looking for simple octave circuit

Started by reaper, July 06, 2006, 04:50:07 PM

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reaper

I have been searching for a simple octave pedal schematic, but all i've found has fuzz attached to it or something else i don't want. Does anyone have a plain octave circuit with nothing else maybe a volume knob for the octave but nothing else? Thanks

PS looking for octave up btw

choklitlove

the green ringer might work.  it doesn't have any pots.  damn simple too.

http://tonepad.com/getFileInfo.asp?id=90
my band.                    my DIY page.                    my solo music.

Ge_Whiz

Try Tim Escobedo's 'Pushme Pullyou', but bear in mind that all octaves sound highly distorted, because the ear interprets the sound that way.

http://www.geocities.com/tpe123/folkurban/fuzz/snippets.html

petemoore

  The simplest way to octave 'requires' Fuzz...
  Getting a less-distortey Octave can be done, but it's certainly out of the range of 'simple'. So...OT for this thread but, GEO has a Mosfet design for Clean Octave up.
Convention creates following, following creates convention.

tcobretti

#4
I breadboarded this guy, but never built it as a pedal.  It worked well and was pretty clean.  It created a ton of gain and overdrove the crap out of my amp if you maxed the master volume knob.  I never tried it with any amp besides my Line 6, and I would love it if somebody else built it and told me how it worked.  Remember that any analog "octave" pedal is gonna create at least a little fuzz and not much octave.  If you want serious Trevor Rabin octave you need something digital.

BTW, if you build the stripboard layout, it is tight!  You might want to work on perf to give your self a little more space.

Edit: Err, I forgot the link.
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=46021.0

tungngruv

Build the Neoctavia. I used Tonepads layout. It sounds best with an overdrive after it. Listen to my clip:
http://www.tungngruv.com/sounds/Neoctavia.mp3

oldrocker

#6
Yes I just finished my Neoctavia a week or so ago.  I packed it into the same pedal box along with the Green Ringer since the sound is similar.  I think the Neoctavia had a stronger octive effect maybe because it's a louder pedal.  Easy build and the 1k:8ohm transformers are available at the local Rat Shack.  It worked the first time I breadboarded it and worked right off the bat when I perfed it.

RaceDriver205

Indeed, if one wants a simple octave circuit it will sound fuzzy, and if one wants a 'plain' octave circuit it will be complicated.
Go for the green ringer.

oldrocker

If you're looking for a down octive pedal then I would try the ShockTave.  It's a fairly simple build but has much distortion.  Still a really cool octive pedal to mess around with.

petemoore

  Could be any one of these is right for you...I've built:
  Neo-octavia
  Green Ringer
  *Rambler, Marginally better Rambler
  *Simple Octave Up
  *Octave up Sick Box
  *Bobtavia
  Tychobrahe Octavia
  *Foxx Tone Machine
  Push You Pull Me
  [I'm probably forgetting at least one other]
  And a *SuperFuzz
  *Means they 'stood alone' well enough for me, IOW the octave or ring mod tones worked well with nothing else in front driving them.
  I have a Green Ringer W/Null mod on the pedalboard, it does a fine job for me.
  For me to have it work right for me it needs a Fuzz or OD in front of it, works great with a FF or BMP [most any clipping unit works], alone it is a bit 'dry' and notes fade too quickly...could be just mine...no matter because the Octave/Ring Mod tones I get from it are winning...I never really want to go from clean to octave anyway, it's always a Fuzz or OD to octave switch I want, being able to leave the FUzz on is a feature to me [I don't have to tap dance and can make transition quickly/accurately], and the Green Ringer does a very predictable, variable and useful sound for the Foxy Lady/Purple Haze/Maggot Brain/Pete Noodling Octave etc. Tycho Does Well for me also, but I have it @18v using two batteries.
  I do like Bobtavia, very fun Octa-fade to Ringmod or Octave...very adjustable that one...lotsa cool wierdness in it...
  The Neo, SOU and OUSB fall into that category of fairly simple implementation using opamps.
  Lotsa guys swear by the FTM, mine was harsh and I should have kept and diddled with it more I think...sort of a big build, nice pure octaFuzz.
  SuperFuzz is a big build, cool notch filter on that one, mine can sounds like a static charge being pulled by DC that is blowing up a power plant...lol.
  I stayed away from Fender Blender...too complicated...I'd recommend a PCB for that thing...
 
 
Convention creates following, following creates convention.

g3rmanium

Quote from: reaper on July 06, 2006, 04:50:07 PM
I have been searching for a simple octave pedal schematic, but all i've found has fuzz attached to it or something else i don't want. Does anyone have a plain octave circuit with nothing else maybe a volume knob for the octave but nothing else?

That's the green ringer...
Call me Johann.

oldrocker

IMHO the Neo-Octavia is an easier build than the Green Ringer and sounds very similar playing at the 12th fret.  The main advantage of the Neo is the volume knob which the GR doesn't have.  I added part of the frequency switching mod to increase the GR's loudness overall.  But either one will work.

Mark Hammer

The Craig Anderton Octave-Doubling Fuzz isn't too bad, and uses easy-to-get parts. 

I've modified it here: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/mhammer/ModifiedAndertonOctaveFuzz.gif  The original can be seen here: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/mhammer/AndertonOctaveFuzz.gif

The mods are as follows:
1) A transistor input buffer "borrowed" from any number of Boss pedals.  Anderton uses a non-inverting op-amp for the first stage in the original, which has a high input impedance.  I borrowed that op-amp to use for another function (see below) with the negative side-effect of having a lower input impedance in that first op-amp in the fuzz stage.  The transistor input buffer attempts to compensate for that.
2) The original provided for feedback-cap switching in the first (fuzz) stage.  Personally, it never did anything for me, so I picked a compromise value of 33pf.
3) The original has a fixed gain for the fuzz section.  I made the gain variable and skipped the input Drive control.  Note that treble content declines as gain is increased.  At max gain there is a rolloff starting around 4.8khz.
4) The octave-generating circuit remains the same, but the modded version introduces it a different way.  Here, I've used a sort of pan control that goes between the octave and an inverted octave tone.  When centred, they cancel each other out, yielding a sort of combination level/phase control.  Use a linear pot for this to know where the centre is.
5) The original uses a "cancel" switch to completely kill the fuzz signal.  I preferred to have variable control and replaced the switch with a pot.
6) The original has a gain of around 15 for the fuzz and 22 for the octave signals in the output stage.  With the use of a variable fuzz-level pot I set the two signals for fixed gain of 10, although you can up it if that's not enough for you by increasing the 100k resistor to 150k or higher. Note that with 100k, the 150pf cap gives a rolloff starting around 10.6khz.  If you make the resistor higher, you'll need to make the cap a bit smaller to retain the same rolloff.

I haven't built it, but there is no reason it shouldn't sound as good as the original.