EBS OctaBass

Simple, couldn't botch this up unless ya tried! Pretty simple manual, easy to follow and give a few tips... Suggests that the Octabass should be used at begining of chain preferably closest to instrument to avoid damage, Though.....

.... my set up begins with my cheap, old and faithful Daien bass down tuned to B>>Bass Big Muff PI>>Morely Wah(think it's a POW) and last but not least, against EBS advice, the octabass plugged into whatever crap amp or rig i happen to be using!

I mainly play stoner rock/classic heavy metal/sludge/psychedelic. Much better than it's predecessor octabass the 08(??) model gets a sound I really like but no matter how much I've played with it, it sounds terrible everywhere except at the end of my set up. As mentioned in probably all of these reviews the tracking can be pretty lousy at points, funnily enough the manual implicates this being and issue of string manufactures and promises their Northern Lights EBS strings are they way to go but I'm not sold.

I think this sounds awesome with wah and distortion if that's your buzz, if not well...

Yep, when it isn't on a dead noteand isn't getting down towards G or E it you can get some awesome big rumbles! Or less so if you wanna keep it a bit more melow.

Tracking is pretty miserable and unreliable, that aside I've had this a couple months and unlike the older model seems much more reliable. I spoke to the local Australian distributor who said that they've seen only one or two returns and was very impressed, wasn't a sales pitch as I called him for advice on my old octabass that had broken.

Oh yeah, as mentioned, solid unit. could knock someone out with this sucker. dependable and would use it with no back up.

As above the local australian distributor was very helpful, i think i sent an email to EBS and they responded within a day or two so no issues for me.

Originally had the old one but it was second hand and faulty when knobs were turned lower than full. Even so this sounds and tracks better/lower.

If i'm going for something clean and heavy i like to play my usual riffs up the octave and things get pretty doomed out from there! I'm a fan and if it went walk abouts I'd probably get another.

see ya in hell!!!

Very logical unit. Quite user friendly.
This is the new 2008 modell with true bypass and better electronics.

Using This on my bass. Running a EBS Drome-15 witch also sound great.
Low noise and True Bypass. Can get a deep octaver sound from this. Really good unit. Makes a cool sond when used on a fretless too.
Good tracking down to low G but can track to lowE if you boost the bass a bit on your guitar.

This is build like a tank. robust and precise. Very good knobs, witch feels smooth.

I think this octaver is very good. You can get a lot of sounds from it, and the soundquality is nice. This is the new 2008 modell with true bypass and that workes well. Also like the phantom power option of the pedal. That you can run it on power from your amp.
This pedal track wery well down to low G, but if you boost tha bass a bit on your bassguitar it track down to low E witch is quite good.
Makes a cool sond when used on a fretless too.

Basically, it's ordinary.
My Boss GT6B does a better job, by Boss Octaver does a better job.

It's not a great sound.
It is an ordinary octave effect which doesn't track like the manual says.
I remember getting a better sound out of my Boss SY5

Oh, I gig without it all the time.
I take the Boss Octaver if I want a definite sound.

I wouldn't use Lamberti Bros in Australia for anything. They hold the record for being the worst customer support ever. Unfortunately, they are the distributor for EBS... poor EBS, not a great pedal and crappy backup.

rate this very low because, even after all those Bass magazines' reviews this is not an outstanding pedal. The main trouble is it's too expensive. It's in my pedal board because I dread cleaning off the velcro residue for resale.

It is really very easy to use.
1 switch and 2 knobs. That??s??it.

The Sound Quality was amazing, when it was working.

And here we are.
I don??t know, why everybody loves it so much. It has the same problem than most of the other octavers. The different is just the price of it. It is expensive.
There is no way to get a good tone out of it, when you play open strings. It never stopped to trigger between the orginal tone and the Octaved one.

Never needed.

Most i play sounds like The Melvins style. A bit Funk and Jazz as well with my other Band.
The Basswhammy can do all better than this thing.

Very easy to use. Lay-out on the pedal is easy to read. The manual is very basic, but that's no problem at all.

