Boss OC-3 Super Octave

Pedal is used in Poly mode to add bass to electric and acoustic guitar, the range control allows you to filter out higher notes and just trigger the octave effect from the lower strings. Very easy to set up although the manual is not too clear on the capabilities of the Poly setting.

Sound is good - very good if you route the direct and effect outputs to different mixer channels. The octave signal does have a few high frequency noises but these can be tuned out to a great extent by e.q. The effect out sound can be further improved by compression and by routing it to a dedicated bass amp. Noise level is low.

Usual Boss compact build quality, no probs so far.

n/a

Not perfect but very effective for filling out the sound of one guitar and a lot cheaper/simpler than a GR synth set up. Used for classic rock, blues etc. when playing with a drummer. I play fingerstyle on electric so can usually pick out a simple bass line on 5th and 6th string whilst playing chords or lead lines on the other 4 strings. My set up is Taylor 210E/JJ Jewel solid with EMG's into the Boss OC-3, Digitech Vocalist2, Digitech Eric Clapton, Digitech Jimi Hendrix, Digitech RP-150 into a mackie desk. Aux out to Marshall Lead/Bass 20 2x10 combo and homemade 12" cab with 150 watt power amp for keyboard and OC-3 derived bass.

This unit, as with most boss single stomp boxes, is very easy to become familiar with. There are 4 pots that control the amount of wet/dry signal and the type of octave effect to use. The great thing about the unit is that you can use it with a nice clean octave effect or you can select the drive mode and add a fuzzy distortion to the signal. You also have the option to switch between mono and polyphonic so single notes sound great but whole chords can be played without the effect going insane. The manual is simple but helpful with more than enough info to get you started. You have an input for guitar and one for bass with outputs for your amp and direct out to a PA or mixer etc.

The sound quality is very good. It has quite a convincing analogue sound with very low noise. It wont destroy your beloved guitar tone unless you want it to. I noticed that the Monophonic mode sounds better even though you are limited to single notes it has a fuller more powerful sound. If you are trying to simply fatten your guitar sound the Polyphonic option is great on middle settings as it give a harmonic chord sound.

Its made of metal and its made by Boss so it seems to stand up to some real abuse. I have dropped it, kicked it, stamped on it and almost crushed it with my Cab, it still works and the pots are all still attached. The on/off switch is firm and feels springy under your foot so you know you've stomped on it. Battery life is quite short as this pedal is a little on the hungry side, you'll be swapping batteries every few gigs. If you have a power supply, plug it in!

Never had to use them. So no opinion on that.

I play mostly Sludge and Ambient rock/metal, a rather unusual mix of spacey delayed guitars and stoner echoes with a massive slice of down tempo overdriven insanity! I use a Les Paul and an SG with a Peavey Valve King 100 all tube amp and a formidable chain of effects (Octave, Delay, Overdrive, EQ, Noise gate, Tuner and volume pedal) And my guitars always stay in a rather low Open B tuning. If this pedal were lost or stolen I would buy another the next day! I love its sound and construction and it is one of the better pedals of this type out there. It helps in the creative process as you can get some rather weird sounds out of it as well as subtle over(under) tones. If you, like me, are the only guitarist in the band then a weapon such as the Octave should be strongly considered as it instantly widens the sound and adds depth.

it's pretty straight forwards when you tweak for a few minutes

i just traded the oc-2 for the oc-3,
it tracks a tiny bit better (okay stuff on the low E string isn't great)
but it works for 5th chords which other octavers never/rarely do

i don't think you can say anything is different in the 'audible' field from the oc-2

it does as much as any octaver could,maybe a bit more

-to compare it to a whammy pedal...
a whammy pedal does give you a more unbroken tone/sound
(the oc-3 has a 'digital warble' on long notes)
BUT a whammy pedal can't do chords and they track slower than your playing.the oc-3 tracks faster than a whammy pedal.
you either go with an oc-3's faster tracking and warbling or a whammy pedal's slower tracking that is smoother.

i don't care that i can get overdrive from this effect,it's a function i will hardly use.

all my Boss pedals have always been very good

i use several guiatrs with several combo's of amps and pedals and i've always been pleased with Boss stuff

never dealt w/ Boss,only retailers

alt. rock almost like indie without the shite singing (w/ experimental overtones guitar wise)

i use pedals for color and something like this can give you new ideas every now and again.

