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"loop-ception" need a small single loop pedal

Blu bro

Blu bro

Mar 1, 2012
1,043
1,535
Aus
#1
So on the weekend i was playing at church and after a discussion i had with another member i dicided to bypass my pedal board for the second service (go straight from bass to MXR M81 DI). My tone was heaps better.

Dang-it!

Real quick breakdown..
My basic signal is TU-3->CS-3->LS-2-> POG2-> MXR DI
Loop A-> Agg Oct->XXL->Octavius**
Loop B->Sub-T->Markbass s/s->Xero**
**A and B loops blended together.

Now i like my tone when effects are engaged but my clean tone lacks its "Clarity". So my plan is now to put a loop just after my TU-3 that will encompass EVERYTHING and go staight to DI. That way my clean tone will just be TU-3->MXR M81

Can anyone recommend a small loop pedal so i can cut out all my pedals? Cheap, small and unaltering my tone are the only requirements.

I have attached a pic of my board so you have an idea.
 

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#3
You don't need a loop pedal. You need a buffer. I'm using this one, which is cool because it has a totally transparent clean boost as well as a buffer, and because it's small. Put a buffer first in your chain and your problems are solved:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

But if you want a small loop pedal, I got an AB pedal in a 1590a made by this small company called Loop-Master Pedals - Pedal Board Loopers - Pedal Switchers - Guitar/Amp Switchers . Not much for artwork but they did a good build and sent out it when they said they would.

That's some board you've got, BTW!
 
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#4
arn't my boss pedals Buffers????

The subject of true bypass vs Buffers does my head in BTW.
JimmyM said:
You don't need a loop pedal. You need a buffer. I'm using this one, which is cool because it has a totally transparent clean boost as well as a buffer, and because it's small. Put a buffer first in your chain and your problems are solved:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

But if you want a small loop pedal, I got an AB pedal in a 1590a made by this small company called www.loopmaster.com .

That's some board you've got, BTW!
Click to expand...
 
#6
This pedal does look sweet JimmyM.
Its funny i did think that it sounds like a job for a buffer pedal but just assumed that my Boss pedals would alreacdy be doing that.
But because i am still going through all my pedals will i still loos a bit of tone and better off Looping my signal than just hoping to keep it mostly intact?
 
#8
Blu bro said:
This pedal does look sweet JimmyM.
Its funny i did think that it sounds like a job for a buffer pedal but just assumed that my Boss pedals would alreacdy be doing that.
But because i am still going through all my pedals will i still loos a bit of tone and better off Looping my signal than just hoping to keep it mostly intact?
Click to expand...
Well FretNoMore made a good point about you using actives. And you with the Boss pedals. Yeah, apparently all Boss pedals are buffered. Did not know that. You learn something new every day, or night.

Well if it were me, I'd want to know what's causing the tone suck here before throwing money at it. Guess it can't be lack of buffering ;) I'd be trying one pedal at a time through headphones till I found the culprit(s). And then I'd put the board back together one pedal at a time if you don't get an obvious tone-sucker and see if it's the combination that's doing it. Beyond that and I'm out of my league with the advice. Here, I totally thought I had the answer for you, but you got buffers out the wazoo.
 
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#11
FretNoMore said:
Check one pedal at a time and maybe you'll find one or more that suck more tone than you want. Or it could be your dry tone is actually a bit tame compared to the processed tone, maybe you want something to spice it up.
Click to expand...

im dreading ripping my board apart. But I think i may have to.

My dry tone without my pedals on is fine but when i unplug my pedals and go straight to the amp my tone is heaps better. So a pedal must be sucking my tone.
Just to clarify i like my effected tone but not my dry tone throgh my pedalboard. However i like my dry tone without my pedal board.
 
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#15
Sounds like a perfectly reasonable idea to me... I've been using a looper this way for around a year now. While my pedals are usually all true bypass and don't seem to affect my clean tone much, I still like the peace of mind of being able to instantly reduce my signal chain to bass - tuner - amp (or bass - compresor - tuner - amp) when I'm not using effects.

Both Saturnworks and Loop Master make small single loopers.
 
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#16
MCS4 said:
Sounds like a perfectly reasonable idea to me... I've been using a looper this way for around a year now. While my pedals are usually all true bypass and don't seem to affect my clean tone much, I still like the peace of mind of being able to instantly reduce my signal chain to bass - tuner - amp (or bass - compresor - tuner - amp) when I'm not using effects.

Both Saturnworks and Loop Master make small single loopers.
Click to expand...
I did that for a while, but the (One Control Mosquiet) blender got bumped off the board purely for space reasons, otherwise it would probably still be there both as effect bypass and effect blend.
 
#17
Do you have anything that you leave on all the time? If you do, could it be cutting some frequencies in your bass signal, or reducing the volume slightly so that it hits the front end of the amp less hard? Either of those could cause the undesirable tone change.


My other question is: when you are running clean, do you leave the LS-2 running with everything in the loops turned off? Because if you do then turning the LS-2 off will remove half of the pedals from the chain, and boost your volume, since at the moment the LS-2 looks like it's set up for a volume cut.
 
#18
check your cables too, I had a similar issue with my board and diy lava cable kit. One of the cable leads didn't have good contact. Easy fix.

alternatively, you can build a dual loop bypass switch for about 35 dollars in parts if you are even semi-proficient in the ways of soldering.
some guys can build you a buffer into a loop pedal.
 
#19
Not sure if you're still after a looper, but picked one of these recently, small, sturdy and neutral-looking, nice utility pedal overall. True bypass so not gonna alter your signal. Plus you get to pick the color you like! Took a few weeks to ship though.
 
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