Help with octave choices?

[cmc64]

I had a MIJ Boss Octaver and I sold it for two reasons. 1) I really didn't use it that much - those wonderful tones on Stranger, Cats and so on are (IMO) next to impossible to pull off without a Mu-Tron Octave Divider or other high quality Octave pedal and 2) the tracking/artifacts from the OC-2 were just TOO much - even vibrato on a single note was unbearable (although I don't have J.G.'s chops so that that is LARGE part of it).

I just couldn't get it to sound right. The only other one I have tried is the EHX Octave Mulitplexer and the monophonics of that pedal drove me batty as well....

[Mosfed]

I've got an OC-3 right now and I find it tracks better than my old OC-2 did. I had a MIJ and a MIT and I think the OC-3 is superior. I hope to get a Mutron one day but $500-700 is just too much for any one pedal.

[Mosfed]

Has anyone built or had built the Build Your Own Clone Mutron clone?

[gpilcher2001]

I built one a few months back. Sounds pretty good. It doesn't track as good as the fox rox octron. I built the byoc to replace the octron that was stolen from me. I also think the octron was more transparent. It seems like the byoc is a tone sucker. But I just compensate with the volume knob on my guitar. Its the exact circuit of the musitronics octave except it's true bypass. It sounds good just not my octron. Greg...

[cmc64]

I built one a few months back. Sounds pretty good. It doesn't track as good as the fox rox octron. I built the byoc to replace the octron that was stolen from me. I also think the octron was more transparent. It seems like the byoc is a tone sucker. But I just compensate with the volume knob on my guitar. Its the exact circuit of the musitronics octave except it's true bypass. It sounds good just not my octron. Greg...

I have a question for you about the BYOC route and since you built one you should know. I know that many vintage effects (Musitronics, for example) are made with components that are no longer manufactured. How do the BYOC kits get around this while retaining the original circuit topology?

[Mosfed]

^^^^

I was wondering this myself. It is possible that all of the components for the octave by Mutron are still available. I frankly have no idea.

I like the BYOC Dam Armstrong duo of the Green Octave and Orange Squeezer. If you are going for that Lowell George sound, mate an Orange Squeezer with a stratoblaster and a Twin and you nail it.

[gpilcher2001]

I haven't done much research into the octave divider clones authenticity as far as ic's go but it would be a pretty bold statement to claim missinformation. I have checked some of there schematics against some of the originals and the parts do line up. Perhaps he has found a source of parts from the past. I think the biggest thing is the ic chips. Resistors are resistors, caps are caps. Shoot them an email they'd be more than happy to answer that question. There good at responding. Greg...

[tigger]

I think the Mutron phasers are what have the obsolete parts. The guy who tuned up my octave divider had to replace some op amps and it wasn't an issue.

[twofootskunk]

Hi, first time poster, been a lurker for a while.

I've built the BYOC Octave Divider clone. The tracking is certainly not perfect. With my guitar it works best on the neck pickup, decent on the middle pup, and not so good on the bridge. That said, I really like it and I don't plan on replacing it. It has a very organic "analogy" sound to it. The octaves are not pristine and I really feel like I get an old school 70's electronics sound out of it. It's very synth like especially with the ringer turned on.

As for the difference in parts. The main differences are the power supply. It uses a MAX1044 charge pump so you can use a standard 9v power supply. It's also true bypass. Neither of those I think have any major effect on sound.
Other than that the IC's and transistors are the only things that might be different from original (i haven't compared).
*Actually, I just looked at their website and it says "with all the exact same chips
and transistors that were used in the original". So take that for what you will.

I just finished the Madbean Nautilus which is a clone of the Mutron III. Same deal there. Power supply/true bypass.
The one major difference is that it (and the phasor) use custom made vactrols that you can't get.
You can roll your own or just use the ones he suggests that give similar results.

I'm still trying to dial in my Mutron III clone. It's a little finicky but so far it seems really cool when you hit the sweet spot.

These two were my first plunge into pedal building and electronics. It's very fun. I've also built a tiger buffer on veroboard and plan to build a stratoblaster. I'm in the process of assembling a new Jerry inspired partscaster that I plan to put the stratoblaster in with custom shop 69's. I've spent countless hours reading this forum, so thanks for that. This site is great!