A little fiddly but reasonably straightforward. Have not gone too much into all its possibilities however; see below.

Please note I don't really like octavers and would not in the normal course of events, purchase one. However this came on semi permanant loan from a friend of mine who had come out of another of his brief musical periods (half my equipment has come from this source)along with a few other bits 'n'pieces. So I plugged it in out of curiosity and was pleasantly surprised. Now I can see why other people are not fans of it and basically if you want bass get one of those four string plonkers. However it does, in the drive setting, make FILTHY NOISE or should that be NOISY FILTH? Sounds like Satan moving his bowels. This is not yer nice creamy overdrive but hideous messy distortion, almost a little digital(?) sounding. As a purveyor of noise I like this but many will probably not. I have a valve amp which sweetens it a bit plus other more traditional and more pleasant effects so this makes an interesting contrast for me. The other settings can make some flatulent rumblings which can be useful as well. I have been using an old cheap keyboard from my teens recently and these help beef it up a bit.

Only gigged a couple of times with it but the usual cliches about BOSS gear would appear to apply here. That said my DD3 has developed a horrible ticking noise in its longest (and best) setting.

Normally never had to call them which is a good sign. My enquiry about the DD3 was unanswered though it was second hand and out of warranty but courtesy costs nothing does it?

This review is from a pure noise creation point of view. If you want to use it "properly" then I advise you to read all the other comments on this pedal first as many seem to have problems with it. As I said octavers are not really to my taste so to me it sounds much like any other octaver. There are times though when good taste gets in the way of art and that's when this little piggie gets to wallow. A handy little dirty weapon for those moments when as Samuel Jackson would have it "you positively have to kill every single mutha f**ker in the room".

It's pretty simple to use. The knobs do what they are labelled with. 3 modes, each one varied, nice and simple manual, just your average pedal, really.

Some of the sounds you can get are a bit weird. My favourite mode by miles is the 'Drive' mode. It's too cool for school. You can get some awesome Muse-esque sounds out of it, such as the Hysteria intro- which is what I mainly use it for. Unfortunately, you'd be better off with a Whammy for bass lines. The tracking, whilst better than my old OC-2, is not a patch on a good Whammy. The poly setting is also a bit crap, to be honest. Not what BOSS make you expect it to be, I'll say that now.

Buy it purely for the 'Drive' sound.

It's definitely reliable. I like it.

Not dealt with them, don't plan to.

If you want something that will emulate a bass guitar, then buy a bass guitar. You're never going to get an accurate representation from a ??90 pedal. If you want a cool little toy to mess about with, get this pedal. The Drive setting is hours of fun, and is worth it if you pick it up for a song secondhand. Otherwise, leave it. I bought mine new in 2003, and I still enjoy using it- never considered selling. Just think carefully before you buy.

When you press the pedal to turn it off, the "check" light does not turn off as in my Boss OS-2. It stays on. There is no visual indication of the pedals state.

The pedal has 3 modes, and the knobs that does not control the mode have very different meanings depending on the mode. Further more they are not labled so it is easy to see the meaning in a given mode. You have to know it.

My setup is a Stagg electric violin => this pedal => a 15W Marchall combo with distortion circuit.

In two of the pedals tree modes, it can only octavize one tone at the same time. So if I by accident hits another string, it will wobble between the two notes in a very wired way, like it cannot decide which tone to use. For this reason these two modes are unuseable to me.

The final mode, poly, can play many tones at the same time, but unfortunally it cannot octavize the heigher tones, even with the proper knob all way up. My rule of thunb is to stay on the two lower strings, and everything is fine.

