Boomerang looper VS Boss RC-2 loop station

[Manolian]

Which one sounds best, and is easy to use?

[teleftcaster]

I have the RC-2. Although I don't know the Boomerang very well, the RC-2 is pretty easy to use once you get the hang of it. It mimics my original tone pretty well. I also like it's size (it's a permanent fixture on my pedal board). It does add a little bit of noise, not enough to spoil anything. A really versatile compact pedal IMO.

[Honga Man]

How are you going to use your looper?

On stage or at home?

That may sound like a funny question but loopers aren't as simple as just adding a delay or overdrive pedal to your board - well, a Boomerang may be, but I've never seen one in person to try out.

I own a RC-2 and use it for solo jamming and home recording. If you have questions about using it that way I'll be happy to share what I've learned and my looping setup, which is definitely not a stage setup (small solid state amps, mixing board, etc).

From what I've read online about loopers (everything I could find) a lot of guitarists using a RC-2 on stage with a band aren't as happy with them as us home looper geeks are.

I'd love to try a Boomerang someday but don't know any dealers in my area who carry them. I never saw one when I lived back east, either, and I used to cruise music stores in three states while traveling on business.

[InknI]

I rented the boss. Its more than just clicking it on and it working. Its something that you need to practice with. I saw El Ten Eleven play live a few months back, the guy plays a duel neck bass / guitar and uses 2 of these along with about 20 other pedals live. Its really something to see. Even the drummer uses one :-).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBTUAHGpQqE

I have no experience with the boomerang. One of the guys at the music store said they stopped selling them because they were too expensive.

[Manolian]

Originally Posted by Honga Man

How are you going to use your looper?

On stage or at home?

That may sound like a funny question but loopers aren't as simple as just adding a delay or overdrive pedal to your board - well, a Boomerang may be, but I've never seen one in person to try out.

I own a RC-2 and use it for solo jamming and home recording. If you have questions about using it that way I'll be happy to share what I've learned and my looping setup, which is definitely not a stage setup (small solid state amps, mixing board, etc).

From what I've read online about loopers (everything I could find) a lot of guitarists using a RC-2 on stage with a band aren't as happy with them as us home looper geeks are.

I'd love to try a Boomerang someday but don't know any dealers in my area who carry them. I never saw one when I lived back east, either, and I used to cruise music stores in three states while traveling on business.

I want it for home use , just to practice and play,so I am trying to decide which one is easier to work with,and has the better sound.

[Scotty Lonesome]

When I first started to look at loopers, I looked at the Boomerang...I didn't try it (couldn't find one to try), so I spent an extraordinary amount of time looking...I finally went with the Jamman - I can use it on stage or at home. I can copy the contents from it to my PC and back (I can save loops, I can d/l files TO the jamman, I can record from AUX devices, I can slow things down without changing pitch, I can record song ideas, and import them into many DAW's, etc...). For me, the jamman is the best "all around" tool, but it also took me a minute to plop down $300 for it. I also have the RC-2 for geeking around at home, and it's KILLER for that.
Scotty.

[Honga Man]

Originally Posted by Manolian

I want it for home use , just to practice and play,so I am trying to decide which one is easier to work with,and has the better sound.

I think these things are best used at home - that's just my opinion, but I'm VERY happy with my RC-2.

Before I bought mine, I read everything I could find on the internet and watched all the YouTube videos about looping (hours of fun there - check out Arthur Lee Land, who gave me the idea to use multiple instruments through preamps into a mixing board and then through the looper).

What I learned is a lot of guys are frustrated with loopers (all kinds) on stage. Apparently they can drive a tube amp's input too hard with multiple overdubs (or with the output level set too high). Sometimes others in the band fall out of sync with the loop (especially the drummer if he can't he can't hear it well). Sometimes guys don't think about how a looper works and change to their amp's overdrive channel and wonder why their loop is now distorted. There is a learning curve to getting your loops properly "aligned" and if you blow it on stage, well, you're on stage, ya know?

