Octave up split to guitar amp

[caesarspalace]

Hi everyone! I'm helping out a friend by gigging with his (blackened?) punk band in the coming months. Their music usually has 2/3 guitars but this time the band will be set up as a 3-piece. We were discussing things we could do to beef up the sound and he suggested running an octave up signal through a guitar amp. I've never done this before but the idea definitely sounds fun to me! Backline and whatnot would be taken care of, I just need to make sure I have the right tools in my pedalboard

I don't want my bass to sound too synthy so I started looking at analog pedals and the Foxrox Octron definitely caught my attention.

I also checked the T-Rex Quint Machine which isn't analog but has a 5th interval which would allow me to play power chords. I'm just afraid it will sound like a Nintendo once I start adding overdrive to it.

I'd like to read your opinions on these two if you have experience with them, especially since I found very few videos with bass.

 

[Hypocrite]

I don't have any experience with the two pedals you mentioned, but I have used the TC Sub'n'Up mini as an always-on octave up though a guitar amp for quite a while. It is a digital pedal (with no extra fifth) but definitely doesn't sound too synthy or artificial with a good dose of distortion after it, either from another pedal or from the guitar amp.

 

[Michedelic]

I do that in a three-piece, but as we play more older, run-of-the-mill rock material, it's more to fill in the sonic space of the missing rhythm/second guitar, much like what Tom Petersson has done with 8 and 12 string basses in Cheap Trick, or the tandem guitar/bass riffing heard on Cream, Hendrix, Jeff Beck, etc, records. I use the EHX MicroPOG, not perfect, but it will do, mainly because of the dual dry/octave outs for separate routing, but I suppose, if I used a POG 2, I could employ some sort of A/B/Y like a Radial Bigshot. I start out with a compressor first, then octave(no 'down'), the upper goes through dirt, then modulation and a simple delay, tremolo, and a volume pedal for blend, then on to a separate amp. The dedicated bass line goes through separate dirt, filter, and modulation to a proper bass amp. I once tried the Fishman Fission to check out the added fifth up aspect, and it was a total fail. The TC Sub'n'Up is comparable to, but does not best, the POG to my ears.

 

[basst scho]

i have the quint, and to my ears it sounds more like nintendo without overdrive...with dirt it´s fine.

didn´t try the splitting-thing into guitar-amp yet, but i will

 

[bassbrad]

I vote for the TRex Quint Machine, to my ear it is a transparent pitch shifter that allows you to set the level of each voice and it plays well with effects before or after it. I have linked my review of the QM.

NPD: TRex Quint Machine Octave+Fifth updated

The QM plays well with all my effects.

 

[caesarspalace]

Thanks everyone for your replies!

I decided to go for the Quint Machine because of the 5th interval. It definitely helps having a rhythm guitar-like sound. I keep it a bit dialed back since it's still lower than the +1 octave and can overpower it.

I will leave an update here once I try it with the band