Boomerang Phrase Sampler

There's lots of news surrounding the total redesign of the Boomerang looper. You need to go to boomerangmusic dot com to get all the info. The Boomerang III software is being finalized, and you can order a preproduction unit now, or wait for the final product to come out. The delays have been many, but the design and development team is small, and they are dedicated to turning out a very solid product. Release is very near!

I have a pre-production beta, and can enthusiastically state that, even without final software and a partial feature implementation, this looper beats everything I have tried to date (all the Boss loopers, Jam Man, Electro Harmonix). I am withholding ratings for most of the review categories here, because the Rang III is not final at this time and it wouldn't be fair. But please do check out their website if you are in the market for a new looper. You won't regret it.

Totally pristine. I can't tell the difference between the looped signal and the original input

See comments above regarding witholding ratings until the unit is final.

See comments above regarding witholding ratings until the unit is final.

See comments above regarding witholding ratings until the unit is final.

This is quite honestly the easiest piece of equipment to use that I own. It is entirely intuitive. The guys who designed this actually sat down and thought it through. I hate rack systems and having to crawl inside a machine to figure out how to make it work. You don't have to do anything like that with the 'Rang. Easy footwork while you play.

Sounds pretty much exactly like what you play. What you put in as signal comes out the same way. I can't discern a difference.

Can't say yet. If it goes south on me, I will repost...

Again, can't say. These guys are from Texas (I'm in Houston) so I expect they're down home.

Love it. Just love it. Had a Boss looper, and couldn't stand it. Nothing worked the way it was supposed to. Turned me off the idea of loopers until I saw an article for the Rang. Unless you are a jerk or gear snob, you will be very pleased with this, and it will make you play better. It's like holding up a mirror to your skills. I'm giving it a nine because, for the life of me, I can't understand why they put the mute switch practically right on top of the volume roller. That little roller is a fantastic idea, but you can't use the thing with hitting the mute switch. Why?

The Rang is as easy get up and running as any looper. If you're new to looping, you can't go wrong with a Boomerang. If you've been loopy for a while then you already know that it's a breeze to use. My unit is a version 2 and the manual is necessary to get the most of the depth of features, but it's well written and easy to navigate.

Pristine is such a subjective concept isn't it? I don't know why people complain about the quality of sound. I own or have owned: an original Lexicon JamMan, a Headrush, an original Boomerang (which I traded because I wanted more floor space and more available loop time), ALL of the Boss Loop Stations, including the RC-50 and RC-2 (of which I still have the original RC-20, and the Line 6 Delay Modeler. The Boomerang + is made for live use and in that arena it's as good as anything out there, excepting maybe the Echoplex Pro. The Boss RC-2 is a pain in the ass to stop and erase loops while you're jamming. The RC-50 sounds great until you swith loops and go back to your original and get that horrible warbling sound. The RC-20 is just fine. The JamMan was old and on it's last legs so I traded it while I still could get my investment back. The Line 6 was good but not enough loop time. The Rang does need good balance of input and trim to get optimal sound and tone, but it's in there you just need to be patient. When you change pedals going into the Boomerang you'll need to adjust the trim on the unit or the output from your guitar or pedals. So what. Most of us are tweakers anyway and it only takes a few minutes at most to get it adjusted properly. I play Takamine acoustic-electrics into Damage Control pedals or Boss pedals and what comes out of the Rang is what I put into it. Just like my Boss Looop Station does and like my JamMan used to. What more can you ask?

It is solidly built. The buttons are plastic so that would be my only minor concern, but Mike Nelson seems like any problems will be taken care of quickly. I'm not worried though.

Okay, so I called their number on Friday afternoon and left a message. On Monday around dinner time in Ohio I got a call from Mike Nelson answering my question. We had a great conversation for the next half hour about music, life, culture, favorite songs, concerts we'd been to, and ways we use looping to make cool music. I have never talked to a manufacturer before. I'm confident with that kind of customer supprt. What more do you need to know? Thanks Mike. Peace to ya'll.

