Fulltone OCD

monquixote

Dunno about the Diavolo, but the MXR Double Double is a TS and an OCD in a box.

breakthemachinefx

Too much choice, but its a fine pedal...The Timmy is also excellent and very boutique.

fretfinder

breakthemachinefx said:

Too much choice, but its a fine pedal...The Timmy is also excellent and very boutique.

I had a Timmy, thought it sounded nice enough - but the tone controls working backwards, that's just stoopid! 

ICBM

I’ve always found them completely bland too. I’ve never noticed any difference between all the different versions either, although I’ve never A/B’d them side by side. They also have a poor circuit design which can make them sound dull and change tone unexpectedly when followed by only true-bypass pedals.

hotpickups

ICBM said:

I’ve always found them completely bland too. I’ve never noticed any difference between all the different versions either, although I’ve never A/B’d them side by side. They also have a poor circuit design which can make them sound dull and change tone unexpectedly when followed by only true-bypass pedals.

Yep. Just tried one and I thought it felt a bit meh too. I'm probably spoilt though in having had some really cool pedals to compare it to

crunchman

Kebabkid said:

An OCD V.1.4 and a Keeley Compressor for that matter,  are the longest serving pedals on my board.

I'm exactly the same. although my OCD is a clone I built myself.

pmg said:

Had an OCD on my board for a long, long time.  Much better at 18v if you do try one

Agree definitely better at 18V.  I wonder how many of those who don't like it have tried it at 18V?

Danny1969

I tried an OCD today, a friend of mine brought his new Marshall amp round and his pedal board which had an OCD on it. Didn't sound great to my ears so we swapped the OCD for a Soulfood and boom ....  sounded spot on, all the drive but you can still hear all the notes in the chords. 
I thought the OCD sounded a bit harsh, maybe it sounds better into a Fender amp

crunchman

Danny1969 said:

I tried an OCD today, a friend of mine brought his new Marshall amp round and his pedal board which had an OCD on it. Didn't sound great to my ears so we swapped the OCD for a Soulfood and boom ....  sounded spot on, all the drive but you can still hear all the notes in the chords. 
I thought the OCD sounded a bit harsh, maybe it sounds better into a Fender amp

What settings did you use on it?  For me it's far better at lower gain stuff with the switch on the LP setting and, most importantly, 18V power.  At 9V it is a bit uninspiring, and the HP setting can be harsh.

TheBigDipper

Interesting to hear people experiences. I used my OCD for several years (at 9v and 18v) into a Rivera Clubster. It sounded great into the clean channel (which was very Fender-esque with plenty of headroom) and so-so into the dirty channel (which was already a bit compressed without the OCD feeding it). So, maybe it's a pedal to "Marshall-ize a Fender"...  or something. 

ICBM

I tried one at 18V and thought it sounded slightly different - no more than that.

crunchman

ICBM said:

I tried one at 18V and thought it sounded slightly different - no more than that.

It depends on how you use the pedal.  If you are using it for higher gain stuff it probably makes less difference.  If you are using it with lower gain settings it gives it a lot more headroom and dynamics.  It responds in a more "amp like" way than any other drive pedal I've used.  If you back off your pick attack it will clean up really well, but drive when you dig in.

ICBM

crunchman said:

It depends on how you use the pedal.  If you are using it for higher gain stuff it probably makes less difference.  If you are using it with lower gain settings it gives it a lot more headroom and dynamics.  It responds in a more "amp like" way than any other drive pedal I've used.  If you back off your pick attack it will clean up really well, but drive when you dig in.

I didn't notice that especially. Then again I find almost all drive pedals clean up quite well when you back off... I don't use a lot of gain normally.

Are you using it into an overdriven amp or a clean one?

Philtre

ICBM said:

I tried one at 18V and thought it sounded slightly different - no more than that.

Same here, although very slightly. Much like turning the gain down a millimetre.

crunchman

ICBM said:

crunchman said:

It depends on how you use the pedal.  If you are using it for higher gain stuff it probably makes less difference.  If you are using it with lower gain settings it gives it a lot more headroom and dynamics.  It responds in a more "amp like" way than any other drive pedal I've used.  If you back off your pick attack it will clean up really well, but drive when you dig in.

I didn't notice that especially. Then again I find almost all drive pedals clean up quite well when you back off... I don't use a lot of gain normally.

Are you using it into an overdriven amp or a clean one?

Mostly clean on the edge of breakup.  It does sound a bit better with my Lazy J than my Princeton.  It's not a mid heavy pedal so it seems to work better with the tweed style that has a lot of mid range.  The tweed sound is a bit warmer so it tames the OCD top end, which can be a bit much through the wrong amp.

I tend to set the Lazy J on the edge of break up, and then use the OCD in front of that.  There is a slight level boost from the OCD that pushes the amp a little harder, so the drive is probably a combination of pedal and amp.  When I want more drive, I put another pedal in front of the OCD to push it harder.  That was a TS type for years, although my wife bought me a Wampler Tumnus for Christmas, so that's on my board at the moment.

ICBM

Well that would explain it . You’ll be hearing mostly the amp overdriving, and the slight change in level from running the pedal at 18V - which I think is all it is - will be much more noticeable.

There can’t be a change in the actual headroom of the pedal because the clipping is done by a pair of mosfets and a diode, so it’s at a fixed signal level and not related to the supply voltage.

crunchman

The pedal is definitely less compressed and cleans up better with picking dynamics/vol control at 18V than it does at 9V.  I find that on my Princeton as well.  That doesn't have VAC on it, so I tend to run it cleaner.

monquixote

ICBM said:

Well that would explain it . You’ll be hearing mostly the amp overdriving, and the slight change in level from running the pedal at 18V - which I think is all it is - will be much more noticeable.

There can’t be a change in the actual headroom of the pedal because the clipping is done by a pair of mosfets and a diode, so it’s at a fixed signal level and not related to the supply voltage.

@icbm does that imply that for a pedal that does work like a JFET preamp like a DLS running at 18v is worthwhile?

ICBM

monquixote said:

@icbm does that imply that for a pedal that does work like a JFET preamp like a DLS running at 18v is worthwhile?

It’s certainly likely to make more difference.

jellybelly

I thought it sounded very similar to a Boss Blues Driver with the highs tamed a bit. Which is fine, but not special. Essentially fills the BD-2s roll with more gain and less treble.

By no means am I saying it’s based on the blues driver but that’s certainly the vibe!

markr76

I’ve owned two of them. Never got on with them to be honest. I bought the first one as when I demoed it in the shop. I thought it was fantastic. Then just couldn’t get it working for me. A few years later I thought I’d revisit the pedal, not sure why. But I felt the same second time round. its funny though every other guitarist I talked to around that time raves about the ocd. When I said I found it meh. I got looked at like I’d crapped on their front lawn!