This is as good an octave fuzz as any. On it's own it can be incredibly brutal, inclined to break up and stutter, go berserk when playing high on the neck and have all the charm of a broken ring modulator.
Don't expect this pedal to give you a volume boost - that isn't what octave fuzzes are for. Instead, switch to neck pickup and roll down the guitar tone. Set the pedal's volume so the sound doesn't break up (this is probably lower than you expect - you may even get a volume drop) then adjust the tone as required. Keep fiddling with it and the guitar's tone and volume till it stops breaking up and with a strong octave signal present.
Then run it into another distortion/fuzz. The nastiness goes away and everything smooths out and blends. Your low notes and volume come back, the octave is smoothed and all of a sudden things sound right. You can even play chords if you're careful, which is more than most of the digital pitch-shift/harmonising stuff can handle.
Used right the Dunlop Octave Fuzz sounds better than every digital octaver I've ever heard (and that's lots of them). It doesn't sound like the "octavia" effect built into the multi-fx - but they (1) don't really sound like an octavia, and (2) usually don't let you place a fuzz after the fake Octavia (which is essential).
Run it into a fuzz face or similar "soft" toned fuzz and you can get Hendrix-like tones. Run into a Rat with the distortion and filter at 2 o-clock (my personal preference) and you enter Neil Young territory with plenty of note definition and a sound that cuts through anything.
BTW - I use valve amps and have no experience of using this effect with solid state stuff.
No noticable tone impact when it's bypassed either.
Reliability/Durability:
Heavy, decent switch, decent sockets. Small case so it fits on pedal boards easily. Doesn't eat batteries and has standard power socket for 9V.
Ease of Use:
Only two controls but far from easy to get set up right - like any other octave fuzz. Expect to spend some time tweaking the settings. The volume control will result in break-up and weirdness if set too high (and is very sensitive). I use Fenders and find volume at 3 o-clock and tone at 12 works pretty well as a starting point.
Customer Support:
Overall Rating:
Been playing a long time, professionally nearly as long. My style of music or the rest of my gear is irrelevant. This pedal does what the digital modellers claim to do but - to my ears and fingers - never get right.
If you want the octave fuzz sound you'll already know whether it fits with whatever you play (though I'd be surprised if any country players find much need for one). If you do then this is as good (and as weird) as any.
