tc electronic Nether Octaver

I use this pedal with electric guitar and bass. I think it would also work great with mono synthesizers. I have years of experience as producer/engineer as well as instrumentalist. Now I work in the MI branch. (No affiliation with this brand)

For me, this octaver is best for bass. Adding a compressor pedal before it boosts its note-tracking performance. It can make synth-like bass with the dry tone set to zero, or set the dry tone to unity gain, then dail in a subtle octave for thundering presence. The stop response time is tight enough to avoid sounding like mud.

How well this pedal works depends on the signal it gets. (True for all octavers like this) With the right kind of guitar/bass, it sounds awesome, for example strat or p-/j-bass. A different type of bass I use which already has a solid, explosive low-end and precise treble doesn't profit much from the sub octave - it doesn't complement the tone. In any case with a compressor before it, you can get better performance by tuning the level characteristics of different instruments so the octaver can work at its sweet spot.

I would improve the design of this pedal with a toggle switch to an alternate sub-tone more suited to some instruments or other sonic textures. How about a clipping waveform? (Less low-end, similar perceived "depth" thanks to low-mid harmonic content)

I use this pedal mainly for bass and it does the job very good. But i found it works well with guitar too.
It behaves like an analog octaver should and i don't have any real problems with tracking.
On the lower bass strings it gets a bit glitchy but thats common with analog octavers, even the much more expensive ones.

I previously owned an EBS octabass which had some added tone-features but just one octave below the dry signal
In comparison (as far as i can remember) the tracking is about similar

Everything looks solid and it's a well built pedal
The footswitch however, doesn't have a 'click' or a lot of resistance while pressing. The specs say it has true bypass so the switch is probably not one of those heavy, sturdy footswitches i/m used to in other pedals. However, it hasn't failed me yet

I like this pedal in combination with an envelope filter (Auto Wah) and a bit of drive for some synthy funky bass vibes
For the price it exceeded my expectations. If you want to explore the use of an octaver or just want a simple octaver in your arsenal, i definitely recommend this guy!

I use this on Bass, basically just because i wanted to see how it would perform. Been using it ever since because it does a pretty good job, satisfactory for the stuff i use it for (every now and then in some coverbands/hiphoppy projects). The tracking is suprisingly good down to the lower notes on the A string (for me around the B) on the G string C it has kind of a deadspot, just doesn't seem to like that frequency. The sound has a nice organic flavour to it, not as synthlike as f.e. the Boss OC pedals. Rolling down the tone makes it go into that direction more. I never use the sub octave, on bass thats just too much, so i just took that nob off completely (easily pulled off). Its a bit chunky, but for that reason pretty sturdy too. 4 stars because theres obviously better (but more expensive) alternatives, but the nether looks cool, does the job well and takes a beating.

I am basically a one-man band in that I play everything myself. I don't have a bass guitar so I would have to make do whereas bass lines are concerned. Sometimes I just leave the bass out altogether, but when I do a bassline, I rely heavily on the Nether Octaver. You can really fine-tune the low octaves of your own guitar to make it sound just like a bass and it works great for me. Alternatively, if you think your rhythm guitar sounds a little thin with too little body, you can use this pedal to slightly make your rhythm guitar have a little more of a fat body and fuller sound. You'd have to fiddle around with that a little bit though, because if you put it up too much it quickly sounds as if you're playing chords on a bass, which is what you don't want. Just add a little at the time until you think it's full and fat enough. Really happy with this pedal: it's reliable, gives a good sound and again, does exactly what I bought it for. No frills, just a good sound for a very decent price! I would most definitively recommend this if you're looking for an Octaver!

I bought this octaver for home, rehearsal and live situations. I've had it for a bit more than a year now. It is my first octaver and I bought it to explore this type of effect.

This pedal, like the rest of this line, is build like a tank. from the chasis to the knobs, I think it can withstand a direct hit with a cement wall. The controls are for 2 octaves bellow the dry signal and for the dry signal itself. The switch is not hard at all, no click noise or anything. Led light is very useful.

The only thing is the functionality of the octaver. I guess it is based on the plain vintage circuits, which means that only single notes are tracked. If you play two strings or a chord, the sound gets all blurry and muddy as the pedal circuit apparently cannot handle that, unlike the Sub N Up from the same company.

With this in mind, careful how you use it and you will have a sturdy and nice sounding vintage-style octaver. Would buy again if I didn't want to go to something more expensive and with more functionality.