Boss OC-2 Octave

Easy as bending down and turning 3 knobs. The manual basically gives a few suggested settings, nothing you couldn't figure out on your own. If you really want it, http://bossus.com has all their manuals in downloadable pdf formats. And this is the Taiwan version, not the OC-2 "OCTAVER" as it was called when it was produced in Japan.

Here's my setup. US HWY 1 Fender Strat, OC-2, BOSS FBM-1 (fender bassman amp modeler), DOD FX55B Supra Distortion, BOSS RC-2 looper, Marshall MG100HDFX. This pedal sounds good when used properly. First off, it sounds better with a little distortion after it, preferably with a low boost, which the supra does exceptionally well. Also, if you play on the lower notes, the OC-2 doesn't track very well and you get a jarbled sound, like a broken synth. ALSO, you can't play chords - only one note at a time. This does not have the polyphonic function like the OC-3, or similar type pedals. This is an analog pedal, therefore it has it's limitations. So, if used properly, as in single note leads higher up near the 12th fret, this little beast can do the job quite well, adding up to two octaves down to the notes played. Despite the great sounds when used properly, I give it a lower rating because it's such a picky pedal. Half the neck sounds good through it, the other half sounds like trash.

This pedal is very reliable. I wouldn't worry about a backup. As most people know, Boss pedals are very durable.

Can't say I know, but that their website does have some helpful info, such as downloadable manuals and such.

Overall I'd say this is a great little pedal, but it's not for everyone. A skilled guitarist will find ways to use this pedal to thicken up his sound and create unique leads, but in the hands of a novice guitarist it would probably just end up getting as a bass guitar emulator or an "experimental" effect. Honestly, sometimes I actually do use it to add a bass loop on the BOSS RC-2 when I'm jamming, but it's good for much more.

Boss oc-2 Octaver

You have to mess round' wit this thing to get your sound and levels right. When u got it yo got it! its not the easiest pedal to use on my board but was well worth changing the chain around a bit to make this pedal fit, I use it after my compressor for guitar and no compressor for bass and yes it does work well with bass to no need for a seperate bass input....

Well I wont say my chain of effects hahaa but i will say use it after a decent 'vintage' compressor. May not comply with toppy effects units. I use dist and overdrive after this pedal took me a while to set all three but sounds excellent!

Depends on the gig...

Get your hands on the original Octaver i've heard they are better than the Octave's dont kno wether thats true try before you buy to see if u like the effect.

Easy and simple - 3 knobs; Direct Level, Oct 1 (1 octave down), Oct 2 (2 octaves down)

My rig is currently:

Parker P42 > Boss OC-2 > Blackstar HT-DistX > Boss PH-3 > Boss RE-20 Space Echo > Laney LX65R Amp.

The OC-2 is only ever noisy if you hit more than one note - this isn't polyphonic so if people ***** and moan about the warble, get a damn polyphonic octave instead.

It's very analogue sounding compared to its successor, the OC-3. An absolute dream. Thick, heavy and dirty.

I managed to nail the CKY/Deron Miller guitar tone within seconds with my set up.

It's a Boss, that says it all.

Not had to deal with Boss Customer Service yet, and this OC-2 is used.

This pedal is not ever leaving my rig. It thickens up by tone and sound so much, and is incredibly experimental and heavy sound. I play metal, grunge, hard rock, alternative and occasional blues, and this pedal seems to do a good job in all areas. Essential, and in my opinion much better and more reliable than the OC-3.

Very easy, provided you understand what this pedal is for - it is NOT for chords, or getting Hendrixian Octavia-like sounds.
And provided you realise that the best effect is obtained by using your neck pickup.
Plus, if you are a sloppy player you will get a sloppy effect.

Ignore any negative review.
The OC-2 is a fantastic pedal which does one thing very well indeed, and that one thing is creating a smooth, synth-like tone 1 +/- 2 octaves below the note you are playing.
You can make your guitar sound like an analog synth (especially with the use of compression and fuzz before the OC-2...even better...add some envelope filter or phasing as well - madness!), or really thicken up single-note lines (yes, even you shredders).
I've used one other octaver pedal (the 'legendary' Pearl one that also does 1 octave up) and I found the Boss to be far more responsive and reliable.
If you play with confidence, using the right settings, there is no glitching and neglible delay between the fundamental and the effected note.

Insert cliche Boss Vs Armageddon joke here.

It's not for everyone (just read the other reviews) but those of you who, like me, like a bit of octave craziness will find it is a wonderful pedal.

it was seeking a bit, but when i found out that the best way was putting the octave after distortion, it was pretty easy.

just a few knobs to handle everything.

GREAT!!! spices up some of my solo's when i need it to be dirty, to be spacy.
meatens up the chord-work, as well clean and distorted, just be sure not to turn the lowest octave all the way up.
i use it in this chain: Gibson flying v's - splitter - korg dt-10 - crybaby - phase 90 - ds-1 - oc-2 - pocketpod(with looper) - visual sound h2o - fender bassman.

doesn't really mather if you use it with or without any other fx.

never had to deal with boss, since my ds-1 is dated from far back in the eighties.(really great too)

don't know

pop, rock, funk, instrumental

it goes with anything i play. i've read a thread hear on the first page, you shouldn't use it all the time, and i agree to that

This pedal is a little bit confusing but after reading the book u can work it out.

Sounds terrible. Cant handle chords at all. Sucks all the tone out of your guitar. Havent found one thing which i can use it for.

Really well built. wont ever break.

Havent dealt with them

I play Metal/Rock stuff like Iron Maiden, Metallia, Bullet for my Valentine, etc etc.

Total Waste of money. Do not buy u will regret it especially if your into shredding solos progresive riffs etc.

This pedal is going on ebay.

The knobs are simple. Direct signal, 1 Octave Down, 2 Octave Down. Reason I am giving it a 7 is because you have to learn how to play differently in order for this pedal to sound right. For example you CANNOT play chords with it. You must get used to how it reacts to your playing before you can get a decent sound out of it. Also, this effect NEEDS to be in the front of your chain, or maybe only after a wah/volume.

Epi Les Paul > Crybaby > Boss OC-2 > Boss DS-1 > Green Russian Big Muff Pi > Hardwire DL8 > Fender Hot Rod Deville 410

It does a decent job. 2 octaves down is basically useless unless you are playing way up on the fretboard or exclusively on the high E string. I generally have it set with direct signal on full, octave 1 at about 2 o' clock, and Octave 2 completely off. Also, something to note is that there is NO delay between what you play and the signal coming out. The Whammy and Boss PS-5 both have that problem and it drove me crazy. Also this sounds less digital than the PS-5, and offers more control over octave levels than the whammy's octave feature.

It is also important to state that the octave signals are Square waves, so they do sound like a synth. I personally prefer it. If you want a bass sound, get a bass. This pedal will not replace a bass player for you. It is an effect used to fatten up single note runs.

Bought it used off of ebay, never had a problem with it.

It is a pretty decent octave. Remember that this pedal is not designed to sound like a bass, it is an effect, and should be used as such.

Easy to use, one knob for one octave down and one for two octaves down volym plus one for regular volym. Press to switch it on of off. The manaul wont be needed.

I have used it with tubeamp and, mainly, alot of distortion. The effect gives a very synthised feeling, it doesnt sound like a guitar one or two octaves lower, rather a synth one or two octaves lower. Its pretty cool of course but the effects it put on the sound makes it very limited, and if you dont like the flavor (or rather alteration) it gives to your sound then its total crap.

Typical boss, have had no problem so far.

No idea.

In my opinion as a octaver this pedal is not that good, because of the sound alteration. I think it has a cool sound but i get the feeling that this pedal is very limited. I havent found that much practical use of it and wouldnt buy it again.

Simple three controls. Spend a little while playing with the settings and you're there.

I play various guitars and styles - Pink Floyd, Nirvana, Robert Johnson, GN'R, Metallica, Muse, Rage Against The Machine, Hendrix, Therapy? The Who... At home I use a Vox AD30VT. The OC2 achieves exactly what I need it to. If I wanted perfection I would use an EHX HOG or record the part, apply an effect in an editing suite and then sample it.
My chain varies but at the moment is a Boss TU2 > Boss DS2 > Dunlop Wah > ProCo Rat > Boss OC 2 > EHX Big Muff Pi > Boss DD3 > MXR Phase 90 > Danelectro FAB Chorus > amp. Never had any problems.

Does sound better going through the FX loop of my Marshall JVH for live stuff.

It is not a device for making a guitar into a bass. There are enough cheap basses of a reasonable quality these day - go and get one if that's the sound you want - you are clearly playing the wrong instrument.

It's Boss. I have used a variety of Boss products for the 16 years I have been playing and never had any trouble. I currently own 14 Boss pedals (compact ones) and they all work fine.

Never had to use them. Info on their products is easy to find online.

I play rock, punk and blues mainly although weird $**t is known to creep in there and the OC2 is a great addition to my set-up. Don't over use it, it's a pedal for flavouring the vibe not for defining the tone.
If it were stolen I'd get another. It is typical Boss simplicity and there is very little to hate. I wish it were slightly better at tracking, but very few octave pedals are and that is one of the idiosyncracies that endear it more to me.
It has inspired me to simplify some riffs that sounded a little weak before and also helps to get the bassist to understand what I am trying to convey!

Current pedalboard setup:

Boss TU-2 => Budda Wah => Visual Sounds RT66 => Vintage RAT => Visual Sounds H2O on a Furman board with conditioned power.

I use nothing but George L's on my pedalboard.

Tried every setting possible, tweeked the knobs for almost 2 hours.
The OC-2 is Tone-sucking POS. Huge volume jump when kicked on. HATES the other pedals, doesn't matter if they are in front or after it in the chain.

It's criminal to mess up the tone of a Dr. Z Maz 38 (and this amp LOVES my other pedals) with this hunk 'O junk.

Not heavy enough to use for a paperweight or doorstop, so in the "unused FX" bin it goes.

darn right! EASY

It's an effect. Not a precision octave creation. You either like it or don't buy it.

It's BOSS.

It's BOSS!

Bottom Line: I bought this 'made in japan' thing 25 years ago, brand new, expecting it to do something that it doesn't do. I goofed around with it and had a few grins...then packed it away in it's original carton. Flash forward to 2006!! I join a cawntry band that does straight pure 50's/60's honk-tonk...and I pulled this baby out and now it's my favorite pedal. Everyone whips around and jaws drop when I kick it in.

I use it with my 1960 Telecaster Custom and my 1983 SilverFaced Fender PRO-REVERB amp. Single note runs work best. Clean, clean, clean. Al Gore is an idiot. Who needs a baritone guitar? Who needs the hassle changing instruments between songs? I just stomp and go! Instant baritone that rules! Get one now, Holmes!

The OC-2 is my favorite octave pedal. I play fretless most of the time, and this is the only octaver that I could get almost a synthlike sound out of the tone by mixing the 1st octave just under the straight tone, and by cutting out the 2nd octave down out completely. The only negative I can think of is that there is some effect break-up in the low range of the bass, but other than that I would give it an 8.9, as it is an excellent pedal. One of boss's better effect's for sure.
1. Very easy to get a good sound. There are no patches, because it is a single effect pedal.Haven't seen the manual.Don't know firmware revision #, and my unit has not been upgraded.

Specter Bass? with Ashdown cab and Ashdown 300 amp. Not noisy effects sound clean and strong.(strange question)
I probably could as my rig is very flexible in terms of eq, etc; but I have my own sound. That I can get with no difficulty.
Favorite artists: (On Bass) Jaco Pastorious (the God of electric bass, of course) Victor Wooten, who I will be studying with this summer!!!, Bootsy,

Never had a problem. As long as you are smart enough to keep a fresh batterie inside it won't let you down. I literally have played hundreds of gigs over the last five years or so with my OC-2, and have never had a prob. with it.

Never have. No repairs ever needed, or customer service.

I think my overall was mistakenly written at the top.
In short, it is an excellent pedal which I would buy again if needed without a second thought. I have been playing professionally for 15 years now, and have been a teacher of private lessons for at least that long. I play Jazz, Funk, Blues and pretty much whatever comes my way.----So long from Austin Tx.!!

It's got three knobs... how hard can it be?

Now this is where we get down to what?s important. The OC-2 is a phenomenal pedal, if you take it for what it is: an effect. I use it to beef up single not rhythms and runs. There is a lo-fi quality to the tone that makes me smile. It?s fat, nasty and ugly! (In a good way.) If you?re looking for an intelligent harmonizer, then look elsewhere. What the OC-2 provides is a vintage effect. If you want to hear what the pedal excels at, check out the track ?Megaton? by the band DramaGods.

The pedal adds a layer that can be either in-your-face, or something three dimensional that you can?t really put your finger on. People will notice it, but won?t be able to tell you what?s going on. It?s like having a second bass player in your band with an OD running. It is also really nice for adding that extra something to solos.

You can get overkill with this unit. Too much is just too much. You amp will hate you, if you?re not careful. Used in moderation, it can be a very useful tool, to add something to your sound that not everyone else has.

My pedal is 20 years old. I think it will hold up another 20.

I've never had to deal with Boss, so...

This is a great pedal, if used correctly. Like others have said, it's not an intelligent harmonizer. If you hit two notes, the OC-2 will oscillate between the two notes. This actually sounds really cool. It?s an old school effect- very analog sounding. Which I really like. Would I recommend it to others? Absolutely! Would I buy another if stolen? Absolutely!

