Octamizer

The Octamizer from Aguilar is such a traditional tone that it’s hard to imagine a bass player’s pedalboard without one. This pedal hit the market in 2009 and has been seen on boards throughout the bass world since. In part that is due to how simple to use yet also how variable it is.

Usability

Basically, the pedal is split into two halves, one side clean and one octave. On the Clean side, the tone adjusts the bass and treble mix. This allows you to match or counterpoise the octave effect against the next control. The Octave Filter control adjusts the octave from sharp and aggressive tones through to bold clear subs octaves.

Pedalboard Friendly

The Octamizer is a relatively tall thin pedal which sits nicely alongside others in the Aguilar range. the lack of anything on the side panels saves a lot of space with other pedals featuring top-mounted jacks.

Octave dividing adds up

The tones you can achieve with this pedal are vast. Dialling in just a slight extra sub-bass creates body in a smaller band scenario or solo act. In parallel, you can add effects to the sub-base tones while maintaining your clean bass tones for clarity. It’s possible to dial this pedal in to create some great synth tones too, add some delay and enter tone nirvana.  Aguilar created a legend when this hit the market!