Rocktron Purple Haze Octavider

This pedal is fairly easy to use if you are familiar with the Hendrix Octavia sounds and those are the sounds you are trying to get.

This pedal is by far the best live use Octavia made. It doesnt thin out when you kick it in for a solo because they added the lower octave as well as a very good sounding output level boost.

Rocktron pedals are built tanks and this pedal is no exception.

Have not had to contact with Rocktron customer support, but I will say that they do not have the manual posted on their site.

I have been playing heavy classic, current, alternative rock and blues for 32 years now. If this pedal were lost or stolen I would definitely try to replace it, I say try because Rocktron doesnt make these any more.

I have been hunting for the Holy Grail of Octavia pedals for a good part of 20 years, this is as close as I have come to that goal. I have a real Octavia and it sounds fantastic in the studio but its too thin live. I have also tried every other Octavia clone on the market including the Ultimate Octave which in my opinion sucks badly, there thin and noisy and definitely over priced.

not that easey , just try until tou get the sound you like

great sound, nothing to say, don't waite for miracles

hasen't left me down yet

no manual, asked them didn't answer

the pedal is cool, really hendrix style thing going on, but at ghs they got to put a manual to download

I can see people have had problems with this if they got it without a manual. The knobs are a little difficult to work out if you don't know what they do. Otherwise not a problem.

Not really noisy and I like the sound a lot. I use a '74 Strat into a JTM Marshall. Mix it with a decent phaser/flanger (I yse a small stone) and it sounds killer! /the distirtion on it is cool too, although I can see that some people would prefer not to have this on permanently.

I'm 6 ft 4" and built like the proverbial brick outhouse and I feel confidaent stomping on it with all my weight. Very good.

I bought this while on hols in New York from Mannys. I wasn't sure at first if it would do what I wanted. It does and the distortion on it is an added bonus as it sounds so good. I'd recommend checking out Rocktron 's other pedals if this is an example to go by.

It's plenty easy to use, but I don't know what the modulation knob does exactly, and the tone knob is ambiguous. One thing that's very annoying is that the battery is not disconnected when you unplug the cord! Use the adapter if at all possible, or youll have to take the baattery out after each time you play!

Okay, I'm just submitting a review cuz I have some time on my hands. I got this pedal on Ebay, and it arrived broken. No visible damage except the LED was pushed into the casing. I had to get it repaired, but it only cost $26 canadian. Amp is an Allen Tonesavor 80 watt (Twin Reverb copy), guitars are Les Paul custom w. Rio Grande's, Strat Ultra, with 3 Van Zandt Blues, and a hollow Gretsch. I really like this pedal. I was surprised that there is no way to get a really clean octave effect, but rather the fuzz is always on. I don't really mind that cuz I use it pretty clean (gain knob low). The modulation knob is a mystery to me -I can't figure out what it does. There's a difference in sound when it's turned up, but I can't describe it, and it's pretty subtle. Nothing useful to me, anyhow. Someone else said that the knobs don't do much, and that's true, but the combination of upper and lower octave is very cool. You wouldn't want to use it all the time, but it's quite unique. A downside is that chords are inaudible through this. Essentially, the circuit can't ditinguish between all the different notes, so it doesn't know what note to produce, and it comes out like mush. I'm not exaggerating here! You practically can't hear chord changes. So use it for melodic lines, and you're safe. The sound quality is pretty good, though there might be better for twice the price... The distortion/fuzz is quite aggressive, and it's a little noisy, but the overall effect is great for piercing solos. The lower octave alone is too intense for me -the bass is ridiculous on my amp, so it's not really an option. The "tracking" is only an issue for the lower octave, because the fuzz covers up the fact that the octave isn't on perfect pitch for the higher octave. (The lower octave is cleaner sounding) This doesn't bother me either since most folks that need it to sound so in-tune won't use octave fuzzes to begin with. It really screams! I've had it for 2 weeks working properly, and I don't see myself letting it go -it's too cool.

Well, the insides are kinda flimsy, but the case is something else! Alot of aluminum went into making it. Cheesy manufacturing, but it's all ya need. It looks like the case was built for something else, and they used it for their pedals. Check out the way it's basically a piece of a longer bar of the same shape, just with 2 plates screwed on the ends! Battery rattles inside the compartment, so I have to use foam. Also, the circuit board and pots are *somewhat* flimsy. No worse than a Boss, I'd say.

Not much going on there. At least they have a website with repair centres. Rocktron's a big corporation, and the effect is discontinued. I would hate to have it crap out. Well, there is an ample supply of used ones around. A local music store still has one new in their case for a whopping $160 canadian!

