Quatschmacher

Woohoo! Bass direct have finally got the Octabvre MKII back in stock. Should have it with me tomorrow!

[quote name='CameronJ' timestamp='1508775285' post='3394331'] I've just bought an Emma Discombobulator V2... I have a problem. [/quote] Haha! How many is that now? (I’m on 6.) It’s pretty cool, isn’t it?

[quote name='Al Krow' timestamp='1508478851' post='3392416'] Excellent - looking forward to pics and feedback. [/quote] I’m particularly interested to find out if it sounds the same as my big box Q-Tron. I hope it does as the smaller size, FX loop and true bypass will be welcome additions.

Does anyone have any experience with the Source Audio Bass Envelope Filter Pro? It seems to have an even wider range of filter tones available than the Manta and control over a couple of extra parameters.

Finally managed to track down a (later version) Q-Tron+!

Cool! I'm going to have to ask my friend if I can borrow his to play around on.

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1508328896' post='3391379'] I have the Mini, which as far as I know is identical to the MkII flicked to Tim tuning mode. [/quote] I thought it was slightly different, or at least when I read the blurb that’s how it comes across: “The Octabvre Mini is a [u]modified[/u] and miniaturized version of the Octabvre that was designed for bass player and effects guru Tim Lefebvre. [b]It starts with the popular Tim-tuning mod from the original and [u]takes it further with a reworked tone knob[/u] [/b] that runs the gamut from classic OC-2-inspired thump to all-out sub fuzz.”

Cameron, how do you find the tones of the Octabvre (mini in your case) compared to those in the Octo-Nøjs, both on the Octo and the Nøjs sides?

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1508321946' post='3391312'] I never said the COG tracks worse than the 3Leaf - as I recall it was just as good. Differences could be down to bass, strings, setup and technique here. [/quote] Which version of the Octabvre do you have? I’m still waiting for bass direct to get new stock of the MKII so I can finally get one.

I do like the idea of the FT’s ability to run both filters at once. I took some pedals round to a friend’s last night and he had loads of fun playing guitar through the Octamizer with the Wonderlove on a down sweep coupled with the Fwonkbeta. Sounded amazing.

I’m in Sheffield, Al, home of Cog.

[quote name='Al Krow' timestamp='1508171025' post='3390234'] Thanks for your detailed comments on the Fwonkbeta and Discum pedals. So, are you next trying out a Manta next and what about the Aggie FT? Out of interest, what sound do you have in mind that you going for and is it for live use / recording / or just "fun alone in the bedroom"? Are you managing to get near to a landing on a your fave filter pedal(s) yet or at least faves for particular uses? [/quote] It’ll hopefully always be for fun! Currently I’m just exploring sound possibilities, perhaps because I haven’t got any gigs in the diary at the moment. I definitely want to use this stuff live and for recording, just need an outlet. Sound-wise, I guess, as someone already mentioned, I’m looking for the sound which makes me pull a serious bass face when I hear it. I’m definitely after stuff at the ruder end of the spectrum (I don’t see the point of having subtle envelope) so squelchy, quacky, skanky tones are what I’m after. I guess I’ve just been heavily influenced by Mutron-style sounds and that’s what’s in my head. Ideally I’d want something that gives that, has a switchable expression pedal control too, runs on a standard 9v supply, is easy to dial in whilst having control over parameters if needed and has a loop (with blend knob). Bonus if it could be small. Nothing seems to fulfil all of those. (Maybe I should get Tom at Cog to build me something.) In short, no, I’m nowhere near narrowing it down! I like them all for different reasons. I do much prefer lowpass so perhaps I should sell the MXR but it sounds so good! And yes, I would like to try the Manta and FT too.

Can’t decide which finish to go for? Just get all of them, on the the same bass: https://youtu.be/-KY8MJ2aC0g

I’ve just been checking out videos of the Manta. I’m linking to this one, not because of the content, but just because the bass the guy is playing has the most ridiculous finish EVER. https://youtu.be/-KY8MJ2aC0g

Don’t know if this is quite the place to put this but this video about the Sub n Up options in the toneprint editor was pretty useful for getting an idea of some of the possibilities. https://youtu.be/lXXyESzSKdw Does anyone have an idea whether you can assign a filter to one of the knobs to make it function a bit like the T-16 or Octamizer filter knobs?

