Thank you for posting this. I've been in love with Gilad Hekselman's tone and bought the OC-3 but wasn't quite getting the sound right. If you're running it all into a guitar amp, you can get away with the "arpeggio" settings boss recommends. If you're going into separate guitar/bass amps/outs, you have to max the octave out (second knob). Do that and this thing is amazing. Thanks again.
I've had this pedal for a few years now , love it , and now you have just made my love for it grow even more I had no idea you could do this with it. As a solo artist this helps me out a huge deal as I won't have to look for a bassist in future haha!
I run a spliter box and tweak an eq before the octave pedal that way it eliminates all the high frequency notes so that they do not register. Ratmasher reverbnation for demo's
Loved how you mentioned Local H in your video. I’ve just recently started listening to their stuff and trying to play it. Ridiculously underrated band! Great video, thank you so much!
Thanks! I love them, their first 3-4 records were so formative for me when I was younger. They are always the first band I think of when I'm talking about routing a guitar to cover bass as well, and they're probably the reason I've done like four videos about that narrowly specific topic, haha.
Thanks for sharing! I tried out the OC-3. It sounds warbly. It gets confused when you strike 2 strings. I had better results with the TC Sub n' Up. It tracks really well even if you strike 2 strings. Thought of sharing. In my channel, I experimented on a guitar. I put in a 2-string pickup in the middle position with its separate circuit (volume only) and its own output, which I plug into a bass amp.
If you do this, use a solid state amps. Tone will be much warmer and the lower notes articulate better than a tube amp. Tubes always seem to have a really bad midrange that ruins the feel of good bass. I play in a two piece band (guitar/drums) but I overdrive my signal to get a royal blood feel and it makes chords sound trashy punk and metal. It was nice to see somebody using the biamp method in a more “lighter” context. Long live splitting dough with one other musical homey at the end of the show.
Excellent explanation. I play in a folk music trio without a bass (often just banjo, mandolin and Irish bouzouki) and at times we very much miss having a bass player. I'm planning on giving the OC-3 pedal a try in connection with my Irish bouzouki. By the way, Jordan McConnell, formerly of the Canadian Irish band, the Duhks, used a similar technique. He used two pickups on his acoustic guitar; one under the bridge and an additional sound hole pick up. He disabled the sound hole pickup contacts for all strings except the low E and A strings. He then sent the signals out of his guitar on a stereo line and jack. The sound hole pickup was sent to a POG (dropping the tone one octave) and then off to a bass amp. The under the bridge signal (which included all six strings) was sent to his pedal board and then to the PA. He had an elaborate guitar technique that permitted him to play very intricate bass line on the bottom two strings which playing rhythm on the top four strings. The first time I heard the band play, I was mystified where the heavy bass line was originating since there was no bass player in the band. I'm hoping the OC-3 pedal will do what Jordan achieved but with no modifications to my Irish bouzouki.
+mickjarl Wow, that is neat! The band I got this idea from (Local H) does that as well - a second pickup mounted in the guitar across only two strings. I'm guessing that works a lot better but I agree that making heavy modifications to my instruments is something I'd rather avoid. The OC-3 does a pretty good job splitting the signal at the chosen crossover point, I just wish the resulting sound was more natural. The bass half of the signal comes out very "synth" sounding but I'm not aware of another pedal that even attempts to do this, so it is what it is, I guess.
That was my situation also. It's not a terrific solution but sometimes it's better than nothing. Basically if there's a way for me to play more than one instrument at once, I've tried it, haha.
Great clean use of this pedal! The OC3 completely shaped the way I play (also avoiding 3rds and 5ths, etc 😁). Would love to hear what you have to say about the new OC5 which has that genuine low-note-priority mode.
I have one on pre-order so I can make an updated version of this video! I'm interested to see how it does at octave-up, too... I always wished the OC-3 had that.
Great video! I'm a solo artist who records music at home. I'm just wondering if I can use this as a pseudo bass sound or for that low-end of my music without having a bass amp? I use a Boss Katana 100 MkII amp directly connected to my Scarlett 2i2 audio interface.
Is this just for recording, or for playing live as well? I wouldn't recommend the Boss OC line for recording a realistic bass sound... the octave down that it produces is very dull and artificial and synthesizer-like. If you were tracking guitars for a recording and you needed a bass sound (but don't own a bass), I think the best pedals to use are the Electro-Harmonix octave pedals - Micro POG, Nano POG, or even Pitch Fork. Those sound a LOT more like an actual bass. I have videos about all of those scattered around my channel (I'm very interested in octave pedals) but this might give you some idea of the sound difference: ruclips.net/video/WparKNHrheg/видео.html Now if it's for playing live you do sort of have fewer options. Only the Boss ones can track your playing in real time and add a low octave, so if it was for live gigs you're stuck with either those or a Submarine pickup going into a whole separate rig. Anyway in answer to your exact question, you don't need a bass amp, definitely just running a guitar into an octave pedal into your guitar amp would get the job done. You might even prefer taking the amp out of it and just plugging guitar > octave pedal > direct into the Scarlett, then putting some sort of bass preamp plugin on it. The (free!) TSE BOD plugin is my personal favorite.
@@LeFeversAudio I see. Thanks, Matt! I was hoping for both, live and recording. I have the EHX Pitchfork. There was a mishap on it's expression input just few days ago. The tip of the cable was left inside. Hence, I can only engage the Pitchfork low end only if it's in the latch mode. I'm checking for an octave pedal that emulates bass or low-end like the Pitchfork.
@@LeFeversAudio Will check those options! Thank you so much! By the way, you could also check out my recordings from my channel. 99% of all my recordings are done with the Pitch Fork. :) The 1% was the time I used the Behringer Ultra Octaver. Sold that one already because it's not polyphonic. But I am regretting it now. :(
Thank you for the information. I when a question. If I have a bass equalizer, OC3 Octave, bass chorus, and an bass envelope. What is the arrangement or positions start from the bass guitar?
Hmm. Well, I don't think there are any specific rules about those, but I'd maybe put the OC-3 first so nothing else can interfere with it tracking... then maybe EQ, chorus, envelope. Really any of those should be okay anywhere in the chain.
No, although the terms are confusing, I think it's treating "direct out" as meaning "unaffected signal". The labels are kind of ambiguous but you can tell in the video since I used different cables for each - the silver and red Monster Cable goes from Output Mono to the bass amp and that Planet Waves one goes into the wah pedal.
