Show Me Your Bypass Loopers... Please?

[J Posega]

Yes indeed. Thanks for pointing that out. I don't know what I never thought of it like that before... can't see the forest for the trees, I guess.

It took some guesswork to figure out how I wanted to set mine up. Honestly, I think it's golden now. Four loops works surprisingly well for the sorts of sounds I use. That said, if programmable loopers weren't so expensive, I'd get one to make every transition 100% seamless.

 

[gregmon79]

Yes, mine has master bypass too. So yes, technically I could go to my clean tone with master bypass, then turn on and off what I want on or not, but that's more stomping than I find necessary. I wouldn't even use a bypass looper for as few as 5 pedals. But when your setup is more complex with several of the same kinds of FX (multiple OD's, different flavors of fuzz, several varieties of modulation) it makes more sense to use the looper to end the need for tap dancing when the next section of the song comes in.

This is truth right der. For me anyway. I don't think having a bypass looper is needed for a small board with 5 or less. I just don't see the point. Signal degradation doesn't happen that badly with just 5 pedals. I mean, maybe if they're all old sovtek muffs and ancient vintage fuzzes maybe. But anything that's pretty current isn't going to affect your signal to the point where you need a bypass. IMO.

 

[gregmon79]

It took some guesswork to figure out how I wanted to set mine up. Honestly, I think it's golden now. Four loops works surprisingly well for the sorts of sounds I use. That said, if programmable loopers weren't so expensive, I'd get one to make every transition 100% seamless.

Hell yeah. I wish I could jump on one of those nice providence or boss ones. But for what I do and my general budget, it's not realistic. But man those things are neat!

 

[gregmon79]

Yes indeed. Thanks for pointing that out. I don't know why I never thought of it like that before... can't see the forest for the trees, I guess.

That's also another good reason to use one. I didn't do that till after I had been using it for a while and had gotta used to it. I too didn't really think to use it that way right off the bat so you're not alone. I dig that when you have a tool on your board that you bought it for one thing and after a while you learn it. Then realize there are others simple ways to use it in different ways than you had originally thought to. That's a good tool to have onboard.

 

[J Posega]

This is truth right der. For me anyway. I don't think having a bypass looper is needed for a small board with 5 or less. I just don't see the point. Signal degradation doesn't happen that badly with just 5 pedals. I mean, maybe if they're all old sovtek muffs and ancient vintage fuzzes maybe. But anything that's pretty current isn't going to affect your signal to the point where you need a bypass. IMO.

I could see it if someone was running a snake to their FX in a rack like some of the pros do, or some other setup where their pedals are stashed away so they don't get damaged. Or if your bypass strip also has blending capbilities, but that's a whole different ball of wax

 

[MGR]

I could see it if someone was running a snake to their FX in a rack like some of the pros do, or some other setup where their pedals are stashed away so they don't get damaged. Or if your bypass strip also has blending capbilities, but that's a whole different ball of wax

As a person who mainly uses 5 or less, I have to disagree. While I don't disagree about the signal not being degraded with 5 or less, I use a bypass looper for my small setup for one main reason, and that is to keep my pedals free from wear and tear.

Boss pedals are super easy to toggle on and off, but a lot of my "boutique" stuff is actually designed fairly poorly in the sense that the bypass switch is very close to knobs. In the middle of a gig, with lots of adrenaline, I found myself missing the bypass switch and hitting knobs. Sometimes knobs would break, but most times my settings would get messed up.

The bypass looper enables me to have a simple, easy to access strip where all the bypass switches are in a nice straight line, and the only wear and tear is done to the switches on the looper. My pedals remain minty clean and there is no risk of damage or messing up settings.

 

[Testing123]

I use a bypass looper for my small setup for one main reason, and that is to keep my pedals free from wear and tear.
...
a lot of my "boutique" stuff is actually designed fairly poorly in the sense that the bypass switch is very close to knobs. In the middle of a gig, with lots of adrenaline, I found myself missing the bypass switch and hitting knobs. Sometimes knobs would break, but most times my settings would get messed up.

