The New Upper!

[FuzzHugger]

The new Upper is here!

The full Upper in a small enclosure. The most frequent Upper request I've gotten. The key to the Upper is stacking, but not everyone wanted the addition of the no-effect true-bypass loop (at the expense of size and cost).

So here it is! 2.37" wide Upper goodness!


If you don't know about the Upper, it's classic/traditional analog octave up modded for maximum weirdness and dirt, with three controls to dial in the exact texture and response you want--including blending out the octave but keeping the dirt. From cleanish to mildly overdriven (to nasty clang if you want it!). Stack it to make fuzzes and other dirt pedals sound amazing!

[goroth]

Looks fantastic Tom! Visually, your designs have been off the hook lately.

[sonidero]

Sweet, but I love the loop and bypass...

Keep knockin 'em out the park TDal...

[Wes Mantooth]

Upper plus Eau Claire Thunder or Blunderbuss= Best Superfuzz ever

[FuzzHugger]

Thanks, guys! I'm putting in some serious extra hours.

Sweet, but I love the loop and bypass...

Keep knockin 'em out the park TDal...

Ahhh, but of course you can order one with the loop and bypass!
As this mockup demonstrates:

[FuzzHugger]

Video manual / closer look at the Upper:
(There's also a couple mins of playing at the end!)

[coldbrightsunlight]

Off the hook design man, if I didn't have a gorgeous big Upper already I'd be buying one for sure! Best octave I've ever heard and the small enclosure is cool, although the bypass loop is awesome and I use it a lot.

[grokostimpy]

Hi all, I'm reviving this thread for a quick question:
I have a Pocket Arcade, and I'm curious how the Upper compares to the Octave-up function of the PA.

Has anyone played both? If so, which do you prefer?

[FuzzHugger]

Hi all, I'm reviving this thread for a quick question:
I have a Pocket Arcade, and I'm curious how the Upper compares to the Octave-up function of the PA.

Has anyone played both? If so, which do you prefer?

The Upper is the same ringer circuit used in the Arcade's mode one. (The Upper has an extra control in the Bias knob. Also, in the past, I've matched the diodes only in the Upper, which dials in the perfectness of the octave--well, as perfect as this thing can do--but now I match in both. Regardless, it's a pretty negligible difference.

The Bias knob is the Upper's most dramatic control, letting you adjust the texture, weirdness, and ring-modiness of the octave (which is the product of frequency doubling)...blend out the effect, bring in a bit more warmth, increase the gain, or make it even nastier. It's a gem when stacked.


(More info on the Upper that's in the Phantom Arcade:)
The Phantom Arcade has the Upper with High and Sustain controls, the Pocket Arcade (mini Phantom Arcade)has it with just the High knob. (The Sustain knob adds a nice bonus to get pop-in tones, but it's a total must, so it's not in the Pocket Arcade.)
The Upper's High knob is on both Phantoms, cause it's most useful, letting you 1) take the edge off in Oct Up mode and Oct-Up-Fuzz mode and 2) get dramatic sweep of filtered oscillation in Turbo mode.

Hopefully, I've been clear enough in the past about the Upper being in the Phantom Arcade. The Phantom Arcade combines several circuits that play really well together, as well as some mode switching sneakiness, so it's like four different pedals. 1) ringer/octave up, 2) glitchy octave down fuzz, 3) octave up fuzz, 4) oscillating glitch fuzz. Any of those could be a $150+ pedal if split off, so it's a big deal.

[grokostimpy]

Thank you for explaining that, Tom. I've been really loving the high knob on the PA lately, and I'm happy to know it's related to the Upper. Cheers!

[Bassist_Diver]

So.... how does it work on bass?

[neonblack]

So.... how does it work on bass?

[Chankgeez]

N'Upper.

[coldbrightsunlight]

So.... how does it work on bass?

AWESOMELY. F'realz I LOVE the upper on bass. Upper driving another fuzz is so deliciously nasty.

[Bassist_Diver]

So.... how does it work on bass?

AWESOMELY. F'realz I LOVE the upper on bass. Upper driving another fuzz is so deliciously nasty.

That's what I suspected, since octave up is typically less glitchy than octave down. Are there any clips floating around somewhere?