I replaced my E and A strings with bass strings and that works pretty well too. You'll have to take care of the intonation of the 2 bass strings though.
Have you ever tried or heard of "A Little Thunder" Pickup? Ive never tried it buf Ive seen people play it sounds great. It's a special humbucker pickup that adds bass to guitar. Sort of like an octave pedal but better. It's has a special function called "Low Note Priority" that adds the bass octave to the lowest note played only. This could solve the issue with the OC 3 Pedal with having to dance around the fret board so you don't get any of your higher notes mixed in with the bass octave. Looks like it works great for rhythm and chords. Just thought I'd give a suggestion . You can find videos of it on RUclips. Have an awesome day -Ace
Yes! I'm very interested in that pickup but haven't been able to find that much information about it. What I'd really like to see is that "low note priority" tech applied to a pedal, as I really like all the pickups in my guitars already and have no desire to switch them out. :)
Matt LeFevers I've seen a couple of RUclips videos of people playing them and it sounds great. But I definitely know what you mean by not wanting to change/remove pickups. I've always wanted an Epiphone EA 250 guitar (hollowbody), I've always loved hollowbodies. But definitely DON'T want to remove anything from it. I love it's vintage clean sound. Thing is I'm making a two piece band with me and my friend on drums, and that pickup is JUST what we needed to get that full sound (that and some looper pedals ). I might try a it on a modern Gretsch 5422 Hollowbody or Fender Coronado(If I can get the money to buy one of those XP) or maybe on my Epiphone Les Paul -Ace
This is exactly the kind of pedal I've been looking for to do a solo act. Looks like once you get the technique down, it's usable... I'll have to give it a try. Thanks! (Don't know why nobody else has done videos like this! It's a neat little pedal to have in your arsenal)
Matt LeFevers I ended up getting one, and with some practice, it works pretty well. I have the bass out going to a mini line mixer on my board (along with my drum machine pedal), and the direct out going through my regular chain. Works like a charm.
I think for that you might want the other one, the Output (Mono) jack. But yeah if you only plug in one guitar cable, both the original signal and the octave will go out together on one channel.
Very useful tips. I wonder if anyone has every tried running the bass out into a synthesizer pedal? Also, would EQing the crap out of the guitar before it goes into the bass pedal help? Like, I want to take just the bass note out and try to create a synth octave or chords based on it, but not all the other notes. Anyway, cool stuff.
I've tried EQing the bass signal *after* the pedal and it helps a little... haven't tried EQing the guitar first. You could definitely run some effects after the split that only affect the bass note (synth stuff, etc).
hi thank you great review. do I understand correctly that in poly mode the bass line will be anyway doubled in guitar amp? I mean if I play g on 6th string I will hear both bass g and regular guitar g from both amps if volumes of both channels are up?
If you use both outputs then you would only get the low note from one amp and the regular note from the other... if you use just one amp then they both come from the same one.
hi mat , just got this pedal and doing solo stuff . but iv no bass amp as of yet , I'm running electric guitar though a 100w Marshall along with effect bifg muffs and loop pedals ,, would I need a 100w bass amp to keep up sound ???
Arjuna 1 Yea it's not ideal. If I was recording instead of playing live, a way better solution would be a standard octave pedal like the EHX Micro Pog, and just play guitar down an octave. It sounds a little more natural. (Or borrow a bass from someone, of course!)
I play a fingerstyle song with capo on the 9th fret and i wish i could add a basser sound to it rather than the notes on my low E and A string, could this pedal work for me or it wouldn't get the signal of the strings right because of the highness of the notes in that fret?
Hey, I wanted to use this in the end of my pedal chain that will have some distortion on it already. I don't have any experience using a pedal with two outputs thats not an ABY, if I run the direct out to my guitar amp and the mono out to my bass amp I WON'T have the octave played through the guitar amp?
Correct - if you run it in mono it sends both but if there is a cable plugged in to each output it sends only the octave down one, and only the regular signal down the other. You'll have to see if it tracks okay being put after other effects, I know the general rule of thumb with octavers is that they track your playing better the closer they are to the beginning of the chain.
Yeah, you can dial in the range to only add octave to the lowest few notes (it's not really by "string" but if you set the range to end at like, a low A, it won't pick up the A string notes). As far as sounding good.... I find the OC-3 octave kind of artificial and synth-sounding. But there isn't really another pedal that can do this, so.
Maria Marie I’m 3 years late but if you have enough money I’d recommend buying a bass amp and a guitar amp and sending the octave down signal to the bass amp and send the normal guitar sound to the guitar amp so the bass follows what you’re playing and you can hear both bass and guitar Or you could use the octave pedal and a loop pedal to record a bass part then play guitar over it
I have a seven string that I am currently using in drop A. I don’t have a 5 string bass and I don’t feel comfortable tuning my 4 string that low, so do you think it would be possible for this pedal to work on a guitar in drop A? Or would that be too low for it to track?
I wouldn’t imagine there’d be an issue with the tracking - lots of people use it on a bass so it must track at least that low. I doubt the end result would sound very natural though, the pedal has got kind of a synth sounding tone to it. Honestly I’ve recorded a bunch of stuff where I tuned only the lowest string of my bass to A or whatever and then tuned it right back afterwards, it’s not ideal but might be a better way to go just for recording.
You could search ‘Boss OC-3 alternatives’ and see if any of those Chinese companies that make clones of stuff have taken a stab at it (Mooer? Valeton?). Off the top of my head I’m not sure.
@LeFevers Audio OK thank you but I don't think I'd be able to plug into a guitar amp bass amp and my pedal board most of the cheaper ones only have a in and out plug
Can i use Boss OC-3 for heavy riffs? Example i want to tune down my guitar in drop A# is it possible?. Coz i cannot afford to buy Digitech Drop Tune Pedal. I hope you can help me with my question Keep playing Sir.
Well, it only does octaves, not like different intervals, so you can't tune down a fifth or anything. I guess you could turn down the 'regular' signal and crank the 'octave' signal all the way up to get one octave lower (only)... but I doubt it would have the sound you want. The lower octave doesn't sound mean and tight like a metal guitar, it's more synthy like a dance bass or something.