[quote name='CameronJ' timestamp='1508064426' post='3389505'] Danny, what bass are you using to get such low tracking from your octavers?? [/quote] For reference, I’ve mostly been using my 2016 Fender American Standard Precision (custom shop pickups, rosewood board, 50-105 Chromes).

I’ve now spent a bit of time with a couple more: I got a [b]Fwonkbeta[/b] earlier in the week which does indeed produce some ridiculously smutty sounds. The controls are pretty simple: Stroke (sensitivity), Juice (filter cutoff frequency) and Fwonk (resonance/Q). This lowpass pedal has that crazy, slurpy, squelchy Bootsy thing going on. It does produce pretty hefty volume spikes which made my speaker fart. It is incredibly resonant, even on the lowest resonance setting and gets close to self-oscillation when the fwonk is on full. I’ve found that I need to have the cutoff set to around 12 o’clock or above to get sounds that won’t ruin the speaker. There’s no control over the decay speed (other than dialling up the sensitivity so that the filter opens more and hence has further to travel back down). It does have an inherently fast decay and comes to rest at an extremely low sub frequency. It gets incredibly whompy. It’s up sweep only I’m actually finding its sounds almost identical to those I can get with the Enigma: Q-balls. The enigma has more knobs to control start and stop frequencies, attack and decay and the resonance knob has a much bigger range (more at the lower end). You can produce both up and down sweep. The advantage of the Fwonkbeta is that it had a smaller footprint, is quick to dial in and takes a regular 9v power supply. I tried the [b]Discumbobulator (V2)[/b] yesterday. Again, this is another simple, lowpass pedal which takes a regular 9v supply and is easy to dial in. It does both up and down sweep with a button press. The controls on this are sensitivity, attack and width. The attack controls how quickly the envelope sweeps. At the lowest setting it is [i]really[/i] slow and not quacky at all. It’s useful when combined with octave/fuzz for slower synth lines/sounds. At the highest setting it pretty quick and quacky. A nice range of useable settings. The width seems to control the Q in the way that the MXR does in that the higher settings give a taller but narrower peak. In fact the basic sound reminded me of the MXR a bit, kind of what the MXR might sound like if it were lowpass. The Emma pedal doesn’t get subby like the MXR though. This one is definitely speaker-friendly; no crazy volume spikes here but that makes it a politer-sounding pedal. The resonance range goes to quite low settings (like the Enigma, Qtron, Proton, Wonderlove) but doesn’t go to the higher resonance levels possible on those pedals. All the settings on this pedal produce useable settings but it doesn’t do the extreme sounds possible in other pedals. I’m finding I like many of the wilder, exaggerated sounds possible on other pedals but this comes at the expense of their being harder to dial in, having some unusable settings and potentially damaging speakers and ears if not used wisely. I do like this pedal and may keep my eyes open for a used one.

One point I would make is that I wouldn’t get too hung up on whether a pedal tracks all the way to low E; below low A is so muddy anyway as to be of limited use. Al, I’d suggest renting an Octo-Nøjs from fxpedalrental.com if you can’t try one locally. I still need to try the 3 Leaf octaves, if I could find one…

Actually the ON is tracking OK down to A on the E string. It can go down from there to the F if I play with a softer initial attack and further towards the neck than where the P pickup sits. The MXR goes to the F# without having to change attack or hand position. Neither copes with the open E on mine unless playing staccato. I’ve realised that the “dry” knob is actually for both channels so you can’t have the dry in one channel without thereby having it in the other. This Octo-Nøjs could be the one I would choose if I could only choose one. You can create two different sounds, one on each channel, switch between, or combine them. Cameron, I’ve realised that one advantage of this pedal is that it automatically does that thing you were trying to achieve with a line splitter, namely that you can have a dirty normal pitch signal with a clean octave down underneath.

To reiterate, Al, the MXR has hands down the best low note tracking I’ve found so far in terms of grabbing the note and sustaining it without glitching. Edit May 2018 The Red Witch Zeus can match it.

Bear in mind that today is the first time I’ve tried this pedal with a bass (I had a fiddle with one last weekend via a synth). I need to spend more time with it. Cameron has had one for a while so is probably more knowledgeable about how it behaves in real life.