Finding the best octave pedal that will give you that classic octaver effect isn’t that easy. In this review, we will compare all of the most popular octave guitar effects pedals, so you can find the right one for you pedalboard and rig.
A few things to think about before buying an octave pedal:
- Number of control options
- How easy is it to control
- Extra effects like fuzz?
- Number of Octaves
Octaver and modulation pedals are great to add some texture to your sound or even change it altogether. Pitch shifters will let you change your tuning without even messing with your guitar. These are awesome effects to play around with and add to your collection.
Let’s look at some of the most popular octave effects pedals on the market today!
Click Below to Compare the Top Octave Guitar Effects Pedals in 2020
Contents
- 1 Click Below to Compare the Top Octave Guitar Effects Pedals in 2020
- 1.1 Electro-Harmonix Pitch Fork Guitar Pitch Effect Pedal
- 1.2 Electro-Harmonix Nano POG Polyphonic Octave Generator pedal
- 1.3 DigiTech Whammydtv-01 DT Drop Tune Guitar Effects Pedal
- 1.4 Mooer Audio Micro Series Tender Octaver MK II Guitar Effects Pedal
- 1.5 Boss Super Octave OC-3 Electronic Keyboard Pedal
- 1.6 EarthQuaker Devices Tentacle Analog Octave Up
- 1.7 Dunlop MXR M288 Bass Octave Deluxe
- 1.8 TC Electronic Sub’n’Up Octaver Pedal with TonePrint
- 1.9 Joyo JF-12 Voodoo Octave Guitar Pedal
- 1.10 Ammoon Precise Polyphonic Octave Generator Pedal
- 1.11 Dunlop MXR SF01 Slash Octave Fuzz
- 2 What We Recommend and Why
Here is a list of the top octaver guitar effects pedals on the market right now that will transform your sound.
- Electro-Harmonix Pitch Fork Guitar Pitch Effect Pedal
- Electro-Harmonix Nano POG Polyphonic Octave Generator pedal
- DigiTech Whammydtv-01 DT Drop Tune Guitar Effects Pedal
- Mooer Audio Micro Series Tender Octaver MK II Guitar Effects Pedal
- Boss Super Octave OC-3 Electronic Keyboard Pedal
- EarthQuaker Devices Tentacle Analog Octave Up
- Dunlop MXR M288 Bass Octave Deluxe
- TC Electronic Sub’n’Up Octaver Pedal with TonePrint
- Joyo JF-12 Voodoo Octave Guitar Pedal
- Ammoon Precise Polyphonic Octave Generator Pedal
- Dunlop MXR SF01 Slash Octave Fuzz
Electro-Harmonix Pitch Fork Guitar Pitch Effect Pedal
Specs, features, and benefits
The Electro-Harmonix Pith Fork is a sturdily built pitch shifter pedal that can make your guitar pitch shift for three octaves up or down. With the toggle switch in the center of the pedal, you can set your instrument’s pitch up or down, or you can have both – with leaving the switch in the middle. The footswitch on the pedal has two modes available, latch and momentary, which you can set with the knob right above the footswitch.
It has two control knobs, Blend and Shift. The Shift knob has eleven modes available, from harp-like sounds to synth bass, everything in-between and even more.
The pedal also has an expression pedal input for on-foot pitch shift control or glissando.
Pros and Highlights
- Versatile – You can achieve god-like sounds with this pedal… Just tweak around the knobs!
- Great Sound quality – This octave pedal is definitely one of the best-sounding octaver pedals ever!
- Glitch-free – With this pedal, you won’t experience warble-like sounds, which is pretty common to octaver pedals.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- No cons
Bottom line
The Pitch Fork by Electro-Harmonix screams quality in sound and performance. The pedal is very versatile and compact. One of the best octaver pedals on the market.
Electro-Harmonix Nano POG Polyphonic Octave Generator pedal
Specs, features, and benefits
The Electro-Harmonix Nano POG is a small and compact, yet very versatile octave pedal.
With the Nano Pog, you can sound octave up or down, or both at the same time, and mix it with your dry signal too. The pedal has three control knobs: Sub Octave, Octave Up, and Dry.
