At The Pickup Test, we tend to shy away from effects and pedals for two reasons:

  1.  These tests tend to be really subjective
  2.  There are a million Youtube guitar/bass videos that demonstrate all the basic features of any pedal on the market, and most of them are great!

So why do a pedal comparison/tutorial for octave pedals?

Octave pedals, like any other type of effect respond to the bow and piezo pickups very differently than they do to the electric guitars and basses they were designed to interact with. Octavers are also, in our experience the most misunderstood in terms of what they can and can’t do and how to approach them musically as a string player. That’s why we designed a special video that’s one part shootout of the major players in the market from Boss, Digitech,TC, and Electro Harmonix and one part tutorial on how to get the most out of these little boxes of joy!

 

Introduction

Chapter 1:

The boys break down their 3 favorite Ninja Tips to help you get the most out of your octaver pedal as a bowed string player and how to get the most musical results!

Chapter 1B Violin Shootout:

How does each octaver pedal react to the violin? Check it out!

1:51 EHX PitchFork
4:50 Boss oc3
7:25 TC Sub N' Up

Chapter 1B Cello

How does each octaver pedal react to the cello? Check it out!
1:50 EHX Pitchfork
4:5o Digitech Whammy 5
7:22 TC Sub N' Up
9:52 Boss OC3

Chapter 2:  3 Ninja Tips

The boys break down their 3 favorite Ninja Tips to help you get the most out of your octaver pedal as a bowed string player and how to get the most musical results!