Tycobrahe Octavia clone, any 'more octave, less fuzz' mods?

[JJGross]

Hi,
I built a Tycobrahe Octavia clone using the info at GGG. It works pretty well, but I was expecting a little more of an Upper Octave effect and a little less of an Iron Butterfly Fuzz.

I can get an upper octave out of this, but the usable range of it seems limited. Obviously it works better on the neck PU and with the tone controls rolled back. I'm looking for ideas to make the circuit itself more octave heavy if possible, rather than messing around with the tone controls and PU switch hunting for what makes the octave come out in the middle of a solo.

Are there any mods to make that happen or am I SOL and looking at building a different unit? If that's the case, what type of Octavia clone should I be looking for?


Cheers,
- JJ

[ISC]

If I recall the schematic is incorrect and the emitter of Q1 should go to the base of Q2, ie the transistor is around the wrong way. Turn it around and you should get better octave an less fuzz, search for more info on this at http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/ loads of help there.

regards
Trevor

[petemoore]

...

It's like that.
That said below...first try a booster or fuzz in front or fuzz behind the Tycho, sometimes a stiffened or pre-clipped signal can cajole more octave/less fuzz [fuzz after?...works for the GR].
My tycho is a problemeyated circuit board which sleeps in a box [personal problem needs debugged is what it is], I like it, but like it better when it works reliably.
You need to tune the octave in for most octave, or it'll be be lotsa fuzzy and some octave...yes neck PU, volume rolled off a touch...other whatever it takes to cajole the octave out of it....it doesn't just octave like good no matter what, actually all these octaves can be picky about anything they're connected to...put in the right set of circumstances and yes good octave.
Matching the diodes...TO the symmetry/assymetry of the signals +/- swings...iow if the signal hitting the diodes is symetric, matching diodes would theoretically get you optimum octave.
Then there's higher voltage, some reads report that the Octavia works different like it did in 60's or whatever when run @18v, and probably does make the signal hit the diodes at a different 'angle' because the peaks of the +/- swings would be well above the diode threshold, getting clipped when at more of a 'vertical' angle.
Hekuva time to mention Green Ringer, but check out the Null Mod, a way of tuning the +/- symmetry of clipping, and improves octave Vs. fuzz ratio [what I have on PB now...modded out but still basically a GR, it doesn't really work right without a Fuzz, which is a 'feature' for my uses, I like 1switch between fuzz and octave, if I had an octave that octaves right without fuzz, I'd have to switch the fuzz off/octave on to get from fuzz to octave.
So summary of what I can summarize...
18v is just a couple batteries and clips away from testing..be SURE all your components like capacitors are rated for 25v or better before increasing supply voltage, 12v probably does 'it just as well as 18v [better actually..IME's] with octaves.
Diodes...if everything else is 'symmetric' and the diodes are matched, perhaps octave vs fuzz ratio would improve. I'd have to look at the tycho schematic, but the GR has two = resistors from E/C on a transistor which can be matched as well as the diodes...this improved things a bit for my GR's...before I put on the null mod which does the same thing and is easier to do..just add a 10k pot.