Octave pedal?
- Thread starter Iceman53
- Start date
benny_profane
Well-known member
Are you talking an octave fuzz or a pure octave? In the case of the former, more than a few. In the case of the latter, you'd need DSP for that.
Robert
Reverse Engineer
An Octave Fuzz would be good. Do you have a favorite?
Nostradoomus
Well-known member
Octave up: Fuzzy Fox
Octave Down: Mantle fuzz
Octave Down: Mantle fuzz
benny_profane
Well-known member
I agree with @Nostradoomus with the octave down. I think the octave toggle mod (-1 and -2 octaves on a toggle) is very easy and worthwhile mod for that project.
In terms of octave up, I’ve made:
- Univox Superfuzz: Very cool circuit and probably my favorite octave fuzz (that I’ve played). Suffers a bit from low output, so a gain recovery stage is often added. Bit more difficult to build since it’s picky about transistor hFE values—certainly doable, though. You might have to measure a few handfuls of transistors before you find some good ones, but you can use current production devices no problem. The web is full of good resources there if you are interested.
- Ampeg Scrambler: Pretty dirty. The blend control is great for guitar and bass. I’d pick this one for bass/preserving low end
- Green Ringer/Tentacle: You know what you’re getting with this one. I don’t particularly like it compared to others. Very accessible circuit and you can hear plenty of demos to decide for yourself. I think this one is great for creating texture along with other distortion/fuzz, but as a stand-alone, I’m not crazy about it.
EDIT: you might find this site interesting.
Fuzz Central -- Making the world a fuzzier place for 5 years
One of the largest sites for do-it-yourself guitar effects builders. Schematics and Printed circuit board layouts for rare pedals like the Tycobrahe Octavia, Clyde McCoy wah and lots of vintage fuzz pedals!
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Nostradoomus
Well-known member
Also the U235 from Parasit studio is great if you want a semi clean octave down!
edit: Hyped Fuzz as well, very versatile unit...the gain boost is rad.
edit: Hyped Fuzz as well, very versatile unit...the gain boost is rad.
Wow! Plenty of good info. Thanks. Time to research theseI agree with @Nostradoomus with the octave down. I think the octave toggle mod (-1 and -2 octaves on a toggle) is very easy and worthwhile mod for that project.
In terms of octave up, I’ve made:
I need to get around to building the fOXX tone machine, tychobrahe Octavia, and the fender blender. The blender is, if I recall correctly, rather similar to the scrambler. The fOXX and tychobrahe units are classics.
- Univox Superfuzz: Very cool circuit and probably my favorite octave fuzz (that I’ve played). Suffers a bit from low output, so a gain recovery stage is often added. Bit more difficult to build since it’s picky about transistor hFE values—certainly doable, though. You might have to measure a few handfuls of transistors before you find some good ones, but you can use current production devices no problem. The web is full of good resources there if you are interested.
- Ampeg Scrambler: Pretty dirty. The blend control is great for guitar and bass. I’d pick this one for bass/preserving low end
- Green Ringer/Tentacle: You know what you’re getting with this one. I don’t particularly like it compared to others. Very accessible circuit and you can hear plenty of demos to decide for yourself. I think this one is great for creating texture along with other distortion/fuzz, but as a stand-alone, I’m not crazy about it.
EDIT: you might find this site interesting.
Fuzz Central -- Making the world a fuzzier place for 5 years
One of the largest sites for do-it-yourself guitar effects builders. Schematics and Printed circuit board layouts for rare pedals like the Tycobrahe Octavia, Clyde McCoy wah and lots of vintage fuzz pedals!fuzzcentral.ssguitar.com
Chuck D. Bones
Circuit Wizard
The dual pitch shifter is one of my favorite patches for the Arachnid. I set one pitch knob for octave up, the other pitch knob for octave down and adjust the balance for mostly octave up. Turns a 6-string guitar into a 12 string. The tiny bit of latency makes it sound richer and more realistic.
OK, you got my attention with the Arachnid posts, and I have some questions, just so I know what I'm getting into. Where do the FV-1 patches come from? How do they get loaded onto the EEPROM, or does that EEPROM come pre-loaded with the patch? And the SMD...how would I solder that? I do not have SMD soldering equipment (yet). Sorry for all the questions. Some of this is new to me.
Edit - I just noticed that I can have the FV-1 soldered before shipment. One question solved.
Just watched a video on the Pitch Bay. That does look interesting...
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The arachnid, octagon, and module8 projects are all the same pcb, just the octagon and module8 have different eeproms (each eeprom holds up to 8 patches). You can buy just the eeproms and swap them out (be sure to use a machined pin socket for the eeprom chip). Check out the eeprom category. There’s also an eeprom builder where you can choose patches for your eeprom al a carte (my favorite way).
You can choose the option to have pedalpcb solder the smd fv-1 chip for you. But it’s really not that hard with a small tipped iron. I did one my first time soldering smd with no problem.
You can choose the option to have pedalpcb solder the smd fv-1 chip for you. But it’s really not that hard with a small tipped iron. I did one my first time soldering smd with no problem.
This?answers a lot. Thanks!
Robert
Reverse Engineer
Yep, definitely needs to happen. Even more so, the product pages should probably be a bit more informative... All of them.