It's a very modern sounding unit. Not synthy like the Boss OC-2, but that's been said many times before. I tested it playing through headphones, studio monitors and 2x10 and 4x10 cabinets with both active, passive en fretless basses and the tracking is very fast, although not as good as the samples on their website. 2-note chords are sometimes not good and you won't want to slap too much... Also it's not true bypass and when the pedal is in your chain, it'll boost your overall volume when compared to a chain without the pedal. The pedal has also difficulties with some long notes, especially when there are weaker/dead spots on your bass's neck. Some speakers can't handle the low notes, but that's nothing to worry about. On a 4-string bass, the low E is around 32 Hz. Most speakers can't even go that low. Just something to consider if you want to use the effect with a 1x8 or 1x10 speaker.
My unit was very noise when bypassed, but I guess it's just a bad unit, however, I think that EBS should avoid this!
Overal, I'm a bit dissapointed.

As stated above, my unit was noisy as hell in bypass mode, which made me sell it, but it's built like a tank.

/

I play everything and I think this pedal sounds good in every setup and genre, if it works properly! I was a bit dissapointed after reading all those good comments. Although the tracking is very fast and it goes with ease down to a low A and sometimes even lower, my unit was noisy when in bypass mode, and the chord- en slapresults were ... well, not that great.
A nice thing was the range-switch. It changes the tonal character and so the pedal can be very versatile.
If it was a good unit, I'd definately keep it, if it's sound (modern) is your thing. If you want something more synthy, then check out the Boss OC-2 on the used market.

As said below, the OctaBass has good, simple, common-sense controls.

I'm using this pedal with a 4-string Fender American Deluxe Jazz Bass and various amps by Eden. At the moment it's on my pedal board, second in the signal chain behind an Akai SB-1.

The effect itself sounds VERY cool. You get a big, fat, pulsating lower-octave tone. The ability to set the levels for your original note and the octave separately is also cool, not to mention the option of taking out the original note completely!

No problems so far. It gets looked after pretty well.

No need to deal with them.

I play alternative rock, and I use a few effects. I can get a pretty murderous sound with the signal from the OctaBass going into a Fulltone Bass-Drive, and I've used this on a couple of songs. I've also used the OctaBass on its own for bits and pieces of other songs. It sounds wicked if you play the right thing the right way.

All right, here's my beef. This is consistently rated as the best bass octave pedal you can get. Even Bass Player magazine, who I highly respect, raved about it. The hype surrounding this pedal did influence my decision to add it to my collection, but all in all it's been a huge disappointment, mainly because of the shoddy tracking.

Bass Player claimed that it was able to track 2-note chords. On their website, EBS have an audio sample of a high-speed slap lick played through the OctaBass, tracked flawlessly. In my experience, these are both myths, pure and simple.

The OctaBass has difficulty tracking a lot of notes consistently, especially long notes, notes in dead spots on the neck, and anything below C on the A-string. It will NOT, repeat NOT track double-stops, and slapping through it will just generate ugly glitch noise. The tracking on the ocatve effect on my little old Zoom multi-effects unit blows it away, although the sound from the EBS eats the Zoom for breakfast. And as for the Akai SB-1 - now THERE'S good tracking.

Of course I've tried it away from the pedal board on its own. It could be my bass, or even my technique that's the problem. The Fender is not a "boutique" axe, but it's no slouch either. And I've spent years working on clean, consistent slap and fingerstyle playing. I thought it could be a faulty unit, but a friend has one he bought new here in Australia, and he has the same problem.

This pedal is quite simply overrated. I'm currently looking into bog-standard octave units by Boss and others.

EBS Blacklabel Octabass has 3 easy controls. Volume of your original bass signal,Volume of your lower octave signal and a 3 position setting for "tone" of the lower octave... higher (solos), normal, and more boomy bassy. The most difficult use of this pedal is the players technique,and the bass and amp used. You have to play precise or you will get minor glitches, the signal from the bass has to be a relatively strong signal and the amp has to be able to reproduce the lower octave notes. Actually 99% of most rigs could not reproduce below 20 to 25 hertz, so don't complain when your speakers gasp in agony.