It's fun! I don't know how close it comes to the EXACT Hendrix sound, nor do I care. It might not hold up to certain boutique units, but it's decent. It sounds good, it's well built (heavy aluminum casing), and I like it -what else can you say? Ask me questions if you want.

not so easy for me. it took me until 7 months later to find this pedals full potential because I got tired of messing with it and put it away.

first off, I think the octivider effect sucks on this thing. it breaks up on certain frets. so as a result it can't be counted on even if you actually wanted to use it. however turning the "mix" knob all the way clockwise turns the octivider off leaving only the distortion on. which is were this pedal shines so brightly. I absolutely love the sound! especially with a 7 string. it has that heavy sound I have looked for, like a cross between pantera and soungarden sounds good on my ibanez 520 too. one word of caution, this pedal will either sound great or will sound like shit depending on your equipment. it sounds pretty good on my voodu valve and just rocks on my rp 2000 on the rectif. setting. try and use a fender amp setting or some of the other amp models on my rp2000 and it sounds like crap. I mean bad! this pedal is very strange. better try it out at home on your equipment before buying. the good thing is that it sounds great on mine!

so far, so good. if it ever needs to be repaired I know I can count on rocktron to way overcharge me to fix it

I shudder at the thought.

once I got it set up correctly it is one of the best distortion pedals I own and would definately replace it if it were stolen. I would even pay rocktrons ransom if it needed repair.

Once you get the hang of the Purple Haze it's not too bad, but setting it up to get a sound that you like can take some time.

I play mostly noise pop and vintage rock (50's 60's and 70's). I own many killer tube amps and several American Fender and Hamer USA guitars. For effects I use mostly fancy (i.e. expensive) boutique pedal effects.

The Rocktron Pruple Haze pedal is a unique sounding pedal with some posibilities, but I found I was able to get better versions of what this pedal did with items I already had laying around so I sold it. Overall, the tone is cool for lead lines but not much else. I wouldn't use it without including at least a bit of the bass octave effect since the normal octave up type of effect is way to harsh to be used on it's own. Oh...if you bought this pedal thinking it would make you sound like Jimi Hendrix try not to be too hard on yourself.

Very well built.

If you don't already have a great fuzz/octavia and a good low octave unit, then this pedal may work for you. I did so it didn't work out for me and I sold it. I have to say that the Purple Haze is a way better pedal than the Rocktron Blackjack as far as overall sound quality goes. Yes they do different things, but the Haze is at least useable where the Blackjack is completely useless. The point I'm trying to make is not all the Rocktron pedals are winners. When I purchased the Rocktron pedals (3 total) I bought them on E-Bay and I was going by Rocktron's reputation alone. I normally don't like to buy that way, but I did in this case and learned my lesson. Fortunately I was able to sell my Rocktron pedals for what I paid for them and the people who bought them were happy with 'em so it all worked out in the end.

I can't get this thing to work right. And I'm not ready to admit I'm a moron, so I'll blame it on this pedal. Somebody else hit it right on the head - when you turn a knob, it's either on or off. They might as well be "on-off" switches instead of knobs. This is saying a lot because I really like knobs. So does my sister. Matter of fact, sometimes she just lies around the house and plays with knobs all day long.

I use a BC Rich Warlock (Korean. I love American-made stuff as much as anyone but is sho' is expensive) into a Fender Twin. Just like my girlfriend, I can't get this damned thing to be quiet. The difference is, I can beat her and she usually shuts up. No such luck with the pedal. It produces one useful sound, when it's run with a distortion. By itself, I think it's worthless. Once again, somebody nailed it when they said that the tracking for the lower octave misses sometimes. Maybe some of you can put up with this, but to me it is totally unacceptable.

Just pick one up and fondle it. It's more reliable than my toothbrush, and let me just tell you that it's been in places other than my mouth!!

Some of you all raved about the versatility of this pedal. I disagree. I was trying to get that James Iha sound and I failed, but that's probably because he's a lot better than me. For the one sound that I do like, it's top notch. But I like versatility. Like once, I nailed some ho, did my laundry, and memorized poetry all at the same time. I need a pedal that reflects my lifestyle.

If you buy the Purple Haze from a shop, they probably wont give you a manual. I bought mine at a shop, it has no manual. This is the most difficult device to work with, in all of human history. It took me an afternoon to figure this thing out. They have five knobs, and you can only appreciate the versaltility of the device(they're is not that much) after you have messed around for a long time. It seems three of the knobs are usable but are more or less "on" or "off", the onset of their changing the sound is not obvious, hence it cannot be gradual. You only notice the Gain knob if its on MAX or MIN

nice. The sound quality on this is very good. I will describe its three features: the distortion and then the octave and then the tracking octave.
the distortion on this unit is beautiful. It is a 9, as distortions go. It is a crisp, bright, clear, friendly and unique tone, not soft or harsh- a respectable sound. It is full of harmonics, and I often wish that I would turn the octave off and just use it by itself. The distortion has a unique "flutter" to it, that is kindof like a fuzzy radio-interference that is the same tone as the guitar, very funky and cool and it can be tamed if you beg the machine to submit to your will and sacrifice virgin tamagotchis to it.
secondly, the octave. The octave is a good, chunky, clear octave up or down or both put together. Like a weak, but interesting chorus. I like it alot. Tracking is alright, goes over most of the fretboard, and doesnt work on certain frets in between, I dont know why.
the octave tracking is a cool synthy-video-game sound, where it the notes jump up and down on top of each other, until the lowest octave(the weak, fat kid)is trampled to death. It can be tamed, or exagerated to accomodate your humble wishes. Pretty fun to mess around with.

