Octave fuzz like Hendrix?

plyall

Power User
I have used the OCTAVE FUZZ in the Axe-FX3, but so far I'm a long way from copping the Hendrix vibe. Has anyone else had any luck? Am I reduced to buying an external pedal unit? Thanks!
 
I have an Octavia I bought directly from Roger Mayer many years ago and the Octave Fuzz set to Drive 7, tone 5, level 6, in the Axe FXIII sounds exactly like it. I directly compared them when I dialed in the Octave Fuzz on the Axe FXIII. Use the neck pickup when using the Octavia. Use a Stratocaster and a Marshall Plexi. You don't need to buy an external pedal.
 
Thanks very much! I did run the OCTAVE FUZZ on the AF3 through its paces, and still didn't get an acceptable tone. I even switched the clipping method through all of the choices - some were worse, but none were any better than the FULL WAVE setting. I wasn't using a Strat, but a PRS McCarty with a weak hum bucking in the neck. No dice here.
 
Factory preset 106 - Machine Gun. Straight into Logic. Used my McCarty 594 semi-hollow, bridge pickup with the coil tap pulled out (so single coil).

Scene 1:

https://mostlywrong.net/audio/2021-09-14-001-scene-001.mp3

Scene 3 but with the Phase block turned off:

https://mostlywrong.net/audio/2021-09-14-002-scene-003-no-phaser.mp3

Scene 4 but with the Phaser block turned off:

https://mostlywrong.net/audio/2021-09-14-003-scene-004-no-phaser.mp3

Scene 4 but with the Phase block turned on:

https://mostlywrong.net/audio/2021-09-14-003-scene-004-phaser.mp3

Delicious.
 
Thanks again! The examples you posted - I was on my laptop, and they sounded awful. Understandable, given the built-in speakers. I will give these guys a listen tomorrow when I get back in the studio. I will say that I really didn't hear that recognizable upper octave chirp.
 
Have you ever used a real one? They are finicky things. You have to use the neck pickup and play in a certain range on the fretboard. Technique is important too. I used to use a real one in my gigging days and replaced it with the model in the Axe-Fx and, if anything, the model was better.
 
@iaresee You missed my favorite scene in preset 106... #2! ("Filmore")
Here's a little demo. I added a tracking ringmod in front of the fuzz to give the octave up some extra pizzazz.
And damn you for making me take a particular bass out of the attic ;-)



Preset also attached. It's disgusting. It will own you if you let it.
 

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I have used the OCTAVE FUZZ in the Axe-FX3, but so far I'm a long way from copping the Hendrix vibe. Has anyone else had any luck? Am I reduced to buying an external pedal unit? Thanks!

Which Henxrix vibe exactly? Purple Haze? Who Knows (BOG)? Peace in Mississippi? Something else?

For BOG, set the Octavia drive to minimum, turn all the way up the fuzz' volume to compensate the volume drop. Use your neck pickup, roll off the pickup tone and play on the three thinnest strings and from the 10-12th fret all the way to the end of the fretboard. Depending on your guitar, the amp you have chosen (actually it's how overdriven it is), your guitar's electronics etc. you may also have to roll off a bit your guitar's volume.

That's it. The rest is up to you. This effect is chaotic by nature and VERY sensitive to pick attack so you have to learn how to "tame" it.

If you need to make it dirtier just use an additional fuzz, Jimi style.

Peace in Mississippi is with the Octavio's drive all the way up as he uses it as fuzz as well. The more the drive the less prominent the octavia effect (that flute like sound).

I've owned at least half a dozen octavias (Chicago Iron, Roger mayer, a couple of Fulltones, KR, and the Dunlop white wedge which was the best of the bunch if you ask me etc.) and the octavia sound and behaviour on Fractal Audio gear is there at least since the very early firmwares of the AF2 (let alone the AF3 I own right now).

I wish they have modelled the Dunlop implementation but that's alright...
 
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Someone in this Forum wrote "you gotta use a PRE-EQ with Hicut to make the magic happen with the Octavia".
Which i find helps A LOT....Neck pickup, picking in the front and using fingers helps also

Never needed to do any of this. Roll off your pup's tone or/and your pup's volume (if you don't have a treble bleed circuit it will roll off highs so the effect will be more prominent provided your amp isn't ultra distorted).

You can also experiment with your pick angle, try picking near the fretboard, picking softly etc.
 
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I should say, im more into smooth tones, thats personal preference though

You and me both, that's why in my mind Octavia=Who Knows. As clean as it gets but I hear you, you are obviously after a different sound.

It's just that you mentioned you were after Jimi's vibe and Who Knows has the smoothest octavia tone Jimi ever made with this effect.
 
The Axe does as good, if not better Octavio/a type tones as any hardware pedal I’ve owned. It’s just a picky type of effect, works best around the 12th fret, neck pickup, tone rolled back. Elsewhere on the neck it’s more of a clangy sound, weird octave down playing notes 4 frets apart on adjacent strings etc. just the nature of the rectified circuit.

If you want something smoother or that tracks better, digital octave pedals, or the pitch block work better, but they don’t have that unique analog octave up effect which has a unique sound and feel

Another option is finding something based on the Foxx tone machine instead of the Octavio. This circuit came out a bit later and has a bit of a more pronounced octave effect and works over a bit wider range of the neck. It’s kind of a cross between a super fuzz and a Octavio

the Axe does a pretty perfect “who knows” classic Jimi though IMO.
 
I had a couple of Octave pedals which I sold when I got my Axe FX II.
There was no sound I that my pedals (and other effect processors) could produce that I could not get out of the II. The Octavia on the II was as good or better in every way even than my expensive boutique Prescription Electronics pedal.

(As a matter of fact and totally off topic, my II was paid entirely with the sale of pedals and other effects that became redundant!)
 
@iaresee You missed my favorite scene in preset 106... #2! ("Filmore")
Here's a little demo. I added a tracking ringmod in front of the fuzz to give the octave up some extra pizzazz.
And damn you for making me take a particular bass out of the attic ;-)



Preset also attached. It's disgusting. It will own you if you let it.

That sounds awesome!
 
@iaresee You missed my favorite scene in preset 106... #2! ("Filmore")
Here's a little demo. I added a tracking ringmod in front of the fuzz to give the octave up some extra pizzazz.
And damn you for making me take a particular bass out of the attic ;-)



Preset also attached. It's disgusting. It will own you if you let it.


Come for the guitar, stay for the bass.
 
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