OCD

[john o]

i almost never play thru effects at home, just guitar into amp.
any effects i use are usually with the band, "for the song".
i've always been curious about the Fulltone OCD pedal based on reviews and videos.
finally broke down and picked one up (V 1.4, 2008) and gotta say I really like it. they call it "transparent overdrive",
guitar volume knob dependent, retains alot of the natural tonal qualities of the guitar (and the amp), and varying degrees of very desirable OD, from subtle to more intense. Tele players like the OCD. my 1st impression, used with my 2017 ASAT special and a carvin tube amp, quite pleasing! anybody else like these? if not, any others you want to speak to?

[mutts]

i almost never play thru effects at home, just guitar into amp.
any effects i use are usually with the band, "for the song".
i've always been curious about the Fulltone OCD pedal based on reviews and videos.
finally broke down and picked one up (V 1.4, 2008) and gotta say I really like it. they call it "transparent overdrive",
guitar volume knob dependent, retains alot of the natural tonal qualities of the guitar (and the amp), and varying degrees of very desirable OD, from subtle to more intense. Tele players like the OCD. my 1st impression, used with my 2017 ASAT special and a carvin tube amp, quite pleasing! anybody else like these? if not, any others you want to speak to?

I've wondered about them and have almost purchased one. The only Fulltone I own is a 70S Fuzz- which I don't love and rarely use. To be fair it's the only fuzz I've ever owned. Maybe I'm just not a fuzz pedal user.
Congrats on the OCD, glad you're liking it.!

[sam]

Hey John,

Congrats! Have teetered around the OCD just never committed. I have a Fulldrive 2 that is always on the board and ready when needed. Super “overdrive” pedal. The reviews I’ve read say the OCD has more gain so I’m not sure if it’s in the same vein as a Rat or BBE 427. Always tempted to add another distortion or gain pedal.

How do you compare with other drive / distortion pedals?

[tomanche]

I haven't used one, but the lead player in our band sounded fantastic with his, and it was his only drive box. Another great player friend uses one that sounds good. We also did a shootout with the OCD and a bunch of "Klon" flavored drives, and the OCD sounded great in that context, too.

[john o]

thx guys, i have relatively few pedals by comparison with the guitar universe, and what's "out there".
i have a boss blues driver since about 2005 that has always got the job done for me at gigs, mostly thru clean channel.
I've had a fulltone FD-3 for about 5 years that i use with smaller tube combos, mostly for blues and reggae, or jams, has a clean boost side and a dirt boost side which can be run in series with each other (in either order), or separately, with several eq options, similar to your FD-2, Sam. very nice and versatile.

I spent a couple hours with the OCD Thursday evening and i have to say it's a good bit different than those two above.
I wasn't sure what they meant by "transparent" but i think i get it, the underlying tone of the guitar (and the amp) is retained and the od/distortion effect ranges from subtle to fairly intense in a broad way, is also noticeably touch sensitive with regard to picking. I basically turned it on, fooled around with the range of settings for 5-10 min, then left it on and played for awhile, along with a bunch of youtube videos. I was impressed that it just plain sounded good, could be a mostly "on" pedal for me. Will have to try it in a variety of settings and with different guitars. The price range on these is all over the place from <$100 to >$500, depending on the version. This V1.4 from 2008 i got for a little over $100. It's said to have tighter mids, less bottom end, than the others, which are many.

[DanDoulogos]

i almost never play thru effects at home, just guitar into amp.

I've been playing now for a little over 35 yrs. I had some pedals when I first started. A few old "Tokai" branded things - playing through cheap cables on a cheap amp, and didn't understand what line noise was. Frankly, I didn't play guitar very well, and all the effects did was make that more obvious.

After that I just played clean, with whatever overdrive my cheap amp (a heinous solid state Gorilla GG-20 combo as I recall).

At first I was influenced by players like SRV, Jimmy Page, Dave Gilmour, etc. But then I chased down their influences and found myself really loving a whole lot of old blues players - and so my search for that perfect tone began.

