Dunlop Authentic Hendrix '69 Octavio Fuzz

The Dunlop Authentic Hendrix '69 Octavio Fuzz is an octave fuzz pedal from Dunlop's Authentic Hendrix line, a reissue of the Roger Mayer Octavia (aka Octavio) that Jimi Hendrix made famous. It is a silicon fuzz at heart, with the octave-up effect that gives the pedal its name, and unlike the standard full-size Octavio it lets you switch that octave off¹.

Guitar.com reviewed the pedal in November 2019 as part of a look at the Authentic Hendrix '69 Psych Series, and summed it up as "Retro raucousness with the benefit of a switchable octave", scoring it 8 out of 10¹.

What it does to your sound

The Octavio Fuzz is two pedals in one box. With the octave switch off, it is a straight silicon fuzz: aggressive, saturated, and voiced like the original cheese-wedge units Hendrix used. Flip the octave switch and a frequency-doubling stage stacks an octave-up on top of the fuzz, the shrieking, splatty texture heard on Hendrix's most famous octave moments. Dunlop describes the same idea on its current Octavio pages: a default mode of "super aggressive silicon saturation", with the octave-up fuzz mode engaged by the Octave switch².

The option to cut the octave is the pedal's practical selling point over the standard full-size Octavio. Guitar.com's reviewer Richard Purvis singled it out: the Octavio Fuzz "has an option to cut out the octave effect" that the standard full-size model lacks¹. That means one pedal covers both the straight fuzz and the octave texture, where the original design gave you no choice.

Controls and power

The pedal is true bypass, so with it disengaged your signal passes through untouched. Power comes from a 9-volt mains supply only, and the supply is included with the pedal; there is no battery option¹.

Where the circuit came from

The Octavio traces back to the Roger Mayer Octavia (aka Octavio), the effect Mayer built for Hendrix in the 1960s¹. Dunlop's own Octavio pages say the pedal "updates the circuitry of the original cheese wedge Octavio Fuzz for modern players and pedalboards", and note that Hendrix used the Octavio Fuzz "to make history"².

Guitar.com's reviewer adds a wrinkle on the circuit's fidelity: the silicon-based circuit "is promised to be the same as it ever was (although the very first ones, according to Roger M[ayer]...)", a caveat about the earliest units¹. The lineage later carried into the MXR line as well: Guitar World reported in 2020 that the MXR Octavio Fuzz marked MXR's first octavia-style fuzz pedal³.

How it differs from the Band Of Gypsys Fuzz

The closest relative in the Authentic Hendrix line is the Band Of Gypsys Fuzz, and the difference is the octave. Dunlop's engineers describe that pedal as "a version of the Octavio® circuit that didn't have that pedal's famous octave-u[p]", with tweaks to narrow the sound down⁴. Guitar World likewise ties it to a mysterious Fuzz Face Hendrix used at numerous shows between '69 and '70⁵, and Guitar.com reports that Dunlop's historical researchers reckon the red Fuzz Face Hendrix used in the last phase of his career was in fact a version of the Octavio circuit without the octave¹.

In use, Guitar.com found the two pedals behave differently: the Band Of Gypsys Fuzz is "a rich and sticky fuzz that loves getting stuck into big power chords", with more gain than the Octavio and a tone control that opens up the top end, but it does not clean up like a Fuzz Face¹. If you want the octave-up effect, the Octavio is the one; if you want a thicker, darker fuzz, the Band Of Gypsys is.

The Psych Series and the JHW2 mini

The '69 Octavio Fuzz sits in Dunlop's Authentic Hendrix '69 Psych Series, which Guitar.com describes as four MXR-sized micro pedals based on the four full-size Authentic Hendrix pedals¹. The series covers the Fuzz Face Distortion, Octavio Fuzz, Uni-Vibe Chorus/Vibrato and Band Of Gypsys Fuzz, which Guitar.com's news coverage says are "touted to cover all grounds" of Hendrix's elusive tone⁶. All four circuits remain rooted in the 1960s stompboxes that were a big part of Jimi's tone: the Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face, the Roger Mayer Octavia (Octavio) and the Shin-ei Uni-Vibe¹.

The mini Octavio itself is the Authentic Hendrix '69 Psych Series Octavio Fuzz (JHW2), an octave fuzz pedal in an MXR mini housing⁷. It carries a switch to toggle between the octave-up sound Hendrix made famous and the silicon saturation, plus modern appointments: a status LED, true-bypass switching and a 9-volt power jack⁷. MusicRadar notes the enclosure is emblazoned with the trippy, kaleidoscopic designs of UK-based design crew ILOVEDUST⁸.

Dunlop later carried the Octavio into its Shrine Series as well: the Authentic Hendrix '68 Shrine Series Octavio (JHMS2) crams the MXR Octavio, with its Output and Fuzz knobs, into a smaller housing²⁵.

What reviewers said

Guitar.com's Richard Purvis reviewed the '69 Octavio Fuzz alongside the rest of the Psych Series in November 2019 and gave it 8 out of 10¹:

His verdict captures the pedal's appeal for a player deciding between it and the alternatives: the retro silicon fuzz character of the original Octavia, with the practical addition of a switchable octave the original never had¹.

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