I play acoustic folkadelic, jam-based (that's why I use a looper), classic rock and traditional-type music and loopers are essential to what I do. I've been playing for 30 years and looping for the last 10 years. I'd most definitely buy the Boomerang again if I lost????? it(you know, if I lost a $400 piece of gear I'd probably have alzheimers or something which means it's time to hang it up) or if it got ripped off. It's made to be used live and in that regard it's a great investment. It is a little large but the trade off is worth it: easy to use, sounds great, durable, and real people who care about the product they make. Peace to ya'll and keep making music, the world needs it now more than ever.

v 2.0...set levels and go-manual is short and easy reading. good design,the modes/programming are pretty easy to get the hang of.

cool pedal! i have used a few different Boss loopers as well as some software types...the Rang is great for being able to control everything by foot without bending over. also has a nice warmish delay(80's style, a bit low res) and the multi speed playback/reverse is very fun to mess with...

unit is solid as is the ext power supply-don't stomp all over it and things should be fine.

i use loopers for more pad-ish backgrounds than rhythmic stuff...not a lot of worked out things,just like to have it there for when the mood strikes. the new Rang 3 coming out will probably smoke this version but this one is good enough for my needs-i would try to get another if lost,etc.

My wife got me this pedal as a birthday present. (What a great wife I've got!). I've been interested in getting one of these pedals for a long since another guitar player friend mentioned how much he liked his.

Within in 10 minutes I was able to get this puppy up and running. As an sofware engineer by profession, I can atest that, yes even engineers don't like reading directions. No worry, though there are special features that this pedal has that requires reading the manual, you can still get up and running quickly, with little more than a passing glance at the cover the cover of the manual.

I have a few other pedals, that as of yet I have not used in line with the the Boomerang. Stand-alone the pedal is alittle noisey, however, once you start recording and stacking you really can't hear the background noise.

My Boomerang is new, so at this point I can't comment on reliability.

As of yet I haven't had the occasion to deal with the customer support.

It would be nice if their web-site published information about future planned features for their product, and a forum for submitting suggestions, (I assume that this customer feedback forum is the closest thing to a suggestions box.)

So far I love this product. I have been playing the guitar for 20+ years. When I was younger I use to jam with friends all the time.

These days, with a job, wife and kids, it is very difficult to find a bunch of guys who play, much less get then together for even a Saturday afternoon to jam. I have really missed that.

This product allows me to be able to have a "virtual" jam session, by allowing me to be those other players.

There are definitely two features, right off the bat, that I wish this product had.

First, I would wish the pedal had the ability to "Unstack" layered parts. There are times that I the last part I just added didn't sound the way I thought it would. It would be great to "pop" it off the stack (like a true software stack, where you can "push", and "pop" things on and off the stack).

Second, it would be very useful to be able to save loops. I have seen this feature mentioned in other posts, on this as well as other reveiw sites.

As much as I like this product this product, I do think these added features would take the "rang" to the next level. The reverse feature is "cool", but frankly not quite as functionally useful as being able save loops, as well as providing a greater ablility to manipulate existing loops using a simple push/pop stack capabiltiy

My wife got me this pedal as a birthday present. (What a great wife I've got!). I've been interested in getting one of these pedals for a long since another guitar player friend mentioned how much he liked his.

Within in 10 minutes I was able to get this puppy up and running. As an sofware engineer by profession, I can atest that, yes even engineers don't like reading directions. No worry, though there are special features that this pedal has that requires reading the manual, you can still get up and running quickly, with little more than a passing glance at the cover the cover of the manual.

I have a few other pedals, that as of yet I have not used in line with the the Boomerang. Stand-alone the pedal is alittle noisey, however, once you start recording and stacking you really can't hear the background noise.

My Boomerang is new, so at this point I can't comment on reliability.

As of yet I haven't had the occasion to deal with the customer support.

It would be nice if their web-site published information about future planned features for their product, and a forum for submitting suggestions, (I assume that this customer feedback forum is the closest thing to a suggestions box.)

So far I love this product. I have been playing the guitar for 20+ years. When I was younger I use to jam with friends all the time.

These days, with a job, wife and kids, it is very difficult to find a bunch of guys who play, much less get then together for even a Saturday afternoon to jam. I have really missed that.

This product allows me to be able to have a "virtual" jam session, by allowing me to be those other players.

There are definitely two features, right off the bat, that I wish this product had.

First, I would wish the pedal had the ability to "Unstack" layered parts. There are times that I the last part I just added didn't sound the way I thought it would. It would be great to "pop" it off the stack (like a true software stack, where you can "push", and "pop" things on and off the stack).

Second, it would be very useful to be able to save loops. I have seen this feature mentioned in other posts, on this as well as other reveiw sites.

As much as I like this product this product, I do think these added features would take the "rang" to the next level. The reverse feature is "cool", but frankly not quite as functionally useful as being able save loops, as well as providing a greater ablility to manipulate existing loops using a simple push/pop stack capabiltiy

My boomerang version 2 is very easy to use. I have read the manual in its entirety and found it clear and complete. My only question is concerning the behavior of decay rates while over dubbing on a recorded loop. I'll need to experiment more to have a complete understanding of relative volume of previously recorded parts as new ones are added.

So far I have plugged my 1963 Fender Stratocaster into the Boomerang and then into a Fender Hor Rod Deluxe amp. I have also used a Boss delay pedal before the Boomerang.
When the input switch is in the correct position and the trim control is properly adjusted there is a perfectly acceptable signal to noise ration.

I couldn't imagine lugging 2 phrase samplers to a gig. The Boomerang seems sturdy and reliable.

I bought my unit from the company. Mike Nelson was a pleasant and efficient interlocutor.

I play jazz, rock and improvised music which more and more is loop-oriented. I have been playing the guitar for almost 40 years. (I started young!) I already own these loopers; the Line 6 loop sampler and delay, a new JamMan, a Roland Loop Station, an Electro-Harmonix 16 Second Delay, and a newly acquired Digitech Echo Plus. It seems to me these devices fall roughly into 2 categories; loopers which allow you to sculpt the sound and create beautiful music using reverse, pitch and tempo changes, and loopers which allow you to store the loops you've made, to be triggered later for live playing or recording. The EH 16-sec delay is a bit of a hybrid because it's a sound sculptor AND it can save one loop.
So where does the Boomerang fit into the picture? It is definitely one of the sound-sculpting devices, because it allows you to record and overdub forwards and backwards and to slow down (and lower) your loop or to speed it up and raise it's pitch.
All this can be done with the Line 6 device. So what are the pluses (or minuses) of the 'Rang?
One very nice feature is the A/B option. Simply put, you can create two separate loops and trigger them as you wish. This helps a lot in "composing" with the looper because obviously no matter how nice Loop A is, it's great to be able to create a B. Previously, I would create loops separately and glue them together on the computer. The 'Rang allows a more spontaneous approach, although it always seems that one loop is inevitably musically better than the other. (That's my fault, not the machine's!)
All in all I know that I'm going to spend many happy hours with the Boomerang and that I'll certainly use it live in an improvisational context. My only regret is that the delay feature (which is very nice; I love using a nicely-dosed reverse delay after the original signal) can't be part of the guitar sound that one records in a loop. This feature exists in the Line 6 machine. But that's just a quibble. Mike Nelson and his partner deserve congratulations and our thanks for creating this fine instrument.

It just doesn't get any easier...

I've noticed for years all the complaining about the hiss that comes from the boomerang; well, please pay attention and I'll lay some ideas on you that will help.
1. make sure you're using the proper level setting (ie-instrument, line level or mic) for what your connecting to.
2. realize that if your connecting noisy effects and or other noisy products prior to the 'rang it's only going to magnify the problem.
3. use balanced cables running from the effects send/return of your amp if possible.
4. a cool little device called the 'Hum Eliminator' made by Ebtech, if patched between the amp's effects send/return and the 'rang, works wonders with noise!

I've learned these things from years of use of the 'rang and from discusions with the company owner. The 'rang is intended for live use and in that capacity it is excellent.

it's tough as a tank.

If you contact Boomerang there is a good probability that you will get an opportunity to talk to the company owner. I did and have. He will do what ever he can to help you with the 'rang.

I've used my Boomerang for years now in a 'one-man-band' capacity at my gigs. With pratice, I've become very proficent in it's use. I also make extensive use of it in practice and as a teaching aid. I also use it to help play examples of ideas to a combo I play with. Would I go into a studio with it? No, but that isn't what it was designed for either so I'm not busting on it for that. I'm a very satisfied user of the Boomerang and I would indeed replace it with another if I ever needed to. For what it was designed for, I couldn't ask for much more.

using the boomerang phrase sampler + ver2.0

manual is ok

if you are familiar with loopers its a no-brainer though, it can be difficult to find the correct volume to noise rasio

92 takamine acoustic-analogman bicomp-fishman pro eq plat-ernie ball vol-xotics robotalk-boss dd5- analogman bichorus-boss rv5-mackie 1202vlz pro-aux send-boomerang-various synth modules

i have only been able to obtain reasonable noise levels with the boomerang when using it through the aux sends on a mixing board (use line level signals)

once setup correctly it is verry reliable and consistant

i use a mackie smr450 (just one) and the sound quality is great for small bars (in bigger bars i use whatever is in the house)

had mine for 3 years and have never had a problem

haven't had a need to contact them

i am writing to express my opinion of the rang so i will forgo explaining about my own personal style and prefrences

i am looking forward to owning a gibson exchoplex but will allways keep the rang around just in case

the boomerang is a great tool of music and it would the choice looper for a beginer to loopers.......

please excuse my poor spelling

There is no easier looping pedal on the market

Well... It's great for live applications, but the hiss that it produces is unacceptable in the studio. Trust me..

