OC2 and PN2 definitively deserve a Waza Reissue. As per each Waza, they should get an "extra" mode: - the extra for the OC2 Waza should be Jojo Mayer mode (bypassing the controls and 100% octave down direct to the output). Make it switchable from the outside via extra footswitch so we can alternate between this mode and the regular Pino Palladino / Guy Pratt settings without having to bend over to the board between songs - the extra Waza mode for the PN2 could be extended range on the Rate to get the modern chopper trem speeds. And a tap tempo footswich !
@@alexm.3098 I would say that the Waza reissues we need are: HM-2 Heavy Metal We've been asking for a reissue for years. Classic distortion pedal that's surprisingly versatile. The extra mode could be a boost circuit via footswitch, or maybe a different flavor of distortion, kinda like the DS-2 PN-2 and OC-1, as discussed SG-1 Slow Gear, this is one of the most coveted Boss pedals, and it's absolutely cool. You can do weird atmospheric stuff with it, and modern bedroom players would drool over it. I don't know what the extra mode could be. And maybe the LM-2 Limiter and the FB-2 Feedback Booster, both really cool pedals going up in price. Thoughts?
I still remember the day I got my first oc-2. Two months later I owned four. It changed everything for me. I love using it in between songs when playing in my local metal cover band. The looks you get for the crowd is somewhere between in awe, to disturbed.
Hey Janek, you should check out the Source Audio C4 synth pedal. Its amazing, and covers a lot of ground within its software and midi options. Its great for minimizing pedalboard real estate and maximizing tonal variety.
The oc2 was designed for guitar, but it was mostly bought by us bassists. I've often wondered if that was why that "2b" series from the late 80's early 90's were all painted brown lol! I've had mine for 25 years. FWIW it can be easily modded to track better.
I've tried a lot of octavers looking for that sound. The one that gets closer is the cog t-16. Tried a blind test myself and failed. I would say it's even better because it's smaller, louder and it's true bypass. And, most important thing, it tracks waaaay better. So, there's definitely an alternative.
At the beginning of the Taiwanese era, Boss was still using the same supplies that they were in the MIJ. For that reason, we have a couple black label made in Taiwan OC-2s that were made in 1989-1990. The major change in sound between the Taiwanese and Japanese OC-2s didn't actually happen for another 3-4 years when Roland/Boss switched from the OG BA634 chip to the 4013 chip. So in short, there are a lot of "Made in Taiwan" OC-2s out there with the same parts as the Made in Japan ones. Not to jack the comment section, but I did some research last year and made a video on all the different OC-2 variations out there: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vTP4nN51TPM.html Janek's video is so much more well done though. Loved the stop motion at the beginning and all the camera lens tricks and that bokeh. The production of this video is just so spot on
Alex, nice one! Great info in your video, thanks for the link. Definitely fills in some of the things I missed. I was aware of the 634 vs the 4013 chips, and roughly when the pedals were made and where. and the whole color change thing (which I forgot to mention in the video). But you definitely went deep on the info, so thanks for that! Just glad I have OC-2s from every era to really check out the differences. I'm slowly campaigning to the CEO of Roland for Waza versions of both the OC-2 and PN-2... 🤞🏻
@@janekgwizdala Ah man I would love to have your collection. The Waza OC-2 is a must. Put me down for it. I don't understand schematics well enough, but according to someone that commented on my video, the 634/4013 swap supposedly only affected the second octave down. He had a few resources to back it up.
@@labgnat That's probably because you were powering them correctly. There is a lot of confusion re/ PSA and ACA. No many are reading the labels and some of those ACA pedals poered with regulated voltage supply have voltage so low (~7V) that it stops them from operating at full potential.
Same here! I have an OC-2 spelled Octaver, dated from August of 1982 with the 4013 chip. I read from the schematic that the 4013/634 chips only control octave 2. Perhaps our units prove that the 4013/634 chips were used interchangeably in earlier productions
Can we take a quick second and acknowledge the shade that was thrown at MXR? Not that it should be the main takeaway from this super awesome video, but dang.. not cool, MXR. Not cool.
CaseFaceMcGee definitely wasn’t being passive aggressive looking for a free pedal. I just knew there would be a ton of comments asking why I didn’t mention the mxr pedal as it’s a good clone. And the fact they borrowed one of my vintage OC-2’s when they we’re making seemed like a tie in to the video. Anyway, it’s all water under the bridge at this point. That pedal has been out for ages, and I still think it’s probably a great pedal.
Oh yeah, I didn't mean to imply anything beyond mild bewilderment. It seems like a simple oversight on their part to not send you one as a little thank you gift. It's fascinating that they used one of your pedals. I expected them to use *a* vintage OC-2 as the basis for their clone, but it's cool to know that their exact reference pedal is sitting on your shelf.
