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Boss OC3 settings

#4
CHILDISHGAMBINO said:
Does anyone have any good ones? I bought this pedal a few months ago and I'm not really liking it. It doesn't track well an it seems to only work well on certain spots on the neck. Maybe someone has a setting that will help me like this thing a little bit more.
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if the oc-3 is anything like the oc-2, its your bass- not the pedal.

the OC-2 tracks and sounds AMAZING on pretty much any setting with my fender bass. with my carvin, it drops out and doesent really track so great..after noticing this i tested a bunch of differnt basses, and with every other one, the pedal works fine.

but i have heard that the oc-3 is trash next to the oc-2..never tested myself though.
 
#6
On OCT2 mode, I have the Level @ 3 o'clock, OCT1 @ 12 and OCT2 @ 8.

On POLY mode, Level is @ 3, OCT1 @ 9 and RANGE @ 5 (Full).

I never really use the DRIVE mode.

I didn't really bother to compare this to other octaves, I liked what I heard and the price so I went for it. Never tried the OC-2 or EH Octave Multiplexer or EBS Octabass but I am curious.

The OC-3 is not the fastest when it comes to tracking but I think it tracks well, happy with it so far. Everyone has different expectations so I don't know, for me I love the sound specially when you pluck hard and combine some clean tone with it - that's why I crank the direct level higher.

And also, what do you mean by it only works on certain parts of the neck... If you use the POLY mode and keep the RANGE low then it will not work on the higher notes of the G string - like 15th fret and above or so... So crank the RANGE so that it works on the widest spectrum as possible. This is in the manual.

And of course it's not gonna work too well - at least not to my liking - on the super low notes like on a B string... I think the octave effect in general shines in the higher registers, I personally don't need 1 or 2 octaves below F#.

My only real complaint is that it sucks a battery like it's part of the buffet menu.
 
#7
I have an OC-2, but this advice will apply:

Pick nearer to the neck - you get more of the fundamental note and less harmonics, so it's easier for the pedal to track. Don't make it wade through bridge-end "honk" to figure out what note it's supposed to be doubling.

Solo the neck pickup (if available). Performance might suck a bit on a bass like a single-humbucker Stingray (I've no idea how Pino Palladino got away with it, but my 1-buck 'ray does NOT like my OC-2!)

Adjust your picking style to avoid excessive rattle and adjust your muting habits to stop any stray notes bleeding in. Again, this will help the tracking.

Expect it to crap out at the usual dead spots: G-string between the fifth and ninth fret (depending on your bass) will probably track like crap. People in the tech forum tried to explain this to me but frankly I don't think they understand why any better than I do, they're just more aware that it's something that affects most (all?) standard-scale bass guitars.

Don't expect it to continue to track when your notes start to decay - it WILL glitch.

Don't expect decent performance down to low E. If you've got lovely electronics and a great technique you might get brief performance out of low G or A, but low E is a gamble every time. If you need those notes, think about turning your octave pedal off.

Again, this applies to octave pedals generally, and is more down to my experience with the OC-2 and EBS Octabass. Maybe the OC-3 is different but I doubt the tracking is any worse.
 
#8
I have an OC-2 and an OC-3 and I find the tracking at least in the same ball park. You just have to play cleanly. It also seems to track better when I have my Submarine pedal in front of it. I think it gets a better signal that way. Tone wise, I prefer the OC-2 by a long shot.
 
#9
On this business about the octave effect only working on certain parts of the neck - it's true, but I had a breakthrough moment when I plugged my bass into the "Guitar" input rather than the "Bass" input. Done that way, it tracks properly all the way up and down the neck. I've been running it that way for a long time now, it does no harm.
 
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