Well.. Right now i've got 2 boomerangs at my disposal... and the biggest problem that both of them have had is the Plastic control buttons.. One rang has a broken "Once" button.. the other rang ONLY has ONE WORKING BUTTON... They're easily replaced... it's just a pain to have to order the replacement parts... In fact, I guess I'll go ahead and do that today..

With that said... the rang (besides the buttons) has never failed me on a gig... NEVER. And i have probably used it on 300+ gigs.

I actually contacted the company about 2 years ago about replacing the buttons... they were really helpful, and told me when I upgraded to version 2... to include the original email and they'd ship me the buttons free of charge... I've yet to upgrade though... so it's not thier fault the rang's still broken..

I love the Boomerang.. I play Solo Dinner Jazz.. and the Boomerang is my partner... I don't know what i'd do without it..

It's a shame that it isn't good for recording though.. (at least my versions aren't... I've got 2 of the Original Boomerang units)

Yes it is easy to use

I have an older rang upgraded to the newest version.
If I use it during day time it sounds oke, but if I use it in the evening a high pitch tone appears in my loop.
I think it has to do with radio signals.
Other musicians I have talked to who uses the boomerang as well, have the same problem as I.

yes

I own now a Echoplex digital pro plus.
Because I was seaching for looping device that could loop in sync with a sequencer.
And I think that the Boomerang is a simple version of the Echoplex digital pro.
If you want a good looping device, buy the Echoplex!(it's expensive but it's working well)(without high pitch sounds)

First of all let me ask this: NO ONE ELSE HAS REVIEWED THIS PRODUCT? I can't understand this, how can this be?

OK, forward.....

Very easy to use, however, the timing is important to set the loop point. Once you have this figured out you are in for a great practice tool or live tool. But there is more to it than just simple looping. For example, you can stack other parts onto the original loop, or 1/2 speed (drop an octave) the entire loop. At any rate, once you master the loop start point issue, you have mastered the pedal. .....Well, of course if you perform with it, there are so many things to use it for. This may take some time and effort to make it a smooth performance tool - but it is do-able.

It has a bypass switch on it, and a very neat 'foot-rolling' volume control, easily mastered both, BTW. The volume knob is needed to control the output level of the Boomerang. At first you will think this isn't needed, just keep it at a constant 0db gain level. But as you actually use the pedal it all becomes clear why this is necessary. And very smart, you will use this feature often.

Lastly, there is an input level switch and a volume pot control - with a clip LED. This will help you record a cleaner signal, and works very well.

I run two different pedal boards. The 'looper' pedal board had to be built in such a manner as to get the Boomerang about two inches above the pedalboard surface. YMMV, but this was the solution to shortening up the length of the entire board. ...So, I go into a Diaz Texas Ranger> a Roland BeeBaa> the Boomerang> EB volume pedal> amp. I use true bypass switches by Pedalracks.com to bypass the Boomerang and the TRanger. Yes, the Boomerang is not true bypass and it is a tone sucker in this pedal combination. I needed the switch for the TRanger - which IS true bypass - again, for space saving reasons - because it is hidden beneath the Boomerang and I cannot get to it's switch. BTW, I rigged a piano hinge on the back edge of the Boomerang so I can easily lift up it's front edge to plug in my cables and adjust the TRanger when needed. A pic would show this but it is very sano, trust me. The front edge of the Boomerang, which is 2" above the board surface, rests on the back top edge of the BeeBaa, which is flat on the board surface. Understood?

(I hate to waste time talking about the pedalboard setup, but someone may benefit from my solution. Frankly, the footprint of the pedalboard is very important to me - and - the Boomerang is BIG!)

