Cheap octave up pedal

[Joak]

Hi, I'm thinking of buying 2 Behringer US600 (harmonist) pedals to get a octave + 5th effect. Since it's a guitar pedal, I wonder how it works for bass?

I want the first pedal to output an octave up of my played note and the second pedal to add a fifth. Since it's a guitar pedal I suspect that the octave up output signal will track well, so my question is if the first pedal can do a good octave up tracking?

[bolophonic]

Couldn't you achieve a similar effect by playing multiple notes simultaneously (i.e. chords) on your bass?

[Joak]

Not really. I want my clean bass sound into a bass amp and then the octave + fifth distorted into a guitar amp.

[bolophonic]

I see. Good luck, I have no clue about any of that.

[wdinc01]

Originally Posted by bolophonic

I see. Good luck, I have no clue about any of that.

What a useful post.

"Guitar" pedals generally work fine on bass, unless its distortion. However, the thing about octave pedals is that they may have a more difficult time tracking the low frequencies of a bass guitar.In my experience, its usually not a noticeably problem unless you sustain the note.

[Joak]

Originally Posted by wdinc01

What a useful post.

"Guitar" pedals generally work fine on bass, unless its distortion. However, the thing about octave pedals is that they may have a more difficult time tracking the low frequencies of a bass guitar.In my experience, its usually not a noticeably problem unless you sustain the note.

Can you explain how it works for low frequencies? Does the note just stop playing if it's sustained or does it not work at all?

[Nic.]

When you sustain... at first you have the note. Then you hear it cutting and spluttering in and out. Then it's in. Then it's out. Then it just disappears.

Anyway, just sayin', I use an Octron and a Boss PS5 together. The Octron sounds awesome. The PS5... well, it's extremely artificial, whatever else I put after it. It just doesn't sound like a guitar unless under heavy heavy distorting.

[Joak]

So, if I just play short notes the octave up will work as normal?

Does the Octron avoid this problem or is this problem present on all octavers? Octron is way too expensive for me anyway.

I don't care that much if it sounds artificial, I'm using heavy distortion anyway.

Does anyone have any experience using Behringer US600 octave up function on bass?

[PhatBasstard]

Find a used Akai Uni-Bass.
It's exactly what this pedal does.
Has variable tone and distortion of the effect note(s).
Has separate outputs for bass dry/effect notes if wanted.
Tracking is flawless down to a low B.
Here's the kicker: You have your choice of just the octave or octave up with 5th above that or octave up with a 4th below that instead.
Two footswitches. One is on/off. The other kicks the added 5th above or 4th below in. This switch is also presetable to momentary or on/off.

If you can't find one, the Micro-Pog's tracking is just as good and also has separate outputs available.

[Nic.]

Joak- Well depending on how clean your playing is and the quality of your octaver, it might even screw up on short notes. Usually not though. It's a problem with ANALOGUE octavers. Digital octavers and analogue octavers are pretty different animals.

Phatbasstard- I looked up the unibass and it looks good :O if I didn't already have another harmonizer I would be looking for one now. Gonnna go record something with my combination.

[SeanSaliSE]

I experimented with this using a micro pog and a Line 6 X3 live. I had the wet output of the pog going into the auxiliary input of the POD, while the regular input/out of the POD was in the effects loop of my bass amp. Using dual tone and some presets, I was able to get an unaffected bass tone with a distorted and octaved cloned signal also being routed to the amps fx return, and I also set it so the "simulated guitar" signal was controlled by the volume pedal on the Line 6, for swells and a smoother introduction into the mix instead of a hard ON/OFF. Unfortunately the Line 6 doesn't have a harmonizer and seeing as how the octaved signal went back into my bass amp, the actual tone was ******, but if your signal is going to a different guitar amp, that's something entirely different. I'll see if I can dig up the specs I used, seeing as how I posted them on a Line 6 forum. It might give you some ideas.

[SeanSaliSE]

Here it is, with all it's glory.

http://line6.com/community/thread/45316?tstart=0

[Nic.]

Okay, just recorded. I used a Epiphone thunderbird, it was the only fretted bass I have around at the moment so I'm not used to it. Pardon the playing, the string spacing is really weird.

Might not be the most accurate, since I didn't separate into two amps, but anyway, signal chain was Epi T-bird PJ (P soloed) -> Octron -> Boss PS5 -> Box Of Metal -> Genz Benz 3.0-10T

If you really want I can rewire my pedlaboard to go into two amps, but at the moment I don't see the point since this one fills up the sound space massively.

Clean, pick
Clean, finger

Analogue octave up, pick
Analogue octave up, finger

Digital 5th up, pick
Digital 5th up, finger

Analogue octave up -> Digital 5th up, pick
Analogue octave up -> Digital 5th up -> Distortion, pick

After that, same chain in the context of a song, playing with the knobs to get a better sound. Note that I gated the distortion so it cuts off when I'm not playing.
After 3:15 I tried turning off the 5th up, it sounds a lot cleaner but still very full. I think if you just want to fill up space, you don't need the 5th.

The recording is up for a week, dl from here-
https://www.yousendit.com/download/R...bTh0QTN2Wmc9PQ

[linken4000]

Digitech synth wah lol

[matt descending]

I do that kinda stuff at home, did a little in the studio, but live that stuff becomes a headache. Fun though when it all works

[matt descending]

.

[sonic assassin]

i cant see it not working. thats a lot of routing, but assuming it tracks ok, and it should be ok considering those are non key specific shift intervals, it should be fine.

if it sucks tone GOOD. guitars dont have crazy low end.

id get a good splitter, those 2 shifters, a Y cable to bring them back together, and then run them through either a guitar amp or an amp sim like a sansamp character series. if you use a guitar distortion pedal, id bring it back through the effects loop so its less hindered by your clean sound's amp settings.

even if theres a delay, thats also good. it will make it sound realistic (unless it causes phase issues.. thats worse).

i guess i didnt consider this.. are you going to run the 5th up AFTER the octave? or run them parallel to each other?

btw this is SO much easier to do when recording.

[Joak]

SeanSaliSE, sonic assassin and Nic, thanks alot, now I know the concept works!

I'm looking for a Unibass, but it's really hard to manage to find one Ebay that will ship to Sweden.

[16thStLowFreak]

Try this one. I think it is great for a sub $50 pedal. It has 2 octaves, 1 and 2 below your note. It also has a drive/fuzz switch. I got a great tone out of it. I think you can pick them up around $30.