Now NPD: Orange Fur Coat (/fOXX Tone Machine alternatives)

guitargeek62

So I've only just spotted this pedal, and that it's apparently based on the rather awesome fOXX Tone Machine circuit.

I'd been half-planning to grab another Fulltone Ultimate Octave the next time a used one comes up at a reasonable price, as that's a great take on the circuit and has the all-important second footswitch to toggle the octave-up effect too.  There's also the Danelectro* 3699 (and earlier French Toast) which seems pretty decent too, and a decent looking Fuzzdog kit.

Have any of you tried the Fur Coat? Any thoughts? Are there any other fOXX TM alternatives I should look at?



*neat trivia: the fOXX Tone Machine was designed by a 19yo Given Ridinger, who went on to lead the purchase of the Danelectro ™ in the 90s, and the subsequent release of the French Toast pedal (amongst others) which reused his earlier Tone Machine circuit.

Flanging_Fred

Is the Tone City Fuxx Fuzz a FoxxTM clone? I assume it’s close just from the name.

guitargeek62

Flanging_Fred said:

Is the Tone City Fuxx Fuzz a FoxxTM clone? I assume it’s close just from the name.

Good catch, it seems to be! I've completely overlooked that line of pedals

guitargeek62

Another couple of variants that I know of too:

• Joyo JF-12 Voodoo Octave (minor issue with the stock circuit, but easily corrected)

• MonkeyFX VelvetVervet - courtesy of our very own @Sporky, but long out of production unfortunately 

Winny_Pooh

Danelectro french toast was a bargain back when

JezWynd

Warm Audio do a clone in a ritzy orange fur casing.

guitargeek62

JezWynd said:

Warm Audio do a clone in a ritzy orange fur casing.

Aye, that's the obvious one but no second foot switch for the octave function!   I suppose I could try and mod it and move the side-toggle switch over to a top-mounted footswitch, but...!

Moe_Zambeek

Stomp Under Foot do one I think. Joe’s Pedals will probably have a few options.

guitargeek62

Moe_Zambeek said:

Stomp Under Foot do one I think. Joe’s Pedals will probably have a few options.

That's a neat take on the - the flocking on the case is a nice touch.

However, and no disrespect to SUF, but if I'm going to pay much north of £1-150 then I'll probably just hold out for another Fulltone UO as I know I really like that take on the circuit (it'd be my third one!), plus I'm not likely to lose anything on them either given the asking prices these days.

rpr

What about this?  https://www.musicradar.com/news/danelectro-nichols-1966-fuzz-distortion-pedal

guitargeek62

/broken record -   must have a second footswitch to toggle the octave on and off.

@rpr - I'm afraid that one's based on an earlier fOXX circuit and doesn't have the selectable octavia tones. However, Danelectro already have the 3966 version which is based on the Tone Machine, but thank you anyway!  

https://danelectro.com/pedals/3699-fuzz/

Danelectro 3699 fUZZ™

Mr_Claw

guitargeek62 said:

So I've only just spotted this pedal, and that it's apparently based on the rather awesome fOXX Tone Machine circuit.

I'd been half-planning to grab another Fulltone Ultimate Octave the next time a used one comes up at a reasonable price, as that's a great take on the circuit and has the all-important second footswitch to toggle the octave-up effect too.  There's also the Danelectro* 3699 (and earlier French Toast) which seems pretty decent too, and a decent looking Fuzzdog kit.

Have any of you tried the Fur Coat? Any thoughts? Are there any other fOXX TM alternatives I should look at?



*neat trivia: the fOXX Tone Machine was designed by a 19yo Given Ridinger, who went on to lead the purchase of the Danelectro ™ in the 90s, and the subsequent release of the French Toast pedal (amongst others) which reused his earlier Tone Machine circuit.

Steve Rafferty made me a great one with quality parts. Sounded terrible/awesome in the way a 70s octave fuzz should. Wasn't too much price-wise. He's on Reverb and Facebook.

GoFish

Given Ridinger should really have designed and named the Green Ringer. Anyhoo,

The Fur Coat has all the functionality you seek, with a dial to set the octave level. It's well made too. I didn't like the voicing but that's a personal thing. It had more mids than the French Toast.

The Joyo one has the switchable voicing / mids - French Toast still beats it imo.

HBE Octave is well regarded, but no longer made. Aren't the MXR Slash and Sub Machine  basically 'Foxx Tones' as well? They have octaves up and down.

Sporky

I think I've got a VelvetVervet board left over. 

guitargeek62

Sporky said:

I think I've got a VelvetVervet board left over. 

 

That’d be amazing - consider me very interested! 

guitargeek62

Overdue update: I grabbed a used Fur Coat a few weeks back and I’ve barely turned it off - this thing is a great homage to the fOXX circuit and has that all-important footswitchable octave/ia mode too. I’m finding it works beautifully with humbuckers and split tones (no true SCs here to try), and it cleans up nicely too while providing ample gritty & spitty filth. 

10/10 - does exactly what it says on the tin.


There’s another on Reverb (no affiliation) for a good price, I’d highly recommend this:

https://reverb.com/item/81266848-orange-fur-coat-fuzz-octave

p.s. My only critique is that the blue (fuzz) and purple (octavia) LEDs aren’t as distinct as they could be - a bigger contrast in colours might have made more sense?!