Bass Octave Pedals

[Metal_Boy16]

I am looking at a bass octave pedal for my bass, specifically the MXR M88 Bass Octave Pedal. I have two questions about it: When you use it, does it add a note to your sound, like an Octadiver making two simaltanious notes, or does it take your note and lower it? Also, could this pedal let me play as low as a 5 string?

[NickT]

Yeah it adds a note down the octave (i think) check out Pino Palladino's work for Paul Young ('Wherever I Lay My Hat' etc.) It can add a great shimmer to fretless lines. You can achiever the same effect in the studio through double tracking. Or if you are using a computer sequencer to record you can copy and past the part onto another track, but be sure to detune one of the parts, only needs to be a few cents (100 cents = one semi tone I think) or put a slight delay on one of them. Also pan the two parts slightly to help seperate them a little.

 

Most octavers will only produce the extra low note down to about the G on the E string. Though at that point an octave below the note you are playing will probably only be heard by whales anyway. The octaver is at it's best when you're playing relatively high and you kick it in for a little extra bollox, and to prevent from losing the bottom end to the sound of the band.

 

Check out the EBS OctaBass, the Boss octaver and the Digitech Whammy pedal if you have the cash. (Doug Wimbish ex-Living Colour uses one. They will harmonise and pitch shift for you as well as doing a straight chorus effect. The pitch shift is controlled by an expression pedal built into the unit. You can make you really cool noises if you hit some harmonics and then bosh the expression pedal and pitch shift the harmonics up. Check out "Nothingness" by Living Colour from the album Stain for an example of this, Doug pitch shifts a two note chord of harmonics just as the vocal enters for the first verse.)

[Metal_Boy16]

What about the Boss OC-2 Dual Octave Pedal. Could I use that for a bass? It says it doesn't add a simultaneous note, but changes the note itself. Couldn't I just use the second knob at 5 with all the other knobs a 0 to make it as low as a 5 string bass?

[jeremy c]

A boss octave pedal (I have one) can play three different notes with separate volumes. 1) Your original note 2) a note one octave lower 3) another note two octaves lower.

 

You could certainly shut off your original note and the 2 octave below note (I have never turned that one on). and play "5 string parts" (up an octave of course) and then get the notes below E that you are looking for.

 

The octave lower notes generated by the pedal do not sound the same as your bass, they are a little more "synth" sounding, but sometimes that's a good thing. I've never gone below C, but I thought that was a limitation of speakers (and amps) and not the pedal. I mean, technically you could play a note two octaves below E with the pedal but that would have a frequency of 8.25 hz and even if your speakers could handle it, no one could hear it. Or what about two octaves below the B on a five string?

 

On the Boss pedal, you certainly can't play a double stop, the pedal can't handle it, and strange things happen to the ends of notes if you try to hold notes for a long time.

 

The EBS pedal tracks more smoothly, it ought to, it costs twice as much.

 

You could buy a hip shot extender tuning peg and drop your E string that way. Or you could just buy a 5 string which would be a better idea than trying to fake it.

 

You could also tune your bass BEAD. That seems to work for a lot of people.

 

Finally you could buy the new Roland V bass system and keep your bass tuned in standard tuning but use the software so that the bass ended up sounding like it was tuned BEAD.

[Graybass]

I have the Boss and it is cool with fretless in particular. It has a nice sound that none of the others can quite match but there are some real drawbacks.

 

It doesn't track long notes well, can't handle more than one note at a time and the lowest note input it can process accurately is D on the A string. It will get down to B on the A string if the notes are quick - basically passing notes - but you can't sit there long.

 

It is a worthwile investment though and is the only effect I use other than the compressor/limiter in my amp.