TC Electronic SUB ‘N’ UP MINI OCTAVER Compact Version of Hugely Popular Sub ‘N’ Up Octaver with Advanced Polyponic Octave Engine and TonePrint-Enabled Technology for Easy Custom Effects
Mono Master
Sometimes nothing can beat the quirky imperfections of vintage gear. That’s why we designed a monophonic octave algorithm that painstakingly recreates every idiosyncratic flaw of a vintage analog octaver. SUB ’N’ UP MINI OCTAVER is perfect for creating faux bass-lines with a guitar, or will you dare to plug in a bass – and level the whole house?
| Weight: | 190 g |
| Dimensions: | 9.4 x 4.8 x 5 cm; 190 Grams |
| Model: | 000-CQF00-00010 |
Actually I was able to get really close to the sound in Bad Company’s Burnin’ Sky. The pedal did not add noise, it works well with other pedals, and it seemed to work well with Voodoo Lab power supply.
I just didn’t give it 5 stars ‘cuz it doesn’t do more than add an octave above and / or below. BUT, what it does, it does pretty well and you can control how much of its effect it adds to dry signal. At least it does with my rig [ Les Paul, Marshall, etc.] and my ears.
Mini octaver review and points to note re the full one:
I wanted an octaver and this was (I think?) in a sale. It had good reviews and the mini is a fit for my pedal rack. For some pedals the mini is just literally the same just smaller, not so with this:
After getting it and using it and reading more.. I’m happy with it for my uses. BUT, and here’s the BUT:
The FULL size one has one more knob (a sub2) that the mini doesn’t have. Perhaps more importantly it has a switch to flick between 3 modes like your custom toneprint + a normal one.The mini doesn’t.
The mini DOES do all the toneprint things etc but it’s more “install and that’s what you have”. I think you can change all the settings via software just a bit more of a fiddle. So .. just be aware. If recording or playing in your room fine, or if you just want one sound etc fine, but if “gigging” and want to flip modes more easily, I suggest the full size one.
Apart from that though, the mini is great, it sounds fine with the above quick setting limitations, I don’t feel a pressing need currently to “upgrade”.
At first I was disappointed with the Sub N Up Mini. It seemed very muddy and had bad tracking/articulation. After doing some research I discovered you need to download the TonePrint app and get a cable to connect the pedal to your phone. Then you can tweak the settings, including turning off the Sub2 that was making everything sound so muddled. There’s probably easier octave pedals to work with, but with the options that TonePrint provides it could be worth the extra effort for the large bank of sounds to work with. It’s surprisingly become my favourite pedal and secret weapon!
I sort of bought this pedal by mistake; I was looking for an Octave Fuzz.
It was a happy mistake! Even though there is no fuzz, it is a really good octave pedal. It tracks great and it is very quiet. Two octaves down and one octave up, which are all individually adjustable for volume, as is the original signal. I love it!
Nella scatolina di cartone si trova il pedale, il manuale ed un adesivo, mentre il pedale completamente in metallo, con collegamenti Input e Output, un footswitch di attivazione, tre potenziometri per Sub, Up e Dry, una porta mini usb e una presa per l’alimentazione a 9V.
All’apparenza sembra un semplice octaver polifonico con i controlli per regolare il volume dell’ottava bassa, dell’ottava alta e del segnale pulito, il suono buono cos come il tracking della nota anche suonando accordi, quasi ai livelli del POG, ma c’ sempre un suono di una seconda ottava bassa miscelato al suono dell’ottava alta che, soprattutto sul registro pi grave da abbastanza fastidio.
Decido allora di collegarlo al software di editing TonePrint (lo stesso dello SpectraComp) e vedere cosa si pu fare, scopro effettivamente che nel preset di fabbrica sull’ottava alta c’ il suono miscelato della seconda ottava bassa, vado a rimuoverlo completamente, salvo la patch, la carico sul pedale e ora l’octaver suona come volevo.
