Boss OC-5 Polyphonic Guitar/Bass Octave Pedal
Boss OC-5 Polyphonic Guitar/Bass Octave Pedal Reviews
Octave pedals of the past 10 years have presented guitar and bass players with a tough decision: Are you searching for that classic OC-2-style octave effect — the sound most of us guitar and bass players associate with the octave pedal — to add weight to your leads and walking lines? Or do you want modern tracking and polyphonic capabilities to help flesh out chords in a solo setting? Well, with the BOSS OC-5 Octave pedal, you don't have to choose. Whether it's thunderous mono sub-bass or strum-enriching root enhancement you're after, the OC-5 has you covered. It sports a tracking engine based on BOSS's top-tier effects floorboards. The result is one of the smoothest, lowest-latency octave effects you'll ever experience. In addition to the classic -1 and -2 octave controls, the OC-5 gives you a +1 octave dial for achieving faux 12-string textures and screaming classic lead lines. A dedicated instrument switch tailors the OC-5's tracking for either electric/acoustic guitar or bass, while a parallel Direct Out dry path preserves your input signal for running into a dedicated amp or PA. The OC-5 is the next evolution of the BOSS Octave sound.
Boss Oc5
I play bass. I needed an octave pedal. I bought this. I am satisfied. Except, it started lagging. I soon fixed it. I love it. Thank you.
I watched a bunch of videos before I bought this pedal so I felt like I knew what I was in for when I plugged it in the first time. This pedal put a smile on my face immediately and it didn't go away for quite some time!
The range knob (poly mode) is what makes this pedal shine to me, experiment with this setting, you won't regret it! Poly mode tracks very well and doesn't glitch at all. It pairs well with all of my fuzz pedals and even sounds great with phaser or chorus! If you're into that glitchy, bad tracking octave sound, just switch to classic mode and this bad boy will do that too!
classic
Great product. Quick shipping and arrival.
Very Useful for Solo and Duo Acts
I'm using this pedal on my guitar for my duo with an accordion player to beef up the bass lines, and I'm also using it on my accordion for my solo act. It works great in both applications. No substitute for a real bass or tuba, but it definitely adds warmth and depth to the overall sound when a bass is not available and makes those bass line come out nicely. It was very easy to dial in a setting that works for me. I'm very happy with the purchase.
Actually 4 1/2 Stars…
Proof In Pudding - Check Out the Video
Check out the attached video to hear what this pedal can honestly do. In truth, I find it useful in poly mode only. In the video, I have split signals with the Direct Out to my Katana, and the "bass out" to my Dual Cube Bass LX (it's my cello amp !!!). It is really finicky and the signal is easily distorted, but with carefully setting EQ and levels, and use of compression, I got what you can hear. Maybe a pro sound dude could do better. Bottom line :: it works for me !!!
Did what I was looking for.
I use this pedal in church to give me a fuller sound. When I use it with my Rickenbacker and a agate pick and the Vintage setting, it gives me the sound of an 8 string bass. When I use it with one of my Fenders set on the Poly mode, it gives me a sound close to an organ. This helps the sound in church since we use a grand piano, nord keyboard and a Martin guitar.
Really good Octaver
Good quality of sound!
Versatile octave pedal for bass
I normally use distortion only, but one of my bands began playing a lot of Cheap Trick covers so I got octave and chorus to simulate 12-string bass. I did some research, decided that the highly versatile OC-5 provides the features I need, and in short I'm getting the results I want: not a perfect 12-string clone, but close enough for bar gigs.
What seems to work best for the 8/12 string bass vibe is a fairly strong octave up, plus a little bit of octave down for fatness (I don't use -2 octave at all). I then run a chorus pedal so the end result sounds more like strings and less like a synthesizer. For what it's worth I prefer the OC5 poly mode: mainly because of the tone, but I do occasionally play double stops so of course poly works better for those as well.
Great pedal with variety
Classic octave pedal with two modes that satisfy all the requirements for me. Works great on bass and guitar alike. Would highly recommend this version!
Thanks to Patrick Weaver for hooking up the sale and making sure everything went smoothly.
Works great!
This is my first octave pedal, and it's super easy to use and adjust. I get just the sound I was looking for. Always happy with BOSS products!
