Overview
The Captain Bit is an all analog monophonic guitar synthesizer. It has a four octave range from two
below to one above and tracks surprisingly well for being analog. As with all analog octave machines it
does work best with the neck pickup and using a little boost, overdrive or fuzz in front of it. Keep it near
the front of your signal chain for even better results.
The Base, Sub, Down, and Up controls are independent blend controls.
Controls
- Level – Controls overall output volume
- Filter – Controls the overall tone of the circuit, noon is flat and gets darker counter clockwise and brighter when turned clockwise
- Base – Adjusts the level of the root square wave
- Sub – Adjusts the level of the -2 octave voice
- Down – Adjust the level of the -1 octave voice
- Up – Adjust the level of the +1 octave voice
Specifications
- Designed for a 125B enclosure with top-mounted jacks
Downloads
The company, product and service names used in this web site are for identification purposes only. All trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. This product is not manufactured or distributed by EarthQuaker Devices, maker of the Bit Commander.
PedalPCB is not affiliated with EarthQuaker Devices.
| Weight | 0.4 oz |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 2.25 × 2.25 × 0.5 in |
10 reviews for Captain Bit
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Adam –
Great fun, this one. A raunchy alternative to the Pearl Octaver. Beautiful layout as always.
rynage (verified owner) –
Love it! Sounds like a robot ate a bunch of peyote and passed out in the mud while uncontrollably breaking wind. Probably not very useful for “Dad Blues” or AC/DC covers (at least not accurate ones) though.
bjborchert93 (verified owner) –
I can’t believe I went so without ever building/playing with one of these! Such a fun pedal with loads of useful sounds. When you use the lower octaves, it’s best to stick to single notes.
You can get some REALLY awesome sounding synth bass sounds with this thing. I love it!
jkranov (verified owner) –
As an octave and fuzz obsessed bass oriented individual, this was an easy sell. I have an ehx hog v. 1, ocelot, and a meatbox on my board and somehow I was still compelled to build this circuit. Sounds great, the 1 octave down soloed is very powerful and useful.
Popnfreshbass (verified owner) –
Very cool sounding pedal!!!
Does the old school
Octafuzz thing great, but it’s so much more than that.
The octave up is super handy for a QOTSA Little Sister lead tone. And the sub can make your guitar sound like a fuzzed out bass.
If you’re looking for a POG, this ain’t it. It is monophonic and a little temperamental, but that’s analog baby. You don’t play this pedal, you turn it on and it dictates your playing!
allanshookphoto (verified owner) –
This was my first PedalPCB build. Absolutely no problems building it, worked perfectly first try. The -2 and -1 octave track perfectly with the Strat neck pickup, and I get all the glitchy, growly robot mayhem. I put a phaser and delay after it. You know it’s working if your wife gets up and leaves the room. I’m building the Muroidea and MOSFET Driver next! Thanks PedalPCB!
giovanni (verified owner) –
This was a pretty easy build even with the six knobs and the transformer. Definitely a tight fit but the board is very well designed. The pedal sounds really cool, with lots of low-fi synth sounds on tap. Don’t expect a clean octaver, this is all square wave sounds!
Steve Walker (verified owner) –
Crazy. Unpredictable. Fun! This was a super-fun build. The parts were a “bit” hard to source, but well worth the wait in the end. I built it as a dual-effect with the HAARP for one of the most bizarre, radical combo pedals I’ve ever put together. Captain Bit is not just for a bit of fun though. It’s actually usable in a real-life gigging context. Obviously, I don’t use it on every song, but it makes for a fantastic effect on certain ones.
airbud (verified owner) –
My 2nd favorite build! So many cool sound to be coaxed out of this one, and it was a relatively easy build.
BUT make sure to orient the transformer correctly as I didn’t the first time, and desoldering it was like doing surgery on a grape.
I love turning off the dry signal and using just the two lower octaves to get a super phat synth bass sound. It works best with single notes using the neck pickup.
No traditional sounds to be had here, but such a cool and inspiring pedal. If you’re going to build one “weird” pedal that isn’t an undersea adventure, this is it!
Kyle Fuglesten (verified owner) –
I love this pedal. Probably the build that surprised me the most with how much I like it. Went together very easily. It is so fun to play so many weird sounds out of this pedal. With just the base octave sound I really like the fuzz tone, then mix in octaves however you see fit to get a huge variety of odd tones