Hello Matt!! You helped me solve my problem with the Boss OC 3. Thanks again. Do you know much about the EHX Nano Pog being used similarly to the Boss OC 3? If so, your thoughts. Thanks
I love my Micro POG but I don't really use it the same way as I did the OC-3, only because the POG takes your entire signal and octaves it - meaning if you're playing a chord, it'll drop that whole chord. Obviously if you're trying to mimic a bass you only want that root note. (As far as I know, nothing except the OC-3 can do this, besides some complex new pickups that are coming out like the A Little Thunder pickup.) So I sometimes use the Micro POG to simulate a second guitar - like, if I play higher inversions up the neck it will fill in chords an octave lower that a rhythm guitarist might play - but it's not much good for a "bass".
Though I will say, it works great the other way around - the band Royal Blood runs a bass guitar into a POG and gets a really cool guitar sound. I've done it at home but never in a live setting, haha.
Thanks. Are you referring to the Nano Pog or Micro Pog? Looking at the configuration of the Nano, it looks like it has two separate outs to split signal.
Same difference - the Nano is just a smaller box. (It didn't exist when I bought the Micro POG or I would've got that one to save some space!) It can split the output, but you still run into what I was describing - i.e., you could split the lower octave to a bass amp but it'd still sound like a bass playing chords, if that makes sense. It would octave all of your notes.
I get it now. Thanks for your input. I really like the Boss OC 3 but was trying to improve on the sound and hoping another pedal sound better on the Bass side. I put a Bass Graphic Eq on the Bass side and it helps. I really appreciate your insights. Thank you
Very imaginative approach. Opened my old eyes to possibilities that I hadn't even thought of! Plus, I like your playing. Thanks for this, it is much appreciated.
Can you use this for metal music as well? My band doesnt have a band and we've been unlucky with trying to find a bass player. Was wondering if this would be my salvation..
Patrick Vanegas I guess you could, though it won't sound all that natural. If you're using a lot of chords you could give it a try. If your rhythm player mostly does riffs or power chords though you might try an EHX Micro POG or a TC Sub N Up though, just get a pure octave down and skip the whole partial tracking thing from this video. When I need to do metal and don't have bass I use a Micro POG and the "bass" line is just the rhythm guitar riffs an octave down
Ohh I see. So if I get myself a micro POG, I could plug into a bass cab just like the OC-3 and basically everything I play will be emulated as bass on that amp correct?
Patrick Vanegas Yeah the difference between the OC-3 and everything else is that polyphonic thing where it uses just the lowest note(s), which is handy for open chords and stuff like in this video... but if I was playing thrash riffs I'd go with a regular octave pedal like the Micro POG. You can run the fx out to a bass cab and get an octave lower version of the guitar riff. If you listen to Royal Blood they're basically doing the same thing but backwards (playing a bass, making it sound like a guitar)
Thanks! There is a distortion or fuzz mode on this pedal although I haven't really tried it out. Also if you are splitting the signals to two amps like I do in this video, you could put a fuzz pedal on either one, after the split.
Probably... there's some wiggle room, the frequency selector thing isn't incredibly accurate so if you move up a fret or two it might not matter but if you capo 6 or something, you would probably want to adjust.
Hmm. I'm not sure - I can't find anything in the manual about it. I guess if that output didn't work on its own for some reason, you could just plug an extra guitar cable into the other one so it'd think there were two?
@@LeFeversAudio well, in nyzantine music, you have a voice called ison, which sounds way better if it has bass, but sometimes it is huamanly impossible to go that low with natural voice. Btw, this ison is a straight note that only changes here and there, so it won't sound too weird, as the pedal wouldn't be used for the main vocalist
It would probably make an octave, but it might sound kind of artificial and 'synth'y for those genres. For thrash, I might do a Micro POG or something else that creates a really clean octave of your sound, then it'd be basically like the bass was perfectly following the guitar riffs (as long as you didn't do too many chords).
Sub'N'Up is way too bassy for me i'm afraid. I'm going with the Boss OC-3 & a Morley ABY box. Routing the OC-3 signal to a bass amp. It shouldn't interfere with the distortion on the guitar side. How's the tracking on this thing when you're playing fast?
Man, the Boss OC-3 is absolute GARBAGE! It couldn't even track an open E chord. And the latency...puke. Do yourself a favor & get an Electro Harmonix Pitchfork. Wayyy better & the tracking is impeccable.
Matt, my direct out to the guitar amp has the low octave coming through the speaker. Is this a flaw? I have the mono going to the bass amp like your video. I thought the idea was to avoid the low octave from feeding into the guitar amp speaker.
I played with my band Sunday-normally the bass player, but lead guitar player was out-so I have an acoustic with two outputs-one magnetic and one piezo. So I ran the magnetic direct to guitar amp for a clean sound and the piezo through the pedal mono out only and to my bass amp (poly). The bass notes came out okay from the bass amp, but I had to rely on the second 1/4" jack in the guitar.I later tried to split an electric and after playing with the knobs a bit- got a better sound running the effect (mono) to the bass amp and the direct to the guitar amp-but still some bleeding. I have to make a decision before my 15 day return policy expires.
That two-pickup solution is handy, I've never seen a guitar that had that. I don't know why you'd be getting bleed using a single pickup, sorry! It can be kind of a glitchy pedal, that's for sure.
Last night I tried it again. I used my head phone jack on the guitar amp and lowered the volume on the bass amp. This would insure I'm only hearing things that are coming out of the guitar amp. It sounded clean. When I unplugged the headphone and turned up the volume on the bass amp-it sounded like it was bleeding through the guitar amp again, so my conclusion is that because it is a note for note dual sound, I am just getting the audio "illusion" that it is coming out of the guitar amp-so I think I'm okay if that makes sense. But, I did not get that same "illusion" when I used the split jacks-maybe because it is an acoustic..
fearghasmor I keep meaning to try it with my mandolin but I had taken my pedalboard apart. I'll report back in a few days. As far as an octave mandolin, it probably depends what the lowest notes are - if you're trying to do the fake bass thing then that "Range" knob determines the cutoff of where the bass stops following you. On guitar I keep it a little before noon and it cuts off after the first two strings, so if an octave mando is tuned higher than that you could raise that Range. I'm guessing it'd work okay, although unlike guitar chords, the lowest note on mandolin isn't always the root, so the bass line you get might be a little creative.
