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Bass Octave Pedal Reviews

#42
onewebfoot said:
finally. more details if you please, kwesi. thanks.
Click to expand...

Well, there aren't many details to be said, to be honest, haha. The pedal is on the larger side of things, so it wouldn't fit on my board. An octave up that's automatically distorted is a waste of a knob for me because I like my dirt a lil different (gated fuzz, multiband distortion). The low octave definitely wasn't bad but it wasn't phat like the BOD and Octamizer or like I've heard in the OC-2 clips. It just didn't fit what I'd want to do with an octaver but a buddy of mine loved it.
 
#43
DosiYanarchy said:
This is all in my own opinion.

Ampeg Sub-Blaster
Controls: -1 octave down level and Clean Level.
Sound: Huge sub, could really blow your speakers if not careful, smooth and deep, not at all synthy. Tracked really well for me.

Boss OC2
Controls: -2 Oct, -1 Oct, Clean Level
Sound: Tracking is pretty good for an analog octaver (when -2 oct is not included) and the sound is synthy/keyboard-like not distorted, just kinda electronic-y.

Markbass MB Octaver
- As with the OC2, but tracking seems a little better to me.

Boss OC3
3 modes: one mode is that in the OC2, one adds Distortion to a single octave down and in Poly mode you can set a filter so that the octave effect only comes into play further up the fretboard.

MXR Bass Octave Deluxe
Smaller than the Boss and only does one octave down. Has an optional mid-boost (which funnily enough only affects the clean tone) and two octave down sounds, one quite similar to the OC2 sound and one much smoother.

EHX Octave Multiplexer
Very versatile octaver, at a great price, seriously underrated. tracking seems really good to me, some faux-synth sounds when the 'sub' switch is not in use, the sub switch switches from semi-electronic-y octave down with a slight distortion on top to a deep, fat octave down.

Modtone Deep Dive
Somewhat similar to the EHX, but much smaller -- and alot more expensive.

Guyatone Micro Octaver
Same controls as the OC2 but with an added pre-gain external trim pot and a 3-position filter switch allow you to get varing levels of distortion on top of the octave. Very small pedal, however build quality is negligable.

Aguilar Octamizer
The daves know what bass players want. One octave down: four controls - level and tone for the octave and clean signal each.

Digitech Bass Synth Wah
Alot of sounds for the money and a great octaver.

EHX Micro Pog
great 8-12-string sounds, flawless tracking - doesnt do FAT sub like their analog brethren

EHX POG2
As above but with and added -2 octave and +2 Octaves, an attack delay, low pass filter and 'detune' function that sounds like a subtle chorus. Oh, and you can store EIGHT presets
Click to expand...

Thanks!
 
#45
I just got the MXR Bass Octave Deluxe yesterday. Its the first octaver I've gotten to play with, and so far I like it. Tracks down damn accurately (the tracking on the first 5 frets of the E string warbles a bit but it still tracks, I feel like in a band setting the warble would be negligible but the low octave would still cut it.) Tracking was questionable playing up the neck, I was noodling on some melodic stuff above the 12th fret across all strings and it seemed to produce an octave when it felt like it.

Tone and tracking were excellent in the middle 95% range of my 4 string Ibanez ATK. This thing pumps out a nice dirty funky synthy thick tone while playing fingerstyle. Playing slap, you hear mostly the dry tone with alittle octave underneath. Going to try it out at practice tonight, and mix it up with some other pedals. I'll let you all know how it goes.
 
#46
I've had an older EBS Octabass (no range switch) for a while and still go to it when I want an octave sound. It's basic, sturdy and dependable. Not very exciting, as people have said, but it is serviceable.

Tried a MXR Bass Octave Deluxe and sent it back. Wanted to love it, but it just didn't work well. I'm convinced that the QC on these is inconsistent. I know there are good ones out there - I just got a bad one. And I know other people have too. I'd be willing to give it another try to see if I got a good one the second time around.

Tried an Aguilar Octamizer, and sent that back as well. I had high hopes for that one, but it just didn't work well or sound well with any of the basses I used it with.

Haven't decided what I'm going to try next. I'm not in any big hurry on this, and don't see anything out there that gets me all lathered up to the point where I can't live without it.
 
#47
My search for an Octave pedal ended with the Octron 2. Love that you can individually select/blend the octave down/octave up/dry signal..Only downside is that it takes up quite a bit of space on the board.

