Moderators daddymack Posted May 9, 2013 Moderators Share Posted May 9, 2013 The tax refund came in, so it was time to improve my live solo gig arsenal with a looper, in the $300 range. This meant the Boomerang and RC300 were off the table; and it left me with what I considered three viable choices. The three looper pedals, each with its own advantages, limitations, extranea, etc. under consideration were: Line 6 JM4 RC-30 Loop Station JamMan JML2 [the impressions and results of this shootout are based on my trials and research, YMMV. I spent a lot of time bouncing between the local SA and GC. Unfortunately, neither had all three available, so I could only do side by side of two at a time.] JM4: At $329 street, it tries to be too many things, and misses the mark on many. Line 6 packed this little gem with so much stuff, I had a hard time figuring out a lot of it. IMHO, the 'Artist' presets are useless for live performance; I don't understand why they put all that in there when just some nice basic rhythms would have been so much more useful. Although I didn't care about the available effects/amp models, I have to say most do not even compare to the Pod effects, [and I'm not a fan of those either]. The power supply comes with it (I don't think it will run on batteries, but I forgot to check). It loops well, though, and in that respect I thought it was viable. The 24 minute limit? I'm not sure if that would be a deal killer, that should be adequate space, but I think if they dumped all the presets out of the unit, the memory space would be larger...I'm jus'sayin'... This unit tries to be too much, and then fails to do anything well except work as a basic looper. Controls were good, volume controls for tracks 1 & 2, master volume, compression was helpful. I like the size of the display, but the LCD was hard to read when standing over it, and backlight level was questionable for gigs. The stomp buttons are too small, and the mystery switch # 4? I don't know what that was for, it isn't labeled, so I never tried it. It was as if the developer came in and said, here, I designed a looper, what do you think?...and every other engineer got to add his own line into it. JamMan: the least expensive entry, at ~$250 street, this unit is built like a tank! Computer interface to Mac or PC, nice [although, according to some people, an on-going problem; as I didn't try it, I have no further comment]...thirtyfive minutes of loop time..99 storage locations...plus the SD card slot which expands the memory exponentially, and power supply included! Interesting features, like a click track out (not useful to me, but for a power trio, why not?)...external footswitch jack [i'm not sure what that is for?]...XLR mic input with a gain control (but no phantom power)...basically, the features you want, not much you'll never use. Pretty simple to use, and the large track up/down controls were helpful. The stereo capability seemed unnecessary to me, but it is in there. Ease of use? Well, admittedly this was the first one I tried out, so my learning curve was steep on the first pass, especially sitting in a retail environment with 15 year old kids playing the intro to Smoke on the Water incessantly at high volume. Once I understood the 'autorecord', I was good to go. The reproduction on this unit was excellent, I noticed no added hiss or distortion, and the ability to speed up a loop without shifting pitch was slick! The display is large enough and bright enough to read when standing up or in a dimly lit room. The reverse playback? For me, it seemed gimmicky, and likely the one feature that would never get used live. RC-30: Solidly built, [but not to the death defying level of the JamMan], this unit is the middle of the price group at ~$300 street. The immediate drawback is the up/down controls are not foot friendly like the JamMan. Boss kindly offers an external foot pedal to alleviate this (making the controls more like the higher priced RC-300) either a single (street ~$25), or dual, (street ~$50). Runs on batteries; the external power supply not included [street ~$20] which kind of pissed me off since the test units were on the power supply. Features-wise, this again has the things you need for a live soloist, the XLR in [with switchable phantom power] with gain control/peak indicator, 99 phrase memory, 3 hours of inboard record time, PC/Mac interface, mini SD card slot, tempo synch of efx in playback {I stumbled on this on my last go around}, autorecord, live overdub, loop efx, stereo (again, I don't get the point...but it is there]... So, the learning curve on this unit is steep; how long to depress pedals, etc., and the difficulty in moving to pre recorded loops...but, you can stack two loops to play sequentially (chorus/verse) and assign them to the pedals so you can alter on the fly [vcvcvccc etc.]. What this pedal is made for, really, is realtime live looping, on stage. Reproduction is pristine, no appreciable distortion on loops. The display is large enough to read from ~ 6' away, and bright enough for low light on stage use. Bottom line: I'm not exactly sure why, but I opted for the RC-30. The JamMan was a very close second, so close in fact, that is why I'm not sure I made the right choice yet. Time will tell. The Line 6 looper, sorry, a distant third, and not because of the price; when you try to be all things to all people, you wind up not satisfying many. I suggest they offer two versions, a home jammer/trainer version, and a live use version minus all the presets, bells, whistles and kitchen sink at a lower price point. And please, label button 4.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Potts Posted May 9, 2013 Members Share Posted May 9, 2013 Great review! I have the old RC50 and love it. I just use it for simple loops to solo over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shaster Posted May 9, 2013 Members Share Posted May 9, 2013 A timely review, much thanks. I'm thinking about getting a looper for solo guitar gigs. Not sure if I would use it much, but it could come in handy. Based on your review, I think I'll look at the JamMan first. I might even look at the Solo XT. The simpler the better, at this point anyway.Although the Roland looks interesting, my clunky feet would probably be stepping on the wrong pedals - that happens to me on my other Roland/Boss stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted May 9, 2013 Author Moderators Share Posted May 9, 2013 A lot depends on what you need it to do. TC has a neat little looper (I can't remember the name at the moment), but it is a one trick pony, designed for 1/4" input, no XLR, and runs about $125 street. I was originally going that route, but then I started looking at the features on the 'bigger units', and got kind of sucked into it all... For twice the price, the JamMan gives much more...I'm just started with the RC-30, and the learning curve to do what I want it to do is already longer than I had hoped... is one day not enough ?!?! What I have discovered is that manufacturers don't know when to leave well enough alone..the RC-30 has multiple drum kits in it...why? I dunno, but there they are...I may get to the point where I figure all this out and opt to go simpler...we shall see... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shart Posted May 14, 2013 Members Share Posted May 14, 2013 Buying used it could be a $300 looper +++. I get what you mean though, it's not a marketed as a looper, worth it if you need effects. It's a great bonus feature that's for sure! Yes, it's 28 seconds I think. I'd still like to have a jamman stereo for the mic input and the fact that I wouldn't have to go into looper mode on the m9. If you want to change effects during looping with the m9 you have to press a pedal and get back to the effects, then back again. It's a time killer if you want a multilayer with different sounds. I know there is a unit that resolves this, a small pedal you connect to the m9 midi port. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members aliensporebomb Posted July 26, 2013 Members Share Posted July 26, 2013 The other thought, of course is you could save another $150 and get a Pigtronix Infinity. Two loops with undo and reverse and 24-bit 48 khz sampling and frequent updates from Pigtronix. I ended up getting a Roland RC300 though thanks to some nice people who got me a number of Guitar Center gift cards for my birthday which boosted my meager finances to that level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted July 26, 2013 Author Moderators Share Posted July 26, 2013 ummm...the Infinity streets at ~$450...outside the parameters, sorry...I don't see where there is a savings of 150 there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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