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New to Octave Pedals

eagle67

eagle67

Nov 12, 2010
256
51
#1
I play 4 string bass and am interested mostly in octave down. I’ve read a lot here on TB, and it seems like for many people the mark of a good octave pedal is its ability to track the low notes. So, what happens when the pedal “fails to track” a note that’s too low?
Does the octave effect drop out, leaving a clean normal pitched note as played, or does the octaver try anyway and produce a muddy crappy octave down note?
Also, does anyone use Octave Down as an always on effect? Thanks
 
#2
eagle67 said:
Does the octave effect drop out, leaving a clean normal pitched note as played, or does the octaver try anyway and produce a muddy crappy octave down note?
Click to expand...

The octaver I use, when playing a low E for example, tries to produce the note but fails. You hear a glitchy growl pop in and out, like it doesn't really know what to do. I can't explain it much better.
 
#3
When tracking gets funky it's usually because the Octaver starts to track a harmonic instead of the root note so the Octaver will tend to jump up an octave when the tracking starts to fail.

I use mine for three songs out of our 60 song repertoire of my cover band, Yellow, Dangerous Type, and Running Down A Dream. It's on for the entirety of those songs but I couldn't imagine using it for a whole night. Mine is a BYOC Mutron clone. If I wasn't using that I would be using my line 6 M5
 
#4
Tracking is very dependent on input levels, dynamic range, and harmonic content. These can be addressed with compression and EQ before the Octaver. Even so I find some pick ups simply work better than others. My custom bass with an alembic precision pick up tracks better than any other bas I try
 
#5
Tracking really isn't such a big issue. Most analogue octavers will cope with your B, maybe the A, probably nothing reliable lower than that but realistically you probably won't have any use for, or amplification that can usefully reproduce, notes lower than that.
 
#7
jbybj said:
When tracking gets funky it's usually because the Octaver starts to track a harmonic instead of the root note so the Octaver will tend to jump up an octave when the tracking starts to fail.
Click to expand...

kevteop said:
Tracking really isn't such a big issue. Most analogue octavers will cope with your B, maybe the A, probably nothing reliable lower than that but realistically you probably won't have any use for, or amplification that can usefully reproduce, notes lower than that.
Click to expand...

Thanks guys. Yes, having the pedal track all the way down to A, B, or even C would be just fine. I'm just wondering how to prevent mud below that. Do you simply not play a low F, or do you put up with the mud? Or maybe there is a pedal where you can tell it not to try for an octave down below a certain note? (You can probably tell I've never played an octave pedal :)
 
#9
Just don't play the notes that don't work. You'll get used to it very quickly.

The most important thing is finding an octave pedal you like the sound of. Some are so filtered you just get a bassy hum, some have more body to the note (OC-2 for example), try a few and see what you think.
 
#10
jbybj - Your pedal sounds great, but I don't have the time or skill to build one.

kevteop said:
Just don't play the notes that don't work. You'll get used to it very quickly.

The most important thing is finding an octave pedal you like the sound of. Some are so filtered you just get a bassy hum, some have more body to the note (OC-2 for example), try a few and see what you think.
Click to expand...

kevteop - And there's a good part of the problem. I have found only one octave pedal in one music store in my area.
So, thanks for the replies. BTW, everyone here knows that Bongomania is The Man when it comes to compressors. Does anyone know an "Octave Pedal guru" here on TB?
 
#12
eagle67 said:
kevteop - And there's a good part of the problem. I have found only one octave pedal in one music store in my area.
Click to expand...

Yeah I guess the other issue you'll have is that one of the best-regarded octavers (OK let's be honest, the most popular by a country mile, the OC-2) is discontinued so while they're pretty common you won't find one in any shops.

Is there a particular octaver sound you've heard on a record that you'd like to emulate, or are you just interested in the idea of being able to pitch lower than your low E? Because if it's the latter, you may well be better off with a digital pitch shifter (EHX Pitch Fork, Digitech The Drop, etc.). However if it's an octaver on bass you've heard on a record somewhere, it's the OC-2 and you should go find one on eBay. :)
 
#13
Thanks kevteop. Actually I'm happy with the sound of my low E F G A and even B. I'm looking to (if possible) leave those notes basically as is, and add an octave down to anything above those notes. C, D etc. The idea is to have my lowest notes sound like bass (which they already do) but to also add bass to the notes above A, and to everything played on the D and G strings. I would be using this effect most of the time.
 
#14
eagle67 said:
... Does anyone know an "Octave Pedal guru" here on TB?
Click to expand...

Seems to me you've already been conversing with him. ;)

To really do it as described above: a separate pickup for your D & G strings routed to an octaver while the A, E and B string are left unaffected! Or affect your A string as well, so A, D & G on a separate signal path... :D

Sorry to hijack the thread for a moment Eagle, but it's sort of related/relevant...

@kevteop, resident TB octave guru: I really fell in love with the Factotum the first time I heard it (youtube clip). So far what few reviews I've seen say it tracks fairly well for analogue and it gets the thumbs up — I'd appreciate your honest opinion on it; and, have you played one?
 
#17
The OC2 seems to be the popular choice and while a great pedal it is generic to my needs. For analog my choice is the EHX BMS or EHX Octave Multiplexer for digital I like my Zooms blending the octaver with a pitch shifter.
MXR BOD, Aguilar Octamizer, EBS, Digitech are other worthy choices.
 
#18
Er. I'm no guru. Octave pedals are pretty simple to assess and use, so there's no expertise required. Compressors are a much more complex topic.

And no I haven't tried that pedal, I've never even heard of it to be honest.
 
#19
Octaves respond to the bass and playing style so much. One unit can be treasure or trash depending upon the hands wielding it.

If your tone is "soft", "dead", or "bassy" it might track better than tone that is "aggressive", "zingy", or "trebly".

It's all subjective, but I do notice that new strings make my octavers glitch a lot. It's all of those bright harmonics. The tracking improves after a week of playing and a couple pizzas, fries, and burgers on the fingers between rehearsals.
 
#20
Haha! Another Guru enters the fray...

This gives me good reason to stick with my diet of pizza, burgers and fries. Good additional info on zingy strings, JM.

I bet kevteop and jasonmitsch have probably forgotten more about octaves than I'll ever come to know.
I'm new to octavers, and while I've seen/heard demos of all sorts of octavers — POG, Octron, OC-2 etc — and have fiddled with octave sims on my M5, I wasn't bitten by the octave bug until I saw/heard the Factotum.

Learning lots from everybody in this thread. Keep it comin' please.
 

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