Using an octave pedal to "simulate" bass

JamesSmann · Post by **JamesSmann** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 12:52 am

so, i has questionz0rz. what's the best way to use an octave pedal in place of bass...i don't want this to be a permanent solution...but our (former) bassist is a fucktard and quit in pursuit of vagina.

anyway...

i want to use an octave pedal perhaps to phatten my tone and maybe simulate bass on some lines...maybe. what's the best way to do it? use a pedal with outs and send one to a bass amp? use one and then use the ext cab out on my new amp to go to my bass cab?

HALP agin plez.

Justin J · Post by **Justin J** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 1:44 am

i heard jack white uses a digitech whammy for the bass sounds on 'seven nation army' and stuff. not sure if that's true, though.
[youtube][/youtube]

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 2:03 am

i had an octive peddal. i think i sold it to joey.

anyways they suck. just buy a bass

i bought a mustang bass, then i bought bass VI strings for it and put the 4 lightest gague strings on it. so it goes from like 80 on the low string up to like 36 on the high string. fucking rules. the second string is smaller than the E string on my guitar. haha

JamesSmann · Post by **JamesSmann** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 2:29 am

robroe wrote:i had an octive peddal. i think i sold it to joey.

anyways they suck. just buy a bass

i bought a mustang bass, then i bought bass VI strings for it and put the 4 lightest gague strings on it. so it goes from like 80 on the low string up to like 36 on the high string. fucking rules. the second string is smaller than the E string on my guitar. haha

hmmm. yeah. except that i want to play my guitar. silly billy.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 2:30 am

fuck playing guitar.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 2:33 am

actually i have no constructive critizim. i had one and it sucked. it was a BOSS "octifier" i think. i don't even know if they make it anymore. if they do stay away from it.

it sounds all digital. not natural at all. like TRON climbed in your guitar and was fucking it up. its cool i guess if you want to sound like a robot, (not a cool early 80's robot either) more like a shitty imitation of one.

does not replicate actual bass sondz well at all

More Cowbell · Post by **More Cowbell** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 2:37 am

Octave Multiplexer will put the bass tones down...check this shit...

[youtube][/youtube]

JamesSmann · Post by **JamesSmann** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 2:38 am

More Cowbell wrote:Octave Multiplexer will put the bass tones down...check this shit...

[youtube][/youtube]

ooh!!!! that looks TASTY.

purplehaze19x · Post by **purplehaze19x** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 3:28 am

robroe wrote:actually i have no constructive critizim. i had one and it sucked. it was a BOSS "octifier" i think. i don't even know if they make it anymore. if they do stay away from it.

it sounds all digital. not natural at all. like TRON climbed in your guitar and was fucking it up. its cool i guess if you want to sound like a robot, (not a cool early 80's robot either) more like a shitty imitation of one.

does not replicate actual bass sondz well at all

Yep, Octaver. i had one too, the tracking was terrible on these things.

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 5:12 am

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 5:13 am

Post by **Hurb** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 7:52 am

St. Jimmy wrote:
More Cowbell wrote:Octave Multiplexer will put the bass tones down...check this shit...

[youtube][/youtube]
ooh!!!! that looks TASTY.

those are shit at tracking, I had one. get a boss oc-3 instead. there is someone selling one in the classifieds.

it would be cheaper for you to get one from the states though haha

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 8:35 am

see below for part of a conversation about this very topic. my bassist couldn't do a gig and i had to try to cover the holes. i ended up splitting my signal between 2 guitar amps and at a low(ish) level to the bass amp cos my octave pedal conveniently broke, it sounded passable.

Doog wrote:
stewart wrote:
Mike wrote: PLAN
although... i've got a 3 way splitter, i could use 2 guitar amps AND the bass amp. hmm... could be an idea.
It'll make your guitar boomy and shit, but it won't really fill in the space that the bassist takes up- I played in a 2 piece for a while and ended up using an octave with 2 amps to fill in the side.

Guess you could tune down a bit to get those lower frequencies more forthcoming, should chunk things up somewhat.

Post by **Doog** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 9:27 am

There's very few octave pedals out there that will successfully just track the root note of your chord. The Boss OC-3 has a polyphonic (multi notes) mode which tracks better with chords, but you can set the Range dial so it'll just octave the lower tuned strings. I've not used one myself, but Hurb has..

[youtube][/youtube]

If you just wanna have every note in chords you play octaved, you need that polyphonic mode, or it'll just bounce around and sound weird. The EHX Micro POG would probably be your best, cheapest bet for that.

[youtube][/youtube]
The guy from TMBG makes a mongo face when he plays, lulz. It also has an octave UP, so you could make your sound even bigger.

Use one of these with your bass amp (so you'll be able to chunk out convincing low frequencies), and your band will sound PHAT. Guitars often sound awesome through bass amps, because of the increased EQ options you have.

luke · Post by **luke** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 10:05 am

I've got a Digitech Whammy IV (the new one, not the original) and its bass sound is pretty wicked, putting it through a bass amp is very convincing. The only trouble is, if you want to play guitar as well, it really doesn't like chord work. It does have two outputs that can be used simultaneously, but you won't have much luck playing guitar unless you're playing root notes only.

JamesSmann · Post by **JamesSmann** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 3:17 pm

Cheers all! Thanks for the words of advice, and the true science! So it sounds like if I'm going to do this, I need to do the OC-3 or some other polyphonic capable pedal (funny you mentioned the whole polyphonic deal doog, because i was wondering myself if there was a pedal out there that would only track the root of the chords...nice!) and a cheap bass head so i can plug it into my ampeg 4x10...

obviously i REALLLLLLLYYYYYYY want us to find another dude to play bass for us (chico, ham, steve, anyone of you interested? lol)but i'll do what i gotta do.

BradK · Post by **BradK** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 9:09 pm

I'm thinking of selling my Boss OC-3. It's just the pedal, comes with a battery in it. I've barely used it, and I bought it off of some guy from Craigslist like that. Make an offer if you'd like. It's a pretty sweet pedal, I just really have no use for it, and it was kind of an impulse buy haha.

JamesSmann · Post by **JamesSmann** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 9:22 pm

BradK wrote:I'm thinking of selling my Boss OC-3. It's just the pedal, comes with a battery in it. I've barely used it, and I bought it off of some guy from Craigslist like that. Make an offer if you'd like. It's a pretty sweet pedal, I just really have no use for it, and it was kind of an impulse buy haha.

pm me what you want for it, and we'll see what we can do...

More Cowbell · Post by **More Cowbell** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 10:23 pm

What about the behringer super octave, its a rip-off of the OC-3.

Chorlton · Post by **Chorlton** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 10:52 pm

i dont know about detuning to help the situation but i do know that it is no substitute. in fact, it doesn;t work. at all to be honest. ive tried.