Had the BOD for a while but ended up selling it off.
 
#50
I've had the Digitech Bass Synth Wah, the EBS Octabass, and both the Boss OC-2 and the OC-3.

The Digitech BSW tracks the best, definitely. With the tone rolled off on your bass, it gives a really nice digital synthy sort of sound that everybody seems to love with octavers, and with the tone up it gives that nice "bass with octave" effect. The downside is that you can't solo octave tone, and you can't adjust octave volume, which can be an issue since the volume of octave+dry signal with the unit is well above unity, and kicking in the effect means a lot more volume. Still, this is only one effect out of 7 separate effects on a really cheap stompbox, so it might be worth your while.

The EBS Octabass is a nice analog octaver, but the soloed octave tone is rather mushy and doesn't cut, plus, there are a lot of tracking issues I've had with it. Still, the subs really rumble on the "low" filter mode, which can be nice, and it has dry and octave volume controls, which is always good.

The OC-2 is my preferred octave. It's a finnicky mofo with tracking, but there's something unique about the soloed tone of the octave 1 down and something about the feel of the analog tracking that just makes it special. Warm, fat, and musical, the OC-2 is THE synth octave choice.

When I had an OC-3 briefly, I thought it wasn't quite as cool as the OC-2, although it came close. The OC-2 mode tracks better than the actual OC-2, but it doesn't sound and feel as warm and organic as the original (although, again, it's close) The drive mode is kind of useless (it's just the DS-1 circuit), and I don't particularly like the tone from it. I never really used the poly mode enough to make any real comments about it.
 
#51
It boils down to what bass you are using through what pedal, and what your uses and expectations are. I have both the OC-3 and MXR Bass Octave Deluxe, and prefer the latter, but can live with the former. The Boss is on my "small" board, which is used for acoustic/low volume and jazz/supper club gigs. For the 4-hour coverband gigs, the "large" board, with the MXR, is used. I like the ability to adjust the mids on the MXR, and use it in conjunction with a playing style that has fooled more than a few bandmates: "Where did you hide the 5-string?" I have not owned a 5er in nearly a decade.

As always, YMMV.
 
#53
Bjazzman said:
dod octoplus continues to amaze me for the $. really synthy tones and to me it tracks as well as the oc-2. sure, it can be glitchy. but with alot of the analog octaves you need to alter your technique. i've had the mxr, boss, ebs and dod. out of all of these the dod remains on the board
Click to expand...

After reading this I looked online and found there was a used one at my local GC so I stopped in and brought my OC-2 for comparison. The Octoplus tracked just as well as the OC-2 and has a tone control allowing for variation and a choice over the octaves sound- down low it had a deeper tone (like rolling the tone knob on your bass back) and all the way forward sounded synthier than the OC-2. In the middle they were similar; BUT the OC-2 was much much much thicker. To my ears it took up 2-3 times the amount of sonic space as the Octoplus, the girth of the pedal is enormous which I just now determined is one reason it sounds so good in front of other effects… it pushes them so much harder. Theres also a mid heavy “growl” in the OC-2 which gives the pedal it’s own flavor of synthiness, I couldn’t cop that sound with the Octoplus. I always run -1 solo’d, but for comparison I tried dialing in the dry signal and I think I preferred the Octoplus for it’s crisper synthier sound, and the octave having a thinner more cutting tone, which allowed the dry signal to thicken things up.
 
#54
Alot of different opinions on the same pedal. Common and good i guess. Somewhat confusing to someone looking to buy one. But I like to say I still like the EBS. Each of the 3 settings need to be adjusted to bring out its best tracking. I tend to like the analog pedals regarding octaves a bit better than digital but there are trade offs.
 
#58
#59
thanks Mike..makes it easier. ?: why did you roll the vol back on the bass when you were testing this? And the bass is a P deluxe, that's active? have you tried this with a non active P? I find most (all) of the older analog octave pedals like active basses or passive/comp basses the best for tracking and sustain, IOW a hotter signal. is this the case with the Copilot?
 
#60
You're welcome (first name's Marc BTW :))! Yeah, I rolled the volume back on this one because the prototype version was getting a little unwanted clipping with full output from my 18v active P. He has corrected this since and it is much better. I have also had my bass modded to have a passive mode and the Cubic sounds awesome with the passive mode. I actually prefer most analog octaves with the passive/comp set up. I had an MXR BOD that was terrible with too hot of a signal.
 

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