortion - both independent and stackable in both directions (boost -> dist or dist -> boost). Enter the test run of the pedal using three of my guitars:
Test run 1: Humcancelling in all positions Stratocaster (TxSpl's neck/mid w/SD Pearly Gates full bucker in bridge). This is the do everything guitar - blues, rock, P&W, jazzy clean and country. With everything set up at 12 noon, the pedal rocked! I had great tone in all positions, particularly the bridge. For once it seemed the PG had some real meat in its tone. In the neck and middle, the pedal cleaned up nicely with vol roll-offs. Clean boost side proved useful whether in front and behind the dist side. Stoked with the first test run.

Test run 2: The Tele set up to mimic a Hot Rod '52 Tele (SD minibucker in the neck w/SD broadcaster in the bridge) with all maple neck. I love this guitar and was excited to see what it would do with the GT500. The bridge position was all that I was looking for - plenty of grind on the dist side with the same dynamics of Test 1. In the neck position, I ran into a different beast of tone. The SD mini yielded a much more compressed way thicker tone. As I spend well over 90% of time in single coil land, it was an unexpected voicing. So after a lot of dialing (focusing on the Dist knob, mids and highs of the Dist EQ), I found I could get a good tone that still has some top end sparkle with plenty of grunt. So ends Test 2.

Test Run 3 - Peavey Firenza w/Kent Armstrong Stealth 90's. This is my rocking blues guitar so I was looking for some serious tone rocking with the GT500. I was not disappointed. In the bridge it was rocking with the grunt and drive I expected from the Stealth 90's. This guitar likes things much like the Strat which is nice as it means less resetting of controls when switching guitars. The neck is thick but not as thick as the mini-bucker in the Tele. The bridge has wonderful bit and sustain. The GT500 seemed digest what the Firenza offered with ease.

CONCLUSION: I really like the pedal. I have found that it works well with my CMatMods Signa Drive (non-18v version). I can place the Signa in front of it, set the pedal to where it stacks Dist into Boost and I get good OD from the Signa, a more driven Dist with GT500 and finally a great clean boost from the Boost side of the GT - to kick either the Signa or the Dist up in level. I surmise this will be my working sound for some time to come.

Hope this little review helps.

reverend mikey
Contributing Member
**********

west Omaha, east NE

The real Rev of the FDP
Aug 2nd, 2016 08:55 AM Edit Profile
Thanks for taking the time to share all that.

I've had the Full Tone Full Drive 2 for over a decade, and it's still on my pedal board. I've been tempted by a couple of FT's other pedals because of that...

super mario
Contributing Member
*********

USA

tone to the bone no other way
Aug 6th, 2016 10:18 AM Edit Profile
Thanks Rev Mikey - I know this part of the FDP does not get a lot of attention, but I felt it was worth posting my impressions of the pedal. I had considered the FD2 when looking at the GT500, but felt the GT500 was more to what I was looking for....love the clean boost function.

FDP Forum / Non-Fender Gear Reviews / NPD - Fulltone GT500 review....

Reply to this Topic
	Display my email address Lost your password?
Your Message:
Link Address (URL):
Link Title:

Yellowjackets Tube Converters	Sweetwater	Amplified Parts	Jensen Loudspeakers
WD Music	MOD KITS DIY	Apex Tube Matching	Antique Electronics Supply