Al Krow

Actually there was a very useful sound clip on that video you posted at 05.47 to 06.27 where he A/B's with and without the compressor on, so thanks for sharing. That's exactly the thing it would be great to hear more of. Folk can now have a listen to the clip and make their own minds up. I'm afraid I'm not going to stray from my simple point (and it's not directed at you specifically Kev - it's more a general one for this discussion): if we BC'ers or our audience can't hear and notice a difference then frankly there's plenty else to be focussing on (e.g. all the stuff in krispn's post). If we can and it's making a positive difference, then excellent. I look forward to folk posting their A/B sound clips with comps on and off, particularly useful in a live mix. In the meantime, no point me commenting further - I've said my piece 😁

Ok cool - back to my point: if it can't be heard even by us BC'ers, well what's the point? Let's get some clips posted, gents.

Mate, if there is a cheese sandwich on offer this time, I'll be around in a flash! 😁 Shared clips on this thread would be awesome! If it can't be heard even by us BC'ers, well what's the point? That's really all I'm trying to get across.

"It's subtle, unintuitive, and rarely a night-and-day change when A/B'd. This makes the compression-proving sound clip a bit of a wild goose chase, and to worry whether an audience member could pick it out?" "There is no chance in hell a punter is going to notice that!" So in conclusion - you're not going to hear it on a clip (although apparently we can on Cuzzie's?) because that's akin to chasing geese, and no audience member will ever notice whether you have a compressor or not. As @Kev rightly said: "...It just means more to some bassists than others, and that’s absolutely fine" or as krispn put it very eloquently earlier: I'm totally good with that! I'd best now vacate the field for the return of the Jedi 😁

Bingo, no disagreement from me there 😉

@Jus Lukin - lol! Compression isn't rocket science: threshold, compression ratio, make up gain to compensate for compression, attack and release. Get to grips with those and you're good to go. But if PB compressors make a difference in a live mix, it should be a simple thing to make a recording to demonstrate. Come on gents let's hear ya!

Yup, dear fella, you did and all credit to you for that one! The "but" was it didn't sound too different to a slight volume boost! But be great if you are happy to share the clip here as it's exactly the sort of evidence that is actually useful in this discussion and I suspect would be of interest to more than just yours truly (aka Sith Lord, apparently 😁). Yeah fair enough Kev and I think that's well understood. I think the point is a LOT of folk have done exactly this over the years and not found any difference. Bear in mind from a live player's perspective they should be wearing a decent set of ear plugs if they value their hearing and the same for your band mates. So perhaps the better test would be whether someone in the audience specifically listening out for the bass line could notice it. And that's where a few half decent recordings would be really useful.

Completely agree with your first point Kev. Studio compression in the hands of an expert sound engineer makes complete sense. And similarly a sound engineer mixing a full band sound. Compressors used as limiters in the way Ped set out earlier makes a lot of sense too - it's how I have my Becos set up on my board (and also deals with items 3, 6 and 7 on krispn's useful "list of 8"). But hearing and feeling our live sound are not unrelated and should be something that can be recorded, just in the same way as studio mastering, and make a difference to the listener's experience. Unfortunately the lack of any evidence of the efficacy of pedal board compressors used in a live setting is a little deafening; it certainly doesn't mean that we're not open to it, contrary to Mr Lukin's belief. Tbf, unlike the self-proclaimed Jedi above, one of my BC buddies is happy to record a clip of the impact of PB dual band compression on his sound and, if it is decent - which he is confident it will be, I'll definitely be following him in getting one!

There's been a lot of talk from those seeking to bring balance to the Force, but unfortunately little evidence. All it would take is for a few clips to be posted demonstrating how transparent (so as to strip out the effect of their colouration) pedal board comps improve the bass sound in a live mix e.g. at a pub gig with no sound engineer doing his stuff. Just play a couple of tracks with your comp on and a couple of tracks without and let's hear what all the fuss is about? As one of the Jedi's mates rightly often says and with wisdom, I might add, sound clips can be worth a thousand words. And it's not a big ask really, particularly as there have been several requests going in the other direction to the said individual who has often obliged (more fool him, eh?). Still patiently waiting...

If I could only react fast enough, I would be affected by latency. @stewblack - just my poor attempt at humour, Stew. I should clearly stick to the day job...

Maybe worth trying ordering via Wunjos in London? They're a leading Ibby retailer in the UK and Tom (manager) is super helpful.

