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Aguilar Octamizer: Sights, Sounds, and Impressions for the Modern Swinger

#123
Way funny.
As I was sitting here reading up on the latest posts in this thread, which has been off my radar for a couple of weeks, I heard the mailman drop today's harvest in through the mailbox. I go check. Guess what, it's my piece of foam and screw from Aguilar! I just want to point out that the international postage likely cost a lot more than the actual goods, but they still just sent it to me. No questions asked.

Kudos.
 
#124
Aguilar/Dave B. said:
Hmmm....our German distributor had written us very worried that out of an entire shipment, none would track an open low B string! We explained the obvious; but maybe the message was coming from a store and they didn't communicate back to them.
Click to expand...

The irony is that I've actually been able to track low B with the Octamizer! Only with very limited sustain and using very careful technique, but I'm not sure any other analog octaver could pull that off. Even with the amount of 'cheating' I do with EQ.

As mentioned before in this thread, I have the Octamizer in a loop with massive amounts of EQ and compression before it.
 
#125
Well I finally received my pedal yesterday. The box included the foam pieces and flat head screw. Very cool. (although I had already received mine from a previous request)

So I popped a battery in it and plugged it in. I was playing a Carvin LB75 into a Behringer 140w 12" combo.

AND.... I love it.

The tone control for the octave signal can dial up such a huge variety of sounds. From a deep subsonic bass to a crunchy mid driven tone. I kept the knob at about 12:30. Cuts through nice.

The tone for the unaffected signal was fine too. I like being able to cut the bass frequencies from the original signal to let the octave handle the deep bass.
But turn in all the way counter clockwise and it increases the bass and cuts the treble noticeably.
Still experimenting with the sounds though.

Tracking:
Yes I notice the tracking issues on the G string. ONLY when I'm playing lightly. When digging in a little more on the G, there are no issues. Live, I never play that lightly so I don't see this as a problem at all.
This was only with about 2 hours of playing with the pedal. I've still gotta experiment with the tone controls on my bass more to see if it can be cleared up using those.
Tracking is superb all the way up and down the neck on all strings. (except for the issue mentioned above) The low B was no problem for the pedal. It was a problem for my practice amp though. I was amazed that it would track that low. And duely amazed that people would complain that it wouldn't. I REALLY don't see why an octave below B would be needed.

So far it's definitely a keeper. Absolutely love the tone control for the octave. Can't wait for my Loopmaster looper to get here so I can run this thing parallel with my Mammoth clone.

Oh yeah, and I was surprised at how big the pedal was. I definitely thought it would be way smaller than what it is. Not an issue. Just different expectations.
 
#126
Hector_G said:
Well I finally received my pedal yesterday. The box included the foam pieces and flat head screw. Very cool. (although I had already received mine from a previous request)

Tracking:
Yes I notice the tracking issues on the G string. ONLY when I'm playing lightly. When digging in a little more on the G, there are no issues. Live, I never play that lightly so I don't see this as a problem at all.
This was only with about 2 hours of playing with the pedal. I've still gotta experiment with the tone controls on my bass more to see if it can be cleared up using those.
Click to expand...

Just got mine today.
I must say... I like it better than any octave pedal I've played.

It came with the foam pieces and the screw.
Does that mean this is one of the modded ones?
I ask because I'm still having problems with the G string.
 
#127
Aguilar/Dave B. said:
"Gig Saver" means that if your battery dies you will still pass signal through the pedal.
It is a footswitch that switches the signal, connecting the input to the output in bypass mode. "partial true bypass" would be a reasonable description.

Dave
Click to expand...

Sounds like the same thing that Barge Concepts used on my switcher. It is FAR superior to true bypass! No popping when switching, no tone loss from further cable runs. I try to always have something with a great active buffer first in my effects chain especially with a passive bass.

Octamizer sounds interesting ... seems like they optimized it for the LOW notes at the expense of the high? Has the G-string tracking been fixed?
 
#131
Hector_G said:
.
Yes I notice the tracking issues on the G string. ONLY when I'm playing lightly. When digging in a little more on the G, there are no issues. Live, I never play that lightly so I don't see this as a problem at all.
Click to expand...
I think your signal may just be too low here, vs the problem the unmodded pedal may have with very hot signals. All these analog octavers do weird things with weak signals. The Octabass and MXR BOD I tried will make all these glitchy crackles when you play super light like that. The octamizer is a little unique: it'll choke off the suboctave sound and you'll be able to hear this very faint clean sort of tone underneath. (it SEEMS like a tracking error at first, but listen closely) I think I prefer this behavior to the crackling of the BOD. What I do is just boost my signal before the pedal to eliminate this.

