Menatone Chawbox

Pretty straight forward. There are only 3 knobs, but within small increments of the upper octave knob and fuzz knob there are quite a few tonal options. Keep in mind that Switching between your neck and bridge pickups produces dramaticly different octave effects. as does using different amps.

I tried all the FUZZ/FUZZ OCTAVES, and the Chawbox was my favorite. The fuzz, which goes all the way up to "way out of control", is voiced perfectly to cut through a band and at the same time not completely overwhelm every frequency in the mix. The upper octave really sings on low settings and gives off ring modulation sounds at 10. With a univibe and wah, this pedal nails Hendrix.

I only play strats, through vintage/boutique tube amps. I prefer it with the more mid-rangey(marshallesque)amps, but it has a nice sound through cleaner Fenderey amps as well.

Had it for years, Toured with it, it's endured light-moderate abuse, and have never had a problem with it.

Are these people still in business?

I have been searching for a fuzz/octave like the Chawbox for the last 15 years. This is a great pedal. True love. These are really rare. I have been looking for a second one but I haven't found it.

There are 3 knobs--Fuzz, Octave Blend, Volume. Not really hard to get a good sound from depending on the amp being used. I bought it used off of E-bay so there wasn't a manual for it but you really don't need one.

I am using a Les Paul with Burstbucker V's into a Traynor YCV40 amp. Sounds best when used on the clean channel. Hardly any noise at all coming from this unit even when I put a clean boost in front of it. You get fuzz from it even with the fuzz knob set low unlike some other fuzzes that only get fuzzy when the knob is almost cranked. The more you turn the fuzz knob the thicker the fuzz gets. I wish there could have been a tone control added to it, may have helped to brighted it up a bit. The Octave blend knob is cool, you can go from straight fuzz to Band Of Gypsy Octavia. True By-pass.

I never gig without a backup no matter how well built a pedal is. And this is one well built pedal, just like all the Menatone pedals.

I own a few Menatone pedals and never had a problem with any of them.

Im giving this a nine only because if there was a tone knob I think it may have added some color to the effect. I've been playing about 30 years and of all the Fuzz pedals I've tried this seems to be one of the best. This unit has been discontinued as far as I know which is why I grabbed it. Normally it goes for around $225.00 new, I got it used for $140.00 so if it was lost or stolen I'd be shit out of luck...these aren't easy to come by. Compared this to a Fulltone Ultimate Octave and the Chawbox won hands down, just so much thicker fuzz. All in all, one of the best Octave/Fuzz pedals around.

It's got three knobs which makes it a more tweakable kind of octavia, in comparison with other more "known" octavia's (Voodoolab Proctavia, Roger Mayer or in fact any exact clone) FUZZ controls the amount of fuzz *DOH!* The second knob is OCTAVE BLEND which seams to control the amount of ring modulation. Third and final knob is LEVEL which controls the overall output.
Octavia's are a kind of stombox that you have to LEARN to use, it's not like a flanger or something that works on its own. The trick is feeling the thing as opposed to tweaking. That's why I give it a 7 as indication of general use of the octavia effect. Personaly, I think this is one of the most easy-to-use octavia's on the planet.

I've A/B'd it with various other GREAT octavia's. Together with the fabulous Mike Donkers, we sat and tried a bunch. We came to the conclusion that the Menatone Chawbox was more "ME" than the Everman's (which are THE BEST pedals known to man........together with Menatone)
It features true-bypass and since I (thanx to Mike Donkers) only use a clean (semi-clean) guitarsound with my amp on fuckin' meltdown (Soldano pre-amp CWL poweramp), it's a god's gift.
If I compare it to more common octavia's like the Proctavia, this thing EATS the proctavia for breakfast........10 o' them! Where the procatavia lacks in stand-alone (without help from another distortion box) the Chawbox rules like fuckin' Stalin. There isn't a single setting on the box that isn't usable. Great and bloaz'n met d'n beest!
Additionaly, it produces hardly any noise!! A gift from heaven.

I think it's gonna outlast me. So there's yer answer, lad.

These pedals are only available in Europe via Musictoyz, so perhaps it would be an option if there were a menatone-website?

I play 70's rock/blues, Stuff that burns and has loadsa soul. Menatone pedals as well as Justin Evermans pedals are boutique pedals, they cost a fortune, but then again the sound is worth it.
Everman makes one top-notch octavia, but the Chawbox (now discontinued) just suits me a little bit better, it's slightly more OTT.