thisisswanbon Posted November 29, 2023 Share Posted November 29, 2023 Hey! I'll start this by confessing that I LOVE a good octaver, and I'm also a firm believer that there are some things that the digital realm just can't replicate. Since joining a band that does live band renditions of EDM classics I now spend at least 50% of my playing up past the 7th fret with a solo octave sound, usually going for the OC2 thing. Over time I've gone from an MXR M88 (which I had little understanding of) to a Boss OC3, followed by a TC Sub n Up mini, which lead to a TC Sub n Up, eventually going for a Cog T16 and finishing on a 3Leaf Audio Octabvre Mini (The white one). The T16 was the pedal which opened my eyes to the OC2 sound, and was only replaced when a drunken punter fell on it, snapping the clean blend knob. I was unable to get in touch with Tom as this was during his hiatus, and so had a couple of botched local repairs which made it worse before deciding to replace. The reason for so much self indulgent back story is just to demonstrate that I'm certainly more familiar with octave pedals than the average bear and at times feel more comfortable playing with one on than not... So... the OC5. After seeing the price of 3 leaf gear sky rocket, it seemed like the perfect time to cash out, but I'd need a suitable replacement to justify selling my favourite piece of gear. A bit of talkbass and youtube searching lead me to the OC5, with rave reviews and cries of "authentic oc2 emulation". I was aware of the digital-ness of this, but thought all these players can't be wrong surely? Turns out, they're not wrong... but it's a case of YMMV. I really wanted to like this pedal, it looks great with a cracking feature set. At £119 it seemed a steal! It had all the build quality you've come to expect from Boss, and was as intuitive as any other Boss pedal. After a good old play with my Sandberg VT4 with custom passive electronics, neck pickup solo'd going between this and the 3leaf... it certainly had the right sound, with maybe a little bit more bottom end than I'm used to from my Octabvre. It had all the right texture, with an unmistakable smoothness. Something was just a bit off... The difference, and where I feel ALL digital octave pedals fall short, is the feel when playing. Undoubtedly because of the digital processing time, you'll always have that ever so slight disconnect from picking the note, to it coming out the other end. Analogue octave pedals (Octabvre included) stick to your notes like, well... a sticky note thing! There's just an immediacy with analogue octave pedals which massively impacts the they feel, and as a result the way I play. If this ever so slight latency doesn't bother you then it's a great option... and certainly works a treat for the "Sledgehammer" type sound... but solo'd it's no cigar I'm afraid... Hope this helps! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oomo Posted November 29, 2023 Share Posted November 29, 2023 I found almost exactly the same! I won't repeat what I posted elsewhere, but here's a link to my comparisons: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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