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Who here has a Boss OC-3

#2
i own it. it's really not needed in a band situation, but i love using it anyways. i can sound like a synth! it's a lot of fun. if you have spare cash i'd definitely recommend it. and the poly setting it great, lets you play freely like you normally would without having it fart out on you. lots of fun.
 
#3
I really like mine, I think it's got a great sound. Very versatile with the multiple octave modes and it's got a rippin' overdrive feature also. I've read here that some don't think it's tracks all the great but I've always liked it.

BUT, I do have it up for sale currently because I have no use for it... I find that it really dominates when turned on and for my main band it's not too complementing with a female vocalist. It's really big sounding which is great but I guess not for me at this point.

Funny thing is as I type this I'm thinking about keeping it, haha.

Enjoy!
 
#9
oc3 tracks a lot better, a lot more forgiving, drive mode sounds actually pretty decent... some people don't like it though
poly mode is handy for sure
i havn't A/B'd them for sound quality on the notes the OC2 does track though.
 
#11
almix12 said:
oc3 tracks a lot better, a lot more forgiving, drive mode sounds actually pretty decent... some people don't like it though
poly mode is handy for sure
i havn't A/B'd them for sound quality on the notes the OC2 does track though.
Click to expand...

+1 on the tracking issue. I borrowed and OC-2 for a few weeks from a friend, didn't care for it, because of tracking issues. I have owned the OC-3 for over a year now and find it very useful, in poly or drive mode, the other mode is as finicky as an OC-2. Remember though, the ability to track the incoming signal is very dependent on level and dynamic range. I think it tracks better with a hot, compressed signal.
 
#14
I use the Oc2 like a fothermucker. I play alone with 2 amps and a drummer.

**CONS:**
-It does not track well on the lower notes or some times open strings (but then again, you don't really need it to!)
-the "2 octaves down knob is fairly useless because it gets pretty muddy on a bass, unless you have a higher range than most. (I plan to get a digitech whammy really soon so I can use it more often!)
-the sound is really fat and heavy, so you might piss off your guitarists....
-needs to be first in the chain. does not track after dist/modulation very well at all.

**PROS**
this thing is f-ing AWESOME! I pretty much write songs around it (high registry parts with it on, verse with it off) I run it through a boss ODB-3 (ol dirty) cranked all the way up for the most part. fairly metal tone, I would say. listen to dracula mountain and [This invalid link has been removed] and and you can get an idea of what it sounds like behind super heavy distortion (all 3 octaves no less!)

I have not tried the oc-3 in person, though I'd be surprised if it sounded as good as the oc-2 (since analog-sourced signals tend to be more flexible/responsive) the youtube demos sounded pretty good to me...
 
#15
Ok, did a mini shootout through headphones because the kids are sleeping. MPG Level 4 with P/MM Nordstrand PU and Sadowsky preamp. The contenders:

1) Boss OC-2
2) Boss OC-3
3) MXR Bass Octave
4) Digitech BSW, mode 7

Last place is easily the MXR. Tracks terribly but I'm going to go back to it later because I remember it sounding pretty good before. I'll try with a different bass.

The Digitech sounds decent, but doesn't have the tone of the last two.

OC-3 sounds pretty good. The poly mode tracks very well but doesn't have the same classic oscillator sound of the OC-2 mode or the real OC-2. Many times I couldn't tell the difference between the OC-3 and the OC-2 when set similarly. Had a done a blind test, I'm not sure if I would have been able to score very high in the "Name that Pedal" game. I dislike the drive mode, YMMV.

The OC-2 sounds great, simple to use and tracks well as long as you stay away from open strings and reasonably high note-wise. I'm giving it the nod as the winner, but you really can't go wrong with the OC-3. I'll have to try an EBS at some point.
 
#16
cybersnyder said:
Ok, did a mini shootout through headphones because the kids are sleeping. MPG Level 4 with P/MM Nordstrand PU and Sadowsky preamp. The contenders:

1) Boss OC-2
2) Boss OC-3
3) MXR Bass Octave
4) Digitech BSW, mode 7

Last place is easily the MXR. Tracks terribly but I'm going to go back to it later because I remember it sounding pretty good before. I'll try with a different bass.

The Digitech sounds decent, but doesn't have the tone of the last two.

OC-3 sounds pretty good. The poly mode tracks very well but doesn't have the same classic oscillator sound of the OC-2 mode or the real OC-2. Many times I couldn't tell the difference between the OC-3 and the OC-2 when set similarly. Had a done a blind test, I'm not sure if I would have been able to score very high in the "Name that Pedal" game. I dislike the drive mode, YMMV.

The OC-2 sounds great, simple to use and tracks well as long as you stay away from open strings and reasonably high note-wise. I'm giving it the nod as the winner, but you really can't go wrong with the OC-3. I'll have to try an EBS at some point.
Click to expand...

Thank you. :D Awesome review!
 
#17
Thunderscreech said:
Thank you. :D Awesome review!
Click to expand...

My goal for this weekend is to figure out a way to record on the laptop so that I can post some samples. Should be able to do something simple like use the X3 as an input to GarageBand. I'm not going to record and album, just a simple set of sound clips. That's just the goal. Laziness may set in and I'll end up taking a nap. ;-)
 
#19
No one has brought up the value of the Range control in Poly mode. For fretboard tapping, especially, it's very cool to have a thunderous bassline, at the same time as more bell-like chords/arpeggios. It's a very sharp cutoff on that; you can dial it in to have the octave go from full to gone in just a few half steps!

I sold mine to my brother when I got the POG. That was BEFORE I figured out that the single-stop tone of the OC-3 is superior to the POG (The POG has better polyphony across the board). Plus (what was I thinking?!), you can't do the 'range thing'.

So I'll have to go buy another one now.

Joe
 
#20
I know I'm kind of resurrecting the post right here but I really want to know if the OC-3 also gives the same synth sound that is possible cranking the oct-1 up and muting the dry and the oct-2 inthe BOSS OC-2. There's a synth setting in the OC-3's manual (it also includes some dry sound) but does it sound the same as the OC-2? In fact it has the drive setting so maybe it's even better on its own. Does anyone has any experience with it?
 

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