The Mojo Hand FX Octaverse is a simple but beautiful ambient delay pedal, a reverse octave delay. It skips the menus and multi-function complexity that usually come with this effect and boils it down to three knobs and a pushbutton, which is exactly what I want when the whole point is to get lost in the sound rather than a settings page.
You get the simplicity of a user interface typical for analog delays: RATE sets the delay time, MIX blends dry and wet (fully left is dry, fully right is 100 percent wet), and FEEDBACK controls how many repeats pile up. Push FEEDBACK to its max and you get a near-infinite trail of repeats without tipping into self-oscillation, just a slow fade that can take minutes to die out. There’s also a small pushbutton that flips the pitched repeats between octave up and octave down. In the demo above I’ve set up sweeps for the RATE and FEEDBACK knobs plus the octave switch, so you can hear each one in isolation before diving into the presets.
This is paired with a small but dramatic twist: the repeats are reversed. That sets things up immediately for ambient and shoegaze sounds. Reverse Twinkles keeps RATE moderate and MIX high with the octave set up, giving those signature swelling, backwards-sounding trails. Looming Memories pushes RATE further and drops the octave down for something murkier and slower. Octave Tremor zeroes RATE out and drives FEEDBACK hard, turning the reversed repeats into a stuttering, tremolo-like pulse. Fully Wet, as the name suggests, dials MIX all the way up so the reversed octave trails are all you hear.
For my demo loops I usually try to keep the main guitar signal chain as simple as possible, but here I wanted to add a bit of grit and even more ambience. So I used the Beautiful Noise Effects Exploder after the Octaverse. That makes the repeats more pronounced and compressed, smearing them together with the dry signal. You can switch off the Exploder in the demo widget above, along with the backing track, if you just want to hear the Octaverse on its own.
The Walrus Lore is a reverb pedal built around modulation and reverse swells, while the Octaverse is a dedicated delay with a pitched, reversed repeat. Where the Lore blurs notes into a wash through its reverb tank, the Octaverse keeps each repeat as a distinct, octave-shifted echo you can count, with FEEDBACK dictating how long that trail lingers before it fades. If you want a reverse-flavored wash under everything, the Lore is built for that job. If you want reversed, pitch-shifted delay repeats as a distinct rhythmic or textural element, the Octaverse is the more focused tool.
Reverse octave delay before distortion is one of my favorite niche sound effects for lead guitar, and the Octaverse executes perfectly in this application. It’s a natural fit for shoegaze, ambient, post-rock and anyone chasing swelling, otherworldly textures. If you want a delay with tap tempo, presets, or multiple algorithms, this isn’t that pedal. It does one thing, reversed octave repeats, and does it without complication.
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Get detailed specs on Mojo Hand FX's website
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