NereusOctave Fuzz

From the vendor

A vintage-inspired octave-up fuzz in the tradition of the Roger Mayer Octavia.

The Nereus Octave Fuzz is based on the Catalinbread Octapussy, an octave-up fuzz that was first released in 2012 and traced by Aion FX in 2023.

The Octapussy was called an original circuit, though they hinted that it was related to the Octavia. Based on our trace, this is perhaps stretching the truth a bit since the front half of the circuit is very similar to a silicon Fuzz Face and the octave section is directly lifted from the Octavia.

There are some interesting twists, though, and the end result is undoubtedly better than the sum of its parts. The Fuzz Face input section has a unique feedback arrangement that acts as a tone control and softens the fuzz somewhat, and prepares the signal for a better octave in the following stage.

The Nereus is directly based on our trace of the Octapussy. The only change we made was to reverse the orientation of the output volume control, which was called “Attenuation” on the original and reduced the volume as it was turned up—most likely a marketing decision on their part to make it seem louder.

Note: This project uses a type of capacitor that has been temporarily discontinued by WIMA. Please see our news article about the issue and the substitution spreadsheet for project-specific recommendations. We are stocking a limited supply in the mean time. The build document has not yet been updated to reflect this.