I have repeatedly tried to make an octave pedal with a blend control instead of separate dry and octave volume controls work but have finally given up and decided that the blend control sucks. The pedal works great with the blend set to octave only but I can never get the mix I want with dry and octave. So, I use a different octave pedal now. Any one else have this issue?
Not really. On my Octabvre Mini I adjust blend until the ratio sounds right, then adjust volume until it's loud enough. I also have an Octamizer with separate level controls. I do slightly prefer this setup but it's not a major factor.
It's fine on my XMR too. Are you spanking your octaver with a hot signal or active signal? Usually, the blend control is a simple passive circuit and only has so much range.
Passive jazz basses with normal output pickups (stock). My issue is I do not have enough dry signal once I get enough octave signal.
Whether you have a mix+volume or two separate volume knobs the end result is the same. Maybe it’s more about the sound character of the pedals you’ve tried? Some are more ”smooth”, some are more ”synthy”.
No - the issue is I like a full dry volume with the octave rolled in. No blend control can do this because they roll off the dry as you increase the octave. The pedal in question is a Red Witch Zeus which has a killer octave sound. I have tried to make it work since it sounds so good (including maxing the internal octave volume trimmer), but no go. Keeping the pedal for recording but it has been replaced on my board by an Emma Okto-Nojs.
Ah, in that case yes. Any pedal with a blend needs a master volume control to go with it, like the Octabvre does. Looking at the website though, the Zeus does have these but as internal trim controls.
Balancing dry and octave levels is tricky. If your dry volume is the same as bypassed then once you start rolling in the octave it's going to get louder. Add to that how different the mix sounds between a bass amp and PA with subs. How do you get round that?
This With a blend and a master volume you can achieve the exact same results as a volume-volume setup. Without a master volume... Yeah that would suck.