40 of the Best Upper Octave Fuzz Pedals - from my own collection

Controls - Volume, Tone, Buzz (Fuzz Face Gain), Fuzz (Super Fuzz Gain), INTERNAL } Bias, Ring Freq (Modulation), Feed (Input Gain), LED Brightness.

One of my all time favourite Octave Fuzzes - this one's which and textured - where it combines 2 fuzz circuits in 1 - a combination of Fuzz Face and Super-Fuzz - sounds utterly superb - this one has often been my top choice for compact octave fuzz - so it's cool that it appears first in this list (alphabetical obviously!).

Controls - Level, Fuzz, Tone, Octave : On / Off, Diode : Lift / Engage , Fat : On / Off.

Basic Audio's excellent take on the legendary 1968 Japanese K-1 Fuzztone - one of the best of that genre - with exactly the number of controls you need to make the most of this circuit. This was my 20th Basic Audio pedal - I really need to revisit that brand again! 

Controls - Volume, Fuzz, Nature (Bias / Character), Gate, Treble.

Another one of my genre favourites. The very first Super-Fuzzes were germanium variants - and these sound really special indeed. The ebbing and flowing fuzz blooms here are ever more richly textured - this one sounds fantastic, but alas has been out of commission for a while!

Controls - Pre (Input Gain), Honey (Output Gain), Vol (Master Volume).

The original V1 Beetronics Octahive was a long term favourite of mine - and often competed with the Anasounds Crankled as the favourite octave fuzz of that time. This is the smaller V2 Babee Edition which offers some obviousl benefits over the larger original. While I'm not convinced this one sounds quite as good as by Custom Edition V1. Still very decent though!

Controls - Fuzz (Volume), Stinger (Gain), Double-Click Footswitch for Gated Fuzz or Octave Up Fuzz.

The earlier Babee series Octave Fuzz - somewhat sharper and more searing - with excellent cut-through. On different days I prefer this 2-voice variant over the Octahive - but it's more often the other way around!

Controls - Fuzz. Volume, Tone, Engage Footswitch, Octave Footswitch.

Grant made me one of these long after the main production runs were done - he had a few parts still left in his workshop - including one reminding pristine enclosure. This is an excellent full-fat take on the Foxx Tone Machine - sounds great!

Controls - Tone, Octave (Intensity), Level, Fuzz / Gain, Wear (Dying Battery / LoFi / Dampen).

First pedal for me from this new brand, and one of the two I added in January. I've been hugely impressed by this one - another great sounding one - what it really well priced. The Wear control is distinct here - where it somewhat softens the aggression of the fuzz - this one is nicely richly textured. I will for sure be getting in more pedals from this brand - I have my eye on a coupe of their overdrives too!

Controls - Level, Drive, Havoc Level (Octave), Tone, Body, Bypass Footswitch, Havoc (Octave) Footswitch, Internal Switch for Always-on Octave.

The 3rd tent pole to my Caroline Guitar Co Trifecta - I long wanted one of these, and hung on long enough to get the Germanium edition - sounds really full-on. Yet another excellent octave fuzz - I was hugely impressed with all of my Caroline ones - which I seem to recall were all custom editions!

Controls - Volume, Fuzz, Tone, EQ : Stock / Mid Boost, Second Octave Footswitch.

Danelectro's Steve Ridinger created this circuit back in 1973, and brought it back during his tenure at Danelectro - as an authentic compact take on that circuit with the Octave on the second Footswitch. This is a full THT circuit with primo components - and is an excellent more pedalboard-friendly take on the original.

Controls - Distortion, Filter (EQ), Amplitude (Distortion Level), Magnitude (Boost Level), Clipping : None (Opamp) / 2 Silicon + LED Asymmetric, Silicon Symmetric, Octave (Octave Blend/Depth), Left Footswitch Boost Engage, Right Footswitch Distortion On/Bypass.

The very first compact edition of the Sunn O))) Life Pedal as far as I'm aware - EQD only brought out a compact edition last year - as a limited KGR Harmony Edition. This Demiurge Doomy O))) has been out for a number of years already - with that Kawaii style artwork, and an improved Octave element - likely still the best-selling Demiurge pedal. I really need to get back in touch with Joseph - I have several of his - excellent!

