Fractal Audio DRIVE models: Octave Dist (based on Tycobrahe Octavia)

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Octave Dist: based on Tycobrahe Octavia

The story is that Roger Mayer, technician for Jimi Hendrix, designed a fuzz pedal (the “Octavio”) for him that added an upper octave, with the use of frequency doubling. When one of the prototypes broke down on the road, Hendrix took it to Tycobrahe Sound Company for repair. After Jimi passed away, Tycobrahe started selling the design as the Tycobrahe Octavia (without the consent of Roger Mayer). Different versions of the story exist.

Tycobrahe also manufactured the PedalFlanger and ParaPedal. All these devices are extremely rare, sought-after and therefore very expensive. Tycobrahe went out of business and the trademark now belongs to Chicago Iron, who produces the Octavian, based on the Tycobrahe design.

History of Tycobrahe

Chicago Iron:
“Our pedal, by itself, should give you a strong "fuzz face" like sound on the lower neck positions, and have a hint of octave doubling as you go up the neck, combined with a ring modulated sound. After the 12th fret especially on the G B and E strings, the octave becomes even more pronounced.

You may already know about the need to use the neck pickup, with the guitar tone knob rolled all the way off to start. The pedal will sing and bloom octaves on the higher registers when followed by a high output distortion pedal, (not all buffered output pedals will do) or an amp drive channel that is setup for distortion that has a good deal of sustain, like a Marshall super lead gets when turned all the way up. Then using the neck pickup and tone knob rolled off, switch on the Octavian.

Set the Octavian pedal volume knob to achieve unity gain with your amp's clean channel and the pedal boost knob all the way counter clockwise, or off. Depending on the pickups, anywhere from the 10th fret and up you should be able to play a note and the pedal will allow the fundamental note to sound and then bloom into the octave note. By adjusting the pedal boost and the volume knob of the guitar you can go from blooming octave to double note (chiming) octave to flute like octave only. It is a system, guitar Octavian, distorted pedal or amp, guitar output signal level and tone control that make this happen. It is the same with all the octave up pedals. Forgive me if you already know how to make the octave pedals sing on your setup, as there is only a certain way that it goes.

At this time you should be able to produce a light quieter octave and ring modulator sound when using only the Octavian in the signal going to your clean amp channel. Many references to this tone are on any Band of Gypsies album.

By switching on to your amp's gain channel, or switching on a fuzz/distortion pedal after the Octavian will produce a singing sustain that blooms into a clear ringing octave. Octave is not all it can do in this position. Chords in the lower positions are huge and fat. Not just for playing the Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan set. This pedal blows many other distortion pedals off the stage when it comes to bottom end drive.

When you get your Octavian pedal fitted properly in your setup, the fun really begins. When used either way the Octavian pedal is very touch sensitive. It responds to your playing style. Pick light and the octave comes out earlier. Pick heavy and the fundamental note sustains longer. Same with the guitar volume knob, turn down the volume for more octave. By experimenting with the guitar's tone knob, you can produce many different sounds and octave "sweet spots".”

Roger Mayer produces his own version of the pedal since the 80s:

“The OCTAVIA is probably our most famous and distinctive creation. This guitar effect was designed in early 1967 and featured on "Purple Haze" and "Fire" by Jimi. It's unique tones can also be heard on such tracks as "One Rainy Wish", "Little Miss Lover", "Little Wing", "Machine Gun" etc.

The OCTAVIA produces a sound that is an octave higher than the note you are presently playing. This doubling effect is accomplished through electronic mirror imaging techniques that are program sensitive and also respond to the feedforward inputs of the player. The electronic circuitry is analogue in design and will react faithfully to all the subtleties and harmonic overtones from the guitar. The effect produced is very unique but human in quality. The unit that is manufactured today is representative of the latest evolution of Octavia that Jimi used and contains the feedforward and gating effect that my earlier evolutions lacked. The modern clones today often copy the Tycobrahe unit that in fact was a rip off of my earlier 24 volt versions. These units were not designed to work optimally with 9 volts and in fact you would be buying a clone of a copy so it makes sense to buy a unit from the man who invented it.

Electronically the OCTAVIA is an analogue circuit with the properties of a frequency doubler, envelope generator and amplitude modulator with addition frequency shaping filter circuits. The effect produced is subtle to wild depending on the settings used and will respond to the attack of the player. A clean tone from the guitar with say the tone rolled control rolled off will produce "ring modulated" overtones that characterise the solo to "Who knows". The sound is tangibly different if a fuzz unit is in front of the Octavia: an upper octave double is created, clearly demonstrated in the solo to "Purple Haze". The bright harmonics are more controllable if the neck pickup is selected and the tone control set to roll off the treble. The effect really comes into it's own on the top E and B strings from the 7th fret up. A clean and precise picking style is essential with particular attention to accurate fretting techniques.