Even in the poly mode, the sound seems to be missing a lot of detail. When I just pick the strings, it sounds like an electric bass. And when I use the bow it sounds like an electric bass with a sustain pedal. When playing without distortion I definitely have to use other effects to give the sound some detail - with distortion I get an "evil machine" like sound (on the two lower strings).

2 out of 3 modes are unuseable for anybody that does not want to think of the pedal all the time. The sound is there, and with no or low noice, but is not convincing. I might be OK for certain special uses, but not for this price.

Using it for Bass, it took a little bit of messing around with it before i could get a sound that i liked. if you're looking for plug and play, this is not the peal for you.

i'm suing it with a Fender precision lite jazz bass (both J and P pick-ups), and running it thru a Hartke amp and 15". The sound quality is good at most of the register, however it does lack something on the bottom end, it can be a little too muddy if not adjusted properly. I was a little upset that it didn't do the job of the OC-2, but i found that this has it's own perks. The poly seems to work good for me, but it's dependent on the drive, tewak it and you'll get a good sound. If you're expecting a miracle, look elsewhere, but that is not to say that this is not a good pedal, you just have to take your time with it.

Roland has never let me down yet!!!

never had to deal with them

Overall, i'm not depending on it for "my sound," it's a great tool that is used when needed and it does the job well. I do a lot of production work and this allowed me to get that chunky dark sound that i wanted. I got mine super cheap because my cousin worked at the store. I would definately recomend this for Bass players, especially if you're looking for a unique sound, but you must be patient and have a good ear to get the most out of this.

Easy to setup and use. Settings are straightforward, manual is basic - you must play with settings too understand what they do.

I started with setting recommended by Jeff www.jfrocks.com. Knob 1 - Level 1/4 - 1/3, Oct 1 10% up Oct 2 0 -2% up, Mode Poly.

Since I use it for thickening, I changed my settings to Level Knob 1 - Level 3/4 - 1/3, Oct 1 3/4 up Oct 2 1/4, Mode Poly.

New...but these pedals are reliable.

Didnt have to call them.

I play hard rock, alternative 80s metal.
Playing on and off for 15 years.
Does what I want it to do...thickens riffs.

This unit is self explanatory, otherwise there comes a nice manual with it. It is NOT easy to get a good sound out of it, but can be done. It's a tricky pony, you should tweak around a little.

I use this device in a band sometimes for replacing our bass player. I menaged to get a good sound out of it; on the "poly" setting. It tracks pretty good, much better than the OC-2 imho.
I use it on the neck humbucker of my Gibson Les Paul; don't know how it would behave on singlecoils.
It is not noisy at all.
It's a nice toy for giving your sound deeper tone. And great on clean, not so good distorted...but it has a drive option, which also isn't bad.
It's a good try, but will never replace a good bass player :)

Like any other Boos pedal. Good quality.

Never dealt with them.

I play Rock, punk and ska for over 15 years now. It's a nice device.
Better than the OC-2. I haven't had the chance to compare it to the EBS Octabass, which should also be good.
Give it a try, a decide for yourself.

Easy to use.
Just turn the knobs to put in the desired amount of each level.
Could be easier i guess cos you have to turn guitar level down while turning octave up if you dont want all overall level to increase.

At first i thought yeh this is amazing, i used it to do low metal stuff by putting in some more bass end to the chords.

Then i tried to play bass lines on it in the same octave as a bass. Sounded a bit rubish. Had to fiddle with amp a fair bit. It will never sound write on a low wattage amp with small diameter cones.
I did get a nice sound with my 12" cones. Sounds pretty good for higher bass lines, however it makes a weird noise on open string, 1st, 2nd and 3rd frets on the low E when holding a note for a long time. It kind of bouces up for a moment before bouncing down. the sound dosent even slide up to it then down again, it just changes it really weird.

This makes it a bit rubbish for some stuff. Although works fine for fast bass lines or slightly higher ones.

This can be avoided by playing an octave higher on guitar and going to the OC2 mode, but this doesnt sound as true.

Im giving it a seven cos i know alot of people will want it for bass, which it works fantsatically for with a bit of fiddling, except for the low notes on the e string. If you are using it like i do for sick chords it gets a nine. If bass lines without low notes on e string a 7. If with low notes it gets a 5.
That averages 7.

