Octaver Pedal Recommendations...

[Zander]

Hey All,

I've been searching for an OC-2 sounding octaver pedal in a small form factor and wondered what people can recommend  

So far I'm interested in the Markbass Raw Octaver or the MXR Vintage Bass Octave Pedal. What are peoples experience with these?

Any small form factor golden pedals I have missed?

[NoirBass]

 

[Zander]

Cheers Noir!

A quick read looks like the Valeton 10 is highly rated...

What octaver are you rocking atm?

[NoirBass]

Now, theres a question.

I use the Valeton mainly at the moment. Its tiny and sound identical to a Boss OC-2. However, I'm a bit of a hoarder of Octave pedals and have a selection of them from classic to modern. For me the highlights include the 80's Pearl Octaver, and original Boss 'Octaver' OC-2, Foxrox Octron 2, EBS Octabass, MXR BOD. These are all great in their own way and cover the analog octave down nicely.

[mcnach]

If you want an OC-2 in small form, the Valeton OC-10 mentioned above is probably the best call.

[NickD]

Due to an impending (now postponed) studio date for reamping a couple of tunes with octave sounds, I recently amassed a few pedals on top of the OC-10 I already had. I bought an Aguilar Octamiser, a Redwitch Factotum, a 3 Leaf Octavb're and a TC Sub n Up.... all to experiment with.

When the job is done, It's highly likely that the one I keep will be the Valeton (either in it's standard form or on the Dapper Bass Strip which shares the same octaver). All of them have their own thing going on, they're all good in their own way, but there's just something about the Valeton.

[dannybuoy]

The 3Leaf Octabvre Mini also sounds just like the OC-2, but doesn't suffer from the same lack of volume that the original and Valeton have when soloing the suboctave.

[Zander]

2 hours ago, NoirBass said:

However, I'm a bit of a hoarder of Octave pedals and have a selection of them from classic to modern.

Acceptance is the first stage of recovery...  

2 hours ago, NoirBass said:

Now, theres a question.

I use the Valeton mainly at the moment. Its tiny and sound identical to a Boss OC-2. However, I'm a bit of a hoarder of Octave pedals and have a selection of them from classic to modern. For me the highlights include the 80's Pearl Octaver, and original Boss 'Octaver' OC-2, Foxrox Octron 2, EBS Octabass, MXR BOD. These are all great in their own way and cover the analog octave down nicely.

Nice one I'm fairly unaware of the older stuff so will be checking these out  

[Zander]

43 minutes ago, mcnach said:

If you want an OC-2 in small form, the Valeton OC-10 mentioned above is probably the best call.

Thanks for the advice! Other than price how does anyone have any idea how it compares to the Markbass Pedal?

[Zander]

29 minutes ago, NickD said:

Due to an impending (now postponed) studio date for reamping a couple of tunes with octave sounds, I recently amassed a few pedals on top of the OC-10 I already had. I bought an Aguilar Octamiser, a Redwitch Factotum, a 3 Leaf Octavb're and a TC Sub n Up.... all to experiment with.

When the job is done, It's highly likely that the one I keep will be the Valeton (either in it's standard form or on the Dapper Bass Strip which shares the same octaver). All of them have their own thing going on, they're all good in their own way, but there's just something about the Valeton.

Hey Nick,

Thanks for the insight! Danny seems to recommend the three leaf too.. will certainly check it out!

What is the durability / build quality like on the Valeton? they a good work horse for gigs?

[NickD]

1 minute ago, Zander said:

What is the durability / build quality like on the Valeton? they a good work horse for gigs?

It's rock solid.

[Zander]

43 minutes ago, dannybuoy said:

The 3Leaf Octabvre Mini also sounds just like the OC-2, but doesn't suffer from the same lack of volume that the original and Valeton have when soloing the suboctave.

Nice one will listen to some demos

[sshorepunk]

Just ordered a valeton 

[paul_5]

Good move. I sometimes forget that I've got one on my board as it's ridiculously tiny. HUGE sound though!

