TC Sub n Up thoughts

[JimmyM]

If you want to 'add weight' to your core tone whilst playing up the neck, the best I have found for that is the Octamizer. Also the T16 and Octabass.

I find the OC-2 and pedals like it have a lot of mids, which sounds great for a soloed octave. But it kind of interferes with the midrange of the bass and muddies things up a bit. The Octamizer has filters which let you EQ each voice so they play nice with each other. You can filter the octave to leave just the low frequencies, and you can also filter the low frequencies out of the original bass tone, which sounds like something you wouldn't want but it does help keep the low end sounding very clear and precise.

Seems to me that the MXR Bass Octave Deluxe can do all of the above. Dry with or without mid boost and 2 differently voiced octaves.
I did try the Octamizer once and was impressed too but it's not cheap and rarely see them used.

Ya, I actually like the way the OC-2 muddies up with the clean sound. Makes it sound like a unified 2-octave analog synth setting. But if you want the clean sound to stand out a little more, that mid switch on the BOD and the Vintage Bass Octave is awesome for it. I have my VBO set for a slight mid boost at 800 hz, just enough to where you know it's there if you run it clean but doesn't boost noticeably when you blend in the octave(s), and it does help the clean sound get over a little more. I thought it was useless at first, but I'm finding a little tasteful boost using it is pretty darn sweet.

 

[the low one]

Ya, I actually like the way the OC-2 muddies up with the clean sound. Makes it sound like a unified 2-octave analog synth setting. But if you want the clean sound to stand out a little more, that mid switch on the BOD and the Vintage Bass Octave is awesome for it. I have my VBO set for a slight mid boost at 800 hz, just enough to where you know it's there if you run it clean but doesn't boost noticeably when you blend in the octave(s), and it does help the clean sound get over a little more. I thought it was useless at first, but I'm finding a little tasteful boost using it is pretty darn sweet.

Thanks JimmyM. I've never actually changed the mid boost setting on my BOD from the default so maybe it's about time I did.

 

[JimmyM]

Thanks JimmyM. I've never actually changed the mid boost setting on my BOD from the default so maybe it's about time I did.

It's fun to experiment with but a bit of a PITA since you have to unscrew the bottom panel to get to the switch and trimpot. But I get why they did that because it's a set-it-and-forget-it thing. At least it won't electrocute you to leave it plugged in and tinker with it. I didn't care for the 400 hz setting but I love 800. Only thing is I found a little goes a very long way with 800. Too much and it sounds like your cab is made of cardboard.

As always, YMMV.

 

[the low one]

JimmyM. Out of interest, what bass are you using? Different pickups etc can make quite a difference when it comes to mids.

 

[JimmyM]

JimmyM. Out of interest, what bass are you using? Different pickups etc can make quite a difference when it comes to mids.

Usually a Precision or PJ with EMG Geezer Butler P or PJ's. They do have pretty strong mids, but I also have a Dano Longhorn I've been using and it's pretty scooped, and I feel pretty much the same about the mid setting.

 

[catcauphonic]

I did try the Octamizer once and was impressed too but it's not cheap and rarely see them used.

I paid 90 USD here in the TB classifieds for mine just a few weeks ago (newer version w/smaller lip.) Granted, that is on the lower side of what I've been seeing in the past 6 months, but there were a few I saw go for 100-125

 

[Mark Gastambide]

I like to use the up on the sub n up for cheap trick stuff, I recently got a mini for my nano joare and I'm not digging it nearly as much as the regular version

I bought one (a mini) for the same reason - to emulate an 8 - string bass with it's "Up" function. And it DID do that pretty well. But when I hooked it up to the Toneprint, I ended up losing that patch, and could not restore it to the factory ones again - so I finally gave up and returned it. Bummer, because I liked it for the simple octave up and down effect. :/

 

[Alex_H]

I bought one (a mini) for the same reason - to emulate an 8 - string bass with it's "Up" function. And it DID do that pretty well. But when I hooked it up to the Toneprint, I ended up losing that patch, and could not restore it to the factory ones again - so I finally gave up and returned it. Bummer, because I liked it for the simple octave up and down effect. :/

That is weird. The default should be part of the toneprints.

 

[darren1970]

I had the mini version, but didn't really get on with it unfortunately.

 

[MrFunk]

Well well well... I am bringing this thread back to life, so here we go: I own both BOD and the TC's mini SnU. I've been using the BOD with the blue magic button on always. In fact, I think it's my oldest pedal and a true survivor, considering how my pedalboard has evolved. The thing is that I'm always towards more synthy bass tones than the regular rock or clean pop ones. That being said, I must say that I fell into the temptation to get one of those TC's, after research and thought, and because TC's products are trustworthy (I own more pedals and my rig is also TC). I've spent some hours trying to mimic the sub tone that I love from the BOD on the mini, and suddenly I got the epiphany! It's not necessary to mimic its sound! those are different pedals with different cool perks and also limitations. At that moment I decided to try a basic patch with the 2 things I was looking for: the option to combine the sub-octave with my synth pedals and get clear but heavy tones, and the power to feed that crisp octave up thru synths and/or reverb, delay, tremolo, to get a pad-like sound and play with the Ditto looper without compromising the bottom-end that's always available at the flip of a knob. So, if you ask me: would you change the BOD? the answer should be a "maybe" by now. But definitely, if my pedalboard was a PT-2 instead of a PT-1, and if I had the extra real estate to spare... I could consider keeping both of them right next to each other to do crazy stuff. But in the end, the small footprint and versatility of the TC mini, and the poly mode are good brownie points to consider.

 

[bassbrad]

I use my SnU mini for the wacky tone prints, I bought mine at a stupid b-stock price hoping to be able to be creative with the app but have never been able to get it to work, but it is still lots of fun..

 

[MrFunk]

That's another interesting thing: the app itself (at least on Mac OS) has a lot of parameters to adjust to tailor the sound to your personal taste. As I posted early, the other TC's pedals are very funny to use, and they can be as simple or complex as you want, depending on your knowledge of the bells and whistles of the interface, or your will to spend hours tweaking every digital knob. In any case, the SnU is a very funny pedal.