Playing with octave-up fuzz

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Playing with octave-up fuzz

Postby skreddy » Wed Nov 16, 2016 9:09 pm

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...
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Occasionally also my Ibanez SZ (kind of a PRS copy with quilted maple top & fixed mahogany neck) with vintage Maxon PAF-style humbuckers and Gibson style knobs and switch
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Re: Playing with octave-up fuzz

Postby cajone5 » Wed Nov 16, 2016 10:31 pm

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.
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Re: Playing with octave-up fuzz

Postby skreddy » Thu Nov 17, 2016 12:33 am

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.
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skreddy
 
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2009 7:33 pm
Location: California
Guitars:: Mostly my Warmoth Strat, a sort of '59 style featuring boat-back (1" thick) birdseye maple neck, northern ash body, 3-color nitrocellulose burst finish, and Bill Lawrence L-280S pickups wired in a Vol / neck-bridge Blend / Tone control configuration
Occasionally also my Ibanez SZ (kind of a PRS copy with quilted maple top & fixed mahogany neck) with vintage Maxon PAF-style humbuckers and Gibson style knobs and switch
amps: Mostly my 100 Watt Hiwatt
pedals: 99

Re: Playing with octave-up fuzz

Postby zhivago » Thu Nov 17, 2016 1:59 am

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
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Re: Playing with octave-up fuzz

Postby ak47 » Thu Nov 17, 2016 7:30 am

I love me some octave fuzzzzz :mrgreen: 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 :mrgreen: 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..
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Re: Playing with octave-up fuzz

Postby ak47 » Fri Nov 18, 2016 7:37 am

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

https://www.youtube.com/shared?ci=_mqcfFkpMfs
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Re: Playing with octave-up fuzz

Postby skreddy » Wed Nov 23, 2016 2:46 pm

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

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!
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Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2009 7:33 pm
Location: California
Guitars:: Mostly my Warmoth Strat, a sort of '59 style featuring boat-back (1" thick) birdseye maple neck, northern ash body, 3-color nitrocellulose burst finish, and Bill Lawrence L-280S pickups wired in a Vol / neck-bridge Blend / Tone control configuration
Occasionally also my Ibanez SZ (kind of a PRS copy with quilted maple top & fixed mahogany neck) with vintage Maxon PAF-style humbuckers and Gibson style knobs and switch
amps: Mostly my 100 Watt Hiwatt
pedals: 99


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