What is it?

It’s a flanger. It, well, flanges things, you know? Flangers belong to the same family of modulation effects as chorus and phaser. The Boss BF-2 was produced by the company between 1981 and 2002, after which it was replaced by the BF-3 pedal which is still in production today.

What Does It Do?

The BF-2 creates the flanger effect by combining your original dry signal with a time-delayed copy of the signal, which is modulated by a low frequency oscillator (LFO for short). If that’s too technical, then the BF-2 is your ticket to a wonderful world of swirling, aeroplane-like sounds.

Famous bass lines that use a flanger which might serve as useful reference points include:

• Tool – ‘Forty Six & 2’
• Yes – ‘Tempus Fugit’
• The Cure – ‘The Holy Hour’
• Joe Bonamassa – ‘Had To Cry Today’

Why Would I Want One?

Because you’re in a Cure tribute band, or you grew up listening to grunge and can’t quite get that swirly guitar sound out of your head. Seriously, though, a flanger is a useful sonic colour to have at your disposal for those times when chorus is too tame and a phaser is too funky.

Connections

Standard 1/4″ jack cable input and output sockets

Power

This depends on the year of manufacture; older Boss pedals were designed to run off a 12V supply (referred to as ‘ACA’), while the newer models run off a standard 9V supply (referred to as ‘PSA’). Check the information on the pedal’s back plate to be sure – some older pedals will also have a small sticker on the top of the pedal next to the power input informing you of the need for a 12V supply. As with other Boss pedals, there’s a 9V battery compartment accessible underneath the footswitch.

Controls

The Boss BF-2 has four control knobs:

• MANUAL controls the centre frequency of the flanger’s sweep; this is most noticeable when the RES knob is turned all the way up. MANUAL also acts as a fine-tuning knob, as some of the overtones produced by the pedal might not always sit nicely with the key of whatever you happen to be playing.
• DEPTH affects the depth of the sweep
• RATE controls how fast or slow the sweep occurs
• RES is the level of resonance or feedback

It’s worth noting that the BF-2’s controls allow it to produce a wide variety of tones; reducing the resonsance and bosoting depth can result in subtle, chorus-like tones, while maxing out the resonance can generate a distinctive ring modulator sound.

Where Does It Go In My Chain?

Modulation effects traditionally sit towards the end of a pedal chain, after octaves, envelope filters and fuzz/distortion. However, there are few hard and fast rules about pedalboard sequencing, so let your ears be your guide.

How Much Does It Cost?

As with many Boss pedals, the price that you pay will vary depending on the age of the pedal and the location where it was built; older MIJ pedals will command the highest price tags, but it’s worth mentioning that the internal components of the pedal didn’t change much during it’s production lifespan, so older doesn’t always mean better (or even different).

Broadly speaking, there are two main varieties of BF-2:

1980-1990 black knobs, made in Japan
1990 – 2001 white knobs, made in Taiwan

New: N/A

Used: £40-£75

Pros

• Familiar, rugged Boss enclosure
• Simple, intuitive controls
• Wide range of tonal possibilities
• Finished in an attractive shade of mixed berry

Cons

• A flanger might not be top of your tonal priorities, so this is probably one for dedicated modulation enthusiasts

What Are The Alternatives?

There are a range of flanger pedals on the market to suit most budgets:

• The Boss BF-3 is the BF-2’s successor, adding additional controls and features
• MXR makes both the Micro Flanger and the Bass Chorus Deluxe, which has a dedicated flanger setting
• The Maxon FL-9 and FL-301 offer classic flanging tones
• TC Electronic offers both the Vortex and Thunderstorm flanger pedals

What is it?

The MXR M288 Bass Octave Deluxe is a dual-voice analogue octave pedal and some neat additions that give bass players an expanded take on the tried-and-tested octave pedal format.

What Does It Do?

The pedal can be used to generate an additional signal one octave below that of your bass; you can control the levels of both the dry and effected signal in order to achieve your desired tone.

Why Would I Want One?

