Your thoughts on loop-master strips

[Lebowsky]

Hi,

My pedalboard is starting to become something decent, and it will continue to extend in the next months. I am wondering whether I should consider buying a true-bypass looper to isolate some of the tone sucking pedals or not. I do not know which ones of my pedal are true bypass or not already. I am not a true-bypass nazi, I don't really care about it as long as the bypass tone is good.

Currently I am running:

Boss TU-2 (major tone sucker)
Digitech Bass Whammy (major tone sucker)
Boss CEB-3 (bypass seems ok?)
Boss BF-2 (bypass seems ok?)
EHX Q-Tron (I don't know if it's true bypass or not, maybe someone can tell me, but I guess it's moddable anyway)
EHX Micro POG (seems ok?)
ColorSound Tonebender (don't know, haven't played with out of the signal chain)
Fulltone Bassdrive (true-bypass)
TC Elecetronics Phaser (seems good bypass)
T-Rex Squeezer (good bypass tone, but on all the time anyway)

I am planning to add the following:
EHX Bass MicroSynth (I know it's easily moddable to TB and that it sucks major tone otherwise, so I'll prolly mod it)
A Wah (dunno which one yet, but those are quite the suckers as well)
Ernie Ball VP Jr (dunno?)
Some delay maybe, but not soon.

At least currently, I really feel some tone sucking. What do you think? Would you isolate the worst pedals, all of them, only some?

Let me know your opinion Thanks.

[Tomass]

The thing is that because your running a lot of pedals, your signal has to travel through a lot of gear. This makes your signal weaker, therefore it may not be as good. A Bypass strip is excactly what you need, or a booster after the end of the line of effects. How ever you dont need to buy one if you have a soldering iron and a bit of know how:
http://www.singlecoil.com/tb-strip/tbstrip.html

EDIT: Another train of thought is that you group the effects that you would use at the one time and put them in a loop, leaving the effects on and then being able to have that selected group color your tone at the same time. Its up to you on how and where you put the effects in a loop. You could always put a select few which are the problematic ones in the loop, I think most EHX are true bypass

[JanusZarate]

Good advice, but...

Originally Posted by Tomass

I think most EHX are true bypass

Oh, how we wish that were true.

All of the XO and Nano series pedals are indeed true bypass. But many of the old pedals - especially big ones like the Bass Micro Synthesizer - are not.

But that aside... a TB strip would be useful to you, and I've had great experiences with Loop-Master. Just be advised that there's a moderate delay (3-5 weeks or so) before you'll get it, since they're made to order.

You won't need that many loops, IMO - just group them to your advantage in a few loops. Also, you can get custom options like a master bypass to skip all loops at once instead of turning them off one by one. It's a great feature if you're willing to spend the extra dough.

Loop-Master isn't the only option out there (look into WOBO, Lehle, Pacificustom, etc.), but it's definitely the cheapest one besides a DIY project.

[Trevor.A]

Originally Posted by Tomass

The thing is that because your running a lot of pedals, your signal has to travel through a lot of gear. This makes your signal weaker, therefore it may not be as good. A Bypass strip is excactly what you need, or a booster after the end of the line of effects. How ever you dont need to buy one if you have a soldering iron and a bit of know how:
http://www.singlecoil.com/tb-strip/tbstrip.html

EDIT: Another train of thought is that you group the effects that you would use at the one time and put them in a loop, leaving the effects on and then being able to have that selected group color your tone at the same time. Its up to you on how and where you put the effects in a loop. You could always put a select few which are the problematic ones in the loop, I think most EHX are true bypass

Thank you very much for that link! I've been wanting to make one of these, but I didn't really know how to wire everything.

[stabbicus]

Originally Posted by Tomass

EDIT: Another train of thought is that you group the effects that you would use at the one time and put them in a loop, leaving the effects on and then being able to have that selected group color your tone at the same time. Its up to you on how and where you put the effects in a loop. You could always put a select few which are the problematic ones in the loop, I think most EHX are true bypass

I'm going to do what you're saying here. I'll have my dirt (OD, Dist, and Fuzz) on one channel and my modulation on the other. The ability to bypass them both or mix and match as I choose is an awesome feeling. Being true-bypass staight to my amp if I choose is icing on the cake.

This is the one that I'm getting: http://www.loop-master.com/product_i...products_id=57

I don't think that most EHX pedals are true bybass though.

[Crabby]

I have the Loopmaster single loop pedal. Its the size of a small MXR pedal and works great. I got mine from a fellow TB'er but would not hesitate to order from them as the product is priced right and seems to be very nice quality.

[Lebowsky]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm thinking of going with 2 loopers, one with 1 loop + tuner out at the beginning of the chain, and 1 with 2 or 3 loops at the end of the chain (I need to plan properly before deciding), with my TB pedals in the middle like the Fulltone.

[nickbear]

i have a loopmaster clean/dirty hybrid effects loop with tuner mute and bypass, i cant believe i used to play without it!

it has 2 channels to switch between and a third channel that you can add to either of the first channels.. so i have my clean pedals in the first loop, my overdrives in the second loop and the octaves and envelope filters which i use with both clean and dirty sounds in the third loop. makes like so much easier

[Toasted]

Running a loopmaster is good, but you need to have a buffer in your chain too.

[Lebowsky]

yeah I was thinking of using the T-Rex Squeezer as buffer at the end of the pedal chain. unless I'm totally out of topic?

[Tomass]

There are boosters and buffers for that sort of thing. Electro Harmonix has a line booster called the LPB-1, you could always try that at the end of you chain. The squeezer is a compressor, it would kind of work, certaintly helps with tone. But a Booster pedal would be your best bet.