Fulltone gear on the Anagram

Fulltone is a Los Angeles pedal brand started by Mike Fuller. It has made a range of fuzzes, overdrives and tape echoes, and the OCD, short for Obsessive Compulsive Drive, became its best-selling pedal. It was a common sight on boards in the 2000s and 2010s.

Mercuriall Audio says Open Drive is inspired by the OCD. That is confirmed by the developer.

The OCD is a hard-clipping drive, but it is voiced to keep more low end and a wider frequency range than many classic overdrives. It sounds less like a pedal and more like a cranked amp, with an open, full tone. It covers a lot of ground, from a light, fat boost to a crunchy rock rhythm sound.

That range is why guitarists like it. It can be a main dirt sound into a clean amp, or a push into an amp that is already breaking up. The high and low peak switch on the original changes how much gain and top end it had.

Bass players also took to it, because it does not hollow out the low end the way a Tube Screamer-style pedal can. It gives a thick, growling drive that still feels solid under the fingers. Blending in some clean signal makes it even more usable.

On the Anagram, Open Drive works in front of either a clean amp block or a cab block on its own. Its tone control can get bright when turned up, so start it low.

Try Open Drive first with the drive around ten o'clock and the volume above unity, in front of a clean amp block.