Fulltone Ultimate Octave

I like that it doesn't have a plethora of knobs, simple 3 pot adjustments is just right. The sound you're looking for won't come instantly and smack you sound pala, as it can be tweaked a bit, but it won't frustrate you either if you have the patience for it. (When I think of frustration, I think of the Fuzz Factory and the Fender Blender - both awesome sounding pedals with just too many adjustments to be made and too many knobs that complicate things).

It's noisy alright, just like a fuzz should be. I wrote this in another review... that it is true bypass, so no noise when bypassed.

I really like the sound when the Fat setting is engaged. Whether low or high, this is what fuzz is about! I play mainly through a PRS SE Singlecut and a Kustom Defender 50 watt tube amp. They sound great with the Fulltone.

The Octave Up switch is another story! With the neck pup selected, it can hit that sweet sound all day without trouble. It hits it nicely around the 7th, but it's loudest around the 12th. Chords sound sweet and nasty.

How could I NOT go without a backup?! This thing is solid! Though I am in the market for more fuzz... I may get a Fuzz Factory just for the fun factor.

I haven't needed to contact anyone yet.

I play rock from the 70's to now. Sabbath, AC/DC, Local H, GNR, STP, Velvet Revolver, etc. This will fit for some really heavy stuff we cover. It also fits when I want to jam some Jimi. The fuzz and octave sound great! Tweak it a little and play classics.

I wouldn't say hate, but I would have liked a bigger selector switch for the Fat/Bright modes.

Pretty easy to use. Volumne, tone, and fuzz knobs. Fat/bright switch, and controls for octive up and turning the fuzz on. It came with a one page guide. It just basically tells you where to put it in your effects chain, and a couple of tips on knob settings.

It sounds great. I agree with other reviewers, who said you need to take the time to play with the controls. Some of the bad reviews that I have read, I think are from people not taking the time to experiment with it.

I have five guitars I use with this, an American Fender Strat with a Dimarzio Paf Pro (neck), Seymour Duncan Hot Rail (Middle), and SD Invader (bridge); Ibanez JS100 with Dimarzio Paf Joe and Mo'Joe; Kramer with SD Live Wire; Jackson with SD Jazz and JB; and an old Epiphone Genesis with Gibson pickups. The pedal sounds good with all of them. Even in split coil mode.

The amps I use are a Peavey JSX 212 Combo and a Fender Princeton Chorus. This pedal sounds good on both amps.

As far as complaints of it being noisey with the octave swithch off, I noticed it only has excess noise if used on a gain channel with the gain on the amp and the fuzz on the pedal turned up. You really need to turn one down, either the gain on the amp or, the fuzz on the pedal. If you do this there is no excess noise. I usually put the gain on my amps to 1 or, 2, and turn the fuzz on the pedal up if I want more fuzz. The volumne knob seems to do nothing once it is turned past 9 or, 10 o'clock position, but only on a gain channel.

On the clean channel on both of my amps, you can really get some crazy old school fuzz sounds. Kind of like the Stones/Hendrix styles. And all the controls, even the volumne work properly.

When I started playing with the octave switch I immediately thought Satriani. It sounds good but, it does drop off a bit before the ninth fret. The bright/fat switch is all right but, I usually leave it in the fat position. The tone knob is great, you can really dial in some good sounds with it.

I have a lot of effects pedals mostly MXR but, also Electro-Harmonix, Dunlop, and some old DOD pedals. The only one I think that can really affect the UO is my MXR Super Comp pedal. It can help tame the fuzz.

It is still too new to comment on this. I have only had it a few weeks. It seems to be made pretty well. The only concern may be the location of the fat/bright switch. It is kind of close to the octave up switch and it is only a small dp switch. You may have to be carful you don't break it off when activating the octave up switch.

I E-mailed Fulltone a couple of weeks ago because, I didn't have a warranty card in the box. I wanted to make sure I just needed to keep my receipt if I needed some warranty work if something happend to it. I still haven't gotton a reply from them, and they won't give you their phone number. It even says this on their website. So I gave them the lowest rating I could. I believe with the money we're spending on these pedals they could at least be helpful to their customers. Hopefully, I won't need any warranty work. I would hate to see how long that would take.

I like the pedal a lot. I tried this along with the Fulltone Octa-fuzz. Both are fine pedals but, this one seemed like it had more tone variations.

I also, tried the Fulltone GT-500, which is on my list for pedals to buy. As long as this one can hold up to normal use. They seem to be quality products.

Overall, I give it a low seven, and that is only because of the un-availibility of the customer service center, and the fact that the octave can't be used by itself. If not for this I would have given it a strong nine.

Piece of cake. Simple as can be. If you can't work it - you're a moron.
No patches to edit - just (3) three simple knobs. No manual. No BS.

Volume - Tone - Fuzz - Fat/Bright switch.
On/Off Button - Octave Up Button.

Easy to get Satriani's sound that he uses on a few different songs with this pedal. That's my main reason for getting it - once I got it - I couldn't stop busting it out on leads. The pedal just rocks! The fuzz is decent fuzz but I don't use a lot at all - maybe 1 on the scale. I let my amplifiers distortion power the fuzz part.

I'm using a Gibson Les Paul BFG --> Ultimate Octave --> Boss DS1 (Keely modded) --> Mesa/Boogie Mark IV head. The pedal is slightly noisy depending on how much distortion or on board fuzz you're using. Use a noise gate if necessary. The total effect sounds incredible. Nothing like it in my opinion.