If you use the octabass properly it has a pretty natural sounding lower octave sound. Again you have to realize the scientific fact that your amp/speakers won't be able to do the lowest notes justice. I've owned the original "grey" version and the black label seems to track a little easier and has the "tone" toggle for different variations of the octave lower effect. I've also owned the Boss OC2...not a bad unit but it doesn't sound as natural, more synthy and the second octave lower is just ridiculous/useless on the lowest strings of the bass. Of the 3 I've tried the Blacklabel version is the best IMHO. Using a compressor in front of this like the EBS Multicomp can really tighten the sound and help tracking, with a compressor I'll give it a 9 without a compressor an 8. Also a cool pedal to use with this is a Green Ringer effect, you get distorted upper octaves with original and lower. I believe the old Mutron Octave pedal had a switchable Green ringer built in. I use the Ring Dinger from General Guitar Gadgets, move over guitar player I'm coming thru! The original sound doesn't seem to be effected in bypass mode.

I bought mine used from Ebay and it died (i know the seller knew there was problems)Anyways EBS sent me a new circuit board and it's worked great the past 2 years. The "grey" version I had for 3-4 years with no problems. I also own a EBS Multicomp and IQ...both great. The only real concern is the toggle switch it could break if you forced it.

Excellent...best service I've recieved from any musical manufacturer, and I've dealt with a ton....and they are in Sweden. Thanks

The thing I like best about the Octabass is that it has a natural sounding lower octave. EBS builds pedals that really keep and strengthen the bass frequencies....not a guitar pedal company marketing afterthought. EBS is designed for bass players YA! When you go out on a gig it will make you sound better. That being said they are a little on the expensive side brand new...

The Octabass creates a single note one octave below the pitch of the played note.The Controls: "Normal" controls the mix volume for the original sound. "Octave" sets the amount for the octave divided signal. There are three ranges; High, Mid and Low. The manual gives you some suggestion of how to set them. It's very easy to use this pedal.

I use the pedal with different basses such as FenderJB, P and Gibson EB3. The amp is an EBS Fafner or TD650. It's absolute noiseless:)The quality shows in the clean sound of the pedal. A "muddy" sound would just not work with this kind of pedal. The Bypass mode is also really natural and noiseless. When using cheaper pedals the sound tends to "dissapear" in bypass mode.

I dropped it on floor a few times and there's not a single scratch. I'd say it's very compact and reliable!

I sometimes had technichal discussions with EBS and they always helped me out in a friendly way.

I think it's fun using it for solos. Also when playing Reggae it can be useful in the "low" mode. I used to have a Roland Octaver before but it was to noisy and to weak in the bypass mode.

There are two knobs, Knob 1# is for mixing the ammount of the clean/unprocessed signal and Knob 2# is for mixing the processed/octace signal. There is also a three level switch for setting the caracter of the octave signal. Low, normal and high.

When i first tried it i got the hang of the controls instantly.

The sound quality is really good.

In the Low mode you'll get a fat monsteroctave sound.
In the normal mode you'll get a traditional octave sound.
And in the high mode you'll get a somehow synhlike roaring tone. Great for solos.

Apart from other octave pedals i have tried, this one triggs good at the low E-string.

I use my EBS-Octabass with the EBS-AD9 powersupply and so far it have never shut down.

I have no intention of ever get rid of this pedal. If it were stolen i would buy two new ones just in case ha ha.

2 knobs, one switch, very easy

Sounded great! Not completely "Natural" but very musical. Not much below G on the E string, but why would you want lower notes than that, no conventional speaker or human ear could hear it... best for midrage stuff and tracked decently. Very quiet when off, and handled volume spikes very well, a problem I've had with other pedals.

Now here's why I'm writing. My octave pedal recently stopped octaving. I bought it used but in great shape, then used it for about 6 months or so gigging every weekend. This pedal was not abused at all, even kept it in a little camera bag for transportation. One night I hit the button and basically nothing happened. Next night it worked again. Back and forth like this for a while until now I'll try it while setting up and leave it out if it doesn't work, and it's been a while since it worked. It still seems to alter the sound but it's no longer working like it's supposed to, almost as if it's repeating the octave in the same octave as the original note.

I guess I'm about to find out.

I would say this was a great octave pedal if it still worked. I used it on solos plus a few songs to keep things interesting, plus it gave me a chance to play a few basslines up the neck and rest my hands a little. My current band plays a lot of dance music so it worked well in that vein. My gigging setup is a Sadowsky 5 string, SWR Redhead, and my pedal board was narrowed down to the EBS, Lovetone Meatball, and Boss synth pedal. I'm not really a gearhead but I like good equipment and I like it to work, and I do take pretty good care of my tools. That's why I'm so dissapointed in this pedal.