Re: Boss Octave Pedal

[mwsmart@insightbb.com]

> I have to assume some people on this list use the Boss Octave pedal in 
>their 
> looping setups, to achieve "bass guitar" sounds.  To those of you that 
>do....do 
> you like it?  what do you think of the tracking?  

I use a Danelectro Chili Dog for bass sounds in my loop setup...

<http://www.marksmart.net/gearhack/jazzpedalboard/jazzpedalboard.html>

..., but I've 
played the Boss OC-2 in stores a couple of times. My impression was that 
the
tracking on both units (assuming you play only one note at a time and are
careful about damping open strings) feels instantaneously fast, but they 
both 
have a tendency to bounce octaves sometimes on low notes on the low E 
string.
With the Chili Dog I reduce this quite a bit by using the neck pickup 
(actually
a special Copeland hexaphonic humbucker in the neck position), rolling the
high end off a lot, using fingers to play the bass a lot of the time, and
picking nearer to the neck. 

Tone-wise, the Chili Dog and OC-2 sound TOTALLY different. The OC-2 has the
traditional square-wave type octave sound. I'm not sure what they are doing
in the Chili Dog, but it doesn't sound like that. It's more like they took
the square wave and multiplied it by the input signal or something...the 
timbre
of the incoming signal affects the timbre of the output. It can kinda sound
like an acoustic bass if you use your imagination a bit.

One time in a music store I played with a reissue Electro-Harmonix Micro 
Synth.
The bass sound on this thing sounded and felt so much like the Chili Dog, 
that
I think Danelectro must have ripped off the Chili Dog's circuit from it.

To further complicate matters, Boss has at least two other octave units, 
the
OC-20 (twin pedal requiring GK-2a synth pickup) and the OC-3 (a stompbox 
like
the OC-2 but which can supposedly handle chords). I haven't tried either 
of these
and can't offer an opinion. I'm really happy with the Chili Dog.

I also have a Roland VG-8, which is of course much fancier and more 
expensive,
but can be used for bass sounds...the Chili Dog (and the OC-2 for that 
matter) 
tracks much more quickly because there is no harmonizer (record stuff into 
a 
delay and play it out at a different speed) effect involved. 

> I'd like to get the EH Pog, 
> but can't justify nearly $400 for an octave pedal (especially after just 
>buying 
> an EDP), so I was wondering if the Boss pedal is "good enough."  I want 
>to use 
> it with my Taylor 814 and my Gibson Les Paul, (i.e.. with acoustic and 
>electric 
> instruments).  I think I'm most curious as to how well it tracks with 
>acoustic 
> guitars to simulate a bass.  Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.  
> 
> Brian

You can't beat the price of the Chili Dog...$30 from most mail order 
places.
Definitely worth a try. And not only that...it's purple!

Mark Smart
http://www.marksmart.net