Octave Up for bass?

JezWynd

Is there an Octave Up pedal that works well for bass, giving a good clean tone? I'm playing bass pretty much exclusively these days but there's times when I'd like to lay a solo line over my looped bass n drums track without having to get the 6 string out.  I have a POG2 but find the octave up has a metallic clanginess that I don't like. Listened to demos of other Pogs and Pitchfork and they all seem to exhibit similar characteristics. Any suggestions?

Winny_Pooh

Have you tried a Whammy?

JezWynd

Winny_Pooh said:

Have you tried a Whammy?

No I havn't. I'd prefer a simpler unit tbh - something that has a simple octave up. That said, the demos sound good, though I'm still hearing that metallic quality to the octave; perhaps it's an unavoidable artifact of doing octave up on a bass string?

webrthomson

My Bass player is using this from Mooer:

http://www.mooeraudio.com/?product/201708179095.html 

It sound suprisingly good, tracking is very fast - worth noting that it draws 150mA, which is more that most power bricks kick out by default

Musicman20

Personally, I really like the Pitchfork....but it does have a specfic tone to it.

pintspiller

I had a Pearl Octaver years ago. Suited me great for guitar. Didn't try it on bass though.

meltedbuzzbox

pintspiller said:

I had a Pearl Octaver years ago. Suited me great for guitar. Didn't try it on bass though.

its not the most accurate from what I recall?
I think a bass would confuse the hell out of it

JezWynd

Musicman20 said:

Personally, I really like the Pitchfork....but it does have a specfic tone to it.

The tracking on the Pitchfork looks good but I can't get past that metallic sound to the upper octave.

The Mooer is okay but again, it has that sound. Perhaps they've ripped off ehx tech as it sounds v similar.

The Whammy is the best I've heard so far, sounds remarkably natural (compared to the others) but 1. it's large and 2. it has a load of functions that I'll likely never use.

Thanks everyone for your recommendations. Any others out there I've missed?

pintspiller

meltedbuzzbox said:

pintspiller said:

I had a Pearl Octaver years ago. Suited me great for guitar. Didn't try it on bass though.

its not the most accurate from what I recall?
I think a bass would confuse the hell out of it

maybe that's why I liked it. The OP isn't looking for anything hifi

Winny_Pooh

Or you could buy a 5 string and string it E to C....

ICBM

Probably a Foxrox Octron, although I've never heard one used on bass.

Is it really not easier to just use the guitar though?

JezWynd

Winny_Pooh said:

Or you could buy a 5 string and string it E to C....

In a mad moment I even considered a double neck.  But no, I'm really happy with my Ric; I really don't want to get into thinking about new basses.

Winny_Pooh

ICBM said:

Probably a Foxrox Octron, although I've never heard one used on bass.

Is it really not easier to just use the guitar though?

I have one. Awesome on bass but the high octave is like an Octavia and adds a synthy distortion. 

JezWynd

ICBM said:

Is it really not easier to just use the guitar though?

No, not really. I have a slight physical disability due to an old injury that means my 6 string playing is very limited - I can’t strum a guitar for instance, finger picking is okay. Bass is just easier to operate and hit the right strings in the right order.

I’ve been thinking for some time about quitting guitar, it’s become too frustrating and i’m not getting anywhere with it, while bass brings me a lot of pleasure and I feel like i’m improving. If I can move everything to bass it will make things a lot simpler. I can make it work at present using the upper register but it would be nice to have a more defined ‘treble’ sound.

poopot

Pog... micro pog... or nano pog... 

all do octave up and all will track faultlessly!...

vale

watched this recently & may give you some ideas. i've never owned a pog as i prefer analog octaves & crappy tracking, but this deals with up & down.

it's andertons but not laurel & hardy, these guys are ok.

ICBM

Does your Rick have the ‘vintage’ bass-cut cap on the bridge pickup?

Winny_Pooh

JezWynd said:

Winny_Pooh said:

Or you could buy a 5 string and string it E to C....

In a mad moment I even considered a double neck.  But no, I'm really happy with my Ric; I really don't want to get into thinking about new basses.

Mull it over. FWIW my main bass is a Ray35 Tuned D to Bb. Does high register stuff nicely. Listen to some John Pattitucci solo albums, you can hear how he used the top C quite nicely for melodies.

JezWynd

ICBM said:

Does your Rick have the ‘vintage’ bass-cut cap on the bridge pickup?

I found a small capacitor in the case when it arrived; I'm presuming it's that, so it's been removed.

ICBM

JezWynd said:

I found a small capacitor in the case when it arrived; I'm presuming it's that, so it's been removed.

It might be worth refitting it - although it's obviously not an octave-up, it does cut off a lot of the fundamental and make the sound more twangy and guitar-like.

What I've done on mine is not to fit it as original, or with a pull-switch like RIC do on the new 4003 (if you want to do that you need a special shallow-depth push-pull pot, by the way!), but to turn the tone control - which I never normally use on the bridge pickup - into a vintage-to-modern sweep - you can do that with the existing pot, as long as you want 'vintage' with it up and 'modern' with it down.

If the result isn't drastic enough you could try a smaller-value cap than the Rick one too.

JezWynd

ICBM said:

JezWynd said:

I found a small capacitor in the case when it arrived; I'm presuming it's that, so it's been removed.

It might be worth refitting it - although it's obviously not an octave-up, it does cut off a lot of the fundamental and make the sound more twangy and guitar-like.

That sounds like a plan. I should take a pic of it first, perhaps you could check it's the right item? I spend most time on the neck pickup, though recently moving to the middle position more, with the bridge pu turned down to balance the two.

If I went with the vintage to modern sweep, is there much difference between the two, ie. are there distinct tones midway between the two extremes?

Veering towards thinking that as there isn't a good clean octave up, perhaps I should incorporate a drive pedal with octave up mode using the POG2 to try for a distinct lead sound. The SD-2 sounds good (esp lead mode) and I imagine something like the Barber Direct Drive could be even better with its clean singing lead sound.

It's probably a stretch hoping for a good clean sound from an octave pedal. The physics of a bass string, with its extra length and the way the string behaves when plucked means there's always likely to be those metallic sounding artifacts as the note fades (something to do with harmonics? Way above my knowledge ).