SolidGoldFX 76 Fuzz

The SolidGoldFX 76 is a family of vintage-style octave-up fuzz pedals from Canadian effects maker SolidGoldFX. The name and the circuit both point back to the mid-1970s: the 76 is, in SolidGoldFX's own description of the Mk II, "inspired by the Ibanez Standard Fuzz circuit - for maximum fuzz awesomeness"¹, and the press coverage around it consistently ties the pedal to the classic Japanese octave fuzzes of that era, including the Ibanez Standard Fuzz and the Univox Super Fuzz².

What that means for a player is a fuzz with a baked-in octave that sits on top of the grind. Delicious Audio described the original 76 Octave Fuzz as a device that "gives you hints of octave-up snarl while it ruthlessly pummels your amp with hair and fangs"³, and the maker's own product page for the Mk II promises "loads of octave-up snarl and clang"⁴. The octave character is strongest in the upper register: on the 76 Plus, Delicious Audio found the octave "especially apparent the higher you go up the fretboard"⁵.

A vintage-style octave-up fuzz

The 76 line exists to capture what mid-'70s Japanese fuzzes did, without the practical problems those old boxes carry. Delicious Audio called the original 76 Octave Fuzz "a comprehensive guided tour to the best that the Standard Fuzz and its ilk has to offer without any of the drawbacks, such as a quiet signal or fragile wiring"³. Guitar World made the same point about output when the Mk II arrived: it "offers much more generous output levels than the vintage units, which often need to be cranked to compete, tonally"².

The vintage reference points are real pedals that players still chase. The Ibanez Standard Fuzz was itself a vintage fuzz with up-octave overtones, documented in circuit analyses of the original units⁷, and the Univox Super Fuzz and Shin-Ei Companion belong to the same family of Japanese octave fuzzes⁵. Delicious Audio's guide to Super Fuzz clones and evolutions places the 76 Plus squarely in that lineage, describing it as an "FY-6 style octave fuzz" with substantial additions⁸.

Silicon or germanium?

The answer depends on which version you are looking at, and the difference matters to how the pedal behaves.

• The original 76 Octave Fuzz was described by Delicious Audio as a "multi-voiced, germanium-equipped device" with two germaniums in its clipping stack³.
• The 76 Mk II is a silicon octave fuzz. SolidGoldFX lists it as a "Silicon Octave Fuzz pedal"¹, and Delicious Audio describes it as "a silicon fuzz pedal with switchable octave-up" built on new high-gain Toshiba transistors⁶.

The Mk II announcement in October 2022 brought other circuit changes alongside the silicon transistors: a new JFET preamp, an octave bypass mini-toggle, and a Color dial replacing the earlier three-way switch³.

The three versions

The 76 Plus arrived first as a prototype. Delicious Audio reported in August 2019 that "the Yellow 76 Plus seems to be an evolution of their 76 Octave Fuzz"⁹, and by that October it was described as taking "inspiration from the lauded Univox Super Fuzz, Shin-Ei Companion and Ibanez Standard Fuzz"⁵. Gearnews framed it as a pedal "based on the highly coveted Japanese octa-fuzz pedals from the past"¹⁰.

The Mk II, announced in October 2022, is the current version. Delicious Audio noted that it "updates a versatile circuit that had an important role in raising the profile of the Montreal-based company"⁶.

Controls

The control set has grown with each version.

• 76 Octave Fuzz: Volume and Fuzz knobs, plus a three-way Color switch offering two mid-scoop options, bypassed in the center position for full-frequency fuzz³.
• 76 Plus: Fuzz, Texture and Volume knobs for the fuzz section, with a midrange control, a high-end roll-off switch and three flavors of clipping; a second Volume knob on the left controls the filter output¹¹¹⁰⁸.
• 76 Mk II: Level and Fuzz controls, with the Color dial now a low-pass filter knob¹².

The 76 Plus filter section

The "Plus" in 76 Plus is doing a lot of work. Delicious Audio's guide to Super Fuzz evolutions explains that "the 'Plus' refers to basically another whole pedal - a wah-like filter that can move on its own based on the speed knob," with expression pedal control, selectable waveshapes or a step sequencer⁸. Gearnews described the same feature: the filter "can either be controlled manually via expression pedal or set to run" on its own¹⁰.

For a player, that means the 76 Plus can cover filter and wah territory without a separate pedal on the board, either as a static tone shape or as a moving, auto-wah style sweep layered under the fuzz⁸¹⁰⁵.

Where it sits in the SolidGoldFX range

The 76 is one strand of a broader fuzz lineup from the Montreal maker. SolidGoldFX's other fuzzes include the Fuzz Face-inspired If 6 Was 9, the Imperial MKII and Imperial BC183, the modulated octave-down Lysis, the Spanish Castle Dual Fuzz, the Tone Mob Fuzz Generator models, the Communication Breakdown and, as of September 2026, the Tone Bender Mk II-style Fuzzbox. Within that range, the 76 is the company's home for the Japanese octave-up fuzz sound, where the Lysis handles modulated octave-down pitch shifting.

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