Andando a spulciare il software vedo che i preset sono gli stessi per il Sub’n’Up normale, inoltre tra le opzioni scopro che possibile programmare il pedale aggiungendo modulazioni, overdrive, eq e tanti altri parametri che lo rendono versatilissimo, addirittura riprogrammando i potenziometri in modo che operino diversamente, o su pi parametri contemporaneamente (fino a 3 per potenziometro) oppure anche la loro curva di escursione.
Ad esempio mi sono poi fatto una patch dove ho solo suono dry e octave up, mentre il potenziometro dell’ottava bassa aggiunge e regola un distorsore solo sull’ottava alta, ma possibile aggiungere un flanger, o la distorsione su tutte le ottave, modificare l’equalizzazione di un ottava che non suona bene, o fare in modo che un potenziometro regoli contemporaneamente il volume di tre ottave.
Una volta fatte le patch e caricate sull’app sar possibile cambiare al volo il suono con la funzione beam, avvicinando lo smartphone al pickup dello strumento.
Usato come pitch shifter per simualre il basso fa un buon lavoro, unica pecca introduce un po’ di lattenza nell’attacco ma se si lascia il dry a 1/4 si risolve. Anche per altri utilizzi le armoniche alte sono fedeli e la polifonia resa bene. Consigliato!
I bought this as an experiment. I am a loop artist and found swapping from guitar to bass time consuming and awkward. I decided to buy this octave pedal to substitute my bass guitar and so far I am very pleased with the result. It is important to note that the effect is most convincing when playing the low E and A strings but looses impact on the D upwards. For best results you HAVE TO play the guitar like you would a bass, be careful to only sound one note at a time (a ringing second note confuses the pedal and can cause the 9ctave to drop out) and don’t use a pick.
I cannot comment on the suitability of this product if used in a different context, but for my purposes it is very effective and represents good value for money. It is of chunky and solid construction and feels very roadworthy for a gigging musician.
This is a fantastic pedal out if the box but don’t be tempted to try the Toneprint app. At time of writing ( Jan 2022) the apps so called Default sound is wrong and there’s currently no way to get it back to factory settings. Lots of online threads saying this as well. Mine was a great pedal, hopefully TC will sort the app and it will be once again soon.
I bought the Nether to use on bass for a 1 octave down, and it works perfectly. Tracks great, and sounds good even on open E string. Supposedly this is a repackage of the Behringer clone of the Boss OC-2, but it does NOT have that distinctive square-wave synth tone of the OC-2. The Nether is more true-sounding in the 1-octave-down setting, more like a DOD Octoplus.
Seems really solidly made and sounds great. I considered a lot of analog octavers before opting for the Nether, and I’m glad I went for this rather than an OC-3 or MXR.
Good but of kit. Using it primarily for harmonica where it needs up the sound and can be used to give a Hammond organ effect of used with a tremolo pedal as well. Worth the money.
I got this to add in some bottom end back in to my bass signal after it goes through my DS-1. Does the trick nicely and i can now have the sharp crunchy distortion but without losing the low end.
As an octave pedal on bass the lowest note it can track is an A. Below this, it follows the same note but plays the original octave thus still fattening up the tone.
Higher up the neck the tracking seems to be fine and does the job. Nice pedal. For the price you cannot complain…
Effetto di uso immediato, basico nelle sue funzioni ma quello che fa, lo fa molto bene!
I brought this because I needed an octave pedal for a few songs. I have a number of TC electronic pedals and this like the others is well built , sounds great and is affordable. The tone print setting gives you access to loads of other sounds if you are looking for something to try other types of pedals but I just use it as a polyphonic octave pedal and it’s as good as any other I have tried.
So much versatility, just so good and easy to use
Il pedale in s fa egregiamente il suo lavoro ma a me serviva da usare con una chitarra acustica e purtroppo per questo utilizzo non adatto
Arrivato in 15 ore! Prodotto bestiale, suono naturale, non mangia il segnale. Veramente bello!!!