So far so good. Rugged design.

Not sure you need a back up for this pedal.

Never dealt with them - must mean it's a good product.

I play rock, blues, metal, Jazz and instrumental rock mostly. This pedal shines all over depending on your distortion settings. Great match for me. I've been playing for over 15 years now. I have TONS of different pedals for different things - this one is the most fun yet. I usually play Ibanez guitars but my recent purchase of the Les Paul is making me think otherwise.

Great pedal - get one!

Not too difficult to use. But there are some problems: there is not much to dial in. The fuzz is full out, even with the dial set in on 1. The tone is usefull, and the volume speaks for itself. The fat switch works, but only because the thin option is terrible.

I played it for about 3 years and was satisfied; no more no less. Liked it a little better than the FT octafuzz. But as i mentioned before: this is a one track pony, well a two track pony, as it has also a fuzz. But: the preferred dial in of both effects are the same and that is not always what you want.
I'm a huge Jimi fan,also for his octavio sound.
Then I bought a Foxroxx Octron. And it blew the fultone away! Now you have an octave up and an octave down extra (awesome on it's own and also helps to take some of the thinness of the octave up). And you can dial in the mix between direct and effect sound. And the amount of octave up and down! See my review of the octron.
I play classic rock, semi-professional. Use old ptp Marshall amps, speakers and Fenders. Only boutique effects.

Had it broken down twice on me. Probably as I was struggeling with the bloody 69 fuzz, who needs opposite DC current.
OK, my fault. But had to wait for months before our musicshop got spares from Fulltone. Not very impressive.

See above

There is nothing wrong with this apparatus, but there is a better competitor on the market: the octron, made by Dave Fox of Foxroxx. It has the same price (even a little bit cheaper I believe).

The pedal consists of three knobs (volume, tone, fuzz), one toggle switch (fat/bright), and two on/off switches (fuzz, on/off and octave-up on/off, with the octave up only being available when the fuzz is engaged).

Simple? Not really. The volume, tone and fuzz knobs are so interactive, that adjustments to the tone or fuzz will necessitate adjustment of the volume to compensate. The pedal is VERY sensitive to slight tweaking, and so there's a good, long learning curve in finding the "right" settings.

Of course it's entirely subjective what these "right" settings are, not to mention dependent on other variables (guitar, pickups, amps, other effects...). However, for me, the following seems to work really well:

volume:
Set this to the desired level in relation to your volume level with the pedal in bypass mode. I set mine so that with the pedal engaged, my volume level is the same to when I'm playing clean. I use a Fulltone Fat-Boost in the effects loop of my amp to get a higher volume for leads.

Set the volume knob last, since settings of tone and fuzz knobs will dictate where it should be.

Tone:
In the "bright" setting, full counterclockwise to 3 o'clock.
In the "fat" setting, from 9 o'clock to 12 o'clock.

Past 12 o'clock is to shrill for me no matter what I do with the other controls.

Fuzz:
To taste. Past 11 o'clock, it's really, really fuzzy. Not much difference between 12 o'clock and full clockwise really. My preference varies but it's usually set around 9 o'clock, sometimes higher if needed. In a gigging situations with my amp half-cranked or more, I get incredible feedback with this pedal with the fuzz set between 9 and 11 o'clock.

When engaging the octave-up effect, I use my neck pick-up and roll the tone knob on my guitar all the way down. This seems to produce the clearest, most ringing octave-tones...particularly if I roll the volume back on my guitar too. I don't adjust the controls on the pedal when switching the octave-up feature on and off.

I usually leave the "fat/bright" switch in the "fat" position. When I was borrowing a friend's strat (I usually play a Les Paul), I found I liked the "bright" position better.

The manual could have given some starting points (sample settings) and explained a thing or two about interactivity between guitar, guitar knob settings, and the pedal's performance, but it offered basically no assistance. Perhaps it's that way by design to encourage experimentation, as an earlier reviewer suggested.

I'm basically a bluesy player with a fondness for psychedelia. My setup:

Les Paul into an Ernie Ball volume pedal with a line out to a tuner > Guyatone analog phaser > Electro-Harmonix Tube Zipper > Fulltone Ultimate Octave > Marshall 60 watt combo amp with a Fulltone Fat-Boost in the series effects loop, and two digital delays (one short, one long) in the parallel effects loop.

I love the Fulltone Ultimate Octave pedal. It snarls, sizzles and sputters. It sounds like hot lava. It produces incredible feedback. It's AWESOME just as a fuzz pedal. The octave-up feature is an incredible bonus which can produce the "Purple Haze" and "Who Knows" sound perfectly. It can also produce ring modulator like sounds, and with a lot of fuzz it can get pretty shrill and hairy.

I'm giving a 9 out of 10 here only because there is a very noticeable hum present whenever the pedal is on in the "fuzz only" mode (it's dead silent in the "octave-up mode"). The hum is present even when my guitar volume and/or volume pedal volume are rolled all the way back. I compensate by switching the pedal off between songs. This is a quibble really. The pedal sounds absolutely great.

It's built like a tank. I always gig without a back-up. I couldn't afford to have a back-up.

I've played 2-4 gigs a month for 2 years with it and it hasn't acted up once.

I've had no need to deal with customer support from the manufacturer.

