The creative possibilities with these pedals is almost infinite. You can explore sounds that you’ve never heard before with polyphonic pedals and make your guitar sound like a completely different instrument.įor example, some pedals allow you to transform your guitar into a bass guitar or make it sound like an organ. These pedals give you the ability to make your 6-string guitar sound like a 12-string guitar, but your sound options don’t end there. The available features of today’s polyphonic octave pedals are numerous. It isn’t just about minimal complications though. Why use Polyphonic Octave Pedals?Īs with any new technology the early days of polyphonic octave pedals presented some complications, but with today’s advanced technology those complications have been minimized and your reach is two-fold. The fact that you can expand your tonal range and not worry about glitching is exciting. No more glitchy and unstable musical messes. Reliable tracking is why polyphonic octave pedals have become so popular. The fact that these pedals can track full chords is a huge step up in technology for octave pedals. You cannot get this with a monophonic octave pedal. Our goal is to discuss the benefits of using a polyphonic octave pedal, what to look for in the best ones, and then introduce you to the best polyphonic octave pedals that are out there today.Īll octave pedals undoubtedly give you a big sound, but what makes polyphonic octaves so special is that they can range two to three octaves above or below the original frequency. If you are looking to widen your range beyond what a monophonic octave pedal can provide, you are in the right place. As an affiliate, this website earns from qualifying purchases. Highly is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to. This isn’t some hipster, lo-fi gimmick, it’s a new pathway to approach creative playing and really altering guitar (and bass) tones, without presets, parameters and menu-diving. But the entire time using the pedal, we never felt the need for any these adjustments. The octave effects are meant to be heard and felt. Well, those players are out of luck, as the levels are already preset, and at levels that make sense for guitar and bass. The only downside is that certain kinds of players may want to tweak the levels of the octave effects. Being able to just throw a quick blast of one (or more) of those effects on for, well effect, is awesome. We had a blast plugging in all kinds of effects in there: flangers, chorus, tremolo as well as an EHX synth pedal. But the real kicker is using it as a momentary effects loop.
Using both octaves at the same time, and then engaging the middle switch, it feels in a sense that part of the concept is the middle drops out, letting the octave effects just do their thing. It’s not quite an organ, but it’s more bigness (if that’s a word). Blending both in at the same time, and it really gets nuts, in a good way. The upper octave effect is quite chimey overall, and in a way it’s a great faux 12-string effect with open chords and arpeggios. It kind of makes sense considering Jack White had a hand in it, however, your bass player may give you the stink eye when you kick this in. Simple voicings bring the best results on typical strumming or rhythm playing, so when you get into more complex voicings like 7ths or 9ths, your mileage may vary depending on the picking technique and what you’re shooting for.Īdd in a dirty amp, and lower power chords really do bring in great results, thickening things up in a real big way.
It’s also polyphonic, meaning chords do translate well.
Plugging it in, the lower octave effect tracks really well overall, with no glitching the effect itself is digital, however, it maintains a warm response that sometimes gets lost in digital pitch shifting. The second mode engages an effects loop, with a send and return on the back of the pedal, players can insert effect (or effects) into that loop, and when the middle pedal is engaged the effect (or effects) in that loop are patched in. Now the middle switch has two modes, one is a kill for the dry signal - if both the effects are off or not being pressed down in momentary mode, it kills your signal totally. Set it to latched mode, and the switches work like a typical effect pedal, press to turn on, and press again to turn off. Unlatched means, when you press on the pedal, the effect is on, and when pressure is released, it’s off. Each footswitch can be set for latched (Coppersound calls this “loctave” mode) or unlatched/momentary operation independently. Now here where it gets fun, the left switch engages an octave down effect, and the right switch does an octave up.