Para imitar un bajo con la guitarra, que es lo que yo quera, va perfecto. Por lo dems no tiene octava superior y no tiene ms funciones
I’m a bassist, let’s start there. So I’m not using this to go an octave lower, but an octave HIGHER, while giving me the ability to keep my bass sound and add a guitar line over the top of what I’m playing to fill in for the rhythm guitarist my band doesn’t have. The Donner tracks that and gives a clean representation of an octave above with no fuss, and just a slight delay – the Sub n’ Up is faster, with a few quirks. By default the sound is pretty heavily effected; there appears to be some weird EQ going on and the pedal “barks”, as best I can describe it – the sound that goes in when you’re pitching an octave up has to be processed QUICKLY, resulting in a pretty extreme envelope filter as the frequencies get sorted out. At least that’s what I THINK is happening.
Regardless it’s not perfect to begin with so I dove into the toneprint software, available for free for Mac or PC on TC’s website, and it’s pretty insane what you can get into with this pedal. After two hours or so I’d turned the simple up/down/dry octave volume pedal into an overdrive, cabinet simulator, and boost, all at once. And that’s without even getting into the modulation options like flanger or chorus.
Right now I have the pedal setup using no sub octave, instead using that knob as a drive knob, and the upper octave has some particular EQ settings to make the sound play nice with my bass. These simple fixes have made it possible for me to play bass and rhythm guitar simultaneously, eliminating about five other pedals from my board in the process.
The possibilities are endless – but you’ll have to work for them. If you’re looking for an inexpensive, accurate, simple pitch pedal – get the Donner Harmonic Square. But if you want to be able to take a simple effect and mangle it to do the completely outlandish and undeniably YOU, this is the one.
Excellent piece of kit, that works well with both guitar and bass guitar too. Very simple controls, not a ton of control over the tone, but what it does do it does with ease and fidelity. Highly recommended as a budget addition to a pedal board!
isponde bene, preciso, potente. l’ottava in gi un ottimo basso, il secco pi l’ottava su quasi una dodici corde. secco ed entrambe le ottave fa un bel muro sonoro. oggettino simpatico. non spaventatevi, piccolo piccolo ma forte come un torello.
I wasn’t quite sure I’d use this a lot, but I can’t stop playing with it, great fun!
My amp wasn’t keen on the default tone, too much, too boomy! However searching through the toneprints I found several that I liked and the amp was happy with. You can adjust the controls to hear the dry signal, lower octave and upper in equal parts, or accentuate the upper or lower. I’m not too keen on the upper, it’s a bit reedy, I like lower with a bit of dry.
db
Pretty good octave pedal. It chases the tone very well.. I’ve yet to hear any lag between the octave effect tone and the source tone. Amazon says I should mention thickness, versatility, and value for money. Not sure what they mean by thickness.. it’s a mini pedal so it doesn’t take up much space on my mini board. Tone wise it’s not super fat, but not thin sounding or reedy either. Hasn’t struck me yet as being terribly versatile, but does exactly what I wanted, so I’m calling it great value for money.
This pedal has added a new dynamic to my acoustic sound. It has a presence that fills in that little missing bit. I have it turned to a level that the bass is in nice sync with the acoustic guitar and gives a pleasing blend of sound. It can produce a 12 string type of harmonic but I personally don’t use it for that. Works well and seems very well made.
Comprato 3 giorni fa. Lo uso con un cort fretless, e sta sempre attaccato. Raramente mi capitato di trovarmi cos tanto bene con un effetto. Io personalmente tengo Oct 1 a ore 2, Oct 2 a 0 e il dry al livello di Oct 1. Col fretless una bomba perch aggiunge un bel po di pasta. Se poi ci metto un chorus dopo, addio… Gran bell’effetto. Per quello che costa fa il suo porco lavoro.
Con bajo elctrico en modo clsico tendrs el octavador de siempre. En poly, acordes limpios y en tone print maravillosos efectazos con modulacin maleables a tu gusto. Cobinado con saturacin, overdrive, distorsin suena increible!
Couldn’t be happier with it. The toneprint option is superb.
Performs better than my previous MXR octaver. Tracks very well. Provides 1 octave down and 1 up.
Perd beaucoup de gain, ne pas la monter en direct avec beaucoup de pedal. A mettre dans le chainage de la tte d ampli
Come tutti i TC in mio possesso, prodotto molto robusto, in metallo. La cosa davvero importante comunque il suono. Nessuna rumorosit e suono davvero molto bello e definito. Se si vuole ingrossare il un riff molto distorto molti consigliano la modalit monofonica, ma io (ai volumi per ora concessi dall’uso casalingo) preferisco cmq il polifonico. Altra chicca non da poco conto l’ormai famosa possibilit di modificare in migliaia di modi l’effetto attraverso il toneprint: in pratica pu diventare quasi un’altra cosa! Un solo difetto (ma normale e non troppo impattante) quando si azzera il segnale della chitarra (dry): si avverte un po’ di latenza. Basta non tenerlo mai proprio a zero e tutto viene egregiamente camuffato (e cmq, quante volte capita di voler tenere il dry silenzioso?).
Importante anche il fatto di avere la possibilit di aggiungere una seconda ottava sotto, per senza esagerare, almeno per ci che riguarda la risposta del mio ampli.
Ottimo il prezzo, che lo pone vicino ad un OC3 della Boss, ma con in pi la possibilit di aggiungere un’ottava superiore e di modificare tutti i parametri col toneprint.
The TonePrint app is a huge plus. I can’t seem to decide which print I enjoy the most.
My original review is below.
I just got this pedal and it will not recognize a Toneprint beam from my iPhone 5c. I’ve tried multiple guitars and multiple pickups. The Subnup is the only thing in the signal chain. I’ve tried using both the phone’s speakers and headphones (both earbuds and standard headphones). I’ve tried multiple Toneprints. Nothing is working. I can’t try using USB because apparently TC Electronic’s Toneprint Editor is not supported on my system (Mac OS 10.10.5). I’m at my wits end and ready to return this thing.
Cela faisait longtemps que je cherchais une pdale abordable pour octavier des instrument archet qui fonctionne. Celle-ci est parfaite mme en polyphonie.
Mostly use for the octave up. Sounds great. Really makes the bass sound robust.
Great octave pedal, small size! TonePrint offers many alternative sounds through their app. Perhaps less settings as the big one, but may be able to edit with a computer.
It can produce notes one octave above, and one and two octaves below the input signal. The controls initially appear quite simple: level controls for each of the added octave sounds, and one to adjust the level of the original signal. There’s also a 3-way toggle switch, to choose between polyphonic mode, monophonic mode and Toneprint mode.
I’ve used several other octavers before, and octave functions on multi-effect units, and they generally suffer from similar problems – muddy sound, lag, and poor performance with chords. Polyphonic mode on this pedal does away with all of that. There’s hardly any lag, the sound is clear, and it handles chords beautifully. Monophonic mode works like a traditional octave pedal, and allows you to produce those glitchy sounds, if you insist on doing that.
So it’s a really good octaver, and it would be worth getting just for that. But where this pedal really stands out is in its Toneprint mode. You can download a free Toneprint editor app for Mac/PC/smartphone or tablet that gives you access to many additional features that aren’t available if you just use the controls on the box.
For example, you can independently control the EQ for each of the three additional octaves, as well as adjusting the EQ of the input sound. You can independently add gain to each of the additional octaves, so that you could have a distorted sound for the higher octave and a clean sound for the two lower ones,
You also have the ability to add modulation to the added octaves. This allows you to add chorus, flange or vibrato to the added sounds, using the DSP algorithms from TC Electronics’ other pedals. The modulation can’t be applied to the dry signal though, and it applies to all of the added octave tones, and can’t be individually varied for each one, as you can with EQ and drive.
This pedal still has another trick up its sleeve. Using the Toneprint editor you can reassign any of the knobs to control almost any of the adjustable parameters. You could, for example, assign the Sub2 level knob to control the gain on the “up” octave, or the LFO of a modulation effect.
In summary, this is a really versatile pedal. A great octaver, for sure, but much more than that. I’m really glad that I bought it.
