Octavias (was Re: Green Ringer)

[Sean Costello]

R.G. Keen wrote:

> >... it sounds closer to the current Roger Mayer Octavia
> >(smooth, trebly, somewhat subtle) than the Tychobrahe Octavia (psycho).
> >Both designs are Roger Mayer's, mind you - the Tychobrahe was a ripoff of an
> >original 60's Mayer Octavia.
>
> Wow - I didn't know that! Did Roger really do the design that wound up in
> the Tycho box? Where can I find out more on that?

The following quote is from an interview with Jim Gamble, chief engineer of
Tychobrahe in the 70's.  He is quoted in the article on Tychobrahe in the book
"Stompbox: A History of Guitar Fuzzes, Flangers, Phasers, Echoes and Wahs," by Art
Thompson, published by Miller Freeman Books.  (And R.G., if you don't have this
book, RUN out and get it.  It has interviews with most of the company founders,
circuit designers, etc. of the boxes we all know and love.  Not as technical as
the stuff you write, but lots of good history. )

"The Octavia came about after Noel Redding brought in an original Roger Mayer
Octavia that was broken.  After I fixed it, he asked if I could copy it.
Everybody went, 'Oh, you copied it - now let's make a million of them!'" (p.145)

Roger Mayer, in some other Guitar Player article, claims that Tychobrahe copied a
"less happening" version of the Octavia circuit.

> The Tycho is entirely a different design. It uses a two stage amplifier to
> drive undistorted signal into a step-up audio transformer, then rectifies
> the signal from a centertapped secondary for audio output - true, real full
> wave rectification. The RM Octavia uses a transistor phase splitter, but
> the two diodes are differently biased, so one is more equal than the other.

To me, the two circuits look similar, in the sense that the Tychobrahe Octavia
seems like half of the RM circuit, with a transformer and a few diodes slapped in
there.  They sound very different.  The RM Octavia is very subtle at lower
settings, with a truly nasty treble fuzz at higher settings (listen to recordings
by the group Jessamine - the guitarist uses a RM Octavia at high distortion
settings for his post-MBV guitar puking).  The Tychobrahe Octavia is similar at
lower settings, but the higher settings do very bizarre things to a note - it
sounds like the note is choking on itself, "blossoming" as the note dies away.
Running a synth through the Tychobrahe is instructive: past a certain volume, the
note gets very thin and shimmery.  I'd say the Tychobrahe is more useful for synth
work, at least for dramatic effects.  You can do all of the weird ring mod effects
that other Octafuzzes are good for, but the variance of the timbre with input
volume makes it especially useful.  (Obviously, don't pay $XXX for an original,
folks - make your own from the schematics at Keen's website.)

> On the Big Muff, I recently discovered by looking at an old Colorsound Tone
> Bender that the tone bender is the legitimate father of the Muff - the circuit
> evolution is very clear.

How so?  I'd love to see the Tone Bender circuit.  Is the tone circuit similar?
Is this what Jimmy Page would have used for his "Hurdy Gurdy Man" solo?  (Sorry,
synth fans - but it's a REALLY cool solo.) Does the Tone Bender use diodes, or
just cascaded germanium transistors?

Also, does ANYONE have the schematic for the WEM Project fuzz?  This is Eno's fuzz
of choice.  I would love to see the schematic for this, or the Burns Buzzaround
that Fripp used.

Thanks,

Sean Costello