The Henretta Engineering Purple Octopus Octave Up is a guitar effects pedal in the octave family, the kind of effect covered on the site's Octave & Pitch Pedals page. It was featured on the blog Pedal of the Day on Sunday, November 29, 20151.
What it does
The Purple Octopus Octave Up produces an octave-up effect, sitting alongside other octave and pitch pedals rather than drive or time-based effects like overdrive or delay1.
Its most distinctive feature is what it leaves off the outside: there are no external knobs. Instead, the pedal offers "the option to open up the back plate and adjust 2 small trimpots on the inside, for an extended level of control," as reviewer Mike B put it on Pedal of the Day2. One of the two trimpots is the pedal's "overall intensity" control2.
"with the option to open up the back plate and adjust 2 small trimpots on the inside, for an extended level of control"
For a player, that means setting the pedal is a matter of taking off the back plate and turning the trimpots with a tool, not adjusting knobs on the fly. The trade-off is a simpler top panel in exchange for adjustments made before playing rather than during a set2.
Videos
Chicago Music Exchange
Brett Kingman
Phil Vickman
Questions
Does the Purple Octopus Octave Up have external knobs?
No. The pedal is controlled from inside: you remove the back plate to reach two small trimpots. One sets the pedal's overall intensity, and the two together give what Pedal of the Day's reviewer called an extended level of control over the effect. If you want to change how it sits in your mix, plan on a small screwdriver rather than turning knobs with your foot.
Sources (2)
- Henretta Engineering Purple Octopus Octave Up, Pedal of the Day, 2015-11-29
- Henretta Engineering Purple Octopus Octave Up, Pedal of the Day (pedal-of-the-day.com), 2015-12-05
