Does anyone have any experience in looper pedals? I want one that’s less than 80$. I don’t know what to get. Boss? Lekato?
It was purchased from Thomann, and the price was about 70$.
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I did a bit of research before getting my first looper and the key advice I found was to get a two button looper as they are easier. With a one button looper you have to do a double tap as part of it’s operation and that makes it (apparently) a lot harder to sync with the beat.
So my first looper was the Ditto X2. I didn’t have any real trouble getting used to it. Some times I’d get the timing wrong but that was the exception. It worked well for me for a number of years so no hesitation in recommending it.
I’ve recently upgraded to a much more expensive looper, the boss rc-500. I chose it because I wanted to save a bunch of different loops, something I couldn’t do with the ditto.
Stick with simple to get started. They can be a wonderful device. I’ve mainly used mine as a practice tool to help me with my soloing. Lay down 8 bars / measures on the looper and improvise over that for as long as you want, that sort of thing.
It’s also helped me sort out the timing of various riffs I was working on.
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Another good looper is the Mooer GL 100. You get a lot more than a looper; it’s pretty good for the money. Check it out at Andertons Music there is a great review on it
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Got the Ditto looper (single button) a couple of years ago, wish I had researched more like Tony @Tony and got the two button model. Good introduction to looping though.
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Early on I bought a Boss single button looper as it was cheaper and I was happy at that time but now I wanted to have one where I could single tap to stop the loop so at this stage the easy option was to make a plug in footswitch that does exactly that, problem solved for me but yes, i’d say go for a dual button or at least make your own.
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Thank you. I think I’ll get the one that you recommended.
I actually don’t strongly recommend the Mooer GL100. As Hec says, it has fantastic features - much more than just a looper and easy to use and low cost, but mine has a whining noise in the background which is generated by the device itself. I got it at Thomman where it’s easy to get a replacement, but the replacement was more or less the same. Other than at very low volume it’s unusable IMO.
I know that other people had good experiences with it so perhaps they were luckier than me.
But there are other good suggestions above.
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Hi Ian, thanks for that advice. I haven’t experienced it yet, and I hope I don’t, but I will listen out for it. The other unit I use is the Ditto Jam x2, so if I do have problems, I do have that unit. Thanks again, Ian, cheers Hec
Since posting about my Lekato pedal in that thread that was linked earlier in the theard, I have purchased an add on to it that gives me the ability to switch channels on the fly. Its very cool.
I have done several things with it. One thing Inhave done recently is, I have been recording different sets of chords in the key that I am working with. Then I play each of them with a mellow strumming pattern on a different channels. Then using then new pedal, I can just go between a couple of different chord scombos without having to stop and flip through any controls with my hands of complicated foot tap sequences. I can practice different little melodies between the different chords Im working with building a song. I just give a left or right button tap to the next number loop I want to use when figuring out what chords I want to use for the verse or the courses.
I guess this is what the nice ones probobly all do. This did cost 20 bucks and uses a wireless and can also use wire connection from Lekato looper. All metal and is pretty solid. I already feel I have gotten $20 dollars worth of fun with it.
I haven’t noticed any whining with mine, although I do have another irritation with it …
The unit doesn’t allow for my signal chain to ‘by-pass’ unless power is applied to the looper which makes it a bit rubbish for my set-up.
What makes it worse for me is that I run its power from a wall socket, under a desk. Guess what, there’s no on/off switch on either the unit or the supply so I have to keep crawling under the desk at every sitting to ensure the bloomin’ thing is turned on!
It’s otherwise a nice functioning unit (and adds something to the Ditto unit I used previously) but I’m not sure I’d actually recommended it to others. Probably a 2-swtich ditto would be a better starting point.