The reason I think these things are so great for the home guitarist is all those problems can be avoided at home with a little practice and it's like having a jamming partner who will never get tired, never lose the beat, and never make a mistake.

I find no loss of signal quality with the RC-2, and I make that statement after listening with headphones to recorded "loop songs" versus recordings I made with the same gear without the looper. I admit I don't have super ears - I'm not the kind of guy who complains that mp3s don't sound as good as vinyl records - but to me, the RC-2 sounds fine IF you aren't overloading it with a too-hot signal or running it through a distorted amp.

You can also have too much stuff hooked up before the looper and get hiss in the signal but this isn't the looper's fault. I believe the RC-2 accurately reproduces what its given, although only in mono.

If you just want to loop simple chord progressions and then practice soloing over them, the RC-2 is great. You can also loop music from a CD or iPod or whatever and play along with that over and over to learn your favorite licks. You can even slow it down (a little) without messing up the sound too badly or changing pitch.

If you just want to record guitar only and keep it really simple (no drum beats, no Auto Start, no Tap Tempo, no switching between saved loops), just set the big knob on the right to the 12 o'clock position, on the icon that looks like this: O/>

Press the button as you start to play. Let's say you're doing a 4-beat pattern. Press it just as you start on the ONE and then press it again where the ONE would be - don't press it immediately after the FOUR or your loop will sound like this:

1 and 2 and 3 and 41 and 2 and 3 and 41 and 2...

You want: 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2...

This is true for any looper.

Consider you might have more fun with some effects pedals or a multi-effects processor before the looper so you can get different sounds in your loop. Example: clean rhythm, octave pedal for simulated bass lines, and then an overdriven lead tone. This works best if you run the output of the looper into an amp designed to cleanly reproduce all frequencies, unlike most guitar amps. Consider using a keyboard amp, bass amp, or a small PA system after the looper instead of a midrange-heavy tube amp.

If you want to get more complicated than that I'll write more but don't want to fill up your thread with a bunch of stuff that you might not care about. (I probably already did!)

[Manolian]

Originally Posted by Honga Man

I think these things are best used at home - that's just my opinion, but I'm VERY happy with my RC-2.

Before I bought mine, I read everything I could find on the internet and watched all the YouTube videos about looping (hours of fun there - check out Arthur Lee Land, who gave me the idea to use multiple instruments through preamps into a mixing board and then through the looper).

What I learned is a lot of guys are frustrated with loopers (all kinds) on stage. Apparently they can drive a tube amp's input too hard with multiple overdubs (or with the output level set too high). Sometimes others in the band fall out of sync with the loop (especially the drummer if he can't he can't hear it well). Sometimes guys don't think about how a looper works and change to their amp's overdrive channel and wonder why their loop is now distorted. There is a learning curve to getting your loops properly "aligned" and if you blow it on stage, well, you're on stage, ya know?

The reason I think these things are so great for the home guitarist is all those problems can be avoided at home with a little practice and it's like having a jamming partner who will never get tired, never lose the beat, and never make a mistake.

I find no loss of signal quality with the RC-2, and I make that statement after listening with headphones to recorded "loop songs" versus recordings I made with the same gear without the looper. I admit I don't have super ears - I'm not the kind of guy who complains that mp3s don't sound as good as vinyl records - but to me, the RC-2 sounds fine IF you aren't overloading it with a too-hot signal or running it through a distorted amp.

You can also have too much stuff hooked up before the looper and get hiss in the signal but this isn't the looper's fault. I believe the RC-2 accurately reproduces what its given, although only in mono.

If you just want to loop simple chord progressions and then practice soloing over them, the RC-2 is great. You can also loop music from a CD or iPod or whatever and play along with that over and over to learn your favorite licks. You can even slow it down (a little) without messing up the sound too badly or changing pitch.

