• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Octave up vs Octave down.

Felken

Felken

Jun 28, 2016
1,622
2,087
26
Ottawa, CAN
#1
I'm in the market for an octave pedal. I've done searches on threads but none really answer my question. I'm no expert on how octave pedals work so I need clarification.

Apparently, the standard octave pedal is an octave down. But apparently, most of these only go down to A or something. I play a 5 string and make use of the low B quite often. I want all of my notes to sound octaved. So, octave up? Are there any sound comparisons between an octave up and octave down pedal? Also, do you have pedal suggestions? I'm looking for something simple with no fancy effects. Just octave, and no more than 100$.
 
#2
My advice?

Save yourself the headache and cost and just wait until you have enough money for a Micro or Nano POG.

That way you get both octave up and down and there are no limitations as to how low it will go. Analog octaves do not track low notes so that's probably where you are getting that they will not go below A. But the POGs are digital so they track everything. The drawback is that they sound digital. But to me that's better than not sounding at all. I run a mild overdrive after mine to give it some grunt and stank so it doesn't sound digital.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JustANut, RobTheRiot, Shadowkast and 11 others
#11
Analog octavers can track low, but not reliably. My Octabvre can do a low C for example, but glitches on the open low E. The tones octavers generate when playing that low can't really be heard well anyway. I only kick it on when playing high up on the neck, that's the whole point of the pedal for me.

The Bass Whammy is killer and lots of fun. You can have it produce a 5th up harmony with the heel down, sliding to an octave up as you depress the pedal. For simple octave up, nothing really beats a POG or Mooer Tender Octaver (good luck finding one though, I've been hunting for ages).

The TC is half the price though, and WAY more flexible. Yes -2 Oct isn't terribly useful on bass, but you can edit that in the toneprint app to be a flanged octave or something else weird! In comparison videos online the POG is much more jangly up top, but I think they fail to take into account the TC has adjustable EQ for each octave voice, so you may even be able to get them sounding very close indeed.

Another option for simple octave up blended with clean is the Digitech Mosaic. A bonus of this is the tone control which can reduce the harshness of the octave up.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tfer and Dean-oh
#12
You definitely want one of the EHX POGs.

For octave up sorta stuff I use a Boss MO-2. It's not an octaver. More an overtone modeler - think chorus type sorta sound on steroids but without the oscillations. It's far more limited than what you can do with a POG however. But it gives me a certain sound that's about all I'm looking for when I want an octave up vibe.

You might want to also look at the Digitech Dirty Robot. It has an interesting octave function. I've heard it used with bass and it's another potentially useful effect. But again no comparison to a POG.
 
#15
I am mostly interested in octave up as well. To that end, I have acquired the following octavers:

EHX POG-2
EHX PitchFork
Boss PS-6 Harmonist
Digitech Bass Whammy
TC Sub'n'Up Mini

(also have an OC-3 and BSW, but those are octave-down only)

Frankly, all the +1 octaves on the above pedals sound a *lot* more similar than they do different. They all end up with a fairly similar synthy sound, and they all track pretty good. I think the Digitech and both EHX pedals sound almost identical--especially if you throw in some effects (dirt) afterwards. The PS-6 has a bit more of a "whiny" tone, and the Sub'n'Up is perhaps the least synthy. But anyone who tries to draw huge differences is spouting pure subjective opinion. Most of the pedals (PitchFork, PS-6, Bass Whammy) can be had used for pretty close to $100. And the Sub'n'Up mini is $100 brand new. Only the POG-2 is really out of your price range. I've been close to trying the Mooer Tender Octaver a couple times, but it was hard to justify the premium price for a cheap clone pedal, and when I saw the SNU mini was coming out for the same price, brand new, and with TonePrint, the Mooer became very uninteresting...

Personally, I would get a PitchFork over a mini POG or nano POG any day. identical sounds, but WAY more versatile of a pedal, and cheaper. Regardless, I am convinced that you would be nearly equally served by just about anything mentioned here so far. Good Luck!
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Spent and Felken
#19
If you've got a 5string, you don't want an octave down on the b string -octave up will be more useful. I just got a sub n up, and while I haven't yet put in the time to understand it fully, I have used it to good effect.
 
#20
Felken said:
Down octaves are useless for bass. It sounds muddy.
Click to expand...

Not to be rude, but this is completely incorrect. They are extremely useful in the sense that you can create some real synthy sounds with an analog octave. With a digital octave, its always kind of tinny. Analog octave down sound are great when solo'd (but you have to play the octave , where only the wet signal is going through. Push that through a fuzz and an envelope and maybe a slight detune chorus and now you're in synth heaven.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MrDOS, BigBobbyBass, Nephilymbass and 11 others

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back