Some
Tycobrahe History |
Please bear with us as we assemble the history pages. Since Chicago Iron put out the first Tycobrahe™ Parapedal™ "ParaBaby™" and Tycobrahe™ Octavia™ circuits on eBay in 1998, we have been in contact or contacted by a few of the original 1970's Tycobrahe™ team and lot of enthusiasts. There are still many questions that haven't been answered, and stories without references yet to be verified. If something is wrong here please let us know and we will update the information. |
If you have any 1970's Tycobrahe™ history you can share with us please contact us at info@chicagoiron.com and we can include or change it here. |
| As we looked into the 1970's Tycobrahe™ background we have found many interesting and colorful stories all relating to the music scene in the '60's and '70's. |
| They say if you can remember the '60's - you weren't there. So you can see that this history lesson is going to be fun! |
| Unverified
Story #1. It has been brought to our attention that a gentleman
named Steve Morris (or so) worked building octave devices in the
'60's. The story is either he invented them, worked with Roger Mayer, or
Roger Mayer worked for him or not.
The Story is that Steve Morris was frequenting the rock & roll scene in New York. He was a guitar player too. He was involved with building and promoting the octave devices in some manner. Either way he was at a lot of parties like everyone else back then. One party he went to was outside by a swimming pool. He was playing his guitar through his amp when he sat down in an aluminum lawn chair. That was Steve Morris's last party. We don't know if this is true or if Steve did invent one of the first octave effects for guitar, but we do know that we now have grounded outlets and plugs for our guitar amps. |
|
Verified
Story #2. Jimi
Hendrix
If you have one, please let us know. Where the rest are is still a mystery. |
| Verified Story #3. Jimi Hendrix plays at a concert in California. He has a dead Octavio that is given to Tycobrahe Sound Company to be repaired. Nobody knows what happened to that pedal. Where it is is still a mystery. |
| Verified Story #4. Jimi Hendrix passes away. The world didn't know what they had just witnessed. 30 years later he is still considered the best rock guitarist ever. It is said one of his Octavio pedals is on display at the museum in Seattle. Where the rest are is still a mystery. |
Verified
Story #5.
Tycobrahe Engineering, part of Tycobrahe Sound
 Company,
a pioneer in outdoor rock concert sound equipment and technique,
develops a line of guitar effects. Tycobrahe is already in the forefront
of sound reinforcement with thier 24 channel mixer.
They trademark and promote through a list of dealers an octave pedal
called the Octavia, a wah pedal called the Parapedal and a flanger
called the Pedalflanger. The pedals were uniquely packaged in a
California redwood "stash box", and a Huge advertising
campaign was undertaken. How many pedals Tycobrahe made and sold is
still a mystery. |
| Unverified Story # 6. The pedal that Tycobrahe releases is considered to be a very close copy of the Octavio. Roger Mayer says it is a copy of an original Octavio that is not optimized for 9 volt operation. Or is it? Where are the facts? On paper? Or in the sound waves? That is the mystery so far. |
| Verified Story # 7. Tycobrahe goes out of business. |
| Verified Story #8. Roger Mayer releases his Octavia for general purchase. He releases it as a 9 volt model. The pedal gets great reviews. The new Octavia is not a transformer coupled full wave rectifier. The design is reportedly to be the last incarnation of what Jimi Hendrix used in the studio before his untimely death. Comparing the Roger Mayer Octavia to the transformer coupled 1970's Tycobrahe Octavia, though they are both designed to be octave up devices, the two are completely different circuits even though they have their roots from the same place. Why the original Jimi Hendrix/Roger Mayer Octavio (like on the records) is not produced is still a mystery. |
| Verified Story #9. The Alien Octave Pedal. What then is the Tycobrahe Octavia design, and why are there so many clones out there? Why do many top artists have both the Roger Mayer and a Tycobrahe original or clone? Are they still looking for that sound they heard so long ago? |
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| Verified Story #11. The current price for an original used Tycobrahe Octavia is over $1000.00 US if you can find one. Get a hand matched hand built NEW one here for about $700.00 less. The current price for a Parapedal is over $500.00 and the Pedalflanger gets as high as $700.00. That is if you can find them. |
records
an album with an octave effect on the guitar. Roger Mayer designed it with
Jimi. The pedal has come to be known as the "Octavio". It uses
Full Wave Rectification circuit theory (frequency doubling). The Octavio
was powered by a higher voltage than today's 9 volt octave pedal versions.
When today's guitarists refer to the Jimi Hendrix octave, it is this
pedal.
The
Octavio was custom made by Roger Mayer in extremely limited numbers and
only a few artist had them, and they are all believed to be doctored
differently, or as different incarnations of the same idea. It was not an
"off the shelf" item You couldn't just put in an order and buy
one. They were totally experimental and built in metal "wedge"
boxes. The one guitarist who made his pedal famous was Jimi Hendrix. 
Verified
Story #10. In 1998 Chicago
Iron painstakingly
researches the original 1970's Tycobrahe Octavia
circuit and optimizes it with
the help and direction of the late great César
Diaz. César was the
man who hand selected
many original Tycobrahe Octavia pedals for major artists like Stevie Ray
Vaughan. César was adamant
about the type of component and the resulting values thereof for
tone. That is why all of our Chicago Iron pedals are made with hand
selected and matched components that are matched to known tolerances. The
Chicago Iron Tycobrahe reproduction pedals are delivered just like the
original Tycobrahe pedals in the California redwood "stash box".
In the case of the Tycobrahe Octavia, the name has been changed to the
Octavian™, or THE ALIEN OCTAVE. Where it goes from here is
still a mystery.