If you just want to record guitar only and keep it really simple (no drum beats, no Auto Start, no Tap Tempo, no switching between saved loops), just set the big knob on the right to the 12 o'clock position, on the icon that looks like this: O/>

Press the button as you start to play. Let's say you're doing a 4-beat pattern. Press it just as you start on the ONE and then press it again where the ONE would be - don't press it immediately after the FOUR or your loop will sound like this:

1 and 2 and 3 and 41 and 2 and 3 and 41 and 2...

You want: 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2...

This is true for any looper.

Consider you might have more fun with some effects pedals or a multi-effects processor before the looper so you can get different sounds in your loop. Example: clean rhythm, octave pedal for simulated bass lines, and then an overdriven lead tone. This works best if you run the output of the looper into an amp designed to cleanly reproduce all frequencies, unlike most guitar amps. Consider using a keyboard amp, bass amp, or a small PA system after the looper instead of a midrange-heavy tube amp.

If you want to get more complicated than that I'll write more but don't want to fill up your thread with a bunch of stuff that you might not care about. (I probably already did!)

Great Honga man thanx for all this info

[Beatbx]

Originally Posted by InknI

I rented the boss. Its more than just clicking it on and it working. Its something that you need to practice with. I saw El Ten Eleven play live a few months back, the guy plays a duel neck bass / guitar and uses 2 of these along with about 20 other pedals live. Its really something to see. Even the drummer uses one :-).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBTUAHGpQqE

I have no experience with the boomerang. One of the guys at the music store said they stopped selling them because they were too expensive.

Pretty cool stuff there. I love my RC-20XL, but it is a little tricky live with a drummer. For practice and songwriting though, it's awesome.

[11 Gauge]

If you ever get a chance to at least try a Boomerang, try it. They are way cool, and really intuitive. But given the price and big hunk of real estate, they should be. I love the roller treadle.

If I did any decent amn't of looping and could justify the price, I'd grab the Boomerang.

I'm a huge Bill Frisell fan, and the Boomerang allows me to pull off some of his looping tricks, because I'm just not that good at it like he is.

[Manolian]

Originally Posted by 11 Gauge

If you ever get a chance to at least try a Boomerang, try it. They are way cool, and really intuitive. But given the price and big hunk of real estate, they should be. I love the roller treadle.

If I did any decent amn't of looping and could justify the price, I'd grab the Boomerang.

I'm a huge Bill Frisell fan, and the Boomerang allows me to pull off some of his looping tricks, because I'm just not that good at it like he is.

Yes definitely, I'd rather have the boomerang , I was wondering how the boss rc-2 compares.

[nixpix]

Good thread as I'm also thinking of a loop station. I guess it's kind of cheesy, but the RC-2 has different drum patterns built in - they probably get old real quick, though. It also has the ability to import mp3 files, etc. Does the Boomerang do that? Which of the two preserves your natural tone better without making it too sterile?

[Manolian]

I'm also thinking about the digitech jam man now,after reading Scotty Lonesome's post.

[Scotty Lonesome]

Hey Mano -
I feel your pain. I spent weeks figuring out what I wanted, and the jamman just had it all. There's even this: www.loopertools.com - pretty nice software for the jamman, and there's a yahoo group devoted to it. So, when you need help you can get it. You can use it at home, and live...on stage or at a jam. Now, I have the RC-2, and it's good - but, I just use it for practice. You can hear some very rough/old things I recorded on the Jamman here:
www.myspace.com/scottylonesome
The quality isn't great, but hey - I can totally record a song, put drums and a melody (even vocals) on it, and play for bandmates, demo a song, etc...and I can totally fit it on my pedalboard...
:-)
Scotty.

