Boss OC-3 Super Octave

Gravy train, Took me ten minutes to figure out all the knobs uses. Anyone that doesn't understand this pedal is a complete moron. The 3 modes; Drive (adds distortion to 1 octave down mix), OC-2 (knobs control direct sound, 1 octave down, and 2 octave down volumes), and Poly mode (1 octave down, but a range button to control how high the octave effect works, to make chords sound cleaner) are all quite easy and usable.

Setup Ibanez AR guitar> Boss Oc-3> Boss DD-6> Line 6 FM4> Boss MT-2> Line 6 MM4> Line 6 DL4 > Peavey XLR head> B52 300w cab

The quality rivals The famous Digitech Whammy pedal. My Whammy Pedal broke and needed a replacement.Although the Whammy pedal does many other things, the Oc-3 has the best octave sound. The Oc-3 lets you control the levels of the octave effect. Thw whammy pedal doesn't allow that.

The chords sounds a lot better then the whammy pedal, the poly mode makes the chords sound cleaner by cutting off the octave effect on the higher registers and keeping the bass notes an octave down depending on how one sets the range.

Noise was a minimum, The only noise that annoyed me was when I was in Oc-2 mode and I turned the 2 octaves down knob all the way up and the other knobs down. The tracking sounded a hair off key.

The quality is superb and it makes my whole sound overall better. It sounds very clean when used with the MT-2 pedal. I can distictively hear the direct sound and the octave effect.

Whammy pedal broke , because the input jacks were made of plastic. The Oc-3 is made by BOSS what else can I say.

I would buy this pedal if it were stolen. Its my favorite pedal now, it beats the whammy pedal for the best octave sound and a little easier on the wallet. I like the fact that the thing is not going to break on me in the middle of a set. This pedal gave me instant inspiration. It make syour sound a lot fatter, but cleaner, especially useful if you are the only guitar player in the band. I love all the modes, I wish there were an easier way of switching between modes w/o having to bend down but I suppose all pedals are like that. Now if only Line 6 can make a pedal like this!!!

Very easy to use! The Drive and OC-2 modes are fairly straight forward, but the manual gives some explanation about the polyphonic mode. You can just twiddle knobs and get a good sound without reading the manual. I didn't even bother with the sample settings... I found 'my sound' almost instantly.

My signal chain: bass~Fulltone Bassdrive~OC-3~GE-B7~CE-2~DD-5~amp

I am very pleased with how this unit sounds. I mainly bought it for the Drive+octave mode. It thickens up the sound quite nicely, and the distortion/overdrive combined with the octave sounds awesome. The regular -1 octave effect works wonderfully as well. OC-2 mode is just plain sick! Kinda overkill for bass, but it might be fun with guitar.

The Polyphonic mode doesn't seem to track very well at all for bass, so I'm interested to hear it on guitar. I doubt I'll ever use the Poly mode for bass, unless I'm in the mood to experiment.

I've only had the unit for a few days, but it is a Boss product, so I assume it's bullet proof like all of their other pedals. I think my CE-2 Chorus is from 1979-80, and it is still running strong!

Haven't had to deal with them yet.

I've been playing bass for about 11 years. I now own 6 Boss pedals, and they are reliable as hell! I bought this pedal to thicken up some parts of my songs, and it sounds exactly how I figured it would sound. The Drive mode rules! No foot piano for me! If something ever happened to this pedal, I would definitely buy another one. It does exactly what I need it to do, its easy to operate, and it sounds great. Good stuff woman.

I mean there are only 4 knobs... I use it for 2 sounds... bass sim, and then to get the octave effect... (no bass player creates a problem...) so... I spent 5 minutes figuring out which settings I liked and PRESTO!!!

I give an 8 because the only setting that is worthwhile is the poly. with that said the poly kicks ass and I have heard no problems with the tracking... I would rather spend 100 bucks on this that 300 on the EH POG, besides, EH stuff isn't really my fav.

boss=good

never needed em'

for what I need it is great... I use it to record a simulated bass, while not sounding a lot like a bass, it does a good job at giving an interesting sound... if you like the deftones, it is a good pedal... if you are looking for les claypools tone, forget it... it is all about the use...

Knobs are easy once you get used to them, but not completely intuitive without checking the manual: Direct-adjusts the level of your guitar/bass signal in; Octave 1-adjusts the level out *one* octave below notes played; Octave 2-same, but adjusts the level of notes *two* octaves below; Range-different things for each of the three settings. Then the knob to select which setting you want. Manual is great...and necessary since it tells you which modes (OC2 & Drive) can only handle one note at a time and which (Polyphonic) will let you play chords. Sample settings they give don't wow me, but will get you started twiddling knobs. I found it easy to get the sound I wanted within just a few minutes: pick the mode you want, then tweak its sound.

I bought this primarily for use on acoustic gigs to get the bass lines heard on my CD & fill out my sound. So, for me, Polyphonic Mode rocks. With a Taylor 410CE, a compressor directly before the OC-3 helps even out and give a good signal to the OC-3. Good since the OC-3 is a bit finicky about signal that goes into it in spitting out a good bass sound on the other end. The OC-2 mode isn't terribly useful for me, since it can only handle you playing one note at a time. Drive mode has the same liability, although it might make for some interesting sounds when recording, especially when paired with other effects. On its own, Drive mode is reminiscent of funky 80s synth sounds or maybe the guitar part from the Beatles' "Think For Yourself".

With my electric guitar, the OC-3 can better handle the signal directly into it. I really love the fact that you can set the point at which (in Polyphonic mode) the octave below cuts out. As a solo performer, that mode does exactly what I bought it for - play bass with my solo guitar.

Overall, it feels like they tried to make this pedal a "jack of all octave below trades" and, as a result, it does none of the modes particularly wonderfully all on its own. But there's enough to work with to get a great sound.

This pedal is my second OC-3. I had my first one for all of three days. Why? It was a complete lemon. You plugged it in and it sounded like complete and total crap in any mode or configuration. Clearly, someone else thought so, too, since when I got it home there was packaging & the manual missing. However, I returned it to Guitar Center & they gave me a replacement with absolutely no hassle whatsoever.

I think the person below who was going to sell their pedal "to some boss fanboy on ebay" also got one that was a lemon. His experience sounds exactly like mine with the first pedal. I went back to replace it only because I had *heard* someone use it in concert exactly the way I wanted to and knew that the pedal could sound great. Plus, the one I tried extensively in the store sounded great. Otherwise, I would have been sorely disappointed and thought this pedal was nothing but an expensive doorstop.

So, if you get yours home & it sounds like crap, return it for a new one. If you're getting it used, I would not buy it sight unseen & untried. It is clearly a finicky pedal and if you get a lemon used, you're screwed.

Other than that, it's a Boss. Built like a tank. Good luck breaking it short of opening it up and actively pouring an entire six-pack into its innards.

N/A

I play a variety of stuff on a variety of instruments, but, as I said, bought this pedal for solo acoustic work to give myself a bass line. Jury's still out on how well it does onstage and whether I'd buy one again or whether it is disappointing in practice.

I wish that the OC2 & Drive modes could handle more than one note at a time. Or, barring that, that I could switch between the modes onstage without having to bend down & twiddle with knobs. Oh, and some QUALITY CONTROL before they leave the factory would apparently be nice.

So far, I love the sound and the way it gives me more options for sounds in live performance. If that changes, you can be sure you'll hear from me.

Drive Mode: very simple to get a great sound out of it.....use the bass-Input for guitar and you'll have a great tube-overdrive at the output....you can go direct into the mixer WITHOUT speaker-emulation...it works pretty good without harshness.....awesome!

OC2-Mode: the same as the OC2.....very simple to use!

Poly-Mode: the Range-Knob is a bit tricky.....but after a few tryouts you'll get it how it works...

As i said in the "Ease to use"......great sound, even when you use it as an overdrive-pedal for recording (no kidding)
Superfast tracking, no noise.....just the poly-mode is a bit strange...but its fun! It works....2 notes at the same time

Build like a tank.....Boss Quality!

i play the OC3 in front of my Peavey Classic 50 amp with my Gibson ES-347 guitar......or use it as a recording-preamp (the bass-input for guitar!!!) together with my T-Rex CompNova compression-pedal straight into my MOTU 828mk2 Audio Interface.......its a killer-pedal!!!

Pretty simple... i only use it for a nice fat bass overdrive - unlike other overdrive pedals this one doesnt destroy all of the bass and knock up the treble - the manual gives rather shitty settings though

I find that the louder the amp gets, the nicer the sound is.... doesnt work too well when practising through a crappy peavey 20watt but it sounds sweet through my yamaha115b

yeh, im happy with it... i can rely on it and i can also rely without it if it were to mess me about on stage

It takes a while to get used and the key reason to my hesitance at first was because i walked into the store prepared to buy an ME50b but changed my mind and bought the octave... i felt i didnt need a multi that just makes random noises and has a shit load of delays which though sounding awsome are very unpractical - im still a bit iffy bout the decision not 2 purchase the me50b but im happy with what i got. best solution for a nice bass overdrive!

i love this thing! YOU CAN HAVE YOUR BASS SOUNDS ON ONLY THE 5TH AND 6TH STRINGS OF YOUR GUITAR!!! just set the range when in poly mode. i play it in stereo thru my DD 20 (read my review in the Boss DD 20 reviews). it sounds FANTASTIC when you put bass on the right/guitar on the left. this box is an EXCELLENT signal splitter!

i haven't heard any noise in my setup. OC 2 can get eric johnson's octave sounds at the the end of "High Landrons' pretty good. i haven't tried that with the OC 3 yet, but should think they're the same. i just go thru my DD 20 in stereo. i feel the OC 3's bass out might sound more thru some compression. then you'll sound like you have Double Trouble playing with you. just bought an adrenalinn II so will be using that with it soon.

it won't break. have you EVER broken a BOSS pedal? do you have agressive tendencies or something? they don't break that easy.

BOSS(in taiwan at least) are A holes. okay here's my beef with them. call me petty. first they ask me to be the demo guy for the GR 30 guitar synth. i did stuff with it that was off the graph. they just wanted me to strum some sounds and play really hokey stuff that didn't show HALF OF WHAT THAT WONDERFUL MACHINE IS CAPABLE OF!! i was running the bass sound on the 5th and 6th strings, had rhodes piano on the 4th thru 1st, and soloing "i can't tell me why on top'. it was B#$%in to say the least. i even found a way to make it play drum patterns but never got to try it. they replaced me with some one who does exactly what he is told.
then, at a music show i was playing keys at the korg booth and the bastards(BOSS) had the nerve to cut my amp down WITHOUT ASKING ME!! it wasn't even their booth for crying out loud!!the truth is BOSS, KORG, All of these damn companies are more interested in selling home music stuff.maybe the yuppies at their booth couldn't hear the beautifully crappy sound of that roland home piano they were trying to sell them, but if i had known that,i.e. TELL ME- (i'm a caring reasonable guy)- then i would have cut it down myself!!!!!

i play jazz and some funky semi jazz stuff. i'm not joe pass unfortunately and second world countries like TW only recognize joe pass style as being jazz. in fact i get to listen to joe's licks everytime i hear a jazz band here. repeated over and over, even played note for note, song after song.even read from a book! is that JAZZ?? i'm getting way off the subject with my upper thirties rants. overall this pedal great. it's a great faux bass pedal for the 5th and 6th strings, and is a great signal splitter.

Easy to get to grips with, although the three functions use one of the knobs in three different ways - so that takes a little thought.

I'm using a Fender Tele through the Boss CS-3 compressor, the OC-3 and then to a Valvestate Marshall. All that adds up to beasty bass from the added lower octaves. My major disappointement with this pedal was the awful, awful distorted mess you get as a result of playing several notes at once... even the 'poly' function is weak despite Boss' claims.

Solid metallic construction

N/A

This was a bit of an impulsive purchase on my part - and quite a pricey one at that... the results are ok, but at the back of my mind I know that its alot of cash to spend on a pedal thats 'OK' - again I stress that the garbled sound from anything as little as two simultaneous notes was an unexpected let down. My compressor greatly helps the sound quality though.

I principally bought this because of its polyphonic capability. Only when I read the instruction manual did I realize that the polyphonic mode cuts out at about the A note, 1st string, 5th fret. This happens quite suddenly and can be quite jarring if the bass sound is prominant in the mix, as the bass sound disappears almost entirely when going up only a few frets. This makes it useless for soloing in the polyphonic mode. I mention this in the "ease of use" category because one would have to kneel down and turn a knob, swicthing to OC-2 mode for solos (or have another pedal) making it very awkward to use. Other than that, the knobs are very straight forward.

The problem with the polyphonic mode overrides most other sound considerations. Also, I don't care much for the distortion sounds, but I didn't buy it for that.

Its too new to tell.

In short, Boss released this pedal too early. Maybe they will fix the polyphonic mode for the next model. But as it stands, this pedal is of little use in the polyphonic mode.

You step on it and turn the knobs. I have no idea how to get a great sound out of it because every sound I've gotten out of it was crap. The manual is pretty straight forward,

I'd be very embarassed to put my name on this product if I made it. If my company had made this, I'd fire the designers and destroy all the evidence. The only thing I can say that's positive about this petal is that it doesn't appear to suck tone when it's inactive in your chain. Lets cover what you get:

setting 1: overdrive octave. Thrill to the sound of tortured cat octave with a crappy sounding distortion that sounds like a 10 dollar arion petal.

setting 2: OC-2 mode. Thrill to the sound of one octave lower that doesn't sound too bad, but another octave below that, that sounds like a electronic whale fart synthesizer. Oh, and you can only play ONE note at a time.

setting 3: Polyphonic Octave mode. Thrill to polyphonic octaves that DON'T FRIGGIN WORK RIGHT, and sound like crap. Be amazed when you try to run the dirty channel of your amplifier and it sounds even worse. Be really amazed when you try to hit more than 3 strings at the same time and it completely breaks up because it can't keep up. Be thrilled by how the octave effect simply goes away with no warning sometimes, especially during high fret work no matter how you have the third knob set. Don't even bother trying the dirty channel on your amp. The disgusting "OC-3 can't keep up" sound is ten times worse. Even when it's being distorted by expensive mullards. You can't polish a turd Beavis.

I can depend on it to suck consistantly in the exact same way. I will NEVER gig with this. I'm sure I could pound nails into concrete with this thing then polish it to a high gloss shine with a sneeze but that doesn't change the fact it sounds like crap.

No idea, doesn't matter. I'm going to sell this thing to some boss fanboy on ebay.

Now, before the flood of: "dude, you just don't know what you are doing. It's something wrong with your guitar/amp/cables/grounding/settings/chain/parakeet" I spent a week trying to get good sounds out of this thing. It's not the only petal I own. In fact, almost everything else I have IS boss. I was convinced it was a problem with the pickup not being hot enough for the OC-3 to track it correctly. So I replaced the p90 with a hot dimarzio. No dice. I was sure it might be a tune issues. My tuner must be broken. Got a second tuner. No dice. Didn't matter where in the effects chain. Loop or straight in. No dice. How could a mighty boss petal suck so intently? It was none of those things. This petal sucks. In fact, a 60 dollar plastic Digitech RP50 absolutely PWN3D'd this petal. The RP50 did polyphonic octaves better than the OC-3, and it doesn't even claim to do them!. So save half your money and get an RP50. It runs circles around this piece of crap and COMES WITH AN A/C ADAPTER. For 110 bucks, you think Boss could include the adapter instead of charging 20 bucks for it separately yanno?

The End.