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Loop Station Suggestions?

Chase_The_Bass

Chase_The_Bass

Aug 27, 2006
255
0
36
San Antonio, TX
www.myspace.com
#1
Im looking to buy a loop station, and right now im looking at the Boss RC-20XL (16 mins recording time, 11 loops) with the FS-6 footswitch to make it easier to navigate ur loops.

I have heard different brands peppered around and I was wondering if there was a better one for me to get (im not looking to spend more then $400-ish)

:help: :help: :help: :help: :help: :help: :help: :help: :help:
 
#7
Bassist4Life said:
There are a lot of posts on this topic. Some of them are recent. I suggest a search. Boss just came out with a new looper.

Joe
Click to expand...

Two new loopers :hiding:

I'd give the digitech a look, also the RC50 from boss.

There are a few boutique units mentioned from time to time but they might break your budget.
 
#8
The RC-20xl is a great looper and fairly easy to use. Make sure you read the manual though -- there's a lot of unobvious functions like fade-outs and automatic stops that aren't really advertised and are not intuitive based on the labels.

Check out the RC-2 which will be supposedly cheaper if a little harder to use. It's a single pedal version of the RC-20xl but has almost all of the same functions (as I understand, it only lacks the reverse mode).

Check out the Jamman, but I fundamentally distrust Digitech after buying a Bass Synth Wah. The Boomerang is also supposed to be good.

Best of luck.
 
#10
Im also not a great fan of digitech... I own a few Digitech pedals (Bass chorus, Bass Synth Wah and an RP80 for gu**tar), but just find I prefer my boss effects. I own an RC20XL. Its a great unit, easy to use, built like a tank and has some cool features like the reverse and tap tempo etc...
The Jamman has some extra features over the boss with things like the memory card, but I wouldn't really use any of them anyway. I run my rc20xl into my PC via a DI Box and record that way, either live or just playing back a saved patch.
 
#12
The Boomerang is, hands down, the easiest looper to use in a live setting. Practically mindless operation, I was completely functional with it within the first 20 minutes I used it.

It does have some limitations. First, it's expensive, usually street price at $429, although I just saw it somewhere at a little under $400. Second, it doesn't retain the loop once you shut it down. Also, when you stack the loops you can only back out of them in the reverse order of the stack (first in-last out).

But in terms of ease of use, it can't be beat. It's a big unit, but super easy to find the right buttons when gigging. I use the thing all of the time ....... :cool:
 
#14
i have a jamman which is ok but i really wanted something with midi which led me to a free program called ambiloop which is amazing ....it has decaying feedback ect which most hardware loopers dont have. Also worth checking out is something by electroharmonics the 2880!!
 
#15
swingmaster said:
Registered User]
If you buy a used RC20, make sure it is the XL, which has more memory and a quantize function. “
Click to expand...

+1
The quantize function was the deciding factor for me!


I started with a Boomerang and could not get the loops to the precise length. With the RC-20XL’s quantize, you get perfectly timed loops every time!

As pointbass mentioned, you can’t save loops with the Boomerang. The RC-20XL has 10 or 12 different memory banks. I have prefer to start with a pre-recorded loop (so I can adjust volume levels) and then stack loops on top of this pre-recording.
 
#16
pointbass said:
The Boomerang is, hands down, the easiest looper to use in a live setting. Practically mindless operation, I was completely functional with it within the first 20 minutes I used it.

It does have some limitations. First, it's expensive, usually street price at $429, although I just saw it somewhere at a little under $400. Second, it doesn't retain the loop once you shut it down. Also, when you stack the loops you can only back out of them in the reverse order of the stack (first in-last out).

But in terms of ease of use, it can't be beat. It's a big unit, but super easy to find the right buttons when gigging. I use the thing all of the time ....... :cool:
Click to expand...

I thought you could only undo the top layer of a loop on a Boomerang? I didn't know you could undo multiple layers.

I think the Boomerang's biggest limitation is its sound- it's very noisy and each progressive loop decays in sound quality. They are working on a new one though, so maybe that can all get cleared up. You're right about it being extremely easy to use live- outside of going with a MIDI controller it's the best designer floorplan of any looper.

I'm beyond happy with my Looperlative, although it's way out of the $400 price range.
 
#17
Dash Rantic said:
Offtopic, but what went wrong with your BSW? Mine works perfectly, and I love it (and it's the only one out of my large pedalboard that came with me to college!).
Click to expand...

Well, it just sounds crappy to me -- like a bad env. filter emulator. My main dislike is that it always gives a weird (annoying) overtone for all of the filter sounds as well as the octave down. It had some interesting sounds at first, but they weren't that deep and didn't improve with tweaking. Worst of all, the one setting I actually liked (the straight envelope, most settings around 1 o'clock) cut overall volume drastically. After all that, it would only resell for $15 making it not even worth trading in.

I too downsized my board for college, but the BSW definately didn't make it...
 
#18
Silly question time....11 loops, does that mean that you can layer 11 tracks on it, chords, then a melody etc.

Only I read on another thread that you can do only 1.

Thanks




Chase_The_Bass said:
Im looking to buy a loop station, and right now im looking at the Boss RC-20XL (16 mins recording time, 11 loops) with the FS-6 footswitch to make it easier to navigate ur loops.

I have heard different brands peppered around and I was wondering if there was a better one for me to get (im not looking to spend more then $400-ish)

:help: :help: :help: :help: :help: :help: :help: :help: :help:
Click to expand...
 
#19
Swimming Bird said:
Check out the Jamman, but I fundamentally distrust Digitech after buying a Bass Synth Wah. The Boomerang is also supposed to be good.

Best of luck.
Click to expand...

I was disappointed at first that all the specs i was looking for in a looper was under digitech. i was really skeptical after reading so many bad reviews of digitech products eventhough i've never bothered to try any of them. i made myself believe that the jamman was an upgraded version of the legendary lexicon jamman, i wasn't wrong, it's a great looper. i found that the whammy pedal and jamman were under classic products, which are probably their best sellers and the only products from digitech i'll ever touch.
 
#20
bassplayer2106 said:
Silly question time....11 loops, does that mean that you can layer 11 tracks on it, chords, then a melody etc.

Only I read on another thread that you can do only 1.

Thanks
Click to expand...

No. It's not 11 loops- it's 11 patches that you can save your loops to. Basically, you can overdub as much as you want (although you'll find that once you hit five or six, it's usually going to start sounding muddy). Whenever you get a loop or set of loops going that you like, you can save it to one of the patches. Mind you that you can not undo the last loop on a saved patch.
 

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