There are a lot of Octavia, octave-fuzz, type pedals on the market and a lot of them sound very good. I was pleasantly surprised that this relatively inexpensive Octavia, the MXR 70th Anniversary Hendrix Tribute Octavia, also sounded excellent. It is a blast to play, very faithful to its vintage ancestor. The higher octave is not piercing, but rather jumps out as the not sustains, and the fuzz, similar to the Hendrix Tribute Fuzz Face, is warm and smooth.This pedal is meant to be played with the fuzz up full, and attacked hard, just like the original Octavias.