Fulltone FatBoost 3 FB-3

Two things I haven’t done in a while… talk about Fulltone and show a gearmanndude video. Figured I’d nail both of those in one shot today. Today I wanted to talk about the Fulltone FatBoost 3 FB-3 pedal. The Fulltone is a Class-A FET boost pedal. I played the FB-2 but not FB-3 (this is where gearmanndude comes in). I have to say, I really dug the Fat Boost when I played it a few years ago.

Here is the official description:

The Fulltone FatBoost 3 effects pedal replaces previous versions 1 and 2, marrying everything that people liked about both versions while improving on them in a few key areas:

The FB-3 brings back the v1 11-position Gain control to give the ultimate in control over the FETs
The FB-3 adds one more stage of FET so that the pedal does not invert your signal
The FB-3 cures v1’s huge bass increase and dull high-end issues, but allows those sounds as well should you so desire

The Fulltone FatBoost 3 is a discrete, Class-A, FET (Field-Effect-Transistor) guitar pedal offering up to 35dB of non-distorted gain without changing your signature sound, unless you want that. You can fatten/distort your tone, brighten or mellow up the sound, add or subtract bass, and even add harmonics. The FB-3 has true-bypass switching (via the Fulltone 3PDT) and incorporates a super-bright LED without the loud popping sound thanks to Fulltone’s proprietary anti-pop circuitry.

FET’s can behave like tubes in a properly designed circuit. They can clip (distort) in a pleasing way instead of being buzzy or spiky-sounding (like a transistor) and can also add a subtle limiting to the signal which can even out the volume making your live and recorded tones more pleasing to the ear. If you’re a recording engineer, you’ll be happy to know you can use the Fulltone FatBoost 3 on everything from acoustic and electric guitar to electric bass, and even snare drums.

The FatBoost 3 pedal works great in front of non-Master Volume tube amps to goose them into submission, as well as through Master Volume amps to drive them much harder than possible with just your guitar alone. It also works very well on bass, acoustic guitars (with pickups), and is ideal at the end of a pedalboard effects chain to completely eliminate the tone loss caused by long guitar cable runs back to your amp. Doing so will allow the use of 50′ (or longer) cable lengths with no signal degradation whatsoever.

This version of the Fulltone FatBoost (FB-3) incorporates all of the things that people have loved about previous versions of these effects pedals in the past without any of the shortcomings. It brings back the 11-step FET Bias Drive knob that was missing from the FB-2. You’ll notice that this knob makes a slight scraping noise when you turn it. Fear not, as that is totally normal, and is simply the sound of the Bias changing and settling on the FET MuAmp. The FatBoost 3 gives you the feeling that your amp is cranked at living room volumes so your playing is more dynamic and notes hold on longer without being distorted. It makes up for all the tone loss that (even true-bypass) pedals impart to your sound, especially if you have a lot of pedals on your pedalboard.

Here is a great video by gearmanndude where he demos the differences between the FB-2 and FB-3. I really dig his style of A/B’ing pedals. I like that he plays the same riff between them and settings to really show a great comparison.

You can pick up the Fulltone FatBoost 3 FB-3 for $149.00 at Guitar Center.

Remember, if you like reading about these pedals and seeing videos reviews from others, please subscribe to the RSS feed and get notified via email when there are new postings!