An octave/fuzz/modulation combo platter fit for freaks of all stripes.
Wide variety of wacky and practical tones on hand. Intuitive controls. Effective expression pedal control.
Extreme settings might be dangerous to your speakers.
$199
MXR Poly Blue Octave
jimdunlop.com
MXR’s Blue Box has always been an outlier on the octave-pedal scene. One of the company’s earliest offerings, it drops a guitar signal by two octaves and blasts it with fuzz. Despite remaining active in the MXR stable throughout much of its history, the Blue Box is mostly celebrated in the deepest pedal-nerd hang sessions once all the classic fuzz, overdrive, and delay pedals have been discussed and things get weird.
The new Poly Blue Octave significantly expands upon the Blue Box by adding improved polyphonic capabilities, phase modulation, and a fuzz that works independently of the octave and modulation effects. It maintains the quirky personality of the original while opening avenues for players that need more flexibility than a dedicated octave-down pedal can offer. With four separate octave voices and expression pedal control, there’s a wild world of interactive sound waiting to be discovered inside the pedal’s sparkly blue enclosure.
More Knobs, More Possibilities
Much of the charm of the original Blue Box comes from its simplicity. With just output and blend knobs, it’s easy to use and doesn’t take long to figure out. The Poly Blue Octave has three times as many knobs as a Blue Box. But the controls are still simple and self-explanatory. Five of the six knobs are level controls: wet/dry, sub-1, sub-2, oct+1, and oct+2. The modulation knob turns the modulation effect on and increases the rate as you sweep clockwise. (All octave voices and fuzz are modulated when it is engaged.) LED-illuminated buttons switch on the fuzz and toggle between monophonic and polyphonic modes. The wet/dry knob also functions as the fuzz volume when the fuzz button is engaged and held down for a few seconds. An expression pedal jack allows players to fade between settings and ramp up modulation speed with an expression pedal oruse an external foot switch to activate and switch between fuzz and clean or polyphonic and monophonic modes
Wooly and Woozy
The Poly Blue tracks well, so at clean settings, it’s easy to evoke baritone and bass sounds. The fuzz circuit, meanwhile, is full-bodied, so I approached fuzz settings by starting with a dry sound and adding octaves to taste. With the fuzz applied in polyphonic mode, the higher octaves soar, with the oct+2 creating a whistle-like tone in higher registers. I used sub-1 at almost implied levels to bulk up my sound further. Lower position playing gets muddy with sub-2 settings, especially when it’s used in conjunction with sub-1, so using a bass cabinet is a smart proposition if you intend to use a lot of low notes. Turning off the fuzz, of course, makes the low-end sounds less chaotic.
Monophonic mode sounds truest to the old Blue Box and has a thicker voice. It also either tracks less steadily or responds more sensitively to overtones in my guitar signal. So I had to carefully tweak octave-level settings to tread between flavorful fuzz and blown-out mayhem. But when I got it just right, I was thrilled to achieve crushing tones that rival the Rust Never Sleeps version of “Hey Hey, My My.” Adding modulation to these settings in monophonic mode generates a phase effect that induces serious additional wooziness.
Express Excess
Creative possibilities expanded when I hooked up my expression pedal to the Poly Blue Octave. Polyphonic mode evokes faux-organ vibes from the get-go. And by setting the expression pedal to fade-in a lower octave and increase modulation speed, I felt like Jon Lord taking a solo break at Budokan. If that’s not cool, I don’t know what is.
While you can also use an expression pedal to turn the fuzz mode on and off or switch between a monophonic and polyphonic modes, you cannot smoothly fade between those modes as you can with, say, the modulation rate. Even so, the ability to have clean or fuzzy signals at either end of a heel/toe sweep, combined with other effects means extremely different preset sounds are possible.
The Verdict
The Poly Blue Octave captures the spirit of the original Blue Box but transforms it into something much more flexible and full of possibilities. I wouldn’t be surprised if I hear that the two-octave-below setting blows more than a few speakers—it might even require a warning label. But for users who approach the Poly Blue Octave with a creative, open mindset and look beyond simple octave pedal functionality, the deranged fuzz tones, modulation, and expression pedal capability will mean many unexpected sounds.
MXR Poly Blue Octave Demo | First Look
A wee synth pedal that packs enough sub-octave power to shake down the house.
Fat, fuzzy, bossy octave tones that can be used to double or stand in for bass. Many unexpectedly lyrical sounds at dryer mix levels.
Fine-tune control can feel imprecise.
$179
Pigtronix Space Rip
pigtronix.com
I'd love to do a show just with Pigtronix mini pedals. The always-creative New York company has built a sizable stable of little stomps that range from practical to weird. Space Rip inhabits the latter category, but its bombastic, belching, bass-y, and buzzy synth sounds would certainly be a highlight of whatever presentation I might concoct.
When combined with certain amounts of dry signal you can conjure singing ringing-and-fuzzy composite tones that evoke trashy cellos or gamelans from some dusty, broken Philip K. Dick alterna-verse.
The Space Rip uses pulse-width modulation synthesis to generate fuzzy square and sawtooth waves. The unusual control set uses an equally unusual set of functions to manipulate these waveforms—among them, a VCO modulation rate knob, a somewhat tricky fine tuner that you can almost use as a pitch-bend effect, and a fairly massive-sounding sub-octave mix knob. There's also a very welcome wet/dry mix knob. I don't term the mix knob "welcome" because the synth sounds are repellent or hard to manage. On the contrary, they can be rich and sonorous.
All sounds (apart from drum machine) are the Space Rip with a Fender Telecaster and black-panel Fender Tremolux. Recorded via Universal Audio Apollo Twin into Universal Audio Luna
And when combined with certain amounts of dry signal you can conjure singing, ringing-and-fuzzy composite tones that evoke trashy cellos or gamelans from some dusty, broken Philip K. Dick alterna-verse. As with almost any synth pedal, clean technique pays dividends, and you can summon the most lyrical and fluid effects by concentrating on single-note melodies. Using the same technique and the effective sub-octave control, you can also generate very funky and snappy bass lines with your guitar's lower strings. Be careful hitting that octave button though—it lowers everything, including that fat sub-octave tone, by yet another octave. And while you may not actually rip space, you might dislodge the contents of the china shelf.
Test Gear:
Fender Telecaster, black-panel Fender Tremolux, Universal Audio OX