Dunlop Siete Santos Octave Fuzz

The Dunlop Siete Santos Octave Fuzz is a fuzz pedal from Dunlop that combines two things in one box: an octave fuzz circuit based on the Jimi Hendrix Octavio, and a seven-band graphic EQ for shaping the tone¹². It is a signature pedal built around Billy Gibbons' approach to fuzz, and Dunlop describes it as putting "Billy's secret solo recipe into a single pedal"³. MusicRadar's Trevor Curwen summed up the concept: Dunlop "has combined both the octave fuzz (with circuitry based on its Jimi Hendrix Octavio fuzz) and a graphic EQ in a single pedal"¹.

The fuzz side follows the vintage Octavio design, whose upper octave sits over the fuzz rather than sounding like a separate effect. Curwen found that "the essential fuzz, though, apes the vintage design with that upper octave bedding in just right like a ghostly overtone"¹. The EQ side is what separates it from the original Dunlop Octavio: seven sliders that cut or boost the fuzz's frequency response after the fact.

An Octavio octave fuzz with a seven-band graphic EQ

The Siete Santos takes the Octavio Fuzz circuit and adds seven graphic EQ sliders, so you can cut or boost a full spectrum of frequencies after the fuzz stage³⁴. Delicious Audio, reporting on the pedal at NAMM 2019, called the EQ section "what sets this pedal apart"². The pairing is unusual: Guitar.com's Richard Purvis wrote that "It's not an obvious partner for the fuzz, but it is a potentially creative one"⁶.

For a player, that means the pedal can do two jobs. The fuzz side delivers the vintage octave-up fuzz character, while the EQ lets you carve it to fit an amp or a mix without reaching for a separate EQ pedal. With all seven sliders at their center detent positions, Curwen heard "a bright gritty fuzz"¹.

The controls: Fuzz, Level and seven EQ sliders

The control set is small on the fuzz side and detailed on the EQ side. The Level and Fuzz controls from the original Octavio pedal remain³⁴, and the manual describes their jobs plainly³⁴.

Dunlop's recommended starting point, from the manual⁵:

1. Set the Fuzz and Level knobs to 12 o'clock.
2. Set all graphic EQ sliders to 0dB.
3. Adjust from there to taste.

The EQ sliders sit on the top panel, where Curwen found them easy to access, and each is lit with an individual blue LED¹. Guitar.com also noted the sliders "have handy LED markers"⁶. The Fuzz and Level knobs are a different story: Curwen found the front-mounted pair "not the easiest to set" and said they "could be difficult to access on a pedalboard"¹, worth knowing if the pedal will sit tight against other boxes.

EQ range: 100Hz to 6.4kHz, 18dB per band

The seven bands cover a range from 100Hz to 6.4kHz, and each offers up to 18dB of cut or boost⁴¹². Curwen found the coverage practical, writing that the bands "cover all the salient areas of guitar/amp tone"¹. That span reaches from the low end of a guitar's fundamentals up past the presence region, so a player can thicken the bottom of the fuzz, pull harshness out of the midrange, or add bite on top.

The cheese-wedge enclosure and Pinstripe Billy design

The pedal comes in the classic Octavio Fuzz cheese-wedge shape, finished in a custom color scheme with the "Pinstripe Billy" design³⁵. MusicRadar traced the look further back, noting the Siete Santos "appears to take its styling cues from a late-60s Roger Mayer pedal with a wedge-of-cheese shape and weighty construction"¹. The styling earned a place among the pluses in that review's verdict¹.

How it differs from the original Octavio Fuzz

The core differences from the original Octavio are the EQ and the power options. The original pedal had Level and Fuzz controls only; the Siete Santos keeps those and adds the seven-band EQ³⁴. It also adds "the modern convenience of an AC power jack," which the manual calls out directly⁵, and which Delicious Audio noted "was not present in the original"².

Where the pedal follows the vintage design is in its fuzz character: MusicRadar describes the essential fuzz as aping the vintage design, with the upper octave bedding in like a ghostly overtone¹. The seven sliders for the graphic EQ on the top panel are easy to access and are lit up with individual blue LEDs¹, a control layout the original octave fuzz did not carry.

What reviewers said

MusicRadar's review was positive on the fundamentals, listing an authentic-sounding vintage octave fuzz, a very flexible EQ, smart styling and the blue LEDs as pluses, with the front-mounted knobs as the noted drawback¹. Guitar.com's review framed the EQ as an unconventional but creative addition rather than an obvious upgrade⁶. Both reviews agree on the pedal's identity: a vintage-style octave fuzz with a tone-shaping layer the original never had.

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