Zvex Octane III. The king of octave fuzz?

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Paco
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Zvex Octane III. The king of octave fuzz?

Post by Paco » Thu Nov 09, 2017 7:59 pm

I just got one from 07, with the 9v adapter and beautiful art by Jason Myrold. DAMN. I wasn't expecting anything like the Octane III tone.

I think it being marketed as a ring modulator/octave kind of fuzz is really undermining it's tonal capabilities. I used a 64 jazz into a Roland JC-50 and played with an old Boss DM2 delay and RV2 reverb and it was just perfect, full, rich. Pushing it a little with a SHO or a benadrian bunnydrive (red llama tweed kind of overdrive) and you're in hendrix territory. And I wasn't even planning of going anywhere near Hendrix territory.

The thing is LOUD. There's no way it doesn't cut through a full band mix. Or a tree.

Any other OctaneIIIlieber out there?

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Re: Zvex Octane III. The king of octave fuzz?

Post by zhivago » Thu Nov 09, 2017 11:01 pm

I had an Octane 1 and an Octane 3....I still really miss the 3 and I never should have sold it. :(

It is a great octave fuzz for sure, but for me, the best I have tried is the Bearfoot Candy Apple Fuzz. The octave up is all over the neck if yo dial it in, and it just rips.

Still, the Octane 3 to me is like riding a wild horse...it has a primitive edge that can be addictive. :-*

Great pedal!! 8)
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Re: Zvex Octane III. The king of octave fuzz?

Post by LBx » Mon Nov 13, 2017 7:05 am

I've been thinking of one the last short while...

2nd hand or a clone - what would you do?

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Re: Zvex Octane III. The king of octave fuzz?

Post by StevenO » Tue Nov 14, 2017 6:28 pm

I really love mine. I haven't played it in probably a year or two, but I'll never get rid of it. To my ears, it's the most musical sounding of all the Superfuzz clones I have played. Really a great sound. I bought it to satisfy my Garage Rock and Low/Alan Sparhawk fantasies, and damn if it doesn't hit the spot.

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Re: Zvex Octane III. The king of octave fuzz?

Post by shadowplay » Tue Nov 14, 2017 11:10 pm

I think they are great fun, deliciously filthy and somehow fruity. However in contrast to most commenters and with apologies to the hand painters...I hate how they look. Horrific novelty doodling like a particularly unartistic five year old having a go at naive narrowboat art or some acid frazzled hippies roadside vegetables for sale sign...man! I generally only really care about functionality with guitar pedals but even so we are at a chasmic aesthetic impasse.

Feel a little bad singling Zvex out when pedal graphics in general are a world heritage Centre of awful design.

D
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Re: Zvex Octane III. The king of octave fuzz?

Post by StevenO » Wed Nov 15, 2017 3:15 am

shadowplay wrote:
Tue Nov 14, 2017 11:10 pm
I think they are great fun, deliciously filthy and somehow fruity. However in contrast to most commenters and with apologies to the hand painters...I hate how they look. Horrific novelty doodling like a particularly unartistic five year old having a go at naive narrowboat art or some acid frazzled hippies roadside vegetables for sale sign...man! I generally only really care about functionality with guitar pedals but even so we are at a chasmic aesthetic impasse.

Feel a little bad singling Zvex out when pedal graphics in general are a world heritage Centre of awful design.

D
Pedals are the only gear that I don't mind having looked like a child or a Hippie (same thing?)
doodled on them with their mom's nail polish. Mid-Fi and Zvex stuff always grabbed my attention. Maybe because you step on them instead? There's a lot more offensive looking pedals out there than the Zvex stuff, in any case. :D

If it makes you feel any better. My Octane 3 is in a bigger plain white enclosure with the old raised-font Dymo label maker stickers for the control layout. I've always liked that look, too. A bit more industrial.

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Re: Zvex Octane III. The king of octave fuzz?

Post by MechaBulletBill » Wed Nov 15, 2017 3:33 am

So is the Oct3 like a superfuzz/fy6/ibanez standard fuzz? The demos sound particularly fat and meaty.

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Re: Zvex Octane III. The king of octave fuzz?

Post by shadowplay » Wed Nov 15, 2017 4:09 am

StevenO wrote:
Wed Nov 15, 2017 3:15 am

If it makes you feel any better. My Octane 3 is in a bigger plain white enclosure with the old raised-font Dymo label maker stickers for the control layout. I've always liked that look, too. A bit more industrial.
I knew you were a man of taste.
StevenO wrote:
Wed Nov 15, 2017 3:15 am

There's a lot more offensive looking pedals out there than the Zvex stuff, in any case. :D

There are, whats the DigiTech one with the Skull and knobs all over it like a wild mans shit? Thou shalt not suffer that pedal to live.

