In the more extreme settings, pulling the Hi-Cut knob down further brought out pseudo-fuzz tones that neared Fuzz Face territory while retaining more body and presence. By the last third of the Drive control, the gain began to saturate and fuzz out a bit while retaining a strong midrange. Playing with pickup selection and my guitar’s tone knob coaxed a diverse set of breakup characteristics and voicings, especially as I turned the Drive control up. With the Drive knob rolled down, the octave effect shined through clear and clean, especially as I turned up the Hi-Cut. The result is a surprisingly deep and flexible effect that has way more hiding underneath its enclosure than the typical three-knob overdrive. The octave portion, to my ears, sounds like a take on Dan Armstrong’s Green Ringer octaver, which is known as a more cacophonous, present relative of the Tychobrahe Octavia heard on Hendrix and SRV recordings. The overdrive portion of the circuit is directly based on the most current incarnation of the Way Huge Red Llama, an overdrive pedal lauded for its ability to serve anything from a clean boost to a uniquely voiced mid-gain monster. That unexpected combination, however, results in a surprising musical, new-but-old-sounding effect that is incredibly dynamic. While fuzz and analog octavers have been associated to some extent since the late 60’s, medium overdrive tones given the octave treatment are much rarer. The Way Huge Purple Platypus, like its animal namesake, seems like it should exist. The pedal features true-bypass switching and is powered by a standard 9v power supply. The Way Huge Purple Platypus Octidrive MKII is an overdrive pedal with an integrated frequency doubler that features controls for Volume, Drive, and High-Cut in the standard Way Huge enclosure. While there were some larger (relatively) production pedals, such as the Red Llama and Aqua Puss, there were quite a few oddballs as well… Under the manufacturing guidance of Dunlop since a ten year stint at Line 6, Way Huge has released most of their big hitters, and they’re starting to reach deep into the bench.

Way before forums were a place where musicians could spread the word about new effects, share schematics, and argue for days over tonal nuances, Tripps brought tweaks and improvements to long unavailable circuits to market, and from 1992-1999 created some of the most sought-after and legendary pedals to show up on the used market today. Way Huge’s Jeorge Tripps is one of a handful of people musicians point to when they refer to the godfathers of the boutique effect pedal. More than eight way huge reasons to own this pedal.

Purple platypus