octave pedals - who likes what?

[gearHed289]

I'm thinking of buying an octave pedal. Had a Boss Octaver years ago. It wasn't bad. Wondering what you guys might suggest?

[bassvirtuoso]

I had a Boss Octave, but the real original 80's ones only say Octaver on it. It sounded good down to about A on the E string. I hear the new MXR octave pedal is pretty good, its supposed to have a Boss setting on it.

[Chris P.]

There are some new octavers on the market (I believe Aguilar has one?) now, but when I searched two years ago the Electro-Harmonix ones were the best!

Of course the normal POG is very good, but also expensive. I have the microPOG. You can dial in a sub octave and a high octave and you can blend it easy with the dry signal. It works very, very good! Love it, although I don't use it that much.

My only regret? I whsih I had two, to use a high and low octave seperately in separate songs, without having to dial it in.

[godofthunder]

There are some new octavers on the market (I believe Aguilar has one?) now, but when I searched two years ago the Electro-Harmonix ones were the best!

Of course the normal POG is very good, but also expensive. I have the microPOG. You can dial in a sub octave and a high octave and you can blend it easy with the dry signal. It works very, very good! Love it, although I don't use it that much.

My only regret? I whsih I had two, to use a high and low octave seperately in separate songs, without having to dial it in.

Agreed with all of the above ! I also use the Micro POG and only for key bits and two would be ideal because as Chris says you have to dial in high or low octave for different songs.

[gearHed289]

Cool, guess I'll have to check out the POG. Thanks!

[Basvarken]

I have a Boss OC2 and an OC3.
Soundwise I prefer the OC2 because it's analog. It gives an organic sound with a little bit of drive added to the octaves you dial in.
The OC3 is digital and it adds nothing but the octaves; a bit too clinical for my taste.  Sure you can choose the "drive" functionality, but then you have to give up one octave.

It may not have the organic sound of the OC2, the OC3 is more practical. It has better tracking. It stays tight up till the C on the A string. (whereas the OC2 loses track on anything lower than the D on the A string)
The OC3 also has the option of "polyphonics" (which the OC2 doesn't have). This means you can play chords and add one (lower) octave. As opposed to just the single notes the OC2 can handle.

[chromium]

In addition to the OC-2, I always heard good things about the EHX bass microsynth - it does octave below and above, among other things.  I'd like to try that and a POG one of these days...

The only octavers I have are the Maestro W-2 (more of a fuzz/octave), and MOTM-120 - both very cool, but not really practical for general bass use or gigging.

[slinkp]

I never had an octave pedal per se, but I definitely used my old Bass Whammy in that role a fair amount.

[luve2fli]

EBS Octabass is the best I've heard:

www.bass.se

[Aussie Mark]

Micro POG is very hard to beat for its tracking quality and polyphony.

[gweimer]

I just picked up the Micro POG.  Really good pedal, but I'm finding that my amps don't like what happens once you go down from the D or C.  I've been using it to compensate for drop tune songs, so I'm heavy on the lower octave.  I've found some really good uses for it, though.  I can play things like "Sober" from Tool without drop tuning.  The strings have better tension, and I can still get the sound I need.  It didn't hurt that the drummer in band #2 works at GC, and got me his discount.

[fealach]

I was satisfied with the Digitech Bass Synth Wah for octave-down sounds.  Mine stopped working after a few months of using it at practice once a week, for one song, and the store I bought it from had thrown out all the paperwork (which many stores seem to do with anything they open up for display) so I was out of luck.  Could have just been a rare lemon though, haven't found many complaints online.

I'ved used the Akai Unibass octave-up pedal, owned 2 and sold both for more than twice what I paid.  They track well, and produce an octave up sound that, depending on the settings, can be strange but kinda cool or just plain annoying.

Just last week I plugged the headphone out of my Roland Bass RX Micro Cube into my amp, and it performed pretty well.  I didn't try to test its limits, just played a couple of songs on a 4 string and it didn't seem to have much lag.

[gearHed289]

I ended up buying a micro POG online without having tried one. I don't really like it, so it's going bye bye. I'll probably put it on the 'bay unless someone here wants it. $189 shipped, essentially brand new.

I've had a Digi bass synth wah for a couple of years now. I like it. 200 gigs or so and no issues. Only "problem" is there's no octave down without wah, but it is what it is. 

[Freuds_Cat]

I haven't tried these but came across this unit on fleabay yesterday. Figured it was worth a mention here.

Ampeg Scrambler Fuzz + Octave Clone

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ampeg-Scrambler-Fuzz-Octave-Clone-/250661395039?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item3a5c955a5f#ht_542wt_1139

[exiledarchangel]

"adds a healthy dose of chaos to your pedal board" it does that for sure! Ampeg Scrambler is an insane effect!