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Wren and Cuff Fine Stompboxes
The sleaziest Octave-up Fuzzer you'll ever meet.
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The first time I came across the Tycobrahe Octavia pedal I was recording at a friend's studio. He has an
amazing studio and is the kind of guy who has so much gear that he
forgets what he owns (including a restored Echoplex that I drool over
every time I'm there). I was tooling around his guitar room messing
with different pedals for a part of a song and I asked him about a
light blue pedal I had seen. He handed it to me saying "I
think it's broken, it makes these God-awful clanging sounds when I play
chords through it; take it home and try to fix it if you want." I
plugged it in and heard the awful melting amp sounds coming from my rig
and agreed with him that it must be broken (this was a while before I
was building stomp boxes from scratch).
I went home and did a bit of research and had my own epiphany.
It wasn't broken, it was supposed to sound that way! It was a clone of
the super-rare Tycobrahe Octavia, a transformer equipped octave/fuzz.
The damn thing was horribly wonderful! After a few minutes toying with
the knobs I started hearing sounds I had been hearing on records for
years, but had assumed was some sort of studio trickery. Purple Haze,
Jimi's "flute" sounds on Axis Bold as Love. Neil Young, Zeppelin,
Cheesy 70's sound track stuff. This beast could go from cartoon-goofy
to the sound of someone pouring water onto a hot tube amp, whilst
kicking holes into the speakers. The Tyco certainly has a quality that,
love it or hate it, no other pedal can touch! A lot of it has to do
with the mini transformer used to help create the oct-up effect.
The Red Fish is my version of the Tyco circuit. There is a lot of
myth around this circuit, and it's hard to sort truth from fiction.
Some insist that Noel Redding brought in a pedal made by Roger Mayer,
to be repaired for Jimi, and the folks at Tyco "stole" the circuit by
tracing the pedal at the shop. And there are other tales about it that
are best told at 2 in the morning, in a smoky dive bar. It's all great
pedal freak conversation though. Whatever the reason, this pedal is
very different than any other Octave-up/Fuzz and if you've never used
one, you'll definitely have some, "so that's what that effect was in
that song..." moments.
I spend a great amount of time on each of these stompboxes, and do my best to deliver you an Oct-up Fuzz that spits, and snarls, but can also truly sing and trill.
I want you to be happy when you take it out of the box, and I hope you'll
sense that it was made by someone who loves to make FX, and has built
it to be used and treasured by it's future owner. I know it sounds
cheesy, but I've had the sensation of opening a package for an item I
purchased online, only to find that the item was not nearly as nice
in person as it was in the pics. I want you to have the opposite
reaction. I hope you'll think it's even better than the pic, and that
Wren and Cuff is a company that you are glad you stumbled upon. I hope
you'll notice the overall attention to detail, and appreciate the uniqueness of your new pedal.
Features:
-True-bypass of course!
-Genuine USA-made Davies Dakaware knobs.
-Tough battery clip, shipped with a brand new 9v alkaline.
-Lock washers on in/out jacks and pots.
-Switchcraft Jacks.
-One year warranty!
-An absolutely gorgeous red finish, and my favorite detail, a clean silver design that compliments the red LED.
-Vintage-style PNP wiring, like the original
-MPSA18 and MPS6519 transistors (like original) and 1n34 germanium diodes
There is also a sticker on the underside of the pedal that tells you what knob does what.
Click here to see it!
Here are some comments about Wren and Cuff:
"What a pedal!!Creamy smooth to nasty, gritty in your face!! I've had all the boutique pedals and if this was lost or stolen I'd pay double for another!!Truly a jem!!
-Danny Jones/The Danny Jones band. After Danny won a Red Fish Octa-fuzz auction of mine, I checked out his site. I knew I had seen his name before, and then I found out he had been featured in Guitar Player Magazine, under the "Mike Varney's Spotlight" column. That was where I'd seen it! www.dannyjones.net
"Great tone, great pedals!"
-Ron Aniello, Producer (and musician) - Life House, Bare Naked Ladies, Leaves
"The Red Fish octa-fuzz sound is the closest thing to the authentic Sixties fuzz tone I've heard since the Sixties and the Red Camel just blazes, it's got the grit just right."
Davin Seay is the co-auther of San Francisco Nights: The Pyschedelic Music Trip 1965-1968, as well as biographies of Al Green and Mick Jagger. He is currently working on a book about guitars and guitar lore with ace collector Michael Indelicato.
A++Great seller here! Fantastic sounding pedal which won't leave my board.Thanks!
James C., (item #120038097416)
Hear It!
The first clip is "naked". Just one guitar, no fx other than a touch of compression and of course, The Red Fish. I tried to give you a whole range of tones possible with this pedal. AFTER THE FADE-OUT, THERE IS MORE. The track will fade back up, and tried to do the same licks, but with the fuzz turned very low. You can hear the spooky-goofy CLEAN sounds you can get The Red Fish to make.
The second clip is played with a virtual band so you can hear it used in a band setting. This clip has a bit of room reverb and a touch of compression as well.
With your purchase, you are given a "Red Fish Tips and Tricks" booklet to help you find all the weird sounds lurking in this pedal. This booklet isn't just for beginners. I have recieved many emails from people of all stages of experience, telling me how usefull the booklet was, and how easy it made it to get great sounds with their particular rig.
The samples were recorded through a cranked Fender Champ-style practice amp. Recorded with a shure SM-58 straight into pro-tools. All were done on a 60's strat with CS 54's (single coils).
Also please note the limitations of MP3's, and MP3 players.