Controls - Level, Fuzz, LPF, Tone, OCT : Off/On.

One of my recent additions for the year - acquired last month. Yet another great Octave Fuzz - a sort of revival of an earlier model - but with some further refinements. I would have preferred the octave switch to have been a second footswitch. All the Diamond and SolidGoldFX is very decent - and this one is nicely textured and responsive. It was always on the cards - it just needed the right motivation and opportunity!

Controls - Fat (± Bass centered @ 80Hz, 5.06 Q), Muscle (± Mids centered @ 875Hz, 5.5 Q), Air (± Highs centered @ 1550Hz, 4.58 Q), Exhaust (Volume), Vacuum (% Ring Mod Upper Octave), Power (Drive).

This is actually a mix of 2 previous Drunk Beaver pedals - the Fluff Octave Muff, and the Mykolaiv Grunge (Boss PW-2). For this later edition the PW-2 takes over the fuzz duties, and we loose the separate boost footswitch from the Fluff. In some ways I still prefer the Fluff, while this is the latest evolution of that - a superb Octave Muff in any case.

Controls - Balance, Tone, Scoop, Expander.

Another superior Super-Fuzz take - this one sounds really excellent - both rich textured and properly searing - one of my favourites of that kind for sure. And in fetching hot-pink enclosure! No demo yet for this one - so will refer to the original!

Controls - Tone, Voice (Clipping) : 1 Germanium / 3 Open / 2 Silicon, Fuzz, Level.

The second Super-Fuzz in a row - EQD's excellent re-issued Fuzz Master General take. Also excellent - really full on and high octane - with a lot of gain and aggression. Distinct from the aforementioned Drunk Beaver Volnovakha - both are blisteringly good - and each has a slightly different emphasis - I love both of those. Evidently I have a fondness for Super-Fuzzes!

Controls - Volume, Balance (Smooth Sustain > Rasp Character), Octave (Level).

A budget faux historic EHX variant - created by Josh Scott and Daniel Danger - and utilising 2 already established DIY style circuits - the Bazz Fuzz and PushMe PullYou Octave Fuzz. Nicely done in many ways - while they should have credited the original circuit creators - Chris Holberg and Tim Escobedo. Works really well, but seemingly discontinued now for whatever reason - a cool cheap thrill for sure!

Controls - Level, Fuzz (+80dB Gain), 3-way Low Pass Filter / Hi-Cut : Strong Hi-Cut / No-Cut / Mild Hi-Cut, Squelch / Gating : Strong / Off / Mild, Weigt (High Pass Filter Cutoff), Texture (Analog Octave).

One of my most favoured of the recent releases - this one is a beast in the best sense of the word - with an utterly blisteringly incredible 80dB of gain. The Glaive is super fierce - while brilliantly controllable to - searing, textured, weapons-grade octave fuzz - sounds utterly amazing!

Controls - Volume, Bias Gate, Filter Mix, Octave Bias, Gain, Filter Depth.

A really searing Super-Fuzz take now alas discontinued - but still well worth seeking out second-hand. I prefer the even older Gjallarhorn take - especially the 5K edition - which is thunderously good - imagine a Fog Horn as a fuzz - it's thick and booming in the most wonderful way, The Fenris is far sharper and more searing - both are excellent, and both are long-term favourites. I selected the Fenris - as it's the more recently available one - and should be easier to track down!

Controls - Master Level, Octave Gain, Fuzz Gain, Fuzz / Octace Fuzz Toggle Footswitch, Engage/Bypas Footswitch.

Fjord Fuzz's most enduring Fuzz - now in further enhanced V4 edition major edition - where I have several of this perfect Octave Fuzz. This one has pretty consistently bene a 2-Footswitch variant - which is my favourite stile of octave fuzz - where you can deploy the fuzz sans octave also - on the fly - for extra versatility. This one looks every bit as good as it sounds.

Controls - Fuzz Depth (Intensity), Balance (Volume), Ocave Off/On Switch, Tone Change Footswitch : Flat / ’Garagey’ (Red) / Scooped (Green), Fuzz On Footswitch.