It is easy, just turn OCT 2 to zero, it is useless.

I wonder why this gets so bad reviews, because OC-2 is the best octave pedal I have tried. Far beyond Electro Harmonix Octave Multiplexer which totally sucked. And, again, of course you can not play chords with an octaver! Are you really that stupid? It is not meant for chords. Try a baritone guitar for low chords.

Bbboss quality.

Never needed.

It is cool in single string riffs both clean and with distortion. It is also fantastic with an autowah after it (clean). Way better than EHX, which was a real tone sucker. I think even Danelectro is better than EHX, which was also HUGE in size, but not in sound.

How much easier could you want? Just the three knobs to set the levels of the 'unalaltered' guitar signal, 1 octave below and 2 octaves below.

There are several simple rules to follow when using an octaver like this that help you get the best sound possible. First try to use the neck pickup as much as possible, preferably a humbucker, this produces less harmonic overtones and lets the unit track much better even down to a low D (just). Only play single notes. Keep a check on long held notes, especially low ones.

This is my most used pedal by far and is the best octaver I have tried - I was very disappointed by the OC3. Used mainly for beefing up single note riffs, It works especially well with nasty fuzz. If you experiment with the levels you can get some nice synthey sounds.

Fair enough the tracking isn't perfect but it never is with octavers and the idea of using it with a bass as suggested in the blurb is frankly laughable.

Given a 9 because the bypass is a bit rubbish but otherwise just what it says on the tin.

Same as any Boss pedal, well made and seemingly indestructible, only have a backup as I use it so much and I'm paranoid!

No need yet.

Used with a Les Paul and SG it works perfectly for what I want, use the neck pickup and be precise = no problems - Oh, and it doesn't like old strings, so a good excuse to keep them shiny.

Give it a true bypass! Why aren't all pedals TB?!!

Pretty simple really. Just tweek the repective volumes to preference and you're good to go.

I think the reason why this pedal gets such low ratings is that people expect the octaved sounds to come out an exact replica of their guitar tone, but an octave or 2 lower. Well it wont.
The octaved signal is basically a square wave, like a synth, which is exactly what someone like myself would buy the oc2 for.

1) Yes, it wont track chords (tho 2 note harmonies are ok, cos the tracker will jump between the root and the harmony, so you'll get some wierd wobbly sound, which is nice.)
2) No, it doesnt sound like a bass, (i suggest that you take the first step in achieving this by playing some other place other than your bedroom) but it can get pretty close.
3) Yes, the tracking isnt that spot on, but its good enough if your playing is polished enough.
4) Please, put it first in your chain or your signal will not feed the tracker enough to get the right note out.
5) NO, it doesnt sound organic at all, if you want organic, you might as well plug your guitar into an apple, cos really, what on earth is organic ? natural ? natural like the amazon rainforest? yeah...
6) And yes, it goes well with other effects, very nicely in fact, unless you've got the imagination of a very organic plant. Then again, the only stomp box you've got would be some ts-9 that SRV supposedly used, as long as its organic to you, i guess.
7) And Yes. i like it.





Btw, this thing aint true bypass at all the highs get cut and the octaved signal bleeds in even when bypassed, but i put it in a bypass loop so its no issue to me. So i guess this bumps the score to 9.

i guess so.

no oppinion

I play a lot of styles (or pretend to at least), and i had this pedal when i was just getting into guitar, and sold it , and bought it again, put it on my board, took it off, etc etc....

but recently i took it out for a spin in the studio, and i never took it off my board ever since.

So, to wrap up, if you want a octave pedal that makes your guitar sound synth like or just to add some mud to the mix, or want to make wierd noises along with other effects, get this.

If you want a bassist to appear from this box, or a cellist, or a symphony, go hire a bassist, a cellist , or a symphony.
If you want something to play a replica of your notes 1 or 2 octaves down, buy an entire replica of your setup, then tune your guitar 1 or 2 octaves down, then clone yourself to play it.

Very Easy to use. Just 3 volume knobs for each pitch; original, one octave down, and two octaves down.

If you are expecting clean octave sounds that aren'y muddy and don't wobble, then you will be disappointed. However, I don't know of many octave below pedals there are, but I have tried a few, and this is by far the best one. There is no noticeable delay between the original pitch and the octaves below. The octaves below are loud, and are not overshadowed by the original signal. You can get some really neat sounds by removing the original pitch. I find that it sounds best when used with distortion, and preferabely before the distortion.

It's a tank.

I got this from a guy who obviously didn't know it's value, as he sold it to me for $25. They normally go for between $40 and $60 on ebay, and I would say that it is well worth that price. It will last you ages, and the value will not depcreciate at all if you want to resell it later (value will probably rise a lot, as this pedal has been discontinued). A good buy!

Its really a small learning curve for me to figure out any pedal, so Im really not sure how long it will take certian people to get a good sound out of this(my collection is into the twentys).Mixing the different octaves is rather easy in my opinion.Almost any sound out of it is good.
I didnt buy this so I really dont have a manual to go by, but I dont think i really ned one.

I have used this through a epiphone SG, a B.C.Rich warlock, a Jackson King V,and a jackson bass.The amp I most commonly use is a Kustom(a large old amp my sister found, so free is good for around the house), but I have played it through fender chorus amps and a marshall halfstack. I would have to say that distorted is the way to go, a clean channel doesnt give you the full effect.Your clean sound is weak and really adds more of a muddy sound then an octave change.A little bit of distortion and some tweaking can give you a thick and dark"boost".Ive never had any feedback from it, but it does create a very odd noise when an octave is put to high with another.The pitch seems to randomly "bubble" up and down with a held note.Lastly, chords are not this things friend at higher settings.The sounds start to muffle together and make a mish mosh puddle of your tone.Single stringin is where its at, and maybe some simpler power chords can get away with the best use of the sound.
I cant really comment on sounding like any specific musician, because the only one I know that uses an octave is CKY, and Im not going for that sound at all.

Built very well, its all metal-like all boss pedals really.

No clue.

Id like to comment about the price paid section before going on.This pedal was owned by a friend of mines bandmate, but he never used any of his effects, just distortion.So he talked him out of it and gave it to me cause he knows I love a new pedal.

Anyway, I love this thing.The sound is so odd, I use it to make a sort of horror movie sound.If you like pitch shifters, this would be its dark brother.Its in my current line up, and has been since Ive recieved it.I wouldnt try to add this to a flange/chorus/phase, to much goes on at once to really get a nice sound.Delays, reverb, and when at lower settings, a wah can add to it.the effect is just so strong it cant work with most pedal combos, which is sort of its downfall, but because its so strong its one of the best Ive used in its own catagory.
On a sidente, let me say that this is one of the few pedals boss makes that i actually like.I find their distortions and flanges to be utter garbage.This , along with a pitch shifter/delay combo are the only things I think they made well.I guess what their good at their great at.

Minimum of 30 minutes tweaking and your there! 3 knobs pretty simple.

This is the Made in Japan OC-2 (OCTAVER lettering) I compared this to a new Super Octave OC-3. I could not believe the sound difference between the 2. The OC-2 setting on the OC-3 still did not compare!
The OC-3 would get that digital scrambling (distort) sound if you do a chord. Nothing like that happend on the OC-2. Although the OC-3 seems a little more versatile I have to go with the OC-2 for sound and overall use of the effect. I was also surprised after setting my levels that I could not detect any signal loss once OC-2 was activated.

I was looking for that Satriani type of octaver sound. (He uses the OC-2) I wish I could compare it to the Taiwan model but from experience - better made (Better Components) = better sound
Totally satisfied with the sound.

Its a boss! Like everyone says "BUILT LIKE A TANK"

I have dealt with support (USA) and I believe the customer service was excellent! I would give it a 10 if I didnt have to wait! :P

I play rock, country and Teach guitar - all styles. If your looking for that Satriani octave then this is it. If you can get the Japanese version off eBay for less than $100 then get it. I did!

well, it's very easy unit, only three knobs and it's enough

I play fender guitars (strat & tele) through the valve head and cabinet with celesion speakers. I really like the sound with a little bit of 1 octave down. The second octave is usefull when you want to play a guitar and bass notes at the same time. Set direct knob full, 1 octave knob to 3 and finally 2 octave knob to 11 (without distortion), then play some Hendrix, f.e. "Who Knows" from "Band of Gypsys", isn't good?. Remember - it's not perfect pedal for everything, you have to play single notes and not very fast, then final sound will become more clear and good. With playing riffs this unit is useless.

It BOSS after all, never had problems with boss pedals

Never dael with Them

I like this pedal very much, it's very usefull for me, and I always have it on my pedal board.
When you want to add some interesting effect to your sound, this pedal is for you, when you play slow melodic solos, this pedal is fir you. If you want only play fast trash metal riffs wit a lot of distortion, you'll never happy with it

Very easy to use. Just 3 knobs, 1 Octave down, 2 Octaves down, direct level.

I use this pedal with a Yamaha EG-303 through a Park 25 watt amp. This pedal is great if you play just single notes, sometimes when you sustain a note it makes some "crazy" sounds, so I use it to play just "funky" leads or heavy riffs. The 1 octave down works great but I don't like the 2 octaves down sound.

Well, I don't know if I should post it here, but the only thing I didn't like about it is that I just couldn't find (I've been searching for 6 years) the ACA-120 power supply. Other that that it's totally reliable.

Never had to deal with them

I use this pedal just to "fatten" a little bit the sound of my guitar in some solos. If it got lost or stolen I would buy another kind of pitch-shifter.

a clear ten -- three knobs that do exactly what the're supposed to...

ten again, but for different reasons than most of my co-users point out. i think you'll find much better units if you're looking for a really clean octave single-note doubling. what i personally like is the pedal going crazy. in this rspect, i achieve excellent results doing exactly what you shouldn't do (according to most of the other postings): try a (tube) booster in front, then the oc-2 and finally an overdriven fender amp -- a 4x10 bassman is my favourite choice, but any non-master tube amp will do, if cranked up. i do not claim that this is going to be healthy for your amp (or your neighbours), but if you enjoy neil-youngish feedback frenzy and/or a comletely sick tone, this is it - especially if you use the lower registers and deliberatly add open strings. controlled use of bendings and / or the guitar trem enforces this effect; you can virtually hear the oc-2 scream for rescue because it doesn't know what to do...

i got two oc-2 units. one of them has been working without any problems for about 10 years, the other one produces a slight hiss and also hums a bit. apart from this, a very reliable unit.

n/a. Never had to use it.

as i already said: i wouldn't want to live without it. from my experience, it is a very "individual" unit, sounding astonishingly different with different players, depending one whether you "use" or "misuse" it. for me, the second alternative is the interesting one, and provided that you're also into feedback/strange sound, check it out. if you like neil young/crazy horse stuff, this is a must anyway. of course there are alternatives like a colorsound, but probably not at the price the oc-2 will cost you.

The easiest pedal I ever played on, and I played on a lot. Settings are really easy and you don't need a week to find good sounds.
I just would like to warn new users of the pedal : don't abuse of low notes doubled at the lower octave, your guitar won't like that AT ALL. Experience's talking...

I'm only rating 7, not because the sounds are "just good", that's not the case, I'm really enthousiastic about them, but just to say that this pedal has a limitated use : don't try to do more then double notes with it, it's not made fot that and chords are just, well, awful ! But that's not the use of the pedal, and it's really great for doubling your solos at the octave.

Nothing to say

Never had to improve it.

Just read previous paragraphs !

Pretty easy to use for the most part. Everything works to its normal capabilities

I use this with A PRS Custom 24 through an assortment of other foot-pedals to a Marshall JTM60 amp. The only problem I have is that sometimes the octave will cut in and out if I hold a particular note. I am not sure if this is a common occurance for these pedals or if it a problem with just mine. But on a good note, this pedal will definatly fatten up your sound. Its excellent for playing nice distorted rock riffs and gives you a nice 311 sound. Also great clean with some reverb for some unique solo's. I tend to prefer the 1 octave down setting than the 2 octave setting. I really dont have much use for the 2 octave setting, but thats just my personal preference.

Very dependable, I just have a problem with the octave cutting in and out when Im holding a note like I said before. Other than that, its great.

havent needed them

I play in a rock band that blends many different styles into one. Funk, Hip-Hop, Blues, Jam, Reggae. This works the best using distortion. Gives a nice fat sound. Ive been playing for about 8 years, I use a Dunlop Crybaby Wah, A Boss EQ, Boss DD-3 Delay, Boss Super Overdrive, Zoom GFX-4, and a Line 6 DL4-Delay, and it seems to work well with all of it. Like I said before it FATTENS up your sound like Butter on Bread. I havent used any other Octave Pedal other than this one. It definatly help me make music and is very to use. I would recamend this to anyone.

Plug and play action. All you have to do....put instrument cable in input jack, and amp cable in output slot. Easy as pie. Of course it comes with a small manual, but you don't need it unless you're a child needing "parental guidance".

I currently don't own this anymore. But when I did I used it in front of a Boss DS-1 distortion and a Boss BF 2 Flanger....and all those before a Dunlop Crybaby Wah. I played it through a 20 Watt amp I use when recording and my Axl "Johnson" stratocaster. The main reason I got this pedal was because I heard the guitarist "Prince" used this in the opening solo of his song "when does cry". It nails the sound when used in conjunction with any distortion. I never used this pedal on a regular basis. I only used this when I tried to play someone else's song that I knew was using this type of pedal. The only thing that I don't like about this is that you can't do chorus with it. It will ring in your ears and it sounds very odd. You can set the controls to make your guitar sound like a jazz guitar ,but still the chords don't sound that good.

