Looper pedals?

[Spudman***]

I've had the Boss Loop Station RC20-XL for quite a while now and I will say that it has become the most valuable piece of practice equipment besides the guitar and amp that I have.

For instance: When I come up with a spontaneous idea while sitting around by myself all I have to do is tap the pedal and capture whatever I came up with. From there I can make a loop of it and add layers to it. My ideas don't get lost any more. It's great for creating themes for tunes.

This summer I met a few guys that do solo gigs with them as well. There are some wonderful things that can be done with them.

The Boss has multiple inputs so capturing a mic or some other sound source is possible too. Phrases can be stored and recalled as well. One player used an acoustic and would thump the body to simulate a kick drum-sample that-then throw on a snare drum that he had miced-sample that-then play a guitar line-sample that-and then live sing and play riffs over it. Instant groove. The pedal has the ability to add or subtract phrases. He would turn off a phrase for a song segment then re-sample when it came time to add it back in. Very clever.

The pedal has few limitations for creativity in my opinion. I'm still exploring and am rarely dissatisfied with my results. I am glad that I bought one and will probably never get rid of it.

[tot_Ou_tard]

A looper sounds like a great idea for learning to play! Any other suggestions besides the Boss that Spuds mentioned?

[Spudman***]

Digitech makes the Jam Man Looper pedal too. It has a some features that the Boss RC20 XL pedal doesn't have. It's pretty divided as to which is better.
I've included links from each company so that you can compare if you like.

http://www.digitech.com/products/JamMan/JamMan.htm


To compete with the Jam Man Boss has a new looper pedal that will hold 15 years of samples. Just kidding. It's quite a bit though. It also has a lot more functions than the RC20 XL or the Digitech. The features kind of blow the Digitech away but the price is hefty.

http://www.bosscorp.co.jp/products/en/RC-50/specs.html

The good thing about having these new pedals on the market is that the older ones are now available more cheaply either used or new. If you can live with the limitations of the older pedals then you can score a pretty good deal on one which makes trying it out a lot less painful. I bought one only after seeing other players using them, listening to them and asking them questions about them. Some folks might not have that opportunity.

Still, if you are a stay at home/play alone player get one! It will improve your timing, give you new ideas galore and allow you save those ideas. For a reasonable price you'll get an instant jamming partner who only gets as buzzed as you do, always shows up, stays in tune if you do, never takes a break and won't argue with you or steal your girlfriend. Priceless!

[tot_Ou_tard]

Looking around I see that Boss has a new (cheaper and smaller) version called the RC2
http://www.bosscorp.co.jp/products/en/RC-2/index.html
with 16 minutes of record time.