So this is a problem with signal strength, not note tracking really.
 
#132
Mobile Sprout said:
I think your signal may just be too low here, vs the problem the unmodded pedal may have with very hot signals. All these analog octavers do weird things with weak signals. The Octabass and MXR BOD I tried will make all these glitchy crackles when you play super light like that. The octamizer is a little unique: it'll choke off the suboctave sound and you'll be able to hear this very faint clean sort of tone underneath. (it SEEMS like a tracking error at first, but listen closely) I think I prefer this behavior to the crackling of the BOD. What I do is just boost my signal before the pedal to eliminate this.

So this is a problem with signal strength, not note tracking really.
Click to expand...


I think I've found my problem regarding the "tracking issue".

Total dead spot on my neck. The seventh fret dies out really fast and leaves this harmonic ringing. The pedal doesn't like to track that.
 
#133
I did some additional A/Bing with the MXR BOD today (which may be sent back soon... I think I've got a few days left..) - The Octamizer *does* seem to like slightly hotter input signals than the BOD.. but the difference is small.

As for dead spots.. I have a quasi-dead spot on my fretless bass; high C on the G string. All three pedals I've tried, the octabass, the BOD, and the Octamizer, all go nuts on that dead spot. To it's credit, I think the octamizer makes the least annoying noise when I hit the dead spot. The BOD goes berserk!
 
#134
2 inquiries for people who own both the Octamizer and MXR BOD:

1. In terms of tracking which is faster? I'm not too concerned about how low as long as it can go to a B on the E string (7th fret). I never need to go lower than that anyway. However the BOD is just a tiny bit slow for my taste on fast passages I play. So which tracks faster more accurately?

2. I pretty much solo the Growl voice on the BOD (dry all the way down, Girth all the way down, Growl maxed). I love that really synthy sound it gets. It doesn't actually sound like a bass, almost like its own sound (I've heard this is similar to an OC-2). Can the Aguilar cop that sound? Also, can the Aguilar actually get rid of the dry signal completely? I use my octaver for a pure octave below only. So the dry filter knob does not matter to me, only the octave side.

Thanks Guys,

Proton
 
#137
So, I've given my post-mod Octamizer several workouts, and I would say the tracking is more even from top to bottom. What that means is the tracking is better on up the g string, but suffers a bit on the bottom range. It will still track just as low, but more care is required. Prior to the mod, I could hammer open a with just the bridge pickup on, and it would track just fine. Now, I have to be more mindful of my playing, pickup selection, plucking hand placement, et cetera. Nothing out of the ordinary for an analogue octaver, but interesting none the less. I'd say the trade-off makes it more usable in general applcation, but it also erodes some of the unique charm, I think, of being so bottom-friendly in its tracking.

To Proton: I previously owned a BOD, and while the Octamizer won't sound the same as the growl side, it is still very aggressive with the filter open. I tried to show that in my clips, but if you need a better example, I can bang ou something for you this weekend.
 
#139
just got my hands on one of these. here are my first (honeymoon) impressions:

Very very good tracking. This is with the "mod". Probably the best tracking I've experienced in an analog octaver, and I've tried most of them.

The split filter/tone controls really provide a wide range of sounds. I find it particularly useful for blending the dry and octave into one "signal" using the octamizer - something I've had difficulty doing on other octavers.

So yeah, overall my first assessment is very positive. I also find that with the octave signal rolled off, the clean signal makes a nice clean boost when turned past 12, with a very useful active tone control!



I also like having a buffer at the start of my chain again
 
#140
Fast forward a number of months and the Octamizer is still my go-to octave down!

I actually just acquired a POG2 & honestly, I totally prefer the Aguilar for octave-down chores. The POG2, being digital & polyphonic, is obviously "easier" to make track right - but - the Octamizer has a more immediate & natural tone to it. It's almost like the POG2 hesitates a fraction of a second on the envelope of the generated signal (even with the 'attack' control set to minimum). The Aguilar, when played with the right articulation, almost seems to anticipate the note- yielding a very tight response.

So, for groove-oriented playing, the Aguilar wins hands down! I still like my MXR BOD for long, held-out notes. The POG2 is just a whole different beast, capable of far more sounds (it's pretty much a multi-effect), however i don't love it's raw octave-down response.
 

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