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This pedal has been my greatest gear purchase in the two years I've owned it and I seriously think every guitarist that gigs needs to have one. It comes especially in handy for those solo or duo gigs where it doesn't make sense to bring a bass player along.
Basically, on the polyphonic setting you can choose at which point on the fretboard the effect stops working. Find the right setting and you can put your bottom note down the octave into bass territory while keeping the rest of your chord/melody at pitch.
I know I'm probably far from the first person to do this, but maybe this thread finds one or two people to help.
I've recorded a short video for better explanation and playing samples:
Cheers everyone! Happy new year
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12-31-2018 08:42 PM
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Glad Hekselman makes excellent use of this in a trio setting without bass. I play 7-string, so I'm all set without it.
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I’ve got one, I recorded this with it:
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Beautiful! The only thing you have to be careful about is where you set the lower octave with the dial.
Originally Posted by grahambop
It sounded like you had it set so there were some muddy sounding voicings between the E and A string.
That is pretty much unavoidable if you play with a pick (which it sounded like you did), but if you use your fingers, you don't have to worry about that as much.
You could also set the lower octave to a lower setting, but then you lose some chords that have the bass note on the A string.
I try to set it so the lower octave begins on about Eb, so because I play with my fingers, the only chords I have to worry about would be ones that use the Eb on the first fret of the D string.
You do have to give up voicings that use the E and A strings as the two lowest notes on the lower frets.
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An honest question. Why does playing with a pick cause a more muddy sound? I would think it would be just the opposite, with the cleaner pick attack causing a better sound.
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Thanks! Actually I rarely play the E and A strings together in a chord (if that’s what you meant). Although I use a pick, I just mute the 5th string in all chords with a 6th string root. Originally Posted by sgcim
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I think what was meant is that if you use a pick, you might sweep across both the 5th and 6th strings, and if you are at the lower frets, both strings will be doubled an octave below, sounding muddy. Which is true. But I don’t do that, I always mute the 5th string in this scenario, using the side of a left hand finger, or my thumb over the neck. Originally Posted by dwparker
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Thanks, makes sense.
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I actually had this pedal for a while, bought it used, and never knew it could do that!
So i sold it cause for normal octave effects i very much preferred the OC2 i also had. Later when i saw the split octave thing that it does... its on my buy again list ! 
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For sure. If you watch, I am primarily hybrid picking. So yes, I still use a pick but I use my fingers at the same time to get the same effect you do. That Eb is exactly where I set mine as well for the drop off. The picture I posted is my usual settings. I kind of use the octave down sound to "reinforce" my bass note rather than have it really stand out. If it's too loud, it becomes obvious how weird it and glitchy it can sound.
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Yes that’s what I do, cutoff is around D or Eb and I mix the octave bass to blend in rather than stand out too much.
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This is the only Boss pedal ever that made it to my pedalboard. I've had it for years and it's still on my board. I use a small pedalboard; Volume, OD, OC-3, Delay, Reverb. I use OD mainly for other styles, but occasionally I make use of the OC-3 in polyphonic mode for some solo "jazz guitar stuff". Great pedal. But just like most effects it should be used sparingly. It's not in any way a must-have and it's really a question of what you play and how you play it if the OC-3 would add anything meaningful. Most of the time it won't, but once in a while there's a time and place.
Tip: For clean Jazz guitar In polyphonic mode, set "Direct Level" fairly high past noon to preserve a natural sound quality and a balanced frequency response. (Avoid the hollow artificial bass sound you get when allowing the OC-3 to replace the guitar's natural bass. Add a touch, don't replace.)
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I have one too! I sometimes use it when playing solo guitar but it’s not that easy....
I mostly use it in my funk & groove 4tet as a cool effect in solos to create octaves, not in a Wes way, but just fast single note lines with an octave under it. Sounds great!
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This pedal would be perfect if it had a magic "kill dry" option - so the octave down section would have only the wet sound. I really didn't like how you had both the regular and octave down sound at the same time. Forgetting that, it's a great pedal.