@lee650 - cheers mate. Seems like Hellzero has already been dialling in the same! I'm a fan of Poly mode too - unquestionably better tracking, which is a key for me, and also cleaner. So for the three settings I would most likely have this on: Classic OC-2: Vintage mode Budget Royal Blood / Hammond B3: Poly mode Clean Octave - thickening**: Poly mode **Dry 5/10, +1 Oct min, -1 Oct max, Range max

There are 310 binary accountants in the world**. They use computers for most of their counting. **59,049

I've just a booked an appointment with a psychologist and a bone surgeon...

Can't oblige with that innovative tuning, but I have retuned mine E,A,D,G,B,E i.e. the same as a six string guitar but an octave down, for a classical bass project and which this thread has inspired me to get cracking with again! The Fender VI style basses have too narrow a string spacing for my liking for this and a normal 6 string bass too wide, but I managed to bag a Ibanez GVB 36 which has a lightly tapered 9mm (nut) to 14mm (bridge) spacing along the length of the fretboard, which seems close too ideal, although a similarly spaced short-scale would likely be even better - but that's maybe a separate little project in itself for another day!

What do you get if you multiply six by nine?

That's interesting but, that being the case, why have there been so few "accurate" clones out there, and why were such a large proportion of MXR octave pedals so noisy - so much so that they have recently been running an exchange programme?! You massively flatter me to suggest I could make one myself! 😁 And, apologies, that contrary to your OP on the SY-1 thread, I've still not got around to moving that one on yet...

Interested as to what you mean by a direct clone? Did MXR steal the chip design and algorithms? If not, they've clearly done a very decent job (obviously at a significantly higher price point), but... You'd think that Boss might know a thing or two about their own product range, and almost certainly more so than any rivals? 😊 Worth referring to @Sibob's review earlier on in this thread - he's had / got more OC2s than anyone I know, and knows them really well in terms of nuances of sound. He's said the OC-5 has pretty much nailed it. Based on that alone, I'm not sure anyone else should confidently say that MXR have done a "better" job without doing a detailed side by side review first?

£114 from Amazon (postage included if you have Prime) - and very much obliged to the "tip-off" from @Kev for spotting that they were in stock (they've already run out again!). I do think Boss are making life very difficult for the OC-2 clone competition with the OC-5, given its feature set, the way it's nailed the "OC-2 sound" (with the added pedigree / brand recognition of being the "real thing" i.e. Boss!) and at a price point, new, that you wouldn't hope to get at least some of the well known alternatives, second hand.

Returns are a killer for retailers' margins, so you guys are going to be very welcome customers then!

I know several of you like to hear clips - so here's a couple from me: - the second in 'classic OC-2' mode with just -1 oct max, vintage setting, finger - first (same riff) in more 'Royal Blood' mode with a bit of clean (3.5/10), +1 oct (5/10), -1 oct (max), poly setting - full range, pick into VTDI set for dirt. In conclusion the OC-5 seems to give us both the OC-2 and the OC-3 with improved tracking for both and throws in an octave up. What's not to like? Definitely looking like a keeper! OC-5 'RB'.wav OC-2 'classic'.wav

"Insignificant by comparison" is overstating it. The EU 's two biggest customers (net) are the US with which it has a trade surplus of €150.3 billion, followed by the UK at €110.3 billion. Trade surpluses then fall away pretty rapidly in comparison with these two nations - the next is Switzerland at €33.8 billion. [Source: EU Commission data] In relation to music products IMO the US is going to be a massively more difficult market for retailers like Thomann to crack compared to taking on the likes of Andertons in the UK, if they were to follow the Music Store / DV247 model and set up a UK branch to take the hassle out of purchases for UK consumers.

Just put it in front of a Red Ripper fuzz and Proton filter and it plays very nicely! I didn't think I was going to particularly like or use the octave up, but I'm already won over. It's not a clean octave up in the way the Digitech Mosaic is, to give you an 8 string bass sound, but it definitely adds a bit "extra" when used with the -1 oct and a bit of -2 oct; both when the pedal is used by itself but also when combined with fuzz and / or filter. So overall first reactions are a thumbs up from me. And, as everyone else has already reported back, it nails that classic "OC-2" sound with the -1 oct solo'd.

That last point is interesting. You thought about splitting your signal and using the OC-5 in parallel eg with an LS2 to make the most of your pups'output?

+1^^ except I actually prefer it in Poly mode over Vintage mode when I'm using both octave up and down simultaneously, as it gives me a cleaner overall sound. In terms of tracking it's very good at normal bass riff speeds, but will glitch if you sustain a note (and the latter is not unusual for octavers).