I've played guitar for 22 years. I currently play in a funk band with a heavy emphasis on acid-rock guitar rather than horns. Think of Funkadelic during the period when Eddie Hazel had a large influence on their sound (69 thru the mid 70's). The curious can see some Youtube clips linked here:

http://www.myspace.com/thecsc

The Fulltone Ultimate Octave is probably my favorite single piece of gear that I own. It gives me the fuzz/distortion tone I've wanted since I was a teenager listening to Hendrix and wondering why I couldn't get my solid state amp to distort that way. It's my primary distortion/overdrive effect.

It was expensive, but in my opinion it's well worth the money spent.

Stander 3 knob volume/tone/fuzz. 2 foot swicht fuzz/octave.1 toggel swicht fat/bright.I think all octave pedals are for advance players. If you just started playing this pedal would be difficult use becouse you need strong knowleged of scales and how the sound works for it to be effective.But, if you gone around the block and back this pedal very easy use.

SET/UP:tele/335>Fulltone Soulbender>HBE Germania(treble booster)>Ultimat Octave>Cry Baby>MI Audio Crunch Box>MI Audio Blues Pro>Volume pedal>65' Super Reverb RI.

(I only use the pedal with the fat on the bright scoops the mids and I do not like that)

I'll start with the Fuzz. I think it sound's like a solid state amp with every knob turn up.It has more volume than it needs. I think they could of taper it off some.But, the sound is smoother and more usefull than a Big Muff. Not as opean sounding as the Soulbender so there is some contrace between the two( a good thing).I can use the Soulbender and the Germania to drive or add treble to the Ultimate Octave.I can also use the Ultimate octave to drive the Blues Pro and the Crunch Box.Sounds good with the Cry Baby too.

The Octave part on this pedal is like a Dan Armstong Green Ringer. It has more ring modulater to it than the Tycobrahe Octavia.It starts to adding the upper octave around the 9th or 10th fret.It nails the JIMI TONE with the Cry Baby !You can bring it out more with a treble booster or a overdrive/distortion box after it.

Over all I think this pedal is a use full tool.There is some change to the octave when the fuzz or tone knob is moved around .But, the interaction with other pedals is a real pluse.

I have had no problems with my soulbender .I don't see having any with the Ultimate Octave.

N/A

I have been looking at octave/fuzz pedals for a year.Now I'm happy with what I got.Works great in my Blues/Rock band.

really sweet!!, it's small, good looking, 3 knobs, 2 switches, 1 togle, great overall , easey,just try everything out , try to be your self , manual good

it's fantastic, i've got my self a roctron purple haze( wich is great for heavey metal,rock) , but this just is the best overall, quality,sound,and it's a hell of alot simpler to use

hasen't let me down yet, and if it does( nothing lasts forever) , hey i'll get another one!!!!!!!!

great, 100% satisfied, a very friendly

overall, it's a cool pedal to own, it's built to last, signed in the back, simple to use, it colors your sound, but doesn't hide the real tone ( you!) good lookin, try one , buy one

Not many knobs to figure out but its difficult to get a useable sound.Its very picky about placement in a chain,amps,etc

im using this with a couple different guitars,carvin and gibsons with some other pedals into either a framus or hughes and kettner.I dont like the pedal.It always sounds harsh to me and not in a good way.I have a big muff a little big muff and a blue box I like all of those much more than the fulltone.The octave setting sounds very video game like but not in a fun way like the blue box. With the tone below half way its alright anything after that I dont see how anyone could use it unless they had a very dark guitar and amp.

My first impression was that it was built very well but in the process of letting someone try it to buy it from me the toggle switch broke.It felt stiff and it just broke.The battery desing is absolutely retarted.You have to remove the bottom panel to chage it and the wire is kind of short.If you are not carefull it could easily rip out the power wires.Maybe I got one with a bad switch so I wont rate it too low but the battery thing is just dumb.

Waiting on a reponse about the toggle

Some people seem to really like this thing but not me.I read up on it for a while then finnaly bought it online because no one carries them in my area.Dumb move because now im stuck with it.I dont see how or why it is so expensive my 70$ big muff does everything this can aside from the octavia and I find its tone very useable.This thing gets completely lost before distortion whereas the muff adds a nice low wall of sound.

This pedal is my third fuzz. Fuzz #1 is the Prescription Electronics Experience pedal. Fuzz #2 is the Zvex Fuzz Factory. The Ultimate octave is easy to get a sound out of, if you like fuzz. I find the tone control and Bright/Fat switch very useful for dialing in many different types of fuzz tone. I really liked the Prescription experience pedal's ability to switch between regular fuzz and Octavia, and that set up is what I really liked about the Fulltone.

I've used this pedal live with a Fender blues jr. amp and it sounds very sweet. It is a fuzz, so on regular fuzz mode it is a bit noisy, but I have a volume pedal and a volume control on my guitar so there is no excuse for me if somebody says I'm noisy on stage between songs. The octavia has a built in noise reduction circuit.I find that dialing in a nice fuzz tone is a matter of understanding how it works with an electric guitar. One way of figuring it out is to start with a guitar an amp and a fuzz pedal. Try it with a completly clean amp sound first, and try the fuzz knob at a lower setting. Use your guitar's volume control to vary your attack. Next try it with a more overdriven amp sound, not dimed- just kind of medium gain. This setting is great for the octavia sound, make sure to alter your guitar's volume control and vary your attack, try hitting hard and soft and everything in between. Where the octave really jumps out is when you're playing notes around the ninth fret and up. The more you roll your guitar volume back, the more pronounced the octave will be. You should be able to get the "satisfaction" fuzz sound with this pedal, as well as "purple haze". After you get the feel of the pedal, start adding your other effects to the chain and see what happens.

