EHX Bass Microsynth, Octave up not an octave?

[Basstovsky]

Everything I have read leads me to believe that the 'octave' slider (after the 'guitar') is supposed to be an octave-up. On my BMS, it is not.

The octave down is definitely a full octave, I tested to be sure, but the octave up plays the same note as with the 'guitar' slider except its very trebley and a bit distorted. I even went so far as to plug a guitar into my amp's other input, played a clean open low E, then played an E on the bass with the microsynth octave up, and it was obviously not the same note (as if the BMS octave up worked, it would be).

Is this normal, or is there something wrong with my settings or the pedal itself?

[Jateca]

Originally Posted by Basstovsky

Everything I have read leads me to believe that the 'octave' slider (after the 'guitar') is supposed to be an octave-up. On my BMS, it is not.

The octave down is definitely a full octave, I tested to be sure, but the octave up plays the same note as with the 'guitar' slider except its very trebley and a bit distorted. I even went so far as to plug a guitar into my amp's other input, played a clean open low E, then played an E on the bass with the microsynth octave up, and it was obviously not the same note (as if the BMS octave up worked, it would be).

Is this normal, or is there something wrong with my settings or the pedal itself?

No, that's what I found with my BMS before I sold it.

The upper-octave thing (and I may be mistaken here) is like on those octave-up fuzz pedals. It just adds upper harmonics to give the impression of an octave up sound.

I'm not even sure it's possible to do a true octave up with analogue circuitry, would someone more knowledgeable tell me if you can?

[mr.hughes]

You're right - it is an octave above, with some added harmonic distortion. I have an older model which explains this in the manual. The sub-octave slider, to the left of the guitar slider, is the only octave below function on the pedal.

[Mark Olson]

It is the case with many if not most octave fuzz devices that you must play above the 12th fret and favor a certain pickup to hear the higher octave clearly.

There are some analog octave fuzzes that are capable of producing a clear octave effect even down on the low notes and with any pickup configuration, though, if that's what you're looking for.

[kevteop]

It's a cool slider though. Sub-octave plus octave+1 dimed, with the other two off, is a really useful tone.

But yeah it is a bit cheaty. Then again they called the distortion slider "square wave" which is a bit of a lie too. The BMS is a bit economical with the truth generally, it seems. It's still awesome though.

[Geddyfleaharris]

Originally Posted by kevteop

It's still awesome though.

I really hope that's true. After several debates with myself I ordered one last week.

[Basstovsky]

Yeah, I mean it sounds good, I was just hoping this would remove my synth GAS (TOTALLY CURED IT SOUNDS EPIC) AND cure my octaver GAS. Guess I may have to get a picro POG someday... XD

[icarussmicarus]

Originally Posted by Geddyfleaharris

I really hope that's true. After several debates with myself I ordered one last week.

Nothing nails huge phat sweeps like the BMS. Exept maybe the BMS running into a fuzz with a clean blend and a delay...

http://media.putfile.com/tbclip