Foxrox Octron

The FoxRox Octron pedal is a pretty interesting piece of gear. It certainly has a unique sound that many players have found to be inimitable. Tom Morello, Wes Borland, Dimebag Darrel, and many others were fond of this in the late 90's, and much of that music has its stamp all over it. While that music may have fallen out of fashion, there are still plenty of uses for this pedal in other genres that haven't been tried.
Unlike most octave pedals, this one lets you take the signal up or down two octaves instead of just one (for the somewhat old-fashioned, the one octave feature is still there). If you're having trouble finding an electric bass, the one octave down setting can sometimes be a decent replacement for practice sessions.
It has some other effects too, like a series of harmonizers that sound pretty decent, and the sweet dive bomb effect; that basically simulates the Floyd Rose Whammy Bar, without taking forever to set up and potentially ruining your tuning. The newest model has a midi controller that was absent on the first.


UTILIZATION

The pedal is pretty self explanatory. Anyone who knows what octaves and intervals are should not have a problem with it. The manual is probably unnecessary for all but the newest players.


SOUND QUALITY

Ever wonder how Tom Morello plays that nuts solo in Killing in the Name He uses this pedal on almost everything Rage did. If wild, crazy noises are the kind of thing you are into, then I suggest you buy this pedal. You will have some of the funkiest noises imaginable coming out of your amp. If used sparingly it can change up the sound during a live show and really turn heads! The best effects are the dive bomb and the octave jumps. The harmonizers are cool but I really have no use for them.


OVERALL OPINION

Personally, I tend to play more classic-style rock and R&B, and when I freak out I tend to stick more to feedback and echoes. Two octave leaps usually aren't what I'm looking for. If you are looking for something to really make people notice you, this might be it, but use it sparingly and don't rely on it or you'll risk sounding more novelty than innovative.

The Foxrox Octron is a very simple, but highly effective octave pedal. The pedal has a pretty standard make up in terms of it's general characteristics, consisting of 1/4" connections for your input and output, and requiring power from a nine volt battery or power supply. The pedal has true bypass, so you won't get any signal loss when the pedal is disengaged. The Octron isn't rackable as it's a stomp box.

UTILIZATION

The make up of the Foxrox Octron really couldn't be any simpler. The three parameters that the pedal has are for controlling the direct level, octave up level, and octave down level. You can blend the three of these any which way you like, which can give you a variety of results. I've never seen the manual for the Foxrox Octron, nor do I think I ever will.

SOUND QUALITY

The overall sound of the Foxrox Octron makes it one of the cleanest sounding octave pedals that I've used to date. Most of this has to do with the tracking, as it's got awesome tracking that doesn't break up unless you try to play too many notes at once. I like both the octave down and octave up sounds equally, but I do think that the tracking is slightly better on the octave down. It's great that you can also blend the two of them, with or without the original signal in there.

OVERALL OPINION

If you're looking for an awesome octave pedal for guitar, the Foxrox Octron is probably the pedal I'd recommend you check out first. There is a newer version of the Octron, the Octron 2, which is a bit more in depth, but I like this simpler one just fine. It's not going to be the cheapest pedal on the market, but I do think it's reasonably priced considering the high quality the pedal is made at. This is one of my favorite octave pedals that is currently available new for sure...