The pedal is pretty clean, meaning you won’t have any glitches no matter how you set it.
You have two outputs, Effect out and Dry out, so you can plug into different amps. In a bass amp and guitar amp, for example.
The pedal sounds great with a bass guitar too!
Pros and Highlights
- Versatile – With the Nano Pog, your guitar can sound like a twelve-string, or bass guitar, and everything in between… Don’t be fooled by the size of the pedal or the small number of controls!
- Great sound quality – The pedal won’t glitch, sounds great with every setting.
- Compact, easy to use – The Nano Pog is a really good fit for your pedalboard, and it’s very easy to use. Just plug & play!
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Latency – Some owners of this pedal reported that they are experiencing a bit of latency when using it. Others reported the pedal being too noisy when the Sub Octave is on.
Bottom line
While some players are completely satisfied with the Nano Pog, others claim that there are some bad things coming with it. Like noise and latency. Many love it, but others say it’s a complete waste of money. We suggest, try it before you buy it!
DigiTech Whammydtv-01 DT Drop Tune Guitar Effects Pedal
Specs, features, and benefits
The Whammy DT by Digitech is a great pitch-shifting/octaver pedal with a great ability to pitch shift, add harmony, and use the expression pedal with the whammy modes, just like you would with the old Whammy models.
The pedal is divided by the expression pedal. On the left side, you can find Harmony and Whammy modes, which you can set with a rotary knob. Under them is the Whammy footswitch.
On the right side on the pedal is the pitch-shifter. There you can find the rotary knob, with which you can set the pitch you want to play with, and two footswitches, one that is called “Drop Tune” – which is basically an on/off switch, and a Momentary footswitch.
The Whammy DT pedal has the option to be MIDI controlled, and there is an input for one more footswitch if you want to shift through the settings on the fly.
This pedal is a true inspiration!
Pros and Highlights
- A ton of features – This pedal is full with different effects and modes you can play with.
- Easy to operate – It might look confusing at a first glance, but in reality, this is very easy-to-operate guitar pedal
- Great quality – Warble-free and glitch-free, this pedal is one of the best sounding octaver/pitch shifting pedals
Cons and Potential Flaws
- No cons;
Bottom line
The Digitech Whammy DT is not just an octaver pedal, it is much more than that. If you are hungry for experimentations with your guitar sound, this pedal will satisfy your hunger to a great extent. It has a ton of features, it’s easy to use and has a great sound quality.
Mooer Audio Micro Series Tender Octaver MK II Guitar Effects Pedal
Specs, features, and benefits
The Mooer Tender Octaver MKII is a small and compact octaver pedal, it’s easy to use, it sounds great, and it’s affordable.
The pedal has three control knobs – Sub, Upper, and Dry, and a three-way toggle switch with three modes, Fat, Tight, and Swell.
The pedal is true bypass, and the signal goes through the pedal clean, it passes through only the effect.
Pros and Highlights
- Compact – The small size of the pedal won’t take a lot of space on your pedalboard
- Great sound quality
- Affordable – It’s amazing how much of a quality you’ll get with the pedal’s price
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Noisy – Many owners of this pedal reported the pedal producing noise/hiss, others claim they don’t have such a problem;
Bottom line
The Mooer Tender Octaver MK II is a small and compact octaver pedal with a very affordable price. It’s very easy to use guitar pedal. Some owners reported the pedal producing a lot of noise/hiss, but others claim their pedals don’t produce any noise. We suggest that you should try it before you buy it.
Boss Super Octave OC-3 Electronic Keyboard Pedal
Specs, features, and benefits
Having a Boss pedal in a Top pedals list is inevitable. The Boss pedals are sturdy built, and they somewhat represent a standard when it comes to quality of guitar effects. With the Boss OC3, you can have two more octaves in your sound, both lower.
On the pedal there are four knobs:
Direct Level – for setting the volume level of the dry signal, Oct 1 – Setting the level of the octaves, The third knob is for setting the level of the mode that is set with the fourth knob.
There are three modes available, Polly, Oct 2, and Drive. The pedal works great with both guitar, and bass guitar. It has a separate guitar and bass inputs, and two outputs, Direct and Mono Output.