Ouch! I've heard that people have stomped on LED's as well.

The bypass looper enables me to have a simple, easy to access strip where all the bypass switches are in a nice straight line, and the only wear and tear is done to the switches on the looper. My pedals remain minty clean and there is no risk of damage or messing up settings.

I like your point about the switches being in a 'nice straight line'; organized and less dancing on the board for sure.

That said, one of the things that intrigues me about the BOSS ES-5/8 switchers/loopers is that you can change the order of the pedals without having to reroute/rewire them. I don't know how effective this would be on a gig, but it would certainly make things easier setup-wise and for practice. Hmm... let's see which sounds better in this tune, the octave then the dirt or the dirt then the octave. No rerouting, changing power and audio cords, etc., just hit a few buttons and give it a go.

 

[CC7]

I only have 5 pedals in my looper with each pedal in it's own loop. The point for me is I can switch
two or more pedals in or out by only hitting the one bypass switch, instead of trying to switch two
or more at the same time (that wouldn't be very convenient).

Also for my use's, I like having one pedal per loop because some of the time I'm only
using one pedal for a given song/part so it keeps my signal chain as short as possible.
And I don't have to fuss with other pedals that may be on in that same loop.

As MGR said having the switches up front and inline works alot better for me in the heat
of the moment.

Just my 2 cents on why have a looper with 5 or less pedals.

 

[kellogc]

Here is mine. I mainly use the Looper to program combination of pedals for a specific sound. I do have some pedals out of the loop which in a way I use with all combinations and would end up at the end of the chain anyway (i.e. Compressor, Whammy, Delays, Ditto)

 

[nshuman]

Here is mine. I mainly use the Looper to program combination of pedals for a specific sound. I do have some pedals out of the loop which in a way I use with all combinations and would end up at the end of the chain anyway (i.e. Compressor, Whammy, Delays, Ditto)

Well... that is an awesome setup.

 

[Feral Feline]

I know it's a "show your..." thread, but thought the following may be of interest to those DIY-folk here.

I could've sworn I already posted this UK-Electronic looper in this thread, but must've posted it in another thread, so here it is too:
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Board:

Faceplate for enclosure:

And then there's this, which I came across a wee while ago:
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Just came across this now:
arduino programable 5 pedal switcher - All

Extend the above to 8 loops:
Programmable 8 loops pedal switcher with Arduino Mega2560

And this DIY MIDI looper:
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[gregmon79]

Here is mine. I mainly use the Looper to program combination of pedals for a specific sound. I do have some pedals out of the loop which in a way I use with all combinations and would end up at the end of the chain anyway (i.e. Compressor, Whammy, Delays, Ditto)

Dude!!! Wow. What looper is that?!?! Looks awesome. So does your board. Mmmmmm

 

[kellogc]

Dude!!! Wow. What looper is that?!?! Looks awesome. So does your board. Mmmmmm

That's a Cusack Pedalboard Tamer 9. It is a pretty cool looper. It has several interesting features and comes in a smaller 6 loop version as well.

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[gregmon79]

That's a Cusack Pedalboard Tamer 9. It is a pretty cool looper. It has several interesting features and comes in a smaller 6 loop version as well.

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Thanks duder

 

[Feral Feline]

There's a couple of Cusack Pedalboard Tamers on sale at Prymaxe right now, a Link Removed,
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and a Link Removed.
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They're in the clearance centre and if you buy during the Easter holiday and enter the Easter code you get an additional 12% off.

 

[dinoadventures]

This is truth right der. For me anyway. I don't think having a bypass looper is needed for a small board with 5 or less. I just don't see the point. Signal degradation doesn't happen that badly with just 5 pedals. I mean, maybe if they're all old sovtek muffs and ancient vintage fuzzes maybe. But anything that's pretty current isn't going to affect your signal to the point where you need a bypass. IMO.