Fulltone pedals are the best built pedals around. Mike Fuller has been repairing pedals for a long time and you can tell that he has designed his pedals to anticipate heavy gigging and any kind of abuse. Yes I would gig without a backup.

I haven't had to use the company's repair dept. but I have heard a lot of positives from trusted individuals.

I play roots rock and use a lot of ambient textures with fuzz, tremolo, delay etc. I have been playing for 25 years, but I am still learning a lot every day. I have a carl martin comp/limiter, a voodoo labs 1st version tremolo, a Top hat wonderboy drive pedal, a Danecho, and an Ernie ball vol. pedal on my board. I went through a couple of fuzzes to get to this one, My P.E experience sounded great but I had a situation where it sometimes wouldn't switch back and forth between modes. The Fuzz factory sounds great, but it lacks a really convincing octavia sound, and I like to switch from reg fuzz to octavia and back, so this pedal really adressed those issues. As usual, I love Harmony Central's gear review pages and I'll be using this resource heavily when I start shopping for a nice analog delay.

It took me some time trying different placements in the effects chain and combinations with other effects before I found the sounds that I liked and could use. The controls are very sensitive and can make big differences from one setting to the next.

This is a Fuzz/Octave pedal and if you don?t like over the top FUZZ tone you should stay clear of this pedal. It does the Hendrix Thing very well but when used in combination with other pedals it can also do other things as well My Effects chain is as follows: Les Paul, Stratocaster or Telecaster ? E.B. Volume Pedal / Vox Wah with all Fulltone parts / Deja 2 / Ultimate Octave / VooDoo Lab Tremolo / VooDoo Lab Analog Chorus / Line 6 DL4 into a Fender Hot Rod Deville. I normally keep all 3 pots around the 10 to 12 O?clock position the switch in the fat position it is then feed to the Fulldrive Overdrive which adds more bottom end to the tone. This combination can give my Telecaster Tony Iomi?s War Pigs tone.

Have never hasd a reliability issue with this or any Fulltone pedal. This one is 6 years old.

Great service although you will more than likely never need it. My e-mails have always been answered.

A FUZZ with a capital F if you don't remember the 70s or you don't like tones from that period you may not like this pedal. But if you long for tones of a day gone bye this may be your ticket.

Not to ease to use! to find the right sound between the fuzz and octav features is a hassle.

To much fuzz to begin with. Why not make it less fuzzy in the low range. Fuzz only is very noisy and not so good to my ears. That should not be a problem to fix at the factory you might think!? But you sound like hendrix when you turn on the octavia.

good

Don't know

Pretty good but I should rather have bought the Fulltone octafuzz instead. Less fuzz and more guitarsound left!

This is easy to use as far as setting it up, using the controls.

I use this with a fender stratocaster and I have yet to find a usable sound for anything. The sound is too thin, or sounds like the fuzz into to "satisfaction". As far as saying Satriani uses one, the only thing I can say is maybe he used it once and threw it at a Roadie to get his attention. It is not useful at all and I'm going to see if I can return it....

It seems to be well built.

If someone bought this I wish them good luck for using it. I use a tonebone for my overdrive and this can't even come close to sounding half way decent.

MAybe I'm stupid (got a PhD) or maybe my expectations were too high but I could not get a usable sound from this pedal...I certainly couldnt find the sound that I listened to online or anything close to the Satriani tone everyone else raves about. I keep thinking...it's a pedal for godsake...how hard should this be....

I would like to rate this a 1 but because so many of you appear to be getting usable sounds out of this I will assume that it my stupidity or maybe a bad lemon of a pedal and not the typical experience....

Built like a tank. This is a Fulltone's strength.

I tried calling several times...got a recording that would not take messages and stated that I should email any concerns. I emailed twice with NO RESPONSE. Since I never reached them I cant say that they are rude or awful...so I go with a 5.

Probably if this thing didnt cost so much (way overpriced for a pedal that even if worked would not be a main staple in my effect arsenal) I wouldnt feel a need to write such a poor review. But I live in a major town that for somereason doesnt have a music shop that carried this so I had to special order without trying it out first. Now because I waited too long to return it..because I thought "Hey How bad can this be? It get glowing reviews, the sound samples are what I'm looking for so I I need to do is tweak it...work with it...understand it" $%^&*($%^&*! Well, I havent figured out how to get the sound I am looking for...so I packed it up to sell on ebay at a loss.

The Fulltone Ultimate Octave is very easy to get a good sound out of really.Just plug,balance the volume,tone,& fuzz level,plus decide if you want the bright switch on bright or fat,and away you go!!

I use a Ibanez JEM and JS1000 with a marshall & Boogie rack system ( JMP1 or Tri-Axis pre-amp into 50/50 marshall power amp )with my Ultimate Octave.The `octave sits on a pedalboard with a Morley Power Wah,TSD9 Turbo Overdive,Boss DS1 and Digitech Wammy.It fits in a treat.I can get instant hendrix or satch with just a press of the footswitch!!

It is handmade and built like a tank with a obvious high ammount of care,so I doubt there will be problems!! and no "I ain`t selling it any time soon!"

I have not had to contact Mike Fuller,but i`m sure he`d answer my e-mails if I sent him any...