[Manolian]

Originally Posted by Scotty Lonesome

Hey Mano -
I feel your pain. I spent weeks figuring out what I wanted, and the jamman just had it all. There's even this: www.loopertools.com - pretty nice software for the jamman, and there's a yahoo group devoted to it. So, when you need help you can get it. You can use it at home, and live...on stage or at a jam. Now, I have the RC-2, and it's good - but, I just use it for practice. You can hear some very rough/old things I recorded on the Jamman here:
www.myspace.com/scottylonesome
The quality isn't great, but hey - I can totally record a song, put drums and a melody (even vocals) on it, and play for bandmates, demo a song, etc...and I can totally fit it on my pedalboard...
:-)
Scotty.

Yeah , thanx , this is a good example of the Jamman:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSFyS...eature=related

The bass line ( second track) kind of gets lost in the mix though.

[Tim Bowen]

Very limited experience with loopers here, but my current dedicated gear budget is for a looper, so I'm in the market. I work with a duo, and my priority is ease of use in the live environment. After perusing loads of online references, the concensus that I took away from my research is that the Boomerang is far and away the simplest format for live use; this opinion was nearly unanimously accepted.

So, Boomerang it is, and I gots me some cash to deal. The problem is that the product is in a state of purgatory - the company actually does not offer a current model looper, to my understanding. Prototype designs of the III Phrase Sampler have been floating around for, well, quite some time, and afficianados have been put off by the repeatedly delayed "release dates". That aside... while I'll bet that the proposed prototype certainly addresses concerns of bonafide loop freaks, the format looks unappealing to me, as compared to the butt-simple format of the "Plus" (the most recent actual production model). The biggest buzzkill for me personally with the prototype is the lack of the global flywheel volume roller, which is a huge practical selling point for me.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'll likely pop for a used, recent production model Boomerang.

http://www.boomerangmusic.com/

[Honga Man]

Originally Posted by nixpix

It [the RC-2] also has the ability to import mp3 files, etc.

Well, technically you can't import sound files into the RC-2 like you can with a JamMan. You can't move files back and forth between a computer and the RC-2 through USB or removable media.

The RC-2 has a 1/8" stereo input jack that you can use to plug in a CD player, iPod, or any audio source. Press "play" on your audio source and the sound will come through the RC-2 the same as if you were playing guitar through the RC-2. You can then loop this audio, and you can save the loop into the RC-2's internal memory.

The direct connectivity of the JamMan to a computer is certainly an advantage that the RC-2 doesn't have. Some who are shopping for a looper might find this detail important.

[nixpix]

Originally Posted by Honga Man

Well, technically you can't import sound files into the RC-2 like you can with a JamMan. You can't move files back and forth between a computer and the RC-2 through USB or removable media.

Thanks for clearing that up!

[scooteraz]

I keep hearing the Boomerang is really nice, but other than articles and on-line, haven't seen one. So the Boss scores points for availability. Heard a solo act about 2 months ago where the guy was using an RC-2 pretty extensively. Was a decent act.

If you are looking at the RC-2, you may also want to look at the Line-6 product as well. Haven't played with one other than to mess with it at the store, but it seemed pretty easy to work with as well.

[popthree]

hold onto your cash for a couple more weeks..you won't be sorry.

http://www.boomerangmusic.com/Rang%20III.html

the global volume pedal can be achieved with an optional expression pedal. the III is going to be sooo worth the wait... the rang II is great...BUT... it does not have an 'undo' option.....and if you are new to looping.... undo is your friend..believe me.

[Manolian]

Originally Posted by popthree

hold onto your cash for a couple more weeks..you won't be sorry.

http://www.boomerangmusic.com/Rang%20III.html

the global volume pedal can be achieved with an optional expression pedal. the III is going to be sooo worth the wait... the rang II is great...BUT... it does not have an 'undo' option.....and if you are new to looping.... undo is your friend..believe me.

That looks like a winner , a bit on the expensive side ,but I am going to wait and try this one out when it is available, Thanx !