If you mean the automatic cutoff thing where it only octaves the lowest note of the chord, nobody else seems to have tried. I've never seen another one, and I've looked. Other octave pedals sound better - I much prefer the Micro POG and have heard good things about the Sub 'N' Up, but neither can do that lowest strings only trick where there's a cutoff frequency, which is necessary for what I'm trying to do here.
@@LeFeversAudio thanks for your fast reply! ive been looking for the same things. all i could find was the behringer super octave (witch is just a copy of the OC-3). i recently opend for the band Hockey dad and saw the main singer saw doing this same thing with a pog somehow.. didnt have a proper look so i could be wrong. i was thinking i could try a octave pedal wiht an eq after, then cut off all mids and highs haha
@@loops_8837 I've heard of people doing that, or else using a crossover box (?) which actually totally separates the frequencies and sends them to two different places. That'd probably work well (you could put the octaver after the crossover, on just the low signal, and send that to a bass amp) but is a little over my head complexity-wise. Also, bands that are professionally all-in on this concept, like Local H, usually mod their guitars with a bass pickup and some extra electronics...
Not sure about a single pedal but it's definitely possible with a combination of them. The band Royal Blood has perfected this, if you search a RUclips walkthrough for the Royal Blood technique there are a handful. Basically if you run a bass into an EHX Micro POG or some similar octave-up pedal that gets you fairly close, and then you can add distortion or fuzz to the "guitar" signal to cover up the strangeness of it more. Royal Blood also adds in a bunch of Boss Harmonizers and stuff to make it really complex. I'd say any pedal with a good quality octave-up would be a start, though - the Micro POG or maybe a TC Electronic Sub'N'Up.
+Jonathan Lewis I won't get a chance to do any type of video for a while but if it helps, I tabbed out the only major guitar part I can really hear on there: www.dropbox.com/s/794j7s8e7g3m247/Kari%20Jobe%20Bethel%20Music%20-%20Forever.pdf?dl=0
Not sure what to tell you. I call it a fake bass all through the video and make sure to start with a disclaimer saying a real bass is better, haha. I don't manufacture the pedal or anything!
Hahaha! For real, I thought I stated pretty clearly in the video that I am a bass player also and would never mean any disrespect to bass players but you still wouldn't believe the rage I get sometimes on this video.
Well, no, though I like how it sounds on here. If I was going to play single note lines and pretend to be a bass I'd use my EHX Micro POG. The advantage of the OC-3 is that you can strum entire chords.
dont let my band see this
Thank you for posting this. I've been in love with Gilad Hekselman's tone and bought the OC-3 but wasn't quite getting the sound right. If you're running it all into a guitar amp, you can get away with the "arpeggio" settings boss recommends. If you're going into separate guitar/bass amps/outs, you have to max the octave out (second knob). Do that and this thing is amazing. Thanks again.
I've had this pedal for a few years now , love it , and now you have just made my love for it grow even more I had no idea you could do this with it. As a solo artist this helps me out a huge deal as I won't have to look for a bassist in future haha!
Recently kicked off my bass player and this video is pretty informative.
Me too!
Great lesson, and you have a very warm and welcoming vibe by the way
I run a spliter box and tweak an eq before the octave pedal that way it eliminates all the high frequency notes so that they do not register. Ratmasher reverbnation for demo's
That's a valuable lesson....I need to consider this for an upcoming low key gig.
Loved how you mentioned Local H in your video. I’ve just recently started listening to their stuff and trying to play it. Ridiculously underrated band! Great video, thank you so much!
Thanks! I love them, their first 3-4 records were so formative for me when I was younger. They are always the first band I think of when I'm talking about routing a guitar to cover bass as well, and they're probably the reason I've done like four videos about that narrowly specific topic, haha.
GREAT tutorial. Answered all my questions. Thanks
I subbed when you said your wife is a bassist… livin the dream man, livin the dream
For me,this is the best demo on this pedal.Thanx Matt
96 bass players didn’t like this video
It's up to 105, bass players are really revolting!
96 quite bitter bassists
@@TheRealTorG Hahahahahhah
Thanks for sharing! I tried out the OC-3. It sounds warbly. It gets confused when you strike 2 strings. I had better results with the TC Sub n' Up. It tracks really well even if you strike 2 strings. Thought of sharing. In my channel, I experimented on a guitar. I put in a 2-string pickup in the middle position with its separate circuit (volume only) and its own output, which I plug into a bass amp.
I'm trying this out and im curious, do you think it is worth it to buy the tc sub n up and a splitter, or just get the oc3?
@@twiggy5109 i wish the subnup has two outputs like this. why would you want to run lows thru a guitar amp anyways?
yeah I got a Sub n Up but it is dumb without split outputs.
If you do this, use a solid state amps.
Tone will be much warmer and the lower notes articulate better than a tube amp. Tubes always seem to have a really bad midrange that ruins the feel of good bass.
I play in a two piece band (guitar/drums) but I overdrive my signal to get a royal blood feel and it makes chords sound trashy punk and metal.
It was nice to see somebody using the biamp method in a more “lighter” context.
Long live splitting dough with one other musical homey at the end of the show.
Don’t let my guitarist see this
Excellent explanation. I play in a folk music trio without a bass (often just banjo, mandolin and Irish bouzouki) and at times we very much miss having a bass player. I'm planning on giving the OC-3 pedal a try in connection with my Irish bouzouki.
By the way, Jordan McConnell, formerly of the Canadian Irish band, the Duhks, used a similar technique. He used two pickups on his acoustic guitar; one under the bridge and an additional sound hole pick up. He disabled the sound hole pickup contacts for all strings except the low E and A strings. He then sent the signals out of his guitar on a stereo line and jack. The sound hole pickup was sent to a POG (dropping the tone one octave) and then off to a bass amp. The under the bridge signal (which included all six strings) was sent to his pedal board and then to the PA. He had an elaborate guitar technique that permitted him to play very intricate bass line on the bottom two strings which playing rhythm on the top four strings. The first time I heard the band play, I was mystified where the heavy bass line was originating since there was no bass player in the band. I'm hoping the OC-3 pedal will do what Jordan achieved but with no modifications to my Irish bouzouki.
+mickjarl Wow, that is neat! The band I got this idea from (Local H) does that as well - a second pickup mounted in the guitar across only two strings. I'm guessing that works a lot better but I agree that making heavy modifications to my instruments is something I'd rather avoid.
The OC-3 does a pretty good job splitting the signal at the chosen crossover point, I just wish the resulting sound was more natural. The bass half of the signal comes out very "synth" sounding but I'm not aware of another pedal that even attempts to do this, so it is what it is, I guess.
I saw Biréli Lagrène using a pedal like this recently. I didn't know until then that they could tune the range like that. That's super useful.
Awesome - thanks. I've been exploring this as an idea as in my church I'm one of few electric players and one of few bassists so this video was great!
That was my situation also. It's not a terrific solution but sometimes it's better than nothing. Basically if there's a way for me to play more than one instrument at once, I've tried it, haha.
Great -- I'll explore it further, thanks!!
Thanks bro bro I’m buying this. For my church
I'll probably start using this along side my Beat buddy
I want to try that on my bass so much to dj0001Nt
dJOnt
Using the Boss OC-3 Pedal as a White Stripes Cover Band
Oh hey. If you added a tuner that cuts off the guitar signal when it's on, you could use that for bass intro (like in something like blew by nirvana)
True, the band Royal Blood does stuff like that a lot too (except backwards, because he's playing bass, ha).
Excellent demo! Very well done!
Great clean use of this pedal! The OC3 completely shaped the way I play (also avoiding 3rds and 5ths, etc 😁). Would love to hear what you have to say about the new OC5 which has that genuine low-note-priority mode.
I have one on pre-order so I can make an updated version of this video! I'm interested to see how it does at octave-up, too... I always wished the OC-3 had that.
Awesome sounds and combination.
Hey, Great demo! This is pretty much what I am looking for. Thanks!
Great video! I'm a solo artist who records music at home. I'm just wondering if I can use this as a pseudo bass sound or for that low-end of my music without having a bass amp? I use a Boss Katana 100 MkII amp directly connected to my Scarlett 2i2 audio interface.
Is this just for recording, or for playing live as well? I wouldn't recommend the Boss OC line for recording a realistic bass sound... the octave down that it produces is very dull and artificial and synthesizer-like. If you were tracking guitars for a recording and you needed a bass sound (but don't own a bass), I think the best pedals to use are the Electro-Harmonix octave pedals - Micro POG, Nano POG, or even Pitch Fork. Those sound a LOT more like an actual bass. I have videos about all of those scattered around my channel (I'm very interested in octave pedals) but this might give you some idea of the sound difference: ruclips.net/video/WparKNHrheg/видео.html
Now if it's for playing live you do sort of have fewer options. Only the Boss ones can track your playing in real time and add a low octave, so if it was for live gigs you're stuck with either those or a Submarine pickup going into a whole separate rig.
Anyway in answer to your exact question, you don't need a bass amp, definitely just running a guitar into an octave pedal into your guitar amp would get the job done. You might even prefer taking the amp out of it and just plugging guitar > octave pedal > direct into the Scarlett, then putting some sort of bass preamp plugin on it. The (free!) TSE BOD plugin is my personal favorite.
@@LeFeversAudio I see. Thanks, Matt! I was hoping for both, live and recording. I have the EHX Pitchfork. There was a mishap on it's expression input just few days ago. The tip of the cable was left inside. Hence, I can only engage the Pitchfork low end only if it's in the latch mode. I'm checking for an octave pedal that emulates bass or low-end like the Pitchfork.
@@LeFeversAudio Will check those options! Thank you so much! By the way, you could also check out my recordings from my channel. 99% of all my recordings are done with the Pitch Fork. :) The 1% was the time I used the Behringer Ultra Octaver. Sold that one already because it's not polyphonic. But I am regretting it now. :(
Pretty cool, Matt, thanks.
Thank you for the information. I when a question. If I have a bass equalizer, OC3 Octave, bass chorus, and an bass envelope. What is the arrangement or positions start from the bass guitar?
Hmm. Well, I don't think there are any specific rules about those, but I'd maybe put the OC-3 first so nothing else can interfere with it tracking... then maybe EQ, chorus, envelope. Really any of those should be okay anywhere in the chain.
Don't you have the outputs switched? Wouldn't the output mono go to the guitar rig and the direct out go to the bass amp?
No, although the terms are confusing, I think it's treating "direct out" as meaning "unaffected signal". The labels are kind of ambiguous but you can tell in the video since I used different cables for each - the silver and red Monster Cable goes from Output Mono to the bass amp and that Planet Waves one goes into the wah pedal.
Very cool....your epiphone sounds pretty good
I replaced my E and A strings with bass strings and that works pretty well too. You'll have to take care of the intonation of the 2 bass strings though.
You're working too hard.
Doesn’t sound like a bass, more similar to a baritone guitar’s sound but might be good for some songs like seven nation army
Well Jack White used an octave pedal for seven nation army.
Otamabread Baritone guitar sound is def my intention, perfect to slide in between Bass and Treble instruments 👍🏼👍🏼
Awesome video!
Have you ever tried or heard of "A Little Thunder" Pickup? Ive never tried it buf Ive seen people play it sounds great. It's a special humbucker pickup that adds bass to guitar. Sort of like an octave pedal but better. It's has a special function called "Low Note Priority" that adds the bass octave to the lowest note played only. This could solve the issue with the OC 3 Pedal with having to dance around the fret board so you don't get any of your higher notes mixed in with the bass octave. Looks like it works great for rhythm and chords. Just thought I'd give a suggestion . You can find videos of it on RUclips. Have an awesome day
-Ace
Yes! I'm very interested in that pickup but haven't been able to find that much information about it.
What I'd really like to see is that "low note priority" tech applied to a pedal, as I really like all the pickups in my guitars already and have no desire to switch them out. :)
Matt LeFevers
I've seen a couple of RUclips videos of people playing them and it sounds great. But I definitely know what you mean by not wanting to change/remove pickups. I've always wanted an Epiphone EA 250 guitar (hollowbody), I've always loved hollowbodies. But definitely DON'T want to remove anything from it. I love it's vintage clean sound. Thing is I'm making a two piece band with me and my friend on drums, and that pickup is JUST what we needed to get that full sound (that and some looper pedals ). I might try a it on a modern Gretsch 5422 Hollowbody or Fender Coronado(If I can get the money to buy one of those XP) or maybe on my Epiphone Les Paul
-Ace
thanks for explaining in detail
This is exactly the kind of pedal I've been looking for to do a solo act. Looks like once you get the technique down, it's usable... I'll have to give it a try. Thanks!
