Looper pedals, anyone? What are your favorites?

[nico44]

For the holidays I want to treat myself to a looper pedal. I have a Line6 DL4 but I much prefer it as a delay pedal, and not a looper. I recently read a nice buying guide on looper pedals that made a good case for either a TC Electronic Ditto, or DigiTech JamMan Express (I have no need for storing loops). I'll see if I can dig up the article.

Anyone have experience with these? Or others? Budget is up to $200USD, but preferably $150 or less.

 

[ozboy]

I se a boomerang and like it. However I only use it for personal practice. Never had a need for it in the group situation.

 

[wardog]

As I do not gig ( dream to still happen). I went with the tc ditto. i got the mini and love it. I wanted a simple to use looper. And it delivers and is made well. Enough so, that I purchased a tc helix, hall of fame, mini chorus and vicious vibe. Guess I am a fan of tc.

 

[The Fight]

I had the digitech version, the one with double pedal. I gave that away and went with the Tc electronics Ditto Looper 2X and that thing is awesome, especially for a live situation. But I did notice that you have to be more precise in terms of when you engage the repeat. On the other hand the digitech had a special type of sequencer to where it would kinda fix what you played. But the sound was way more digital. It was great for bed room jamming bcs you could tap a tempo and it would give you a kick drum to keep temp and that function had its own volume knob. I still go with the Ditto bro!

 

[The Fight]

It would be sick if the Tc electronics g system had a looper function!

 

[24Semi]

I use a TC ditto looper. I gig with it and appreciate that it is very transparent, tales up very little real estate on my board, and is very simple to use.

My only complaint is that if I forget to clear a loop, the unit will briefly start playing the last recorded loop, so I try need to remember to do the "stop-clear" press and hold thing during the song, rather than after it ends.

 

[The Fight]

How do you run it? Is it in the front or the back in the fx loop?

 

[wardog]

I have it at the back. That why I can had other effects in the loop if wanted

 

[The Fight]

Yeah loopers can be a little tricky when it comes to amps with gain, compared to a clean amp, whereas you have all your gain/effects pedal's on the ground and in line.

 

[nico44]

I use a TC ditto looper. I gig with it and appreciate that it is very transparent, tales up very little real estate on my board, and is very simple to use.

This is great, thanks. Yeah I'm leaning slightly towards a Ditto at the moment. I found the article I mentioned, they tally up people's recommendations from forums and come up with the best looper pedal. Their list goes Ditto, RC-3, JamMan Express, Zoom G1on (budget option), and JamMan Solo.
Various reviews mention that the Ditto is a $99USD pedal, at the moment I'm seeing it for just under $90. I might have to pull the trigger! It seems like such a well-designed pedal. TC Electronic has been on fire between this and the TonePrint series, very well-received stuff.

 

[CantankerousCarl]

I have the Ditto X2 - for the sole reason of having a dedicated stop button. I don't use it alot, but I really like having the separate button.

 

[LJD]

I've had a few and currently like the Ditto X2. Gotta have that reverse option. Boomerang may be the king of loopers but very pricey and maybe too many features.

 

[alantig]

I use a Boss RC-50 (I think that's the model number) - 3 loops, reverse, etc. I have the original RC-20 (not the XL version), and I just picked up an Akai Head Rush (Akai had them on sale).

I've seen guys use the Boomerang and the JamMan. Both great tools. I went w/the RC-20 way back when because it had the reverse, which the JamMan didn't have at the time.

 

[David Eaton]

I have an old Boss RC-20 I bought many years ago. I've used it sparingly live, mostly when I've been playing acoustic behind a singer and wanted to loop chorus chords.

As a practice tool, it's probably the best money I ever spent. There's a lot to recording yourself and hearing what is actually being played. It's also great for working out parts or lines that I might want to use in a song.

The people who really use them live are out of my league. But if I got the same impact per dollar from every piece of gear I'd bought,,...

 

[mad monk]

What a timely thread. I've been doing research for the past three days, and was about to post the same question. Thanks for the information.

 

[gball]

I am using an EHX Nano 360. Very cool little pedal, with 11 savable tracks and what seems to be an unlimited number of overdubs per track. Sound quality is excellent but its only the 2nd looper I have ever used so I don't have much to compare to.

 

[Parralax view]

I have the first generation Digitech Jamman two pedal device. I don't use it for much other than ideas that pop up. It's large and rather heavy and unless you keep it plugged in all the time it's sort of a pain to set up quickly and get your idea down before it drifts away. The learning curve was steep as I got it as they first came out. Truth be told, I let it sit for almost 2 yrs. out of frustration. But the internet is a wonderful thing at times and I learned all the basics and tricks and love the autostart function that takes alot of the guess work out of starting and stopping. I say I don't use it much, yet I have filled up one card and had to purchase another one to continue filling it up.

I tried the Hotone Wally mini looper, and it sounded lush and full and better than the Digitech, disappointingly, it didn't work very long until it malfunctioned itself to death, a trade to another and it died the same death. I hear they have that issue of too much in too small an enclosure and bad chips solved, but bad taste and all that has kept me from trying and buying one again.

 

[László]

I don't use a dedicated looper pedal, but my Eventide H9 has a looper algorithm. The only time I really use it is to have something going while I move a mic for the best placement on the speaker cab.

 

[Steve B]

I have the hotone Wally looper and i do like it! Bought a year ago and it failed within 30 days. Emailed the company and they replaced it promptly. Knock on wood I haven't had any issues since. They indicated they had issues with some chips and have since replaced them. So I give it a thumbs up in the bang for the buck category

 

[pac90]

The ditto is a great tool for practicing with, play over chords