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Leeplusplus wrote: Thu Nov 04, 2021 6:56 pm

tommy wrote: Thu Nov 04, 2021 3:50 pm

Leeplusplus wrote: Thu Nov 04, 2021 1:12 pm I played a soft-synth version of this pedal for a while and fell in love. I love tuning my guitar weird and playing harmonics through it for a most evil ring mod.

For anyone wanting this in a cheap alternative pedal: The Ultimate Octave is a very slightly tweaked Foxx Tone Machine. The creator of Foxx is now the head of Danelectro. The super cheap and totally bad ass Danelectro French Toast is the same circuit as the Tone Machine. That Fulltone one is bulletproof though.

This thing is great. I had one years ago and regret selling it. I was gonna re-buy it for this but I think I'll rely too much on the octave on/off switch. If I end up not using it much, I'll probably just switch back to this little guy! I also found the original Foxx Tone Machine to be a little too harsh and spiky. Something about the Fulltone sounded smoother to my ears.

So I have the parts in my stash to build a Tone Machine, but I was wondering how worth while it is to throw in that octave footswitch. Thoughts? Is there a volume drop/bump?

VaticanShotglass wrote: Thu Nov 04, 2021 10:09 pm

Leeplusplus wrote: Thu Nov 04, 2021 6:56 pm

tommy wrote: Thu Nov 04, 2021 3:50 pm

For anyone wanting this in a cheap alternative pedal: The Ultimate Octave is a very slightly tweaked Foxx Tone Machine. The creator of Foxx is now the head of Danelectro. The super cheap and totally bad ass Danelectro French Toast is the same circuit as the Tone Machine. That Fulltone one is bulletproof though.

This thing is great. I had one years ago and regret selling it. I was gonna re-buy it for this but I think I'll rely too much on the octave on/off switch. If I end up not using it much, I'll probably just switch back to this little guy! I also found the original Foxx Tone Machine to be a little too harsh and spiky. Something about the Fulltone sounded smoother to my ears.

So I have the parts in my stash to build a Tone Machine, but I was wondering how worth while it is to throw in that octave footswitch. Thoughts? Is there a volume drop/bump?

No volume drop and I think the octave effect is definitely worth it. The real question might be how worth it is to have it footswitchable...like how many times is one switching between the two sounds. But at the end of the day it doesnt hurt anything to have the footswitch, just takes up a little more real estate to make it ergonomical.

p.s. as an interesting aside...a while ago Foxx was resurrected and sold reissue units of the Tone Machine. That lasted for a bit then they went out of business, but at the end they were selling off their enclosure stock. I got one and this is my personal Tone Machine:

Seems like Dano thought it was worth it...

numberthirty wrote: Fri Nov 05, 2021 10:19 pm Seems like Dano thought it was worth it...

Looks like they also added that tone switch from a Super Fuzz (as well as the paint job). Excellent idea. Danelectro has always been synonymous with budget, wish these were $100.

Dr Tony Balls wrote: Fri Nov 05, 2021 8:12 am No volume drop and I think the octave effect is definitely worth it. The real question might be how worth it is to have it footswitchable...like how many times is one switching between the two sounds. But at the end of the day it doesnt hurt anything to have the footswitch, just takes up a little more real estate to make it ergonomical.

That's what I meant to ask about, the footswitch. It mostly comes down to what enclosure I'd like to use. The octave sound is sick as shit!

Dr Tony Balls wrote: p.s. as an interesting aside...a while ago Foxx was resurrected and sold reissue units of the Tone Machine. That lasted for a bit then they went out of business, but at the end they were selling off their enclosure stock. I got one and this is my personal Tone Machine:

Way cool. I think there might be some flocking material around here somewhere.

Oh, quick side, side question. Balls, where do you get those little metal plates that you print all your labels on. Like this: Are they aluminum? I want to fool around with some etching for all sorts of bullshit and figured little aluminum plates would be best to experiment on.

VaticanShotglass wrote: Mon Nov 08, 2021 9:42 pm Oh, quick side, side question. Balls, where do you get those little metal plates that you print all your labels on. Like this:

Are they aluminum? I want to fool around with some etching for all sorts of bullshit and figured little aluminum plates would be best to experiment on.

They're plastic (most of them, anyway). I get them from a woman in Indiana who runs a faceplate etching service called Precision Design. Are there undoubtedly closer options to me to get such a thing done? Yes. But i've just been using her forever and so I keep with it. She provides all the faceplates for Weber amp kits, and so it was easy to start customizing amp plates through her, and eventually ones for pedals. But yeah anyone with a laser engraver/cutter could do the job i'm sure.

JDS Labs’ Atom DAC+

Dr Tony Balls wrote: Tue Nov 09, 2021 8:35 am They're plastic (most of them, anyway). I get them from a woman in Indiana who runs a faceplate etching service called Precision Design. Are there undoubtedly closer options to me to get such a thing done? Yes. But i've just been using her forever and so I keep with it. She provides all the faceplates for Weber amp kits, and so it was easy to start customizing amp plates through her, and eventually ones for pedals. But yeah anyone with a laser engraver/cutter could do the job i'm sure.

Ah. I'm looking for something aluminum to practice chemical etching just for fun. Those plates look really good though, I see why'd you'd stick with her.

MPC One

More stuff I don't need, some of which I probably should have just built: