Product: Boss OC-3 Super Octave
Price Paid: US $99 at Guitar Center
Submitted
10/27/2003
at
08:26pm
by
Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
8
It requires a bit of playing around, but you can get some very usable sounds pretty quickly. There are four knobs (three change parameters and one selects the mode).
The manual is very good and explains how one can split the direct output (e.g. to feed a guitar amp) and the octave output (to feed to a bass amp).
Sound Quality
:
8
I'm using a Mex Strat with Texas specials on the neck and middle positions and a Seymour Duncan lil '59er on the bridge. I usually play in the neck position. I'm using a blackfaced '68 Fender Bassman (thank you, Mike Kropotkin) for the direct sound and a early '70s Kustom 100 watt bass amp and cabinet (in red tuck and roll).
The direct sound is pretty good and the octave sound is pretty good as long as you play single strings. It doesn't sound like my Jazz Bass, but it's still usable. Jack White (of The White Stripes) uses a similar sort of rig (a Digitech Whammy) to get his bass guitar sound while still getting a good guitar sound.
The manual (I'm an INTP and HATE manuals, but I'm still glad I read it) gives some good tips to avoid excessive noise.
Reliability
:
10
So far, so good. It's a Boss, I don't expect problems.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never had to deal with them. Never want to.
Overall Rating
:
8
For what it is, it's great. No one in their right mind who understands sound will expect this to make you sound like you're playing a bass guitar, but it gives you a lot of bottom and lets you make some pretty interesting sounds.
