Roger Mayer Vision Octavia

Submitted on October 13, 2004

Controls

Drive
This control sets the gain of the stages before the equalizer section and as the gain or drive is increased adds varying harmonics which are then subjected to the Octavia section. It also adds sustain and effects the feedforward action and gating threshold.
Tone
A very effective tone circuit has been added between the drive and octave stages to give control of the signal harmonics. This gives much added flexibility of setting the tone colour required. The original Octavia tone is of course preserved but in the studio with Jimi we used to have various EQ's and drivers to help our Octavia blend and this new feature goes a long way to help you achieve your own perfect blend.
Output
This controls the final output level desired.

The OCTAVIA is probably our most famous and distinctive creation. This effect was designed in early 1967 and featured on "Purple Haze" and "Fire" by Jimi Hendrix. It's unique tones can also be heard on such tracks as "One Rainy ", "Little Miss Lover", "Little Wing", "Machine Gun" etc. The OCTAVIA produces a sound that is an octave higher than the note you are presently playing. This doubling effect is accomplished through electronic mirror imaging techniques that are program sensitive and also respond to the feed forward inputs of the player. The electronic circuitry is analogue in design and will react faithfully to all the subtleties and harmonic overtones from the guitar. The effect produced is very unique but human in quality. The units that are manufactured today are representative of the latest evolution of Octavia that Jimi used and contains the feed forward and gating effect that my earlier evolutions lacked.

Electronically the OCTAVIA is an analogue circuit with the properties of a frequency doubler, envelope generator and amplitude modulator with addition frequency shaping filter circuits. The effect produced is subtle to wild depending on the settings used and will respond to the attack of the player. A clean tone from the guitar with the tone rolled control rolled off will produce "ring modulated" overtones that characterise the solo to "Who knows ". The sound is tangibly different if a fuzz unit is in front of the Octavia: an upper octave double is created, clearly demonstrated in the solo to "Purple Haze". The bright harmonics are more controllable if the neck pickup is selected and the tone control set to roll off the treble. The effect really comes into it's own on the top E and B strings from the 7th fret up. A clean and precise picking style is essential with particular attention to accurate fretting techniques.

Jimi placed the Octavia after a fuzz and wah unit in most cases so it would react to the combined effects of both the wah and one or more fuzz boxes. It is important to experiment with how much signal you are driving the Octavia with as this has a great influence on the sound produced.

The Octavia now also comes in the brand new Vision Series enclosure design with the same famous sound and many added extras to help the modern musician and bring the famous Octavia sound forward to the future. The many players who demand the original sound plus a package that is more flexible and pedal board friendly will welcome the additional features and for the purists the famous Rocket Styled Octavia will still be available.