(Don't know why nobody else has done videos like this! It's a neat little pedal to have in your arsenal)
Thanks! Yeah, to me this is the main reason to have one, but it seems like most people just use it as an effect.
Matt LeFevers I ended up getting one, and with some practice, it works pretty well. I have the bass out going to a mini line mixer on my board (along with my drum machine pedal), and the direct out going through my regular chain. Works like a charm.
Jeff Hendricks are you a solo artist Jeff?
Nice one! Really helpful.
What's with the dislikes? This guy clearly tells you about the pedal and how to use it...
If I use only direct out channel with no output plugged in, will both the guitar and the bass signals go to direct out? Thanx a lot for the answer
I think for that you might want the other one, the Output (Mono) jack. But yeah if you only plug in one guitar cable, both the original signal and the octave will go out together on one channel.
@@LeFeversAudio thanx a lot man! Ur video and your answer were really helpful! I'm a one-man-band, so I'm interested just in one channel))))
Very useful tips. I wonder if anyone has every tried running the bass out into a synthesizer pedal? Also, would EQing the crap out of the guitar before it goes into the bass pedal help? Like, I want to take just the bass note out and try to create a synth octave or chords based on it, but not all the other notes. Anyway, cool stuff.
I've tried EQing the bass signal *after* the pedal and it helps a little... haven't tried EQing the guitar first. You could definitely run some effects after the split that only affect the bass note (synth stuff, etc).
You deserve way more subs.
Great tutorial, man! One question, though. If I have both outputs connected and the pedal bypassed, will still sound only the "guitar" signal?
Yeah, if I remember correctly, turning the pedal off in this setup makes the "bass" go away and the guitar (direct) signal continues.
Matt LeFevers Thanks, man!
hi thank you great review. do I understand correctly that in poly mode the bass line will be anyway doubled in guitar amp? I mean if I play g on 6th string I will hear both bass g and regular guitar g from both amps if volumes of both channels are up?
If you use both outputs then you would only get the low note from one amp and the regular note from the other... if you use just one amp then they both come from the same one.
hi mat , just got this pedal and doing solo stuff . but iv no bass amp as of yet , I'm running electric guitar though a 100w Marshall along with effect bifg muffs and loop pedals ,, would I need a 100w bass amp to keep up sound ???
It helps to keep the bass & guitar sounds separate but you could do without, I'm sure. It would just mean all of it's coming through one amp.
Cosh Jampbell A
Good review.. so it is not that good for replacing bass.. is there any software for recording which maybe is better to transfer guitar to bass??
Arjuna 1 Yea it's not ideal. If I was recording instead of playing live, a way better solution would be a standard octave pedal like the EHX Micro Pog, and just play guitar down an octave. It sounds a little more natural. (Or borrow a bass from someone, of course!)
awsome review. What's up with strumming a full chord a little stronger? changes the range knob?
I play a fingerstyle song with capo on the 9th fret and i wish i could add a basser sound to it rather than the notes on my low E and A string, could this pedal work for me or it wouldn't get the signal of the strings right because of the highness of the notes in that fret?
It might work, you could raise the 'range' of where the bass notes start to be a bit higher than what I did here.
Matt LeFevers parfait! Thank you so much !
Nice video matt
Hey, I wanted to use this in the end of my pedal chain that will have some distortion on it already. I don't have any experience using a pedal with two outputs thats not an ABY, if I run the direct out to my guitar amp and the mono out to my bass amp I WON'T have the octave played through the guitar amp?
Correct - if you run it in mono it sends both but if there is a cable plugged in to each output it sends only the octave down one, and only the regular signal down the other. You'll have to see if it tracks okay being put after other effects, I know the general rule of thumb with octavers is that they track your playing better the closer they are to the beginning of the chain.
Bro i just ordered this I’m a worshiper like you. And just bought also boss Ds1. 40th anniversary model. And boss rv3. Thanks
Cool. Thanks man.
Nice vid! What od are you using there to get the smoother dirt there?
Thanks! Hah, it's been a long time, but if I remember correctly my pedalboard in 2014 only had a Tube Screamer on it for dirt so it must be that one.
How does the pedal work with power chords? Can you program the pedal to work only on the low E String? Does it sound good? Thanks!
Yeah, you can dial in the range to only add octave to the lowest few notes (it's not really by "string" but if you set the range to end at like, a low A, it won't pick up the A string notes). As far as sounding good.... I find the OC-3 octave kind of artificial and synth-sounding. But there isn't really another pedal that can do this, so.
Thank you , i've got no bass player , a duo and i will play this way!!!
Maria Marie I’m 3 years late but if you have enough money I’d recommend buying a bass amp and a guitar amp and sending the octave down signal to the bass amp and send the normal guitar sound to the guitar amp so the bass follows what you’re playing and you can hear both bass and guitar
Or you could use the octave pedal and a loop pedal to record a bass part then play guitar over it
I have a seven string that I am currently using in drop A. I don’t have a 5 string bass and I don’t feel comfortable tuning my 4 string that low, so do you think it would be possible for this pedal to work on a guitar in drop A? Or would that be too low for it to track?
Also I plan on using it with the bass mode soloed just for recording
I wouldn’t imagine there’d be an issue with the tracking - lots of people use it on a bass so it must track at least that low. I doubt the end result would sound very natural though, the pedal has got kind of a synth sounding tone to it. Honestly I’ve recorded a bunch of stuff where I tuned only the lowest string of my bass to A or whatever and then tuned it right back afterwards, it’s not ideal but might be a better way to go just for recording.
This pedals out of my price range are there any other octave pedals that will work?
You could search ‘Boss OC-3 alternatives’ and see if any of those Chinese companies that make clones of stuff have taken a stab at it (Mooer? Valeton?). Off the top of my head I’m not sure.
@LeFevers Audio OK thank you but I don't think I'd be able to plug into a guitar amp bass amp and my pedal board most of the cheaper ones only have a in and out plug
That 3:09 derp face tho.
The derpiest
Can i use Boss OC-3 for heavy riffs? Example i want to tune down my guitar in drop A# is it possible?. Coz i cannot afford to buy Digitech Drop Tune Pedal. I hope you can help me with my question Keep playing Sir.
