From Blackout Effectors:
The CRYSTAL DAGGER; resonantly rising like a modern Fortress of Solitude from beneath the icy depths of normalcy, to reanimate sad, listless guitars all around the world. The CRYSTAL DAGGER is a dual harmonic device comprised of independent circuits; a scorching octave-up fuzz and a unique conglomeration of ring modulation, unpredictable octaving, and phasing. The circuits are both true-bypass footswitchable and run in series, from input to (OCT)FUZZ circuit to (MOD)RING circuit to output. Did we mention that it’s all analog?
(OCT)FUZZ We love Octavias. We love them, because they’re awesome. Go get yourself an Octavia, play it a lot, love it, and then come get a Crystal Dagger when you’re ready to move past doing Jimi emulations. The Crystal Dagger is not an Octavia.
The portion of the (OCT)FUZZ circuit that produces the strongest octave-up effect uses an audio transformer to produce two isolated, opposite polarity facsimiles of the fuzz signal. Those signals are then fed into a germanium diode array setup to provide full wave rectification. The rectification doubles the peaks of the re-combined signal ( compared to the original), which produces a doubled frequency that is loaded with lively personality. This common way of achieving upper octave fuzz does owe some lineage to the first Octavia units designed for and used to astounding effect by the likes of Jimi Hendrix and later by Stevie Ray Vaughan, but our homage to historical lineage ends at the transformer/diode rectifier block.
The (OCT)FUZZ has an octave bypass toggle that differs from most commercial pedals in the octave fuzz vein in that we carefully matched an octave-up circuit to our tailored and toiledover fuzz circuit, not the other way around. We didn’t resort to the common diode-lift to go from full wave to half wave rectification, which leaves a player feeling like the fuzz sound without the octave effect was just an afterthought. The raging fuzz with the octave bypassed is a high gain, gated affair (read: quiet) that’s bristling with crunchy character that you won’t find in any other octave fuzz circuit. When combined with the octave circuit the fuzz party becomes markedly more orgiastic and intense. We chose not to incorporate a fuzz gain control for this circuit, because it only served to tame what we felt should be revered as untamable.
Blackout hasn’t ever been synonymous with minimalism and while outwardly it may seem that we chose that route here, playing through the CRYSTAL DAGGER will have your guitar screaming “maximalist!”
The CRYSTAL DAGGER requires a 9V DC power supply, via a negative-center 2.1mm barrel-type plug. The current draw of the CRYSTAL DAGGER is minimal at around 100mA.
FOR BEST OPERATION use a well-regulated power supply specifically made for powering musical instrument gear and if possible use one with isolated taps. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE.
The CRYSTAL DAGGER does not consume batteries. They are an antiquated, landfill-bound plague on our environment. Several modern power supply options are now available with voltage “sag” features that can emulate the effect of a semi-used battery.
Unlike many of the more classic octave fuzz interpretations, the CRYSTAL DAGGER is a negative ground circuit, so it can be safely powered alongside most other modern pedals on a daisy-chained power supply.
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