Fulltone Mas Malo Distortion/Fuzz Pedal Reviews

I have been trying to work with distortion pedals, but found them too muddy connecting through a Boss Katana amp. I purchased the Mas Malo and I was surprised at the versatility. Single coils I can front end it with an OCD. When I use my les Paul with humbuckers I use it stand alone. Overall I get a great range of tones. I saw a video that said....just buy this pedal....I did and am happy that I did. It is very easy to dial in good tones with the color, heat, and distortion knobs.

Getting fuzz face, Muff, tone bender, and cranked tweed tones all with the turn of some knobs.
None of hang ups associated with tradition fuzzes:
No tone suck, doesn't affect other pedals, takes an and standard power supply !

Running at 18v with my true tone iso power and it's sounds just fantastic. Also it sounds huge with my little Silverface champ-most fuzz pedals just sound farty. You can mail possibly any classic fuzz tone with this thing. I've owned both 69 mk1 (NK275) and MKII which were both fantastic but this smokes them in sound and versatility.

Sounds absolutely incredible with a tele or strat into a clean fender amp.

I can dial lots of great tones ..distortion and/or fuzz....each one is fantastic. Awesome pedal!
Another quality Fulltone product.

Bought this pedal to upgrade/ replace a Bass Big Muff that broke! Many descriptions you see online here suit this pedal. It is definitely vintage-voiced, and I really like the range of the color knob (three o clock works well for my rig). Between humbuckers and single coils, the punch is clear but it is not fizzy. The interaction between heat and distortion is really cool. Diming them out creates a wonderful wall of distortion bliss. I prefer keeping heat around 5 and distortion at noon. Played through a clean channel it adds enough harmonics, sustain and warmth without being super aggressive or distortiony. Then I kick on the Fulltone Plimsoul and I'm exactly where I want to be. It is actually incredible how well the pedals work together. My tone is dynamic and cutting, but it is not harsh... it is responsive and creamy. I JUST COULD NOT BE HAPPIER! I almost thought I would miss the big muff, and maybe I would when I play bass, but man this sound is just FRICKEN AWESOME. I wanna keep playing and playing and see what this can do :)) THANK YOU SWEETWATER! Got here in 2 days and for as impressive of a product like this I am blown away. It is quality built. The only complaint is that the LED is SO BRIGHT I cannot look at it, so I have to keep a piece of paper on it otherwise I cannot see lol. HAVE A GREAT DAY YALL! Incredible choice if you want a responsive and stackable tone that can be tailored to different guitars or rigs. It can be crazy if you need it to be, but it does light vintage vibes with perfection too. Easy to plug it in and spend a half-hour with it and just get right into an incredible tone land :)))))))))

I have searched for a pedal to stack with my Full-Drive 3 that wouldn't muddy up the clean boost. I should have stuck with Fulltone all along. Great range and now it's my favorite go to on my board. I love that it is quiet when at rest, but it growls.

This Fulltone Mas Malo pedal is very versatile. Technically it is a fuzz pedal but it does a lot more than typical fuzz. Classic rock, grunge, psychadelic rock, and more are within the range of this pedal. I'm just a GenXer playing at home, but this pedal is very helpful part of the tonal palette of my board and covers several sub-genres. This is also a solidly built pedal. This is my second Fulltone pedal - other one being Fulldrive 2 v2.

I thought about this fuzz a while before pulling the trigger. It's odd to me how little there is available in the way of demo videos for this fuzz. I had seen one demo video and heard what seemed like a very cool fuzz tone to my ears... then found handfuls of reviews raving about it—all the while seeming like this pedal is sorta "under the radar"... I've gone fuzz-crazy in the last year or so. Playing Strats and LP's mostly, through vintage Marshalls... I definitely lean toward the vintage side of things when it comes to fuzz sounds. First got an original 1st run Fulltone '70 (silicone)... then a King Tone Fuzz (germanium)... then a Clean Octave Blend clone... then a Catalinbread Naga Viper (Si treble booster, but has that fuzz-like texture), and now this Mas Malo... I definitely like this Mas Malo a lot. It seems like it's easiest to get Big Muff style tones from it, and maybe that's what it is most similar to, circuit wise... but it also blurs the lines with fuzz face tones and maybe tone bender tones, too... it's very versatile in my opinion... sounds killer through a JTM45... this Mas Malo seems to fill in gaps between a Big Muff and a Fuzz Face... highly recommend

I've tried many Fuzz pedals but I've always found them a little too muddy. After reading the reviews(thanks dudes!) I got one and discovered this pedal is GODZILLA ON FIRE! The magic comes from the C knob. It goes far beyond tone. When set at noon, the sound is so clear,full and powerful.The end result is GODZILLA ON FIRE!

I also loved that you can strum up and down rapidly and the sound is very articulate.

I use this pedal for overdrive and Fuzz, I'm a Rockabilly and Psychobilly cat.
I experimented playing Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis song with Fuzz. The experiment was a wild success!
Although Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis are spinning in their graves.......

I run a very lean board and have been searching for a no frills, go-to pedal that nails that warm, dirty tone I love. This is it - and more. I tend to leave the Malo at my favorite setting, without much tweaking. But there's a lot you can do with this pedal. And what great tone! Overnight, this became my #1 pedal.

So for the past month I've been trying to find the best fuzz pedal but none didn't grab my attention. Some were to harsh or to mushy. Just one day I went to my local my guitar store & went to try out an other fuzz. This bright red pedal (Mas Malo) in the corner hidden. So I tried it out not expecting much & Holy ****, it blew me away, More than a $200 fuzz (Vel*** Fuzz) I bought out & later return. This pedal can do anything from Smooth to Straight out down Nasty Gorgeous Fuzz. Think of this pedal as a mixture of Big Muff , Fuzz Face & Tone Bender all in one just adjusting the Knobs. Solo's Just Sings , I truly love it when I stack my overdrives to boost this pedal my goodness I really recommend it. This Pedal is a hidden gem & Future Classic. Don't hesitate to buy it.

Very powerful pedal with a lot of range. Boost to fuzz and everything in between. Very reasonably priced. High recommended.

I mainly play rock and blues. I am lucky to have a great amp in a 1980 Fender Twin
I love Fulltone products and bought this pedal to some extent on blind trust. Both OCD and Plimsoul are favorite pedals with me. The Mas Malo breathes quality in all aspects, inside and out. I was somewhat disquieted by the description of the pedal as King of Muffs having tossed a Pi of my board recently, not having much use for it in the tone I want but I did not need to have had any fears. I have the pedal only for a week now, I am super happy with the incredible wide range of sound possibilities with different settings. As with other Fulltone products the pedal is very responsive to pick attack. I can easily recreate the guitar sounds I grew up with of the late sixties. I just love this pedal.

I have only had it for a couple of days but I know it's a keeper. It is super versatile. From boost to huge fuzz. Good tone control range. Built like a little tank. I think almost every guitarist would find a use for this box.
Love it.

I'm a big fan of Fulltone. They're pedals are well made, sound great and are priced right. The mas malo is all of the above. The website description is very accurate. The heat and distortion pedals work well off each other. The color knob is essentially a tone control, but not in the typical way. It goes from dark and wooly to bright and cutting. Good range of gain on tap. Can get warm overdrive to saturated fuzz. I'd recommend this to fuzz fans and Fulltone fans. It's a many trick pony