It wasn't too long ago that I was listening to an internet blues station when I heard the a song by Joey Landreth (see below). The song grew on me, and having never heard of Joey Landreth before, I followed up on that by looking him up and found a link to some gear he used.

He'd been using a Jackson Audio Broken Arrow pedal for his gain and distortion - which if you follow the link you'll get a sample of - and so the boys over at Jackson audio tweaked one for him and marketed it as the "Golden Boy Transparent Overdrive".

I bought one a few years back, and I have to say - it is really a great all-round pedal.

I was toying with the idea of picking up an OCD pedal at the time - which is why this post caught my attention. I've been lurking through the pandemic, but thought I'd share this in case anyone was interested.

[john o]

Hi Dan, thx for posting the Joey landreth video. I’m a sonny landreth fan, had never listened to Joey, they are not related. I like his style and his tone! Iwill have to checkout some of his catalog.

My experience with ocd has been very positive so far. I like the way most of my guitars sound through, especially the tele and Asat. It can be subtle and “just right”. I thought it would be comparable to my BD-2 but they are different. At lower volume the ocd sounds better and gives a subtle edge while retaining the natural tone of the gtr. The bd-2 sounds more like the pedal, gives a nice OD boost for lead solo thru clean channel with some mid frequency color. I didn’t use it much for rhythm although u can by rolling back volume pot of the guitar.

I recently played 2 gigs with the ocd. For lead solo boost I had to fool around with the gain and vol settings a good bit, was more usable for rhythm stuff. I thing the fulltone pedals Are more expensive in the used market now as the company is said to be shutting down.

[DanDoulogos]

I like Sonny Landreth as well. Sonny did play slide on at least one of Wally Landreth's songs. Wally is the father of Joey Landreth.
It's on a 1990 album by the HCM band. The song was called "Gasoline & Son" - and the album was called Screen Door on the Sober Songs label . One of the fellows I play with (Paul O'Neill) played on that album, and knows Wally. (Paul has worked the last couple of decades as the guitarist who accompanies Fred Penner.)

So although they're not related, There is a kind of family tie in, as Joey's dad was a singer/composer/musician who played with Sonny at least once (that I know of anyway). I haven't heard the track, I think it only came out on cassette.

I only mention the connection because I was aware of it. I'm pretty sure Joey (and his brother David) are Sonny Landreth fans. I've heard Wally sing and play, it's pretty Jazzy stuff.

I had the opportunity to pick up a second hand OCD a few years back, but at the time my wife's growing concern for house space being eaten up by gear won the day. Sigh. I wouldn't mind trying one out after reading the various thoughts.

Thanks for sharing.

[john o]

interesting landreth history! i saw sonny for the 1st time at the new orleans jazz and heritage festival in '95. i had not heard of him, but my wife had, 88.5 wxpn (philly, U Penn station) was playing his "South of I-10" CD on radio. i was blown away by his slide technique - other worldly.

since then i've seen him a couple more times at Rams Head in Annapolis MD, and the Queen theatre in Wilmington DE, both great venues and shows.
Over the years 2003's "The road we're on," 2015's "Bound by the Blues," and 2017's "Recorded Live in Lafayette" are favorites of mine.

one of my favorite songs by Sonny is "Congo Square", originally on the South of I-10 record, and here is a link to a hauntingly amazing version of that performed live with his band and Derek Trucks at Clapton's Crossroads Festival in 2013, oh my!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HW0z86 ... l=TimBuktu

[DanDoulogos]

Just watched the vid.

That was very satisfying. Thank you John. I'm going to watch that again. It's rare to see two players like Landreth and Trucks able to play to the same level and energy while complimenting each other's style. Just a great listen, and fun to watch.

[john o]

sonny's so into it (as is Derek)
he writhes with the music, and conjures spirits out of that guitar!
glad you liked it!