Favorite octave pedal for octave up and down?

[Jgasser27]

Man you guys have thrown out a lot of suggestions lmao
So I see some mentioned the MXR bass octave that doesn't do octave up; if I didn't need octave up, I'm pretty sure this would be my choice for the nice blend of cost usability and brand recognition (MXR is from my hometown and I love their products)
To the people that say octave up never really sounds that great; truly, I believe you. I don't need it to sound great though. I mostly need to cover more sonic ground, and letting me take the midrange and the low end at the same time feels like the best way to do it without using a fuzz pedal. If you have a better suggestion as to trying to cover for a pack of rhythm guitar when my guitar player does leads, please let me know. No sarcasm at all there, I'm very open to suggestions
The people that say POG2, chances are your right. That pedal is a beast, it does so much cool stuff, I love the sliders, presets, gain, + and - 2 octaves if I remember correctly? Unfortunately I'm just not willing to spend that kind of money on an effect that for me is a bit niche.
As much as I was leaning towards the OC5 when I started this thread I'm kind of thinking the C4 is the way to go. All the extra stuff it does other than octaves is absolutely awesome, I'm thinking it may be able to replace 2 of my pedals on my board currently and still add octaves, and just the fact that it can hold a bunch of presets makes it definitely seem worth it over the OC5 for me. I do love that the OC5 has a -2 octaves, not sure if the C4 can do that. I used to own a DOD meatbox and have been kicking myself ever since I sold it. Something with -2 octaves may be able to get me back to that glorious, amp and speaker ruining tones.
After work today I'm gonna try to find a direct comparison of the C4 and OC5 doing octaves, as long as the C4 sounds better than my old micro POG then I think this is the route I'll go.

 

[Jgasser27]

Woah I didn't see the whole second page of comments you guys seriously kick ass. I'll definitely look into the octron too! I guess when I say "natural" I more or less mean natural compared to the micro POG. listening to a side by side comparison of the microPOG and the OC5 the boss pedals sounds wayyyy more realistic than the POG. The micro POG I found the octave up was just trash, it completely ruined my tone, I couldn't blend it in any sort of way , and It had a slight delay that made it feel even worse to use than it sounded. They may not make one that sounds natural but I sure know they make better than that lol

 

[E Joe]

After work today I'm gonna try to find a direct comparison of the C4 and OC5 doing octaves, as long as the C4 sounds better than my old micro POG then I think this is the route I'll go.

All good options! I have the C4 and love it. I don’t use it as a straight up octaver, but it can do that. I would watch out for the tracking though! It tracks great, but it doesn’t track as well as EHX or BOSS in my experience.

I already mentioned it, but adding distortion after the octave up is really crucial to me to making it sound better and more guitar-y when I do this kinda move.

 

[n!k]

Since no one mentioned it, an all-analog option is the MXR Slash Octave Fuzz. It is an analog sub-octave down and Octavia analog octave-up in one pedal. You can run it with both octaves going into a fuzz or both against a clean sound. It works great for bass. I did a full review of it elsewhere on TB.

 

[_Obra_]

I had new OC-5, but when compared it to Bass Whammy, I realised that when solo, Whammys octave Low or Up reproduce original tone much closer than Boss.
Problem with Whammy is that You can not change volume of Low/Up octave, so I got Pitch Fork.
Now using pitch fork for octave, and Whamy for Whammy effect and pitch down or up.

 

[Nighttrain1127]

If you want even more look at the Electro Harmonix HOG 2 +1 and a 5th plus 2 plus 3 plus intervals all at the same time and with the right Rotary simulator and a seperate amp it can sound like you have someone back stage playing a Hammond B3. I know overkill but what the heck it sounds great in a power trio.

 

[smeet]

I’m looking for an octave pedal for very specific use. (Digital) poly Octave up only, with control over both dry and effected volumes. Would be nice: Small, non chirpy sound, low latency, separate outputs for dry and effect, expression control over pitch shift.

My intended use is to fill in the sound when the guitarist soloes. I have a Ricochet and that sounds good, but there is no way to affect the blend balance, so the high octave is WAY too loud.

The Mooer Tender Octave, Micro POG, and some others look decent. What do you think?

 

[jasonmitsch]

I really like the octave up and down capabilities of the Line6 Helix products. The Poly-Pitch models have fantastic tracking. The +1 tone is a bit artificial sounding, but the drive/eq/amp options can make some very satisfying tones. I understand the HX Stomp and HXFX are probably more than you want to pay for just a pitch shifter, but you get so many other great usable tools that you can find a way to justify it.

 

[Jgasser27]

I’m looking for an octave pedal for very specific use. (Digital) poly Octave up only, with control over both dry and effected volumes. Would be nice: Small, non chirpy sound, low latency, separate outputs for dry and effect, expression control over pitch shift.

My intended use is to fill in the sound when the guitarist soloes. I have a Ricochet and that sounds good, but there is no way to affect the blend balance, so the high octave is WAY too loud.

The Mooer Tender Octave, Micro POG, and some others look decent. What do you think?