Well, it only does octaves, not like different intervals, so you can't tune down a fifth or anything. I guess you could turn down the 'regular' signal and crank the 'octave' signal all the way up to get one octave lower (only)... but I doubt it would have the sound you want. The lower octave doesn't sound mean and tight like a metal guitar, it's more synthy like a dance bass or something.
Well appreciated your respond with my question and informative. Sir Thank You So Much! Godbless!
very nice video
Hello Matt!! You helped me solve my problem with the Boss OC 3. Thanks again. Do you know much about the EHX Nano Pog being used similarly to the Boss OC 3? If so, your thoughts. Thanks
I love my Micro POG but I don't really use it the same way as I did the OC-3, only because the POG takes your entire signal and octaves it - meaning if you're playing a chord, it'll drop that whole chord. Obviously if you're trying to mimic a bass you only want that root note. (As far as I know, nothing except the OC-3 can do this, besides some complex new pickups that are coming out like the A Little Thunder pickup.) So I sometimes use the Micro POG to simulate a second guitar - like, if I play higher inversions up the neck it will fill in chords an octave lower that a rhythm guitarist might play - but it's not much good for a "bass".
Though I will say, it works great the other way around - the band Royal Blood runs a bass guitar into a POG and gets a really cool guitar sound. I've done it at home but never in a live setting, haha.
Thanks. Are you referring to the Nano Pog or Micro Pog? Looking at the configuration of the Nano, it looks like it has two separate outs to split signal.
Same difference - the Nano is just a smaller box. (It didn't exist when I bought the Micro POG or I would've got that one to save some space!) It can split the output, but you still run into what I was describing - i.e., you could split the lower octave to a bass amp but it'd still sound like a bass playing chords, if that makes sense. It would octave all of your notes.
I get it now. Thanks for your input. I really like the Boss OC 3 but was trying to improve on the sound and hoping another pedal sound better on the Bass side. I put a Bass Graphic Eq on the Bass side and it helps. I really appreciate your insights. Thank you
Very imaginative approach. Opened my old eyes to possibilities that I hadn't even thought of! Plus, I like your playing. Thanks for this, it is much appreciated.
Thanks! It's kind of goofy but I spend a lot of time in bands trying to cover multiple roles so I'm always drawn to stuff like this.
Can you use this for metal music as well? My band doesnt have a band and we've been unlucky with trying to find a bass player. Was wondering if this would be my salvation..
Patrick Vanegas I guess you could, though it won't sound all that natural. If you're using a lot of chords you could give it a try. If your rhythm player mostly does riffs or power chords though you might try an EHX Micro POG or a TC Sub N Up though, just get a pure octave down and skip the whole partial tracking thing from this video. When I need to do metal and don't have bass I use a Micro POG and the "bass" line is just the rhythm guitar riffs an octave down
Ohh I see. So if I get myself a micro POG, I could plug into a bass cab just like the OC-3 and basically everything I play will be emulated as bass on that amp correct?
Patrick Vanegas Yeah the difference between the OC-3 and everything else is that polyphonic thing where it uses just the lowest note(s), which is handy for open chords and stuff like in this video... but if I was playing thrash riffs I'd go with a regular octave pedal like the Micro POG. You can run the fx out to a bass cab and get an octave lower version of the guitar riff. If you listen to Royal Blood they're basically doing the same thing but backwards (playing a bass, making it sound like a guitar)
Does your band doesn't have a band?
If you want to play metal is very useful because the drive function is a fuzz.
Nice! but you might want to dial it in to an Eb instead of a D
Very good test! I had a dúo band and I want to know how to get both octave get fuzz?
Thanks! There is a distortion or fuzz mode on this pedal although I haven't really tried it out. Also if you are splitting the signals to two amps like I do in this video, you could put a fuzz pedal on either one, after the split.
Ok! I thought that too. I'll try and I tell you. Thanks!
But will the new OC3 virtual bass player still get all the babes?
Do you have to keep altering the dial when you apply a capo to different frets?
Probably... there's some wiggle room, the frequency selector thing isn't incredibly accurate so if you move up a fret or two it might not matter but if you capo 6 or something, you would probably want to adjust.
Matt LeFevers Excellent. Thanks for your feedback.
awsome dude, thank you so much
Is there a possibility of only using the mono out so I can only hear the bass?
Hmm. I'm not sure - I can't find anything in the manual about it. I guess if that output didn't work on its own for some reason, you could just plug an extra guitar cable into the other one so it'd think there were two?
Can it be used for voice too? Like, bass over my voice?
Interesting... I suppose that it could, though I have no idea what it'd sound like. Probably a spooky low robot voice if I had to guess, haha.
@@LeFeversAudio well, in nyzantine music, you have a voice called ison, which sounds way better if it has bass, but sometimes it is huamanly impossible to go that low with natural voice. Btw, this ison is a straight note that only changes here and there, so it won't sound too weird, as the pedal wouldn't be used for the main vocalist
@@LeFeversAudio also thanks a lot
@@flavianilie5065 Oh, that could be cool then, if the note doesn't change too often.
Will this work if you play punk & thrash?
It would probably make an octave, but it might sound kind of artificial and 'synth'y for those genres. For thrash, I might do a Micro POG or something else that creates a really clean octave of your sound, then it'd be basically like the bass was perfectly following the guitar riffs (as long as you didn't do too many chords).
Yeah, i know you're right, but Micro POG expensive & Dr. Awkward poor.
Haha, fair. You might want to check out the TC Electronic Sub'N'Up, I haven't used it myself but I've heard good things.
Sub'N'Up is way too bassy for me i'm afraid. I'm going with the Boss OC-3 & a Morley ABY box. Routing the OC-3 signal to a bass amp. It shouldn't interfere with the distortion on the guitar side. How's the tracking on this thing when you're playing fast?
Man, the Boss OC-3 is absolute GARBAGE! It couldn't even track an open E chord. And the latency...puke. Do yourself a favor & get an Electro Harmonix Pitchfork. Wayyy better & the tracking is impeccable.
Great... just been kicked out my band... 'we don't need a bass player any more' , cheers bud.... lol
Fuckin' Great video mate. Love this shit!
What FX did you have at 4:30?
I'm pretty sure it's a Tube Screamer for gain and then a Boss DD-3 for delay.