Its a boss.

never dealt with them.

Good for what i need it for.
I only can compare it next to digital versions on multi effects pedals, which ALL have the same problem.
I am unsure of any other alternatives which work without the weird bounce in octaves.

Fairly straightforward....

In my experience, dreadful! Read what others say - it fails to track accurately, resulting in a mushy mess! Avoid at all cost - I did!

Expect it to be reliable, like all Boss/Roland products, but didn't own it long enough to know.

No comments to add...

My view - a waste of space!

Too easy. Match your output, bring in any amount of Octave you want, stomp on and away you go! Best OC model yet.

Tracking is much better that any OC2 whether it be Japanese made or otherwise. I think the tone is better too.
No noise at all from this baby but it does suck batteries so get yourself a power supply.
Nuno uses one, what more do you need to know.

It's a Boss.
Other than the speed with which it eats up battery power it's great. Get a power supply as i said because i have had mine die halfway through a gig with a new battery.

Roland are always great. (If you ever need them)

Everytime i step on this baby, I am lost for words as the audience are. Jaws hit the ground and on one occasion I think i hit the brown note!

The predecessor OC-2 is much better soundwise. I compared them. Even the bypass sound is better with the OC-2. Boss seems to use cheaper input buffer amplifiers now.
(but of course the signal tracking is not so stable with the OC-2. I don't mind this too much.)
The OC-2 also needs very little power (4mA): A battery lasts 'eternally' - if you don't forget to unplug !-)

Buy the OC-2 from ebay.

The user interface is trivial, but the sounds are terrible. It is therefore not easy to get a good sound out of it.

I have used the unit with many different high-end guitars, and with many different high-end amplifiers, but it is simply not possible to get a decent octave effect out of this pedal. It has severe problems tracking the pitch, and the result is a messed-up, unpleasant noise like random octave sound.

Boss is in general great, but something has gone terribly wrong with the project leading to an intended polyphonic octaver. So, one cannot depend on the OC-3, if octave effects is what you're after.

I never dealt with customer support.

I play hard rock and avantgarde art rock, and other octavers I own perform great (also the Boss OC-2 sounds great compared to the OC-3!).

I've got this and the OC-2 and recently A/b'ed them. Bascically, they both have there shortcomings. I'd say that overall the Oc-3 is not as good as the Oc-2 in any way except that the tracking is somewhat more stable but it's still far from flawless. Maybe by the OC-6 they'll fix that. Babysteps.

Oc-2 is the better pedal in the tone dept. It cuts through a mix better and has a brighter more natural tone. This thing sounds really compressed and dark. It also hase more bass and it can get farty really fast. I don't turn the Oct. 1 knob over 12:00 on the dial. It does track decent though, better than the Oc-2. You can strike a note, let it ring and you generally will not hear it warble. My biggest problem is that it's muddy sounding. I Think of it as having a low mid like a mesa as compared to a high mid like a marshall would. That's the best analogy I can think of. Also, when you go to shut it off there is a weird glitch that happens where it is not a smooth transition at all if you want to swithc out of the Octave sound for some chords. The Oc-2 does not do that and it can be switched on the fly without any problems. I hate this kinda of stuff and I can't believe boss would let it go like that. People who don't do fast tonal transitions may not be bothered by it but I like to switch the effect on real quick for a thick octave line and it's impossible to get out cleanly. Oh and did I say it gets buried in a band setting. Big trouble there. OC-2 kicks this things ass all over the place there too.

Top notch

Don't bother

I love boss and have a bunch of there pedals but they have a bad habit of not improving upon past models in all there lines. If they could of reproduced the tone of the OC-2 but with better stability and none of that glitch crap when you go to shut it off it would be a success. Instead it's to dark and bassy for fast lines and it fights with your bass player too much in this regard. OC-2 is brighter and rides above the bass more. Also this Poly mode crap is a gimmick. You can't paly any notes that aren't in a specified range. So this is basically boss being a bunch of douche bags and teasing you. Make hte whole fucking thing Poly and then you'd have a real product. They have to give you one small improvement at a time so you buy next years model. Pathetic. I'll stick with the OC-2 Boss thanks for nothing.

