Voiceprint and Octave Pedal Issue

RonD · #1 09-20-2022, 06:19 AM

My duo partner has been using a Boss OC-5 octave pedal for the better part of 2 years (mainly using it to fill in the bottom end on a few songs). He recently added a LR Baggs Voiceprint DI to his board (which works great BTW), but it seems that when he's using the Voiceprint, the OC-5 does not track the bass notes as well as when the Voiceprint is bypassed (even then it's still not perfect). While I don't think the output signal of the Voiceprint is any different than any "regular" other guitar signal, I'm wondering if there's something about the signal that is confusing the OC-5?

Has anyone experienced any issues with using IRs in combination with an octave pedal?

(we've also read on this forum that people aren't having a ton of success with the OC-5 accurately tracking just the bass notes...so maybe we're just really hearing how inaccurate it is now).

Petty1818 · #2 09-20-2022, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RonD

My duo partner has been using a Boss OC-5 octave pedal for the better part of 2 years (mainly using it to fill in the bottom end on a few songs). He recently added a LR Baggs Voiceprint DI to his board (which works great BTW), but it seems that when he's using the Voiceprint, the OC-5 does not track the bass notes as well as when the Voiceprint is bypassed (even then it's still not perfect). While I don't think the output signal of the Voiceprint is any different than any "regular" other guitar signal, I'm wondering if there's something about the signal that is confusing the OC-5?

Has anyone experienced any issues with using IRs in combination with an octave pedal?

(we've also read on this forum that people aren't having a ton of success with the OC-5 accurately tracking just the bass notes...so maybe we're just really hearing how inaccurate it is now).

I am assuming he has the OC-5 after the Voiceprint. Octave pedals tend to like to be fairly early in the chain. I would put it first so that it's tracking his unaffected tone.

RonD · #3 09-20-2022, 08:42 AM

Yes, the OC-5 is after the Voiceprint. If we reversed this and sent the output of the OC-5 into the Voiceprint, would this create issues with how the Voiceprint is processing the guitar signal and combining it with the IR? (I guess it wouldn't hurt to try it). Hhhmmmm.

YamahaGuy · #4 09-20-2022, 10:54 AM

Have you tried putting the octave pedal in the effects loop of the Voiceprint?

RonD · #5 09-21-2022, 06:51 AM

We have not tried putting the octave pedal in the effects loop. Will give it a try and see if any difference.

Petty1818 · #6 09-21-2022, 07:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RonD

We have not tried putting the octave pedal in the effects loop. Will give it a try and see if any difference.

Yes, I forgot about the Voiceprint having an effects loop. That would be your best bet.

RonD · #7 09-22-2022, 07:15 AM

So we had practice last night and spent some time adjusting the controls on the OC-5, specifically the "range" control. When turned completely counter clockwise, the OC-5 is only creating the octave based on the lowest note of the chord. While generally true, we found that it just didn't track that low note well enough, especially when the player is primarily strumming (even with an emphasis on striking the bass notes of the chord).

We then started turning the range control more clock wise, which creates the octave on higher frequencies (so more notes across the D and A strings start to be affected). When you start turning that dial clockwise, it also seems to drop the volume of the octave note (which you can make up with the "-1 OCT" volume control). Doing this, we found that turning the range knob to about the 10o'clock position enabled more consistent tracking of the bass frequency, and with somewhat minimal "noise" from the additional octaves being created from notes on the D and A strings. The loudest octave was being produced from the lowest note being played, and the other octaves were present but at a lower volume. The "Range" knob is very sensitive, so finding the right spot is important.

The good news is that it seems to track more consistently and produce a more consistent octave that adds a little girth to the low end. It's not perfect, and we'll get a better idea if it's good enough when we gig this coming weekend. If this doesn't work, we'll try reordering some pedals and/or moving the octave pedal into the effects loop of the Voiceprint.