best looper for live guitar.

oasisroses

hi guys,

im looking at getting a small footprint looper. I have previously used an akai headrush but I have no use for the delay feature anymore so looking at a smaller looper to free up space on the board.

anyone had an experience with the ditto or similar and if so can you list any pros and cons for your suggested replacements?

cheers.

LuttiS

TC Ditto is great, really simple to use and lots of capacity. 
heard good things about the Joyo Ironman series mini looper.. can't remember name but yeah.. 

Ditto a pretty safe bet though.

oasisroses

thanks luttis. the ting with the ditto is all the double tapping and stuff. Im not much of a tap dancer so was wondering if it is awkward in actual use.

LuttiS

I found it pretty straight forward, certainly moreso than built in loopers on flashback or multifx boards. 
I suppose there was a bit of tap dancing, but i got pretty used to it. Never used it live though, only in jams and on my own. 

steamabacus

I think the biggest problem with single footswitch loopers IS the need to double tap to stop. It's hard to get a clean ending if the performance requires that.

There are a few double footswitch loopers on the market (including a version of the ditto) or, for example, the Digitech JamMan SoloXT has an external footswitch jack that allows an additional footswitch (a three button for stop/tap tempo, preset up, preset down but it is possible to DIY a small single button stop switch)

oasisroses

thanks again luttis, do you know whether it has a trigger for a pre recorded sound? like the drony slide effect in ''how soon is now'' by the smiths for example. so you can hit the button and it just plays the one sound or is it exclusively for loops and not triggers? sorry to be a pain but 80 quid isn't small change at the moment.  

oasisroses

thanks steamabacus, im wanting it more as a trigger to fire certain sounds on demand. sort of like a pressure pad on an electronic drum machine. so I don't have to hit the switch once to start it then twice to stop the looper playing the sound over and over. auto stopping after the sound and not looping is what im on about i think... the sort of thing im looking for I want it to enable me to quickly record the ''patch'' before the band starts then fire it on a trigger during the song. I  hope this makes sense. I was using the akai headrush as before mentioned but its massive and takes the place of 3 boss sized pedals almost.  

LuttiS

Been a while since i used it, but i think you need something a little more than the mini ditto - its draw is the simplicity, could be wrong but pretty sure its just loops, no triggers. 
@steamabacus is probably on the right track for what you need, some of the digitech stuff is pretty good. I use the fs1 footswitch he's talking about with some of my digitech stuff, i picked it up for £10. 
I haven't used the jamman, but there are plenty about so you could probably get a good used bargain. 

Mini loopers in general are 1 button on/off type things. I haven't come across anything different. 

steamabacus

Something like the Digitech JamMan SoloXT (I have one) will definitely do that - you can set each patch to either loop or play once, also you can set how it stops (instant, fade to end of 'loop', etc). You can pre-prepare samples and load them onto the pedal via USB. I often prepare drumloops on a computer, load them onto the JamMan and then loop guitars over the top. There's even enough memory (expandable with a mini SD card as well) for entire backing tracks. I'd recommend downloading the manual and seeing how easily you could integrate it - it does a lot.

I have to say though, the most intuitive looper I have for basic guitar looping is my old Line6 DL4 - separate footswitches for record, loop or loop+continue overdubbing, stop, play once, reverse/half speed  ... but it IS massive and fairly simplistic compared to the modern loopers.

AlexC

LuttiS said:

TC Ditto is great, really simple to use and lots of capacity. 
heard good things about the Joyo Ironman series mini looper.. can't remember name but yeah.. 

Ditto a pretty safe bet though.

What he says. Would never play without mine. 

oasisroses

thanks again guys. I will look into the jamamn or similar. I had my head set on a ditto but i think youre right @LuttiS It doesn't sound right for what I want. and I have never even considered getting the maual before buying the thing @steamabacus that's genius!

Beexter

Boss RC3 is also worth a look. It can do single shot phrases  ( I use it to trigger sound samples) You can also add an external switch to either select presets or just to be able to stop playback with a single press if you're not using the one shot feature. I use a tiny tap tempo switch (about half the size of a mooer mini pedal) for this.
It'd be worth checking the manual online to see if it'll do what you want but I think it would. 

oasisroses

Beexter said:

Boss RC3 is also worth a look. It can do single shot phrases  ( I use it to trigger sound samples) You can also add an external switch to either select presets or just to be able to stop playback with a single press if you're not using the one shot feature. I use a tiny tap tempo switch (about half the size of a mooer mini pedal) for this.
It'd be worth checking the manual online to see if it'll do what you want but I think it would. 

thanks beexter I will do just that !

richh

I may be stating the obvious here, but if you like the Ditto in other respects, but want the separate footswitch, then there are other Ditto options, but I'd suggest looking at the Ditto x2 which has 2 footswiches and is well worth the extra cost.  Dan is selling one here: http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/90720/fs-timeline-van-weelden-spaceman-deco-chase-bliss-jam-caroline-rml/p1

oasisroses

richh said:

I may be stating the obvious here, but if you like the Ditto in other respects, but want the separate footswitch, then there are other Ditto options, but I'd suggest looking at the Ditto x2 which has 2 footswiches and is well worth the extra cost.  Dan is selling one here: http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/90720/fs-timeline-van-weelden-spaceman-deco-chase-bliss-jam-caroline-rml/p1

thanks @richh but I don't have space for an x 2  

Teetonetal

any that require a double tap to stop are not good for live use imo.

ICBM

The Boss RC-1 can also be configured so that a double tap at any point in the loop allows the loop to run to the end and then stop. Why this is not the stock set-up, I don't know! Nor why the 'alternate' switching order of record/play/overdub isn't stock… but both these are easy to change if you read the manual.

Although I found it too limited overall, despite the very cool and useful LED display, so it has now gone. I might get a RC-20 or 30 at some point.

The actual best I've tried so far is the Akai Headrush, but it's too big and doesn't have a battery option, which I prefer for open-mic stuff - less faffing around when you have ten seconds to set up.

ewal

I've got the Digitech JamMan SoloXT and an external footswitch so no double tapping for me. Having said that it is still work in progress - I have yet to write a song where a live loop has featured.

oasisroses

ICBM said:

The actual best I've tried so far is the Akai Headrush, but it's too big and doesn't have a battery option, which I prefer for open-mic stuff - less faffing around when you have ten seconds to set up.

im looking for a replacement for my Headrush. it is too big and I don't use the delay on it anymore as I have acquired a lovely analogue one. it is a great bit of kit though.