The Fulltone Ultimate Octave is the only pedal I`ve ever heard that nails that "Octavia" sound made so brill` by Jimi back in the good old days.It is perfect for the "Wild geetar stuff" I do,and is a unique pedal to say the least.If it were lost or nicked I would be straight down to Peach to get another.I just love it`s twisted and tortured sweeet screamyness.When it is heard,they all come running over wanting to know what "that pedal is"!! It helps my music and has featured and a number of recordings already.I am now after either a Fulltone Fat Boost or Distortion Pro to add to the pedalboard.

It is fairly easy if you follow the intructrions and advice that Fuller give you with the product.
I am the kind of guy that will take it out of the box and plug it in and see what happends. Initially I was disapointed becuase I liked the immediate pleasure I got from my BOSS OC-2 (Japanese made) Octaver. Thne I read FUllers advice in the box and began to tweak.

After reading the manual I began to tweak. I wanted the Hendrix octave sound and the Satriani sound. WHat you have to do is roll back the fuzz to about 1 or 2. Take the volume up about 2 o clock and put your fingers on the tone knob. Switch to the neck pick up and turn the octave on and octave up button on. WHile playing with your left hand (higher up in the 12th fret range) rotate the Tone knob to your liking. I did this for a while and got the Satriani octave tone I was looking for. (I use distortion from my head and the Boss DS-1 stock)It does not like the higher treble of my humbucker (bridge). SO I rolled back the tone knob on my guitar and got some more great fuzz octave sounds from my humbucker (bridge).
If you want straight forward octave sounds get a harmonizer or a Japanese BOSS OC-2. If you are looking for Hendrix- Satriani type Octave fuzz - then look no further!

Built like a tank. The only issue is that I dont stomp on it hard enough sometimes, so i got to kick it in 2x. I will make sure to stomp harder to make sure the is nothing wrong with the switch.

I have dealt with fuller one time and it was a pleasant experience.
(via email)

For what it does, it is expensive but it will last. I have had it 2 years now. Tweak before you post here.

There are four sounds: fat fuzz, thin fuzz, fat octave fuzz, thin octave fuzz. The dials lessen or increase the overall impact of the fuzz, but for the most part, it's fuzzy and only so. The octave seems to work only on the neck pickup. It's kind of wacky on the bridge.

Sure is fuzzy. There's a lot that can be done with this thing, but much depends on the guitar, the amp, the player, the pick attack, the volume of the guitar, the settings on the unit, the tones of the amp, if other pedals are involved.... Alone, this thing is a thick, fuzzy curios of harmonics. The fat switch is beefy--sometimes it makes my Orange amp's Vintage 30's Celestion flub under the pressure. The brightness setting is nicely thinned out. I've never used a fuzz pedal before: always relied on an ADA MP1. The characteristics of fuzz are pretty versatile. There's a lack of progression in the harmonics that is a nice break from the syrupy, slathered distortion of the ADA or the Boss Metal Zone. Fuzz kind of sounds like it's constantly applying the brakes, as it hauls arse down the boulevard. But how can so much sustain be present? Fripp and Eno tones are all over this pedal. But it does it without sounding like Santana or Extreme. Bizarre. The fuzz is brittle without being glassy. It's rich without being sloppy. It's heavy without being scooped. It's thin without being weak.

Adding the octave, things change. Again, if the bridge pickup is used, it sounds kind of squirrelly. At the neck, some pretty high pitches can be eked out. It can sound like monkeys fighting, at times. Lowering the guitar's volume helps achieve an octave effect without adding the zoo or jungle tones.

In all, it's pretty excellent at what it does, and because I've paid so much for it, I don't intend to use it once or twice per show. I intend to learn how it can be folded in without being over the top. It is not difficult to go too far with this thing. This is where I'm sure it could cause listener/player/bandmate fatigue. With this in mind, I'm learning to rein it in... a bit.

So far so solid.

N/A

I play a mish mash of styles: none perfectly, but enough to get by. This thing can do No Quarter, Fripp, and Indian Ragas, depending on one's mood. If it could eased up a bit on the fuzz factor, I'd be less apt to be looking into the Soul Bender, but this could be a reason. You know, now that I think of it, I'm glad this thing is so very intense. It does what it does without apology. That's something. There's no reason to complain about a NASCAR because it doesn't have a couch, a bar, champagne, and ice.

Very easy to use.. though can be rather hard to find a setting that works good with other pedals. If you have the volume up loud enough so that it is even with your clean tone when you kick it on.. and then click on a distortion, it overloads the distortion. So then you have to lower the volume, but with the volume lower, you can't use the pedal on it's own, which is unfortunate, as there are many times where I would like to use the pedal with and without a distortion pedal infront of it (which is how fuller reccomends).

Sounds Amazing.. the octave tracking is supurb, especially around the 12th to 15th fret using the neck pickup. The only problem I have is that the pedal puts off noise when the octave is not enaged, I can't use it as just a fuzz alone. Oddly, engaging the octave takes away this noise and it is SILENT.

I don't think I would have any problems with this pedal breaking down.

Emailed Fulltone once about the noise problem with octave on/off, no answer.

I've been playing for 12 years, my main guitar is an Ibanez JS1000, Satriani is a big influence on my playing and is who got me interested in this pedal. Upon turning it on, I could hear Satch's tone ringing through it and place where it was used in tracks (ie. Turkey Man).. I only have two problems with it, one that I have a hard time going between using with and without a distortion pedal, two that it would be nice to use it without the octave and not have the little noise it puts off.