3:09 ROCK FACE!
Jonathan lewis music funny
Funny
Matt, my direct out to the guitar amp has the low octave coming through the speaker. Is this a flaw? I have the mono going to the bass amp like your video. I thought the idea was to avoid the low octave from feeding into the guitar amp speaker.
That's odd - usually it sends the low octave when only one cable is plugged in but if you plug in both it separates them. Maybe it is a flaw?
I played with my band Sunday-normally the bass player, but lead guitar player was out-so I have an acoustic with two outputs-one magnetic and one piezo. So I ran the magnetic direct to guitar amp for a clean sound and the piezo through the pedal mono out only and to my bass amp (poly). The bass notes came out okay from the bass amp, but I had to rely on the second 1/4" jack in the guitar.I later tried to split an electric and after playing with the knobs a bit- got a better sound running the effect (mono) to the bass amp and the direct to the guitar amp-but still some bleeding. I have to make a decision before my 15 day return policy expires.
That two-pickup solution is handy, I've never seen a guitar that had that. I don't know why you'd be getting bleed using a single pickup, sorry! It can be kind of a glitchy pedal, that's for sure.
Last night I tried it again. I used my head phone jack on the guitar amp and lowered the volume on the bass amp. This would insure I'm only hearing things that are coming out of the guitar amp. It sounded clean. When I unplugged the headphone and turned up the volume on the bass amp-it sounded like it was bleeding through the guitar amp again, so my conclusion is that because it is a note for note dual sound, I am just getting the audio "illusion" that it is coming out of the guitar amp-so I think I'm okay if that makes sense. But, I did not get that same "illusion" when I used the split jacks-maybe because it is an acoustic..
How do you reckon it would work with an octave mandolin?
fearghasmor I keep meaning to try it with my mandolin but I had taken my pedalboard apart. I'll report back in a few days. As far as an octave mandolin, it probably depends what the lowest notes are - if you're trying to do the fake bass thing then that "Range" knob determines the cutoff of where the bass stops following you. On guitar I keep it a little before noon and it cuts off after the first two strings, so if an octave mando is tuned higher than that you could raise that Range. I'm guessing it'd work okay, although unlike guitar chords, the lowest note on mandolin isn't always the root, so the bass line you get might be a little creative.
good my friend!!!
love the "Local H" reference!! keep on rocking in the free world.... for as long as it is free i assume. best wishes, thanks for the video.
What other octave pedals can you do this on
If you mean the automatic cutoff thing where it only octaves the lowest note of the chord, nobody else seems to have tried. I've never seen another one, and I've looked. Other octave pedals sound better - I much prefer the Micro POG and have heard good things about the Sub 'N' Up, but neither can do that lowest strings only trick where there's a cutoff frequency, which is necessary for what I'm trying to do here.
@@LeFeversAudio thanks for your fast reply! ive been looking for the same things. all i could find was the behringer super octave (witch is just a copy of the OC-3). i recently opend for the band Hockey dad and saw the main singer saw doing this same thing with a pog somehow.. didnt have a proper look so i could be wrong. i was thinking i could try a octave pedal wiht an eq after, then cut off all mids and highs haha
@@loops_8837 I've heard of people doing that, or else using a crossover box (?) which actually totally separates the frequencies and sends them to two different places. That'd probably work well (you could put the octaver after the crossover, on just the low signal, and send that to a bass amp) but is a little over my head complexity-wise.
Also, bands that are professionally all-in on this concept, like Local H, usually mod their guitars with a bass pickup and some extra electronics...
That's cool.
It would have less mud if played on a single coil guitar.
Is there a bass pedal to make a bass sound like a guitar?
Not sure about a single pedal but it's definitely possible with a combination of them. The band Royal Blood has perfected this, if you search a RUclips walkthrough for the Royal Blood technique there are a handful. Basically if you run a bass into an EHX Micro POG or some similar octave-up pedal that gets you fairly close, and then you can add distortion or fuzz to the "guitar" signal to cover up the strangeness of it more. Royal Blood also adds in a bunch of Boss Harmonizers and stuff to make it really complex. I'd say any pedal with a good quality octave-up would be a start, though - the Micro POG or maybe a TC Electronic Sub'N'Up.
i like your shirt man
Oh! Has anyone ever used this for looping?
Like, laying a bass line down on a looper pedal? You could but for that I prefer the EHX Micro POG, it sounds a lot more like a real bass.
does this work with acoustic guitar!?
+Susan Monaghan Yes! I've done it with acoustic a couple of times.
Is that a Vaya shirt?
Not on purpose but now that you mention it, that is what it looks like.
Local H:
F*#cking RuLeZ!
At least it doesn't complain
can you do a tutorial on lead guitar kari jobe forever bethel version?
+Jonathan Lewis I won't get a chance to do any type of video for a while but if it helps, I tabbed out the only major guitar part I can really hear on there:
www.dropbox.com/s/794j7s8e7g3m247/Kari%20Jobe%20Bethel%20Music%20-%20Forever.pdf?dl=0
Matt LeFevers ok thanks though
I’m so confused. That sounds nothing like a bass?
Not sure what to tell you. I call it a fake bass all through the video and make sure to start with a disclaimer saying a real bass is better, haha. I don't manufacture the pedal or anything!
Man,you had the guitar mixed in I wanted to hear just the bass sound
It's pretty bad, this whole trick kind of depends on it being mixed in under the guitar. By itself it kinda sounds like a weird synth.
@@LeFeversAudio ok thanks for the info will go try it when stores open up
Haha 96 people disliked this thats 96 quite bitter beings. Looking for an octave to play that song.
cool
The fifty nine people who disliked were bass players
Hahaha! For real, I thought I stated pretty clearly in the video that I am a bass player also and would never mean any disrespect to bass players but you still wouldn't believe the rage I get sometimes on this video.
haha so true
people just love to bitch , it makes them feel better , you're a pioneer with this
lightning bolt
Same tactict using the Mooer's tender octaver : ruclips.net/video/ivfNRQp-ta4/видео.html
Well, no, though I like how it sounds on here. If I was going to play single note lines and pretend to be a bass I'd use my EHX Micro POG. The advantage of the OC-3 is that you can strum entire chords.
Thanks! (On 2019) : )
Every guitarist believes they can play bass and now they can play on their guitar.
@War Zone Yes my man