I haven't tried to many octave pedals, but I've been watching all sorts of videos lately. Sounds like you want octave up for pretty much the same reason I need it, and personally I couldn't use the micro POG in my band setting. I found the tone of the upper octave to be totally fake sounding, and even when I used other effects or dirt to bury it, i could never get it sounding good. It always sounds like it was trying to be an organ or something. The octave down sounded great to be fair, and the tracking truly is superb on it. I know from video reviews that I don't particularly like the sounds from the sub 'n up either. Watching a video comparing the OC5, micro POG, and sub n up, the OC5 was the clear winner. It retained it's organic sound soooo much better than anything else. Unfortunately I've never really checked out mooer pedals to know how they compare, but I do know that they generally either clone other pedals and give them a new name or clone other pedals and change something really small so they don't get sued. Chances are if it's based off something you like, sounds like mooer usually does a good job mimicking it.

Also, I think I'm gonna get the C4 synth pedal, and most likely the OC5. After watching all the videos on the C4, it seems intimidating but also seems like if I keep my laptop connected it could do basically everything my entire board can do, and way more. It also seems like a waste to keep a present stored in the pedal for a simple octave up.

 

[Jgasser27]

Since no one mentioned it, an all-analog option is the MXR Slash Octave Fuzz. It is an analog sub-octave down and Octavia analog octave-up in one pedal. You can run it with both octaves going into a fuzz or both against a clean sound. It works great for bass. I did a full review of it elsewhere on TB.

I will definitely have to take a look at it. Honestly I pretty much write off all fuzz octaves because I don't need fuzz (Swollen Pickle til the day I die) but yeah if I can clean it up it's definitely worth a look. I also love MXR products, I've never been disappointed with any purchases from them. Thanks!

 

[Jgasser27]

Thanks so much for all the replies guys, I think I made up my mind. After watching some videos on the C4, as intimidating as it looks, I want that headache. Never been a midi guy, never had to connect my pedals to a PC, but I do have a laptop I can hook up and program this. All those preset options make this a no brainier over other synth pedals like the SY1.
Unfortunately, I realllllly liked the C4. Like, I wanna use this all the time, and I probably can't just add upper octave to my base sound on the fly. I'm thinking that after a few weeks, I may add the Boss OC5 also.
I like to loop a lot, especially when I play my bass vi, and an octave pedal on the bass vi really just goes a very long way. Makes it like playing a guitar but with .024's instead of .010's lmao

 

[JeffTCS]

Foxrox Octron for sure, the 3 is great would love the one with the separate up switch.

 

[smeet]

I had the C4 but never looked into getting a good octave up sound from it. It doesn’t have to sound like a guitar, but could it work and sound good in a band context, especially with some distortion? Are there any demos of an octave up sound suitable for a rock/metal live context? I couldn’t find any.

I also had the OC5, and the octave up sound was decent I think, but not “good”. The analog octave down was good, just like an OC2. None of the other sounds were any good IMHO. May have to revisit that one.

The sub’n’up was awful. FoxRox was not good for my purposes. Analog “octave up” just hasn’t worked for me.

 

[n!k]

I will definitely have to take a look at it. Honestly I pretty much write off all fuzz octaves because I don't need fuzz (Swollen Pickle til the day I die) but yeah if I can clean it up it's definitely worth a look. I also love MXR products, I've never been disappointed with any purchases from them. Thanks!

If you get one to try out, there's internal trimpots inside that control the octave up tone and gain. Turn the gain down and back the tone off a little and it's less fuzzy. It's still an Octavia at heart though, so it's not like a purely clean octave like a digital octaver or anything but it's cool

 

[odarellmc]

I agree. I have never found a clean octave up that sounded natural. They've all sounded artificial and whammy like to me. That being said, I love the Pearl Octaver, which is similar to the Boss OC-2 but with a distorted octave up. It can really add to your sound. It was my gateway to synth bass tones. The TWA Great Divide (I'm an endorser) is based around the Pearl but the octave up is dirtier and has an envelope. it also has a sub octave and a synth, both of which have their own individual clocks. That one may be a little more than you need or want to pay. My two cents...have some fun hunting for the sound you're looking for.

Just looked at a video of this pedal, I love it! Thanks!

 

[theunknowndude]

Probably a bit late to the party…
I’ve had boss sy1, ps3, bass whammy, brain waves and octave (both up, the 76 and down, malekko downer ) fuzzes…
All needed dirt to not make them sound synthetic but the worst was the brainwaves… just sounded thin and faint and using mash instead of an expression pedal was horrible.
The best tracking and decent was the bass whammy but for the minimal pitch shifting I was doing for fake octave fuzz ended up just going back to normal fuzzes and using a wah if I wanted a filter sweep.

 

[Jgasser27]

Just in case anybody cares, I got my C4 yesterday. I bought used and found out the hard way I don't have the correct cords to connect to my laptop or phone, so I was just playing with the factory presets. I found 4 of the presets to be a bit hard to use, but the 1st and 3rd presets (saw envelope and edm swell I think?) Were really hard to stop using. The saw envelope just sounded awesome, and just on the pedal I had lots of control. The EDM swell is so impractical for what I play, but God damn does that still does sound awesome. Can't wait to see what I can make using the actual programming.
Ultimately though, I actually don't think it's going to be the best for my octave up needs. Not because it can't do it or anything like that but because I think it would make more sense to have something specifallynfor that, so I'm not changing between pedal settings mid song. That said, the OC5 looks pretty damn good