MXR Octave Fuzz

[Stonebandit]

Anyone with first hand experience with one of these bad boys?

Could be next on the order first thing in the morning?..

 

[NHBluesMan]

there's already a thread on this- search for Slash Octave Fuzz and it should come up

 

[Stonebandit]

Thanks pal. Been out of internet coverage for a week.

Trying to catch up!!!!

Regards

 

[Stonebandit]

From that thread. For those that missed it

OK, I've now spent some time with this pedal (MXR Slash Fuzz Octave), and can offer some review comments. Firstly, it takes some time to understand what the controls are doing, and how they interact. The pedal does several things, but it's not laid out in an intuitive manner. It basically provides 3 different effects, which can be used in various combinations. It can be simply a sub-octave effect, or a standard fuzz, or an octave-up fuzz. It can also combine these effects in various ways.

There are two footswitches, several knobs, and a small push switch. I didn't find the switching to be very logical, but it is what it is. The left footswitch simply turns the unit off and on. The right footswitch is dedicated to the octave-up fuzz, but it does nothing unless the left footswitch is on. So, the octave-up effect is always "added" to whatever you have going on the left side. The left side of the unit, has the sub-octave effect, and the "normal" fuzz circuit. The key to the left side is the push button switch, labeled "sub into fuzz". The label of this switch was confusing to me. Basically, this switch toggles between the "normal" fuzz being either on or off. The sub-octave effect is always on, whether the "normal" fuzz is on or not. However, there is a knob for the sub-octave level, which can be turned off if you don't want the sub-octave. This knob is useful, because you can adjust the level of the sub-octave with the "normal" fuzz. The sub-octave effect actually sounds pretty good, and tracks well. It reminds me of my Boss OC-2 pedal. The "normal" fuzz is also pretty good, and really nails the "ripped speaker" fuzz sound of the 60s. Think "Satisfaction". The "normal" fuzz is gets very loud, very quick, so you have to adjust the volume level to suit. One complaint here is the huge volume disparity when you use the "sub into fuzz" switch, going from sub-octave only, to fuzz plus sub-octave. You have to make a large adjustment to the level knob, because the fuzz is so loud. With sub-octave only, I found myself setting the level knob quite high to get a nice sound (3:00). But when you switch the normal fuzz on, you need to turn the level knob back down to well below half. Separate volume controls for each effect would have been better.

The other element of this unit is the octave-up fuzz, which is added with the right footswitch. Aside from the footswitch, there is only one knob that controls this effect, which is the octace-up fuzz level knob. You cannot use the octave-up without fuzz, and you cannot adjust the blend of the octave-up and it's conjoined fuzz. What you can do is blend the main fuzz lavel (which may or may not contain the sub-octave) with the octave-up fuzz. This is cool, because most octave-up fuzz pedals sort of lose bottom end, and can sound thin. Of course, if that's what you're after, you can turn the "normal" fuzz level down to zero, and just get the octave-up fuzz effect. But you also have the option of blending in the normal fuzz and sub-octave with the octave-up fuzz. This really thickens up the tone.

Overall, this unit has some great tones, once you figure out what controls what. The octave-up fuzz works as expected, sounding better on the neck pickup, tone rolled down on the guitar, and playing single notes above the 12th fret. It seems more "predictable" that some octave-up fuzz pedals, which is a good thing. The "normal" fuzz is very good, assuming you want a 60s type of fuzz. I really like it. The sub-octave by itself is pretty good, and I found that it really sounded great feeding into my Crunchbox. I also found that I liked the octave-up fuzz better when driving the lead channel of my SD-18, as opposed to the clean channel.

I'm pretty impressed with what this unit can do, and think it's well worth the $130 price tag. I'll be keeping it, and it may find a permanent spot on my pedalboard.

And Link for the full brief

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?posts/13397380#post13397380