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New Boss OC-5 Octave

#104
Octavers are a funny thing for me. I have to play through them myself to know if I like them. But I do tend to prefer analog octave down, meh tracking and all, though I recently sold my OC-2 and switched to the MXR Vintage Bass Octave. It tracks better, has more gain on tap, and sounds like an OC-2 to me. That said, while I do like the OC-2 better than the OC-3, it's not as far off the mark as I would have liked to believe at one time. But with all due respect to Boss, who did create the one by which most others are judged, I'm not in the market for octavers anymore. Once I find something I like, I tend to stick with it unless something better comes along.
 
#105
cnltb said:
I guess there are some good ones, some really good ones and some 'interesting' ones?
Click to expand...

The one on the OC-2 ends up making stuff sound flat and lifeless to me. But then it was also a pedal and circuit designed long long ago. I don't thing the onboard buffers on the ES-5 sound bad and again, I like the one on the Cali, and the one on my Strymon Timeline.
 
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#106
I'm deep into the Future Impact and C4 land these days so frankly the OCx is kinda of a snore to me. Yes I had an OC2 and no I didn't think it was the cat's ass... oddly enough I'm with Jimmy on this If I weren't going down the synth rabbit hole I'd have the MXR and a Pitchfork on my board. I like both of those a lot.
 
#107
BurningSkies said:
The one on the OC-2 ends up making stuff sound flat and lifeless to me. But then it was also a pedal and circuit designed long long ago. I don't thing the onboard buffers on the ES-5 sound bad and again, I like the one on the Cali, and the one on my Strymon Timeline.
Click to expand...
Do you know of a pedal that has high quality turn-off-able buffer that 'doesn't sound'?
A buffer should just be a clean 1:1 amp that gives very high in and very low out impedance. No?
If my assumption is correct, one should not hear a difference apart from a really 'healthy' signal on the out end of a buffer. Right?
 
#109
cnltb said:
Do you know of a pedal that has high quality turn-off-able buffer that 'doesn't sound'?
A buffer should just be a clean 1:1 amp that gives very high in and very low out impedance. No?
If my assumption is correct, one should not hear a difference apart from a really 'healthy' signal on the out end of a buffer. Right?
Click to expand...
Don't have the pedal experience to speak to the quality of the buffer. But the TC Sub n Up has the option to turn the buffer on or off to suit your cable lengths.

Not even 100% sure that's what you asked. But grammatically it could be read as such.
 
#111
Does anyone know if “Vintage” mode is analogue or simulates the OC2 the way the OC3 does (but better)? I noticed it’s called mono and not analogue so that probably answers it. I’m mainly interested in the octave up as I already have an OC3, MXR Vintage octave and mooer tender mk2. I’m not a fan of the Mooers octave down, but the swell function’s fun.

I’m guessing the OC5 will track better than a POG?
 
#112
BurningSkies said:
Generally yes...but not all buffers are created equal,
Click to expand...
Yeah the bypass/buffer tone is the main issue I’ve had with a number of otherwise really great Boss pedals. The most irritating Boss buffer issue for me was with their looper pedals, which I found tone-sucked my dry signal terribly compared to my Boomerang looper I had at the same time. It has kept me from trying out any modern Boss pedals for ages.
 
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#113
kazuhank said:
I wish I had been in the pitch meeting for that first video.
Click to expand...
Producer guy: So, you have a pedal demo for me?
Pedal guy: Yes sir I do!
Producer guy: So, it's gotta be really difficult to capture the OC-2 market and the POG market, right?
Pedal guy: Actually it'll be super easy, barely an inconvenience!
 
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#114
retslock said:
Too be honest I never saw the point of an octave down for bass. Octave up? Now that’s a good idea. If it tracks well that is.
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I thought the same for a very long time, but in the last few years I've come to appreciate a good octave down sound to really fill out and synth up some stuff. Currently have an OC3 which I like a lot, and my favorite analog ones have been the COGs and the Octron2 for the analog down and up. I like the 8-stringish digital octave-up sound, too, but sometimes it's just too "pingy". If someone could mod the new OC5 to have the upper octave on a footswitch that'd be aces.
 
#117
Hi all, I’m the bass player from the official BOSS OC-5 demo here. I can tell you that this pedal is everything we’re hoping it is. The octave up tone and tracking beats the current competitors hands down. There is loads of gain on tap too. In Bass and Vintage mode, the octave down is warm, creamy and phat just like it’s analog predecessor.

Check it out below. It stacks excellently with fuzzes and filters too.

 
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#118
woodyng2 said:
Yeah,I don’t think i would use the up octave feature at all.
I have an 8-string bass for that.;)
Click to expand...
I don't have a bass fretless eight strings ( each string doubled to an octave), and I'm looking for an octave up pedal that sounds as natural as possible...like a fretless eight strings ( each string doubled to an octave).
Do you have any suggestions between the Pog, the Boss oct 5, the T.C. sub'nup, the T-Rex quint machine, Taurus dexter mk2, Octron 3 ( looks very great) ..or others ?
I already have an octave pedal that is only one octave lower (Aguilar octamizer).
I like the sound of Mark Egan where he plays the themes and solo with his fretless 8 strings (doubled to the octave) !
Thanks
 
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#119
Jakeman said:
Agreed, sub-only octave on a fretless is killer - big part of what I do. I personally can't work with octave-up. The digital ones like the SubnUp sound like some weird sort of organ or keyboard. I like the analog octave up on my COG T-65, but it's not really usable on its own, more like an added tone to put on top of the sub-octave.
Click to expand...
I don't have a bass fretless eight strings ( each string doubled to an octave), and I'm looking for an octave up pedal that sounds as natural as possible...like a fretless eight strings ( each string doubled to an octave).
Do you have any suggestions between the Pog, the Boss oct 5, the T.C. sub'nup, the T-Rex quint machine, Taurus dexter mk2, Octron 3 ( looks very great) ..or others ?
I already have an octave pedal that is only one octave lower (Aguilar octamizer).
I like the sound of Mark Egan where he plays the themes and solo with his fretless 8 strings (doubled to the octave) !
Thanks
 
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#120
Great review:



My key takeaways were:
  • (15.00) Good classic OC2 sound! And without the volume loss that OC2 suffers from on solo -1 Oct?
  • (17.37) Not bad digital octave up - more rounded and less 'tinny' than EHX / Pog pedals, but still prefer my Digitech Mosaic for oct up - which I think would do a better job than what I'm hearing at (26.50)
  • (22.27) Seems to be implying that it has analogue oct down in vintage mode (OC2) but digital oct down in poly mode (OC3)
  • Poly mode seems to be straight from OC3 - which never particularly impressed me. And they still have threshold the wrong way around - why would you want to only have Oct down on the low notes and not the high notes? The other way around I totally get!
  • But it seems to have improved / less glitchy tracking as compared to its predecessors. But I still don't think it matches the Boss SY-1 for tracking (tbf there is nothing out there which does!) which is currently my goto Synth and Oct pedal.
Am I tempted to get one? Possibly - but really only because it gets so close to classic OC2 without volume loss. The rest I'd happily give a miss.
 
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