I would probably gig my OC-2, but it's a 1986 model and for some reason it clips very easily. I've had a few Octabvres on my board-- first the Mini, then the MKII, and now the MKIII. It doesn't sound exactly the same, but for live play, it's good enough, and the quality of life improvement is much more useful to me than an incremental change in tone.
I have a Pearl OC-07, a Valeton OC-10 and a COG T-16. They all sound great and come very close to the OC-2 but something about the OC-2 is just magic. Currently the T-16 made it to the board because of size, filter option and massive volume.
Hi janek, thx for your work, I rly enjoy watching your videos! I m looking forward for the octave pedal shootout, I would be interested in the cog effects t16 (or any of their octaves) in comparison to the oc2 and the 3leaf. Cheers
I just bought a Taiwan made OC-2 and it has the ACA power. I actually prefer these power supplies because the circuit is closer to the Japanese made ones.
It's definitely one of my favourite pedals for bass ever, but I really don't understand how people use them with just the -1 octave and no clean signal, I tried it for a long time and the -1 octave alone is considerably quieter than dry bass signal, the volume loss is too substantial for serious use.
Stop with the bad info please. Some TW pedals are still supposed to be powered with the ACA psu (~12V). And people repeatedly undervolt them by hooking them to 9V isolated power supply (the internals then drop this voltage down to ~7Volts and headroom goes out the window). Using the power daisy chain is why it is working correctly for some of you. This way the pedal gets the right amount of voltage trough signal cable.
Tomislav Simić Yes sorry my info was incomplete not so much wrong but I was referring to Alex Prices’ info should have directed you all there. Again, sorry for the misinformation.
How do you put velcro on your oc2's? I'm having trouble cause I don't want to rip off or damage the label... I was thinking into make some sort of pedal cover and save the original one apart. 😁The one I have is a Taiwan made like the one in the video, black label, with the dc jack low down and the BA634 chip. I bought it second hand and the guy who sold it to me said something about it was build in Taiwan but with the japanese circuit. That was more than 10 years ago I guess and I didn't know much about the oc2 back then, the only thing I was shure was that it sounded better than my oc3. I know it's not a super expensive 80's japanese made "octaveR" but it's in very good condition and I would like to conserve it in that way as much as possible.
Unscrew the backplate, and simply turn it over and screw it back on. The label will be inside, and you'll have a nice flat surface to put velcro on. It's easy to clean when you want to take the velcro off, and you save the sticker.
@@janekgwizdala I will try that! i thought about that option but I was a little worried to push too much some components on the board 😬 thanks Janek! 🙏
Appreciate the kind words! headphones are always good. I think I should come up with a graphic in the beginning of every video to remind people. The experience is night and day, especially with bass tones, and even more so with low octaver stuff.
I assume this is already on your to-do list, but I'd love to see an episode on envelope filters. You've used the Xerograph on both episodes and you've mentioned the MF-101 - would love to see a full episode featuring those and others!
Definitely on the schedule! I'm lining up the Xerograph, MF 101, WMD Super Fatman, MXR Bass Envelope Filter, and and old DOD FX25 Kermit Green. Also on my wish list are both old and new Mu-Tron units. Any more suggestions are very welcome.
That's a mighty list! The only thing that immediately comes to mind would be the Stomp envelope patches, but that may be better suited for a Stomp-only video.
I do believe that it's the Taiwanese versions that use the ACA adapter that have the same chip as the MIJ versions... the other Taiwanese versions are those that later were using the PSA adapter as the sticker will indicate... also the earlier ACA Taiwanese versions will have the AC adapter input low like the MIJ versions
YES OC2 demos and comparison in 4K! A question though, OC2 with the Xerograph frequency sweep... I LOVE it, but I'd really like to hear your experience of that in a live context: do you not feel like you've destroyed the PA and everyone's ears when it sweeps right through the bass frequencies?
My experience is that the Boss Octave pedals sound great in my bedroom and have absolutely no oomf or substantial low end at high volume. I get that everyone else has the opposite experience but it's unusable for me.
Two questions: 1.) Why do you have so many of the same pedal? Is it for backup reasons, combination of effects, or another reason? 2.) Are there any future plans of you playing with Jojo Mayer’s band?
I have a ton of OC-2's because it's my favorite pedal, and because they don't make it anymore, so I want some backups. No plans to play IN Jojo's band right now, but definitely plans to play with Jojo in a variety of other situations
Yes! This is the video I've been waiting for, and answered my question, is the MXR vintage just a smaller bass octave deluxe? No, it's an OC-2 clone! And please Roland make a waza craft OC-Douce
I don't think it's better or worse. I just think it's different, and what I'm presenting in this video is how I use it, and how I combine it with some other favorites in my signal chain.
