Loop pedals

Phil

anyone using any loop pedals care to share their experiences and thoughts? I was thinking of getting a Boss loop pedal for practice, but haven't decided on which one. From looking on Amazon looks like the RC-3 is the one to get as it's got the USB feature.
thanks for any input
cheers
Phil

lacrossehotclub

A while back I picked up a used Digitech loop pedal from a buddy who was downsizing to a Boss stomp box looper that would fit on his pedal board. I'd say it has helped me develop my improvisational skills. There's a real advantage in having the spontaneity of looping (endlessly) any given chord or chord progression – a ii V I, or a iim7b5 V7 i cadence, a single chord to experiment with triad substitutions, or an augmented chord to work out whole tone ideas, etc. For whatever moves you at the time you can play your guitar and make a custom playalong on the fly. For example, you can break down an entire song by looping adjacent chords, in sets of two, and drill all the chord changes until you eventually finish the form. You can’t do that with a typical playalong recording (or with most live players for that matter ). Loopers are designed for the task, and with a few foot stomps you're all set. It would work easiest with a pickup, although I imagine it’s possible to use a mic set up. I’ve never used a looper as a performance device, but in my experience they can be a real useful practice aide.

Phil

thanks for the reply; I've also heard that some loop pedals have a CD input and a function for slowing down the CD so you can practice a guitar solo, similar to the "Amazing Slow Downer" program; that sounds like another excellent reason to get one of these.

Flatfive

There is a program called Audacity that will do all of this and it's a free download. You can play any music through the computer (CD, say) and then hit record and now it's in a digital file. Then you can play slower or loop certain parts. Very handy. I would usually use Band-In-A-Box for the ii-V7-I practice, though.

Steveareno

I got the Boss pedal looper (the basic little red stomp box) used on CL for about $100, after trying a Boss acoustic amp with the built in looper which blew my mind. They're great for laying down a quick rhythm track and then playing lead over them. You can also layer tracks and store them, but I prefer to keep it basic. It has drum tracks but I found it kinda hard to sync them up. The newer ones have LED readouts that must make them easier to use. Best set up for me is to patch it between my guitar and little practice amp. Of course, it helps to have a pickup in your acoustic guitar. I actually have had better luck laying down the rhythm track on my Tele (neck p/u) and then playing lead over it on my GJ guitar or Tele. Saw a solo act with just an acoustic guitar using a looper in Vegas (House Of Blues happy hour) and he was very clever at laying down the rhythm track as he was singing and then just stomping on the Looper for playback when he took his lead break. Very full sound and didn't feel gimicky at all. Amazing technology in a little box. Les Paul had a whole room full of tape recorders and headphones when he developed this stuff (having Mary Ford around may have helped).
Swang on,

Il Trovatore

I used to have an ehx stereo memory man, and I loved being able to play to my own loops. The akai headrush is also pretty stunning and the line 6 dl4 is pretty great too.

Phil

Flatfive wrote:

There is a program called Audacity that will do all of this and it's a free download. You can play any music through the computer...

Flatfive - thanks very much for suggesting Audacity; I downloaded it this weekend and it works great; just what I was looking for! ~cheers Phil

Paulius Volkovas

I use a boss rc3 looper for my duo gigs with a singer. Works very well, i'm very hapoy with it. I have additional footswitch connected to it so it makes it more flexible. You can stop or clear the loop with additional switch. Its a very nice compact setup i also use high capacity recheargeable battery with the rc3 so i dont have to plug it in.

Il Trovatore

audacity is a pretty amazing program, the reverse function is awesome

Flatfive

Reverse? Never used it. What does it do?

Phil

I'm successfully using Audacity to record my own backing tracks and play over them with the "Loop Play" mode; I tried the Overdub mode & can only get it to record over the length of time of the original backing track when in regular single play mode; I can't get it to record over a backing track when in the "Loop Play" mode.
Do you know if there's a way to over dub whilst in Loop Play mode?
thanks for any help,
cheers
Phil