I have just moved my amp from my Playroom to my work-from-home room. No idea why it took me so long to come up with this idea.
After spending an afternoon, noodling in Double Drop D with amp set to overdrive, periodically butchering the intro of Cinnamon Girl (irrespective of how butchered it was, there is something about that over-driven riff that gets my mojo going), I got to thinking ā¦
What about a looper, something with a drumbeat, maybe a OD pedal. Would be a ton of fun and good for my playing to be able to plug that into the amp and work at improv over a loop.
Iām looking for a good value solution, as @CT would say, as this is just for home practice. My solution for laying down electric guitar parts for original songs would remain, dry recording the electric direct via the AI.
I have no suggestions, I know little enough about the few pedals I have let alone enough about anything to make a recommendation.
This, unfortunately, I understand!!!
With both of the above in mind, is something like a Trio+ what youāre looking for, and then do you not have something like that already?
Donāt get me wrong now - I am totally not trying to convince you you donāt need something, on the contrary Iām sure I probably need whatever pedal it is you donāt have that youāre wondering about buying!!!
If it were me, Iād lean towards a Ditto X2 (which has two buttons, making it a little more convenient than the one-button Ditto). As you mentioned, you could use an aux-in on the amp for a beat, but you could also explore creating percussion with your guitar and the looper. That can be surprisingly effective and fun. And itās kind of satisfying to create something with just the guitar + looper in that way.
Maybe one of the little Zoom multifx pedals, like the G1X Four That would give you a basic looper (I think about 30s) and a whole bunch of overdrives to play with, plus a drum machine.
thereās the old adage ābuy it nice or buy it twiceā. But with that said, personally not knowing what to get and being ābudget mindedā. I got the mono price lp3 looper pedal for ~30US. I have been quite pleased with for the last 6 mo. It does require a pedal style 9v power supply. As part of the GAS problem will likely get more in the future. For my purposes and the price it has been great! I recently got some of there other budget pedals , distortion and echo. as a noob I have been pleased with there sound too.
Hmm!
I now have the attitude that buy good buy once. You know my views about Harley Benton gear, they have recently bought out something that Iām seriously considering to downsize my current setup. Itās not very expensive for what it can do, it doesnāt compete with high end but for the likes of us itās adequate.
First the standard version in their range: https://www.thomann.de/intl/za/harley_benton_dnafx_git.htm
Second the new Pro version: https://www.thomann.de/intl/za/harley_benton_dnafx_git_pro.htm
The Pro version is probably the better one to consider for flexibility but both are very good according to the reviews.
Food for thought, look at them and think what they could do for you. Incidentally both include a looper
Yes sir! Rocking āCinnamon Girlā will change a playa. If it isnāt the coolest riff around, you better check your pulse.
Using multi-FX or FX built into an amp are cool and work in a pinch, but Iām a huge fan of pedals and the process of building out a pedal board for a song, set or performance. Itās how most of the guitar world built out their tone over the years --most of the top players still do it that way (exceptions will prove the rule), and itās my preferred way to do it. Itās classic. Sort of organic in a way.
Where I break ranks with most is that Iām huge on high-value pedals. I buy clones unapologetically. There are great pedals to be had for as little as $25 US under a bunch of different brands like Donner, Joyo, Kmise, and a slew of others. Check out some of the gear channel demos from 60 Cycle Hum, In The Blues and others.
That said, the bedrock tones and pedals like loopers are pretty generic. I bought a Ditto looper but just about any single button type will do fine. I also have a Donner and it works just as well. Keep it simple and affordable.
Nowt wrong with that in my book. When it comes to basic analogue pedals, most pedals have quite simple circuits in them and, frankly, thereās nothing āmagicalā about them.
Take the Klon Centaur, for example: those are now selling for over $5,000 each, and yet thereās probably less than $25 of electronic components in them. Thereās really nothing mystical about them: the circuit has been known for years, and you can buy kits to build your own replica.
There are people that believe that the original pedals sound better, somehow. But there are people who believe the earth is flat: believing something ridiculous doesnāt make it true.
The only reason I would buy an expensive āoriginalā pedal is to collect it, if I thought it might increase in value in the future.
Reverb pedals are probably where it doesnāt pay to scrimp too much, if itās an important effect to someone, but there are good values to be had just the same. Iām happy with the Biyang Tri-Reverb at around $50 US:
Things like distortion, OD and delays are pretty straight forward. The build kits are good high-value options as well.
Justin had a lesson on loopers. I just went back and skimmed through it. I agree with pretty much all his preferences (e.g., I like it to be ājust a looperā, like a second button to avoid the need to ādouble tapā, et cetera). Might be worth a watch (or re-watch).
Yesterday I was out most of the day (may share what I was up to on āJust chattingā, so didnāt have time to tinker with the amp and playing beats through it.
@CT@DarrellW@SgtAuto High-value appeals to me. Not sure if I have an equivalent of HB or Monoprice in SA. And international shipping is not something Iād consider, even assuming it was possible, due to both price and risk of non-delivery.
@DarrellW Can get the Behringer pedals locally. Good to know if wanted to go looper and one day put more effects in the chain.
@J.W.C thanks, I had a look at Justinās looper lesson. Looks like there is one button to start and stop recording, a single press each time. And the second button is just to start and stop the loop playing. Percussion with guitar could be fun, though initially drums is for a reference to keep time.
@Majik@TheMadman the Zoom is available locally and would be cheaper than say a Ditto or Ditto X2. So multi-fx vs dedicated looper is something to mull over. Part of the trade-off may be the loop time, though I suspect 30s of loop time is sufficient for my purposes.
Lots to think about.
Again, appreciate you all taking time to share your thoughts.
I havenāt bought any FX from monoprice, I mostly buy from Amazon or local guitar stores. The Behringer line of pedals have plastic housings, which turns some folks off. Iāve bought a few rebranded/rehoused Behringer pedals from TC Electronic, known as the Smorgasbord line:
These are great pedals with large knobs, top loading connectors and built like bricks.
Yesterday I had time to test out playing drum loops off a tablet/phone via the aux-in of the amp.
That worked perfectly well. And I can also make my own loops on Reaper. For that matter I can make suitable BTs on Reaper.
So donāt necessarily need anything.
That said, I think a looper pedal and learning to lay down some layered rhythm and then improv over that would add promote further improvement in ability to play in time.
Based on the research at the moment Iām leaning towards the X2, though most of the online shops donāt have stock. In contrast to the Zoom G1X Four that seems far more available. Unfortunate that we donāt have anything like Thomann here locally, just not a big enough market.
