Fulltone OctaFuzz

Two knobs Volume and Boost. It provides great Octavia sound out of the box. The manual gives good info on how to get the most out of it. I like to have the have the boost about 11 0'clock and have my 69 pedal after it.

It is the most quiet Octavia I have heard. It provides a good fat Fuzz with the octave up cutting through. While, Octavias usaully sound good only at the 12th fret, the Octafuzz sounded good anywhere on the fretboard.

Man, it's a Fulltone. What else is there to say?

Mike Fuller gets paid for doing what he loves. I wish I could say the same. It is his mission in life to provide the best pedal efects. His e-mail response time is very quick.

I wouldn't have to buy it again because I know it will last. But I will definitely keep it. This is my 3rd Fulltone pedal. I have a Fulldrive II and a 69 pedal. What is interesting about the Octafuzz is that I was set to buy a used Proctavia for $70. Right when I pulled out the cash, I saw the store had the Octafuzz. Needless to say, the Octafuzz, blew away the Procatvia! The Voodoo labs people claim their pedal is an authentic replica of the Tychobrahe Ocatvia. Well, compared to the Ocatafuzz, Fulltone, it was very thin and cheap transistor sounding. I am sure they cut corners somewhere. Understand I paid Twice as much for the Fulltone. The difference in sound quality was worth it.

Being a two-knob pedal, there is not a great deal of science involved... The Octafuzz features a "Volume" knob and a "Boost" knob, "Volume" controlling output level and "Boost" controlling the amount of fuzz and octave-up effect. Mike Fuller (chief of Fulltone) includes an easy, straightforward user sheet. The Octafuzz spits fire right out of the box.

The Octafuzz is billed as an exact circuit replica of the Tycobrahe Octavia. While I can't comment on the veracity of this assertion, I CAN say that the pedal is dynamic, EXTREMELY quiet (surprise!), and tracks very well. I bought this pedal in order to avail myself of an obnoxious and startling lead sound. While this pedal certainly provides a crazy, head-turning tone, there is a refined harmonic wealth to the notes which goes beyond a mere octave-up effect. It's difficult to articulate, but it gives a strong and somewhat fuzzy and percussive fundamental which quickly "blossoms" with harmonic overtones and the "up-octave". This effect takes place with all pickup types: I use a PRS Custom w/ HFS bridge & Standard neck pickups, as well as a '62 reissue Strat w/ Custom shop S/C pickups, in addition to a Hamer Special w/ Duncan P-90s. When using the Octafuzz, I'm typically driving a Marshall 30w, 50w, or 100w with a heavy Marshall-esque grind, the Octafuzz when employed under this config. yields stunning results. Amazingly, the pedal adds very little hiss or other noise when activated, even through a loud half-stack, and since I use this pedal live this is really welcome. As previously mentioned, the pedal tracks extremely well, you never get that warbly bad-tracking sound that a Boss OC-2 can give (I use the OC-2, I also love it, but it is a whole 'nuther animal). The manual states that you achieve the most pronounced octave effects when using the neck pickup of your guitar, and this is true but there are also execellent results to be had (with plenty o' octave) with bridge pickups. Again, the pedal sounds great with h/b, s/c and P-90 pickups-I use 'em all!

I mistakenly "fried" the pedal as I hooked it up to the wrong (ungrounded) AC adapter. If you plan to use an AC adapter, take my advice and get the Fulltone one. I'm using Eveready Super Heavy Duty Batteries now (non-alkaline as recommended by Fulltone), with great results and plenty of useful life. The pedal is typically in use (in line with the rest of my effects, anyway) during gig/session/rehearsal about 10 hours a week, and since I bought the pedal in May 1996, I have had no problems other than the ones I created with using the wrong adapter. Incidentally, Mike Fuller fixed it real quick and cheap!!

Ask yourself how often you as a musician deal with people (salespersons, managers, booking people et al) who are not only professional, courteous and knowledgeable, but also take the time to listen to you? This is seemingly a rarity, however, not at Fulltone. When I burnt out a component in my Octafuzz, I called Fulltone and spoke to Mike Fuller himself. He took the time to trouble-shhot the pedal with me over the phone in order to hopefully avoid an east-to-west coast shipping situation and un-needed down time. When he determined the pedal nneded to be returned, he fixed it and shipped it back pronto. At no extra cost he UPGRADED a few components which he had found to function better than his orginal supply. Michael Fuller supports his products and THEN SOME.
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I'd really be bummed out if I lost this pedal. If it was stolen, I'd be hoppin' mad. I would surely replace this pedal immediately with another Octafuzz. I love the way the notes explode and then somehow blossom into magic little harmonic realms of their own. I should mention that I tried a whole bunch of other effects including the real Octavia, the Proctavia, the MXR Blue Box (new and old) and the Foxx Tone Machine (the red velvet one). A real Octavia or Foxx Tone Machine will cost you lots, and if they break you might have trouble getting support. I am not only happy with this pedal, but I am inspired by it. That is what we are all after, anyway.