Pedals And Effects: Sub Octave Wars with Janek Gwizdala
/Pedals And Effects has brought you a Sub Wars before but these pedals, though similar, are mainly octave pedals so we dubbed this installment Sub Octave Wars! Please be aware that the low end coming through your speakers may rattle your speakers off their stands!
Janek Gwizdala has come through 5Starr Sound Labs for Pedals And Effects Fuzz Wars but he and I have always wanted to shoot a video for our favorite Boss OC-2. I first came across the OC-2 in the early 80’s. My bass teacher, Steve Evans, was playing with Brian Auger and he went into a bass solo and once he jumped on the OC-2, I was sold and bought one a week later and even used it in Racer X. It is still the most musical octave pedal out there for bassists.
The Ampeg Sub Blaster is just as the name states, it blasts a sub octave right into your bass rig and creates the most over the top sub of the four shown in this Sub Octave Wars. Ampeg sent me this guy in the 90’s and I used it a bunch live ever since.
Photo credit: Musicians Friend
I have been endorsing MXR since my days in Racer X and they have been a company that I came up with, so to speak. MXR made the first phaser I ever used, the MXR Phase 100 and they have always created effects that sound great for bass. The Bass Octave Deluxe is just as innovative as any of their pedals because it is not only an octave pedal, it also pushes the sub octave via some sub harmonic component. This pedal will compete with the DOD Meatbox, though I will say, it tracks way better than that one.
Photo credit: Studio 1525
Last in the shootout is the DOD Octoplus. Probably the least impressive of the four pedals in this video but has a quality none of the other three have and that is the tone knob. With this addition, you can really dub out your bass and fit right into a King Tubby recording.
