Gusses Simple Octave Up (review)

[jmusser]

I drew the Easy Build for this circuit almost 4 years ago now, and never built it. I'm happy to say that my original Easy Build schematic was correct. Initially, I could only get it to play on bypass, and then even that started breaking up. I found out that the DPDT toggle switch I was using was internally shorted, and almost blew up my battery. It was very warm when I decided to unplug it for troubleshooting. After replacing the switch, I was in business. It is an octave up fuzz, and has gobs of sustain. It really has a ballsy gutteral sound when played up high on the top 3 strings with the bridge pickup. It cleans up (meaning less fuzz) a little while playing the 3 treble strings, but starts ring modding pretty heavy on them above the 10th fret. When you switch to the bridge pickup, you can do some strong power chord crunch. Overall, it's a dandy little circuit. I used a TL071 chip and 1N270 germanium diodes. It uses the same Radio Shack 273-1380 transformer as the Bobtavia. To me the Bobtavia and the SOU are two different animals. I like them both, but I would feel that the SOU would be something you'd get more use from. The Bobtavia is one of the premier high pitched screamers, and maybe even the best of it's kind, but it will not be as universal to play as this one is. Gusses OUSB is next on the horizon, after I found out what I've botched on the Crash Sync I built last night. Build the Simple Octave Up off of the Easy Build schematic on General Guitar Gadgets. You won't be dissapointed!

[aron]

Cool! Thanks for the review.