A couple RM Octavia Clips

[robotboy]

I finished up my latest build over the weekend. It's a RM Octavia, and it's one of the coolest pedals I've built. I considered building the Tyco a while back, but I didn't really feel like messing around with a transformer or a 24 volt supply, so the RM seemed like a good bet. Besides, it's what Hendrix used, so how can you go wrong with that? It's not the simplest build I've done as I had to swap transistors quite a bit to get the sound I wanted. I also subbed the rev log pot for a 10k linear to make part acquisition easier. Other than that, it was straightforward. I'd still like it to have a little more high octave when heavily fuzzed, but an easy solution is to turn the gain down to 50% on the pedal and put a fuzz in front of it. Anyway, here are two clips I recorded in my living room last night.

79' Gibson Paul (neck pickup tone at 50%) -> Octavia -> Blues Jr -> SM57

Clean octave at the beginning. Comes through more clearly when I go up on the neck. Turned the fuzz a little too high at the end, oh well...

http://grub.ath.cx/pub/octavia.mp3

Mildly fuzzed arppegio lightly picked... I think Sonic Youth used the Octavia quite often.

http://grub.ath.cx/pub/octavia2.mp3

IMO, the RM is underrated. If you're planning to build an octave pedal, give it a shot!