We, as musicians, understand one of the golden rules of music, not to overuse an effect pedal. One of the reasons that make the Micro POG so great is the various ways of using it. Each adjustment radiates an entirely different sound. Thus, this pedal is an excellent investment that is hard to overuse with its multiple methods and sounds.
Below is a video that shows me using the Micro POG Effects Pedal. I run through a few different settings as I’m switching back and forth between POG and NO POG. Keep in mind that all instruments are different; you may have to play around with your settings to get the sound you want.
Bass Solo’s
Although there are many settings to choose from for the bass solo, typically your going to want to increase the high octave to some degree. There are multiple ways of using the upper octave. You can raise it anywhere from 50% plus to make it very noticeable, or you can have it in the 20-40% range for a nice subtle layer.
It’s essential to use the high octave for the bass solo considering the average non-musicians (hearing rather than feeling) audible range is in the more upper pitch register like we mentioned before. You are more than free to change the sub-octave and dry octave of what fits your sound and instrument. Preproduction is key.
Slap Bass (1:19 in video)
I’m not the best bass slapper at all, but when I use the micro POG pedal for the few bass-slapping parts I have in my bands, the crowd cheers pretty loudly (mainly for a slap intro I have for one of my bands).
I know deep down, I don’t entirely deserve the cheers from the crowd during my bass-slapping parts. Considering the non-musician ear well receives the POG sound, but I don’t care really care ;). We play music, so when the crowd has fun, we the performers have even more fun and make new fans. I can’t speak for anyone else, but the micro POG makes me as a lousy slap bassist sound pretty damn good to non-musicians. Imagine what a decent slap bassist can do with the pedal!
These are the settings I use at shows and in the video (to the right). If you prefer more of a subtle sound than what you hear on the video, decreasing the high octave to 30-40% works great.
As a General Rule: Although this pedal may make an OK slap bassist sound better, it’s a horrible practice to hide behind your pedals. If you want to be good at slapping, practice till your very good, then add the Micro POG, you will become unstoppable.
Funk (3:54 in video)
When I say funk, I’m mainly referring to groovy fresh bass lines, not only the genre of music.
If not all, the vast majority of famous bass lines are considered funky/groovy; whatever you want to call it. If you have a really cool part in a song that you want to be enunciated, I highly recommend one of the 2 settings to the right.
For a cool bass part that you want to layer without an extreme effect sound, use version 1. If your going for that computerized/robotic high effects sound, version 2 is a better route.
Again, this is entirely up to your taste. The fun part begins when you first receive this pedal filtering through all of the different options to use for certain songs at certain parts.
As a General Rule: You will be able to get away with using this pedal way more by using more subtle versions of the effects. That is strictly my own opinion. On the contrary, music is an art, express it as you wish.
Organ Sound (5:27 In Video)
One of the most famous uses of this pedal for guitarists and bassists, the almighty organ sound.
Starting off the video, I show the sound of taking a bass solo with the organ sound. It’s not necessarily my go-to setting for bass solos, but I adore the organ sound for some of the lighter and more emotional parts of the song.
Before buying, make sure to check the Reviews.
As a General Rule: when playing the organ sound for your significant other, don’t hit a wrong note as I did in the video. With the organ sounds bright tone, it’s far more apparent when you mess up.
Punchy Fills (2:25 in video)
In the video, I show some ideas of only clicking on the POG during a fill, then clicking off after the fill. This is a lot easier to do when you’re at home practicing than being in the moment on stage. But for the musicians willing to put in the work to make it to that next level, there is nothing that can’t be done with ease after putting in the hard work in your off time.
The reason the dry is at 100%, is because you don’t necessarily want to lose any of the primary bass frequency while doing a fill. The goal of this technique is mainly to brighten your fills up a bit.
As a General Rule: If you don’t want to lose any of the main bass octave/frequency, keep your dry octave at 100% than embellishing from there. Preproduction and practice are key.
Sub And High Octaves (7:01 in video)
I personally love this one when playing in the high register. This setting creates a big frequency gap between 2 full octaves sounding as if a bass player and keys are playing together.
You can adjust the low/high octaves accordingly to fit your sound, yet this sound will only work if dry is entirely off.
As a general rule: This setting works best playing in the mid to high register of your bass, lowest note being the Low B (4 string)
I Call This Effect FAT (2:59 in video)
The video did not give this setting a fraction of what it deserves in real life. Hovering around the mid notes of the bass provides a fat sound while maintaining the note clarity with dry and high’s at 50%. I recommend not hitting a lower not than the low A, but your music/amp/bass may be different enough to where it might work to go even lower.
Another excellent method with this pedal to “Fatten” up your sound in a non-effect subtle manner, is to put the sub-octave at 20%, dry at 100% then keep it on for as long as you wish. You can use this setting for songs that need an extra layer without overkill or muddiness.
General rule: This effect is definitely not meant for bass solo, use it wisely.
Fast Riffs In The Lower Note Register (5:10 in video)
If you have a fast riff in the lower note register of your bass, you have a bit more leeway in increasing the high octave effect without making the bass sound to much effect overkill.
This setting works great for prog rock/metal/punk but really any style of music with a fast riff in the lower register. I highly recommend using absolutely no sub-octave for fast riffs in the lower register. That’s a way one ticket to muddy everything up.
This same setting also works great for bass solos if all your looking for is a top layer of sound to punch through. To some bassists, the bottom layer (sub-octave) may be a bit overkill for the solo.
As a General Rule: I don’t recommend keeping this effect on throughout a long duration of the song. Fast riffs and bass solos are an excellent time to use this setting.
Main Riffs (7:45 in video)
I use this setting to create a wall of sound to where the audience will never forget the main riff of the song.
We understand that every song’s “main riff” is different. Speed, duration, genre, and pitch register of the main riff plays a crucial role in which settings for the Micro POG works best. For some odd reason, this setting works very well with nearly all of my blues-rock band’s main riffs.
As a General Rule: Make sure to test this setting at practice with your band before surprising the hell out of them at the show. It’s possible that certain pitches may not add up with the other instruments, adjustments of these settings may be necessary.
Are There Other Octave Pedal Options Besides The Micro POG Effects Pedal?
There are many other options for octave pedals. The reason I highly recommend the Micro POG Polyphonic Octave Pedal for guitarists and bassists is that every other octave pedal I have seen below this pedals price generates an intensely colored and worse tone. The octave pedals above the Micro POG’s price do have more options with the roughly same tone, but the extra options are (for me and most) unnecessary.
The Micro POG Octave Pedal is, in my opinion, the best bang for the buck. This pedal is well worth the price and I wouldn’t trade it for a more expensive octave pedal even if they paid me.
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