It is only reliable when playing certain songs. If you try to play this through an entire song it gets agravating.

Never dealt with em. Thats a good thing. Never had a Boss pedal that didn't work.

Like I said its only good for playing certain solos. My style of music is R&B, and a little rock. and lots of soul. My style is a mix of Ernie Isley from Isley Brothers and Jimi Hendrix. If it were stolen I would not buy another. I hardly use it. I just use it on certain songs when I record songs on my computer.

The controls on this are very easy, but using this pedal without unwanted pitch changes on lower notes is very hard to accomplish.

I use a standard Les Paul into a solid state PA head. This pedal is after my Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal and before my Boss TW-1 T Wah and Boss MZ-2 Digital Metalizer. The OC-2 sounds ideal some of the time; a properly tracked octave is signature to my rhythm sound, however, more often than not there are noticable and undesirable pitch changes when a note is sustained. I would like this to have had a one octave down and one octave up design, as it would be more useful for guitar, vocals, keyboards and even bass. Tracking doesn't seem to be quite an issue with the first octave below, but the second octave below just creates noise, wanted or not...in my case, unwanted.

Despite its drawbacks, this pedal is likely to live longer than I will, unless I smash it.

I have never dealt with Boss. To their credit, I have owned 8 pedals and simply have never needed to.

I paid a fair amount as my pedal is an "OC-2 Octaver", not a later issue OC-2 Octave, note the extra r. This pedal was worth the money, if I were a collecter of Japanese Boss pedals, which to some degree I am (I only use Japanese Boss pedals in my setup), but I acutally use my pedals for gigs, and the OC-2 will probably just sit in a corner or be sold.

very simple, octave below knob, & a 2-octave below knob. Can mix these 2 signals via a mix knob. Nice sickly metallic brown colour!

well, you have to accept that if you want this pedal its a one-trick pony, and the octave below effect is only useful for single-note riffs higher up the neck to avoid the warbly open string problem. the 2nd octave below option is useless (for me), i just don't see why they could'nt have made that an octave above knob, that would've been much more useful. Mainly i think this pedal's good for jamming with my drummer when the bass player's not around, and recording (can sound awesome to accentuate the heavyness of a single-note riff to have 2 octaved guitars riding down each side). not bad for #50, but if like me you're a poor guitarist trying to make ends meet this pedal's far from essential, there's much more worthwhile stuff to spend your money on. 5 seems harsh but i doubt i'd give any octave pedal more than a 7, i just don't think its a particularly exciting effect.

Only had it for 3 months but it seems very solid and im actually very impressed that the battery they gave me with it hasnt run out. dont normally gig with it but i certainly wouldnt need a backup.

not dealt with them.

for heavy single-note groovin' rock riffs this thing can be cool. also it would be a nice little recording toy for anyone to have if it was just a bit cheaper. my musical style is kind of heavy ambient post-punk neo-psychedlia new-wave no-wave cerebral voodoo sex god rockNroll, i own a few other stompboxes, hughes & kettner stack and i wouldn't replace this pedal. time to do the funky dead butterfly and smile my lost-ass frown...

Very intuitive knobs, basically three volumes:
octave2 is 2 octaves under the signal,
octave1 is 1 octave under the signal,
level is the dry signal (a lightly active volume)
you can blend the three sounds, or keep the two octave at 0 and use it as a volume pedal.

First of all, if you don?t want this unit to get crazy, put it at the beginning of your chain.
It?s not true bypassed, but it doesn?t sucks your tone at all when connected. No hiss too.
Don?t use battery, if not very charge, the sound is very bad.

There are a lot of better octaves, but this one is very cheap, and I like it because of it?s synthetic sounding: the two octaves are absolutely unnatural. The more you turn off the dry level, the more your guitar looks like a stupid little toy-keyboard, and I love this, but if you use only the oct1 and oct2 the signal is to low, than sometimes it find it difficult to pich the right tone, and it produce na silly step detuning, especially with hard bending.
Obviously it become crazy with the chord, use it just for single notes.
If you blend the octaves the right way, you can reach a lot of led zeppeling sound (listen to Trampled under foot, physical graffiti n.5 disk 1).
If you want a not too stupid sound forget the oct2, and blend a few oct1 with dry level, it doesn?t really fat your sound, it colors it in some strange electronic way.

My bass player own a EBS Octabadss octave, much better for serious intents: it?s very intonate, the sound is very natural, and the level of the only octave it reproduce is very high, you can really get a good fat sound, but my guitar was fat enough, I just wanted some silly sound.
I also tried the MXR one, good tone, but too low level, absolutely.

It?s very in
teresting to use it before a big muff, you can find real distructive and abnormal sounds, but be carefull, your cabinet could blow up.
It?s difficult to obtain a clear double sound (guitar + bass), but with the right blend you can reach strange keyboard-like sounds. A good fat guitar can actually looks like a bass if you keep high only oct1 or oct2, and no dry level.

Here it?is some good sounds I found:

OCT2 9 o?clock;
OCT1 2 o?clok;
LEVEL 2 o?clock;
+ a good wha wha
great sweet tones

OCT2 min;
OCT1 max;
LEVEL min
+ big muff as follow:
TONE min
SUSTAIN max
You get a flat fat deaf sounding with the lower notes, and farting high notes, something like the bass in last muse single (if you keep OCT2 max and OCT1 min, an underground growling sound will grind your belly)




OCT2 10 o?clock;
OCT1 3 o?clock;
LEVEL 11 0?clock;
+ a Boss PH-3 with
RATE 4 o?c.;
DEPHT 2o?c.;
RES 2 o?c.;
STAGE 8,
or a vibrato,
I get something like an Hammond sound (may be not a very good Hammond, anyway something interesting)


My setup is:

?97 Gibson Les Paul Special DC TV Yellow (P90 pick ups, 0.13-0.56 strings, CGCFAD tuned)
Boss OC-2 Octave
Dunlop Cry Baby GCB95 wha wha
Ibanez TK999 Tube King overdrive
Electro Harmonix Big Muff PI fuzz (the N.Y.C. one, NOT THE RUSSIAN!)
Boss PH-3 Phase Shifter
Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man analogic delay
Sovtek MIG 50 head
Home made bass cabinet with two 12? cones

I don?t use battery, anything is connected to a strong enough ac 9v adapter.

It has a good hard metal box, the only critical point is the rubber ring around the hole where the little screw keep the battery case closed. My used Boss PH-3 was broken, and the switch had a too wide excursion. This one seems ok.

I never dealt with them, but the site bossus.com is very good, and gives you any information and semples.

It?s a 10 for what I buy it for, that?s strange and silly sounds.
It?s a 4 if you?re looking for a good octave.
It?s a 6 because it?s not so good, but even new it?s so cheap.
I found on musik-produktiv.de an electro-harmonix octave very cheap too, I?d like to try that one too; there in a newer Boss one too, with some extra function too, but I don?t know anything about it.

its pretty easy to get something useful out of this.

I use a gibson LP,fender 1x12 deluxe and a few other boss pedals. This thing DOES give you a fatter sound and if you dont have a bass player (like i dont most of the time) this baby will fill in nicely during some parts of a tune. any type O or black sabbath or slow evil sounding shit sounds great with this and solos...well...if used sparingly it can help you break the old box pattern/played out licks...kick this on and harmonize some notes...pretty cool too if you wanna get that neil young sound on "my my hey hey" or any 70's jeff beck sounds.

I trust boss

great for mimicing old synth sounds, great for no solo ideas and great for heavy sludge riffs or filling in for missing bass players.I should have got one sooner.

Amazing. A

Amazing. A mainstay in my rig. I can't believe the lukewarm reviews. This does exactly what it should do. It Fattens up single note lines and gives the heaviest tone I've ever heard from a octave stompbox. I tend to think it tracks pretty well, just don't sit on a note in the lower register or it will glitch. I use this thing all the time to get unbelievable fat single note riffs with my distortion Post using a MESA Tremoverb. If you are running an overdrive or distortion unit on your board, remember to put it after the OC-2 in the signal or it will track horribly. I think this might be the problem for other reviewers and their bad results. If some of them experiment with it's placement instead of jumping online to bash the thing they'd probably find a pedal that is very useful when applied right. Unlike some I didn't just get this thing and Have had time to get to know it before Posting this review. I find it to be pretty consistant. OF course I'd rather it never glitched down low so I could hold a killer low octave but nothing is perfect especially in this price range. I'll tell you right now, Boss makes great pedals but they have never made one yet that I know of that is perfect. You have to work with them and pay attention to there placement in your chain.I give this pedal a nine because it would be a ten if it didn't warble with a low note held. This never really bothers me however because I play riffs through it that don't hold low notes for an extended period of time and it works great for that. Also try ripping some leads with this thing because it is a very inspiring sound.

Never had a Boss break and I have been using them since I started playing around 11 yrs ago. I still have one or two from that long ago. For the money you pay and the sound quality plus reliability, Boss has no rival.

Why would you call them?

The best Octave I've ever played. Try setting OCT 2 completely off, Octave 1 at about 2 o'clock and set the direct level at around 3 o'clock. The best way to set the direct level is to first set the octave setting then crank the direct up completely. Slowly turn the direct back untill you hear the bass become best defined. Don't go to far however because you will lose some of the bite from your original signal so learn to balance it. I set it and forget it. I don't even care about other settings that might be useful because the one I just described is so perfect. I woud definetly recommend this to any one who would love to have the fattest single note sounds possible.

Not easy because it doesn't track well. You have to play one note at a time, be careful and pray that it tracks the next note you play. Chances are high it might, but sometimes it does not and spoils your music. With a pitch shifter pedal there's lots of more options and it will track perfectly and allow playing chords, so why buy an octaver instead of a pitch shifter?

Sound quality was good but it didn't track well, so it wasn't useful anyway.

I tried and compared results with the pitch shifter effect in Boss GX-700. Effect quality was the same (I expected better quality with the octave pedal), but the octave pedal didn't track even single lines well enough, even though the pitch shifter did perfectly. That's why I didn't buy the octave pedal, and don't recommend it to anyone.

Very easy, you'd have to be pretty stupid to find it confusing. The manual for my MT-2 was better(there aren't as many suggested settings in this manual). But it's easy to get cool sounds.

I was going for the tone on "Speed Metal Symphony" & "Dragon's Kiss" by Marty Friedman (better known from Megadeth). I'm using a USA Jackson KV-1 Dave Mustaine model with Seymour Duncan JB pickups. I'm NOT a big effect pedal guy at all! I use this OC-2 into a MT-2 into my Marshall. I'm not into Chorus, Wah and Flanger and all those wierd effects. Octave is a more musical effect if you ask me. My only complaint is that the low notes get a wierd echo sound for some reason. But it's really cool for solos. DOESN'T get muddy going fast either.

So far no problems

Haven't delt with boss, but i have a 5 year warranty :-)

Very cool! I tried a PS-5 for it's "Harmonist" settings, but i returned it because it got muddy during fast solos. The OC-2 only oes octaves but it is crystal clear.

Requires a little bit of playing around to get accustomed to Octave 1 and 2 controls, but very fun to mess with.

I use Strats and Teles with mostly Fender amps (I borrow an old Bassman most of the time).

This thing has a lot of trouble with multiple notes and chords, but most pedal octavers do. With the guitar signal turned all the way down, it does a decent job of imitating a bass, but is subject to some glitching here and there on lower notes. Adds great flavor to middle-eastern in fluenced and shredder-type runs, and does a bit of a cool, weird faux 12 string effect for '60s freakout tunes. I love it for little bursts of low frequency mud to sprinkle throughout tunes.

Have never needed

I'm an indie rock geek, and this is great little contraption for that. It's fun to goof around with, but doesn't have the cool anarchic streak that an MXR Blue Box has. But I like this one for live applications more, it's just easier to wrangle in and doesn't color my tone when bypasses. I use both of them pretty much the same way, just in different circumstances. Boss makes great stuff.

If you know what an octave is and how to adjust levels this should be pretty easy. Generally I don't like the sound of OCT 2 and use OCT 1 at 75% of volume and main signal at 100%--sounds more vintage that way.

Hardest thing (or easiest) is signal chain placement--this should go before ANYTHING else other than perhaps EQ in order to allow for note tracking. Don't stick it after your distortion pedal or you will experience less than satisfactory results.

For those of you that don't know what an octave pedal is good for, you should first consider what it is NOT good for:

1.) Octave pedals will not 'fatten' out your playing in a general sense. More than 1 note will freak it out and cause it to wiggle.

2.) Octave pedals don't 'double' your sound--they add a square wave (hollow synthy sounding wave) underneath your sound. This means the more of your sound you hear the more 'tone' you get from the pedal.

3.) Octave pedals can sound cheesy if used too much.

Past that, octave pedals are good for fattening up single note lines, adding interest to flourishes and other slightly special effects. Think the opening solo to Prince's "When Doves Cry" or "Fire" by Hendrix--both awesome uses of an octave device.

Sounds okay, but does introduce noise--which is then amplified by your distortion if you put the pedal placement right. It's an octave pedal so don't expect too much "tone" wise; if your unaffected tone is good then your octave tone will be--if it's bad this will not help you.

The octave sounds like a square wave. To avoid sounding too 'synthy' I suggest mixing down the octave levels to 50-75% volume and your main signal at 100%. Maxing everything out at 100% sounds like crap if you ask me.

It's not a Fulltone Ultimate Ocatave, but it costs so much less than one--sometimes these go for 20 bucks used on eBay. Someone gave me mine.

Overall the tracking is about 95% accurate. Obviously if you play more than one note you will hear the octave get confused as hell and it produces a bassy 'wiggle' sound; however, sometimes it does this if you add a little too much vibrato on a note in the lower registers. For the most part it tracks pretty good, but before you know it is is wiggling on you for a second.

Boss is pretty good.

I play indie noise-rock; think Big Black, Rapeman, Soundgarden, Nirvana. For the occasional foray into single-note fun this is a great pedal. For best effect don't overuse it--only once in awhile do you want to use this pedal.

Generally this pedal is for some people, and not for others. Myself I like octave pedals for their subtlety and the Boss is the best *affordable* one on the market now.

1,2,3 knobs, very PLAIN - if you can't figure it out, I don't know what to tell you. Perhaps you will need to RECONSIDER EVERYTHING or VISIT a psychiatrist.

schecter c-1-->boss tu-2-->dunlop 535q-->boss oc-2-->hughes & kettner club reverb.
This pedal produces a small but noticable hissing sound when activated, but this doesn't matter unless you are just standing still and listening to nothing. It doesn't really COLOR your sound. If you are playing, obviously this small amount of hiss does not matter.
There are many stupid people who have submitted reviews of this pedal complaining that it doesn't octave chords. You play a chord, and the sound is ALL MIXED UP and it begins to FREAK OUT and be very RANDOM and LOCO. You'd have to be LUCKY and it would be a FAT CHANCE that it will ever work this way. WHAT DO YOU DO? First, cease with the MISDIRECTED HOSTILITY, and ask yourself WHAT WAS I THINKING?. The instructions manual says to not play chords through it. The whole PURPOSE of this pedal is to play single-note riffs through it. For this purpose, the pedal rules. FROM CHAOS will come clarity. I would call it PARADISE. It will certainly DO YOU RIGHT.
The direct knob should be all the way up. After that, just experiment with the other two until you find the spot that complements the direct signal in the way you like. I put the 2nd octave DOWN at about 1/8, and the first octave at about 2/3.
311 uses this pedal on many of their songs, such as HOMEBREW and JACKOLANTERN'S WEATHER. It's SICK TIGHT, and SWEET.

Have owned for a while now, and seems very dependable indeed. This pedal goes for the HIVE like YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE.

Contacting them would be a confusing USE OF TIME and a MINDSPIN.

If I were to LOSE it I would buy another. If it were stolen, I would SEVER the head of the thief from their body, and declare unto them, "YOU GET WORKED!" Super cool pedal if you use it for what it is intended, which is to COME ORIGINAL and to WAKE YOUR MIND UP. I will be using this for EONS.

Three knobs.

Getting a good sound out of it is totally subjective to your ears. I think most other people playing this would think it would sound terrible for chording, but I love the brutal fart that this brown beast possesses (no pun intended.) For single notes though, I think it sounds terrific, especially for Sabbath/Che/High on Fire type riffs that require a big fat sound. Sounds especially good through a 4x12 cabinet at high volumes with distortion.

I wouldn't reccomend this to most people for chordwork though. If you're into Isis or Neurosis, or just about any doom/sludge type stuff, you'd dig this. Stoner rock guitarists take notice!

I'm giving this a two because it would sound terrible to most, but for the heavily processed, lo-fi yet thick and doomy sound I'm going for, I give it a ten. I keep it on a lot, along with a slapback delay to give the guitar a little more depth. It's a little muddy but I like it that way.

I've never had problems with any other Boss single pedals. I hate the new dual pedal things that they're releasing now, although the reliablity is not the problem where those are concerned. I just had a bad experience with the loop section taking away the gain on my Marshall, but that amp doesn't have an effects loop anyway.

I play heavy music, and I try to be original. I'm not sure exactly how to describe it, but I'm heavily influenced by bands like Neurosis, Isis, You and I, Orchid, At the Gates, and His Hero is Gone. I've been looking to expand my tonal pallate with one of these things for a while now, and I happened to get a good deal on one the other day. I've been playing close to five years now and I own the following: a Marshall JCM 800 2203 100 watt head, a Gibson Les Paul Standard, a Line 6 Delay Modeler, a Line 6 Modulation Modeler, and a '62 Fender Jazzmaster reissue. If this pedal were stolen, I would be upset, but instead of replacing it, I would probably start saving up to buy a second amp to complement my Marshall.

Listening to this pedal through my amp made me come to the realization that blending my Marshall with something like...the bottom end of a 5150 would probably turn out very thick and chunky if tweaked correctly. Even if I don't keep this pedal, it has helped me to determine an ideal setup for live and recording use that I want to reach at some point.

Pick this up cheap, but make sure it's your thing beforehand.

Super easy to use. Three knobs. I don't use the second octave setting very much since it makes the bass sound muddy. The second octave only really works when you play above the 12th fret. Tracking is really good, but I find that it works better with active basses than passive ones. This might have to do with the output of the instrument. You also have to make sure that you only hit one string at a time and that you play cleanly.

Used it with a 70's Fender Precision (with flatwounds, the classic sound!), Godin L.R. Baggs Acoustibass fretless, 90's Spector NS2-C (the cheap bolt-on model).

It gets a bit noisy with the passive basses when the note is decaying. The active bass is much cleaner, even when the note is fading out.

Octave sounds are great. This is easily one of the best effects for bass.

Like most Boss pedals, it's reliable. I don't have the AC adapter so I only use the battery power source. You can easily tell when the battery is dying with the brightness of the LED when the pedal is on.

This is a great little pedal to have if you play a variety of music. It's a lot of fun to play with and I always look forward to turning it on. As I mentioned before, easily the best and the cheapest effects pedal for bass you can buy. Don't get it new, there are so many used ones floating around that you can always pick up one that's second hand.

three knobs - just fiddle with 'em and you'll find what you are after

i play gordon smith sg> ds1 (or a bigmuff)> dano flanger>carlsbro 50 top. i picked this pedal up cheap recently and really like it. it sounds truly rockin with some distortion/fuzz. now that i've used it i've noticed octaves cropping up on all sorts of stuff - mountain, clutch, kyuss, zep...it's everywhere! obviously it's a pretty unusual sound - you're not gonna use it on everything, but for some tasteful solos or single note runs, it's just great.

duh. it's a boss.

for a bit of colour in your sound this is great. it's not going to be to everyones taste, but if you know what you want then this is a versatile, usable pedal. i've tried the dod octave box and this one definatley tracks more closely. chords are out, but then you know that already. one to stamp on and go for it!

Dead easy to work, less easy to get a decent sound out of it, especially when listened to in isolation.

I use this at the moment with a Squier Strat with Les Paul humbuckers, into a 70s Vampower 100watt head, in conjunction with an Ibanez compressor, Crybaby, Marshall Drivemaster, and a CH1 and TR2.
It's not noisy or anything like that. However it sucks at anything except single notes, so if you're thinking of buying it to thicken the sound of chordal work, don't bother. It's not perfect, sound-wise, by any means, so I wouldn't suggest using it as a prominent effect in its own right.
On the other hand, it's brilliant at thickening riffs if you keep the octave controls down below about 3/4 and the direct volume on full. Use it with several other pedals. Basically if you're into wacky sounds and you see one secondhand, then buy it.

Well, it's BOSS. It hasn't broken down on me yet and I don't expect it to.

Dunno, never had occasion to find out :)

Well, I'd give it 5 overall. It's not vital to my sound, but on the other hand it's fun to have it around for the odd occasion when you want an even madder sound. I wouldn't buy it to put lower octaves on chords and the like, in fact I think my Zoom 505 was better at that and that's saying something. On the other hand, if you like wacky sounds, well, even then I wouldn't buy one new, but I'm happy having paid 40ish (I think) UK# for mine.

How hard is three knobs?

I've read all the reviews listed below this one. Some say it's great, some say don't even bother. I play bass and this unit sounds great in my setup. I play an Alvarez AEB-250 through a Shure Diversity wireless,Boss PSM-5, the OC-2, Boss ODB-3, Boss DS-1, Big Muff ( the newer Russian one ), Boss FZ-3, Dunlop Bass Crybaby, Boss PH-3, Digitech BP-8, Ibanez volume pedal, and a Peavey TNT 115. The OC-2 brings out the lows a bit. I really like using it with one of the distortions or distortion and phaser, flange, or chorus. It won't track down below the A on octave 1 and I don't use octave 2. I don't have any problems with warbles or any weird noises. I tried putting it toward the middle of the chain and ran into some problems, especially when using other effects so I put it first, which Boss recomends doing with the bass.

I depend on it a great deal. I use it every Sunday.

?

I really like this pedal. I play industrial to worship choruses in church. The OC-2 can make the bass sound a little like an organ if you want. Use with some wah to get a cool synth type sound. I would get another one if it were stolen.

I gave this a seven because, although it only has three knobs, dialing in a useable tone is not easy.

I must admit that I read all the reviews for this pedal before purchasing, but decided to buy anyway. Most of the reviews warn about this pedal not being able to octave chords. I thought I would be fine because I wanted this pedal for one song using single notes. It turns out that this pedal is even awful at deciphering these. I also followed other suggestions of boosting signal and increasing pick attack for this problem to no avail. This pedal was simply released before it was finished. It searches for singal note octaves with a confused robotic warble sound (maybe some will love that).
It should be mentioned that I am only talking about octave 1. The elusive octave 2 just comes up as sonic muck when its dial is turned.
For poops ands giggles, I A/B'd this beside my old Zoom 505. For a cheap plastic multi-effects unit, the Zoom's octave effect kicked the OC-2's ass! It was warmer, smoother, and get this, it found octaves! Not only that, but it could even do it for chords.

You can't relie on this to always play octaves like it is supposed to, but since it is a boss, it's original crappy sound probably won't quit. Therefore, OC-2 gets a 5.

whew! Good thing I only paid $50 for this. This pedal is so incredibly bad at doing what it says, but it looks pretty sweet with 70's Camarro brown sparkle paint.
This pedal reminds me of one of those pug dogs; it's so stupid that you feel this weird affection for it.

The power of the octave gets a bit confusing, but should only pose a problem for a minute or wo.

Nice sound...if you're into all of those Smashing Pumpkins octaved solos, this is the pedal for you. But for God's sake don't try to play power chords on them. Some muddled "oorghhh" sound will come out, and it sounds terrible.

Extremely...it's a boss, and boss are as tough as they come. Could definitely kill something if dropped from a helicopter.

N/A

Overall, nice sounds come from this hippy octave box. Lend your style to the Pumpkins by buying one of these for your solos. But no Blink 182 style power chord will make you feel better about buying this pedal.

Easy to use (Three knobs, dry signal, 1-octave below and 2-octave below), but hard to use WELL. You do have to have a fiddle.

I originally went looking for this pedal thinking it did octaves UP (ie. harmonic generator) not octaves down...but when I tried it out and found out what it did, I thought it was MUCH cooler. It does sound synthetic, but there's nothing wrong with that if it's the sound you're looking for, and the basic dry signal is still there. You need a very pure-toned guitar to get the most out of it. It sounds very dodgy on my Strat-copy with heaps of fret buzz, but on my hollow-body Gretch it's smooth as silk, and tracks very well. Yeah, don't bother trying to play chords, although simple two-note 4ths and 5th can sometimes work. Sounds great through distortion (AFTER the Octaver).

It's a brick, 'nuff said. haven't had a problem.

Never needed it.

A lot of people are dissing this pedal, but I think that's maybe because their playing style doesn't suit it. If you're playing funky chords, or deep power-chords (thinking it's gonna make you sound like some dodgy nu-metal band with 7 string guitars), it doesn't work. If you want something to add depth and psychadelia to solos, want a weird-ass noise generator, want to phatten single-note riffing, or just like to fiddle around with "weird" sounds, it rocks. It also works great with other instruments...try plugging a tinny little Casio keyboard into it and a Crybaby Wah for some phat acid-techno sounds...true!

It's a guitar stomp box. Few things in life are so simple.

My favorite use for this is with cheap toy keyboards (e.g. the Kawasaki "Key Boom", circuit-bent and modified with a 1/4" output jack) run through this before the Akai Headrush or other delay/sample boxes. There are some beautiful sounds to be had in this way. Sometimes the octaving tracks really well, sometimes it's a little confused. This is part of the beautiful sound.

It's a boss pedal. It's reliable.

They have support.

Of all the stomp boxes I have (which are numerous) this one gets used more than any others. This is in the context of studio recording and experimental electric/acoustic mathcore fusion jazz. All y'all rock and roll types might need a fuzzbox first.

Only three knobs - direct signal, one octave down, and two octaves down. Very easy to use.

At first I was disappointed with the sound and thought it sounded very digital, like video game sounds. Then I found a way to use it that sounds really great - I turn the 2nd octave most of the way down, turn the direct all the way up, and the 1st octave at about 2/3 or 3/4. I can play Homebrew and Livin' & Rockin' and Jackolantern's Weather and other songs by 311. Tim Mahoney is my favorite guitarist, which is why I bought this pedal - because he uses it. I can tell a difference in my tone with this pedal in line, versus just plugging straight into the amp (I use a Gibson Les Paul Studio and a Rivera Knucklhead 55 watt amp into a Peavey 5150 speaker cab). I would like it better if it was true bypass, but it's a very cool pedal so I'm not complaining.

I don't think this thing should have any problems.

I don't know anything about their customer support.

Cool pedal.
My only complaint is the slight change in tone when the effect is in line and bypassed versus if the effect is not present in the chain.
I will be keeping this one.

This box is a paradox. It's easy to adjust, but hard to learn how to tweak and set up until you unlock it's secrets.

Use it with a Peavey Triple XXX. A 5150 II. Guitars are a Wolfgang and a 1983 Kramer Floyd Rose Signature. I give this a hands down 10. I am going to open up the secret for you. Use it in the loop. Set both knobs to 9:00 o'clock. Set the volume knob to 3:00 o'clock. It give a real good low end boost without aftertones. With the knobs set under 9...it sounds like a chorus..with the knobs greater then 9 you get a bass overtone. Past 12 and the box is basically usless. Now here is the scoop. Put it first in the loop. It will replace all the lost signal and then some. I put it before a MXR flanger and it makes the sound real thick. This is why all the big guys use or used this pedal. Check it out..Steve Vai. Eddie Van Halen, George Lynch and many more.

The one I have I bought used. It is all beat and scratched up but works great..These Boss pedals are built like a tank.

Heavy Metal...But is sounds great with Rock and Jazz too.

Super Easy

This pedal is a Tone Killer. It turns a vicous analog signal to a very synthetic organ type sound. Only tracks single notes. Does not track the lower notes on a guitar very well. Signal needs to be juiced via distortion pedal before getting to the OC-2.

Its a boss. You can put it in your will to your grandchildren...

Not tested

I play rock. This pedal will get little use.

very easty to use u can get thick guitar sounds its amazing u can sound like 311 or get a bagpipes sound

awesome one word to describe this pedal iam glad i got this pedal i even use it for vocals sometimes the effect is not weak at all im using it with a line 6 spyder amp i also use it wit a fender m-80 sounds great this thing is instant 311 in a box

it a boss nuff said

never dealt wit them about anything broke

i play 311 meets soundgarden meets ratm and i need this pEDAL to meet the diverse sounds i want to get its great clean sounding octave pedal it goes two octaves up or down the dod octoplus only goes one

like riding a trike

yamaha sbg 500-Buddha wah-Rat-OC2-Orange graphic 120/Orange 4/12 with75 watt Celestions (used in this order).I play massive riff blues rock loud enough to actually blow the fabric of my clothing around like a flag or an impropperly tied down tarp going down the highway.I am connected to this OC2 pedal and have no reason to try a different brand. I figured out how to run the thing smooth enough to have it active almost allways. in conjunction with the Rat, the thing is like a nitrous powered freight train made out of crushed velvet with alittle cocaine sprinkled on top . what to do is put it after the Rat and match the output levels with each other, put the effect nobs at 25% and run the shit into a loud and clean amp.I play any chords with absolutely no loss of articulation or mud problems or signal noise. it also makes my feedback sound like a cavern full of moaning japanese monsters. got turned onto the OC2 from a dave Navarro video. why,thank you dave!

a total non pain in the ass chunk of metal and wire.

support shall be left to brassiers and jockstraps OK ?

Ya dig big,slow, knuckle dragging riff rock? go on out and snag one of these and stick it at the end of your gizmo chain. you can probably get one for nothing because , from what I have read, everyone hates them.

Very funny story about this pedal:

I bought this a few months ago. It tracks very badly and will only work if you play hard and give it a strong signal. I use a lot of subtle harmonics and volume swells and play very softly a lot of the time. This is my playing style. In chorus's when I play harder I play chords. This pedal is incapable of tracking chords.
So I have no way of using this pedal without changing my playing style, and why should I change it for a crap pedal that doesn't sound that good anyway?

I sold it to my friend after a week. The thing is that it had a scratch on the top of the pedal in the shape of an "R" so it was quite distinctive.
A week later I saw this exact same pedal in the second hand section of the local music shop. I asked my mate and he said he hated it and sold it.
I went into town a few days later and the pedal had gone, but I stopped into a backstreet pawn shop on the way home and lo and behold there was this octave pedal with a "R" scratched on it.
Not much happened for a few weeks but I was looking in another completely different guitar shop sometime later and saw this exact same ocatve pedal with an "R" scratched on it in the second hand section! It was definately the same one.
This means that in the space of a month at least four people in the same town have bought this pedal realised it SUCKS and sold it.

I look foward to seeing it again soon.

Make sure you save yourself the hasstle of having to sell it yourself by not buying it in the first place. It sucks.

The pedal only has three knobs, one for volume, one for the first octave tone and one for the second octave tone. This seems simple enough, but it took me a fair amount of time to get the sound I wanted. All things considered, this is still a pretty easy pedal to use. The manual does give you a few suggestions.

It's a boss pedal -> high quality and very quiet. However, it sounds much more amazing on high leads then full chords, but really this all depends on your settings. I use this pedal really only once in my band's set, on a closing lead to a song...it sounds amazing.

I've had this thing for about 4 years, always worked.

C'mon, dude! It's Boss!

I play early '90s-style alt-rock. This pedal makes a great addition to my setup. Think of this pedal as an accent piece -- you might want to use it sparingly, but when you do use it, it will sound amazing. Spending some quality time tweaking the pedal will give you a variety of different sounds. And hey, regardless of anything else, it is a wonderful brown sparkle color!

This is like playing bass. Easy to get started with, but difficult to do well. 3 knobs don't seem difficult to deal with, but there is a fine line between not enough octave and too little. To match the in and out volumes takes a little tweaking.

I use a Carvin LB 75F Fretless, through a crate amp EQed fairly flat. It works well adding one octave down. the 2 octave settings do not work well for bass. It is designed for single notes and works well doing it. The sound is a bit froggy with a weak fundamental. It works very well with fretless, and can do anything from adding some low end on high notes using the bridge pick up, to making a thick rattly 8 string bass type sound using both or the neck pick up. PLEASE READ OVERALL RATING

No problems here

Never needed

It needs a strong signal to track well. Also a stronger/tighter fundamental helps a lot. I learned about the pedal from a Bass Player article long ago. That helped me to understand how it works and what to expect. Normal bass tracking is down to a low C. A-string third fret. My Kramer was a very solid 4 string fretless and would track well to an A. My Carvin is a through body and will track well down to the E, despite the bass's relatively low output level. I can raise the output level, and can expect better performance. I believe most judgements of low sound quality relate to its difficulty in good set up, and the lack of understanding how it works. I would like to try the Arion. I heard that it has a better octave down tone, but does not track as well. Tracking can be improved by giving it a hotter signal.

With only three knobs for blending your direct signal, octave 1, and octave 2, this pedal is very easy to use. The manual is straightforward and as explanatory as it could be for the pedal being so simple.

I am currently using a late 90's Marshall 50-watt SL-X head, Marshall 2x12 cabinet, modified Fender Strat with Dimarzio HS-3 pickups, Vox wah, and BOSS DS-1 distortion. I am running the OC-2 after the wah and distortion and I have found it to be very quiet and noise free. The ability of the pedal to track your guitar signal 1 and 2 octaves lower than the original note is very good although notes extremely high up on the neck don't seem to produce anything. Thesed notes do sound affected by the pedal, but often tend to just relay some digital twang through the amp. I have not found the unit to be muddy in the lower regions of the neck as others have stated in their reviews. It does sound very synthy and will add lots of fatness to single note lines (can't play chords with it) and it doesn't so much sound like a guitar and bass in unison as it does a guitar and synth player in unison!! Blending ocatve 1 and octave 2 with the direct signal is as easy as turning some knobs and you should find a cool tone within minutes. Basically though, it does what it does in a good fashion and it is very quiet. You won't have this pedal on all the time....only as a passing effect maybe at the end of a song or as a little change up in a solo...or possibly to carry a songs melody. But this won't be an integral part of your guitar sound.

It's made like a little BOSS tank and should last and work forever!

Never dealt with them as of this review.

As I said, this pedal tracks the guitar signal 1 and 2 octaves lower than the note played and you can mix and match these sounds. The tracking ability of the pedal is good, but could be better in the really high range. It will probably be used here and there and I do like the pedal and enjoy playing with it and using it as a color. If it got stolen, I'd get another, but I might try and find one used.

If you don't know how to use this then i pity you. Two volyme knobs for octave one and two, and a master level knob.

When I used it more I noticed that it's almost only for high solos... It sounds a little bit muddy if you play the bass strings, and it sounds like crap if you a chord (I think that the manual didn't recommend playing chords on it?). It's basically like a bass would play along with the guitar, and that's how it sounds. If you strum a chord on the bass, then it sounds crap, same goes if you have the OC-2 turned on...

But I have noticed that it has sort of a clicking sound sometimes... it might be something wrong in the cords or inside the oc-2? I don't know...

It's a Boss! Built like a tank! It will probably last your whole life...

Never dealth with them.

Whell, if you play lead solos then this might be something to give an extra set of balls to your sound, but it's definately not for any rythm guitarist! :)

If you know your ass from a hole in the ground, you should have no problem tweaking this pedal.

Everybody seems to hate this pedal, and I can't figure out why! It does its job, which is to track your guitar signal 1 (or 2 if you fancy) octaves below the original note, and it does it well. The effect is strong, but it doesn't have a ton of sustain. So the sound will break up once the volume of the note gets too low. Oh yeah, don't waste your time trying to play 2 notes at once, because it will sound like SHIT! I can guarantee that! Hey, you can't win 'em all. Also, the tracking delay is non-existent (thats a good thing, BTW). There are some interesting sounds that can be achieved when combined with other effects...feel free to use your imagination. If you add a little distortion, you get a sound very reminicent of the Electro-Harmonix Micro Synth, which kind of does the same thing as this pedal (i said kind of!) If that interests you, then this pedal is definitely worth a try.

I would depend on this thing to stop a bullet...and gig with it...on the same night. But that's Boss for ya!

Synopsis: If you want fat (or "phat", as the kids like to say) leads or solos, get this pedal and accept no substitutes. Just don't play chords with it. Baaaaaaaaad, very baaaaaaad.

It's very easy to use.There are only three nobs. 1octave nob, 2octave
nob and direct sound volume.

First,I thought it can be used when I play one string. But then I found out if I put 2octave nob to zero, I can play code too. and it sound great. With Boss Metal Zone, it can creat very heavy, thich satisfactory by most of Hard or Punk guitar player.

I don' know. I just bought one.

Regardless

Very easy. Three knobs for each octave. The manual spends most of it's time telling you what not to do which is funny. I plugged it in straight away and was making low noises with no hassle.

I use a Telecaster into a Laney Amp with the following pedals: Lonax Analoge Delay, Boss Super Overdrive, MXR blue box, RAT, DOD Grunge, DOD Flanger, DOD Gonkulator, EH Frequency analyser, Boss DD3.
The Pedal is noise free and very quiet. But then the problems start.
There is a delay of about half a second before the new notes come in and the notes don't sustain at all. At the slightest drop in volume it actually splutters and then dies. Someone said it sounds like the delay from hell in an earlier review, which can be cool but not when you're trying to do a solo. I don't expect an octaver to have much sustain but this pedal is pathetic. The delay and sputtering makes this useless for playing solos.
The Sound is soooo synthetic on octave 1, but not in a cool synthy way it just sounds cheesy especially on the D and G strings. The only thing I could play that sounded right was the Addams Family theme. Go Figure.
You can get some Big deep powerchords with this, My mate got a really heavy Flipper sound with this pedal but you could recreate that sound just the same with an EQ pedal or second heavy distortion set to a low end.
Octave 2 sounds muddy and distorted. Really bad tone. The most annoying thing about this pedal is that some notes don't play, eg C on the B string as someone said before.
This pedal has REALLY bad tracking problems.
At a push you CAN use this pedal as a crude volume boost. Set Both the octaves to 0 and set the main volume to your preference. Now turn the pedal OFF when you want a slight boost in volume (the standard volume). This is about the only use this pedal has. It's a shame pecause it's a nice glittery brown colour.

It had a big scratch on it when I took it out of the box. This meant that I wasn't allowed to exchange it when I took it back and had to take #20 second hand price. Annoying.
Apart from that yeah yeah yeah

Well their website sucks....

I play noise rock and got this to try to get some extra heavy low sounds on some songs. I now get those sounds with extra Low end distortion pedals or occasionally an EQ. I have the MXR Blue Box which is a similar Octave Fuzz unit with terrible tracking problems but that sounds great, it makes a huge noise. But this pedal is aimed at more conventional players and just sounds horrible (and not in a good way!). It has so many glitches I'm surprised it even got released. I sold this after 3 weeks and it was the most rapidly dumped peice of equipment I ever had. Bear in mind when I say this that I like the wierd DOD pedals like the gonkulator and others that sound terrible in a fantastic way to make a huge noise.
If you want to make noise get a MXR Blue Box or Buzz box if you can find one. If you want a basic Octaver get the Danelectro mini pedal (much better than this!) or if you have enough money then get a pitch shifter (even better sound quality). If you want synthy sounds get something else.
This is the worst pedal I have ever owned (including Rockteck and EMA!). This Pedal SUCKS. It has so many simple problems it becomes unusable.

3 knobs, anyone who can't figure it out must be very stupid.

Jumps around too much, sounds very digital, like a video game or something. Noticably changes the sound coming out of my amp when it is in my fx chain and turned off. I got sick of this pedal after about an hour and took it back for a refund.

Boss pedals are very strongly built.

Didn't add anything to my playing. I have no use for this pedal, it doesn't seem like a very good pedal to me. Yes, the intro to 311's Homebrew sounded way cool with this thing, but that was all I could think of to use it for.

The is as easy as it gets. Volume for the 2nd octave, Volume for the 1st octave, and the original signal. I use this for bass, so the 2nd octave is turned all the way down, because it is virtually useless and only adds a muddy tone. A manual would be usless, but I bought this used and did not get one. Very easy to get a good sound out of this pedal.

The EBS Octabass only has one octave down, and this is originally made for guitar...so no points lost for having the 2nd octave down on the pedal. I just turn it off anyway. The sound out of this pedal on bass is exactly what you think it would supposed to sound like. It actually was less synthesized than I thought it would be...I'm very happy with the tone. You can't go below about the C on the A string but that is common among octave pedals. My akai SB1 synth bass does track down to low B though, so maybe in the future it will happen on these octave pedals. Very good sound for bass, never have used it on guitar.

Boss is reliable

Good customer support, to me, is building a good enough product to not use customer support.

This is a very good octave pedal for bass. I have not used the Octabass, but I can't imagine it tracking much better than this. You can play as fast as Stanley Clarke stuff and it keeps right up with you. I love this pedal for what it does...definitely a keeper.

well, no comments... What did they print the manual for?

I play fretless Kania active bass with EMG humbuckers, Dean Markley .40 string and a Laney RBG400 amp. I also heard some guitarist play with OC2. For bass, it's not the best choice for an octaver. Sounds much better with guitar. However, you can get a sound close to organ (like in Deep Purple's 'Black Night') which I found very useful.
Lower octaves get distorted when playing low sounds. It's okay as long as the clear sound remains the 'main' sound, but otherwise it is a problem.

Never had any problem with it.

as above...

As I mentioned before, the Deep Purple keyboard sound can be easily achieved with a bass guitar. I don't find it really useful when playing background bass, though it adds some funny tones to solos. It would be cool to have an extra output for clear tone and lower octaves seperately.

3 KNOBS EASY ENOUGH MY GRANDPA WOULD UNDERSTAND IT

IT DEFINITELY SOUNDS COOL WITH MY BASS IT PLAYS 2 OCTAVE UNDER WHAT YOU ARE BUT YOU RARELY HEAR THE LOWEST OCTAVE

NO PROBLEMS

N/A

ITS JUST WONDERFUL THIS BROWN BOX CANT BE BEAT FOR THE PRICE

3 knobs, one switch - I think if I were designing this I would have used knob 1 for main level, knob 2 for 1st octave and the little knob for 2nd octave. Instead, Boss uses the little knob for main level, and the first knob for 2nd octave.

There is a noticable delay as the pedal trys to find your frequencies and tries to match them. It's not too terribly bad when you use the neck pickup and pluck single notes, but forget about getting a good sound from chords.

It's a Boss. I could probably pound nails with it.

N/A

It was a neat little toy for about a week as I tried getting different sounds out of it, but I stuck it in a drawer for the last few months. Then, I was asked to fill in for the bass player in the christmas band so I pulled it out thinking 'what the heck - maybe I can get a beeter tone out of my bass by going through this', so I plugged the bass into a Boss AC-2 (acoustic simulator) then through the OC-2, and into my Carvin CX1272 powered mixer with the reverb up to about half. WOW! I'm getting phat tones than I just didn't expect. I turned the 'body' up a bit on the AC-2, turned the 'top' all the way off then I'm using the main level on the OC-2 all the way on and the 1st octave is set for about 2/3 full. It's totally awesome. Even at lower volume levels I'm able to shake the dishes in the kitchen cupboards. I think I've definately found a new and permanent use for this thing!!

Couldn't be easier to use.

My set-up is a Big Briar Etherwave Theremin > Boss Octaver > Smallstone Phaser > Ibanez Delay > house PA. With the theremin, the Octaver does a great job of adding low spooky organ-like pedal points to the sound. My only complaint is that the OC-2 can't handle the upper range of the theremin.

Had it a few weeks -- no problems yet

N/A

Overall, I am very pleased with this pedal. Etherwave Theremins are a little thin-sounding, and the OC-2 nicely adds depth to the sound.

Using this product is extremely easy thanks to the direct / 1st octave / 2nd octave individual volume knobs. What is interesting of the manual is that is tells you what NOT to expect from this pedal and what should NOT be played in order to get acceptable response.

I am using a Fender 69 - 4 string Jazz bass with a SWR 100 W amp. The pedal completely noise-free. However overall volume response is highly frequency dependent and I fear there is more of a low frequency response issue in my amp than a problem in the pedal. This seems to be definitvely a pedal thast requires extended frequency range response in the amp one uses, particularly in the 2nd lower octave range. I've also noticed that the pedal fails to output thre lower octave on a particular note (i.e. C in the first string, 5th fret). The sound is not totally distortion free and should only be used as special "synthesyzed" effect

Just as every other BOSS pedal, this one seems to be 100% reliable. I've rehearsed with it for several weeks now and it keeps brand new. There's no need for backups as long as you stick to the 9 V max.supply ( fooling around with the multivoltage power supply or inverting the polarity was never a good idea)

Down here in Buenos aires, Argentina, BOSS is a very well known brand and guarantee is valid for 6 months as of purchase date. However, factory replacements are out of question due to extremely high mailing costs. On the other hand, no one would try to repair such a low-end priced pedal.

I play old style rock music ( remeber Jethro Tul?) The pedal seems to fit in some particular "synfonic" type of passages.
I've palyed since I was 13 and that was back in 1967. I also have a BOSS bass equalizer, several basses and a couple of small bass amps.
If it were stolen I would rather buy a higher priced integrated multi-effect gear. I hate that it does not work OK on every single note of my bass. My favorite feature is that it is totally noise-free.
I could not compare it with other similar pedals.
For the price what you get is good enough, no additional features needed.

Three knobs. Come on.

Works real well in nearly every application I've tried. I'm actually a keyboard player/producer and it works wonderfully as a booster for nearly any synth sound you can come up with. Also great for organs; I bought it to touch up organ bass to give it that fat dubbed-out sound, and not only did it work for that but I've put a Rhodes through it to great success as well. It also works surprisingly well as a vocoder! As others have said, you need to have a great amp/PA or the second octave is useless, but the first octave does the job pretty well most of the time. Used in conjunction with the BOSS DS-1 Distortion it's especially thick and fuzzy.

It's a BOSS. No thought required

N/A

Wonderful pedal. I've been using it for a while, never the same application twice, and it always comes through.

Like others have said, there are three knobs. Two are for the extra octaves that are being added and one is for your direct signal. There is absolutely nothing complicated about it.

Generally, I find it sounds beautiful. It's great for adding a bit of extra punch to leads or solos. It can sound a little boring by itself, but with a little distortion it can sound like a beast. My unit sounds cleaner than any other effect I have. There is no audible hiss/hum and it doesn't mess with my direct signal.

As a few other people have noted, the octaves tend to break up a bit at the lower end of the guitar. But think about it: if you're already that low on the guitar anyway, why use additional octaves that are even lower. In my music, it has never been an issue. If I want anything below that, I'll dig out my bass.

I've never been in contact with Boss or Roland.

I usually do electronic music on my own, but a little bit of guitar
tends to sneak in every now and then. This pedal has only helped to make that happen more often. One of the coolest sounds I ever achieved with it was when I was running my guitar through the OC-2, distortion, Crybaby and then playing it with an E-Bow. It sounds absolutely nothing like a guitar after that anymore.

as easy as it gets

i use this thing with lots of stuff. for guitars, it's mostly with an old pre-gibson epiphone of some sort, through a big fender m-80 bass amp. i also use it for an old roland jx-8p synth, put through a peavy minx 110, in order to beef stuff up and for an old (manufactured sometime in the 60's) winston electric mandolin that i got at a pawn shop for a couple of bucks and run through a 197something marshall with a blown tube. well, *i* like my setup :) i've had it for a couple of years now, and i haven't had any complaints about noise - although the line level isn't always spectacular when you're boosting the oc-2 pot. one of the reasons i bought this was to try and get a substitute for a bass player, but i quickly realized that it's better for harmonies and countermelodies on any of the aforementioned instruments. beefs the sound up without any annoying distortion...

and, let me warn you that this is actually a synthesizer - so it sounds like one. if you can't handle that, or can't do anything besides power chords (which sound awful on this thing), you might want to buy something else.

call me risky, but i never ever use a backup. and, i'd gig with just about anything. i wouldn'y worry about this here - it's a boss pedal. i could jump on it with construction boots and it wouldn't hurt it...

?

i guess you could say i'm into "post-rock" but that's pretty wide. think mike oldfield meets nine inch nails meets REM with a touch of bach and you've got what i'm into (www.mp3.com/therealinri). i love it and you can definately tell when it's being used. i'd definately get another one if something happened to this one, as it was pretty cheap and it gets a lot of use. fuck, i'd probably scan the pawn shops and pick it up when it gets sld. i've been playing for, i think, a little over 10 years of my fairly short life...but i can't even remember when i started.

the best part of this thing is definately the second octave. when you're playing higher up on the neck, this is great because it gives you two more signals, including a genuine bass sounding tone - a regular octaver would just give you something somewhere in the middle of the guitar's pitch range. if i was going to add anything, it would be a third octave one higher than what is being played, perhaps a 4th two up. that could create some intersting sounds and allow me to play flute, etc parts through my synth a bit more realistically....but i'd guess most people wouldn't be too concerned with that.

so, overall, it's probably not the best octaver out there but it's great for the money and i'd definately reccomend it to anyone who's not overly anal or stuck in 1977.

As mentioned in prior reviews, it has three knobs. Not hard to figure out.

I run a Les Paul->OC-2->Crybaby->Distortion->Flanger->Amp. I think the octaver needs the purest tone it can get, so placing it first in the chain of effects works best. I got some problems when I had the crybaby before the octave. Certain tones would drop out altogether. Also, I had much better luck placing the octaver before the distortion.

My octaver seems to have problems with low notes. When I play anything below an A (440hz), the generated octave tone jumps between the usual one-octave-lower tone and the original tone of the guitar. This seems to vary from day to day.

As long as I stay above A, it does just fine.

I was hoping to be able to fake the double guitar parts on Led Zeppelin's "Nobody's fault but mine," but the generated octave tone is too sythy-sounding. I can disguise the synth sound with distortion, but then again you can disguise a lot of things with distortion :) I was able to get a pretty good Neil Young sound like he uses sometimes, when you can't really tell what notes are played.

The thing's made of metal, and the BOSS reputation precedes itself. I think structurally it's very dependable. However, on my pedal the generated octave tone below 440hz may or may not come out right.

NA

I play alterna-funk, and the octaver is a good addition to the mix. I've been playing for eight years. If someone stole it I'd be bummed, but I don't think I'd buy it again unless I found a unit that worked on all frequencies.

Its's a stomp box, turn the knobs, and hit the panel. Duh

My set up - Epiphone SG -> Boss OC-2 -> DOD Chorous -> DOD GS30 -> Fender 25R (practice)/ Fender Stage 60. Wow. I play a lot of 311, and bought this 'cause I read Tim (311 guitarist) used it. I love it to death!! If anyone wants to know how to play "Homebrew" (Grassroots 311 cd), just dial in the direct level knob to half, the oct-1 knob all the way, and the oct-2 knob 3/4 or half. Perfect. Put some distortion, and bam, instant 311. Although BOSS says you can simulate a bass, this is totally false. It comes relatively close, but no cigar. Also, it's bad on the chords. Unlike most promises, this boss actually does have true bypass.

Boss, metal casing, and no way for the battery to pop out w/o unscrewing the knob.

never dealt w/ 'em.

Beautiful 311, or any rock requiring a phat low-end guitar.

Very easy to use. Only 3 knobs. Level, Octave 1, and Octave 2. These allow you to mix the three tones this pedal can produce. Level is simply the volume of your guitar's original sound. The rest is self-explanatory.

I can't live without this pedal. It can really add some beef to single note riffs. This pedal is not intended to be used while playing chords. Even basic two note power chords (ex. A5) sound muddy. You just have to know what the pedal is meant for and when to use it. To get an idea of this pedal's different tones and abilities, I say listen to 311's Grassroots album. It is used the majority of the time.

Boss makes some tough reliable products. It's been through hell. Its been through many shows and practices (kicked, dropped, crushed, etc.). It has even been rained on while in my duffel bag in the bed of my drummers truck. I thought that would mean problems, but I simply let it dry and it worked fine. Very cool.

Many different things you can do with this pedal. If you play 311, you HAVE TO HAVE IT, no excuse. Tim Mahoney uses it in almost EVERY song. It sounds great with distortion. I don't use the 2nd octave option often. Normally just use the 1st octave and my regular guitar tone both set at the same level. Sounds nice. Also sounds great when played through clean. You can make it sound like you have a bass guitar playing along in unison. Overall really neat pedal. Some people might not like it. Not for everyone. You just have to know how to use it.

Three knobs, octave 1, octave 2 and direct. You don't want as much low end, turn down the second octave. It's preety much idiot proof. I don't really remember the manual, I've had the pedal for a couple of years.

I bought this pedal to get a synthy type of sound, and it excels at that. A friend of mine warned me that you can only play on the high end of the neck, but I haven't found that to be true, though I don't usually use it lower than the lowest A on the neck. I used to play through a Peavey 5150 with a marshall cab, incredibly heavy, if that's what you want. I found that it works good with distortion or a semi-clean signal. Keeping a little grit going with this pedal really brings it to life.
I used it with a Fender Blues Deville with 10s and it didn't work as well. Now I've got a Tech 21 Trademark 60 (smoking non-tube amp) and it sounds better. I think maybe the 12-inch speaker has something to do with that. Oh yeah, I use a G&L Legacy, stock pickups.
I generally use the same setting, octave one at about 11 o'clock, octave 2 at 1 o'clock and direct at 1 0'clock. Works for me.
Problems: Sometimes it glitches on held out notes. Chords don't usually sound so hot, though diads high on the neck work ok. I've got this song where the left hand is tapping stuff on the low e and the right is tapping on the d and g strings and it works for that.

Never experienced a problem with it.

Since it's very dependable, I haven't had to contact the company.

I play a mix of rock, funk, jazz and country, and it fits for what I do. I'm kind of a frustrated keyboard player, I've just always wanted to sound like more than just a guitar, though sometimes I want to sound like just a guitar, too. This helped open some of those synth sounds I was after. I don't use it excessively, especially in the band I'm in now (we've got a keyboard player) but I definitely recommend it. I'd buy it again.

3 Knobs-OCT-2, Direct Level and OCT-1. I got the sound I was looking for with a few seconds of knob twiddling. I bought it used , so i didn't get a manual. It's not really complicated so i'm not too worried.

i haven't had the pedal that long, but i've used it with my les paul classic into a fender dual showman reverb head into a marshall valvestate 4x10 cabinet, and also i've run into a roland jc-120. like everyone says, be careful with that 2nd octave. your speakers might not be able to handle it. i haven't had any trouble, but i pretty much have it off, because it's not the sound i want.
turning the direct level all the way down seems to lose some presence/overall level, but that could be from the amp handling the extra low frequency.
be warned, if you want to sound just like a bass, this pedal won't get you there(maybe in combination with other effects i don't know). it sounds nothing like one to my ears. it sounds synthy. which is why i love the way it sounds. running it into a distortion pedal(zoom 1010 or a Boss DF-2 in my case)gets a nice octave fuzz sound. the higher strings remind me of lead death metal guitar or an organ sound-in any case it's "dark" sounding.
taking a tip from another review i found you can play chords thru it-power chords tho, not complex stuff. it takes a little practice to get it to sound good, but when you get it -WOW IS IT HEAVY. definitely good if you are doing hardcore,deathmetal,or if you're like me and you just like huge heavy guitar. if you strum the chords in a way that each string is distinct you can get that "mistracking" farting sound...and it's repeatable, so you can use it in a song or two-like delay from hell.

it's a boss.

never dealt with them.

I've played for over ten years, and never really had a need for something like this. Now I'm involved in a project where i can experiment to my hearts content with weird sounds. However, for many people i'd think this is a one trick pony, and so for that i give it a 9. You'd be better off plunking your cash on something you'll use more than 1x.
If someone stole it i'd definitely replace it-they're not that hard to find used and i can see it becoming a key piece of my sonic arsenal.
I do hate the boss battery compartment-but that's a complaint i have with a lot of pedals(i have some of those 9volt ac adapters that plug into the battery terminals-but the cord gets in the way of the pedal operation).
I can't imagine life before this pedal-it opens up a whole new territory-especially playing with a bass player who likes to play up the neck, i can carry the bottom...and when we both go low, the room rumbles.

Very easy to control and manipulate, a straight forward layout with 3 simple knobs for Octave -12, Octave -24 and direct/mix, all of which are basically level controls for each setting. I give it a 10 for ease of use because like most Boss effects, it is simple and to the point.

My only complaint about Boss pedals is the lack of "true bypass" wiring. Your signal is always running through the circuitry, regardless of whether the effect is on or off, so your tone is colored which bothers me (come on Roland update this). I do like the sound of this box, however, both with distortion (instant 311 sounds) and without. I use a rack set up (Egnator pre-amp, several processors, VHT power amp) and I put this in between my wah-wah and the pre-amp so that it hits the pre-amp 100% wet which makes a big difference. I read some of the other reviews which said it sound good clean and I totally disagree. Like most effects, you need to use the OC-2 tastefully as well as practice with it. I love running my wah into it with a clean, chorused delay sound in stereo for clean funk leads. This sounds killer and also boosts the signal to make your clean sound a lead sound. I think some people might be expecting an octavia when they buy this, which it is clearly not.

Reliability = Boss

Never had to deal with them

I play a mix of funk, rock and hip-hop flavors and am psychotically a tone freak/gear-head with alot of money invested in my equipment. I play James Tyler and Tom Anderson strats through an Egnator pre-amp, various effect units, a VHT 2/50/2 stereo power amp and Marshall cabinets. I like switching up 1 odd pedal (i.e. and octavia, auto-wah, uni-vibe)in my pedal board every now and then just to keep things interesting and this is my current favorite. The wah/OC-2/ clean/chorus/delay lead sound I can get is just too damn funky.

OCT-2 nob controls the volume of your guitar 2 octaves lower. OCT-1 nob controls the volume of you guitar 1 octave lower. And the DIRECT LEVEL nob controls the volume of your guitar.

Very easy to use.

First off, I have a Strat going into the OCTAVE pedal, then into a Boss METAL ZONE, then a Boss Delay, and finally running them into a 65 watt Marshall Valvestate amp.
The way this pedal works is that it plays your guitar along with one octave and/or two octaves lower, creating a ver subtle yet intense sound.
I LOVE THIS PEDAL!! It kicks LOTS OF ASS if you mostly play solos and non-chords. Its true, chords do not sound too good and the effect isn't very impressive with a "clean" guitar. But follow the OCTAVE with some distortion and you'll get some WICKED sounds!! Works great for heavy metal, and would probably work well for most any distorted sound. For anyone starting out, i suggest these basic settings... OCT-1 and DIRECT LEVEL nobs on really high will bring richness to solos. While setting the OCT-2 and DIRECT LEVEL nobs and really high is good if you're going to use lots of palm-muting (it really breathes life into your palm-muting!). The effects may seem subtle, but they do make a serious difference.
For some reason, people expect this pedal to work miracles, but if you work with its certain limitations then you will fall in love with this pedal too.

Its a boss. Need I say more?

OC-2 is easy to use - just select the volume level of your direct, next lower octave and the next. After that, next thing you know - your sound is there.

I have a Fender Jazz and a Hofner violin bass with a Yamaha 25W combo for practice or small gigs (I use in-house amps for bigger venues). I agree with most reviewers that the sound is pretty hollow and dull. In fact I tried it on the Hofner and the sound did not change much but I tried it on a stereo splitter with my Fender and out to two amps (one with the OC-2) and it sounded like I was playing both my basses on two amps - at the same time! Its great paired with my CH-1 no matter which comes before or after each other on a signal chain so I usually stomp on them a the same time. Depending on your style, certain song are good with it but I do not think its for everybody because you have to constantly tinker with it for each song for it to fit or decide not to use it at all - very unpredictable at times. I usually keep the direct on full, the oct1 at 3:00 and the oct2 on 9:00. A friend of mine borrowed it and used it on his fretless - he bought one.

I got this thing used 10 years ago after I read in an old guitar magazine that bass players include this on their arsenal. It was pretty beat up and God knows how many years it stayed with the guy I bought it from - or how many owners before him. I replaced the battery lug due to corrosion (note: even with the corrosion, fresh batteries provided power using it). Still, it sounded like the new one my friend bought 2 years ago. Anything like that is more than you can ask for in a pedal. Boss is it!

With extremely reliable pedals like that, who needs customer support.( I wouldn't be able to depend on them though since I bought it used - and abused)

I play all forms of rock. I don't usually use it on its own but in conjuction with my other stomp boxes - kinda like a force multiplier instead of a force in itself. I use it either with the CH-1 or the Arion Bass Distortion (many times even both)to thicken things out. When improvising / learning or composing a song, the OC-2 is the effects box I need for that extra ooomp when needed. I like the extra 2nd octave compared with the other octave effects i tried without it. Though most might just set it to zero, I use it for added color and flavor when you set it just right in a combination but I wish it had a dry out for stereo. I would definitely buy another one if I lost this one even at full price - but I'll certailny look for a used discounted one first. Here's a tip: you can make a woman sound like a man using this between a mic and an amp with the direct out and the second octave set to zero while the oct1 at full.

The pedal isn't too difficult to use. One knob controls the volume of the original signal. The second knob controls the volume of (1) octave below the original signal. The third knob controls the volume of (2) octaves below the original signal. Using one knob at a time isn't really too productive. The key here is mixing two or more of the knobs to get the sound you are looking for, or just want to find.
Also with this pedal... You really have to fool around with it to get something worth playing. Very easy to use, but im giving it a 9 becasue there are just some spots on the knobs you can't mix

I use an Ibanez RG470, and a Fender 25R (I'm a beginner,so shut the hell up). I bought this pedal becasue I thought it would make my guitar able to sound like a seven string, Maybe even a bass. Attention all KoRn fans..... This pedal will not turn you into Head or Munky! as soon as you start messing with the octaves, this pedal turns your guitar into a bass. Only thing with that is you need a GOOD amp for this to happen. with my Fender 25R for the most part my (high e) is turned into my (low E). But my amp isn't powerful enough to handle a 6 string bass so this pedal sounds terrible whenever I use it. Im giving this pedal a 6 becasue it is worth concidering if your are having an identity crisis and think you are a bass player. But on crappier amps, the pedal is too powerfull

All BOSS pedals come built like tanks so don't worry about it buying it new. I got it used and the only problem is that I have to step on it really hard to activate it. But that's just my pedal. BOSS = 10.

I Never contacted them. No Opinion

I really can't give this pedal a rating because I am not using it to its potention. Like I said, it probably sounds a great deal better on a fairly desent amp. And it is one of the few octave pedals that lets you control the signal (2) octaves down. My advise is to go to a guitar store, pick your guitar off the wall, plug it into the OC-2, and plug that into your amp... And see what happenes from there. You'll either love it, or hate it

three knobs, simple to use. Hard to get a good sound.

this pedal is noiseless(no hum what so ever). But the sound quality of the effect is hollow, and thin sounding. if you are looking for a fat octave down effect this is not it, it doesn't matter what your rig is.

boss is the most reliable effect company ever!

no need they come with a 5 year waranty that you will never need

I blay a fusion of blues-rock/classical/metal and it doesnt work for any style. personally i dont like this particular pedal.

Three knobs. OH Man

Got it used. Don't know if it was roughed up real bad cause it's not great for a Boss. It creates an occasional noise that turns on and off which makes it totally unusable for recording/gigging. Otherwise really great sound.

Boss

Never dealt

For 30 bucks it's a steal. But I'm thinking of selling it

I found this pedal very easy to use as I tend to find all Boss pedals easy to use. Controls are easy, what you see is what you get.

The lower octave it creates seems rather droned out, but for the purposes I bought it for it works well. If you get experamental with you will be pleased with your results because other than the little setback forementioned, it sounds great.

It is, as all Boss' are, very dependable and tough.

I've never had to deal with customer support and from the look of it I don't think I ever will.

All things considered, this pedal is great for that low end sound and is extremely useful in dreamy or multi-guitar music. I'm no expert I've only been playing for a couple years (2 or 3) but I've come to respect Boss through their products time and again. If it was stolen I would get a new one.

One can't do wrong with a device like this.

When judging the sound for me most (non fuzz based) octavers sound equal. The created octaves have a very hollow and dull sound.

I opened the unit more than once for reverse engineering of the circuit diagram and even after that it kept on working

Personally, I won't keep this device for long. It really bores me and I'm still looking for an octaver which creates an octave above the input signal... For the information of the brand X vs brand Y talkers. The Boss, DOD and Pearl octaver (I'll make a submission of the Pearl soon) differ only in the bypass circuitry. The octave generation circuitry is close to identical. The pearl is the only one with an additional octave up generator(which works very limited).

The main quality is that you've got two diferent octave, plus the direct sound, and 3 knobs to ajust each sound. Very easy to find what you want.

Boss is the best ! No found another octaver with tha quality of sound.

No problems.

Boss : no problems.

I use it as a... VOCODER ! I can't buy a real vocoder, it's very expensive, so I choose the OC-2 to have robot voice. And it works.

Easy to use 2 Octave knobs and a tone easy.

Well I only use this for 2 things and I got those right away so I didn't do too much experimenting. The first reason I got this was to make a guitar synth type sound sort of like the Gonkulator and I got that sound easy as shit. The second reason is so I could get that 2 Octave dropped sound that I get on my DigiTech Whammy/Wah but the Whammy/Wah is much because you have to run the Octave into another pedal to get that distortion the octave acts more like a helper than a pedal itself.

It's a BOSS

It only makes one sound that I like by itself and that is the guitar synthesizer. It is OK as being a distorted bass sound with the 2 Octave down setting but I have to use my Metal Zone with it. My Whammy/Wah sounds much better as a 2 Octave Down pedal I can get the type of sound for KoRn's All In The Family really quick. Like I always say I have a lot distortions anyway but the guitar synth is tight so if you want the 2 Octave Down sound but can't afford it get this or get a DOD Octoplus.

This unit is fairly easy to use, as it has only three(large) knobs, and these have very specific functions(One for the direct signal level, one for oct 1 and one for oct 2). Stomp on it and get going! The manual is fairly good, standard BOSS type, and you get going at once.

As a bass player, this unit has a tendency to create very unstable and messy sounds if you tend to use too much of the oct 2 knob. It also seems to lower your volume when in use. But on the other hand, it can create terrific octave-doubling using only the Dir. level and the oct 1, and I usually turn out with a slightly distorted grunge-bass sound.

