BJFE / BearFoot fx Guitar Effects Community

Just spent the last 2-3 days re-designing and re-voicing my Cephalopod octave-up fuzz.

Does anybody even play octave-up fuzz anymore?

I've got it dialed in for a nice Hendrixy Octavia sound, maybe just the tiniest bit more polite and focused but tons of gain and sustain. Lots of changes from the first version Skreddy Cephalopod:

1) took out the germanium transistors and used low-gain silicons instead for better bias, sustain, and non-sensitivity to temperature
2) increased the gain and sustain
3) focused the tone onto the mids, which really helps bring out the octave-up sound

Really fun to play. I'm just wondering how many other folks dig this kind of thing. Is it even a thing anymore? Last guy I remember making good use of crazy octave fuzzes was Billy Corgan...

I use a foxx tone machine I built on occasion but more often than not I don't use the octave setting. That said I'm pretty psyched about a rat based build with blendable octave up and down as I think that will be far more useful. It's a Giant Hogweed by drolo on the Madbean forum if you'd like to check it out.

The all or nothing nature of most octave fuzzes makes them have limited usefulness and they become more 1-trick ponies. I'm hoping the ability to blend them (up and down octaves) will make them more useful.

Yep, not something I'd use all the time. Since it is a one-trick pony, I made it a one-knobber. The trick for me was just to get it to work well and sound good enough that I'd come up with excuses to break it out.

I do like a wild octave fuzz a lot, but prefer the octave to be switchable.

I had a Zvex Octane I and III...they both totally ripped.

Also had a Bearfoot CAF Ge, Dano French Toast, and probably more that I can't remember...all great fun...all no switchable octave though, so off the board they went

I love me some octave fuzzzzz I still have an old MXR Hendrix edition which was ok but was totally put on the shelf when I got hold of a Foxrox Octron.. Not a classic octavia as such I guess.. Some really, really nice (allbeit wobbly analog) tones to be had though!! The Octron 2 arrived shortly thereafter nice to be able to sculpt the sound with that one.. perhaps that would take away the 'one trick pony' label? Actually a friend swears by the purple MXR sub machine..

This is killer!! it would be cool to hear it A/B'd with your new tweaks

https://www.youtube.com/shared?ci=_mqcfFkpMfs

ak47 wrote:This is killer!! it would be cool to hear it A/B'd with your new tweaks

https://www.youtube.com/shared?ci=_mqcfFkpMfs

For sure, I need to make a new vid. The new version doesn't even have a PCB yet; it only exists on my breadboard and in my CAD software for the moment, but I could demo the breadboard circuit no problem. All the good stuff from the germanium version is still there; it'll just be more stable, better biased, more sustain, and better focus onto the octave-up tone.

Thanksgiving is upon us, so I won't find the time for another couple of days probably. But thanks for posting that, and I'll update soon!