As soon as i brought it i felt yes another great boss pedal to add to my colection but as the moment i plugged it in, it was only noise some notes you would get the octave others you wouldnt it was terible to try and get a good sound after a couple of hours fighting qwith this thinhg ive given upand its ready to go back to the shop

im using this with a fender stratocaster with a seymore dunkan humbucker on the bridge. The new poly octave is dredfall it wolks on 1/3 of the nech and any high it just crackles and u get no octave sound at all i found that this pedal dosent work well with other effects like a delay or overdrive you can simply use the octaver, this is a great downfall because i could get that sound that i really wanted from it. i wanted to get them heavy riffs and things like that with a really kicky bass. All i got was crumbles and crackles if i played more than 1 note at a time

Boss are Amazing ive never had a problem with them untill now

I say to not go near this pedal its a discrace ive benn playing for quite along time now i do like things to sound good and this certanly dosent. the manual was completly useless it didnt even explain what each nob did very well. it took me hours to make sence of it all....... Ahh Boss you really messed this one up

Good sounds were easy to find before reading the manual, but I wasn't always clear what each knob was actually doing. The manual cleared everything up and I was able to dial in useful sounds quickly.

I use a 4-string Fender Jazz bass (Signature Series - Geddy Lee) and a 4-string Music Man Bongo with two humbucking pick-ups. Amp is SVT Classic through Ampeg SVT 410HLF. The signal hits a BOSS tuner and a BOSS Compression Sustainer before it hits the OC-3.

As others here have pointed out, the effect is worthless below the E string 5th fret, but that's not what I need it for anyways.

I had my Jazz with me at the store. There I discovered that if I played and held a sustained note on the 5th fret C on the G string, the unit had difficulty processing the signal, and after 3/4 second it oscillated between what sounded to me to be the same note at different octaves. It was not a pleasant sound. The same thing happened to a lesser degree a semi-tone higher and a semi-tone lower. I tried the same notes on/around the 10th fret of the D string, but the problem did not occur there. The Guitar Center guy switched out the unit for another one, but we had the same problem. Then we tried another bass (a Fender P-bass, I think), and we had exactly the same results. This happened in all three modes, except poly when the third knob was set so that the effect was not "on" for that tone. I purchased the unit despite the flaw, knowing that I would have to work around it (i.e., not play that note at that spot at all, or if I do, don't sustain it long enough for the oscillations to begin).

At home, I reduced the problem somewhat by preceding the OC-3 with my compression sustainer, and totally eliminated it - with or without the sustainer - by using my Bongo. The manual does acknowledge that the effect is more stable with humbucking pick-ups than with single coil, and also when used in conjunction with a compressor.

Overall though the latency is good and the tone is true. My wife and I did a test where I alternated between (a) effect off and simultaneously holding down an E octave (7th & 9th frets of A and G strings), and (b) effect on and playing the 9th fret E on the G string. She's no audiophile, but she couldn't tell the difference. To me the difference was barely discernible but negligible. Cool.

I have other BOSS effects and know their dependability. This one will get stolen long before it breaks.

Never had to use it.

For what I need, it gets the job done. It's a bummer about how I have to play around the flaw when using my Jazz bass, but other than that, it's a good effect. I'm using it to "fill out" the sound a bit on some songs that the original artists use a 5-string on. True, it's not the same thing as playing a 5 string, but it is a cool tone and fills out the band's bottom end sound nicely on those songs (examples: Audioslave's "Show Me How to Live", and especially nice on Maroon 5's "This Love").

very easy... didn't need the manual; straight out the box, plugged it in, had a great sound in minutes.

set-up: Musicman Stingray 5 - TU2 tuner pedal - OC3 - Warwick Quad 6 thru a 411 Pro cabinet.

