VulcanOctave Fuzz

From the vendor

A classic untamed fuzz from the 1970s that adds an octave-up overtone.

The Vulcan Octave Fuzz is a recreation of the fOXX Tone Machine, first released in 1971 and discontinued in 1978. The Tone Machine is a thick fuzz that uses a phase splitter and complementary rectifier to create an octave overtone.

The Tone Machine has a lot in common with the Fender Blender, but with a more pronounced octave and smoother tone, as well as the ability to disable the octave by turning off half of the phase splitter. And the tone is not unlike the Superfuzz, although it uses a different method of octave generation to get there.

The Vulcan is faithful to the original, but with two added modifications. First, the octave switch (normally just “on” or “off” in the original) now has a 3rd setting allowing you to bypass the series diode in non-octave mode. See build notes for more details on this.

The second modification is to the tone control. The tone control of the original is somewhat similar to the Big Muff, but many people find it’s difficult to get good sounds from the treble side of the rotation. By increasing the value of the treble-side tone capacitor, it improves the usability. A switch has been added to let you choose between two different capacitors in addition to the original.

Note: The PCB-only version of 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. It does not impact the kits.