Great pedal!!!
Awesome sounding pedal and can't go wrong with Boss....these are built like tanks. James Masterson is the best sales engineer!
Boss OC-5
This pedal is great. One of the best I have purchased recently. I mostly use it on bass, but it works well on guitar too. I cannot begin to describe how good it sounds on either the vintage or poly settings, depending on what you are going for.
BOSS Octave 0C5 Review
I bought this pedal because as a lone player at home I wanted to emulate duel guitar Leads Like warren Hayes and Derrick Trucks do in"Jessica" Now I'm Still working on getting the timing to get the exact soundI want but this pedal gives a Whole lot of options. I also play a lot of acoustic finger pick stuff and the Bass line option in low Octave works well as a filler and Balance without overpowering melody lines. Ive only had this pedal for awhile but So far I really Like it and Look formard to Learning more and how better to use this versatile pedal. If you, like me are playing alone Whether at home or out busking, You won'tgo wrong with this one.
The Real Deal
After trying a couple of other octave devices and talking with my service person Aston, I decided to go with the OC-5.
I'm basically wanting to cover the Wes Montgomery octave licks on my guitar and this pedal allows me to custom tailor the effect.
Well worth the price.
Best of both worlds!
I used to have the OC2, and I got used to its limitations. The fact that they improved it AND kept the old quirks is genius. Worth every penny.
Meh.....
I tend to play jazz and mid-century popular songs, and lean heavily on a medium bit of reverb from a Keeley Caverns pedal. This octave pedal does not play nicely with any reverb. Things get muddy really really fast. It's OK by itself, but I have to say that I'm pretty underwhelmed: the much-vaunted response rate can be easily fooled by playing softly. I have not systematically explored all the various options and settings, so there may yet be a pleasant surprise here. But unless I find a surprise sweet spot where both pedals play nicely together, this will have a much more restricted role in my sound than I had hoped.
This is the only pedal I'm using on my rig!
If you play a 4- string bass this pedal is a must! The -1 oct works as well as an Ashdown Sub-harmonics function adding presence and fullness to your sound. If you're playing a 5-string, start at the lowest setting, and gradually increase until you get the bottom end that you want. Don't ever use the -2 oct knob. Frequencies below 16 Hz can damage your amp head. It also lowers output from your fundamental notes. Higher end bass amps have a sub harmonic filter usually set at 20 Hz to protect the amp head. Ashdown and Darkglass filters are set at 17 Hz. Adding +1 oct works great for playing melody lines on your bass. The polyphonic function is awesome! It adds a whole other dimension to your sound!
Great Pedal
Pedal does it job
Love the versatility
This thing is great when used with some other pedals to make that bass synth sound. I use it for some modern covers and love it, even if it is not quite what the original was.
OC-5 for vocals
Shopped around a bit to find octave pedals that would help produce clean vocals at varying octaves (a niche need for sure; used for a cappella group)- this one was far and away the best one I found. Tracked well, volume adapted well, and settings were easily customized.
Great Octave pedal
I'm on an octave pedal binge as I now have four with this being the most recent. This tracks really well (keep it at/near the front of your chain like all octave pedals). I actually use Vintage mode more than Poly mode. Control layout is easy to use. Be sure to watch the Mitch Gallagher demo because he explains the Range knob (when in poly mode) really well.
Great for synth bass sounds
I really love my OC-5. Currently keeping the Direct Line and -1 Octave at 12:00 and the other controls all the way down. It sounds great on its own but running it into a fuzz is incredible.
Glad I Got It
The polyphonic mode is great. Playing one guitar and getting a lower octave on the low strings but not on the higher strings really fills out my sound. It tracks perfectly.
BOSS OC-5
AAAAA+++++
Great pedal - easy to use - perfect addition to any pedal board
I love this pedal. I had a Chili Dog from Danelectro in my board but wanted poly tracking and a register up as well. This pedal delivers beautifully. Tracks great and is a nice clean and clear octave sound. Highly recommend!
Exceptional!!