Jimi placed the Octavia after a fuzz and wah unit in most cases so it would react to the combined effects of both the wah and one or more fuzz boxes. It is important to experiment with how much signal you are driving the Octavia with as this has a great influence on the sound produced.”

Fulltone is another company claiming to build an exact copy of the original Tycobrahe Octavia (a copy of a copy....) . Its Octafuzz is used by Joe Satriani:

Octafuzz... the only exact circuit copy of the legendary Tycobrahe Octavia.”​

Wikipedia:
"The Octavia was an effects pedal designed for Jimi Hendrix by his sound technician, Roger Mayer. It reproduces the input signal from a guitar one octave higher and/or lower in pitch, and mixes it with the original and added distortion fuzz. It reproduces the input signal from a guitar one octave higher and/or lower in pitch, and mixes it with the original and added distortion fuzz. The effect was used by Jimi Hendrix, and can be heard in guitar solos on the song "Purple Haze". Hendrix preferred to call the device the “Octavio”, and it is often referred to as such. After Hendrix's death in 1970 one of the original Octavias became the basis for the redesigned "Octavia", manufactured by Tycobrahe Sound Company in Hermosa Beach, California, during the mid-1970s. A limited number of the devices were produced, and today a used one in good condition sells for over $1,000 on eBay. Stevie Ray Vaughan owned nine of these devices."

Explanation of the circuit

Review in Tone Report

Fractal Audio’s Octave Dist model is based on Tycobrahe’s version. It uses the Germanium Clip Type. It has two controls:
  • Boost: controls the amount of fuzz (model: Drive)
  • Volume: controls the output level (model: Level)
Of course the Drive block allows us to adjust far more things. Slew, Mix and other parameters are available. Bias is a lot of fun to experiment with when using a fuzz. But that's beyond the scope of this thread (see manual and wiki).

The recommended way to use an Octavia is to use the neck pickup, with rolled off Tone on the guitar, for the best tracking and to play close to the 12th fret.

As mentioned above the Octave Dist model into a clean amp sounds a bit like a Ring Modulator. It's often used in combination with another fuzz, either before or after it.

Personal note:
I like it best with low Drive in front of a low-drive Face Fuzz, into a clean amp.

About CPU:
  • Fractal Audio's Drive models take up varying amounts of CPU. The Octave Dist requires a medium amount.
  • When a Drive block is engaged, CPU percentage will rise during playing, because CPU usage is "amplitude dependent".









Link to the list of published threads
 
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I like to use the Octavia with the drive mostly off into another OD like the ACB. I find this gives me the overall octave effect without the fuzz, which I'm not a huge fan of.
 
I've always thought this was one of the better sounding/more authentic drive models in the Axe Fx, which is surprising to me because I'd expect it to be one of the toughest to nail down, being such a unique pedal.

I've owned the Roger Mayer, Chicago Iron, Foxrox, Fulltone and Dunlap versions over the years, along with some fuzz variations which could produce a bit of an octave-up effect, and the Axe model really stands up to any of them. Its always been one of those seldom used pedals I hardly ever stomped on, but that I enjoyed having on my pedal board. The Axe version had be pleasantly surprised because it did a good enough representation that I could sell off the hardware and feel I wasn't missing out on anything.
 
There's this great patch of Kenny Way Shepherd 's "blue on black", that made me discover the octavia and its sensitivity to guitar playing. This thread really completed the story for me. Thanks for having put this on the forum Yek.
 
I've always thought this was one of the better sounding/more authentic drive models in the Axe Fx, which is surprising to me because I'd expect it to be one of the toughest to nail down, being such a unique pedal.

I've owned the Roger Mayer, Chicago Iron, Foxrox, Fulltone and Dunlap versions over the years, along with some fuzz variations which could produce a bit of an octave-up effect, and the Axe model really stands up to any of them. Its always been one of those seldom used pedals I hardly ever stomped on, but that I enjoyed having on my pedal board. The Axe version had be pleasantly surprised because it did a good enough representation that I could sell off the hardware and feel I wasn't missing out on anything.
My only prior experience was the Voodoo Labs Proctavia which I liked a lot.
 
I tried the Octave Dist last night after reading this review, I tried it before but didn't roll down the guitars tone + use the neck pickup and play around the 12fth fret. Wow I love this effect!
 
Came looking for a way to set the pitch block to have something like the sounds made in the video below (gets really sweet when they put the fuzzface/sunface into the octafuzz. ). But found we actually have the pedal in the drive block, hell yeah! thanks again FAS! and of course Yek for making the thread!!

 
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