Which Octaver Pedal???

[Kebabkid]

It seems like I've been on an eternal journey trying to 'find the right octave pedal' and I've had, and tried quite a few (see my list below and comments) and just wondered what people might recommend, or even if I should revisit old ones from my list with different suggested settings.

 

My remit, to achieve the Pino octave sound on 'Tear your playhouse down', or Tony Levin's 'Sledgehammer' and I realise both were done on Fretless bass and the latter had a healthy dose of compression, and possibly chorus,  or Guy Pratt's sound on Pink Floyd's 'Sorrow' and the middle section of 'Like a Prayer'. So, I'm not interested in the sub, synthy sounds, or even having an Octave Up, so pretty straightforward and a nice rounded, smooth, and strong octave down sound that I hear on recordings with an OC-2. On that note, I wonder, could this be the one and should I seek out an MIJ one, but as you can see, the MIT ones didn't get me there and hands up, I have to make an allowance for my own shortcomings and human error. If using a compressor, should it come before or after the Octaver and would adding some boost before it enhance the octave sound??

 

Boss OC-3 and OC-5 - I never felt the octave sound was strong enough and didn't achieve the OC-2 sound I wanted 

Pearl OC-7 - my friend has an old one and this gets close, but it glitchier than most and I found differences between the same pedals

Aguilar Octamiser - I never felt the octave sound was strong enough and didn't like the tone

MXR Octave Deluxe - too gritty and didn't like the tone and my least favourite but I've yet to try the mini Vintage version

Zoom B1xOn & B3 - good units but the octave sounds were never great or a strong point

EBS ones (Octabass and Triple Mode) - the latter was more versatile but once again, it didn't have the right tone

OC-2 - I had a MIJ years ago which sounded very good on guitar (wasn't a bassist then), but MIT I've tried are too glitchy and I'm not really going below a low A in all

examples

Source Audio Spectrum - Fun but not nailing the purer octave sound

HX Stomp - I've just picked one up and the Boctaver sounds promising

 

I heard a really good one that was in-built in an Ashdown Amp (sub-harmonic generator) and I've just seen they do a pedal, which I've not tried

 

Any recommendations outside the list for a standalone pedal that I should look at or decent OC-2 clones without the glitching?

 

Many thanks

Edited 8 hours ago by Kebabkid

[Higgie]

Broughton Subsonic gets my vote. All the best bits of an OC2 with some upgrades.

[Stub Mandrel]

I find the Joyo XVI excellent, it's polyphonic and very responsive so doesn't have the glitchiness of some of the older pedals... which may be oart oftheir appeal for you.

[AinsleyWalker]

I've never found OC2s to be glitchy, unless your playing isn't very clean... If you're not ending your notes before you hit the next one you won't get clean tracking.
I used to think most synth pedals were bad at tracking when I first got my Future Impact, but I soon realised it wasn't the pedal, it was simply revealing how untidy my playing was back then. Now I never have any issues with octavers/synths etc. 

But to answer your question, I would recommend:

• OC2 if you want a unique synth/sub-like tone. 
• MXR Deluxe for an all-round go-to octaver that can do it all. 
• 3Leaf if you've got a wad of cash in your pocket and crave Instagram likes. 

Edited 10 hours ago by AinsleyWalker

[Linus27]

I've tried a few Octave pedal's as its a must have being a fretless bassist and for me, I found the Boss OC5 was the best for tracking and response. I will however add that I use mine more as a way to thicken my tone rather than playing it in the style of Pino or Tony Levin. In fact, that's got me thinking, I should really try and do that style. I've heard good things about the MXR Vintage Octave but I've not tried one. I did try their Bass Octave Deluxe but I didn't like it. 

[Linus27]

You could try this thread as well.

 

 

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

I had pretty much given up trying to get a 3 Leaf as they weren’t, until recently, available to order.

Even then, the pre-orders were $100 dearer 🤷‍♂️.

They also tend to sell out very quickly when they do go live and were only on sale when I wasn’t available.

I managed to pick one up used and it was worth the wait.

I have tried almost all of the ones you have mentioned @Kebabkid and this one is staying - for now.

 

[dannybuoy]

I was never impressed with the older Zoom units either (the same B1Xon and B3 you mentioned funnily enough), but the one in the MS-60B+ sounds every bit as good as I remember my Octabvre Mini sounding (shame I no longer have it to A/B them) and better than my Markbass octaver (which is pretty dang close to the OC-2).

[paul_5]

The octaver on my line 6 M5 is surprisingly good for a unit that’s 16 years old!

[Kebabkid]

8 minutes ago, dannybuoy said:

I was never impressed with the older Zoom units either (the same B1Xon and B3 you mentioned funnily enough), but the one in the MS-60B+ sounds every bit as good as I remember my Octabvre Mini sounding (shame I no longer have it to A/B them) and better than my Markbass octaver (which is pretty dang close to the OC-2).

That's interesting to know and weird as I owned the MS-70 CDR forever (had 2 until recently) and downloaded their latest/last firmware update which gave me more fx from the other units in the range including some bass effects, but I still wasn't happy with it. I wonder if there's something different in the MS-60B.

 

Today I watched the Octaver shoot-out on Scott's Bass Lessons that Scott and Ian did, and also the one that Janek Gwizdala did, and I'm going to experiment more with the HX Stomp as that seems to be closer to what I like but as that unit resides on my guitar pedalboard, I think I still need to find a standalone one.

 

Cheers folks for the suggestions so far