baimun
Funkasaurus Rex
Over the years, I've owned many different loopers... from the original Boomerang with the volume knob to both of the giant Boss Loop Stations. Here's my current feelings on several that are available today:
Boss RC-300 and the TC VoiceLive 3
I've lumped these two together as they share some common issues. They're both designed to plug your guitar and vocal mic into them and be able to loop guitar and vocals. Both take up enormous amounts of real estate on any pedal board, and to truly unlock these devices, they both benefit from even more pedals and expression controllers plugged into them.
Nasa flight control at your feet.... and yet they're still lacking in sound quality in places. The effects on the Boss are damned near useless, and it's the bigger of the two boards. The TC has great sound quality on the effects, but the guitar sounds are meh, and the octaver is monophonic and tinny.
So...
Now we're back to a pedal board of selected pedals and trying to find a nice small looper to fill in at the end of your chain.
The TC Ditto looper is one of the tidiest and most useful practice tools you can put at the end of your board.
I say "practice" because double tapping to stop the loop while live on stage can be challenging.
Enter the Ditto X2.
This is the pedal I've been using for the past year and a half at our shows. I use it a couple times per set. It allows recording, overdubbing, stopping, and erasing very easy on stage... and it's in stereo. The only drawback is it only allows ONE loop, so no chorus-verse-chorus.
Which leads us to "Goldilocks"..... the Boomerang 3.
This pedal is the same length as the Ditto X2 and only a few inches wider.... but it provides all the same live looping capability of the VoiceLive3 and the Boss RC-300.
I specify "Live" because the major difference with the Boomerang from the other ones that are larger than most pedal boards is that there's no storage for pre-recorded loops. I know a handful of people who use the storage capability, but honestly if you're doing that, it's probably easier to queue up a sampler with a laptop or an iDevice.
The Boomerang 3 is designed for people who want to record rhythms and melodies live on stage. You have the choice of moving from one loop to another, or if you record a short rhythm track on 3 it becomes the "Master" and will play along with tracks one or two. The two buttons on the right can be programmed to whatever suits your style.... reverse space loops for those Hendrix fans, a fourth loop slot, or even allow all the playing loops to fade out to silence!
My 'Rang 3 should be here soon and I'll start practicing so I can use it at my next gig.
Boss RC-300 and the TC VoiceLive 3
I've lumped these two together as they share some common issues. They're both designed to plug your guitar and vocal mic into them and be able to loop guitar and vocals. Both take up enormous amounts of real estate on any pedal board, and to truly unlock these devices, they both benefit from even more pedals and expression controllers plugged into them.
Nasa flight control at your feet.... and yet they're still lacking in sound quality in places. The effects on the Boss are damned near useless, and it's the bigger of the two boards. The TC has great sound quality on the effects, but the guitar sounds are meh, and the octaver is monophonic and tinny.
So...
Now we're back to a pedal board of selected pedals and trying to find a nice small looper to fill in at the end of your chain.
The TC Ditto looper is one of the tidiest and most useful practice tools you can put at the end of your board.
I say "practice" because double tapping to stop the loop while live on stage can be challenging.
Enter the Ditto X2.
This is the pedal I've been using for the past year and a half at our shows. I use it a couple times per set. It allows recording, overdubbing, stopping, and erasing very easy on stage... and it's in stereo. The only drawback is it only allows ONE loop, so no chorus-verse-chorus.
Which leads us to "Goldilocks"..... the Boomerang 3.
This pedal is the same length as the Ditto X2 and only a few inches wider.... but it provides all the same live looping capability of the VoiceLive3 and the Boss RC-300.
I specify "Live" because the major difference with the Boomerang from the other ones that are larger than most pedal boards is that there's no storage for pre-recorded loops. I know a handful of people who use the storage capability, but honestly if you're doing that, it's probably easier to queue up a sampler with a laptop or an iDevice.
The Boomerang 3 is designed for people who want to record rhythms and melodies live on stage. You have the choice of moving from one loop to another, or if you record a short rhythm track on 3 it becomes the "Master" and will play along with tracks one or two. The two buttons on the right can be programmed to whatever suits your style.... reverse space loops for those Hendrix fans, a fourth loop slot, or even allow all the playing loops to fade out to silence!
My 'Rang 3 should be here soon and I'll start practicing so I can use it at my next gig.