[Honga Man]

Wow! That Boomerang III looks great - confusing to this RC-2 user, but I bet it’s very good once you figure out all those knobs and buttons. That's a totally different looper than the RC-2 and more similar to the Boss RC-50 which costs around $500.

Since this thread was to compare the RC-2 to the Boomerang, here's the list of the Boomerang III features copied from their website with Yes and No after each feature for the RC-2.

Here's what you'll get in a pre-production Rang™ III:

* Serial Play Style - loops play one after the other like the Rang™ Plus Yes, but probably not as easily. With the RC-2, you need the optional Boss FS-6 footswitch or two FS-5U footswitches to advance to the next saved loop, and the loops must have been previously saved - not suitable for live use if you want to be spontaneous and play loops one after the other that you just recorded without stopping.

* Serial Master Play Style - see description below

* 3 or 4 loops, your choice No

* Stacking with undo/redo - "stacking" is adding parts to a loop Yes

* Erase one or all loops - a loop can be erased while another plays No

* Copy loop - a loop can be copied whether it is playing or not No. You can copy a saved loop from one location to another in the RC-2, but not while playing. The RC-2 would require you to bend over and fiddle with the knobs - not suitable for stage use but easy to do at home when you have the time.

* Copy live - this enables "re-sampling" and is very powerful; the pedal's output is routed to a new loop No. If this means you can "expand" a loop, this is a great feature that I wish the Boss RC-2 or RC-20XL had. The Gibson Echoplex Digital has this feature - it's called "multiply" and it is especially good for percussion or whatever your "first" loop is - bass, rhythm guitar, etc.

For example, you can record a four-bar drum loop, press "multiply", and then play guitar for the verse of a song for let's say 32 bars and loop those and your original four-bar loop will now be 32 bars long. There are two reasons I would like this feature is when recording a long "first" loop, like drums or rhythm guitar:

1. Due to my playing alone, with no vocals or other musicians to take cues from, I sometimes get lost and can't remember if I'm on, for example, bar 29 or bar 30 or a 32 bar loop. The same problem arises gain when overdubbing (Boomerang calls this "stacking") - I'm playing my bass over the drum loop and can't remember where I am - "does the loop end this time or the next time we get to the “G” chord?"

2. On the RC-2 (and I believe the RC-20XL), you have to let the entire loop replay itself before you can overdub (stack) the next instrument. So not only is it a pain to try to overdub (stack) my bassline over a really long drum loop and remember where I am, but if you were doing it on stage, your audience will have to listen to the whole drum loop again before they hear the bass (or whatever your first and second instruments are). For this reason, I tend to make short loops with the RC-2. Having the ability to expand/multiply/"copy live" would be a huge help.

* Octave - loop plays at half speed and an octave lower No - although you can slow loops down with the Tap Tempo feature of the RC-2, you can't change pitch and I doubt you could make a loop half speed without it sounding pretty crappy.

* Reverse - loop plays backwards No, but the Boss RC-20XL can do this, with an optional Boss FS-5U footswitch.

* Once - loop plays one time through then stops or if already playing, it stops at its end Yes, but you have to have previously saved the loop and assigned it as a "one shot". Not suitable for doing this on stage because you have to stop playing and bend over to fiddle with the knobs.

* Fade - loops fade in or out with one button press; fades can be approx 2 to 42 seconds long No, but the Boss RC-20XL has a fade out option. I don't think the time of the fade out is adjustable, however.

* Reverse solo - this is an effect and enables you to create reverse leads live No. Maybe on the Boss RC-20XL, but I think you have to play and record the loop normally once and then reverse it.

* 48KHz or 24KHz sample rate with 20 bit samples I don't know the sample rate of the Boss loopers

* Through signal is always 48KHz sample rate with 24 bit samples I don't know the sample rate of the Boss loopers

* Thru Mute function if this means you can stop the loop and continue playing your instrument through the RC-2 as though the RC-2 wasn't there, yes. I might be wrong about what this means, however.

