good for guitar or bass 
by Angelo Esposito from Philadelphia, September 2008
Music Background:  Studio Session Player

I bought this unit for my basses but like this as a guitar effect better, it gives you a variety of sounds plus the option to use for guitar or bass. I have made this one of my guitar effects and opted to go with the EBS Octobass unit, I think it has a better sound and tone reproduction due to the fact its a dedicated unit for the bass, however i still recomend the Boss unit to anone interested in this effect unit

  Not so good for down tuning 
by levisixguns from north carolina, May 2008
Music Background:  guitarist/bass player

if you play in standard tunings, this thing is a beast. the new POLY mode is the best octave programming you can get for the price range. the DRIVE selection is probably one of the best sounding overdrives BOSS makes. its everything the oc-2 was and more, the only issue i had was that if you play in dropped tunings, the tracking starts to fail just a bit, but if you're playing in drop tunings, why do you use an octave pedal?

don't listen to the last guy about it being "made of plastic" boss makes all their pedals out of metal. they always last forever, hence the reason EVERYONE has at least one boss pedal. they never die.

  Awesome Octave Pedal! 
by Dulcimerist from Billings, MT, October 2006
Music Background:  Active Musician & Recording Engineer

Before ordering the Boss OC-3, I tried out the Boss OC-2 and MXR M-103 Blue Box. The polyphonic octave feature is what led me to choose the Boss OC-3, and I'm extremely happy with my decision! This stompbox provides a stable and excellent-sounding effect in polyphonic mode, even with full chords! For a cleaner bass sound, I send its output straight to one channel of the amp, sending its direct sound through my delay-chorus-reverb chain before reaching the other channel of my amp. The results are AWESOME!!! 2-octave mode gives excellent low-end, which allows a regular guitar to do effective single-finger bass work. Drive mode is just plain fun, giving a decent distortion sound when playing single notes. My one complaint is that Boss makes their effects pedals out of plastic, rather than the metal housing I'm used to in DigiTech pedals. Boss pedals feel extremely lightweight in comparison. I do love my Boss OC-3, and am glad I purchased it! I highly recommend this little gem!

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