Octaver before or after distortion?

[johnnyseven]

Just wondering what people do. I've always used mine before, never tried the other way round - is it likely to sound different?

[Mike]

It's unlikely to be able to track accurately at all. It might be what you want however, but clearly it's going to glitch, warble or sound odd.

[Doog]

An octaver put before the distortion will track a lot better because there's less harmonic content to confuse it, but it depends on what octaver you're using- the POG family will handle either position well.

Also, put after the distortion, the octave will be shifting the entire frequency range of your distortion down an octave, so your octaved signal will sound kinda woolly and muddy. BUT because of this, it'll sound more separated from the dry signal and occasionally that'll be what you want.

This works better with octave UP effects since they take on a far more digital and squeaky characteristic, making them stand out more as an effect- re: Tom Morello's Whammy pedal placement in his amp's FX loop.

[johnnyseven]

An octaver put before the distortion will track a lot better because there's less harmonic content to confuse it, but it depends on what octaver you're using- the POG family will handle either position well.

This was the logic behind me always putting my octavers before dirt, it always sounded good so I never felt the need to change. Difinitely not interested in it sounding wooly. I'm using a Micro Pog by the way.

[Doog]

Try the MicroPOG set to dry and octave UP after a high gain distortion pedal, it sounds grrrreat!

[johnnyseven]

Thanks for the tip. I'll give it a try tonight.

[wwrrss]

I like before and after, but best of all I like putting my EH Octave Multiplexer first, DIRT then, EH Pog 2

So I can (warbly) octave, dirt it up, then octave dirty warbles.

basically I'm X-Zibit.