If this pedal were lost or stolen, I would definitely get another. It has such rich tone and is very inspiring to play through. Through tweaking the knobs you can dial in an array of octavia fuzz sounds. It responds well to your playing too, as some pedals get muddied up, this one doesn't, retaining the articulation of each note.

Easy, and pretty self explanatory.

This is my first Fulltone product, and given the hype, and some of the impressive tones i've wittnessed coming out of peoples amps, my expectations were high. I have an original Univox Super-Fuzz, which to me is the ULTIMATE octave fuzz(the only thing I've ever given a 10!)and this does not compare, but I don't think it was meant to.

The basic tone of this pedal is very good; thick rich and fat(not as much gain as I expected, but enough), and the octave is also good; splattered with just a touch of ring modulation.I always keep the octave on, or it seems to loose a little personality. The tone control is a little tricky; I found that it never needs to be more than halfway, especially with the octave on. There are some excellent sweet spots in both settings with the tone almost down and octave on.

Its a real bummer that it lags for a second turning the octave on!

Ah... the fat/bright switch. No one seems to use the bright very much, but I think it is every bit as usable. Ive found that the bright sounds better through a clean (Fender) amp, and the fat sounds better through an amp that is allready overdriven. This is no small feat as most fuzz pedals loose their cool with an allready distorted setup.

My brutally simple guitar setup is: cheap single coil guitar (Yamaha sgv, mex strat, or Teisco)-->fuzz flavor of the week (always come back to the Superfuzz though)-->Earth tube 100 watt head (like a pre CBS dual showman.awesome, and loud!)--> Fender cab.

Built tough, I have no worrys..

I couldnt pass this bargain up when I saw it at the pawn shop, and will probably hold on to it. I want to try it on bass, I think it would probably shine.

I play surf/garage on guitar, and punk on bass; in two different bands.

Overall, I really like it, and the louder my amp is turned up, the better it sounds. A real sweet pedal on it's own, but I think I'm just spoiled with the Univox...

On the surface it seems very easy to use. and when you use it by itself it is, but once you start having it interact with other pedals, and you start playing live in a band things get a bit more complicated. sometimes it sounds better with the fat switch on, but other times it's not.

fender am dexluxe strat into a drivetrain II to a supatrem to a dls chorus/vib to a reverb deluxe. I play serf music and am looking for a reliable fuzz box that sounds like some of the old yardbirds/ventures stuff.
the pedal is true bypass, built like a tank pedal. the octave part tracks well and sounds really nice. the fuzz section is full and rich but does not clean up with the guitar volume. I think the soul bender is a better fuzz sound though. one major problem with this pedal, and which makes it kind of unusable in my opinion is that when you have the fuzz engaged and you subsequently engage the octave there is a MAJOR delay in sound. so lets say you jamming away with a nice fuzz sound and you want to bring in the octave part you step on the switch and your sound disappears for a second. needless to say, I found this aspect to be quite annoying and that is why I had to take it back. to be fair I email mike at fulltone and he said that all fuzz/octave pedals will have a delay. I don't remember the captain coconut doing this but I may be wrong about that. I still want to try a homebrew UFO to see if that pedal does it. another annoying thing is that you cant have just the octave part on without the fuzz. but don't get me wrong fulltone pedals are awesome and this pedal is a nice pedal - probably work better in the studio rather than live that's all.

seem reliable. no issues there

mike is friendly and answered my emails very quickly. I own other fulltone pedals and have always had a good experience.

overall, this is a great pedal if you don't mind the octave cutting out the pedal when it's engaged. I couldn't get it to work with my setup but it may work with yours. it's damn hard to find a good fuzz box (not overdrive or distortion)

3 knobs, 2 footswitches, 1 mini-toggle switch. Easy to use in theory, hard to find a pleasing sound in practice (see below for more details).

I am using this pedal with a 1999 PRS Custom 22 or an 1997 American Standard Stratocaster into a Mesa/Boogie Nomad 55 Head plugged into a Marshall 2x12 cab. Well, this pedal is the first fuzz pedal I ever bought, and it confirmed that I just don't like transistor distortion all that much... The pedal is not overly noisy and is true bypass. The fuzz by itself is ultra-thick, and is much lacking in subtelty... It gives a huge lead sound, but quite quickly gets tiresome to my ears... It is also much too thick to be effective as "dirty rythm". The octave is so shrill as to being virtually unusable by itself, at least on a clean channel --unless you wish to REALLY pissoff the audience and your bandmates, not to mention loosing your hearing! It becomes easier to handle with the smooth Boogie overdrive --but then again anything does! Also, this fuzz does not allow me to replicate any of the classic sounds of Hendrix, Page, Clapton, Beck, etc. It is a different beast in itself. I must say that I am rather disapointed in this product, given all the hype surrounding Fulltone. But I recognize that sound is highly subjective matter.

Built like the proverbial tank!

I play anything from electric blues, to dinosaur rock (Hendrix, Led Zep, Allman Bros), to funk, to alternative music (Tool, Queens of the Stone Age, RATM, etc.). I have been playing for 18 yrs now. In addition to my guitars and amp listed above, I own a Line 6 delay, Voodoo Lab Micro Vibe, and Dunlop Q-535 Wah --all true bypass. My set up is very quiet. I certainly would not buy this pedal again if stolen. I compared it to Fulltone's octafuzz, and the ultimate octave actually sounded better --which speaks poorly of the octafuzz... I also tried Voodoo Lab's Superfuzz and Bosstone --not great either... Well, maybe I'm just not a fuzz guy! I am very particular about my tone, and this pedal just does not cut it... Now, let's see about that Distortion Pro!

