looper pedals?

[BillKociaba]

Hi, Having rejoined the guitar world after a 15++ year break I am discovering all kinds of cool toys that didn't exist back"in the day" I am looking at looper pedals and wanted some imput from the group.
I went into my local store and the kid was totally lost when I told him "I need one I can operate without having to look at it" he just didn't know what to do with me. He pretty much told me I would need help from someone sighted to use any of them. Now I know that can't be right so guys which one is the simpelest(and hopefully cheapest)?
thanks
Bill

 

[Terry B]

Don't have it myself but the Ditto looper looks pretty simple and lots here seem to like them.

 

[mountain man]

I've got the ditto looper and it works well. It's simple to operate too.

 

[chemeagle]

Ditto. Pun intended.

 

[TwoNotesSolo]

I can't imagine using my ditto without looking at it; the light indicates what mode it is in. I also look at the light blooming when it restarts the loop.
On the other hand it's probably simple enough to keep mental track of what state it's in?

 

[snarf]

I've had a Boss RC20xl since like 2003. It's not the most recent by any stretch and the looping time is a fraction of what loopers have today, but I think it fits the bill of not needing to look at it. I like it because it has the 2-pedal design...just step to the right or step to the left to get it to do what you want. Since it's old tech comparatively speaking, you could probably get one used on the cheap if you looked around. I've only tried a couple of other loopers, and couldn't get used to them (the Boss RC1 and the Digitech Trio).

 

[PapaBear]

Is your sight loss 100%, or can you see some light? The Ditto may take some getting used to if totally blind, snarf makes a good point with the older tech models.

 

[BillKociaba]

Is your sight loss 100%, or can you see some light? The Ditto may take some getting used to if totally blind, snarf makes a good point with the older tech models.

At this point I have done a total fade to black. Used to actually be able to read music with a magnifier then gradually less and less then one day someone turned the lights out. OK thanks sounds like I need to look for an old one that's still in working order. anyone out there got one????
bill

 

[CaptainMoto]

Hi, Having rejoined the guitar world after a 15++ year break I am discovering all kinds of cool toys that didn't exist back"in the day" I am looking at looper pedals and wanted some imput from the group.
I went into my local store and the kid was totally lost when I told him "I need one I can operate without having to look at it" he just didn't know what to do with me. He pretty much told me I would need help from someone sighted to use any of them. Now I know that can't be right so guys which one is the simpelest(and hopefully cheapest)?
thanks
Bill

I'm a big fan of loopers.
Get one.........you'll love it!

I've owed several and currently use two.
The simplest one I have used is the Ditto which sells for $99.
It works well and is pretty simple to use with one button and one knob for blending the signal level.
All loopers that I know of have an LED that indicates whether you're looping/playing back or erasing.
If you are are not sighted I'm thinking it would be fairly simple to operate without seeing the lights.

There are several other low cost loopers such as the Donner Tiny Looper and the Joyo Ironman that are similar to the Ditto, they sell for around $50.
All these are small format pedals.

Thinking about your situation, I'd imagine, ease of operation would be the most important feature.
With that in mind, I'd suggest giving some consideration to the T Rex Image looper which sells for abut $150.
My reasoning on that recommendation is two fold.
The T Rex is a larger pedal which will be more stable underfoot.
The small format pedals are great for space savings on a pedal board but, if used alone they have a tendency to move or tip.
Second, the T Rex has two buttons, one to record & play and one to stop & clear.
I'd think that would eliminate the need to see the LED condition indicator light and might be easier to adapt to.

That's my 2 cents.

 

[MikeS]

Yep, the ditto has one switch to do the looping and one dial to adjust the volume of the loop.

 

[BillKociaba]

I'm a big fan of loopers.
Get one.........you'll love it!

I've owed several and currently use two.
The simplest one I have used is the Ditto which sells for $99.
It works well and is pretty simple to use with one button and one knob for blending the signal level.
All loopers that I know of have an LED that indicates whether you're looping/playing back or erasing.
If you are are not sighted I'm thinking it would be fairly simple to operate without seeing the lights.

There are several other low cost loopers such as the Donner Tiny Looper and the Joyo Ironman that are similar to the Ditto, they sell for around $50.
All these are small format pedals.

Thinking about your situation, I'd imagine, ease of operation would be the most important feature.
With that in mind, I'd suggest giving some consideration to the T Rex Image looper which sells for abut $150.
My reasoning on that recommendation is two fold.
The T Rex is a larger pedal which will be more stable underfoot.
The small format pedals are great for space savings on a pedal board but, if used alone they have a tendency to move or tip.
Second, the T Rex has two buttons, one to record & play and one to stop & clear.
I'd think that would eliminate the need to see the LED condition indicator light and might be easier to adapt to.

That's my 2 cents.

Well that was worth a lot more than two cents. Thanks. Sounds like its just what I need. Don't think any of the local stores carry T-rex. at least never heard it mentioned before. again thanks Capt.
Bill

 

[D. R. Miller]

I have both the Boss RC3 and the Ditto X2. RC3 sets on the shelf unused since getting the X2. X2 loops exactly what you play, no quantizing the loop for you just leaves it as it is. The X2 also has two push buttons for easier start stop.

 

[brent]

I have the Ditto X2 also. The second button can be switched to either start/stop or some other function, which I forgot because all I ever use it for is the start/stop function.

 

[david moon]

I saw a Melissa Etheridge concert video where she built up whole songs starting with percussion, adding a bass, rhythm guitar and then sang and played lead over the whole thing. Can any of these devices do that?

 

[CaptainMoto]

I saw a Melissa Etheridge concert video where she built up whole songs starting with percussion, adding a bass, rhythm guitar and then sang and played lead over the whole thing. Can any of these devices do that?

Yes.
All looper pedals have that capability.
Some of the more sophisticated units make it easier to start stop song parts but, even the simplest ones can do very interesting things.

 

[david moon]

Yes.
All looper pedals have that capability.
Some of the more sophisticated units make it easier to start stop song parts but, even the simplest ones can do very interesting things.

I went back and looked at the credits at the end of that video:
Ovation Guitars
Suhr Amps
DW drums
DR strings
Radial JDI (a direct box)

no mention of the looper, which is kind of strange, since it was at the heart of the show. Maybe she wasn't paid to endorse it.

Here's the link to the show

https://www4.bing.com/videos/search...D1B932EE480930F92973D1B932EE480930F&FORM=VIRE

 

[brent]

I am always impressed with what some people can do with a looper pedal. I normally only use mine to lay down some chords and practice noodling over the top. Much fun, but nowhere near as musical as what some people do with them.

I saw a show a few years back by a kid named Ari Herstand. He came to my son's high school (he's 25 now) and talked to them about careers in music and what it takes to "make it". He played in town at a local venue that night and I brought my son to the show. I did not really have high expectations because at the time I didn't have great confidence in my son's taste in music. I was pleasantly surprised. This kid used percussion sounds (sometimes made with his mouth a la beatboxing), trumpet, violin, and other instruments, as well as guitar to craft his songs that he sang over. He used something like at Boss RC300 Loop Station. Lots of versatility in that machine, but also probably more than most need. I'll post a link below of his performance, as well. I think the fact that I still remember his name after hearing about him and seeing him once says a lot about the impression he made on me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TcViT1G_p0

 

[CaptainMoto]

Here's the one Melissa Etheridge uses:
https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/21517-melissa-etheridge-guitar-storyteller?page=5