Very Musical. Not chirpy or choppy at all. I easily dialed in the sound I desired on different guitars. My favorite thing is being able to record realistic bass that sounds like MY guitar. And when not mimicking bass the range control really sets this pedal apart from the competition. In poly mode (the best mode) You can set the bass to fade out the higher you play. This works great on electrified acoustics too. Not a toy or gimmick but a real word useful tool.
Very Solid and Just What it Claims
Excellent tracking and very usable tones. Vintage mode is excellent and the poly function is also great (although a TINY bit underwhelming compared to other polyphonic Pedals).
I use it for 5 string bass and it tracks REALLY well, even below the open A string. I've immediately found multiple uses and tones for it. Just a great pedal.
Boss OC-5
Haven't had this pedal for very long, but long enough to know it's really versatile. I have the OC-3, this is a real improvement. Sounds great with my fretless basses. Get one !!
My first octave pedal
You should take this review with a grain of salt, since I've never owned another octave pedal. However, I'm really loving this one. I especially like it in Poly mode. I'd heard that it could be hard to avoid glitches if you'd never played an octave pedal, but I'm not having any problems with that at all. I will say that I don't really like the sound of it below the B on the A string. But since I've never had an octave pedal before, I don't know if that's true of all of them. The tone just gets too muddy down there and it feels like I can hear the harmonics more than the fundamental. But as long as I stick to the middle and upper notes of the bass, it sounds fantastic.
BOSS does it again!!
Simply the best sounding, best tracking, most versatile octave pedal to date!! You can also use this pedal as a solo/volume boost.
Not useful for an acoustic with UST pickup system
Solid construction as expected from Boss, but I tweaked and tweaked this pedal for two days and still had an audible delay and significant artifacts playing a James Goodall CJ with a K & K under saddle transducer set up. Perhaps a piezo would behave differently, I don't know. I had my hopes up, but was disappointed. Thank you Sweetwater for the return policy.
Very disappointed total failure
Waited 5 months for this turd. This does not separate the low frequency as it claims, at least not the way i wanted it to do. I was hoping for a bass line when strumming chords on the acoustic and it failed miserably. Great concept for solo gigs but does not work at all.
Be Patient
Good for the strummer
This pedal is really great, but the poly mode bass lines are dependent on strumming--in other words, you strum a chord, the OC-5 picks out the lowest tone, and adds an octave down, simulating a bass. The problem is, if you fingerpick, it has trouble doing that and the bass note bounces around--sounds fun in practice, but sounds sloppy on stage, almost random. I'm not sure how you'd do that, other than the OC-3 didn't have any trouble with it, since the note range was fixed. Other than that, though, it's awesome. I did end up returning it, though, because I'm a fingerstyle player.
Pretty cool but not awesome
This is a pretty cool pedal. I mainly use it with my electric but I really need to start using it more with the acoustic. My one star complaint is that it often sounds pretty digital. But other than that it's pretty cool.
Versatile and strong built quality
I tried OC2 BEFORE BUT THIS GUY SOUNDS EVEN BETTER.
If your into ambient swells keep the pog for everything else this is a game changer
I just received this today and I can't put my guitars down. It just opens up endless possibilities. I have to admit the pog sounds better on swells but …. That's not the only thing I play. Stick a rotary pedal and this sounds like an old raspy Hammond.The thing that blew my mind was the lowest note mode. This is a game changer. It only tracks the lowest note that you play. So basically my oc5 is my bassist. This is a must for acoustic players. Well done boss.
Classic with some extra features.
This pedal is basically an OC2 with an added more modern "poly" feature and the direct signal. I like it because of its raw and classic sound, but honestly, that poly feature isn't all that useful, it's almost too synthy. I can't hate it at all though, it doesn't change the "vintage" preset. I'm actually gonna try the MXR mini octave that just came out.
kicked my Micro POG off my board
I'd previously used the OC-3 and wasn't a fan because of how bad the polyphonic mode sounded, switched to an EXH Micro POG which did it way better. But I tried the OC-5 and was blown away. The ability to restrict the octave down mode to just the lowest note of the chord you're playing MASSIVELY cleans up the sound while still giving you the extra low-end fullness, and the octave up blends in seamlessly. Better tracking than the POG, at least to my ear, for like half the price. Only complaint is that it can get glitchy if you're just using the octave down to turn your guitar into a bass, but playing with the settings cleans that up pretty easily.
