The Octal Six is result of the 4th collaboration between Dr. Z and Joe Walsh, birthed from the need to go somewhere different, untread upon and new, then road-mapped through Dr. Z’s 36 years of experience designing and building guitar amps. Joe is no stranger to electronics, being a hobbyist HAM radio operator and having played countless amps through his storied career. He always brings a unique, informed perspective to the drawing board while sending Z down uncharted territory; the Octal 6 is no different in this regard. Yet, under the hood, this amp is uncanny in almost every other regard in the history of Dr. Z Amplifiers.

Starting with a pair of octal preamps, the 6SL7 and 6SN7, the guitar signal is amplified by these large bottle tubes that are more commonly used as power tubes than preamp, marked by a their distinctive 8-pin octal base as opposed to the 9-pin 12ax7 types seen in 95% of all other amplifiers. These are supplied with their own independent DC heater supply, resulting in extremely low noise operation in ratio to gain. The distortion signature and compression character is simultaneously smooth, yet harmonically dense with a churning overdrive texture reminiscent of the 50s Tweed amplifiers, without the mush or lack or articulation common in those more archaic designs. The Octal Six has a recognizably vintage sound with expressive, blooming compression but with a string articulation and dynamic bandwidth only these octal tubes can supply. Play-feel and volume knob clean up, even at the high-overdrive settings rival the lauded Dr. Z Z Wreck, with a delicate balance between gain and fidelity.