MXR M103 Blue Box™ Octave Fuzz

thick fuzz sounds, great when combined with other effects. The one thing this pedal has stacks of, is character, it sounds warm and it crackles and spits when trying to track notes. It tracks very well when playing about the 11th fret though. Reacts differently to different pickups. Unique and fun to play with IF you like noise. Not one for pure tone hunters.

Love it! Does everything I wanted it to do. Deep and unique octave and fuzz tone. It does not cut volume. 75% is unity volume. Beyond that, it will start driving your amp, which is cool too. Because of the low frequency bass, it does EQ your signal in a way which may not punch through a mix as easily. My fix for that is to put it in front of a phase shifter. With an MXR Phase 100 it will chew its way through a mix quite easily. To improve tracking, use your bridge pickup and turn its tone control down all the way. For further improvement, use a compressor in front of it. Keeping a consistent input level smooths out the tracking and noise. If you need perfect polyphonic octave tracking, get a HOG or a POG. This a unique sound all its own that will give you a monsterous lead tone if you treat it right.

Great delivery. Product functions as it should.

This goes from a really awesome sounding fuzz to a nintendo-esque type Octaver-fuzz sound with weird nuances. This is a pedal for an experimenter. While my description of its sounds may sound weird it is musical. I believe it's used in some White Stripe songs. You'll notice it immediately when you hear it. Doom Metal riffers (who will love its insane fuzz) to "electronica" experimenters will be pleased by this little monster. The only downside is volume. It tends to be tamer than many of my other dirt pedals. Constructionwise, it'll survive a nuclear war. This thing will last longer than you will.

The sound is deep and can make your guitar sound like an old school computer game from the 80's. The best way to use this pedal is in front of an amp with subtle distortion/overdrive. (otherwise it can be confusing and noisy) Depending on the guitar you're using the best results are with neck pickup and tone knob on the guitar turned to 10. Its a great pedal for blues, desert rock and garage rock.

So here's the deal. Let me just make this statement before I go into the qualifiers ...The pedal outright rocks. BUT.... The pedal is somewhat limited in the overall tones it produces, which is what the one star deduction is for. If all your looking for is a fuzz pedal, look elsewhere. This one is for a specific type of sound. I currently use a "La Machine" pedal from mxr for a great versatile box, but there are hundreds of fuzz's from hundreds of brands that are wonderful for any type of fuzz you want. fuzz... :) This pedal puts fuzz on your signal than doubles the tone two octaves down and layers it on top of each other. And it does so with analog circuitry. This means it is an organic pedal with quirks galore that must be mastered before you can use it effectively. And that process is an absolute load of fun for tone experimenters! At times it has a real organic sounding aspect, at others it is a bit Nintendo-ey as the octave tries to settle in on a note. Sometimes the sustain will cut itself short as you hit the note in in odd way (mostly with passive pick-ups) but most of the time there is plenty. Don't listen to those who say it isn't a good box for live playing. Slash used one for years before switching to a custom signature box he helped design, it didn't seem to hurt his live shows. Once you've mastered it's quirks and figured out what to avoid it works splendidly. A couple tips and notes to bring out the best in the pedal. There is a significant volume suck when the pedal is activated, and for its effects to work properly, you have to have some volume behind it to work with. Otherwise it sounds choked and thin. It sounds best if it comes after an overdrive in the pedal chain. It'll take the bite from the overdrive and really produce some amazing stuff with it. I currently have an OD in my amp on a dirty channel, and with some gain (not even a lot really, about 10 o'clock on the dial with noon being half) and a boost It just shines. The octave works best on the mid to higher end of the scale, the lower end is a bit muddy and in a band setting would be drowned out by a bass guitar anyway. Grindcore players need not apply. On the other hand, if you don't play with a bass, a la the White Stripes, it fills in the spectrum nicely. There is nothing quite like this pedal out there, and with this one In hand I really don't feel the need to look.