Boomerang Phrase Sampler

This thing is a no brainer.

Acceptable for live use if you're careful about the trim settings and where you use it in your signal chain. 'Ok' (at best) for home recording and just too noisy for pro recording.

I had written an earlier review about the 'rang in which I said "it seems tough enough to drive nails with." I have now experienced my first problem with the devic. For no apparent reason, the memory board became loose in its socket rendering the 'rang useless. I e-mailed and called Boomerang and withen two days got a responce from them telling me how to fix it myself. The repair worked, but now my confidence in the 'rang has been shaken. It seems that if you remove the covers a look inside will reveal that all the electrical components are mounted to the top face of the board. Amoung other words, everything hangs upside down, including the aforementioned memory board. It turns out that in time it can just 'let loose' of its socket, with the help of gravity (remember, it's hanging upside down inside the chassis). The only fix is to just take it apart and push it back in, or perhaps send it bake to Texas and get another socket installed. I question just how safe this thing is to use live now...

they seem interested in helping you out and were pretty cool to tell me how to fix it myself. I'd give'm a 10 except it took 'em two days to answer my call/e-mail.

If they couldn't fix my 'rang. I'd go get another one right away. I like it that much.

This thing is my favorite musical piece I could own!
Editing patches is real simple too. The manuel is so easy to read my son who is 10yrs old could understand it. I have the 2.2 upgrade version.

I use line 6 , Peavey Tube amps and Laney. Some times it is noisy with electric guitars but acoustic guitars are much better for this or clean channels seem to respond better. I really have not used the effects although I have a friend that uses them and he seems to get a real nice delay! I usually use my laney with the 15" inch speaker it handles the many instrument samples. I love Stevie Ray to Steve Vai and all types of music Stanley Jordan WOW. With overdrive or distortion it seems to wimp out a bit?

Yes very dependable never had a minutes trouble? Yes I have not used it with a band setting yet only single One man stuff.

Yes these guys are awesome they have called my house these guys who design the things our regular guys. Mike Nelson rocks .

Wonderful

Even though it is right out of the box easy to use, there are some programming modifications that are not that easy to get to, without looking at the manual. but that's me.

I don't normally consider the sound of anything to be ten, but as far as what is being played back, it's perfect. There is no noticable differance between what I play and what's being looped back. I'll admit, what I play and how it sounds is far from ten, but that's not what I'm rating, is it.

So far, I've owned this thing for two months. Not very long. But it seems to be made of very resistant materials not found in many guitar pedal products. "Built like a tank".

I'll give 'em a ten, 'cause I haven't had to call.

This pedal is great! It's been a long time since I've been inspired by a pedal. Excellent for practice, or for having that second guitar player. The value did have a lot to do with the high markings. So the question is, would I have payed retail for this pedal? knowing what I know now, the answer would be undoubtably YES!

Easy to use right out of the box. I must admit the first few times I tried to use it live I was frustrated. I was about to sell it! I couldn't get the loop right but, after a little practice, it became pretty easy. Manual is good and you should get familiar with the variations in programming. It makes it a lot easier to get what you want live.

I play an Ovation Celebrity Deluxe in to a wah-wah pedal into the 'rang then into a Peavey Deltaffects Twin effects proccessor, usually for chorus or flange, and then into my PA board. I add some delay/reverb from the channel FX send and it makes for a nice sound. Sometimes I use an A/B/ switching box so I can feed anything from the PA back into the 'rang. Cool for vocal harmonies, percussion loops, etc. I like the stacking feature though you have to be careful to mix your layers as you go. I've found that if you back off the volume on your guitar for subsequent layers, the sound degradation factor isn't nearly as bad as some other reviwers make it out to be. The 'rang can be a little noisy but usually a proper input setting will take care of it.

Appears to be very reliable. I've had a litle problem when playing outdoors where dust can get into the footswitches. The switch didn't activate properly a few times but it was a minor problem.

Haven't had to call them yet. I've heard very good things about them, though.

I play solo and duo acoustic shows- 50s-current rock, pop country, jazz standards, etc. All my percussionists love it. I love it 'cause now I can do solo's or add harmonies. I love the "head snap" looks I get when I kick into a solo and people turn to look. You can read their minds, "How is he doing that?"! I've been playing professionally for 20+ years. I am also a bassist and singer/songwriter. I have used the 'rang as a bassist in a three piece band. Kind of cool during solo's I let the 'rang play the main bass part and then I go up high on the neck and add 3rds, 5ths, 7ths...whatever to fill out the rhythm. Mine WAS lost then stolen. I bought a new one immediately. Then, in true Boomerang fashion, my original one was mysteriously returned to the club where I lost it, so now I have two... OH, the possibilities! I've demo'd the Boss Loop Station and found it similar but not as easy to use. I also didn't like the need to buy the additional foot pedal to get al the features out of it ($200 more). I also DJ and use it for making loops and custom mixes. I wish it had an octaver built in instead of trying to play a part twice as fast and then slowing it down to make it pitch and tempo correct.

This unit is about as easy as it gets for use. I'm not a rocket scientist, but I was able to use this thing straight out of the box and hardly looked at the manual. What can I say, it's simple and straight forward. If you can't figure this gadget out real fast, maybe you shouldn't be allowed to cross the street by yourself...

I found the sound quality to be very acceptable from the 'rang' for live use. I have the current version with a 24 bit rate and I use it in everything from local club gigs to performing prelude music for church, a very quiet listening enviroment. I use it mostly through a Johnson mirage amp playing a Godin SGX. I have the 'rang' patched through the effects loop and I get good results this way. I often use it with an Ovation Elite acoustic/electric, with the Ovation going straight into the 'rang' and from it to the mixer. The settings on the 'rang' are important to achieve the best s/n ratio, but are very easy to get. I suppose it's sound quality might not always make me happy for recording purposes, but what the heck always does?

So far, I've experienced no problems at all with it. I can see where a heavy footed clod could damage the foot switches and volume control though. So protect it from all neanderthal types, but otherwise I'd say you can probably drive nails with it!

Haven't had a reason to need customer support yet......

I play everything from jazz, rock, country, blues, classical, etc. I have realized the most use from the 'rang' creating acoustic guitar oriented 'new age' flavored accompaniment for solo excursions, and I find it an excellent match for this use. My primary guitar amps are a Johnson Mirage and a Peavy Special. My main axes are a Godwin SGX, a Gibson Herb Ellis model, an Ovation Elite acoustic/electric and a Fender Stratocaster. I also own and use a Fender jazz bass. I also own and play through JBL tr series pa speakers with a Mackie mixer and peavey power amp. I have been playing for over 32 years and currently play professionally for a living. I believe I would certainly replace the 'rang' if something happened to it. Heck, even if I weren't using it for gigs, it's still a great practice aid, maybe the single best thing a musician can get (next to lesssons) to aid his/her musical growth. It's that good.....

I have yet to read the manual. In minutes I was having it do what I want it to do. There are hidden features I need to learn but I thought it extremely user friendly.

I use the 'Rang with acoustic guitars. I always use a small mixer and use an aux out and return. I thought the sound quality excellent. Slightly more noise floor than my JamMan but it's not noticeable until you A/B them which I did. However the reproduction quality is fantastic. If you set the level out to be the same as your live level you can not notice the difference in quality.

Works everytime. I'm a new user so I can't speak for years of use but see my below story in the customer support section.

OK true story. I took my 'Rang to a rehearsal and consequently backed over it with my Corolla. IT STILL WORKED! The electronics were fine but the case got bent only slightly but enough to make a couple of the foot switches to not operate. I sent it in for repair. Mike Nelson was great! Try calling another manufacturer and getting the inventor/chief engineer on the phone. Mike charged $25 turned the repair around quickly over a holiday season and while moving his shop to a new location. He also spent time on the phone with me talking about some of the not so obvious features. I can't speak highly enough of their honesty and modest fee.

I play Django style swing and other acoustic oriented music. The 'Rang is great for practicing. Always shows up sober and ready to jam! I've been playing 20+ years. I own and am now selling the Lexicon JamMan which the 'Rang is replacing. Stolen or lost? Yes I'd replace it. Love about it? Love the intuitive set up. Favorite feature is the fact that I can sample a loop and not have it play right away. Unlike the JamMan I can sample the verse while playing, go to chorus and then trigger the verse loop and solo over it all in perfect time to the song. Does it help me make music? It's my jammin' buddy! Yes it encourages you to rehearse.

Easy To use takes time to master

Very good reproduction even at the 4 min settings

Built like a tank

I think these are great for practice, live and recording. Like everything else it sounds better as you get the hang of it. All and all every guitar player or singer can use one of these if your trying to improve or make your band sound fuller without adding people.
Email me if you want to know where to get it at the $370 price new w/15.00 priority shipping

The Boomerang is simple to use. The manual takes about 5 minutes to read, and then you know everything there is to know... There's only a couple of different options on how to use the unit, so you'll quickly figure out how you want it set up.