An octave pedal running 50/50 wet/dry signal adds thickness to lines played in the higher register of the bass, which is really useful if you play in a three- or four-piece band and want to fill more space. A 100% wet octave down signal will give you access to synth-like bass sounds, adding that extra element of authenticity when playing the bass line to any tune that was originally recorded on a keyboard (think ‘Ain’t Nobody’ or ‘Superstition’ or even bloody ‘Moves Like Jagger’).

Connections

Standard 1/4″ jack cable input and output

Power

Again, totally standard: 9V DC power supply or 9V battery accessed by removing the pedal’s rear plate.

Controls

The Bass Octave Deluxe has three main control knobs:

• GROWL is the first of two independent, blendable sub-octave channels; MXR describes the voicing of the GROWL channel as a ‘throaty, mid-range sub-octave’
• GIRTH is the second sub-octave voice designed to provide a ‘deep and smooth’ octave tone

The GROWL and GIRTH voices are completely separate from one another and can be individually soloed or blended together to create a variety of tonal options.

• DRY controls the volume of your original bass signal

In addition to the three main controls, MXR has also added the very practical MID+ button, which gives users a boost of up to 14dB to their dry signal at either 400Hz or 850Hz; both the amount of boost and the frequency can be adjusted via an internal trim pot and slider underneath the pedal’s back panel.

Where Does It Go In My Chain?

Some octave pedals have difficulty tracking in certain parts of the fretboard or during faster passages of playing, so my preference is to put them near the start of the signal chain in order to get the best input signal possible. I also find that putting the octave before an envelope filter produces the best result when using both effects simultaneously.

How Much Does It Cost?

New: £139.00/$149.99

Used: £75-90/$85-100

Pros

• Rugged Construction in a relatively small enclosure
• Two blendable octave voices give a range of tones
• MID+ boost gives the pedal added tonal flexibility
• Blue LEDs are classy as hell

Cons

• Some players might feel that the two octave channels are too similar in their voicings

What Are The Alternatives?

Nearly every major bass pedal manufacturer offers some sort of octave pedal, so there are lots of options: MXR also offers the M280 Vintage Bass Octave, which offers similar functionality to the legendary Boss OC-2 in a much smaller package; Boss offers the OC-3; Aguilar has the Octamizer; EHX has a variety of octaves in a range of sizes, with the Nano POG being one of the most popular.

For a round-up of five analogue octave pedals be sure to check out this comparison test: The Quest For The Brown Note – Can Anything Match The OC-2?

Why would you want to use an octave pedal with your bass? If you want to be able to keep up with synths without having to go anywhere near a keyboard, or you want to access lower notes without switching to a 5-string or detuning, then an octave pedal is the way to go.

Introduced in the early 1980s, the Boss OC-2 is still widely touted to be the best analogue octave out there; famous players like Pino Palladino, Tim Lefebvre, Juan Alderete, Jonathan Davis and Janek Gwizdala have all helped to maintain the popularity of this pedal long after it was discontinued and replaced by the more refined and much less enjoyable OC-3. In fact, many players swear that the ‘glitchy’ and imperfect nature of the OC-2 is the very reason that they love it so much.

Ever since the Boss OC-2 was released, other manufacturers have been trying to steal its crown. Some have added additional features to their pedals, while others opt for a no-frills emulation of the classic octave pedal sound.

Analogue Octave Pedal Shootout

This video gives an overview of 5 different analogue octave pedals to see if anything comes close to the classic sound of the OC-2. Although each unit is capable of producing multiple tones, this octave pedal comparison focuses on the 1-octave down 100% wet signal sound that the OC-2 excels at:

• Boss OC-2
• MXR M288 Bass Octave Deluxe
• EBS Octabass
• 3 Leaf Audio Octabvre
• Iron Ether Subterranea

Tone is in the ear of the beholder, and every viewer will have their opinion on which octave pedal sounds best. For the curious, my go-to octave pedal for gigs is the 3 Leaf Audio Octabvre; it does a great impression of the OC-2 while adding some useful features, particularly the ability to switch between a blended dry/wet sound and a solo’d sub bass octave with a simple tap of a footswitch (you can hear a practical demo of multiple pedal settings within the same song here).

Although I still keep my 1986 Boss OC-2 in the studio for recording (and nostalgia) purposes, it isn’t robust enough for live use and has a habit of falling apart on gigs.