It is a BOSS, and doesn`t eat that much batteries, so I usually go cordless.

Never have, never will.

I like my OC-2 alot, but use it only on special occasions. As a jazzy bassist, I usually stick with my chorus pedal. I play a Warwick Streamer 6, and the unit works fine down to low E played through my Marshall combo(not using the oct 2). I hate when it makes unstable noise on the longer notes, but it stays fairly stable on teh pizzicatos, and Iwould probably buy it again.

First of all, the stated purpose of the device. I bought it just before a gig back in 1987 when our bass player decided he'd rather spend time watching women eat ice cream sundae's (long story) and we couldn't back out of the gig. Thus, I got the job of being ad hoc temporary ''bass guitar player who played guitar''. That being said, the device has three knobs - a volume level for the first octave below the fundamental, the second octave below the fundamental level, and a mix knob for the level of straight signal. This being said, it isn't really like a bass guitar, more like a synth bass or Stanley Clarke playing an Alembic bass with active electronics through fifty 10" speakers. However, it did the job being what it is and after we got another bass player I found other uses for the device that were quite compelling. You should be aware that you cannot play chords with this device, just single notes (unless you have a guitar with a hexaphonic pickup with six separate outputs going to six seperate OC-2 pedals going into a mixer and into your amp....but who's gonna do that?) The manual was a small memographed thing (I found more info in a Boss catalog than I did in the manual - with actual presets and everything). No firmware upgrade needed or wanted I guess.

At the time, I was using a 1987 Black Fender Stratocaster through the OC-2 into a Scholz Sustainor and into a Scholz Chorus/Delay. Of that setup, all I have left is the OC-2. It's not really noisy - it does its job patiently, pathetically. When I say that I mean - nobody is going to be fooled that this is a Fender Precision bass - it sounds somewhat like a rubber bandy synth bass patch. This is fine, though, since with a little distortion you can fill out that sound and the mixture of the first octave and second level octave can help you get a more desirable sound. The later experimentation that I found out was really sort of interesting - if you use the OC-2 before your distortion stage, you can get a very powerful, very heavy single note guitar sound - the only recording artist I can think of who uses one might be Neil Young (see Live Rust or Arc/Weld, or better yet the theme guitar lines to ''Touch the Night'' from Landing on Water [he didn't have a bass player on that CD either, this is probably what inspired me to get one] to get an idea of how it sounds. It can be horrifically grungy if you want if you use it before the distortion. Also, Terje Rypdal played with an octave divider on the end guitar solo to ''The Dain Curse'' from his Waves CD - he had a really grungy sound there, too. You can use it for more than guitar, though. If you put a drum machine's signal through it, the drums sound much more ''real'' (more powerful) so you can try that too. I haven't tried singing through it yet, though. Our later bass player (the guy who replaced the guy who replaced the guy who watched women eat ice cream actually used it on bass guitar for a super low, heavy sound on a tune we called ''the grunge song'' (about 1991, several years before ''grunge'' became a trend. Sigh).

Like all Boss pedals, it's made of metal and cannot be destroyed. I'd use it without a backup - it's not something you use in every song (unless you have a 7 string and want to out-Korn Korn or unless you're sick).

Considering how much Roland gear I have, I've never heard from anyone affiliated with that company. Nice website, though.

It's a good pedal for enhancing the range of your instrument. Playing 20 years. Own lots of other gear. If stolen or lost, I'd get a potato peeler and use it on their hairy back before they pawned it for Beanie Babies and crack. Probably buy another. Like the easy way to make an average, Buddy Holly 50s anemic strat sound like one of Slayer's guitars instantly. Other products at the time weren't an option. Wish it could do polyphonic pitch shifting. Helps me make music, yes. Most recently used it on a tune of mine called "Dance of Life Part 2", the second solo and used it with a rotary speaker effect in the Vortex. Cool. It's a good box, check it out.

3 knobs. The first knob controls the volume of the sound 2 octaves down. The next knob controls the volume of the sound 1 octave lower. And the last knob controls the overall volume of the effect. Very easy to dial good sound.

I'd only give this unit a 5 for two reasons. First, it kinda noisy and adds hum and his to the overall sound. Second, it's not that efficient because the octave effect does not work on certain positions on the fret board. The unit was defenitely made for single notes only and not chords.

Any Boss pedal gets a 10 for reliability.

Never dealt with the company.

I kinda regret buying this pedal because of the reasons I mentioned on the sound quality section. I'm not sure if it's just my pedal or all OC-2s' are really noisy and inefficient. But Steve Vai, Satch, and EVH has one of these units so I assumed it was pretty good. I'm gonna check out the DOD octave pedals.

Pretty easy to use. The 3 knobs control the level for: Original guitar signal, Octave 1, & Octave 2. You can fool with the levels to find one that you like.

Very quiet and seems to track flawlessly. It's really only meant for single note lines, chords result in a nasty sound. The pedal can be really buzzy if you turn the Octave 2 up to maximum but this is a probably a function of trying to reproduce a very low note on my amp

Very cool pedal. Perhaps not very useful but it sure gives you a unique sound. I was very surprised at how much I liked it.

Self explanatory.

The sound quaility really isn't bad considering the price, and what it is trying to achieve. Obviously, it is not made for chords. With that in mind, it does the job quite well and is a very nice effect. It really helps if you run a compressor before this pedal to get the full sound out of it. Sound quality is also good with bass, and adds a fun element to it. Depending on your amp frequency range, speaker frequency range and all that, it may take a bit of tweaking. Plus on the higher notes like above the 12th on your high E, it will start to disappear on you.

Sure. Mine is a used one that actually says 'Octaver' instead of 'Octave' which is on the current OC-2's. It still works like a brand new one. I wouldn't buy a back up, because it isn't reall an effect that is used often like an overdrive.

Never dealt w/ Boss.

The effect is fun, and sounds good. There really isn't much to choose from in the price range, or even very close for that matter. If you aren't going the 'rack' route, your choices are limited, and for the most part Boss pedals do a great job for the money. Love the root beer color of this pedal as well. As I said before, it's not an effect someone would use a great deal, but it's a fun one to stomp on and fatten up your sound on a single tracking note solo. I really enjoy the sound, but I can also go weeks without using it. So, basically, buy all the pedals you will use all the time first! Then test drive one of these. It's one of those that makes you think, 'yeah, that sounds neat, but when am I really going to use it?' That's why you see a lot of them in used equipment stores. Not because they sound bad, because they really have a limited application. Fun for bass though.

It's pretty easy to use. you have to be a dumbass to not know how to use it. 3 damn knobs, that's it. the manual is pointless. But hell, it's a good pedal, and it does everything it should.

I use a 1981 ibanez blazer into a fender Stage112se. The effect is noiseless, but prominent when you use it. It always sounds pretty damn good. It's great for when you play songs wih octaving guitar leads (i.e. Black Dog by Led Zeppelin, Are You Gonna Go My Way? by Lenny Kravitz). It also makes leads sound pretty good. if it is used pretty minimally throughout a song, it makes a great effect.

It's a tough piece of shit. it's not really a mandatory piece of equipment, so if it dies, you can still continue playing. I'd use it on a gig, because boss is a reputable name, and i trust them. besides, i wouldn't pay for 2 pedals of the same effect.

Never had to have any

i like classic rock and pretty much anything good, so for that, its great! what really pisses me off is that you can't play chords with it, because that would sound PHAT! it sounds like crap when you try to play chords, but i guess that's the breaks. i love that it makes leads sound so phat and heavy, and it gives your guitar a really presence. i just wish you could chord with it

Three knobs, very simple.

Great. I've been seeing bassists rave about the EBS octaver, and having played both, I honestly don't know what the EBS hype is all about. The Boss OC-2 gives me a great, usable tone a octave down on my bass all the way to B-flat on the A string. The EBS sounded fine, but I didn't think it was worth the extra money. If you're looking for a good Octaver for your bass, be sure to try both.

The pedal itself is great -- it's a Boss. I have heard stories about people having tracking problems. I haven't had this problem, and used it regularly in live performance for a few years.

Never had to call.

Best to buy one used, of course, but these octavers are a great deal, and as someone else said, if it's good enough for Pino Palladino, it's good enough for me.

Extremely easy to use, 2 knobs: octave 1 and octave 2. Manual is pretty piontless but i dont blame them, what can you say?

Im using Crate Excalibur 2200 and cabnet. Little hiss but no biggie w/ drums or whatever. Great effect for buffing up single strings. Not very helpful for chorss. This is the same pedal Tim uses in 311 and i play all 311 so this got me the EXACT sound i wanted.

Its a boos. Hunk of metal that wont bust if u ran it over with a truck.

Not needed in over a year

311, perfect match. Playing 1 year w/it. Only pedal i have (saving for RP-6 this christmas) I'd definately buy it again. I can make so many sounds w/it. I dont like the unability to use it on chord but i kinda turns single strings into chord like sounds so i guess it doesn't need too. I play all 311 cause i love em so this is THE pedal to use.

Well it`s just knobs fore ocave1, octave two and level, so anyone can try out all the funcsjons wery fast.

It`s noisy at some settings, but this depends on the signal in your guitar.It works better with a telecaster than with a stratocaster. At least it`s depends on the sustain in your guitar, remamber that a tremolo will steal some of the sustain, and this will make some noisy sonds in this box. If you got a compresor, try to put this before the octaver, this will help you a bit. If you think the sond is a bit strange and useles, try to put some overdrive/distortion after the octaver, this will camuflage the strange sond and make it sond more natural. I use this box betveen a compresor and a tunescreeamer, and it make my telecater sond like a 12 string rickenbacker. In this settup I use to close the oc1 knob, while leaving the level and the oc 2 knob at one o clock. Sonds great on tape if you use much treble boost from your guitar and play some single notes (just some fill inn).

You can depend on it, its a Boss.

Got it uesed.

Would buy it again, it`s a central part of my sound.

Three nobs level,oct1,oct2 individual preferences

Chords are noisy okay!I was hoping for a round thick sound like the mayonaise solo but it doesn't quiet deliver

It's Boss isn't it

No need

I probably go for the big muff for that thick and fat sound and put the purchase of this pedal as bad experience

For ease of use, you can't go wrong. Basically, the knobs are 3 volume controls, one for each of the tones generated. Easy enough to mess with on a gig, too, thanks to the staggered arrangement and different sizes of the knobs. Good thinking.

With full everything, not many complaints, even on extra low stuff like 5-string bass. (Don't play it with a 5-string, though, unless you're REALLY sure your amp can handle a note 2 octaves down from your low B!) The tracking is great, but it sound sort of bad when you're playing any- thing more than single notes & power chords. (oh also, you get very little response past 7th fret high E on a guitar.) For a badass,hard-core rhythm sound, run this pedal's output through distortion. The most incredible sound i've experienced was playing a 5-string bass through this unit and a Big Muff. wow. a MUST for 'tuff' bands.

I trust this pedal with my life.

I've never needed customer support, because the pedal never had a problem.

Overall, the pedal is worth purchasing for bassists and guitarists alike. A very minor problem with overtones exists, but is easily avoided once you know what (and what NOT) to do. This is a good tool for thickening rhythm guitar parts and bass parts, great for kicking in for the chorus. My only complaint is that I use it too much.

No manual - bought used. Pretty simple enough: three volume knobs, controlling the original tone, a tone one octave down, and a tone two octaves down respectively.

The tone an octave lower sounds pretty good... nothing too exceptional, but it gives me what I want. The two octaves down tone is REAL fuzzy and bad... but it does a good job of thickening up the overall sound. In summary, it gave me what I wanted, I just wish the overall sound was a bit "thicker".. it doesn't seem like three guitars to me.

No problems. Thrown it clear across the room and it was fine. It was my first BOSS Pedal, though, so the battery compartment was pretty hard to find. I took the pedal totally apart and put it back together in the process, but it still soudned the same. It's idiot-proof.

Bought it used.

I got a real good deal on this, I think. Well worth the price. I was really hoping it would be more "reproducive" of a sound - I was tired of overdubbing so I bought this to add more "meat." It does what it says it will, but it's a relatively thin sound still in my opinion.

This is very easy to use it has knobs for the level of the incoming signal,one octave down and two octaves down. Manual is pretty bare though, but you have to be an idiot not to be able to figure out how to use the pedal.

This has good tracking, very very fast tracking. It however has a number of problems (although minor). It can't handle more than one note (ie: chords ) very effectivly, it tends to get confused. Also if the note played is on the 5th or 6th string and the string is picked near the bridge (thus increasing the higher harmonics) the unit has troubvle deciding which octave to play the note at, so it ocsillates between two octaves. However picking the stiing near the 15th fret alleviates this problem.

Easy to use, just dial up the amount of effect required. Three dials for volume of input signal, one octave below and two octaves below. For bass a little of one octave mixed with the input signal gives that classic low doubled sound. You have to play well high up the neck to find a use for two octaves on a bass. It sounds great on my six-string though. Some trouble tracking low notes, and you also have to be careful how much input level you put into the thing, high levels can cause problems tracking the notes.

Sound quality is good, for the price. More expensive units are no better at producing the next octave down. You can't get other harmonies of course, but you'll have to buy an eventide to improve on the areas this pedal works in!

Power supply reliability is really the issue here. The pedal is OK but I've had mine built into a rack unit with a pro quality power supply and remote switching. Works great.

Get one!