Henretta Engineering Purple Octopus Octave Up

Our featured pedal today possesses two qualities we love in a good piece of musical gear: small size and simple controls. Measuring 2″ x 2″, it would be pretty hard to find a pedal smaller, anywhere really, much less one that holds so much life inside. With the size and only one lone stomp switch, the Purple Octave Octopus Octave Up from Henretta Engineering might just be the perfect compliment to your pedalboard, and one you never even thought you needed.

An octave up effect is different than say, a Boss OC-2 or an MXR Blue Box, for example, which focus on the lower register of the sonic spectrum, and add fat low end response to your tone. The Purple Octopus, along with the EQD Tentacle and others, focus their power on the higher register, creating a multitude of squeaks, blips, bleeps and even delving into ring modulator territory. Useful and unpredictable at the same time, octave up pedals work with single notes and chords, and tend to get better response when used on frets above 9 or so, but are also fun to experiment with all over the neck of your guitar.

The Purple Octopus is in it’s own class as well, with the option to open up the back plate and adjust 2 small trimpots on the inside, for an extended level of control. One trim pot adjusts the output volume of the octave pedal, the other its overall intensity. You can make it a subtle effect, to add a bit of pizazz to your sound, or have it cranked and full-on raging, creating a unique sonic blanket that will wash over your entire tone.

Simple. Small. Selectable. Sonic. These are all excellent qualities that make up the Purple Octopus Octave Up, and with it’s small pedalboard footprint, it’s easy to see why guitarists the world over would want to make this a part of their rig. Thanks once again to Kevin and everyone at Henretta Engineering for letting us test this beauty out – be sure to check out their website for more small but powerful effect pedal options!