Based on Ibanez's classic '74 variety of fuzz of the same name - which famously had sliders. I don't mind that this one is a knobs take on that - it still sounds superb - a variant favoured by Dan Auerbach, but remains under the radar for many. 

Controls - Volume, Fuzz, Tone, EQ Voice : Bright / Fat, On/Off Footswitch, Octave-Up Footswitch.

A very classic sounding Octave Fuzz - with the perfect complement of controls, not the most aggressive or high octane - but has a certain elegance to it. This is another one that I required recently - it arrived at the start of the month - only the Zorg Glue Fuzz is more recent. I love all the octave fuzzes that have the Octave on a separate footswitch. And I love the extra Fat Boost here. Another excellent edition - and it is much preferred to the blue Fulltone Octafuzz.

Controls - OCTAVE FUZZ } Oct (intensity); SCOOPED FUZZ } Fuzz (gain), CLEAN PREAMP } Blend (Preamp|Fuzz Mix), Preamp Level; EQ } Active High, Active Low.

Yet another great Super-Fuzz take - I was super impressed with all 3 of my Fuzz Imp pedals - it was really close between this and the Creature as to which was my overall Fuzz Imp variety - it was too close to call. There are truly some stellar Super-Fuzzes in this selection - it hadn't really dawned on me how much I liked the Super-Fuzz format!

Controls - Focus (Gain Boost + Frequency Boost), Level, Mode : Boost / Drive / Fuzz, Fuzz (Bias + Gain + Compression, Overtone Octave Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch.

David Greeves re-invented the Classic Fuzz with his original Germanium Focus Fuzz Edition - which kind of works as 3 separate and stackable gain stages - each dial can be deployed independently or in tandem. And for this edition we get the output split into 3 voicings - Boost / Drive / Fuzz, and we get an excellent sounding Overtone Octave on the second footswitch. A must have multi-gain fuzz - beautifully engineered!

Controls - FUZZ } Output, Tone, Gain, Voice / EQ Focus : Hi / Low / Mids, Clipping : LED / NONE / MOSFET, Fuzz Mode : Octave, Gated, Non-Gated, Fuzz Footswitch, CHOPPER / DRONE } Speed, Speed Fine-Tune / Frequency (particular for peak Drone settings), Depth / Intensity, Chopper Footswitch.

This is an absolutely killer Fuzz / Octave Fuzz / Fuzz Chopper variant. Supremely high octane and massively shapeable. Sound immense every which way you deploy it. One of the most satisfying Compact Fuzzes out there - and equal to the recent also brilliant DAGG'R Auto Gain / Gate Dynamic Mighty Morphing Gain Ramper. Those 2 Hangman fx are asbolutely blisteringly good, and the Lord GermFET and Meteoric Echo Monster are no slouches either. The two aforementioned ones are total must-haves!

Controls - Volume, Gain.

One of the simplest Octave Fuzzes in this rundwon, where transistor-wrangler Joe of Hello Sailor Effects really earns his stripes in the selection and match-up of premium vintage components. This is a brilliantly balanced Octave Fuzz with minimal controls - but it sounds superb, and for once I don't miss the second Octave On/Off footswitch. There's a real elegance to this one!

Controls - Volume, Mid Freq, Fuzz, Bass, Middle, Treble, Fuzz Footswitch; OCTAVE FUZZ } Volume, Blend, Octave, Octave Footswitch.

A clever concept which includes a separate octave circuit along with the main Modular board / capsule variant- 6 + 3 controls. The Modules are all modern silicon takes, emulating those vintage Germanium tones in some instances. And where the main flaw is that the somewhat essential bias controls are one the modular boards. Would have been smarter if those connected in some way to the surface - say via aperture similar to how Vemuram does it, Ideally on the side of the pedal. As having to constantly remove the back-plate to change some of those essential settings is a pain in the butt. I say go with the more modern Silicon voicings and you can't go wrong with this versatile format. The Octave voicing is decent, but not up to the top tier action of some of the others in this selection. Still a valiant effort, and nice to have in the collection!

