The original Foxrox Octron was produced from 2005 to 2016. In late 2016, it was discontinued and replaced with Octron3.
Octron3
is smaller and has two additional switches. These switches bring the
original Octron's internal settings to the front panel. Aside from that,
Octron3 uses the same circuitry as Octron. The switch selections have
been fine-tuned to bring out a choice of Octron�s best sounds,
previously not possible without opening the unit.
Octron3 is an analog pedal - not to be confused with a digital octave pedal.
You won't get that cheesy harmonizer sound with digital latency.
Instead, it's an organic analog effect that responds to your playing
style/technique. And it takes on a new life when you put it though other
effects and crank it up. Octave up, down, clean with a little of each
mixed...you can dial in just a hint of octave or you can make Octron3
your octave monster!
Octave Down
- It's an octave divider in the tradition of Mutron/BOSS OC2/DOD
Octoplus/etc. It tracks your dynamics and has more pre-divide gain and
filtering. The result is probably the best tracking you'll ever get from
an analog octave divider. Ultimately, the tracking is most dependent on
playing technique. Articulate playing tracks well, while sloppy playing
doesn't.
Octave DOWN Mids/Low switch:
Mids - This gives the low octave a "woody" type of tone, with midrange punch that will cut through when using a small amp.
Low
- This gives a deep, fat bass tone that sounds HUGE through 12" and 15"
speakers. Frank Marino helped in shaping the fat low octave sound.
(Frank Marion and Mahogany Rush)
Octave Up
- It's a fuzzy high gain circuit that uses a pair of germanium diodes to get
the octave doubling effect. The upper octave is present at all parts of
the neck, but it becomes most prevalent as you go up the neck on the
high strings. Up around the 10th fret and higher, you can get a pure
upper octave. Play the NECK PICKUP and turn the TONE knob down a hair, and you can run it into a fuzz too.
NOTE!!! The Octave up is NOT like an EHX POG or something that makes your same sound, just an octave higher. It's a FUZZ, an octavia, used for the Jimi or KWS Blue On Black solo sounds.
Octave UP Bright/Pure switch:
Bright
- The octave up circuit receieves a full range signal and the output is
bright and clear, and rich with harmonics. Roll your strat volume knob
down and use the neck pickup for Hendrix "Octavia" type sounds.
Pure
- The octave up circuit recieves its signal after going through a low
pass filter. This results in a more pure octave-up sound, with less
treble and fewer harmonics.
Tips for Octave Down Tracking
Like
other Analog Octave dividers, Octron3's lower octave will get confused
by chords, open strings, harmonics, weak pickups and sloppy playing.
Clean, articulate playing is rewarded with near-perfect tracking. Here
are some general tips for getting the best tracking results not only
with Octron3, but with any octave divider, and even many guitar
synthesizers that work on the same principles:
- Use the NECK pickup
- a guitar's neck pickup has the roundest and purest tone. As you move
away from the neck, with middle, bridge, or any combination of pickups,
you add more harmonics and less of the fundamental frequency. Lower
octave tracking will become less accurate resulting in skipping and
dropping out. Also, make sure your guitar is set up right. Dead spots
and buzzing frets will cause poor tracking.
- Let only one note sound
- The octave down circuit will warble, skip and drop out if you play
multiple notes at once or let open strings sound. Palm muting will help
you control your dynamics and will produce the best tracking. The more
articulate your single note playing is, the better the tracking will be.
You can even use the tracking as a way to improve your playing.
- Letting notes decay
- As a note decays, there comes a point where the Octave down circuit
can no longer determine the note you're playing. At this point it will
sputter a little and drop out. The way to prevent this is to know at
what point this happens, and modify your playing to prevent it. Learn
just how long you can let a note hang and cut it off before the Octave
down circuit gets confused. Note - with single-coil pickups the natural
hum can get pretty loud. When especially bad, this can cause Octron3's
lower octave to skip.
- Play the chromatic scale on every string, up and down the neck. It seems that every guitar has one or two notes that just won't track well.
*Higher
voltage - You can run Octron3 at higher than 9VDC for increased
headroom, which is most useful when using Octron3 with bass guitar. Do
not exceed 18VDC.
Goin Up n Goin Down 