I wish my car, my house and my body were as well-built and as strong as this thing.

I could probably get it repaired, if im in the mood, know what im sayin?

For $70, the only thing I would ask for would be more versatile controls. The problem with this unit is that it is so hard to figure out, and that it seems to be designed to create only two or three or four kinds of sounds. I like it though, very usuable if you split your signal, make one clean to the amp and one go through this to the amp. Something that is interesting: If you use other pedals, it makes it sound better. Putting a flanger in front of it, with the flanging on low or barely detectable makes the octave track better! If you put a phasor before this, and a distortion after it, and put twist the knobs until the PurpleHaze shines through, then you enter the euphoric sonic trance after which this pedal was named. Colors become sounds, and sounds become colors... GET NAKED!!!

This pedal is for the people that have gotten board of the same old distorted sound, belive me i've been there. This is a 60's 70's doulble octive fuzz pedal. I never though i would every like a fuzz sound thou i love classic rock and heavey metal. This pedal has five nobs thou the only one after i set it up i use is the mix nob. It will give you a octive above or below or both. Also has a cool 60's style fuzz+ distortion its hard to explain. When i first got it i didn't like it, i'm use to setting my pedal up at one setting and then leaving it alone. But this pedal is much different you play with that mix control and you get so many different sounds it is mind blowing. I don't ever use any other pedal this is it. The manual also has cool settings.

I use a Gibson Les Paul classic + an ERNIEBALL AXIS with a Marshall vs265. The pedal does have a little static but after you tweak it a little bit with the mix control it does go away. It makes my guitar sound much fatter then what they really are. Like two guitars are playing at once the lower octive does seem to drop out a little but agian you can adjust it. it has a rich full fat tone.I've never seen nothing else like it. love it.

Have not had it no more than a week. It is in the heavest metal packing i've every seen. I also own a Rocktron talkbox never had a problem with that eathier.

Never delt with them.

I play rock, heavey metal, blues.This pedal crosses all music lines love this pedal. If it ever got losted my guitar won't get touched till i got a new one takes some getting use to but not long. Then you can't play without it. I have new blisters on my fingers because i just can't put my guitar down!!!

Very easy to use. Manual gives several good, usable settings. More complex than most pedals, though, because it has 5 knobs that may take a while to fully get the hang of. Good jumping-off points in manual, though.

Using with 5150, Peavey Classic 30, Fender Champ, Strat, PRS CE--all sound great. This pedal is really amazing, and has a sound all its own. It's so much fun to play. And so hard to describe--there's nothing like it on record that I've heard.
Basically, it lets you add octave below, octave above, or some of both--there's a mix control; turn it all the way to the left, and you've got just 1 octave down, all the way to the right, just 1 octave above, and you can put it anywhere in between for whatever mix you want. But that's not all; you can use the MOD knob to determine how much effect is blended in with your signal.
On top of this is the TONE knob, to shape overall tone, and GAIN, which adds cool distortion.
I guess the best way to start to describe the tone is to say that it makes you sound like you're playing along with a bassist, even though it's just your guitar. That is, if you're using the octave below. So you get that really cool hard-rock tone of the bass doubling the guitar line. And, if you add octave above, your guitar sounds thicker and richer.
The distortion is cool, too. Turn it up and you'll want to just do single-note riffs on the low-E string all night. You'll feel like an entire band just jamming away.
The manual even suggests cool settings for an organ-like sound.
As with many octave devices, the tracking is a bit erratic--the lower octave, especially, will kick in and out.
Oh, it also works well with a fuzz--I put it after my Experience pedal to add more octave and the amp really sounds like it's gonna blow!

Casing is very thick and heavy metal. The casing is shaped to envelop and protect the 5 knobs--they're easy to reach and turn, but you're prevented from accidentally stepping on them. Looks more solid than any Boss pedal.

If you like heavy rock, this is a really cool and fun pedal to have. One of those unusual ones people will pay top dollar for someday, I'd think. Tomorrow's classic, today.
Lots of fun, thick, rich tone, and just a riff-rocker's dream come true. Can't get enough of it. Makes even small amps sound huge and rich.