Can the Boss OC-5 Help Cover a Missing Bass Player?

[@helluvakhai]

hahaha i remember you! i got an OC3 because of you and many research later, i now have a Pico POG and a Submarine Pro pick up and i am gonna try it on the pitch fork next.. good to see you again!

[@LeFeversAudio]

Thanks! Yeah it’s been a whole quest, haha. Submarine Pro sounds like a heck of a solution, that plus a Pico or Pitch Fork is a great rig.

[@davidwillars1250]

Best and clearest explanation of using this pedal I’ve found. Thanks! A lot of other reviews are mainly showing off the guitarist’s dexterity and musical skill which is entertaining but not as informative.

[@LeFeversAudio]

Thanks! Yeah, that's... how a lot of gear reviews seem to be, haha.

[@mondayworship390]

Yes I remember your original video and I also tried to make the OC-3 be my bassist (with mixed results). Agree the OC-5 is a big step in the right direction with the lowest note capability. I have found it to be quite choosy on pick ups. It really doesn’t love my acoustics, but seems to prefer humbuckers (hotter cleaner signal?) and the neck pick up on my electrics. I’m still experiencing though as I really want to be able to use this with my acoustic guitars. Currently in the process of modding some kind of acoustic soundhole pickup and removing 3 of the poles so it can only hear the bottom 3 strings. Hopefully less to confuse it and make it glitch out.

[@LeFeversAudio]

That's a good idea. The next thing I'm going to try is something called a Submarine pickup... pretty much what you're describing, it's a pickup that only detects the bottom string or two. If it's any good, I'll film a video when it gets here.

[@mondayworship390]

@@LeFeversAudio Yes I’ve looked at those, the original and the pro, but never pulled the trigger and bought one. I see at the moment there is 20% off too. I’d be very interested to see if using a submarine pickup helps with the tracking. On the FAQ’s they also recommend using an EQ and a compressor to help with the tracking. Keep posting as to progress as there’s not too many folks really pushing the envelope in this space and pulling together all the tech to give it a good bash at getting as near to a perfect solution as possible. Oh... and Merry Xmas! 👍

[@LeFeversAudio]

@@mondayworship390 - will do. Merry Christmas!

[@mondayworship390]

@@LeFeversAudio Just a quick update on my progress. Taking a cheap (£10 Amazon acoustic sound hole pick up) opening it up and removing the magnet, 3 poles and then adding 3mm of neodymium magnets to the remaining poles has been surprisingly successful... and cheap! The biggest breakthrough has been putting a compressor in front of the OC-5. I got the TC Electronic Hypergravity and it really adds a nice amount of sustain to the “bass notes”. This pedal has changed things for me. As I’ve been experimenting at making it work with an acoustic I’ve been trying Martin Monel Retro Medium strings... nickel wound. Not sure how much of a difference that makes, but read somewhere that nickel wound might be better with a magnetic pick up. I’ve also experimented with an EQ pedal after the OC-5 to help shape the bass sound. That worked ok, but not worth keeping in that position (it’s my main guitar EQ), but it did help make the bass sound slightly more “pleasing”. With my set up (cheap 3 pole single coil in the sound hole going into the compressor then OC-5, blended into my guitar sound which has its own signal path I’ve got a fairly reliable “bass” for fingerpicking. The bass sounds pleasing and lingers over my fingerpicking long enough without any real glitching or weirdness. Strumming still has mixed results... but I’m 95% happy with success with finger picking and creating a fuller sound as a one man band. I also have the Boss RV-6 in shimmer mode underneath all of that for when I really want to take folks into the throne room! Anyway... that wasn’t so much of a quick update... apologies... but hopefully useful. The compressor has really made the difference for me. Look forward to updates on the submarine pickup if you pulled the trigger on that.

[@LeFeversAudio]

@@mondayworship390 - I wondered if an EQ would help the OC-5, but my limited experiment with it didn't make much difference. I could have tried a more flexible EQ but ultimately you can't EQ in what isn't there :) I did go ahead with the Submarine, it's here but I haven't tried it yet. Hoping to dig into it tomorrow.

[@stanodzavoronok4170]

How about splitting the signal - Output to bass amp/combo and direct output to guitar effect chain? I guess it would sound better, wouldn't it?

[@LeFeversAudio]

It didn't help the *sound* at all - I tried that first and the bass signal was so dull and strange sounding that even my bass rig couldn't make a difference, so I didn't include that setup in the video - but it might have helped the headroom.

[@stanodzavoronok4170]

I found an example of signal splitting kzbin.info/www/bejne/gHrEdHaBrNhomLM sounds pretty good, at least to my ears

[@ScottPhillipsCreative]

Hi Stano, I use it in that set up and it sounds great!

[@leblille4146]

Agreed. I think the point is not just trying to make the bass sound better, but also the guitar. Imagine if your bass player plugged into your guitar signal chain while you were playing. Unless you play super clean you don’t want both at the same time. You can probably keep it even cleaner by separating the signals and adding a high pass on the guitar so the lowest guitar note is not as present and the octave down has more space.

[@steven_uk]

Thank you for the video. It was informative and helpful.

[@DIYguitarGuy]

That sounds bad, are you sure your input isn't clipping? The reason why it's better to send the octave down signal to a bass amp is that bass amps have a way bigger headroom for clean sounds. But it will probably sound weird anyway, just like the Sub 'n' Up, as you've mentioned. I know the EHX Bass9 has this lowest note function as well, have you tried that?

[@LeFeversAudio]

Yeah, it's possible that adding the sub octave is clipping something in the chain. It wasn't audible when I was doing it but it's audible in the video. I haven't tried the Bass9, that's probably next on the list if I keep experimenting with this...

[@vitordias7663]

Running the output in my mixer and sounds amazing, with my p90 sg sounds just like a bass buf with my active emg one doesn't too much but does the job

[@soohz]

Thank you!!!;)) very informative and helpful.

[@ShipWreckedBard44]

You need to send the signal into a bass amp, a compressor pedal also help a ton.

[@LeFeversAudio]

Yeah, that would probably have helped. I just find the Boss has such an odd sound that the bass amp doesn't make that much difference.

[@ShipWreckedBard44]

@@LeFeversAudio I agree with you, even with multiple pedals, and a lot of tweaking on my bass amp, it still sounds somewhat like a synth. They for sure could’ve done more to improve the sound, especially at this price point.

[@GabrielVelasco]

Short answer? No. Best way to replace a bass player with a guitar? electro~harmonix Bass9 pedal.

[@JeremyLeech]

I plug the pedal into a bass amp or bass DI. Problem solved for the sound

[@LeFeversAudio]

Oh I do the same, but the sound is so deeply weird that there's only so much the preamp or amp can do really. Definitely a good call though!

[@JeremyLeech]

@ you do have a good point there. But I figure it’s better than having no low end lol. As long as you know what you’re going to get, I think it works.

[@LeFeversAudio]

@@JeremyLeech very true

[@JohnKenneymusic]

I use it with my acoustic its great even when I have a bass player with me I still use it. I don't think of it as a bass player replacement but a well worthy tool in expression of sound and creativity OC 5 lower is a nice sound does add more but all of them are cool for whatever color shape sound from them you add.

[@mikeseal2266]

I dunno. Doesn’t sound awesome to me

[@Slamthulhu]

The pedal is doing what it's supposed to. You can't blame the pedal for the scuffed audio quality

[@youtubesucks3882]

It sounds absolutely horrible. Even if you split the guitar and bass signals so that you have two isolated channels to work with, the octaved signal sounds like it has a very low sample rate. No amount of finessing on the part of the sound operator is going to save that sound.