* Master playback volume control with an expression pedal No, but a volume pedal after the RC-2 would let you do this.

* Dedicated loop playback volume knob Yes

* Dedicated loop decay rate knob - the rate at which earlier parts fade when new ones are added No

* Stereo or mono recording and playback No. Stereo input is possible with the 1/8" input jack but the RC-2 and the RC-20XL and the Digitech JamMan only have mono output.

* Smart jacks - the III senses which jacks are being used and provides different signal routing options No, although you can use a mixing board like I do to have multiple instruments all plugged in and ready to play without having to change cables when you switch from bass to guitar to keys to microphone.

----------------------------

One thing I didn't see mentioned on the Boomerang III list of features is the Undo function. As popthree mentioned above, Undo is your friend. The RC-2 lets you Undo the last thing you recorded. So if you make a mistake on your first layer, you can Undo it and return to silence (nothing recorded).

If you make a mistake on your third overdub (lets say you have rhythm guitar and bass already recorded and then you screw up your keyboard comping, you can Undo the keyboard. But you can't go back and Undo #3 and then #2. You can Undo [#3 only] after you've overdubbed on top of #1 and #2.

There are ways around this on the RC-2 (save your #1 into one of the memory slots before adding anything else) but again you have to stop and bend over and mess with the knobs by hand to do it. Personally, I don't find the Undoing of only the last thing you recorded to be a drawback, because why would you go on to #3 if you weren't happy with #2?

The other thing that the RC-2 (and RC-20XL) has along with the Undo is Redo. Let's say you have a acoustic guitar strumming chords looped as your first loop (#1). For #2, you play a bass line. Now you grab your Telecaster and start playing lead guitar but you don't loop it. You can Undo the bass line and keep the acoustic strumming loop playing, maybe while you remind the audience to tip the bartender or announce that you're playing Bob's Country Bunker next Friday night. When you're ready, you can Redo and the bass will start playing again.

Like Undo, Redo only works with the last recorded loop on the RC-2.

Another thing I didn't see mentioned in the Boomerang III list is saving loops. I don't think you can save loops on a Boomerang. The RC-2 has 11 "slots" that you can save loops for a total of 16 minutes of recording time. Any of these loops can be regular repeating loops or they can be "one shot" loops - loops that just play once when triggered and then stop.

Somewhere on the web I read where someone was using a RC-2 on stage for the Guns And Roses song "Civil War". He had looped the line from the movie "Cool Hand Luke" where the warden says "What we have here is a failure to communicate" and played that as a "one shot" before his band started playing the song - just like Guns And Roses did on the album.

Personally, recording saved loops into the RC-2 isn't a feature I use but it might be important to some, like students who might take the RC-2 to a guitar lesson to record some "homework" to bring home, or people who want to record and save a whole song from CD to practice playing over.

With 16 minutes of recording time, you could squeeze a lot of sounds into the RC-2, and the recording time isn't affected by how many layers of sound (overdubs or "stacks") are in each. In other words, a 30 second loop is a 30 second loop, whether there's one guitar track or a whole orchestra recorded one instrument at a time in those 30 seconds.

Sorry to be so long here, but I love looping and haven't found many good discussions about it anywhere on the web.

Hopefully this way-too-long post illustrates why I asked my original question – do you want to loop at home or on stage? I agree with those who say the Boomerang is best for live use (again, I’ve never seen one in person) and I maintain that the RC-2 is just fine for the home player who doesn’t have anyone else to jam with, wants to learn songs from CDs, doesn’t mind stopping to fiddle with knobs, does simple home multi-track recording but doesn't need "pro studio" quality, etc.

[Manolian]

Great info Honga Man, thank you!

[Honga Man]

Glad to help. I hope I didn't bore you but I just love this stuff and can't wait to hear what you end up with.