3 EQ knobs(Vol, Tone, Fuzz)
1 Toggle switch(Fat/Bright)
2 Foot switch(on/off, octave up)

Very easy to use, but it will take some time to figure out how to get the sound you want since the pedal can get a lot of different sounds from tweaking.

I am using a Laney GH50L with a Boogie cab, for guitars I use with this pedal is Fender strat with Texas special pickups and ESP Eclipse. Both single coil and humbucker guitar sound wonderful with this pedal.

Built like a tank with a metal casing. I was bit skeptical about the small toggle switch, but it's actually much sturdier than I thought.

I heard some people having bad experience with Mike Fuller, but mine was EXCELLENT.
He responsed my emails very quickly the same day. I also asked him where I could get a foot rubber which was missing from my pedal, he shipped me FOUR foot rubbers+screws and a Fulltone Sticker for free. Great customer service.

I play blues mostly with this pedal and works great.
I was searching for a fuzz that can do all my needs; fuzz that can sound both smooth and thick AND get nasty PLUS an Octavia effect that can be controlled by a separate foot switch. This pedal suits my needs perfectly. The only downside is you can only use Octave with Fuzz ON, can't use Octave effect by itself.
Overall, I've been very pleased with this pedal for the past 6 months I've had it.

3 knobs fuzz volume and tone, 1 bright/fat switch. All knobs do exactly what you expect.

Don't look any further, this is it. It's all in there.

Don't know yet in 3 weeks, got the feeling it'll last long.

No problems yet, but enough info on the on the internet.

I've been playing for 17 years now, use this setup for vintage blues/rock playing. Owned a Roger Mayer octavia, seemed less reliable in harware and sound. I use it with a standard 1978 strat in this chain: vox wah, voodoolab microvibe, fulltone ultimate octave, boss od-3 overdrive, boss rps10 reverse delay, boss dd5 delay- Marshall 1959 100W top, 1960 cabinet. There you have it, a great Band of Gypsies sound at all volumes. It's expensive but worth it.

This is a deceptively simple control layout. If you're used to setting the tone control between 12 and 3 o'clock, you may wish to reconsider. I find myself setting the tone control almost always lower than 12 0'clock. This is probably because it is an active control, not passive like most tone stacks. As for the volume and fuzz, just set to taste and start playing.

I rarely use the scooped "bright" setting, I almost always leave it on "fat"

I have the following rig:

Fender Telesonic --> Budda Budwah --> Fulltone Ultimate Octave --> Fender Hotrod 1x12

This rig, although basic, suits my needs. The Budwah will eventually be replaced with a Clyde, though (The Clyde is soooo much better!)

This is exceptionally quiet for a fuzz pedal. Recently I played a Boss Metal Zone in a store, and the noise floor was unbearable. You do, of course, get a hum with single coils, on almost any setting. This is unavoidable when dealing with high-gain.

The effect is usable at almost any setting, and all three controls are tweakable to a good extent to get the tone you want.

Please realize, this pedal is NOT a very versatile pedal... the fuzz sounds nearly the same with the control on 15 percent as it does at 100 percent, although there is a noticable difference. But, who buys fuzz for versatility?

In all fairness, it is probably one of the most versatile fuzzes around, with an octave-up, an active tone control, and two drastically different EQ settings... but it still always sounds like you're using a freaking fuzz!!

When *I* personally think of octave-up effects, the album A Band of Gypsys always comes to mind. Can the UO duplicate the legendary concert's sound? No. Can it do a recognizable faximile? Yeah, kinda. If you want that sound, I would recommend going with Fulltone's other octave up, the "Octafuzz". It does a much better clone of the original octavia sound. That is not to say that this octavia sound doesn't hold it's own--it does! Just in a more original and unique way.

The idea for a fuzz AND octave pedal in one is a great idea. I mean, how many songs per night on a gig can you use an octavia? One? Two? The octavia effect is a wild beast, best used sparingly and with great discression. It is pure sonic mayhem. A fuzz, on the other hand, can be used as much as you like :)

I mostly use this as a fuzz, with an octave as a climax occasionally or on certain leads.

How does it sound? Great! I love this fuzz. It is snarly and tempermental and has a great powerful crunch to it, also sustains and feedbacks for days. It's great.

The octave-up is even more aggressive and spits, sputters, and squeals like every octavia clone should!

This pedal is great for creating just an agressive and singing fuzz texture.

I can't give it a ten because it has this transient distortion that sometimes gets annoying... it is part of the sound, and I wouldn't get rid of it even if I could, but a smooth sound once in a while would be nice.

Nothing to say here. Reliability and build quality couldn't be better.

Can't say I've ever dealt with Mike Fuller.

This is a very useful little box when you want to tear it up with an aggresive, harmonically-rich, and surprisingly complex fuzz tone. AND it has an octave up for those times when you want to add some extra fire. All in all, I don't think I'll ever replace it!

Well, this isn't a super hard pedal to use, I had to spend a little time getting it dialed in, but really, it's not hard to master. I had a harder time learning to use the octave effect then anything else. When used right, it can sound very musical, otherwise it's easy to make it sound like this horrid high pitched screaming noise.

Features...

