Crotronics Lost Temper Si

Lost Temper

Silicon Fuzz/Octave from Crotronics, Built in Pittsburgh PA

After playing through different fuzzes over the years I discovered that many of them had roots in

the same ancestor, the Helios Type 69 Preamp. This preamp spawned such incredible circuits

as Roger Mayer’s Octavia & Axis Fuzz and even modern releases from dunlop like the Band of

Gypsies fuzz. My idea was to go back to make the gain circuit a bit more like the original

preamp while also making sure it’s tailored to a guitar’s input. The end design can do anything

from clean boosts (when you back off your guitar’s volume control) to heavy distortions and the

switchable octave circuit is my nod to the Octavia though the octave section is quite different

leading to pretty unique tones due to the fatness of the gain circuit at the heart of the pedal.

Like a great fuzz face, turning down on your guitar’s volume pot can let you tame the distortion

and access shimmering cleans but this circuit isn’t stuck at the front of the signal chain, it does

great both before and after a buffer making it a lot more versatile than most vintage style fuzzes.

The Level control determines the amount of volume output. This circuit is not lacking in output

compared to some vintage style fuzzes and is capable of boosting up to 50dB

The Anger control determines the amount of gain from the first transistor stage. This gain

section is intrinsic to the sound of many of the golden age recordings of rock from Hendrix to

Zeppelin with a thick midrange and adjustable highs and lows thanks to the next control.

The Tone control lets you tame the amount of high end output of both the fuzz and octave

sections of the circuit. This tone control is in the style of a tilt eq similar to what you’d find in a

Big Muff but the high pass and low pass filters it blends between have been adjusted.

The Octave switch allows you to add an octave up to the effect. Once again I wanted to nod to

the Octavia but the octave circuit here is quite different and has a unique growl to it. With the

anger cranked the octave becomes less pronounced and acts to increase the amount of even

order harmonics

Crotronics Musical Effects — Pittsburgh, PA