Bass Octave Pedal
This pedal works fine except for two issues.
1. If you leave the pedal connected even if the light is off, it will totally drain your 9volt battery. I thought after all the years of producing these pedals, that Boss would have their act together and fix this problem.
2. I bought this to be able to quickly change octaves, but all this pedal does is allow you to play louder. Not what I wanted.
It does the thing...
...and it does it REALLY well.
One catch to be aware of.
Works great, tracks really good. IF, you're using this to create a "bass" part with the range setting on the lowest , the bass note note will be the lowest note OF THE CHORD YOU'RE PLAYING, not the lowest range of the guitar per se. So if you stop playing low register chords for accompaniment, and play a single note fill you will get doubling on these notes even if they are high up on the guitar. If you play high chords like in jazz for example it will double the lowest note of your chord voicing (even if it's not in the bass register) which is not usually desirable.
Very versatile
I'm not a big fan of Boss pedals but this one is special and priced to sell. I've had issues in the past with octave pedals due to unreliable tracking but this one nails it. The tracking is exceptionally good. I will have to experiment further with this pedal on its own as well as with other pedals, but with a fuzz it can go from Band of Gypsies to Dire Straits.
The most interesting feature is the far-right knob that when in POLY-mode can control how low the octave will track. This way a bass player can go down low and not get farty mud. Also, worth noting is the guitar/bass slider switch near the 9V input.
Worth giving a try.
Boss OC5
It's peachy keen!
really fun pedal, tracks well, superior octave
Excellent pedal
Just received the OC-5 today and am very impressed. The tracking in poly mode is excellent and even works well when trem picking. On the clean channel, it does a great impression of an organ, and it also preforms well with dirt. The lowest frequencies are warm and nicely audible in the mix without causing breakup. Looking forward to using it in future and current writing.
Just no!
Very disappointing. Where do I start. Tracking slow, very noticable. When in poly mode with the range set to lowest, it cannot settle on the chord base notes for E, Eb and D, ie., it hops between the root and 5th no matter where you make those cords (open or up the fretboard. When using it in single output mode, it would not operated the effects at all. I waited three weeks for this item. Great concept, awful execution.
Hands Down, Best Octave I've Tried
Great with Bass or Baritone guitar
I bought this the day it was released at sweetwater , it's definitely is more crisp sounding that the OC3, both are great pedals.
This is definitely not a POG killer , they both have unique sounds . I think it's worth buying if your into Octaves
Baritone Cult (youtube)
Erin Dorr MI
Finally, zero latency with high definition sound.
Finally, zero latency with high definition sound. Tried various other pedals, never thrilled. I need a pedal that makes me want to use it often. The Boss OC-5 finally delivers what I want to hear. It enhances the sound without getting in the way. Not a toy, it's a useful tool. It is useful, not gimmicky.
mine is on preorder, just wanted to comment on what I know of it
Unlike every other octave pedal I have owned or tried this puppy is an ANALOG platform circuit! That makes for truer sounding octave notes, more organic feel and tone. The ability to move the octave effect to just the lower string(s) perhaps makes up for no presets, but once you get your couple of settings mapped out it's an easy twist. I am pretty sure like all Boss pedals this is a buffered output platform which might or might not be OK for you. Some pedals hate buffers, most are OK. Boss buffers are modest at best and really don't provide a real high quality low (
Updated sound for Bass and Baritone
We love this pedal and the clarity it has. Recently we shot a video of it -Baritone Cult (youtube) if you want to see and hear this pedal .
I bought this pedal immediately, already being a Octave fan . Played the OC-3 for years , so I was pumped when I got this. They are different both in good ways. This pedal has a clean clarity and sounds awesome with a 37 scale bass guitar . Go check out our video on it and hear for yourself.
Boss pedals are super affordable and Sweetwater had it to me in less than 2 days. Glad Boss is continuing on with this pedal
Great pedal , high quality. we bought it to use and did a demo because it's awesome
Baritone Cult (youtube)
POG Killer!!
I bought this pedal to test against my Micro POG and it has officially kicked it off my board. The tracking is very fast and smooth and the octaves are clear and defined even with heavy gain. Absolutely thrilled with this pedal!
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