Octaclave Octave Fuzz

[airbud]

Build Rating

5.00 star(s)

tldr; Good pedal. Primary side of the transformer goes towards the TOP of the PCB.

So far I'm really enjoying this pedal; even more so once I flipped the transformer around! It was a pain in the ass but I managed to unsolder it and jimmy it back in. I used D9B diodes, I have some others I might try.

It's got some cool sounds, I have it dimed out pretty much all the time, this is not a pedal to be used subtlely or quietly. Drive it with another fuzz or whatever.

Easy build if you don't fuck up the transformer orientation. Socket the diodes so you can swap out and try different types.

tldr; Primary side of the transformer goes towards the TOP of the PCB.

Pic 1 - Gutshot before fixing the transformer
Pic 2,3 - The carnage after removing the transformer.

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

 

[Cvoxdog]

Damn, I can't believe you were able to salvage that transformer! The last time I tried to do that it was a no go since those things are so sensitive.

 

[airbud]

Damn, I can't believe you were able to salvage that transformer! The last time I tried to do that it was a no go since those things are so sensitive.

the first time I pulled this off (bit commander) it took over an hour and about a meter of desoldering braid. and several gray hairs. honestly I thought I had butchered the part and the board, bit nevertheless it preserved!!

I then had a game plan to desolder this one, and it took less than 15 minutes total. huge fucking pain in the ass, I almost threw both pedals through my 12th story window many times. I fixed both today lol, so this was a back-to-back microsurgery operation.

ultimately the takeaway is not to rush to finish the pedal before you pack and leave for your brother's dog's Willy Wonka-themed 3rd birthday party.

 

[Cvoxdog]

the first time I pulled this off (bit commander) it took over an hour and about a meter of desoldering braid. and several gray hairs. honestly I thought I had butchered the part and the board, bit nevertheless it preserved!!

I then had a game plan to desolder this one, and it took less than 15 minutes total. huge fucking pain in the ass, I almost threw both pedals through my 12th story window many times. I fixed both today lol, so this was a back-to-back microsurgery operation.

ultimately the takeaway is not to rush to finish the pedal before you pack and leave for your brother's dog's Willy Wonka-themed 3rd birthday party.

That's totally the truth! Haha. All my major screwups happened when I was rushing because of something dumb. Glad you were able to recover both pedals. That's amazing.

 

[fuzz]

day late and a dollar short, but those germ. diodes seem to be backwards. You can see the cathode ball on the anode side...
or am I off base?

 

[jcpst]

day late and a dollar short, but those germ. diodes seem to be backwards. You can see the cathode ball on the anode side...
or am I off base?

Looks right to me. The red band is oriented the same way as the image on the pcb

 

[fuzz]

Russian diodes don’t always have the band on the cathode side You can see the cathode ball in the diode on the incorrect side.

 

[Guilherme Collateral]

Yeah, check the diodes with the multimeter