loopers - brilliant creative tool or excuse for pointless silliness

PolarityMan

I know which side I fall on

DesVegas

Im in a three piece so my looper is damn handy

Teetonetal

Brilliant creative tool. I spend hours on mine.

What I hate though is when they get used as a fake band throughout a set. Snooze.

ThePrettyDamned

To be fair, that was more musical than I can manage.

Branshen

I'm somewhere in between. It can get abit stale sometimes but other times it is an indispensable practising tool or great platform for trying out ideas/writing material.

ICBM

Both.

Trude

I hate them and every Ed Sheeran wannabe who uses them, especially when they exhibit that smug "look at me, I'm sooooo clever" look on their face whilst playing their predictable Get Lucky cover version on acoustic guitar...

fretmeister

I love them and I'm completely useless with them.

Jalapeno

fretmeister said:

I love them and I'm completely useless with them.

This

UnclePsychosis

Has anyone tried the Rowin looper? It looks like a clone of the Ditto but much cheaper.

Jalapeno

I get all unnecessary watching Boomerang videos

paganskins

UnclePsychosis said:

Has anyone tried the Rowin looper? It looks like a clone of the Ditto but much cheaper.

Of the affordable micro loopers this one looks good, designed by the same guy who did the pigtronix infinity

UnclePsychosis

@paganskins that Duet Looper looks great, but I only need it for mucking about at home so don't need the extra features.

For £28 I've just taken a punt on a Rowin from eBay. I'll report back.

Fretwired

I love them .. also a good way to hear how your guitar sounds as an audience member when doing a soundcheck.

shuikit

Jalapeno said:

fretmeister said:

I love them and I'm completely useless with them.

This

I really, really struggled until I spoke to a busker a couple years ago, he was actually using two rc20 jobbies... anyway, he said that it's getting the first loop in the exact length that's vital and that sometimes he still struggles and that when he does what he does is for the first loop he simply taps the required number of beats in very quietly (gentle pluck on a muted string) first.  So I tried this and instantly my success rate shot up. 

Disclaimer - I've so far never been brave enough to use one outside of the house!

bigjon

I'm getting a Roland RC30 - I want to be able to do gigs for fun and charity events etc where I can solo on an electric guitar and don't have to persuade band-members to come and play for free. I'm planning a one-man-band setup with brushes-on-a-snare drum, bass-on-a-stand, keys, vocals, and electric guitar. And yes, I plan to do Get Lucky!

I first came across the concept when I saw Phil Keaggy live in the summer of 1991. Here's a song from a concert he did about 2 weeks before then, he gets going with the looper about 5:46. He remains the master as far as I'm concerned.

Drew_TNBD

All of the below.

axisus

Just watch that you don't blow yourself from the future away with a shotgun

bigjon

20 years on, Phil Keaggy is still the master looper. 2:10 onwards, although the intro is stunning, so I'd recommend not missing it out!

Lez325

I have the Boss RC 3 - it a handy tool for working on Riffs etc- just play a repetitive rhythm and an over dub bass or lead fill and away

well pleased with thjis inexpensive little red box

Les

UnclePsychosis

UnclePsychosis said:

@paganskins that Duet Looper looks great, but I only need it for mucking about at home so don't need the extra features.

For £28 I've just taken a punt on a Rowin from eBay. I'll report back.

Having finally (almost) recovered from a broken finger I can try this out at last. 

Nice solid metal shell, the level pot is nice and smooth, and the switch seems as decent as non-latching ones ever do. No noticable "tone suck" or whatever you want to call dodgy bypass. 

Obviously its hard to tell if it will be as long lived as you'd expect a more expensive pedal to be but at £28 for what is a fairly full featured looper I'm really pleased.