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- Jan 6, 2018
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- Steve Gregory
Those of you who follow the "Pedals You Want To Try" thread have seen my posts lately talking about wanting to try some different choruses, some different overdrives, and even that new EHX Mono Synth. So naturally today I did the obvious thing.
I went shopping for octave pedals.
I've had the same octave pedal since about 1990: the venerable Boss OC-2. The problem is that I hear it on almost every funk fusion record from the past five years or so. It's become too trendy, and I wanted something different. The power jack needs replacing, so rather than have the pedal repaired, I decided to see what else was out there first.
The first store I went to only had one octave pedal in stock, the OC-3. Usually when people insist that the newer versions of pedals aren't as good as the old ones, I'm skeptical. The OC-3 has some additional features, and I figured it was worth a shot. Unfortunately, I pretty much hated it. In "poly" mode, the lower octave sounds mushy, weak, and indistinct. In any mode, the lower octave doesn't sound near as good as my OC-2. It does have a built-in overdrive that sounds pretty cool, but it wasn't enough to sell me on what I considered a "meh" pedal.
The next store was a bit further from me, but much more promising, as I knew it would be. I tried three pedals in that store, and they were all brilliant. I can recommend all three without hesitation.
The first was the MXR Bass Octave Deluxe. This one has two different octave circuits. They both produce a note a single octave down from your instrument, but they each have their own distinctive tone, and both can be blended as you please. The "Growl" circuit is more OC-2ish, where "Girth" is warm, fat, and dubby. There is also a "mid" switch, which adds a nice punch, especially when used in conjunction with "Growl".
The second pedal I tried in that store was another MXR, this time the new MXR Vintage Octave. This one appears to be pretty much an OC-2 clone, both in design and sound, except that it's got the same "mid" switch as on the Bass Octave Deluxe. A killer pedal for those looking to get a slightly modernized version of the classic OC-2 sound. It's also got a nice small footprint.
The one that really surprised me, however, was the EHX Nano POG. It's a digital pedal, so it can do polyphony, and it also does octave-up. The octave-up actually sounds pretty good. I could see using it for soloing. When soloed, the octave-down has a very smooth sound, nice and fat, but sadly with none of the character and growl of an analog circuit, and a slight delay in tracking can be detected. I always use octave-down in a 50/50 blend with dry signal, and the delay is not noticeable in this context. The tracking, though slower than the MXRs', was virtually glitch-free (although it must be said that the MXRs both tracked really well).
It was honestly a tough call. I wanted all three. But I went home with the POG. The polyphony and up-octave were both very inspiring, and I can always get my OC-2 fixed if I feel I need an analog octave too.
What will be interesting to see is if the POG will replace my 8-string bass altogether. If it does, I can remove the gigantic Radial Bassbone from my board and free up space for something else.
I went shopping for octave pedals.
I've had the same octave pedal since about 1990: the venerable Boss OC-2. The problem is that I hear it on almost every funk fusion record from the past five years or so. It's become too trendy, and I wanted something different. The power jack needs replacing, so rather than have the pedal repaired, I decided to see what else was out there first.
The first store I went to only had one octave pedal in stock, the OC-3. Usually when people insist that the newer versions of pedals aren't as good as the old ones, I'm skeptical. The OC-3 has some additional features, and I figured it was worth a shot. Unfortunately, I pretty much hated it. In "poly" mode, the lower octave sounds mushy, weak, and indistinct. In any mode, the lower octave doesn't sound near as good as my OC-2. It does have a built-in overdrive that sounds pretty cool, but it wasn't enough to sell me on what I considered a "meh" pedal.
The next store was a bit further from me, but much more promising, as I knew it would be. I tried three pedals in that store, and they were all brilliant. I can recommend all three without hesitation.
The first was the MXR Bass Octave Deluxe. This one has two different octave circuits. They both produce a note a single octave down from your instrument, but they each have their own distinctive tone, and both can be blended as you please. The "Growl" circuit is more OC-2ish, where "Girth" is warm, fat, and dubby. There is also a "mid" switch, which adds a nice punch, especially when used in conjunction with "Growl".
The second pedal I tried in that store was another MXR, this time the new MXR Vintage Octave. This one appears to be pretty much an OC-2 clone, both in design and sound, except that it's got the same "mid" switch as on the Bass Octave Deluxe. A killer pedal for those looking to get a slightly modernized version of the classic OC-2 sound. It's also got a nice small footprint.
The one that really surprised me, however, was the EHX Nano POG. It's a digital pedal, so it can do polyphony, and it also does octave-up. The octave-up actually sounds pretty good. I could see using it for soloing. When soloed, the octave-down has a very smooth sound, nice and fat, but sadly with none of the character and growl of an analog circuit, and a slight delay in tracking can be detected. I always use octave-down in a 50/50 blend with dry signal, and the delay is not noticeable in this context. The tracking, though slower than the MXRs', was virtually glitch-free (although it must be said that the MXRs both tracked really well).
It was honestly a tough call. I wanted all three. But I went home with the POG. The polyphony and up-octave were both very inspiring, and I can always get my OC-2 fixed if I feel I need an analog octave too.
What will be interesting to see is if the POG will replace my 8-string bass altogether. If it does, I can remove the gigantic Radial Bassbone from my board and free up space for something else.