The sound quality out of the Boomerang is pretty crappy. It's sample rate is from 8khz to 24khz. 24khz is totally unacceptable for studio work, and is barely acceptable for live performance. I find anything under 16khz is completely unusable. It's like listening the original 8khz real audio... what's the point? Memory is cheap, A/D processors aren't that expensive either... why is the sample rate so low?

The other problem is the noise... At least 20% of the sound coming from the Boomerang is hiss... When I go back and listen to recordings of myself playing, I can INSTANTLY recognize that the Boomerang is present in the loop based on the sound of the static. Radio interference comes thru really well... I don't own a radio, but all I need to do is crank up the trim knob, and the local radio station comes thru loud and clear.

For some reason that I REALLY DON'T UNDERSTAND, the volume knob doesn't reduce the volume completely, making it pretty much useless
(it only reduces the volume about 95%).... I'm no electrical engineer, but I've been researching how to build my own effects... I believe the reason for this is they were cheap on the potentiometer... I'm pretty sure that the volume pedal problem has the same problem as why my Crybaby Wah doesn't have a TRUE bybass switch... the Crybaby needs a DPDT switch, but only uses a SPST switch....(oooooo.. they saved $0.45 on that switch). I suspect the boomerang has the same problem with it potentiometer (haven't opened the unit up to see, though). It could probably be corrected for about $5 (or about $80 for a volume pedal after the 'Rang).

The 'Rang is built like a tank. I the sound quality didn't suck so bad, I'd have no qualms about depending on it live.

I also own a Gibson Echoplex Digital Pro, and I think that the footpedal hardware on the Boomerang is way superior (in virtually every other respect, the EDP is WAY better). The buttons are much sturdier on the Boomerang, and there are lights on the pedal board, so you can easily see what is happening at any given time.

When I first purchased the Boomerang, I had some problems with it. At first, I thought it was me, but when playing with other people, it became apparent that the problem was the unit, not me. The loop ocassionally got garbled, and ocassionally did the WRONG THING when switching from A to B loop (playing an old loop B that should have been deleted when recording A). I had the unit repaired, and haven't noticed the problem since. (In all fairness, I haven't used the Boomerang for but 10-20 hours since getting it back.. while it was away, I purchased the EDP, and have been concentrating on that because it is so much better)

As I said above, I had initial problems with the unit. After a few e-mails, they had be send the unit in for repairs, and I had it back a few weeks later. I have not noticed any problems since getting it back. (Before the repair, I was able to duplicate one of the problems 95% of the time based on when I hit a button... I can no longer reproduce that problem!).

I was irritated at first, because the customer support guy didn't seem to believe me, but I insisted there was a problem, and convinced them to repair the unit.

Despite my complaints about it, the boomerang is an excellent practice tool. In just the first month of owning the Boomerang, I probably used it more than all the other effects I've ever owned combined (been playing guitar and effects for about 12 years). There's no substitute for being able to listen to and accompany yourself. If you only own one effect, it should be a Boomerang or something like it (Jam Man, Echoplex, etc.)

When I first purchased it, I though "where have you been all my life?!! You're cooler than sliced bread!" After using it a few days, I wanted more... The capabilites are pretty limited.. You can't copy loop A to loop B, you can't lengthen a loop, you can't erase the overdub you just mis-played. It has no MIDI capabilites, so you can't sync it to a drum machine or anything... which makes it VERY DIFFICULT to play with other people using the boomerang... It's extremely tricky to get the timing just right to keep everything tight. The Gibson Echoplex, which only cost about twice as much as the Boomerang ($450 for boomerang, $850 for Echoplex with Footpedal), but is far superior in almost every way... better sample rate (41.5hkz), longer loop times (the boomerang is ~260 seconds at 8hkz, ~87 seconds at 24hkz... the echoplex is 198 seconds at 41.5khz), more total loops (the boomerang has 2... the echoplex is selectable from 1-9 loops, with an equal amount of time for each loop [3 loops = 66 seconds each]), MIDI sync & MIDI trigger, copy, insert, undo..

Of course, the limited capabilities of the Boomerang make it considerably easier to use than the Echoplex.