Controls - Voice : Scooped / Full, Tone, Clipping : Asymmetrical / Symmetrical, Level, Gain.

This is one of the very best here - every bit as fierce sounding as the EAE Glaive one - blisteringly high octane, in the bet possible sense. The Octaurus is one of the very best sounding Octave Fuzz - but somewhat pricy too in the original suede-covered edition!

Fuzz Controls - Fuzz/Gain, Level, Tone, Low End EQ : Punch (Bass Boost) / Psi (Max Undertones), Scoop (Scooped), Fuzz Footswitch (Press-Hold to flip between Octave Latching and Momentary Ramping Modes), Press-Hold on Power-up to flip between True or Buffered Bypass.

Octave / Pitch Controls - Blend (Pitch and Interval Levels / Interval Blend / Alt Interval Selection), Octave/Pitch Mode : Up / Dual / Down, Pitch Interval : DY (Detune / Chorus), M2, M3, P4, P5, M6, OCT, 2 OCT, Octave Footswitch - press-hold and then press-twist Blend to adjust Ramp Speed, works beautifully for Momentary Ramping (enabled by press-holding Fuzz footswitch!)

This is a wholly evolved category which combines Digital Polyphonic Pitch-Shifting / Harmonising and Octaves with a Opamp style Big Muff analog Fuzz. Obviously has a vastly expanded featured set - but some inherent complexity to - with several controls serving multiple function and parameters, The Pitch-Shifter part is quite superb, while I feel that the Fuzz site could be a little louder and more potent. I have struggled on occasion with Keeley pedal being somewhat under powered on the output side - non more so than the Rotary / I Get Around pedal. The Octa Psi is miles better than that, but still not quite perfect. There are later special editions which may tackle some of these areas, but I only have the original Octa Psi to-date!

Controls - Filter (Low Pass Filter), Timbre (±Fuzz Voicing), Dry (Dry Level), Oct+ (Octave Level).

A great warm, thick sounding Octave Fuzz - based on the Moai Maea Monophonic Octaver. I've always liked the sound of this one, but wasn't overly enamoured with the colurway, I was hoping there would be a new colourway, but since that didn't look likely to happen any time soon I finally puled the trigger. This is a fantastic sounding Octave Fuzz with a slightly unusual control topology - but still highly potent. It takes a wee while to acclimatise to its inner workings - but it's capable of great sounds once you're up to speed.

Controls - Level, Tone, Gain, F.Back.

All the Lastgasp fuzzes are killer and this Octavella is supreme. It's another searing high octane one - beautifully balanced and which reacts great to the Feedback control. A really smartly engineered slightly unusual Octave Fuzz take but very classic sounding.

Controls - Balance (Level), Tone, Expander (Gain).

This has long been one of my most favoured Super-Fuzzes, Aisha Loe has a wonderful ear for tone - and each of here Fuzzes sound superb. Matt Bradford reeled me in to this one - and I wanted an identical one to his - which Aisha obligingly made for me - these are the diamond standard for Super-Fuzzes - just check out the Matt Bradford demo above - every way supreme!

Controls - Stablize (Pitch-Stabilization), Ringer (Upper Octave), Fuzz, Mix (Sub-Octave Degree), Tone.

This is a smart evolution of the Mu-Tron Octavider Octaver with additional Fuzz Voicing to generate an Octave Fuzz. It's pretty decent - but could do with a little more gain and output. I often run a treble booster after this one to make up the gain and output volume.

Controls - Boost, Fuzz, Blend.

This has kind of become the new standard for Prescription Electronic's long discontinued Clean Octave Boost. We also have the DanDrive Austin Blender - but that's twice the price. There's also a version of he Argo with additional boost on board - but that double the size of the enclosure. I feel this one's still the best option for a Clean Octave Boost!

Controls - DRIVE } Volume, Drive, Bias (Highly interactive with Drive), Timbre (Dual Filter / Midrange Character), Drive Footswitch, OCTAVE }  Level, Drive, Octave Footswitch.