Pros and Highlights
- Great with both guitar and bass
- Great quality – The pedal comes in the standard Boss case, sturdy-built and good sound quality
- Affordable – It’s a pretty affordable pedal, on the cheap spectrum of Octaver pedals
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Doesn’t track very well the lower registers – With bass guitar, when played in the lower registers, the pedal produces out of tune lower octaves, which is not so great!
Bottom line
The Boss OC3 is a great fit for a two-man band, guitar, and drums for example. The Drive that comes with this pedal, and the separate outputs, make this pedal great fit for two-man bands. While some users absolutely love it, others claim that their pedal is not tracking very well. We suggest that you should try it at your local guitar store first, and then decide if this pedal works for you.
EarthQuaker Devices Tentacle Analog Octave Up
Specs, features, and benefits
Speaking of octave pedals, an analog one is really hard to find. Well, Earthquakes (as always) did a pretty good job with that. The Earthquaker Tentacle is doing only one job and does it very well. When engaged the pedal adds one octave above from what you are playing.
Works best with the neck pickup on the guitar, and above the twelfth fret.
The pedal is probably the easiest one to use on this list since it has only a footswitch and a Led indicator on it. The footswitch can be used as a classic on/off one – with stomping on it, and as a momentary footswitch – holding the footswitch down.
Pros and Highlights
- Great quality – The Earthquaker are all hand-built in a sturdy case with the best parts available
- Easy to use – The pedal is a plug & play as it can get
- Affordable – The pedal is on the cheaper side of both octaver pedals and Earthquaker pedals
Cons and Potential Flaws
- No cons – The pedal works just as described
Bottom line
Great for spicing up your guitar solos! Affordable, high quality, sturdy-built, and easy-to-use octaver pedal. Sounds amazing with overdrive/fuzz/distortion too! Very easy to use – just stomp on it and rock on!
Dunlop MXR M288 Bass Octave Deluxe
Specs, features, and benefits
If you are looking for an octaver for your Bass guitar, you probably want the MXR M288 Bass Octave Deluxe. The pedal adds an octave below on what you are originally playing.
It has three control knobs: Dry, Growl, and Girth.
The Dry control knob sets the volume of your instrument signal.
The Growl is like a mids Eq control of the added octave, and the Girth is like a low eq control of the octave. The pedal has a Mid+ push button that boosts up to 14db of mid frequencies.
The pedal is sturdily built, and it’s very easy to use.
Pros and Highlights
- Sturdily built – The pedal is built to take the beating from the bass player’s foot without whining
- Great sound – The pedal sounds great and the controls on the pedal allow the player to have a good amount of control over his tone
- Easy to use – The pedal is very easy to use, and you can set your preferred tone within seconds
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Power input is on the side – this is not perfect for a pedal put in a pedalboard, but it’s not something you would run away from if you like the sound of the pedal
Bottom line
The MXR M288 Bass Octave Deluxe is one of the best Octaver pedals for bass guitar. The controls on this pedal are giving you a great amount of control over your tone. It’s not the cheapest one, but it surely one of the highest quality out there on the market.
If you are a bassist, and you want to experiment with your tone, MXR M288 is probably a great fit for you.
TC Electronic Sub’n’Up Octaver Pedal with TonePrint
Specs, features, and benefits
The Sub’n’Up by TC Electronic is a very compact and versatile octaver pedal.
The pedal has four control knobs and a three-way mode switch for setting the effect.
The three-way switch has these modes: Poly (next generation polyphonic tracking), Toneprint (allows the user to download pre-made patches or create them yourself with the  Toneprint software, and put them on the pedal with your smartphone ), and Classic (which is the old monophonic tracking, which can create glitches when chords are played).
The four control knobs on the pedal allow you to have a huge amount of control over the levels of your Dry signal, Up Octave, Sub, and Sub 2 Octave.
The pedal is sturdily built, and it’s a true bypass one.
On the back panel, next to the power input, you can find the USB mini port for connecting with your Mac/PC.
Pros and Highlights
- Versatile – The three modes and the four control knobs allow the player to have a ton of different octave effects with just a few tweaks. The Toneprint feature is a huge thing in the world of guitar pedals, you can even add different effects into this unit, like flanger, tremolo etc.
