My recent review of the Cave Passive Pedals "Grunt" overdrive/boost pedal for bass certainly generated some spirited discussion on a number of forums. The Grunt has been on my pedal board for one gig, two rehearsals and a recording session so far, and I'm pleased to report that I'm still very happy with it. At the cover band gig I used the Grunt for the entire gig on the clean setting instead of a VT-Bass pedal, to give me a touch of grit whenever I dug in.
The second pedal that Cave sent me to test drive is the Octa-Bass, which is described at the Cave website (
http://www.cavepassivepedals.com.au/product.cfm?productcategory_id=10&product_id=71 ) in the following fashion - "This pedal gives your bass an “Octave Up” frequency or a sound similar to “Ring Modulators” if two or more notes are played simultaneously. A totally unique sound especially designed for the bass player."
Like the Grunt, the Octa-Bass arrived well presented in a hand crafted MDF box that is now standard with all Cave pedals. The Octa-Bass is built in the same powder coated gloss white aluminium Hammond enclosure as other pedals in the range, with just the one knob, labeled Depth.
I had incorrectly assumed that the Octa-Bass was going to give me an octave up as well as my original signal, similar to other bass octave pedals on the market. But the Octa-Bass is very different to what I expected - instead of adding an octave to my original sound, it replaces the original sound with an octave above, only. ie. the original frequency is removed.
With the Depth control fully anti clockwise, the sound is almost chorus like with just a hint of fuzz, and would be a useful solo tone in a grunge or alt rock situation. As you turn the depth knob clockwise the effect becomes more subtle. Because the Octa-Bass is passive, there are no issues with tracking, which often plague conventional octave pedals for bass. Double stops and chords present no problems for this pedal either, unlike most other octave pedals on the market.
The Octa-Bass is not as "bold" as the Grunt pedal and unlike the Grunt does not boost the signal. It's not a pedal that you'd be able to use for an entire gig, but for solos or some character fills it would have it's place.
The Octa-Bass is more suited to users of roundwound strings than flatwounds, as the way it dispenses with the original frequency is a little too dramatic an outcome when the beefy flatwound bottom end is subtracted. I certainly got a surprise when the bottom end dropped out as I kicked in the Octa-Bass. With roundwounds the transition from effect off to effect on is not as severe, and is more usable. All of my gigging basses wear flatwounds, so the Octa-Bass is not a pedal I can see myself using live.
Cave are developing a mechanical indicator for all of the Cave Passive Pedal range (instead of a traditional LED), and once fully tested and in production will be available some time in 2010.
