The Tark Audio Squidink is a multi-octave fuzz pedal made by a new company based in Portland, OR. It is a blend of a fuzz and an analog Multi-Octave Generator: a classic Fuzz Face-style fuzz circuit running side by side with a Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) octave section, so you can mix straight fuzz with octave-down and octave-up signals from one box. It sits at the intersection of fuzz pedals and octave and pitch pedals.1
How the two circuits work together
The fuzz side uses a classic "Fuzz Face" topology built with modern, low-gain Silicon PNP transistors, and a FUZZ knob adjusts the gain of that circuit. The octave side is where the Squidink departs from a standard Fuzz Face: the analog Multi-Octave Generator uses a Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) circuit to output signals at -2, -1, +1 and +2 octaves.1
Those octaves are arranged as two blendable channels, one delivering -2 or -1 octaves and the other +1 or +2 octaves, so you choose a direction for each channel and blend them against the fuzz. The octave signal can be enabled and disabled with the OCT footswitch, one of the pedal's dual footswitches.1
In NORMAL mode, the TRACK knob and a SLOW/FAST switch control the speed and character of the octave tracking, which is the usual point of adjustment on a PLL design: how quickly and how tightly the circuit locks onto the note you are playing.1
Controls and switching
Guitar Pedal X counts the SquidInk among the more fully equipped PLL designs, noting that "the SquidInk has 9 controls with dual footswitches"3. The documented controls and switches are:
- FUZZ knob: adjusts the gain of the fuzz circuit1
- TRACK knob: with the SLOW/FAST switch, sets the speed and character of the octave tracking in NORMAL mode1
- SLOW/FAST switch: tracking character switch for the octave section1
- OCT footswitch: enables and disables the octave circuit1
Power, buffering and bypass
The Squidink runs on a +9V to +18V DC, center-negative power source and consumes a maximum supply current of 40mA. It has a high-impedance input buffer and a low-impedance buffered output, with an input impedance of 1 MOhm and an output impedance of 100 Ohm. Bypass is handled by relay controlled True-Bypass.1
At a maximum draw of 40mA, the Squidink is beyond what many low-current daisy-chain outputs supply, so plan its power spot on the board accordingly.1
What reviewers said
Writing in Guitar Pedal X's roundup of new fuzz pedals of 2023, Stefan Karlsson called the Squidink "My favourite PLL pedal by far - brilliantly engineered by Marc Christiansen."2 The pedal was listed there at $199 USD.2
Videos
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Questions
What octaves does the Tark Audio Squidink produce?
The Squidink's analog multi-octave generator produces signals at -2, -1, +1 and +2 octaves, arranged as two blendable octave channels: one channel delivers either -2 or -1 octaves, and the other delivers either +1 or +2 octaves. The octave signal can be switched in and out with a dedicated OCT footswitch, and the octave levels are blended against the fuzz.
Is the Tark Audio Squidink true bypass?
Yes. The Squidink implements relay controlled True-Bypass, and it also has a high-impedance input buffer and a low-impedance buffered output, with an input impedance of 1 MOhm and an output impedance of 100 Ohm.
How much current does the Squidink draw?
The Squidink consumes a maximum power supply current of 40mA. It runs on a +9V to +18V DC, center-negative power source.
What is a PLL octave fuzz?
A PLL octave fuzz uses a Phase-Locked Loop circuit, an analog building block that can lock onto the pitch of the incoming note, to generate octave-up and octave-down signals that are blended with a fuzz. The Squidink pairs this with a classic Fuzz Face-style fuzz circuit, and its TRACK knob and SLOW/FAST switch shape the speed and character of the octave tracking.
How big is the Tark Audio Squidink?
The Squidink measures 3.7 x 4.7 x 2 inches and weighs 12.1 oz, with top-mounted jacks.
Sources (3)
- Tark Audio Squidink Multi-Octave PLL Fuzz, Delicious Audio, 2023-08-07
- Guitar Pedal X, Guitar Pedal X, 2023-12-18
- Guitar Pedal X, Guitar Pedal X, 2025-10-02
