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Help me git gud wit dem octave pedlols!

There are a lot of digital options right now, but I'm on a budget with this and a lot of them are outside it. What I need are options that are cheap/discontinued/cheap/common/did I mention cheap?

I've found stuff like the Arion Octave pedal for pretty cheap, but I can't tell much from demos for some reason. OC-2 is obviously a contender, but they seem to still fall outside my budget. I've also found Octave Multiplexers within my budget, but the videos I've seen seem like the lower octave loses quite a bit of volume. Anyone use one?


I don't really care if it's digital or analog, so long as it stays cheap. I'm on the fence about how much I care about tracking. On the one hand I'd like it to track well to make some pseudo-bass sounds for recording shenanigans, but on the other I feel like shitty tracking would make for fun feedback and live textures with fuzz and dirt. Any thoughts? Things I'm missing? Do octave pedals suck?

My ideal range is around $50, but I could stretch for just the right pedal I think.

I've seen older Whammys for around $80. There's also octave fuzzes like the MXR Blue Box, which is dirt cheap. And no, they don't suck..I have more octave fuzzes than anything, but some are are more unwieldy than others.

DOD octoplus is great if you can find one. Separate dry and wet volumes, tone control, pretty good tracking that can glitch out if you want to. Think mine cost around $20 but I know how these cheap old pedal prices can get weird so I'm not sure that applies still.

It's a similar deal to the arion/pearl/etc stuff, all of which I think are good if you get them for cheap.

monkeydancer wrote:DOD octoplus is great if you can find one. Separate dry and wet volumes, tone control, pretty good tracking that can glitch out if you want to. Think mine cost around $20 but I know how these cheap old pedal prices can get weird so I'm not sure that applies still.

It's a similar deal to the arion/pearl/etc stuff, all of which I think are good if you get them for cheap.

DOD octoplus was my first recommendation
awesome pedal
wish I still had mine
other than a little bleed when in bypass (which was cool for me) it is a great octave pedal

another option is to get a small cheap multieffects unit
Zoom G10n for example
and dial in some different octave sounds to see what you like
The Zoom does a ton of octave stuff from dirty synth to pitch delays and organ simulations

As far as EHX stuff the Multiplex was a frustrating pedal for me when I had one, didn't track well enough to be usable

Try the Behringer ones. Always fine to start there. Sometimes they surprise me with goodness, sometimes they show me what I don't want. But I think their cheapest one is monophonic and only like $25 new. Then a $50 polyphonic.

Hmm. I considered those, given that the monophonic one is basically just an OC-2 and they're pretty easy to find/cheap/etc. The side by side comparisons show that the Behringer OC-2 has considerably shittier tracking, and like not in a cool way. I may probably avoid those just because of that.

Does anybody know how easy it is to mod a blue box? I've heard they actually do 2 octaves down stock, but can be modded to just one. I'd be interested in doing something like that, and maybe making it less fuzzy with a boost in output somewhere.

The dano chile dog is an ok clone of a oc-2 and they are a pedal that it seems you can't give away...

Can't find a side by side comparisons, but as far as i can tell, it sounds miles ahead of the Behringer. Might be worth a rehouse or something if I pick one up. Thanks!

CyaNitrate wrote:I've seen older Whammys for around $80. There's also octave fuzzes like the MXR Blue Box, which is dirt cheap. And no, they don't suck..I have more octave fuzzes than anything, but some are are more unwieldy than others.

Yeah, If one is willing to spend a little more, the Whammy IV is a good choice.

Thing is, I just rid of a whammy IV because I only really used the octave settings and had to run a boost afterward to compensate for volume drop. (As an aside, it took up half my board) Would it have been simpler to just hang onto it? Undoubtedly. I just didn't the think the one thing I used it for justified the real estate or value of the effect for me anymore. If I really start to miss it, I may pick up a pitchfork, but only time will tell.

You mainly want clean octave down right?
Maybe look into the EBS OctaBass, other than that you could try the Boss OC-2 or the MXR Bass Octave Deluxe, I think they're all pretty good.
As for fuzzy octave down I prefer the MI Audio Pollyanna, Iron Ether Second Voice V1 or V2 and the Subdecay Octasynth.

The best I've tries is the FoxRox Octron.

Demos for the Octron sound rad and I especially dig the octave up, but I don't see too many second hand and I'm not about to drop $200 for one.

I am looking for "cleaner" octave. I need to just sit down with a few and see how it goes, because while I know what I would do with perfectly tracking octave down guitar, I was more curious about the glitchy artifact laden boxes that might make cool textures to go with fuzz.

I set my Xerograph to super dubby filter, and while it wasn't octave down it shook heavy tools off the top of my little 112 combo at pretty normal volume. :haha:

I guess a used EHX Pitchfork would be over your budget? There's also the micro and nano pogs, but I have no idea why they cost MORE than the pitch fork. Other than the control over the octave level, I can't think of anything the pog can do that the pf can't

Anyway, any boss pedal would probably be a safe bet. OC-2 vs OC-3 is basically about chords/cold vs no chords/warm. Right?

Edit: Just now reread your post and saw that those EHX and Boss peds would probably cost a bit too much.

Also saw someone mension the Blue Box. It doesn't track too well, it's unpredictable, glitchy and filthy. And I love it
I'm still in the honeymoon phase though, I got mine not too long ago. It's probably the exact opposite of what you'd call a 'clean octave pedal that can emulate a bass'. So it might not be what you're looking for I guess. Besides, it's an octave fuzz, and the fuzz itself isn't exactly subtle either

You should be able to find an OC-2 for 60 bucks, used. That was the going rate when I sold mine. Blue Box is 50 or 60, if you are considering that then just get the OC-2.

Chili Dog is like 15-20 dollars used. You could use it until you can afford something nicer.