There are several ways I think the Boomerang is better than the echoplex:
First, better quality footpedal with lights on the 'Rang.. The echoplex has no lights on the pedal (there are lights on the rackmount unit so you can see what is happening, but in a dark location, it can be difficult to see which button you're about to press). The 'Rang has a light over each button.

The second has to do with how loops can string together.
The boomerang will let you do this:
Record loop A. Switch to loop B and immediately start recording. Switch to loop A and start playback. Or you might do this: Record loop A. Playback loop A. Switch to loop B and start recording. At the end of recording, playback loop A. Switch to loop B and playback..

The echoplex doesn't really let you end the playback by starting a different loop... If you record loop 1, you'll HAVE TO play it back before you can record loop 2. You'll have to record loop 2 and then play it back once before you can move on to loop 3 or back to 1. If each loop is a section of a song, this might not work quite right, because you'll play loop 2's cadence, then it SHOULD go back to 1, but you'll hear 2 again... You can get around this problem by doing everything in loop 1, using the Insert button to add in the second section... it's close, but not quite the same (and considerably trickier to get the timing just right on the insert unless you have a drum machine sync).

The reason why it can't work like the Boomerang is because of the 1-9 loops vs. A&B. Obviously if there's only two loops, and you try to switch from one to the other, you're going to the other one... If you can have 9 loops, which one is supposed to be the "next one"??

Third, the Boomerang has a bypass switch. You can shut off the live guitar at any time. The Echoplex has a Mix know which sets the Wet vs Dry, but this also changes the effective gain level, so you can't really change it while the loop is playing (unless you intend to fade into or out of the loop).

There are other differences, but which is better is subjective. One forinstance is the feeback setting. On the Boomerang, the delay feedback is only in affecting the sound while in record or overdub mode. You could record a loop, have it playback a bazillion times, then hit overdub and if feedback is set to 25%, i

Operating this unit on a basic level is a no-brainer. Before I decided to buy this, I used a friend's and required no instruction. Hell, my drummer can use it.
The manual is written fairly well, with straight-forward language that doesn't confuse. Some of the more advanced features are not readily apparent, but a quick perusal of the manual will tell you what you need know. Bonus points for having a complete online manual.
The foot roller isn't as nice as a good volume pedal, as it requires more concentration to use, but it does allow you to set the volume of the rhythm (loop) in relation to the part you are playing in real time.

Sound quality is great for playing live, good for home recording but maybe not good enough for pro-level recording. But so what? In a good studio you can work with the engineer to get what you want and the Rang makes a great tool for explaining it to him/her.
The board is a little noisy, but not so noisy that a solo acoustic performer couldn't use it.

Had a problem with it once where my sound came out distorted, but I unplugged and replugged and everything was fine.
No one else I know has had trouble with theirs.

I couldn't tell ya.

I've been playing eight years now. I do a solo acoustic show a few nights a week and I co-front a jam band. I use it a bunch in a solo setting, but with keys, drums, bass, and mixture of other instruments in the band, I haven't been able to justify using it live.
I do, however, use the Rang for a lot of different things. I use it to compose parts with the stack feature and also the A/B makes it easy to put a verse in one loop and a chorus in the other.
This is an invaluable tool for exploring soloing concepts and improving your playing. I've long been a proponent of recording your own playing as a means of improving and this is instant feedback.
I've made loops for friends to practice over and have actually heard someone improve over the course of a day.
This is a big help when I'm teaching the band new songs, as I can show what parts I had in mind for the rest of the band while my guitar sits in the corner, playing itself.
The Rang definitely helps me make music, and if someone steals this thing, I'm getting another one. I know $500 is a lot of money, but for all I use it for and the boost it's given my playing, it's worth it.

The manual is good, but slim. Of course, there isn't really much that you need to know. Programming is easy, but plays fine out of the box. It's pretty easy to use. I mean, there are only 5 buttons. The only problem I have with it is that it is hard to hit your timing right during your first few uses. That's user error though and nothing wrong with the product.

I'm playing this with a Squire Strat and some crappy Peavey amp. My equipment isn't the best to start with, but the boomerang doesn't make it sound worse. It seems to record my equipment perfectly, so no problems here.

I would use this thing without a backup. My friend though has said that the switches on his occasionally break and need to be replaced. Nothing too bad though.

Haven't dealt with them.

This thing is amazing. It will really help you learn to play better. In addition, if you have a friend that is better than you, he can record a lick in, and you can sit there and practice until you get it. It's a nice little piece of machinery.