Quick & Dirty Looper Pedal Rundown

I've never owned a loop pedal and until recently, never really considered one. Having a "lone wolf" spell in regards to rehearsing and jamming with others, and the concept seems viable to make practice more fun and productive. Watched a ton of YouTube vids, read a bunch of reviews. Would love to hear from folks who actually own and utilize these pedals. I like simple things, so here is what seems most appropriate for me...

1. TC Ditto. Seems easy to use, very basic, good sound quality. 5 min recording. No power supply.

2. EHX 360. Also seems easy to use, good sound quality. 6 min recording. 11 spot to save loops. Power supply included.

3. Boss RC-1. Again seems easy to use, maybe slightly less sound quality. A bit more record time than above. No power supply. Has ability to add switch for play/stop.

These 3 seem comparable price wise. Never been a big Digitech fan so I didn't include their equivalent unit(s).

Any real winners here? Is the Boss sound quality really that bad?

The next jump up for me would be the Boss RC-3 due to the 3 hours of record and 99 save spots. It seems I could record guitar on one stereo channel and bass on another and run them to 2 different amps to maximize sound options at home. Would I really do this? Looks good on paper but...

Anything more complex than these are more than I'm looking for at the moment. Would appreciate any players advice on these!

 

Thanks! I am looking to pick something up this weekend and get in the loop game. My gut feeling is to go with the EHX 360, figure I may utilize some save locations and the fact it comes with a power supply is nice. I've always been a fan of Boss build quality in general, a bit taken back by reviews claiming it doesn't sound as good.

 

I agree. Feel the same about most of the YouTube vids & reviews for all of the loopers mentioned here. That's what I love about TDPRI, the PLAYERS tell it like it is.

 

Guitarteach...looperpedalreviews.com mentions some noise complaints with the Boss RC line. On some other user review forums/comments, it has been mentioned that the sample rate quality of the Boss units is not as good as the TC or the EHX products (sorry I don't have a specific example or link, but I have read it multiple times since beginning the quest). This may be subtle or even unnoticeable, but the fact it's been verbalized I thought it may be pertinent to the comparisons listed here.

I am really glad you are digging your RC-3. It does seem like an awesome unit, I definitely haven't ruled it out!

 

Just for comparison sake, here is what it says about the EHX 360 sound & sample rate:

"With uncompressed audio, 24-bit A/D/A and a 44.1kHz sample rate, the 360 Looper delivers high-quality sound and unlimited overdubbing with no degradation in fidelity."

The TC stuff is the same, and both the TC & EHX are true bypass.

That being said, not sure how huge of difference the bit difference makes...especially if I don't really intend to hook it up to a computer. It would most like run through my DRRI or P.A. System.

I am surprised though that the BOSS RC line is not on par with this spec in 2015.

 

Then there is this for about $120 new...

In terms of negatives, the Nu-X Loop Core has really the same issues as the Boss RC-3 Loop Station. For starters, we’re talking 16-bit audio recording at 44.1 kHz frequency. This was up to par in 2011 when the Boss RC-3 was released, and was touted as “CD Quality.” More recently, however, loopers like the TC Electronic Ditto and Ditto X2, and the Pigtronix Infinity have stepped up to 24-bit recording at 48 kHz. For practicing at home, this is not much of an issue, unless you are an audiophile. The difference is subtle, but noticeable.

A second issue is that, although you can use the tap tempo button to set the tempo of the built-in metronome and drum machine, there is no way to set the bpm using the up/down buttons. This seems like a missed opportunity, especially since there is a small screen that displays numbers and could easily display the bpm. This can become an issue when you are recording different phrases to be played together. For example, if you record a loop at a certain tempo, then move up a memory slot, the tempo is lost so that you cannot match it. Also, there is no bpm setting, so you cannot match it that way. The only solution is to copy the existing loop into a new memory location, then delete it. This is a little cumbersome if you are trying to use the pedal live, though you could potentially have your phrases pre-recorded. In any event, the same issue exists with the Boss RC-3.

Third, like the Boss RC-3, this is a compact pedal with only a single footswitch. This means that to stop the loop, you have to double tap to stop, which can be less precise in live situations than a looper pedal that has more than one footswitch like the TC Electronic Ditto X2. Of course, this can be remedied by purchasing the extra external footswitches, but then you are spending a little more money.

A bit of good news is that the early problems with the Boss RC-3 are already fixed in the Loop Core. When the Boss RC-3 was first released, there was a noticeable silent gap that appeared when switching between phrases. Boss eventually fixed this issue with a firmware update. Similarly, there is no gap when switching between phrases with the Nu-X Loop Core.

 

And that's a beautiful thing! Originally that was exactly my thoughts (simple), the features vs price thing is what is killing me now. I would still love to hear from someone that owns/uses the EHX 360...seems like a great balance but who actually uses one? Maybe I'll be the first to report back!