Big Ear Pedals' Chaka Octave Fuzz is an Unsung Classic of that Genre

This all started off with my good friend Bob Guido telling me about one of his all-time favourite fuzzes - the then discontinued Big Ear Pedals Chaka Octave Fuzz - that has first been introduced in 2014, but since discontinued within about five years of that.

I got talking to my good friend Grant Wilson at Big Ear Pedals - and asked if he could possibly conceivably make one more of those pedals for me. After some digging around, Grant fortuitously found a small stash of components pertaining to the Chaka Fuzz - including a couple of prototype enclosures and near enough all the parts needed for assembly. So he indeed then committed to making me the one that is pictured above - which is the first and only one thus far to be stamped with ’BIG EAR pedals’ - as all the previous ones had ’BIG EAR n.y.c.’. There is another brighter red enclosure, and one of the older ’n.y.c.’ types too!

The Chaka Octave Fuzz is a fantastic harmonically rich fuzz utilising 3 x 2N2222A Silicon Metal Can Transistors + 2N3904 to generate a gloriously thick and textured sound. With just the classic 3 control knobs - Fuzz, Volume, Tone, and separate Octave Engage via second / right-hand footswitch.

For a lot of Octave Fuzzes the Octave component can often sound somewhat divorced and separate from the core tonality. While for the Chaka those blend together beautifully as if made for each other!

Obviously the standard fuzz mode is great for chords and chugging, while the Octave mode gets a bit messy with lots of simultaneous notes - so best used for single notes / melody.

I’m not clear on whether this is based on any other similar circuit - but it’s definitely one of my favourites for upper octave fuzz alongside the Anasound Crankled Bitoun. Actually could be a variation or adjacent to a Foxx Tone Machine!

I can’t say if Grant is inspired to make any more of these - at the time there were 3 enclosures available - 2 with ’pedals’ (one in brighter red), and one with ’n.y.c.’. One or both of those may be spoken for already.

I sincerely hope Grant makes more - as these deserve to get into more players’ hands - they really do sound amazing and have wonderful playback dynamics.

I paid the typical Big Ear Pedals fee of $199 for said pedal - this run definitely deserves to be extended!

Who amongst you has one of these?