Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Just out of curiosity, I'm wondering if any connoisseurs of octavia/ring mod FX could comment on the differences between the BYOC Octave Fuzz, the Green Ringer portion of the BYOC Atmstrong Twin, and any other octavia-type or ring mod effects. I'm probably gonna be ordering the Armstrong Twin real soon...

For the record, I currently own a Danelectro French Toast which, if it weren't for the stupidly microscopic knobs, would be a real classic. I believe it's a clone of the Foxx Tone machine. Comparisons to the French Toast would be most helpful. I also use the ring mod effect found in the Boss GT-3, and I've had a load of exoperience with the MoogerFooger and an Arp 2600 synth's ring mod patch. (Am I dating myself? )

Just figured I'd bump this post up - I can hardly believe that no one has had any experience with more than one of these effects. Please prove me wrong and give me some comparative descriptions of these different effects.

Thanks in advance!

The armstrong twin is new so there's not too many people who have built them yet, but I have an octafuzz so I'll give you a reply based on that.

If you just want an octave effect, stay away from the octafuzz -- to the best of my knowledge, no one has gotten the fuzz lift effect to work (at least no one has came here and said they got it to work). The fuzz is very apparent and even almost over-powering at times, so unless you're in the market for a fuzz as well I wouldn't suggest the octafuzz for your particular needs.
As for the armstrong twin, I don't know, but one thing you might want to look into is maybe putting your danelectro into a bigger enclosure and getting normal sized knobs?

Hey Jooooosh-

I'm well aware of the struggle to lift the fuzz from the octafuzz. As I posted myself, if you can lift the octave effect and you can lift the fuzz, wouldn't that make it a sort of Zen effect? Y'know, it's on but it's not on. With the fuzz on AND the octave effect on, I'd love to know how it compares to the Danelectro French Toast/Foxx Tone machine.

I tried putting the French Toast into a bigger enclosure. I got well into it - about three to four hours of bench work, very meticulous substitution of each outboard component with testing every step of the way, including lots of inspection with a magnifying glass and high-power reading glasses to see the friggin' tiny circuit board soldering points - and then discovered that the foot switch is some kind of logic-based crap that couldn't be replaced with a DPDT stomp switch. Bummer.

Anybody use the Armstrong Twin with a fuzz box, either before or after?

Anybody care to comment on the supposedly cool sound that the Foxx Tone Machine gets when you turn the distortion almost all the way off?

I have built several of the Dan Armstrong effects including both the Green Ringer and the Orange Squeezer. It is possible to get some pretty pronounced octave effects from the GR under certain circumstances (neck pickup, treble rolled down) playing in the higher part of the neck. It is alsso capable of creating some pretty crazy sounds as well, especially playing chords. I have found that anything that gooses up the input of the GR will help it along, this includes the Orange Squeezer, clean boosts like the Red Ranger, and various distortion devices. I have not tried it with an actual fuzz, but it does sound good with a Big Muff, Rat, and Blue Clipper. Putting distortion in front of, or after the GR produces slightly different effects, but I liked them both, especially with the Rat.

I know the clips of the byoc octavefuzz aren't that great, but if you listen in the beginning when the fuzz knob is all the way off, it sounds a lot like a green ringer.