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Joined:
September 2005
Posts: 3618
Location: GATLINBURG TENNESSEE :) | I am getting a bit tired of trying to find people up here in the sticks to jam with on a regular basis, so I have decided to try jamming with a looper. (by the way ... is that considered to be playing with myself?)
Can anyone here give a good comparative review on current loop systems? |
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Joined:
June 2006
Posts: 7307
Location: South of most, North of few | I was kind of interested in this too. |
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Joined:
February 2007
Posts: 302
Location: Nashville, TN | I can throw in a few thoughts here...I've owned almost every looper imaginable...I prefer (@ this point) the Boss RC20XLs I use 2 of them..the RC20 are good but not as much memory length..I've owned the Oberheim Gibson Echoplex..not user freindly..the Boss RC50 doesn't do any more than the 20 series (except take up space) the RC2 is ok..except you need other gadgets hook up to it, to do everything the 20s will do..The Digitech Jamman was not as user freindly as the the Boss, but is cool, too...The Boomerang+ is very cool in the fact you have 2 loops to work with individually..but I found it did not have enough memory..hence using 2 Boss RC20xls..the Boomerang people have a new Boomerang coming out soon which is supposed to have 4 tracks of individual loops that are switchable & stackable..with 6 track capability & plenty of memory to record individual sections of songs..but @ this point I think if you're going to get a looper the Boss RC20 series were best for me.. |
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Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 4044
Location: Utah | I'm no expert, but did just go through the buying process. What Dan said is true about the RC2. It will do everything the 20 does - if you add an additional footswitch. If you're doing that, you might as well just get the 20XL.
But, the RC2 is a very capable machine. Without the extra footswitch you have to bend over and turn a knob to get it to do what the extra footswitch would do. So, in a live situation the 20XL might be worth the extra $. But for sporadic gigging and regular home use, the RC2 is what we got.
The Boss series do offer one very nice feature, which they call "loop quantize". You can turn the quantize function on or off. What it does is force the loop length to be a whole multiple of measures. Meaning, if you stomp the loop to end a recording, and you are a half beat early, it will add a half beat of silence onto your recording. Thus, your loop is full measures long, not cut short.
So as you start layering loops or playing along, it is all in time. Without quantize, you'd have the last measure of your loop a bit short and it would sound odd. |
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Joined:
September 2005
Posts: 3618
Location: GATLINBURG TENNESSEE :) | Any thoughts or knowledge on the line6 JM4? |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 5563
Location: Blue Ridge Mountains | I bought an RC20XL and I really like it...great bang for the bucks and it really works...I'm still working it out but I sould not give it up even at this point! Got mine at AMS and 3 pay...deal! |
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Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 2120
Location: Chicago | vince, I can stronly endorse the Boss RC=2 pedal.
Would you be in the Chiago area anytime soon? |
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Joined:
July 2008
Posts: 31
Location: Tampa Bay area, FL | Looping is what I do, so I have a few thoughts..it all depends on what you want to do. For live playing and live manipulation of the loop, I love the Line6 DL4 or M13, or really, the Echoplex Digital Pro for serious looping (it actually is pretty user-friendly). For static loops, practice, or protable 'play by yourself over static chord progressions' , the Boss RC-2 is great. I tend to use my looper for live improvisations, so features like feedback and easy access to undo are important to me. You might also check this page (not mine):
http://www.looproom.com/looperchart.php
or the king of resources for loopers:
www.loopers-delight.com |
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Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | I use the RC20 in live instrumental solo performances. It is very intuitive and straight forward. My use involves laying down multiple rhythm and melody tracks, then improvising a lead line on top. The process is actually a matter of laying down multiple layers of dubbing rather than separate tracks, although my recollection is that the instructions allow you to remove the layers. Memory is never an issue as the track length is usually no more than 16 bars, and more often 8 or 12 bars. The downside is that songs can't incorporate tempo changes and endings can be awkward. There may be a way to do this, but I haven't tried to figure it out. |
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Any Looper Experts out There??