A quite superb take on the Thermionic Culture Vulture Tube Saturator Rack Unit. This is a multi-gain device - an overdrive, distortion and fuzz - with an additional Octave circuit, I mostly deploy this as an Octave Fuzz  - this is one of my favourite ever Thorpy designed pedal. Incredibly versatile and unearthly potent!

Controls - Claw (Volume), Howl (Voltage Bias / Octave), Fuzz (Master Gain), Fur (Pre-Gain), Attack (Post-Gain).

A properly unique full-range Hybrid Octave Multi-Voice - with so many different voicings onboard. I feel it could to with a little more output volume - but you can't dispute the vast range of superior tones onboard. The Dual Fur and Attack Gain Controls yield almost every kind of Fuzz Tone - and the Howl Voltage Bias delivers Octave Fuzz Tones also. One of the most fun fuzz pedals ever. I would love to see a V2 with more output volume - that would reign supreme!

Controls - Volume, Clipping : OpAmp / Asymmetrical Silicon / Symmetrical Silicon / MOSFET / LED / Germanium, Distortion (+60dB), Boost (+40dB), Filter, Octave, Boost Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch.

This one is a Triple-Threat as an amazing Life Pedal take, killer Rat Distoriton, and phenomenal Octave Fuzz. The Tephra is one of my most potent - with +60dB of Distortion and +30/40dB of Boost. It is a might proposition for sure - and sounds blisteringly good on LED clipping in particular. Quite the phenomenon really - I've praised this one to high heaven before - a really magnificent pedal in most ways!

Controls - Level, Clipping : [I] Symmetrical / [II] Asymmetrical, Fuzz, Color, Tone.

Yet another killer Super-Fuzz variant. Sitek has been a little quite of late, as Andy has recently moved house and is juggling other priorities at the moment. While this has long been one of his bestsellers - a really great sounding Super-Fuzz for sure - with a perfect control topology.

Controls - Level, Fuzz : Fz1 / Oct / Fz2, Tone.

A recently reissued early Spaceman Octave Fuzz circuit - where I own both original and revival editions. All the Spaceman Effects Fuzzes are pretty great, and some are wholly exceptional. I much prefer this to Spaceman's other Octave Fuzz - the Nebula.

Controls - Volume, Tone (Tilt EQ), Mix (Wet > Dry Mix), Fuzz (Saturation), Mode - 1-5 [Orange / Green / Cyan / Magenta / White], Voice : Orange (Bright) / Cyan (Fat).

This is a really potent Fuzz / Octave Fuzz / Oscillating / Tremolo-Fuzz - one of the smartest of that type. It has a beautiful enamel style artwork on the facia, and an intriguing control topology which delivers maximum versatility. This was supposed to be the first of a new Stone Deaf Platform, but to-date this is the only new Stone Deaf pedal we've seen in 2 years. A great example of his kind - and with a foot in several camps! 

Controls : Gain, Mode : Octa / Fuzz, Volume, Edge, ’MagTraB’ Proprietary Magnetic Soft Touch Footswitch.

This one has long been on the cards! I was right on the point of acquisition when Vahlbruch introduced a brand new V2 variant with additional 'Edge' control. For a period I did not know whether to go for the V1 Germanium Diode edition or the newer V2 - which makes use of Schottky Diodes. I've finally decided that I should have the new V2 edition - which I can get from my friend Steve @ FX Pedal Planet - I'm aiming to add this final one for the rundown early next month!

Controls - Tone, Mid, Glue (Bias), Volume, Mids Cut Button, Bass Boost Button, Gain, Bypass Footswitch, Octave Footswitch.

This is a fantastic versatile Multi-Fuzz - with heaps of range onboard, and a formidable 4-controls EQ Section - which covers conventional Tone Stack, a Mids Sweep, Mids Cut, and Bass Bass boost. An incredibly formidable Gain range and with a a smart 'Glue' Bias control - this is a pedal of a thousand voicings and it does my favourite Octave on a second Footswitch thing - which I feel most Octave Fuzzes should have. If I see an Octave On/Off toggle switch I get a little announced - as it should really be on a second Footswitch - for instant on-the-fly activation! It's great for the last pedal to land here to be such a formidable candidate - and it rounds up the selection very nicely indeed!