Markbass MB Octaver Demo
Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2011 6:41 pm
This has been available in Europe for awhile, but they finally became available here in the US this month. I've been anxious to try it for awhile as many people on this board know, I am a bit of an octaver freak and have owned most of the major players multiple times. This peaked my interest as it has the same controls as the Boss OC-2. So, I took one for the team and ordered one.
My hopes were that it would be an improved version of the Boss pedal...i.e. good bypass, better tracking, similar sound, extra volume, etc...I think it succeeds at that. Unfortunately, I don't have any OC-2's around anymore, but from my memory it definitely appears to track at least as well if not better/lower and with at least the same volume for the OCT 1 as the boss and probably a bit more. The tone is definitely of the same type as the Boss compared to other notable octavers.
Here is a quick clip I recorded:
[soundcloud]http://soundcloud.com/smalleq/markbass-mb-octaver-demo[/soundcloud]
I start off playing a G Major scale (to clarify: starting on the 3rd fret of the E string) bypassed, then activated and with the direct at close to unity and the octaves off, then dry at unity and the OCT 1 maxed, then without dry and OCT 1 maxed.
Next is playing down slowly from A on the fifth fret of the E string to open E with the dry off, so you can hear how it tracks and holds the tone. Then I mostly just doodle around without the dry on low on the bass and then up high. The very last thing is a baseline from one of my band's songs that I use an octave for, which is similar to the type of application I will be using this in.
My hopes were that it would be an improved version of the Boss pedal...i.e. good bypass, better tracking, similar sound, extra volume, etc...I think it succeeds at that. Unfortunately, I don't have any OC-2's around anymore, but from my memory it definitely appears to track at least as well if not better/lower and with at least the same volume for the OCT 1 as the boss and probably a bit more. The tone is definitely of the same type as the Boss compared to other notable octavers.
Here is a quick clip I recorded:
[soundcloud]http://soundcloud.com/smalleq/markbass-mb-octaver-demo[/soundcloud]
I start off playing a G Major scale (to clarify: starting on the 3rd fret of the E string) bypassed, then activated and with the direct at close to unity and the octaves off, then dry at unity and the OCT 1 maxed, then without dry and OCT 1 maxed.
Next is playing down slowly from A on the fifth fret of the E string to open E with the dry off, so you can hear how it tracks and holds the tone. Then I mostly just doodle around without the dry on low on the bass and then up high. The very last thing is a baseline from one of my band's songs that I use an octave for, which is similar to the type of application I will be using this in.