Suono splendido, latenza minima (a differenza di octaver e pitch di altri marche), pedale robusto e ben fatto, TC sempre una sicurezza. In pi dimensioni ridottissime senza rinunciare ai controlli fondamentali. Bomba
Amazing and inexpensive compared to some. Works great on my bass and plays very well with my other pedals. Nice clean bypass. I change my pedal board around often. This pedal has been locked down and hasn’t changed.
This is a great addition to anyone’s pedalboard, especially for the price. I initially looked at the regular size Octaver, but I didn’t see that I would get more for the available pedal board space. Try one!
Seems to track pretty well, it doesn’t make the guitar sound like a bass but it does add some some nice depth
Onestamente non posso dire nulla di negativo. Tecnologicamente al passo coi tempi. Solito e molto gradevole esteticamente. Suona benissimo.
Good price but almost half a month to get delivered
Ottima qualit, tracking perfetto in modalit “Poly”. Il Toneprint conferisce una ulteriore flessibilit altrimenti impensabile.
A ms de ser un octavador de gran qualitat, el Toneprint et dona la possibilitat de disposar d’un munt de sons.
If you don’t want spend too much but add a little zing to your bass pedal train, buy this!
very good pedal very pleased with it great sellers happy to use agai
I use this mainly to add some bass into my looper by turning the dry signal to off.
Solid construction good value.
Davvero molto soddisfatto di questo pedale. sicuramente migliore di molti altri octaver (tipo quello della boss). Le ottave sono chiare e ben definite, anche con distorsioni importanti. Consigliatissimo.
Not the best octave pedal but not the worst either, single notes/riffs sound much thicker with the lower octave underneath, true bypass is always nice too, great pedal!
This pedal did exactly what I wanted it to do. Definitely fattened up my sound on the gigs where I’m the only guitaris
Poly is super realistic (tracks chords)
Toneprint is diverse (check out TC’ video about editing)
Classic is ‘classic’
I use this on my bass clarinet mainly when playing live and occasionally on my other soprano clarinet and alto/soprano Sax.
Tracks well
DIALS – DRY is the level of your ‘clean’ tone; UP produces notes one octave above what you’re playing; SUB is one octave below; and SUB 2 is two octaves below. You can spend hours twiddling away with these, creating tons of fun combinations from light and airy organ sounds through to very low-punchy-beefy Rage Against the Machine / Royal Blood / cKy type octave riffs. It’s also fantastic for subtly deepening filling out your tone, by adding a little of the Sub and Sub 2
MODES – POLY (polyphonic – full chord – tracking), CLASSIC (monophonic ‘old school’ tracking) or TONEPRINT – which is TC Electronic’s phone/computer app that allows you to tweak almost any tone setting you can imagine on the pedal (with other effects like chorus & vibrato included) or use famous guitarists’ presets. I have it on Poly mode most of the time as it handles full chords and power chords spectacularly; but monophonic is great with distortion for single note riffs, or using chords to force tracking errors which throws up some odd sounds. Haven’t used Toneprint much, but it comes pre-set as a very usable retro organ tone.
Playing in a 1x guitar/1x drummer band – this is one of two octavers on my pedal board. I have a Boss OC3 for running off a separate ‘bass only’ signal out to a bass cab, and use the Sub N Up for fattening out my guitar tone. No doubt the Sub N Up is a more versatile pedal, however comparing them isn’t particularly fair as they do very different things. The closest thing to a Sub N Up appears to be a POG – but they’re way more expensive and appear to be less versatile (although I can’t say for sure – don’t own one).
As with all TC pedals the build quality is superb – very sturdy little box. True bypass means the tone isn’t affected when the pedal isn’t on. The footswitch is great – very smooth action, no clicks or resistance, just straight through on/off.
Only thing I can even remotely complain about this great pedal is that I don’t use Toneprint; so would’t have minded being able to pick up a cheaper model with that feature stripped out… however, this is still a cheaper box than most other ‘tried and tested’ octavers.
10/10 would recommend for fattening up guitar or bass signals.