Ottava Magus or Pickle Vibe?

[Charles#5]

So, I can put one more mini pedal on my board and can't decide between the Ottava Magus and the Pickle Vibe... Which one do you guys think would be the most usefull? I've had a couple of vibes in the past, but never an octave up pedal. Neither of them will probably see a lot of use live, but I want to get one for noodling on some Hendrix stuff at home. Thanks.

[floydfanatic]

Both cool, but I'd say wait till Catalinbread releases the second version of the ottava magus.

[erksin]

I've had both - equally cool IMO.

[Bluesrocker99]

Thats like asking "should I have meat or fish" - both would be great at different times. Whichever you get, you'll probably want the other too!

[Bluesrocker99]

Just another thought. If it's for noodling at home, why does it have to be on a pedalboard? What's wrong with the floor? Forgive me if that's a silly question.:huh

[jivepikinturkey]

Both cool, but I'd say wait till Catalinbread releases the second version of the ottava magus.

i've been thinking about getting this little guy. why do you say wait for version two? when will that be?



i noodle at home too, and for some reason like having a complete board with only a wah on the floor. i dunno, no good reason except to keep things neat.

[mbargav]

Not sure, but I don't think the OM Version 2 is going to be bantam sized. Heads up if pedalboard real estate is a serious issue. I have the V1 and love it.

[flampton]

Don't worry about board space I say...just have an out that can connect a another board at will. I have a main board and with two quick reconnects I add a smaller one. The smaller board connects where the gain path end and the modulation begins. That way it doesn't change effects order. So I do have a weird gain pedal on it, the heliotrope, but also different mod gear like my EHX flanger hoax. So that way the effects are always in a clean hook up. Therefore my two cents is wait for OM2 even if its bantam and get a vibe now.

[monkmiles]

I have both of these pedals and they are really both great. Get em both if you can swing it!

Right now I use the Ottava Magus a little bit more than the Pickle Vibe. Though that could easily change. The Magus is on both my big and mini boards. The Pickle is only in my mini. I use a Micro Vibe instead of the Pickle on my big board (mainly cause I like having an intensity knob).

I am looking forward to the upcoming, updated Ottava Magus.

[monkmiles]

By the way, if you buy the used route, you might have a better chance of swinging both. That's what I did with mine.

Here they are on my "mini" board:

http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/4375/img0148a.jpg

[lv]

By the way, if you buy the used route, you might have a better chance of swinging both. That's what I did with mine.

Here they are on my "mini" board:

http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/4375/img0148a.jpg

cool little board!!!!

[Charles#5]

I always prefer buying used, but in the last month or so I didn't see a single Ottava Magus for sale, and the used Pickle Vibes I saw weren't available to overseas buyers... I ordered a new Ottava Magus last week and expect it to get here monday...

[Last Nerve]

What are the other two mini pedals you got there?

By the way, if you buy the used route, you might have a better chance of swinging both. That's what I did with mine.

Here they are on my "mini" board:

http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/4375/img0148a.jpg

[monkmiles]

What are the other two mini pedals you got there?

Those are pedals I had made by Daniel Zink. He makes some great pedals, rehouses, etc. The one to the right is a silicon (bc108) fuzz face that I did the graphic design for and dubbed it Fuzztopia. The one on the left is an overdrive called the Rinzai Drive...a school of zen.

cool little board!!!!

Thanks man!

[monkmiles]

So, I can put one more mini pedal on my board and can't decide between the Ottava Magus and the Pickle Vibe... Which one do you guys think would be the most usefull? I've had a couple of vibes in the past, but never an octave up pedal. Neither of them will probably see a lot of use live, but I want to get one for noodling on some Hendrix stuff at home. Thanks.

Did you end up getting the Ottava Magus? How do you like it? I've been wailing on mine alot lately.

[Charles#5]

Yup, I got the Ottava Magus. I'm still learning to play with it. This is my first octave up pedal and I need some time to explore it. Any tips on settings and how to get the best out of it are absolutely welcome. The chain is in my sig.

[erksin]

You'll get the most out of it IMO if you spend some time messing with your volume and tone controls on your guitar - you can get a huge range of tones if you put some time in. I don't really like to offer up suggested settings because everybody's pickups and signal chains are so different. I would say use your ears and just dial in something cool and then see where your guitar's controls take you. Octaves aren't an easy effect to play at first, at least in my experience anyway.

[monkmiles]

I agree that octave fuzz pedals aren't the easiest to figure out if you haven't spent any time with one. Years ago I bought a Proctavia that I just couldn't figure out. Anyway, here's some pointers...

Use your neck pickup. Fool with the volume and tone knobs (like Erksin said). It's probably best to initially only use it for single note leads and such (as opposed to chords or anything like that). The intensity knob controls the amount of fuzz. So you can set it all the way down and then crank the volume knob to get the cleanest octave tone. Or set the intensity higher to get more gain/fuzz and then lower the volume knob as you increase the intensity. I personally use it as an effect for solos, like an octave boost. I usually don't crank the intensity, rarely do I have it past 12:00 to 1:00, though I do think it sounds good across the intensity dial.

[erksin]

I agree that octave fuzz pedals aren't the easiest to figure out if you haven't spent any time with one. Years ago I bought a Proctavia that I just couldn't figure out. Anyway, here's some pointers...

Use your neck pickup. Fool with the volume and tone knobs (like Erksin said). It's probably best to initially only use it for single note leads and such (as opposed to chords or anything like that). The intensity knob controls the amount of fuzz. So you can set it all the way down and then crank the volume knob to get the cleanest octave tone. Or set the intensity higher to get more gain/fuzz and then lower the volume knob as you increase the intensity. I personally use it as an effect for solos, like an octave boost. I usually don't crank the intensity, rarely do I have it past 12:00 to 1:00, though I do think it sounds good across the intensity dial.

Depending on how high you have that Intensity set, you can get away with playing chords with it - and you can also use your bridge pup too. Double stops and multi-note bends are awesome with this pedal.

Many octave up fuzzes require you to use your neck pup and some even require compltely rolling off the tone control to preserve as much of the fundamental as possible before it glitches out. That's not the case with the OM - you can actually use any pickup or vol/tone settings you wish.

But yeah - work those guitar controls, they're the key to getting the most out of it.