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Octave Pedal Poll

Of these three, which would you choose?

  • Aguilar Octamizer

  • Boss OC-3

  • MXR M288

  • Other? Please specify

Results are only viewable after voting.
#81
IME, best tone was the Aguilar, hands down. Best (analog) tracking was the MXR. Digital octavers (like the MicroPOG I had) don't really have the same quality of tone, and while they track brilliantly, their tone is horrid.

There have been threads written on here before by people who have A/B'd the Aggie and MXR and in the end decided to keep both., and having owned both I can totally understand. If I was picking up an octaver again, I'd be really torn between the tone of the Aggie and the slightly better tracking of the MXR. It might come down to a coin flip.
 
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#84
I have a couple of octave capable pedals; EBS Octabass (first and second versions, not the later marked "true bypass"), MXR BOD, EH Micro POG, Aguilar Octamizer, EH Pitch Fork, Zoom MS-60, T-Rex Quint Machine.

I prefer the tracking and sound of the MXR slightly more than the Octamizer, but since the Octamizer makes no noise (which my MXR does quite a bit) the Aguilar is on my board. Both can be both smooth and synthy.

The EBS pedals don't track as well for me (the old first version is quite bad), and could have more character to the sound; they are a bit "safe" sounding to my ears, like some other EBS pedals. Does a good job but not very exciting, so to speak.

The Electro-Harmonix and T-Rex pedals are of a different breed sound wise with a polite tone and quite a bit of lag, and in my opinion better used for their octave down plus octave up possibilities combined with other pedals.

The Zoom finally actually does a decent octaver job if you work with the settings a bit.
 
#85
FretNoMore said:
I have a couple of octave capable pedals; EBS Octabass (first and second versions, not the later marked "true bypass"), MXR BOD, EH Micro POG, Aguilar Octamizer, EH Pitch Fork, Zoom MS-60, T-Rex Quint Machine.

I prefer the tracking and sound of the MXR slightly more than the Octamizer, but since the Octamizer makes no noise (which my MXR does quite a bit) the Aguilar is on my board. Both can be both smooth and synthy.

The EBS pedals don't track as well for me (the old first version is quite bad), and could have more character to the sound; they are a bit "safe" sounding to my ears, like some other EBS pedals. Does a good job but not very exciting, so to speak.

The Electro-Harmonix and T-Rex pedals are of a different breed sound wise with a polite tone and quite a bit of lag, and in my opinion better used for their octave down plus octave up possibilities combined with other pedals.

The Zoom finally actually does a decent octaver job if you work with the settings a bit.
Click to expand...
What's the quintmachine like?
 
#86
cnltb said:
What's the quintmachine like?
Click to expand...
Quite a bit of lag in the tracking, the octave down is a bit too smooth and subby for me, and the octave up is quite synthetic ... but in the mix and with a lot of dry signal it's useable. The "quint" (+5) is kind of cool, mixed in at a moderate level. I think this is more of a guitar pedal than a bass pedal though.

I made a video about a year ago:
 
#87
FretNoMore said:
Quite a bit of lag in the tracking, the octave down is a bit too smooth and subby for me, and the octave up is quite synthetic ... but in the mix and with a lot of dry signal it's useable. The "quint" (+5) is kind of cool, mixed in at a moderate level. I think this is more of a guitar pedal than a bass pedal though.

I made a video about a year ago:
Click to expand...

Thanks!
 
#90
I own oc2, m288, ebs, and dod octaves, as well as the whammy 4, and bsw.

i spent some time with the Aguilar and totally hated it. It sounded terrible to my ears.

The mxr gets the most use according to context.
 
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#97
Bodeanly said:
Thanks, Mosfed. I am trying to steer away from digital. I currently use a Boss ME-50B, but dread the moments where I have to kick in the octave. It sounds fake, if that makes sense, but I dig its ability to track in the lower registers (although, in most cases, it is not necessary for the songs we play). The Boss is overkill since I am only using its distortion and octave.
Click to expand...
This is my issue with octave pedals. They always sound fake. My solution was to buy a 5er.
 
#99
I have two Octave Pedals on my 'board, both for their own extremely different uses. I use my E-H MicroPog exclusively for its Octave Up functionality, which I use for my "Virtual 8/10-string" sound I've been using Effects to do since I first purchased the original DigiTech Bass Whammy back around '94-ish.

Between that and the current POG I also used a Yamaha MagicStomp EB & and for a short time an actual, physical Dean 10X 10-string coursed Bass which turned our to be lacking in build quality, pickups & electronics and a fairly wide neck for the bB-eE-aA-dD-gG Octave & Root strings. To this I usually add in my Xotic BB Bass Preamp for a bit of SVT-like Overdrive, and occasionally a touch of Chorus as well to add the natural "chime" one gets from a natural Octave Instrument.

For the more conventional Octave Down effect I'm using the MXR Bass Octave Deluxe, as I find the combination of "Growl", "Girth", "Dry" and the selectable "mid+ Boost" a fantastic method of coming up with my *personal* Octave Down tone from the variety of controls.
 

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