The other day I borrowed an Octave pedal from a friend (Boss OC-2). I haven't had time to hook it up and see how it works just yet, but I was wondering if this the type of pedal that really should be in the effects loop (after the preamp, before the power) like a delay. Or is it the kind of thing where it's better to have it before the overdrive for a little extra 'oomph'? Thanks in advance!
The octave pedal needs a clean accurate pitch, so early in the chain is best. A comp in front of it may not hurt it-might even help it track.
I'm going to try it after my wah and before my Tube Screamers. That puts it before the compressor, too, but I might experiment with that a little bit. Knowing that it relies on a clean accurate pitch so I should put it early in the chain helps a lot. Thanks for the input, everyone!
Either or both. It just sounds different. I have my OC-2 after my fuzz and one distortion, and before another fuzz/distortion and the amp's preamp. I've never tried it in the amp's loop though. It tracks perfectly well after distortion, in fact possibly better. But remember that it's strictly monophonic - although it will handle played octaves and sometimes 5ths if you're careful - unless you like deliberately semi-controlled chaos, in which case try playing chords through it . With it before distortion, you get a huge thick 'playing octaves' sound, which can easily get muddy if you overdo it, but is cool anyway . With it after distortion, the octaves actually remain clean, because they aren't pitch-shifted, they are in fact generated by the pedal, which is basically a very simple analog monosynth that locks onto the incoming note whether it's clean or not - it basically ignores everything except the actual note. So now you get distorted guitar layered with clean synth bass, like playing along to yourself with bass pedals . Like this, it will even track power chords reasonably well, because the distortion emphasizes the fundamental. And if you really want killer fat synthy octave tones, try fuzz > OC-2 > heavy distortion . But watch your speakers...
