Best octave pedals: Take your sound up or down

If you’re looking to extend your guitar or bass beyond the standard pitch range, octave pedals are exactly what you need to get there. Octave pedals are similar to pitch shifters and harmonizers, but they have some key differences that we’ll explore.

A lot of the octave pedals on the market only feature octave down settings, but there are quite a few that give you an octave up control. You can use one or the other, or combine them for some out of this world sounds.

With the right settings you can make your guitar sound like an organ, simulate a tremolo (whammy) bar, create the sound of a motorcycle revving or a horse whinnying. Yeah, they’re that “out there”.

These are some of our favorite octave pedals, from subtle subs to sky high soaring pitches. 

Best octave pedal overall: Electro-Harmonix Nano POG

The Nani POG’s appeal is well known. You’ll find it in the boards of some great players like John Mayer, Jack White, and The Edge to name a few. 

And for good reason. It offers octave down and up controls as well as a dry blend to help it sit perfectly in the signal chain. Wet and dry outputs open up routing options, and the small enclosure won’t crowd your pedalboard.

There are a number of different variations, from the larger and more full-featured POG2 to the small form Micro and Pico POGs. The tracking is spot on and though it has just three simple controls (the Nano version), it can do some wildly useful things to your guitar sound. 

Most versatile octave pedal: Digitech Whammy V

Digitech’s Whammy V is one of the best guitar pedal pitch shifters, and it features multiple different types of octave effects that can be controlled in real time through the treadle. 

When it comes to sound settings it’s more about what can’t the Whammy V do. Through mine harmony and 10 octave “Whammy” effects you can manipulate octaves and pitch in ways other pedals can only dream of. 

A switch selects between monophonic and polyphonic functionality and MIDI I/O let’s you send and receive pitch bend information from external devices. 

So whether you don’t want to mess with the tuning headaches or a real tremolo bar, don’t have one on your guitar, or need to go next level with pitch manipulation the Whammy V is one of the most creative guitar pedals around. 

Best workstation octave pedal: Walrus Audio Luminary V2

When it comes to a comprehensive set of octave options, pedals generally fall into one of two camps. They either offer minimalistic controls, or ways to set pretty much any parameter of the sounds contained within them. The Luminary V2 is the latter.

Like most octave pedals this ambitious, you can go up or down one or two octaves. But the Luminary takes it to the next level by offering attack, filter, and flutter controls. By adjusting the attack the octave effects get more chance to bloom, filter is an EQ, and flutter adds in a tremolo-style effect to the circuit.

You can store three presets in addition to the “live mode” which is the active setting. This gives you a total of four sounds with immediate access, and it’s easy to change them out when you discover the next great one worth saving.

The Luminary V2 can dial up synth pad sounds, organ tones, faux 12-string guitar, and more. Through an external expression pedal you can set the five internal DIP switches in any order to control certain parts of the effect in real time.

Best octave pedal/pitch shifter hybrid: BOSS XS-1 Poly Shifter

BOSS‘ newly released Poly Shifter offers a six-octave range that allows access to octave effects most others don’t. It shifts up or down seven semitones across a three octave range either way.

It’s built on 24-bit/32-bit converters with BOSS’ Adaptive Focus that’s dialed in through a Balance knob that controls wet/dry blend and a Shift knob that sets the level of pitch offset. Two switches let you set the footswitch to latching or momentary operation and Detune that adds +/- 20 cent modulation to the signal.

An expression pedal input allows for real-time control or instant tuning recalls. It does have seemingly limited controls, but there is a lot of range in what it does offer. It’s mono I/O only, but that’s not uncommon in octave pedals.

Best fuzz/octave pedal: MXR Poly Blue Octave

MXR’s Blue Box was one of the first octave pedals, used famously by Jimmy Page on the Led Zeppelin song “Fool in the Rain”. That was a simple octave down effect, and the Poly Blue Octave takes things to a much higher level. 

At its core it’s a polyphonic octave pedal that can go up or down two octaves either way. It also features onboard fuzz, modulation, and a global dry blend. 

Other interesting circuit features include a Mono setting that gives a dirty, vintage sound. It also effects the two-stage modulation, taking it from phaser sounds with Mono engaged to rotary speaker sounds with it off. You can even use an external expression pedal for moment to moment control. 

The Blue Octave sounds just as good with chords as it does on single notes. It’s an interesting combination of different effects, and the dual octave up and down is enough alone to make it one of the most unique octave pedals available. 

Best octave pedal for bass guitar: Laney The 85

Octave pedals work with guitars and basses, but to properly handle the focus on the low and low midrange frequencies bassists need an octave pedal with a circuit designed for them.

The 85 is unique among bass guitar octave pedals. Three modes switch from an octave up, two octaves down, and a perfect fifth up. This lets puts your bass tone more in the guitar range, thunders with sub frequencies, or makes for a low end harmonizer effect respectively.

A Focus control lets you narrow the effect down when needed. The coolest feature might be the expression pedal input though. These aren’t normally found on octave pedals, and it lets you control the effect in real time.

Best budget octave pedal: TC Electronic Sub n’ Up Mini

Here we considered anything in the $100 range to fit the term “budget”. And TC Electronic has it covered. Much like the POG, the Sub n’ Up Mini has controls for both octave down and octave up as well as the dry signal blend. 

Through TC Electronics’ TonePrint expands the settings to include a second octave down and let’s you load presets or share yours with the community. 

The mini form factor slides right in when pedalboard real estate is at a premium, but some might prefer the larger enclosure. Excellent and accurate tracking make this one of the best budget octave pedals on the market. 

What to look for in an octave pedal

Tracking accuracy

One of the most important things in octave pedals is tracking accuracy. A model that can cleanly detect single lines or chords delivers a smoother and more reliable sound without glitches or lag.

Consider whether you need polyphonic tracking for playing multiple notes simultaneously or monophonic tracking for single-note riffs. The best options cover both types of tracking.

Octave range

Another key factor is octave range. Some only provide a lower octave range for bass-like tones. Others add an octave above, below, or even both at once for layered textures.

Also, look for control flexibility. This includes features like blend knobs, EQ filters, and dry/wet mix options. They provide more control over how the octave effect integrates with your base signal.

Integration with other effects

Consider where you’ll place the octave pedal in your signal chain. Does it work well before or after your distortion/fuzz/volume pedals? Does it play nicely with modulation, delay or reverb?

FAQ

What are octave pedals good for?

Octave pedals let you shift the frequency range. Depending on the controls the shift could go down or up in pitch. Some, like DigiTech’s Whammy series let’s you control things in real time by a treadle, expression pedal, or external foot switch. 

Is the Electro-Harmonix POG the best octave pedal?

The POG is one of the best octave pedals. Depending on the model it has octave up and down controls as well as a dry blend. It’s great for guitar, bass, even keyboards/digital pianos and vocals. Alot of octave pedals don’t have the best signal tracking, but the tracking on the POG is fast and accurate. 

Does an octave pedal sound like a bass?

Nothing sounds truly like a bass than the instrument itself. But a lot of guitarists use octave pedals to approximate bass sounds with a standard guitar. By using octave down settings you can extend the low end of the guitar signal in fun and interesting ways. 

What does a bass octave pedal do?

It adds an additional note to the original signal that thickens the sound. Some even let you add multiple octaves at the same time.