Catalinbread Octapussy User Manual
USER’S GUIDE
USER’S GUIDE
Yay!!! I’m so glad you’re reading this! Excited to tell you all about the Octapussy!
So, what is it? Essentially, it’s an octave-up fuzz in the tradition of the Octavia. But it’s not a clone of that circuit!
Nope, it’s an original circuit utilizing 3 silicon transistors and two diodes that takes the tradition to the next level!
The preamp section is custom voiced to give you an extremely dynamic playing response. You’ll get those famous
high-octave lead tones up high on the guitar neck but you’ll also get an amazing array of fuzz tones anywhere
else on the neck - just by how you play it and how your GUITAR’s volume, tone, and pickup selector is set.
The more you play the Octapussy, the more sounds you’ll nd in it!
With the Octapussy, you can:
• Play sweet, breathy, delicate octave-up melodies up high on the neck.
• Play epic soaring leads that are full sounding with upper harmonics that bloom and bloom as you
hold that bend.
• Get tough sounding almost ring modulated double-stops that growl when you sustain it.
• Obtain sounds that evoke Caribbean steel drums.
• Get massively huge grinding, industrial-strength power chords.
• Riff out with a textured, harmonically rich fuzz tone that can achieve cello/sax-like qualities.
• Play otherworldly sounding arpeggios.
• Make strange, atonal soundscapes.
• Evoke the texture of a sitar.
• Achieve mysterious sounding droning melodies.
• And more!
.... All without changing any of the settings on the pedal! Between your playing technique and your
guitar’s volume, tone, and pickup settings, you’ll be able to discover an entirely new universe of expressive
sounds!
What you won’t get with the Octapussy:
An overly compressed and pinched-off response. Octapussy remains open and responsive at any setting!
You’ll never feel like you’re “ghting” the pedal. It invites you to enter its mystical world and explore the huge
range of textures available.
Check out the Catalinbread YouTube Channel for videos that demonstrate some of the range of sounds
obtainable with the Octapussy.
The more you play the Octapussy, the more sounds you’ll nd in it!
QUICK START GUIDE
OK, let’s try it out! Why don’t we start by plugging your guitar straight into the Octapussy and then to your amp.
(Although throwing a delay pedal after it is a helluva good time!)
Now turn all three knobs on the Octapussy full counter-clockwise. This is your starting position.
Flip over to your neck pickup and play some single note phrases up around
the 12th fret of the guitar. You should get a nice, sweet tone with a strong
upper-octave voice. Now play a few power chords. You should be experiencing a subtle grinding texture.
Now turn up the Body and Gain some and play some more. (I’ll describe
them fully in the next section.) You’ll get more gain, fullness, sensitivity,
and intensity. Now turn the volume on your guitar down low. Yup! You still
have those pure, sweet octave tones with no hiss from excessive gain!
CONTROLS
Octapussy features three carefully voiced controls that are responsive and
musical as you want to be throughout the entire range of the knobs.
Attn (Attenuate) This control should normally be set full counter-
clockwise. For best tone and response, only attenuate when you’ve got the
Gain and Body knobs really cranking and need to reduce the output some.
Gain This control increases the gain for more fuzz, harmonics, and upper-
midrange frequency boost. It is voiced to be usable throughout its range
from minimum all the way to maximum.
Body This control increases the bass response or “thump” frequencies. Like the Gain knob, it also increases
output and harmonic content. Technically, it is a negative-feedback loop with variable frequency response.
But let’s not dwell on technicals.... this is another MOAR knob!
To get the best feel for what this knob does, set it at minimum and then slowly bring it up as you thump the
low E string on your guitar. You’ll hear (and feel!) the low end thump increase as you turn up the Body.
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