What to do with a Roger Mayer Octavia Rocket FX?

ok, ive had one of these things for years collecting dust... i usually play my amp with no effects, no reverb and as loud as i can to drive it.
but recently my band has been doing a few gigs, writing more songs, and i thought id start playing around with pedals a bit more..
but this octavia contraption seems almost unusable. if you turn the volume and drive level up just a fraction above zero its insanely loud to the point that i think its gunna blow up my amp even on a low setting.
i have tried putting it just after my fuzz face with the volume on that turned right down.. and its better.... but still... am i missing something about this effect?
how can i get a decent sound with it?... i think it cost me a few quid back in the day...

put it before your fuzz generally. Octavia's generally are single or two note puppy's, chords won't sound right effected by them. Before the fuzz will generate all sorts of weird sounds...after and your tweaking the fuzz more than the note...that's my past experience with them and their clones over the years, I like the effect when used right.

Roger Mayer writes on his page:

"Jimi placed the Octavia after a fuzz and wah unit in most cases so it would react to the combined effects of both the wah and one or more fuzz boxes. It is important to experiment with how much signal you are driving the Octavia with as this has a great influence on the sound produced."
(http://www.roger-mayer.co.uk/octavia.htm)

I never owned one, but Roger is a good reference for these matters. As he likes to remind us every ten seconds, he was there and he designed it all!

Other than Hendrix there are a couple fairly young (to me) Brits who have them on their pedalboards, but I can't for the life of me remember the name of either. :confused: The only thing I do remember about Octavias is reading they're at their best above the twelfth fret. Philip Sayce uses a Chicago Iron Tycobrahe Octavia but you'll have to search to find which tunes he uses it on. Not much help I'm afraid.

Aha! One of the British players I was trying to remember is Jesse Davey. (A mind is a terrible thing wasted.) :roll: I don't know if he has a lot of recorded music out there, but he was playing with The Hoax. This little vid gives no clue to his use of the Octavia but I include it because I have a profound appreciation of people who aren't afraid to make fun of themselves and have the odd bit of humor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkmPEkk8jdk&feature=relmfu

haha, i spent a lot of time searching the ole internet on how people use this effect, and i noticed that about roger!! mine even has his signature on the back!! i think it would be better with jimi's autograph on it!!
this pedal actually makes my valve amp sound like a solid state!
its just as well, i do keep forgetting who designed it.....

To make an Octavia work best, use the neck pickup, with the tone rolled all the way off, when you use the effect. This accentuates the octave. I don't use the built-in fuzz, it is all the way down and used either before or after a Fuzz Face or other Fuzz/OD/Distortion pedal. The effect will be most pronounced in the upper part of the fretboard. When I'm going to use it, I preset the neck pickup tone knob on my Strat to fully rolled-off, and switch to that pickup when I engage the Octavia (in my case a VooDoo Labs Proctavia). Try it and see.

Al