1. Volume
2. Tone
3. Fuzz
4. Yellow LED for Fuzz engaged
5. Stompswitch for Fuzz
6. Stompswitch for Octave Up
7. Red LED for Octave Up
8. Fat/Bright Switch

One kind of annoying thing about this pedal, you can't use the Octave Up by itself. You either use it with the Fuzz on, or not at all. Granted, I don't think I WOULD use it by itself (octave), but the option to do so would have been a nice though.

I mostly use this with a Gibson 330 going into a old Gibson 4-10 Ranger combo, or a Gibson Les Paul (with the Jimmy Page LP electronics) into a VHT Pittbull 45.

With the 330/Ranger combination, I use it for more of a 'classic' style fuzz and rarely with the octave up effect. This pedal still lets my 330 breathe, as it should. I have it set up for pretty light fuzz, kinda like early Stones or The Kinks.

I get a little wilder with the Les Paul/VHT and can cop some fairly close Black Sabbath tones with it. If you don't really know what this pedal does, listen to the solo in Black Sabbaths 'Paranoid', that's basicly it. I didn't get this cause I wanted to sound like Hendrix, but Hendrix riffs sounds pretty cool with it too. I wanted something for that early Iommi tone, and for me, it delivers.

I can get a pretty wide variety of tones out of it, and it's fun to kick the octave up effect in and out. I think this box is worth it for the fuzz alone. If you play any sort of stoner rock/ or early doom metal, check this thing out. For me, it's Sabbath in a box. I mix it with a Hot Cake sometimes, to get some insane heavy DOOM sounds out of it, but it does great by itself.

I havn't, and don't expect any problems out of it. It's given me no grief in the year I've owned it. I'd use it without a backup as it's not really a big part of my sound, but really nice to have when I need it.

Mike is brief and to the point. He takes care of whatever questions I have, with any luck I won't be requiring service on this of any of my other Fulltone units.

I have way too many guitars/amps/basses/pedals to even begin to list, but most of it is Gibson (including several amps and basses).

I basicly use this for that early Black Sabbath tones, as well of certain NWOBHM bands like Witchfinder General. It's not a HUGE part of my sound, but nice to have for when I need it. If I lost it, I may or may not replace it. It's a cool pedal, but again, not a big part of what I play. It's got a really nice fuzz, but the octave up effect isn't for everybody.

Pretty straightfoward octave/fuzz pedal. The manual is very brief but at 200 bones it's not likely that junior will buy one to play the latest Blink 182 riffs. Goods sounds are obtainable with a little tweaking and I'd surmise to say that musicians of intermediate to advanced levels of playing can get really happening sounds in a short period of time.

I use this pedal with a variety of Strats, a Les Paul Special and a Tele. My main amp is Mesa Boogie Rocket 440. The Rocket is basically Boogie's version of a Fender Super Reverb, with a lot more flexability via the gain channels. This pedal works very well for the SRV/Hendrix thing but is also great for unique sonic texures ala Satriani as well. I've also got a Fulldrive 2 which is my favorite overdrive/distortion ever as well as a Voodoo Labs' Micro Vibe and Analog Chorus in my signal path. The unit works best when it is FIRST in the chain (just like any good Fuzz). Good sounds are easily obtained and I find the fuzz to be nestled nicely between the 69' and 70' pedals fuzz units mike makes-Cream era Clapton when the fuzz is used solo and Jimi's B.O.G. with the fuzz on it the fat mode. There's not a "suck" button on this thing.

Mike's stuff is made to survive-rugged enclosures, heavy duty switches and quality silk screened graphics inspire confidence. I use a FDII made in '96 as my primary OD/Distortion unit and IMHO, there is no finer pedal on the market. I've used the typical Rat, Tube Screamer, Jeckll & Hyde, Daddy-o pedals as well and the FDII has survived 'em all. I fully expect the same out of my Ultimate Octave. My only fear is the tiny "fat/bright" toggle being broken-it's in a good spot to get nailed by my size 11. Yes-I'd gig without a backup.

Mike is generally a pretty helpful guy. He comes off a little brash sometimes but when you're a one man operation and selling a great deal of product business must be conducted swiftly. He's always been helpful and has never been dick-ish to me personally. I generally shy away from boutique equipment after a bad experience with a Holland Amp because it was so expensive and so frustratingly unreliable but Mike Fuller had made me feel cool about buying "small manufacturer" gear again!

I play blues and blues rock styles of music and this pedal fits in well with my style. My setup is: Strat>Ultimate Octave>Analog Chorus>FDII>Micro Vibe>Boss DD3 Delay. I've been playing for 15 years and have tried the Dunlop "Jimi Hendrix Octave" as well as the Prescription Electronics C.O.B. (Clean Octave Blend" and my Ultimate Octave makes those look pretty crappy. The fact that you can use the fuzz by itself or with the octave makes it like getting two for one. It ain't cheap but Dad always said "ya get what you pay for" and cliche as it may sound, it's true in most cases. I'd probably get another if it was stolen-it's a cool effect but you have to be careful not to over use it-it's NOT a subtle effect. My only gripe is the little bright/fat switch being out there and very vunerable.Mike makes good stuff and if you want to have tone that exceeds the normal "Joe Shit the rag man wanking through a Boss pedalboard" you have to pay for it. The octave on this tracks beter than any I've experienced and is useful over the majority of the neck (but it really shines past the 11th fret). The fuzz is thick and round and that little switch I bitch about (Fat/Bright) allows radical EQ shifts for more tonal flexibility. Maybe a little "flip cover" over the switch would put me at ease.