Members Snufkino Posted March 1, 2008 Members Share Posted March 1, 2008 Hi, this is my first post here and I joined to try and find an answer to a pedal problem, so if anyone can help out... I've just received a Boss OC-2 in the post (Second hand on ebay, Japanese model, made in '86) and it's in mint condition, but... I'm not sure about the 2nd octave dial as it sounds VERY quiet -almost no signal- no matter what tweaking I'm doing with the other two dials (direct level and octave 1). The first octave works fine, and to be honest that's the sound I'm after, but it'd be good to know that the thing is in complete working condition. The oc2 dial seems fine and the screws on the base of the pedal are on nice and tight so I doubt it's ever been messed about with. I'm certainly not a pro and my knowledge of tech stuff is pretty limited, so has anyone else who owns the OC-2 had similar experiences? Could it be something simple? Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alan Roberts Posted March 1, 2008 Members Share Posted March 1, 2008 Each Octave knob serves as the volume control for that octave. Octave 1 is one octave below the note you play and octave 2 is two octaves below the original note. The blend knob controls how much of the effect you hear in comparison to the original signal. If the two octave knobs are set about equal and the blend is up fairly loud, you should hear both octaves. If not, you may have got a defective pedal.Are you using a power supply or a battery to power the unit? Sometimes a weak battery or the wrong type of power supply will cause a pedal to malfunction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Snufkino Posted March 1, 2008 Author Members Share Posted March 1, 2008 Ah! It may very well be a weak or dodgy battery. The one I put in was from another pedal, but pretty new and barely 10 minutes of use. I've had dodgy battery problems before, I can't believe I overlooked that possibility! I know that various pedals have different ways of exhibiting low power input (for example both my tremolo pedals start 'clicking' at the peaks when power is low) but it didn't occur to me that just the 2nd octave's volume would lower. (IF this is the problem of course!) Anyway, I'll give it a test with a power supply and see what happens. Thanks, Alan. However, if it's not the power and the pedal is defective then what could I do? I found a schematic for the circuit layout on the web but I don't have the know-how. A friend of mine used to be a roadie and he's into his pedals, so he might know what to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Control_67 Posted March 2, 2008 Members Share Posted March 2, 2008 I had an MIJ OC2 that I recently sold on UK ebay. Although mine was far from mint. Octave 2 was always quieter than the others, purely because the signal it generates is 2 octaves lower than the signal that a guitar amp is designed to reproduce. I always found that it was more audible through a bass amp. Do you find that the signal is louder when you play higher notes or is it the same volume whatever you play? Other than the battery you could try some switch cleaner on the pot. This would help if any of the pots are scratchy sounding when they are used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alan Roberts Posted March 2, 2008 Members Share Posted March 2, 2008 I had an MIJ OC2 that I recently sold on UK ebay. Although mine was far from mint.Octave 2 was always quieter than the others, purely because the signal it generates is 2 octaves lower than the signal that a guitar amp is designed to reproduce. I always found that it was more audible through a bass amp. Do you find that the signal is louder when you play higher notes or is it the same volume whatever you play? Other than the battery you could try some switch cleaner on the pot. This would help if any of the pots are scratchy sounding when they are used. Good point. It may just be that the tone is so low that the amp isn't reproducing it very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Snufkino Posted March 2, 2008 Author Members Share Posted March 2, 2008 Well after testing it, it's definitely not a power issue. Funnily enough I was thinking that the lower notes played with a 2 octave lower signal on top might not pick up too loudly, and it makes sense that a bass amp would be more equipped for the frequency. So hopefully it should be fine, as I can't understand why the pot shouldn't be working given the perfect condition that the pedal is in. It's not a major issue of course but I might take it into a shop to give it a test on a bass amp just to be sure. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Snufkino Posted March 4, 2008 Author Members Share Posted March 4, 2008 Okay, so I've been over to my local guitar shop and tested it through a bass amp, and the pedal still reacts the same. However, they had a 2nd hand Digitech Whammy in store which has the same effects built in; 1 octave and 2 octave drop, and the 2nd octave on that was just as quiet (through standard guitar/amp) so I guess that means that any 2nd octave down effect is just too low to register at any decent volume, and so my OC-2 is -hopefully- fine! However, it's a bit odd that no reviews of the OC-2 point this out. I'm going to have a trawl through all the reviews here just to be sure though. Surely such a quiet effect is an almost utterly redudant extra? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Control_67 Posted March 5, 2008 Members Share Posted March 5, 2008 When I used the OC2 on bass I always thought that you could feel the lower octaves rather than hearing them. The waveform of such low notes is such that they aren't very loud by nature, but if you put them through a big enough speaker to really shift some air and drive them enough you will cartainly feel the notes. And if you can get a young lady to sit on your speaker cab she will 'feel it' too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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