Here's a pic of my build of the Octave Divider clone.

[tigger]

Wow, those were your first builds? That's pretty ambitious, nice work.
The effect being stronger with the neck pickup is the way all octave type pedals are (analog ones, at least), it's not specific to the Mutron.

[TRG]

You want the Boss Octaver OC2, not the Octave OC2. The Octaver is the earlier MIJ version. I think mine cost $75.

mk

Would you be able to elaborate on what the differences were? Does it simply just sound better for the Jerry sound? (i.e. Cats, Stranger)

[cmc64]

Hi, first time poster, been a lurker for a while.

I've built the BYOC Octave Divider clone. The tracking is certainly not perfect. With my guitar it works best on the neck pickup, decent on the middle pup, and not so good on the bridge. That said, I really like it and I don't plan on replacing it. It has a very organic "analogy" sound to it. The octaves are not pristine and I really feel like I get an old school 70's electronics sound out of it. It's very synth like especially with the ringer turned on.

As for the difference in parts. The main differences are the power supply. It uses a MAX1044 charge pump so you can use a standard 9v power supply. It's also true bypass. Neither of those I think have any major effect on sound.
Other than that the IC's and transistors are the only things that might be different from original (i haven't compared).
*Actually, I just looked at their website and it says "with all the exact same chips
and transistors that were used in the original". So take that for what you will.

I just finished the Madbean Nautilus which is a clone of the Mutron III. Same deal there. Power supply/true bypass.
The one major difference is that it (and the phasor) use custom made vactrols that you can't get.
You can roll your own or just use the ones he suggests that give similar results.

I'm still trying to dial in my Mutron III clone. It's a little finicky but so far it seems really cool when you hit the sweet spot.

These two were my first plunge into pedal building and electronics. It's very fun. I've also built a tiger buffer on veroboard and plan to build a stratoblaster. I'm in the process of assembling a new Jerry inspired partscaster that I plan to put the stratoblaster in with custom shop 69's. I've spent countless hours reading this forum, so thanks for that. This site is great!


Here's a pic of my build of the Octave Divider clone.

After losing out on a few Mu-Tron Octave Divider auctions I have decided to pick up the BYOC version (the sound samples I have heard are great - they really nailed the sound). I can solder a bit but this project is a bit much for me so for an extra $75 they will build it for you. I really dig the Mu-TRon and while I am fortunate to have the Mu-III, Phasor II and C-200 Vol/Wah the Octave just doesn't seem to be in the cards. Anyway, the silkscreening (or however you did the graphics looks fantastic. How did you do it? And would you be willing to do another one once I pick mine up? I would be more than happy to compensate you for time, materials and so forth. Your work on it is really something and would certainly spruce up that plain silver box.

[tigerstrat]

Anyway, the silkscreening (or however you did the graphics looks fantastic. How did you do it?

+1, was just going to comment how strikingly good it looks! The name inversion is clever too. Nice work!!

[twofootskunk]

Anyway, the silkscreening (or however you did the graphics looks fantastic. How did you do it? And would you be willing to do another one once I pick mine up? I would be more than happy to compensate you for time, materials and so forth. Your work on it is really something and would certainly spruce up that plain silver box.

I made the graphic in Inkscape. It's a free vector graphics program. I sanded the enclosure first to clean it up before putting on the decal. I printed the graphic on Inkjet Waterslide decal paper with a regular inkjet printer. Then sprayed very thin coats of clear acrylic (from home depot) over it to seal the ink. You can see that it still bled a little. Once the acrylic was dry, just put it in water, peel the backing off, place it on the enclosure and squeeze the air bubbles out. Once it was dry I cut out the holes. I then sprayed the whole enclosure/decal with the clear coat.

I'm happy to send anyone the graphics file, just message me with an email address to send it to. I don't want to get into doing it for others. It was kind of a pain in the rear. For the Mutron III clone I just bought a prefinished enclosure and wrote on it with a sharpie! ha

[schmidtz]

I just finished my Divided Octave kit... I actually think that it sounds better than my Octave Divider, but that could just mean it needs service.

It is a lot of parts, however, and the resistors are incredibly tiny!


Just look at how many resistors there are!


Here's a terrible video with bad sound and horrible playing that shows how it sounds, almost