- Compact – The pedal is small, which makes a great fit for a pedalboard
- Affordable – The pedal is pretty affordable, having in mind all the features it comes with
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Latency – The pedal tends to have some latency, which is not good
Bottom line
Some players are amazed by the pedal; others claim that the latency is a huge turn-off with the unit. The pedal is very compact and versatile, but we strongly recommend trying before buying so you won’t end up disappointed.
Joyo JF-12 Voodoo Octave Guitar Pedal
Specs, features, and benefits
The Voodoo Octave by Joyo is not just an octaver pedal; it has both octaver and fuzz effect in it. The first thing you can notice with this pedal is the price. But don’t let the price fool you, this is an amazing pedal. Pretty versatile pedal.
The pedal has two footswitches, True Bypass, and Octave Up. There is also a two-way switch that lets you choose between Normal, and Mid Cut.
Pros and Highlights
- Two in one – If you like to save someplace on your pedalboard, and you like more than one effect in a pedal, the Voodoo Octave is the right thing you are looking for
- Cheap – The pedal is pretty cheap, you can either go and drink a few bears, or buy yourself a new pedal, or do both instead and you still won’t break the bank
- Easy to use – This pedal takes minutes to master it!
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Cheap – Well, yes you can find “Cheap” in the “Pros and Highlights” too, but this is not a joke.
Many people had their pedal dead within months; others reported the pedal buzzing/humming…
Bottom line
The Voodoo Octave is a very cheap pedal, it has two effects in it, and it’s versatile. You might fall in love with this thing, but you might meet a dead end soon too! We strongly suggest trying before buying on this one. Still, if the pedal breaks or something, the money you spent is not a big fortune, so you won’t have headaches for a long time.
Many players dig the fuzz on this unit better, not the octaver.
Ammoon Precise Polyphonic Octave Generator Pedal
Specs, features, and benefits
The low price of this pedal, along with the quality this unit has, and the simplicity of use make this unit stand tall and proud on this list. The Ammoon Octa has three control knobs: Dry, Up, and Sub. These control knobs are controlling the level of the dry signal, the upper octave, and the lower octave.
The pedal is great at tracking, especially on single tones. The case of the unit is made out of metal.
Pros and Highlights
- Affordable – This unit won’t break the bank. You don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars on an octaver pedal
- Easy to use – Three knobs, set them to your ear, and that’s it
- Good quality – The Ammoon Octa is made to compete with the octavers with a bigger price
Cons and Potential Flaws
- No cons – Considering the price, the quality of this pedal is great. And yes, you can always get a dud, but that happens with the famous guitar pedals too!
Bottom line
The Ammoon Octa is a great Polyphonic Octave Generator. It is affordable, easy to use, and has decent sound. This pedal is bang for the buck, that’s for sure!
Dunlop MXR SF01 Slash Octave Fuzz
Specs, features, and benefits
The MXR Slash Octave Fuzz is a two-in-one, 100% analog, fuzz, and octaver pedal. The pedal has control knobs for Volume, Tone, Fuzz, Sub Octave, and Octave Up. It also has a push button “Sub into Fuzz”.
The pedal has two footswitches, for instantly changing your sound on the fly. The pedal is true bypass pedal. It is built in a sturdy metal case.
Pros and Highlights
- Two-in-one – This unit has two great effects in – fuzz and octaver
- All analog circuit – Providing high-quality sound
- Sturdy built – The pedal is built like a tank
Cons and Potential Flaws
- No cons
Bottom line
The pedal MXR and Slash created together is truly a great one. Both effects on the pedal, the Fuzz, and the Octaver are great sounding. The case is made out of metal.
It is very easy to use, true bypass pedal, and it’s worth every penny of its price.
What We Recommend and Why
The Electro-Harmonix Pitch Fork is one of the best octaver pedals ever. It’s the most versatile pedal on this list, with high-quality sound and performance. Compact and easy to use too! We highly recommend this pedal.
If you are interested in something a bit cheaper, just read this list again, we’re sure you will find something that suits you best!
