What To Look For When Searching Effects

[Moreau]

I am looking at octave divider effects and was curious if there was an instrument specific way to make one. like for a bass, as opposed to guitar. Anyone know much about them?

[lovekraft]

Why would you want an octave down for your bass? Can you afford speakers that'll even function below 40 Hz?

[Kyle Cavanaugh]

an octave divider is an octave divider. You sure you wanna have a lower octave? Do you mean a higher octave? Basses are really low on the hearing spectrum of frequencies to start with. Try some out at a store or something, there's no real rule on these things, I would request to try them through a BASS amp though, you could blow the speaker (s) on a guitar amp if it's turned up too loud and bass amps are usually geared more to having a more linear response (my bass amp is pretty sterile, at least.)

[Moreau]

like the mutron octave divider, larry graham uses one and its wicked

[lovekraft]

OK, good luck! Generally you'll have to increase the size of the input, output and coupling caps to make a guitar circuit suitable for bass use. As for the divider itself, considerig the strong harmonics that are generated by bass strings, you may have trouble getting it to track the fundamental without tweaking the circuit quite a bit. And try to stay away from really low notes - you can't actually hear anything below 20 Hz, even if your speakers could reproduce it, but those frequencies will still destroy your speakers if you pump them in hot enough.

Rememeber, Larry Graham can afford to replace a lot of cabinets when he blows them up!

[thedoctor]

An octave divider IS an octave divider and unless they have a divider setting lower than "1" you will be REDUCING the freq. My much beloved Ampeg bass head has one built in and I only use it when I want to see the cones move in and out at a rate I can count, slowly. GOT to be hard on everything! Isn't the reason they make 5 and 6 string basses so you don't need this? I have played with one on a stereo effect pedal with a 6-string guitar and found a lot of cool sounds but a bass? Now comes the IMHO.

[Moreau]

im pretty sure that les claypool uses on on the oysterhead CD too. like if its making a sound close to that of a 6 string bass, then it cant be doing much damage, or the same would have to hold true about 6 string basses too. so basically you are saying that the divider will produce a note well below the minimal frequency of the speaker? is it not possible to make a cut off to prevent it from hitting too low? Thanks

[lovekraft]

It's quite possble to destroy speakers with a 5 or 6 string bass, although not as likely, since the waveform will be a lot smoother than the squarewave output of a divider circuit. But you can definitely roll off some bass to help protect the speakers, if that's what you want to do - try using a guitar octave box, and see if that's the sound you're looking for. You may find it works just fine without alterations. There aren't any hard and fast rules in this area - it's all about your personal sound goals and your tolerance for risk ( and your budget). I personally know one young guy who has spent over $500 on replacement speakers in the last year because he won't operate his amp below the clipping threshold, and he plays a 4 string tuned to Eb.

[Moreau]

yeah my bass level is rather low, and most of my low frequency goes to my 15. i think i may try it, but im looking at the zoom 708II multi effects. its got so much efeects, and it can sample up to 20 mins. even though i only need like 30 sec max, but it has octave dividers in it i think.

[borge]

i have a korg ax1500g multi effects (top of line for korg floor processors i think)

it has octave, pitch shift, pitch bend and they sound horrible, the rest of the effects are reasonable but any sort of pitch altering is bad

but i guess multi effect pedals arent exactly known for their brilliant effects

if i were you id try a bunch of octave stomp boxes for both guitar and bass (might as well try the zoom aswell) but you're not gunna find the perfect pedal for you from what people tell you