Do any of you own either of these, and what are your thoughts on them?

1) Fulltone Catalyst CT-1

2) Fulltone OCD Obsessive Compulsive Drive Overdrive

Only Fulltone I can speak for is the Bassdrive.

Would much rather use my DIY BMP but once I dialed in the BD to sound more like the BMP have been pleased.

I've got an OCD coming tomorrow. I'll get back with my impressions. At the least, I hope replacing my DS-1 with the OCD will give me a more articulate and touch-sensitive tone.

Anyone try their Octafuzz? Debating whether to get it or the Creepy Fingers Pink Elephant.

I have never tried an Octafuzz, but i have been meaning too.

Got the OCD today. Comes in a burly, 2 piece metal box that assembles with 4 knurled thumbscrews on the sides of the unit. Ugly black on white graphic scheme with 3 different fonts, but I knew she wasn't gonna be pretty.

Inside, all the pc board soldering and wiring is super-clean, and the jacks, pots & switches look to be high quality stuff. The OCD is true bypass, and the face is a standard 3-knobber: Volume and Drive on top, tone centered below. A covered red led is set between the Volume and Drive knobs, and directly above it is a micro switch to choose between the High Peak & Low Peak (HP & LP) settings. A side-mounted DC power input rounds out the features.

I used my SG Classic and my home rig for this test. The head is a Blackstar HT-5, and the cabinet is a 1x12 closed back loaded with a Celestion Greenback.

First, this thing is supposed to be transparent and touch-sensitive, so I started out on the clean channel of the Blackstar. Frankly, I've never much liked this channel because it sounds kinda cold & sterile. I set the OCD volume to the same as the clean signal and dicked around with the tone for a bit to get it in the ballpark. The tone control only affects the highs, and noon was surprisingly close to my tone; I just pushed it up a hair past that. I turned the Drive all the way down and switched the OCD off & on while playing, and my clean amp tone developed a Voxy chime with the unit engaged. Much warmer and a tad punchier than the straight clean channel. Nice. Switching from LP to HP gives a bit more bass and mids and a bit more volume. Still clean as a whistle, though.

Now to put some hair on the clean channel. I cranked the OCD's Drive knob all the way up and left the volume/tone the same. There's a good amount of gain on tap, and in the HP mode, it sounds very AC/DCish, overdriven, distorted, but not fuzzed. Good definition, but aggressive. LP mode with the Drive dimed yields some sweet ZZ Top tones—nice mother tone on the neck pickup with the tone rolled off. The Drive control has a very wide range, and I found 3 or 4 sweet spots between zero and full-on. The OCD's volume control gives a helluva boost if needed, but the gain does slightly increase as the boost increases. The best part: this pedal is very responsive to backing off the guitar volume, just like a Tubescreamer spinoff should be. Unless the Drive is turned way the fuck up, the pedal's gain tames down nicely as the guitar volume drops. Ditto with hard vs. light picking—pick harder, get more grit.

Now to the dirty channel of the HT-5. Usually I have the gain dial cranked when I'm plugged straight in, so I started there. Whoa. With the Drive dimed on the pedal and the amp, my signal is super-saturated and compressed. Not a real useable tone, but I could play one-handed and tapping shit all day with it because there's sustain for miles. I backed the Drive down to 3:00, however, and the attack characteristics became more percussive and distinct. Turning the gain on the amp down improved things a smidge more. The Drive knob on the OCD sounded best between 9:00 & 3:00, and I again found many useable tones in the LP & HP settings, in the vein of Judas Priest, Montrose, Mountain and early Sabbath. I also found many crappy tones in this zone. Again, the gain cleans up as the guitar volume is rolled off, but not as well as into the clean amp.

So those are my first impressions, but I am more interested in how this pedal will work with my live rig and current effects chain, but that'll have to wait until band practice. At this point, my overall impression is that the Fulltone OCD works well as a clean boost and as a basic dirt pedal. For the heavier styles most of us are into, you'll still likely need a fuzz (I'll be using my Meathead), but this pedal pretty much performed as I expected it would. The biggest complaint I have at this point is that because the OCD is very flexible, it's also very touchy. I'll probably mark my settings with a sharpie once I get them settled. Biggest compliment? I'm especially impressed with how it warmed up the previously sterile sounding clean channel on the Blackstar.

Shhhiiittt... If i took apart one of my pedals, I would never be able to put it back together.

Nah, it ain't like that, man. It's a 2-piece bent metal box. It comes apart (for battery replacement) and reassembles easily. Pic:



Edit: you can see 2 of the 4 screws.

Mine just arrived and i found my sweet spot in about 1 minute:

HP on, Distortion = full tilt, Tone = 12 o-clock, Volume = somewhere between 11 and 12 o-clock... I have only used it on a clean Marshall solid state practice amp (my kid's), but I am ready to drop it into my pedal board and fire it up on the big stuff now.

Good review, RacerX. I really like the OCD.....it can get more like a distortion at higher levels, and sometimes I think that most of the Tube Screamer type circuits/ clones don't have enough gain on tap if you need it. Some people have noted distinct differences in the versions...some prefer version 2 or 3, and others don't care so much. I haven't tried all the versions, but thought that it may be good to mention that if you're getting an OCD used, that some people really seem to prefer the earliest versions.

Man, this things sounds TITS through my rig. It does not play nice with the built-in gain on the home rig, but it hits the preamp tubes on the live/practice space rig hard enough to work 'em up into a lather. Once the 6L6s in the power amp add some power tube distortion to that, I'm in heaven. With the Meathead kicked in, it's facemelting time!

im interested in checking the OCD out, but also REALLY dig those cochrane Timmy pedals.