[sshorepunk]

It's been delivered, but I'm working!

[mcnach]

44 minutes ago, sshorepunk said:

It's been delivered, but I'm working!

 

come on, we wont tell!

[sshorepunk]

Finishing soon, no shut down due to lockdown with what I do! 

will let you know what I think later 
 

Tony

[sshorepunk]

I like it!

solid construction, tiny footprint, sounds great, definatley in OC2 land

Tracking is OK, can drop off a bit. Only had digitech bass synth wah to compare to, the digitech is really good, not sure which one I prefer. The digitech maybe tracks very slightly better, it certainly holds the octave longer on a long note

Not had much time to play yet, but for £35, it's an epic bargain!

Tony

[rmorris]

Right. I'm going to ask the question that never gets asked?

We play (relatively large) bass guitars - often through even larger/heavier amp/speaker/combo rigs - so why the obsession with the size of relatively tiny effects pedals ??? Yeah - I know stage sizes etc but really ...

[NoirBass]

10 hours ago, rmorris said:

Right. I'm going to ask the question that never gets asked?

We play (relatively large) bass guitars - often through even larger/heavier amp/speaker/combo rigs - so why the obsession with the size of relatively tiny effects pedals ??? Yeah - I know stage sizes etc but really ...

For me it’s that I often have to travel on the tube to gigs (or did!). A pedal board with a load of full sized pedals gets really heavy, particularly when you add in the cables, psu and pedal board. If I can make it more compact and lighter, I will.

[sshorepunk]

makes no odds to me, but small pedals are not as easy when playing live IMHO!

I prefer standrd size, i.e. Boss size

This one happens to be one of the small ones, but it's got a Boss style swith as opposed to just a standrd single switch, so easier to use

T

[Al Krow]

10 hours ago, rmorris said:

We play (relatively large) bass guitars - often through even larger/heavier amp/speaker/combo rigs - so why the obsession with the size of relatively tiny effects pedals ??? Yeah - I know stage sizes etc but really ...

Yeah I get that the bass is going to be a fixed-ish weight around the 10lbs or so mark, including gig bag, that's not too bad though. Amps and cabs can be very heavy and a lot of us have deliberately gone for relatively light weight amps and cabs to keep the weight down, even if we have to compromise a bit on the sound with a D class amp. Or ditched amps and cabs altogether and gone FRFR.

Smaller pedals also mean that you can get more effects onto a given pedal board.

And the Valeton OC-10 new is less than half the price of a used OC-2, sounds incredibly close to it, is built like a tank and takes up half the pedal board estate. What's not to like?  

[CliveT]

I use the MXR BOD and it can do everything, sometimes an issue as I keep changing the settings .  They often come up used at a decent price.  

The new Markbass Octaver Raw Series looks interesting too.  Very simple 2 knob layout and under £100.

[radiophonic]

I must get an OC-10. Does it have the same subjective volume drop as the OC2? I assume it does and that it's largely perceptual - i.e. it's really unity but the lack of attack and the way the brain perceives bass, means that it appears to be a volume drop. I might be wrong. This is fixable with a loop switcher anyway. I just picked up a DOD Meatbox reissue for a non stupid price. It's a monster. Volume drop isn't an issue here. Toasting your cones is though. It doesn't have that hollow sine wave thing but in a fuzz/filter sub-synth application it sounds incredible. I need a bomb proof 15" cab... even at home volume.  Oddly, in 50/50 blend it sort of has a digital vibe but with zero latency and massive low end solidity. Use with care, but I'm very impressed.

Edited June 26, 2020 by radiophonic

[dannybuoy]

I believe it does have the same volume drop. If you don't want to change to deal with that via other means, the Octabvre Mini has bags of volume on tap, but of course costs a lot more! I hear the volume drop was also solved in the new MXR one too, but I've never played one.