I've started an acoustic duo with a brilliant singer, and i'm using a Boss RC500 for all looping duties. I have made up a nice little pedal board and I bought a Boss OC5 for the purposes of attempting to create bass (ish) sounds on the loops. The only problem is I was a bit of a n00b and didn't consider the fact that the undersaddle pickup in my acoustic isn't really ideal for this purpose and the pedal is struggling to track the notes and it doesn't sound very good. Having read a bit more realised that magnetic pickups are more suited to the task, so I need advice on what I can do to either a) make use of the OC5 or b) come up with another solution (eg a mini synth keyboard or the like)
Can anyone give some useful ideas on what I can do/try?
Ta
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Comments
If not a cheap sound hole, magnetic pickup to the OC5 and then into the second input should work. That assumes you're running mono out so the RC500 is effectively summing the two signals to mono for you.
Also gives you the option of a vol pedal, eq or preamp to help shape the 'bass' tone but that's complicating matters perhaps? A kill switch would be useful though to turn the 'bass' on or off.
You'd need to use a stereo cable but that's not the end of the world.
Guitar > TU2 > OC5 > Mono in RC500 > Mono Out > TC HoF2 > PA
It would be a cable like this so it's only the ends which would be bulkier.
But faff and potential for problems, with looping I assume following the KISS approach is probably best
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I'm wondering if the TC Electronic Hypergravity compressor might work? It's a multi-band compressor with all the tweakability (when using the toneprint editor) to tune it in for your particular purpose.
I use a GT1000 Core which has the OC3 features in it, and using the range filter I can get pretty good bass sounds live below the bottom D whilst strumming chords etc. This is with a K&K pure mini.
Have you tried the "lowest" setting on the OC5? I would think that should give you a cleaner result if you're playing single notes.
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Might be worth looking at the EHX Bass9 pedal as an alternative. It is more geared up to be a bass guitar simulator then the OC5, so might do a better job for you?
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I’m thinking of getting one for the same use if they ever become available again, just wondering if it’s the pedal or definitely the acoustic signal.