For a bassist wanting either a fusion solo-sound or a wonderful warm bottom-end boost for that peak moment playing live this pedal is perfect. This pedal comes into its own through a massive stage rig, I have been doing festivals and outdoor stages recently and kicking in this pedal (on polyphonic setting with a fairly balanced level of natural tone and octave) is earthshaking without drowning out other frequencies. Had nothing but praise from keys and guitar-players and several appreciative comments from the sound-guy.

I have had no problems with noise with this unit. The tracking is good on bass; like most octave pedals you get a useful clean warm octave sound only from a 5th fret A upwards. This pedal is excellent, feeling the strength you are hitting the note, sounds great on fade-in notes (endings etc), 'popped' notes and slapped lines as long as they are played accurately and do not ring harmonics.

Haven't used the distortion sound, I would rather drive the clean octave with a separate unit.

If you are looking for a straightforward mid-range low octave boost this is the one: I A-B'd it with an EBS Octabass, an old OC2, and a couple of obscure octave pedals in the shop with a passive jazz bass and it was clearly the warmest and most 'true' sound, as well as being the only one that tracked consistently throughout the trial.

The poly setting does not register the very high tones right up the top of the neck - worth knowing if you're gonna be soloing - stick to the OC2 setting. Poly setting better tracking for normal pop playing. Only gonna be an issue for fusion and jazzers.

Its a boss, you could kick this box around happily forever and it won't break.

haven't dealt with boss.

For a great low boost for pop gigs this is a great octave unit for a bass player's set-up. Not so good for crazy soloing up the top of the neck but the tone of this thing on the middle fret notes is superb thru a big amp and PA - blows people away.
Would buy another straight away if it was stolen - for those who wanna keep it simple and just stick a straightforward octave under their sound this is the best that I have tried in the shops and it has stood up to big outdoor gigs and being battered about on the road.
Now I have this unit it is going to be part of my set-up for good. Nothing but encouragement and positive feedback from other musicians, audience-members and soundcrew about the pedal.

Very easy to figure out and quickly get great sounds. 4 simple knobs. I never even opened the manual.

Sounds great! The kicker for this unit is the polyphonic setting. It's worth the price paid, and it's 100% of the reason you should buy the OC-3 instead of the OC-2. Anyone who says the polyphonic setting is no good is obviously not using it for the designed purpose. What an awesome way to add low-end to your sound without adding an octave to every note played! Excellent!!!! My only minor gripe is that sometime the lowest notes (low-E string) are a little bit warbley - but it's not bad unless you're mixing the effected notes way up in the mix. Not to mention, all octave units I've ever used have the same problem.

Yes - very rugged all-metal construction. Boss pedals have looked the same for 20+ years for a good reason!

Haven't had to deal with them - ever!

I've been playing for about 25 years. I play in a Christian Praise band in front of about 300 + people every Sunday. I can't afford to have problems as the church services run on a tight schedule! I hve too much gear to list, but this part of my set-up is definitely worth the price paid.

easy to use, and even easier to take it back to where I purchased it from. Nothing complicated here to figure out, except for why I can't get it to affect higher pitched notes. If I'm playing a riff that involves anything on the high E or the B string, I get no 'octave' effect.

Not noisy, but inconsistant. It doesn't seem to track all of the notes - the higher notes in particular. Bye Bye....
I love my boss tuner - it's a tank and has become an indespensible component on my pedalboard. I have used boss delays, chorus and overdrives extensively in the past, and think they are a great 'bang for the buck'. But this pedal has issues. Next...

Built quality is fine - it's more of a design issue to me. Unreliable in the sense that it fucks up every time. Not what I have the time or inclination to bother with at a gig.

I just wrote it off as a bad idea and returned the pedal after three days of tweaking. never gigged with it. why bother the good people at Boss customer support when I could just return it and go on with my life!

I didn't try it in the store, but the idea was to fatten up some licks and riffs. I already have a Boss EQ pedal, which I now use as a low end boost. I punch it in and out as needed. True,it's not an octave, but a low end boost works fine for me.

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.

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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

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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 distorti