Boss OC-3 Super Octave
December, 2006
Chances are you’re familiar with Boss’s trademark pedal design. There’s a reason: These pedals are built to last. True to its name, the Super Octave is more than your basic octaver. Its drive mode spit out acrid distorted tones that helped my riffs cut through just about anything—even the pedal’s clean octave settings had an aggressive edge.
The pedal’s coolest feature is its ability to track polyphonically. While most octave pedals are monophonic—able to process only one note at a time—the OC-3 has a polyphonic mode that ably handles chords and double-stops. The unit tracks well in all modes. Boss recommends using the poly mode as a default setting, but I preferred oct 2 mode (with the two-octaves-below effect turned down); while poly produced a fatter sound, it also introduced a smidge of latency and some “out”-sounding harmonics. Still, I loved the synth-y thwump I got when I rolled off my dry signal in poly mode and cranked the octave 1 knob. Juicy.
Details
List $185
Street $120
Power 9V batt. or ac adapter
True bypass No
Weight 15 oz
Warranty Five years parts, 90 days labor
Made in Taiwan
Contact (323) 890-3700; www.bossus.com
