Friday 25 January 2013

Roger Mayer Octavia Clone

The Roger Mayer Octavia is a circuit I've been wanting to put together for quite some time, but never got around to until now.

The reason why I've wanted it for so long became clear as soon as I stomped on it. The reason why I waited until now remains a mystery. I love the sound, the fuzz is dirty but very responsive while the octave is always lurking in the background but really comes out with the old neck pickup/rolled off tone combination.

That said, I only ever found one strip board layout for it on a rather impractical 30-something long board, which would have required an unnecessary large enclosure.

After having a go myself at a more practical layout and failing to come up with something reasonably compact I thought I'd try turning to someone who'd know better. I left a little message on Harald's request page at Sabrotone with a link to the schematic and within a couple of hours or so there it was. Brilliant.

Here's the great layout by Harald (click on it to be redirected to his website's post):


I didn't have any C10Ks (rev logs) for the gain control and opted for a B10K (linear). The result is not ideal, as over half the swipe gives clean tone with little or no gain variation nor octave. I will be replacing it with the correct taper hoping for a more usable range. The schematic didn't indicate how to orientate the pot and I ended up wiring it backwards, something I will correct when I'll switch for the rev log taper pot. The diodes used were metered and matched.

I housed it in a Hammerite-looking 1590B I bought a while ago in Maplin's reductions corner and have since kept on the side for this very pedal. Great to see it all finally boxed up! Put a couple of (pretty ugly) knobs for the time being, but will replace with black Davies 1510s. Here's the result (alas not yet 100% final):



And finally, a demo I recorded. Do keep in mind the Gain knob is wired backwards. It can sing, clean up, spit and fart. I love it for noisy, octavey, gnarly sounds as those towards the end - lots of fun to be had with this one. Definitely a personal favourite.

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