D
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Re: Zvex Octane III. The king of octave fuzz?

Post by mijmog » Wed Nov 15, 2017 4:46 am

Maybe we should do a "Good Pedal Graphics" thread?

I like the Octane but my favourite ever Octave Fuzz/Octavia clone is the surprisingly good value MJM Roctavios.

I will never part with mine, that and a Boss tuner is the only that has stayed on my pedal board in over 10 years.

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Re: Zvex Octane III. The king of octave fuzz?

Post by shadowplay » Wed Nov 15, 2017 5:35 am

mijmog wrote:
Wed Nov 15, 2017 4:46 am
Maybe we should do a "Good Pedal Graphics" thread?

OSG member Parry does the minimal gods work in san serif and a hint of boutique shaving concoction.

Generally I can't see past the original Boss cheerful modernism, I couldn't wait to get rid of the flea market EHX pedals I had which literally and metaphorically stunk of patchouli. I burned with rage at being too poor for them.

Boss is almost the polar opposite of Japanese cars, where they try and do it with a fromage festival of unappealing plastics and maximum fuss and bother. Boss were just done right, though the person that designed and put that awful Waza craft logo on some of the new reissues needs to meet a hot poker.

Boss is (were) design not styling.

I think one of the worst was the guy astroturfing (thanks to andy_tchp for teaching me a new word) those GOD AWFUL space penguin pedals. I hope the style Stazi paid him a visit.

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Re: Zvex Octane III. The king of octave fuzz?

Post by StevenO » Wed Nov 15, 2017 6:59 am

shadowplay wrote:
Wed Nov 15, 2017 4:09 am
StevenO wrote:
Wed Nov 15, 2017 3:15 am

If it makes you feel any better. My Octane 3 is in a bigger plain white enclosure with the old raised-font Dymo label maker stickers for the control layout. I've always liked that look, too. A bit more industrial.
I knew you were a man of taste.
StevenO wrote:
Wed Nov 15, 2017 3:15 am

There's a lot more offensive looking pedals out there than the Zvex stuff, in any case. :D

There are, whats the DigiTech one with the Skull and knobs all over it like a wild mans shit? Thou shalt not suffer that pedal to live.

D
My taste is hit or miss, really...

I haven't kept up with the Digitech stuff, so no clue what you're talking about. Generally. I like one of two things in pedals. Something that looks Moog-like or Boss/Roland-like.

They're a tad Steam-Punk, but I quite like the look of the www.RMLfx.com stuff.
Last edited by StevenO on Wed Nov 15, 2017 8:02 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Zvex Octane III. The king of octave fuzz?

Post by shadowplay » Wed Nov 15, 2017 7:04 am

StevenO wrote:
Wed Nov 15, 2017 6:59 am


I haven't kept up with the Digitech stuff, so no clue what you're talking about.
This horror show of bad taste, novelty typeface and collywobbling graphic/knob interface. It's as if they never met each other before they were united.

Image

Sorry to all people of a sensitive nature.

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Re: Zvex Octane III. The king of octave fuzz?

Post by callum » Wed Nov 15, 2017 8:24 am

how does the octane handle being later in the chain? I've always wanted to try one but I have so many fuzzes that will not play nicely unless they are first, and they can't all be first!!!

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Re: Zvex Octane III. The king of octave fuzz?

Post by zhivago » Wed Nov 15, 2017 12:15 pm

MechaBulletBill wrote:
Wed Nov 15, 2017 3:33 am
So is the Oct3 like a superfuzz/fy6/ibanez standard fuzz? The demos sound particularly fat and meaty.

Kind of...I think it started as a clone of an 'Apollo Fuzz'...which was probably a Superfuzz variant
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Re: Zvex Octane III. The king of octave fuzz?

Post by Paco » Wed Nov 15, 2017 12:22 pm

callum wrote:
Wed Nov 15, 2017 8:24 am
how does the octane handle being later in the chain? I've always wanted to try one but I have so many fuzzes that will not play nicely unless they are first, and they can't all be first!!!
I use mine after an RV3 in delay mode, and it works great. It sings when I put it first, tho ::)

It is a very musical pedal, that's a great way of putting it. Japanese sounding super loud fuzz with a crazy smooth octave on the top.

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