Please don't take this as me justifying my own choices, but more as playing devil's advocate... the Boss programmable switchers let you rearrange and run things in parallel. It's real-deal amazing, but it's expensive and huge. I didn't have much in the way of signal degradation on my board before, but I was still surprised at how much adding one hushed everything up.

 

[gregmon79]

Please don't take this as me justifying my own choices, but more as playing devil's advocate... the Boss programmable switchers let you rearrange and run things in parallel. It's real-deal amazing, but it's expensive and huge. I didn't have much in the way of signal degradation on my board before, but I was still surprised at how much adding one hushed everything up.

Well color me inexperienced in this case haha This is simply a "wasted" method (so it seemed to me previously) I've never even considered. It's obvious that is not the case. Whatever works for each and all.

 

[BrianVengeance]

I have a BYOC Super 8 looper, and it's a sweet little beast of a piece of kit. Don't have it currently on the board due to space constraints and acceptance of tap dancing, but the use case is 1 pedal per loop and memory to save pedal combinations. May move to a larger board in the future and bring it back.

 

[Feral Feline]

@BrianVengeance RE Super8

May I ask a personal question? Maybe a few?

What size are your feet?
Any problems hitting three buttons at a time? How about on the Super8, same question?
Did you build it yourself or buy it pre-fabbed?
If DIY, any helpful "Caveats" for me to watch out for when I build mine?

You say it's a "sweet little beast" so I'm guessin' no problemo with the way it works.

Can't wait to build mine, but have to wait! No time at the moment, too much other stuff on the boil. I'm thinking I'll divvy up the loops for subsets of pedal types, so for example all my Overdrives will be in one channel of the Super 8, Modulation another...

 

[Fallen Kell]

Well, this was perfect timing for me. I was about to post a topic about this very set of questions to see what others were doing on their pedal setups. I just came to the conclusion for myself that I will be essentially isolating the real noise generating pedals in my setup. Speaking of which I will give a little overview, I am still waiting on some parts/pieces (also note that I play guitar as well, so my board config needs to pull double duty for bass and guitar):

Pedals:
TC Electronic Polytune2 Mini
TC Electronic SpectraComp
XTS Atomic Overdrive
ZVex Fuzz Factory 7
TC Electronic Croma Chorus Mini
TC Electronic Vortex Flanger Mini
TC Electronic Flashback Delay
Eventide H9 Max
Eventide H9 Core (but upgraded to Max since I own one)
TC Electronic Sentry Noise Gate
Morley Mini Volume
Ernie Ball 25k VP Jr Volume/Expression

Switchers:
Boss ES-8
G-Lab M4L (4 x midi controlled loops)

After a lot of consideration, I have decided to put my OD and Fuzz pedals onto the M4L which is connected to the ES-8 on one of the loops via the effects loop on the Sentry Noise Gate. This also gives me the room I wanted to put in a more clean/pure overdrive (as opposed to just the colored Atomic Overdrive). The ordering within the overdrives/fuzz pedals does not need to really be changed (i.e. I will have the clean overdrive first in the circuit, then the more dirty overdrive, followed last by fuzz). And I can not think of any reason to do it differently which results in any kind of useful sound when enabling multiple of this type of pedal (possibly the only exception being a parallel loop with a blending two of the pedals, but I have never needed that before...). As such, isolating the noisy pedals onto its own little group all of which are protected behind a very good noise gate to take care of any buzz (especially from some of the Fuzz Factory 7 settings), I feel I have a much better signal path throughout the system. And with the midi functionality of the ES-8 combined with the M4L, I can still control exactly which overdrives/fuzz are on or off at the push of a single switch.

I think the only other pedal I want to add (other than the previously mentioned clean overdrive) would be a Strymon Big Sky, since there is almost always some kind of reverb that enhances just about everything, and that free's up one of the H9's from always being used to pull that duty. Sorry no pics yet, as I am waiting on the M4L as well as a pedal board to put these all on (I have a PedalPad on order and then have the fun task of placing/measuring/cutting/heatshrinking/soldering custom length patch cables...).