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I'm after a loop pedal, and have around £100 to spend.

I really want to just use it to jam at home. I do want to be able to save the loops though.

So far it's narrowed down to the Digitech Jamman (the old stero one with two pedals), and the Boss RC-20XL

I was wondering if anyone who has had either of these paedals could elaborate on what they liked and didn't like about them.

I believe the Jamman has a much greater capacity (both time and number of loops) due to the SD card that can be added. But the drums are better on the RC-20XL. However, not sure I'm that bothered about the drums.

Anyway, thoughts, opinions would be much appreciated

you'll have a job getting the Boss for under £100. They have just released a new RC-2 which could bring down the price of the old RC-2 a bit. I've just recently sold mine, it was really good, something stupid like 30 minutes playback on a single track, but I just never used it to be honest.

Well, the average price does seem to be about the £130 mark on the bay, but the boss and the jamman do seem to go for £100 from time to time.

I was surprised at the price of the RC-50s second hand. They're like £390, and the RC-300 is £430. Didn't seem like much of a second hand bargain.

Jamman Solos go for under a hundred on ebay more often than the twin pedal version and are ok for home use.

For £100, used RC2....

I prefer and use the Jamman stereo but I dont think you can find that for the price you are looking. My dream looper would be a boomerang pedal. Whatever you do I would recommend a looper with 2 switches cause all the manevering with one switch can get needlessly annoying.

Used RC-2 + cheap external footswitch.

Differences between RC-2 and RC-20XL

- The RC-2 contains a Rhythm Guide that has 33 built-in rhythms. - (There's only
a metronome in the RC-20XL).
- The RC-20XL has a dedicated MIC input and the ability to play loops in reverse
(not found in the RC-2). It also has a reverse footswitch input jack.
- With the use of external foot switches, it's possible to increment *and*
decrement through the phrases in the RC-20XL - (You can only increment with an
external footswitch in the RC-2).
- The RC-20XL has a Center Cancel and Flat Amp simulator feature for the Aux
input.

Roland Product Support

paul_ wrote:Used RC-2 + cheap external footswitch.

Differences between RC-2 and RC-20XL

- The RC-2 contains a Rhythm Guide that has 33 built-in rhythms. - (There's only
a metronome in the RC-20XL).
- The RC-20XL has a dedicated MIC input and the ability to play loops in reverse
(not found in the RC-2). It also has a reverse footswitch input jack.
- With the use of external foot switches, it's possible to increment *and*
decrement through the phrases in the RC-20XL - (You can only increment with an
external footswitch in the RC-2).
- The RC-20XL has a Center Cancel and Flat Amp simulator feature for the Aux
input.

Roland Product Support

A lot of those 33 built-in rhythms ARE calypso though...

paul_ wrote:Used RC-2 + cheap external footswitch.

Differences between RC-2 and RC-20XL

- The RC-2 contains a Rhythm Guide that has 33 built-in rhythms. - (There's only
a metronome in the RC-20XL).
- The RC-20XL has a dedicated MIC input and the ability to play loops in reverse
(not found in the RC-2). It also has a reverse footswitch input jack.
- With the use of external foot switches, it's possible to increment *and*
decrement through the phrases in the RC-20XL - (You can only increment with an
external footswitch in the RC-2).
- The RC-20XL has a Center Cancel and Flat Amp simulator feature for the Aux
input.

Roland Product Support

+1, it's what i use. The only thing i think i could use on a lopper that the rc2 doesn't have is the ability to stop and start different loops at different times. Who really needs to record loops to sd cards?!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Got the two pedal jamman in the post today. I'm sure I'll be able to find limitations with it in the future, but right now it's blowing my mind. Guess I'm going to have to learn how to play in time now

sp3k wrote:

paul_ wrote:Used RC-2 + cheap external footswitch.

Differences between RC-2 and RC-20XL

- The RC-2 contains a Rhythm Guide that has 33 built-in rhythms. - (There's only
a metronome in the RC-20XL).
- The RC-20XL has a dedicated MIC input and the ability to play loops in reverse
(not found in the RC-2). It also has a reverse footswitch input jack.
- With the use of external foot switches, it's possible to increment *and*
decrement through the phrases in the RC-20XL - (You can only increment with an
external footswitch in the RC-2).
- The RC-20XL has a Center Cancel and Flat Amp simulator feature for the Aux
input.

Roland Product Support

+1, it's what i use. The only thing i think i could use on a lopper that the rc2 doesn't have is the ability to stop and start different loops at different times. Who really needs to record loops to sd cards?!

People that have specific intros that they can then play over? Some people use loopers pretty basically, in order to repeat a bit on the fly. But many modern delay pedals have this function already. I always saw loopers as samplers for guitarists, allowing them to free themselves up for whole sections of a song to do other things. Being able to save intros/outros and recurring chord sequences to some sort of recording device, and to then be able to switch between them, is pretty much exactly how I think they should be used.