True bypass looper recommendations

mark_jwedge

I have a chain of 6 all true bypass pedals going into the front of my amp and I have noticed some loss of clarity compared to plugging the guitar straight in so that got me thinking about a true bypass looper.

I have had a look at bright onion and gig rig and both seem really good. The bright onion is significantly cheaper than the gig rig one which makes it quite attractive. Are there any others I should look at?

Also the bright onion looper has the option of a buffer on the input or the output. For me the buffer would have to be on the output as I have a germanium treble booster and a fuzz first in the chain. As the looper will go straight into the amp is it worth bothering with an output buffer? 

Or or should I just get a buffer and put it after the treble boost and fuzz? The bright onion one is £30 so seems pretty good value

Beexter

Wee Lush Fx offer a similar range to Bright Onion and I've been pleased with stuff I've had from them.
You may want to look at some of the programmable options, I think Moen and Joyo  both do them for reasonable money.

impmann

Something to consider with cheaper loop switchers - the switches.

A lot of them use generic clunky switches. These are ok but cause nasty pops and bangs when switching - plus we all know that these are responsible for a lot of pedal failures.

Thats why I’d suggest spending the extra to buy the Gigrig stuff - much better switches. I’ve got a G2 which also takes it to another level in terms of the flexibility but may be overkill. The Quartermasters offer a great solution if you don’t need the programmable aspect.

One thing to consider is the cost of rewiring the board. For six pedals you’ll need 12 cables. If you are doing this using solderless quality cable (recommended for sound vs noise pickup vs neatness) you’ll need more cable than you think and you’ll need 4 plugs per pedal... it’s expensive!!!

sgosden

if you're happy with the tap dancing style to switch, and the signal loss is your only problem. then you could just get a buffer after the treble boost and fuzz?
BOSS pedals are good for this, or just a standalone one. they don't have to be expensive.

http://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/Cream_Buff_guitar_signal_buffer/p847124_8506552.aspx

This kit is pretty inexpensive and did a good job for me.

mark_jwedge

sgosden said:

if you're happy with the tap dancing style to switch, and the signal loss is your only problem. then you could just get a buffer after the treble boost and fuzz?
BOSS pedals are good for this, or just a standalone one. they don't have to be expensive.

http://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/Cream_Buff_guitar_signal_buffer/p847124_8506552.aspx

This kit is pretty inexpensive and did a good job for me.

I use my amp as the basis for my sound and just use the pedals to colour or boost so tap dancing isn't really a problem as I only really switch one pedal on or off at a time, so certainly don't need anything programmable.

i think a buffer after the fuzz and treble booster might be the easiest solution, I know they don't always like buffers before them but are they ok if the buffer is after?

hotpickups

I can't fault the Boss Es5/8 and very customisable. Cheaper than a G2 and does more too. Yes beware of the cheaper ones due to their switches 

crunchman

sgosden said:

if you're happy with the tap dancing style to switch, and the signal loss is your only problem. then you could just get a buffer after the treble boost and fuzz?
BOSS pedals are good for this, or just a standalone one. they don't have to be expensive.

http://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/Cream_Buff_guitar_signal_buffer/p847124_8506552.aspx

This kit is pretty inexpensive and did a good job for me.

I built a version of this.  It's very good.