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Markbass MB Octaver Demo

Smallequestrian

Smallequestrian

Rock and/or Roll
Jul 6, 2004
4,410
359
New Jersey
#1
This has been available in Europe for awhile, but they finally became available here in the US this month. I've been anxious to try it for awhile as many people on this board know, I am a bit of an octaver freak and have owned most of the major players multiple times. This peaked my interest as it has the same controls as the Boss OC-2. So, I took one for the team and ordered one.

My hopes were that it would be an improved version of the Boss pedal...i.e. good bypass, better tracking, similar sound, extra volume, etc...I think it succeeds at that. Unfortunately, I don't have any OC-2's around anymore, but from my memory it definitely appears to track at least as well if not better/lower and with at least the same volume for the OCT 1 as the boss and probably a bit more. The tone is definitely of the same type as the Boss compared to other notable octavers.

30472cfd.jpg


Here is a quick clip I recorded:


I start off playing a G Major scale (to clarify: starting on the 3rd fret of the E string) bypassed, then activated and with the direct at close to unity and the octaves off, then dry at unity and the OCT 1 maxed, then without dry and OCT 1 maxed.

Next is playing down slowly from A on the fifth fret of the E string to open E with the dry off, so you can hear how it tracks and holds the tone. Then I mostly just doodle around without the dry on low on the bass and then up high. The very last thing is a baseline from one of my band's songs that I use an octave for, which is similar to the type of application I will be using this in.
 
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#6
CopperheadLXXIX said:
Sounds very synthy, I like it. Curious though why a bass company would have a -2 octave control; seems rather useless for bass.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I thought it was stupid...I really think they just tried to make a better OC-2 without really considering everything about it. I suspect there will be guitar players who dig this as well though, so there was probably no reason to take it off.
 
#9
Sounds really great man! I love my Compressore so it's got me itching to try one of these. Didn't even know that Markbass made one till I was doing some searching about issues with the MXR BOD.

I just got my MXR BOD and wasn't prepared for the dead spot issue on the G string. I'm kind of a nut about dead spots and was never able to hear more than a slight dead spots on this bass but the BOD is pretty much worthless if I let the note ring even slightly on the lowest 5 or 6 frets on the G string. Does this pedal do any better or is this the fate of all analog octavers?
 
#12
The same synthy sound is on my Super Synth - and i still don't know where can i use such type of sound. It is very strange kind of octave sound. I guess i would not love it - but be in love with Mini Dist and may be i will buy their Mini Boost...
 
#17
That's the sound of the -octave1 only, with no dry signal. Sounds like a sine wave. At that point it doesn't matter if it's analog or digital.
Markbass knows that many bass players rave about the old Boss OC2, maybe they wanted to recreate its character into their products.
 
#20
^^
Definitely closer than I had heard in the other demo. Fair enough. There is still a shine to the OC-2 that I don't hear in the MarkBass which sounds more synthy. I am sure that a fair amount is the dry signal being mixed in.

I never said I didn't like the MarkBass. Just to be clear.
 

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