Fulltone USA has put up pre-orders for the OCD-Lux (the full name is the Obsessive Compulsive D-Lux), a $299 dual overdrive built from two OCD circuits in one housing. Sweetwater and Fulltone's own store are taking orders. In Europe, at least one retailer lists it around €369, with no stock yet.
The OCD has been on pedalboards for over twenty years. It's the drive a lot of players reach for when a Tube Screamer is too polite and a RAT is too much. Fulltone has made a lot of versions over that time, and the Lux is basically a greatest-hits box.
What's on it, per Fulltone's retailer listings and Guitar Pedal X:
- Two channels, each with its own Volume, Drive and Tone, plus its own footswitch
- Blue channel: switches between the V2 voicing and the Ge (germanium, from Fulltone's Custom Shop OCD-Ge)
- Red channel: switches between V1.7 (one of seven V1 revisions Fulltone made over the years) and a new Raw mode, which Fulltone says is louder and more aggressive than any OCD voicing before it
- HP/LP switch on each side. High Peak leans British, with more output and push in the mids. Low Peak is flatter and more American-sounding. That's the same switch the original OCD had, just doubled
- The channels can be stacked, and Sweetwater lists separate I/O jacks for each side
Fulltone hasn't said much yet about which channel feeds which when you stack them, or about power draw and bypass type. I'll update this when they do.
I haven't played one. But most of what this pedal does, you can try on a modeler tonight.
What You're Actually Paying For
Strip away the voicings and the Lux is two things: a pair of OCDs you can stack, and four flavors of the same circuit you can switch between.
The stacking is the part that matters most. An OCD at low drive into another OCD at higher drive does something different from one OCD with the gain cranked. The first pedal tightens and pushes the second, so you get more sustain without the low end turning to mush. It's the same idea as a boost in front of a drive, which our Tube Screamer and Klon into a Marshall guide walks through.
The HP/LP switch is the second thing to understand. HP gives you more level and more midrange push. It's the setting that makes a clean Fender-type amp act like it has a British preamp. LP stays closer to your amp's own voice. With two independent HP/LP switches, you could run one side as a gentle LP rhythm drive and the other as an HP lead push.
Build the Stack on a Helix
Helix already has an OCD: the Compulsive Drive, which Line 6 lists as based on the Fulltone OCD. That gives you the stack for free.
The chain: Compulsive Drive → Compulsive Drive → amp. Use a clean-ish Fender or Vox-style amp so you can hear what the pedals are doing.
- First block (the "low" side): Drive around 2–3, Tone around noon, Level up a bit past unity. This is your always-on rhythm drive
- Second block (the "lead" side): Drive around 5–6, Tone a little brighter, Level matched to the first block when it's on alone. This one goes on for solos
- Footswitch them separately. First on alone gives you rhythm. Both on gives you the lead stack. Second on alone gives you a different, rawer drive
The Compulsive Drive doesn't do the germanium voice or the new Raw mode, and a modeler block isn't going to tell you how the actual V1.7 differs from the V2. So this is a test of the idea, not a copy of the pedal. If you want to hear how the OCD sits next to its competition first, overdrive vs. distortion vs. fuzz and our overdrive A/B testing method are where I'd start.
If you run humbuckers, take the Drive down another notch on both blocks. An OCD stack into hot pickups gets fizzy fast. Overdrive with humbuckers has the gain-staging numbers.
Should You Buy One
If you already own an OCD and love it: the Lux gives you a second one, two more voicings and stacking in the space of one large pedal. For $299, that's fair, assuming the Raw mode turns out to be more than just louder.
If you're on a modeler: build the two-block stack first. If the combination doesn't do anything for you, the pedal won't either. If it does, the Lux is the analog version of something you already proved you like, and you'd put it in front of the modeler, not in place of it. Preamp pedals vs. overdrive covers how that front-end placement works.
If you've never used an OCD: start with a used single one. The Lux is for people who already know they like the circuit.