Two more things, if you can stand it:

1. I forgot to mention the Boss RC-2 has 33 (I think) built-in drum tracks. Sure, they can get boring, but if you just want to plug in and noodle around and have some drums to keep time with, these are great. And you can Tap Tempo them to get whatever tempo you want. Too bad you can't set BPM digitally but it's okay for my needs. You can also set the RC-2 for Auto Start, so you can hear the drums playing and then tap the pedal once to "arm" the RC-2 and then when you start playing it immediately starts looping. Good feature.

2. At the risk of hijacking this thread further, here's a picture of my home looping and recording setup as I first assembled it. I've since made this setup more compact and a lot neater but this picture and description might give you and other home looper enthusiasts some ideas.

I use a Fender G-DEC as a guitar preamp. The G-DEC has lots of amp simulators and effects and you can save 50 user presets. I think the key to making good loops is looping different sounds; otherwise it just gets to be a big mess if you have the same tone on three or four overdubs.

The G-DEC also has three inputs - two 1/4 jacks for guitars (so I can have a Telecaster and an Ovation both plugged in and ready to play without changing cables) and a stereo RCA input that isn't affected by whatever amp and effects settings you've made, so you can run a keyboard or drum machine through here and the sound comes through "clean", unlike an electric guitar. There are a lot of options out there for guitar preamps (Line 6 PODs, etc) but I'm totally happy with the G-DEC for what I do.

I run a stereo signal (that's what you get from the G-DEC) from the headphone jack to my mixing board.

For bass, I use my trusty old Yamaha PB-1 preamp. I run a mono output from the PB-1 to the mixer.

My old but still decent sounding Yamaha keyboard goes straight to the mixer, although I could run it through the G-DEC. Same with my Boss DR-3 drum machine. Keys go stereo (headphone jack is only option) and drums go mono.

I send a stereo output from the mixer to the RC-2. I let the RC-2 "combine" the stereo input to a mono output. The output from the RC-2 goes to the "power amp in" of the effects loop of a 1x10 Fender bass combo and that's my monitor, when I'm not using headphones.

If I wanted to, I could plug in an acoustic guitar or a bass into one of two 1/4" inputs of the bass amp and/or something else into the stereo RCA aux inputs and go to the mixer with the "preamp out" of the effects loop. This gives me a ridiculous amount of inputs all going to the mixer and then to the looper and they can all come back to the bass amp for monitoring or headphone output.

But about as complicated as I get on the output side of the looper is to plug the RC-2 output into my Fostex 8-track recorder and then listen either through headphones or the bass amp.

Certainly no one will mistake my home recordings as the product of a pro studio, and I'm sure serious home recording audiophile guys would cringe at my choice of a bass amp instead of mega-dollar powered monitors, but for what I do, this corner of my basement makes me very happy and that's all that matters.

[popthree]

Originally Posted by Honga Man

* Thru Mute function if this means you can stop the loop and continue playing your instrument through the RC-2 as though the RC-2 wasn't there, yes. I might be wrong about what this means, however.

thru mute on a boomerang means that you only hear the sample... so its just the opposite of what you are saying above...


as for saving loops to recall later...... sometimes i record my loops onto my pc via DAW..... i could turn around and dump them to an ipod and possibly feed them back into the boomerang...i'll have to experiment with that...might be useful for live applications...though i'd probably just forego the ipod and use a laptop.

[Honga Man]

Originally Posted by popthree

thru mute on a boomerang means that you only hear the sample... so its just the opposite of what you are saying above...

Thanks for the correction.

But isn't that the same as just not playing your guitar while the loop continues to play?

What's the advantage?

Originally Posted by popthree

sometimes i record my loops onto my pc via DAW

I do that too. I record stuff at home on my Fostex MR-8 and then upload them to my PC via USB. Then I bring songs to work on a USB flash drive, plug it into my work computer, and listen through headphones while I work on spreadsheets.

Some of it is crap but sometimes I surprise myself. Either way, it's fun.