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i think you can do that if you set the direct level to max.. might be wrong tough..
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Wouldn't that work for the octave down part but disable your dry sound above the frequency limit set by range? Maybe it was error part on me?
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In Poly mode "Direct Level" refers to the dry signal. The higher the setting, the more dry signal in the blend. If you roll back Direct Level, the synthisized signal gets the upper hand (and output level decreases). The more dry signal in the blend, the better tone in my opinion. However, there are two output jacks with the possibility to split direct and wet signal for wild hook ups.
(In Drive mode, direct level equals output level.)
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i thought it sounded pretty ok in the group setting but i wasn't super feeling it for solo playing. partially because i can hear the octavey effect more, but also because even when it sounds the best, its still the worst, most boring and unimaginative bass player out there. because guitar players and bass players are different things, and unless you are making a supreme effort (which probably isn't possible, given what you guys are trying to play) it just sounds like a guy occasionally thumping out a root note. or, a cliche of a guitar player playing bass, in other words.
but it worked a little better for me in the group setting because there are other instruments to distract from the fakery and chunking out chords plays toward the pedal's strengths better.
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I’ve only used mine in the practice room. The octave tone is pretty ugly. I’d fire any bass playing with a tone like that. :-) But with just a tiny bit dialed in it does fill out the sound a bit without the ugliness coming through. Maybe I’ll spend more time with it and see if it could be useful to help fill out the bottom for solo work or duos without bass. Originally Posted by McJazzer
Gilad Hekselman has a nice demo of the OC-3 on youtube. His octave tone sounds pretty good. But he says he runs the octave through a separate bass amp. I suspect he dials the treble way back on that amp since those are the frequencies where most of the glitches live. Having the bass amp separated from the main amp might also help create an illusion of a separate bass instrument.
Of course dragging separate bass amp to gigs would be inconvenient. But if one uses a two-channel amp, the direct and octave signals could be connected to the two channels, allowing different EQ settings on each.
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I use a RS-10 extension speaker cabinet with my AI Corus combo when I play solo gigs with my OC-3. Originally Posted by KirkP
Playing through the combo alone can sound pretty cheesy as Gilad Hekselman said in the video, but I haven't tried using my Coda yet, as a bass amp with it.
I brought the Coda to a country club gig once, but couldn't figure out how to separate the sounds with the cables and amps I had.
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Sounds really good through an AER
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The bass response in my Fishman Loudbox is pretty great. For solo or duo gigs, my setup is usually just my Eastman archtop, the amp, and the OC-3. The OC-3 is always on for those gigs and it really helps fill out the room in a bar or restaurant. Honestly after having used it for so long, I'd feel like something were missing if I had to play in that situation without it.
On gigs where there's a soundsystem available, I always split the signal and send the bass to the speakers separately from my amp's DI (which doesn't have any octave sound running in this case). I've never been brave enough to try and substitute a bass player in a proper combo setting like Gilad does, but he manages to pull it off. After all of the use I've gotten out of it, I can't imagine not owning one. For sure it's the most used pedal in my collection.
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I actually sold it and bought it back twice))) all were used ones...
Now I want to get it again)
I have a friend (who actually moved me to get it)m he regularly uses it for gigs alone or with singer.
But he is struggling with a tone issue... somehow separate output of effect to the separate amp doesn't sound good (though the amp is fine for basses in general).. we could not figure out why...
Another question I read that Gilad did some additional wiring at the pickup to make the separation of mass clearer. Is is really so?
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Anyone know if the current Boss OC-5 does this as well?
HA! Question answered!
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Nice demo! But I have to say in my experience if you fire your bass player (and I have), be prepared to hire a new drummer as well, because the seem to always come as a package deal. Just sayin.'
All these pedals could benefit from an effect-only out option that could be sent to a dedicated bass amp. Separating the bass part spatially really helps the illusion. IMHO.
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