Great review Janek! After a series of trades from different pedals I ended up with 5 octave pedals: The Octamizer, 3Leaf, OC2, Vintage Bass Octave and the Octave Deluxe. I did a review on my channel if you want to check it out! My conclusion: OC2 is the best, and the Octabvre really shines in a band setting. I really love the Octamizer for a clean beefy pad and it's definitely a nice pedal for clean sound. For soloing i'd still chose the OC2. About the MXR pedals, FYI I was really disappointed by the Vintage Bass Octave. The octave -2 and -1 sound really close to the OC2 but I found it extremely laggy. I always found the that the octave voices on the Vintage and the Deluxe were not precise enough, kinda ''squishy'' which makes them laggy when I play staccato. Anyway, I'm a passionate about octave pedals too! ;)
Thanks for your comment. Will check out your video. Interesting about the MXR Vintage Bass Deluxe. Maybe they didn't end up using the circuit in my OC-2 after all! Well, I'm definitely still interested to check it out, and put it through its paces from both a passive and active standpoint, and also see how it reacts in a chain.
The reason I don't sell my old Boss Me50b multifx is the "Octave Down" setting which sounds very close to a OC2 used in that electronic kind of setting.
I think Janek might be why the Ebay/reverb price in OC2s has gone ridiculous in the last year......I got both of mine for about $100 and now they're all at least $150.
Awesome, I had this 1st generation, bought mine in 1983!!! Unfortunately, I've long since lost mine, I think I traded it for something else, great video anyway!!!
Hello Janek! Thank you for your great videos as always. I've been particularly inspired by your playing that I bought a MIJ 1986 pedal. Now, what to do with the power supply? Can I run a normal 9v through it? Do you use only 12v? Did you modify one of yours to 9v? Did it reduce or damage the sound? Thank you, Oscar
I think i got my OC-2 around 1990 and I now see it´s made from Taiwan and named Octave. I use it alone or with overdrive or distortion also with Digitech ricochet, sounds like your baby elefant !! :-)
Yes, it looks like the internal serial number is more of a batch reference than an individual number. I could be wrong, but that's what it appears to be. I will ask the lovely people at Boss if they can shed any light on it.
Apparently the tag function has been taken out of RU-vid Janek, its been mentioned before but would really like to see you get into the Darkglass effects. Thanks again for the awesome content, hope you and Chelsea are keeping well! ru-vid.com facebook.com/darkglasselectronics
To save everyone some $$$. Octave multiplexer by ehx...does the oc2 famous setting even better[ no issues with low output] and more...by the way I love the oc2...have many...Japan, Taiwan you name it
Janek, The Valeton OC-10 is also a great, affordable, and compact version of the OC-2, but shhhh, don't tell anyone: www.valeton.net/html/en/index.php?ac=article&at=read&did=62
Yes! I heard good things about this one, and it came up a bunch of times in recent weeks when I was thinking about making the OC-2 video. Bummed I didn't get around to grabbing on in time for the video, but will plan to do a much bigger ocvater shoot out at some point, and try and include this one!
I've got one, and while it usually sounds great i found that it clips in a distracting and unpleasant way in the lower range (for example, an octave above open E) with an active bass. I haven't tried it yet with a passive bass, but my MXR mini octave does not do that and I assume the real thing doesn't do it either.
I have that OC-10 for traveling, but it is quite different from OC-2. for me, the response was a little different especially in the lower range. For me, it's very super easy to make it bouncy/punch sound with OC-2, but i felt like I had to work a little harder with OC-10. Of course this will be different for different bassists. But for the cost? super good deal, and a decent backup.
im a guitarist playing bass in a tribute band but im really tempted to get a nobles. just spend the cash and don't pay attention to my bank account. lol. already have the oc2 on the board. woo!
I think it's really hard to compare these two pedals, because they are so different. And like I say in the video, the main reason I use the OC-2 the way I do, is to actually mask the natural sound of my bass, not to track it accurately an octave down. I think the MXR is great at tracking the bass, and giving you a lower octave that sounds more bass guitar-like, but it's not good at getting a synth sound. That's why I think they're both great pedals, but also completely different. I love the mid switch in the MXR BTW. Great feature that can really give the sound some bite when you need it.
After further review, it appears I missed the part where you said you prefer the oc-2 because it masks the bass guitar tone. The mid boost is what sold me. I always lost so much signal from the OC-2.
@Janek Gwizdala thanks for the content as always. What settings do you find work best with the Mid switch? Did you change the internal settings from factory default? Do you find the Mid switch works best with the different octave knobs, Growl and Girth?