[popthree]

Originally Posted by Honga Man

Thanks for the correction.

But isn't that the same as just not playing your guitar while the loop continues to play?

What's the advantage?

one purpose is so you can do live 'reverse' solos......the guitars original input is never heard, but instead the reversed sample comes out.

[Bilbobaker]

If you have a micro Spyder amp, can you use the headphone output as the input for the Boss rc20 xl for control of the amps special effects before the edits?

Bill.

[Tim Bowen]

Originally Posted by popthree

hold onto your cash for a couple more weeks..you won't be sorry.

http://www.boomerangmusic.com/Rang%20III.html

the global volume pedal can be achieved with an optional expression pedal. the III is going to be sooo worth the wait... the rang II is great...BUT... it does not have an 'undo' option.....and if you are new to looping.... undo is your friend..believe me.

Cool, thanks. Still got me pennies put aside, and have been hiding in the bushes and watching as to this move for quite some time.

[Honga Man]

Thanks, popthree. I understand now. I sure would like to try a Boomerang in person someday - they look like a great piece of gear.

Originally Posted by Bilbobaker

If you have a micro Spyder amp, can you use the headphone output as the input for the Boss rc20 xl for control of the amps special effects before the edits?

Bill, is that one of those Line 6 Spyder amps with all the different tones? If so, I'd say yes. That's what I do with my Fender G-DEC - run a line from the headphone output to my Boss RC-2.

The advantage is you'll be able to loop different sounds/tones/effects by just changing amp settings between overdubs - or even if you're not overdubbing, you can play a chord progression with a clean tone and then switch to some overdrive or reverb or whatever you like to play lead on top of your clean-tone loop.

But, you might need another amp for the RC-20XL output. I don't know if your Spyder will let you use a headphone out and then run an input back to the same amp and let you hear that. If the Spyder has an effects loop, try putting the RC-20XL there - that should do it, but you might find as I did that you need TWO amps (see my setup a couple of posts back in this thread).

Since I also loop from a drum machine, bass guitar, and keyboard, I chose a small bass amp ($30 on craigslist!) for full-range sound reproduction but if you're only looping guitar, probably any guitar amp will sound fine as a "monitor amp".

So, if no effects loop in your Spyder, I think you'll need to do this:

Guitar -> Spyder headphone jack -> looper -> amp #2

[Honga Man]

Bill, I just checked musiciansfriend.com and looked at the Line 6 Micro Spyder amp.

You will definitely need a second amp (or PA system, studio monitors, etc.) to plug the output from the RC-20XL into. There's no way to run a line back to the Micro Spyder if you're already using the headphone jack.

[eddie knuckles]

Love my RC-2. Just for practice, I laid down Zappa's "Watermelon in Easter Hay".
2 Peavey JF1-EX Rhythm of the 9-note progression, then added bass and lap steel. Then I pulled out my tele with my new Danelectro Cool pedals and wow.. loads of fun

[Bilbobaker]

Originally Posted by Honga Man

Bill, I just checked musiciansfriend.com and looked at the Line 6 Micro Spyder amp.

You will definitely need a second amp (or PA system, studio monitors, etc.) to plug the output from the RC-20XL into. There's no way to run a line back to the Micro Spyder if you're already using the headphone jack.

Thanks for the help.. I'll pick up another little amp the.

I just love all the special effects that the amp produces but would like to use them just like you described.

Clean line with some lead distortions.

Thanks again. I really like the Boss rc20 xl.

[Detman101]

Does anyone know if there is a text guide/tutorial to the RC-2 anywhere?
I just got one and it's driving me nuts how inconsistent the manual is when put to real-life use...



Dm

[jjkrause84]

I have an OG Boomerang (got it as a hand-me-down) and I gotta say it is incredible. Easy and intuitive....it has really helped my playing.

I can't add much as there's TONS of detail above but I can say the Boomerang is a real winner if you can find one