Starter mic + looper pedal recs

Pickie

I've found myself in an involuntary situation where I have a bit of time on my hands, and what better way to fill it than making music? There's only so much noodling on my acoustic I can do, though, so I'm keen to play around with a looper pedal to elevate my solo practice, ideally layering both instrument and vocals. 

Thanks to a lovely forumite, I now have a Fishman Loudbox Mini as my first amp! My next step is to get cables, a mic, and a looper pedal. But I really need to keep costs as low as possible because a) this is purely for in-home experimentation and b) I'm flush for time but not for cash — goes hand-in-hand, sadly

I've been researching and one low(ish)-cost way to do this seems to be with a Boss RC-1, as its two input-outputs would allow both a guitar and a mic to be connected using 3x jack-jack + 1x jack-XLR cables (e.g. Boss RC1 looper Mic + Guitar Same Time Hack). But...

1. Is the Boss RC-1 (no extra mixer) really the lowest entry point for looping guitar + mic, or am I missing a trick to achieve the same goal?
   
2. Guessing the mic should be cardioid to avoid muddying the loops? Any recommendations for a decent basic cardioid mic?

(edited because I can't spell, apparently)

stickyfiddle

If you do t know any better I’d suggest an SM58. They’re not the best mics (whatever that means) but they an industry standard for a reason and good to have around. 

In terms of loopers I want to try the new Sheeran stuff if you can. I haven’t yet but they look like the best 2-button and umpteen-button loopers on the market right now

TJT1979

Cheapish mics... I much prefer the Sontronics Solo (with a windshield) and Lewitt MTP550 to the SM58. I also thought the e835 was a better mic than a 58. Haven't tried the SE V7 but they get good reviews.

But to be honest it depends a lot on your voice and how good your technique is. Some voices work well with a 58 but I've always found another option which works better.

TC Helicon do a standalone microphone looper. I'm guessing an integrated one with both guitar and mic inputs would make it easier. In which case the Sheeran stuff is probably worth a look.

TJT1979

Just remembered, my band have a few Behringer XM8500 mics as backups in case something goes wrong, and they actually sound pretty good for the price. For £20 you can't go wrong!

Pickie

Thanks for the ideas! Researching the SM58 vs e835 vs XM8500, the Behringer looks like great value. Good point on voice and technique though: garbage in – garbage out, regardless of brand! I've seen reviews saying the SM58 / XM8500 suit loud voices, but my problem is a stupidly mousey voice no matter how hard I train technique and projection. I think I'll look out for a used e835 to try first, otherwise the XM8500 might be the way to go, thanks @TJT1979!

Gosh, those Sheeran pedals super interesting but spenny. £300 is more than I can drop right now and they seem too new to have any showing on the second-hand market yet...

steamabacus

If you could find an old Digitech JamMan Stereo secondhand at a good price, that would be a good option - built in xlr for the mic, allows you to store your loops. Either the older model or the newer model would be a good looper for what you want to do.

Pickie

steamabacus said:

If you could find an old Digitech JamMan Stereo secondhand at a good price, that would be a good option - built in xlr for the mic, allows you to store your loops. Either the older model or the newer model would be a good looper for what you want to do.

Yes, this looks like a brilliant option to look out for, thanks @steamabacus — looks like it has everything I'd need, and even an XLR input for the mic!

This got me thinking though — could any stereo looper with two sets of in/out jacks handle mic and guitar inputs simultaneously? Would that mean the Digitech JamMan Solo XT or even their Express XT might work — obviously not with the same ease and quality as the Stereo model, but possible...?

steamabacus

The advantage with something like the JamMan is that it has a volume knob for the mic input so you can balance the level with the guitar in the looper. Then a single output goes to the amp.

With a straight stereo looper you could put guitar in one side and microphone in the other side but there would be no way to adjust the mic level. You could output the left and right signals to separate inputs on the acoustic amp (assuming it has multiple inputs, most do) and balance the levels there - in effect you would be using the stereo looper as two independent mono loopers in parallel. There is the problem that the inputs are configured for instrument level inputs. A mic would ideally require a different input impedence - you could get a separate mic preamp to do that job but you're getting in to further complexity.

I think the first is a much easier working method.

I have a Digitech JamMan SoloXT which I've used extensively for many years without issue. They are well built reliable units. A friend had the earlier model linked above which he used successfully for live performance with saxophone and vocals.

Pickie

steamabacus said:

With a straight stereo looper you could put guitar in one side and microphone in the other side but there would be no way to adjust the mic level. You could output the left and right signals to separate inputs on the acoustic amp (assuming it has multiple inputs, most do) and balance the levels there - in effect you would be using the stereo looper as two independent mono loopers in parallel.

Ah gotcha, that makes sense. My amp (Loudbox Mini) does have separate inputs & settings for 1x instrument and 1x mic. So it sounds like it's technically doable but not easy or ideal; I'd have to rely on the guitar preamp only to balance the input.

Good to know about the longevity of the DigiTech units, thanks! I saw an old post about Stereo looper firmware issues and unhelpful tech support, which looked worrying — hopefully those were the exception to the rule

rpr

Vox used to one https://voxamps.com/en-gb/product/dynamic-looper/ 

midiman1962

Behringer mics are good - I use the 8500 for gigs. Also consider the Boss RC30 looper as these are still quite usable and offer mic and guitar input and dual channel looping - now very reasonable prices. Btw the RC30 is infinitely more useful after reading page 17 of the manual and changing the order of recording and playback 

JJ72

I second both the  Boss Rc30 ( or an RC20) and a Shure SM58 suggestions.
Should be sake to get both for £200 ish