Anyway, with this rig, I can lay down a clean loop and come back with a fuzzy solo tone if I like. Or not. The TRanger is very cool in front of the BeeBaa, bringing another edge or tone to it. It can be a lot of fun and creative, ...or not, depending on my abilities that day. :}

I can also run a bass gtr into the looper and have a great practice tool - something to consider if you can't scare up a jamming buddy. When I do this, I record the loop, put the bass gtr in a stand, and walk over to my gtr rig that it ready to go. Oh, also when I run it for bass, I just plug into a bass amp rig. It performs incredibly well in this capacity, and is, again, a great tool.

As to the sound quality, let me add that there is an option from the factory to upgrade the 'chip'. This is supposed to improve the bit level from 8 bit to 16 bit - I think. This would be identified as the newer Boomerang, labeled the 'Boomerang+'. By all means, I suppose, get the newer one for the bit rate increase. However, as I was about to do this - get the upgrade - I considered instead replacing every electrolytic cap on the circuit board with polyester instead. Trust me, there are maybe 10 1uf caps onboard the PCB that can be replaced with amazing sonic results! After replacing these I plugged the Boomerang in and realized that this was a very smart thing to do. The sound quality improved greatly - to the point that I honestly couldn't imagine things getting any better. Yeah, I know, seems unlikely, but that's my story - I'm sticking to it. I figure if I ever do get the newer chip set things will only improve.

IMPORTANT: I am rating the current sound of the pedal a 9, but that is with the poly caps. To compare this with the original sound, I would have to say that it was a 6 or a 7. There was a surface 'glaze' to the original pedal, a noticable 'blanket/hiss' tossed over the mix with the stock electrolytics. I realize this may not be the right thing to do - rate it this way, since I have modded mine - but I think this is a manufacturing limit, not a design limit. The design totally rocks, this is a great pedal.

I have had this thing apart more than once, checking it out for what chip set was installed, replacing the caps I mentioned above, etc., stomping on it often. It performs flawlessly. I bought this used with very low miles about three years ago, use it weekly if not more.

I have gigged with it only a few times It's real home is the practice room where it shines. Honestly, it has never let me down.

I did check out the website a few times, as I considered doing the upgrade. I emailed three times, eventually received 1 email back, the person seemed unclear what I was inquiring about. ?? Yeah, odd. I am just not sure about what is up with this company. My impression at the time was that it is a second business for somebody but I can't be sure. I am sure that the Boomerang Co. is NOT like the Line6 Co. - but there's a lot of room in there for improvement.

I will rate them low here because of my past experience, but I will contact them afterward, just to see if anything has changed. I suggest you try your own contact methods to see what you think. If I have misreprented them here I will be back with an update.

I have covered this above I think. As a practice tool it is incredible. Were I in a different band situation, I might be bold enough to incorporate it into a live use thing. It is up to the task, I may not be. :}

Pretty much all its functions are well designed and easy to use. Manual is cool and was easy to grab off their website. Its built for live use and achieves that easily. Very well thought out.

On occasion it can be a little noisy. Dont quite understand why it peaks so easy and why when turning the trim knob down it raises the hiss. However it does depend on your setup and with tweaking can be minimised.

I cant see this thing breaking. Its pretty rock solid. Had to get one of the buttons replaced cos it was playing up. However I did get is second hand on ebay and I reckon it might have been given some rough treatment before I got my hands on it

N/A

Im into bluesy folky original type stuff. Had it about two years. If it were stolen I would get another....however no one seems to sell them in Australia?? I love its simple design and no hands all foot features. I wish there was a feature to fade out loops smoothly. Doing it with my foot on the roller is a little hard to control esp if standing. Dont think much else really compares to it.

The rig is designed for live use and it caters for that exceptionally. The delays sounds you can get from it get the big thumbs up especially the reverse delay. You can get this awesome sound from setting the delay at the tempo you play at and have it reversed. I have also had alot of fun stacking sound on sound. It can deliver fine ambient sounds too.

You can come up with memorable loops. I sometimes hook it up to my pc if its a real good one and capture it. Once powered down what was disappears. I mostly use it for guitar but also plugging a mic into brings another element into it. You can build wonderful voice melodies with it too.......there really is hours and hours of fun on this thing. Sometimes you get these stacked/layered loops happening that come about partly through fluke and you know you will never be able to achieve it again. Once again you gotta record them or just let it play all night till your girlfriend starts going crazy and chases you out for the house with it!

Perhaps it would be nice to have a function where you could save loops on it without compromising the design layout.

It's easy... manual tells you all you need to know, but you've gotta read it to figure out the secondary functions like sample rate, slow speed, etc.. - these aren't intuitive.

First off... TO THOSE WHO ARE EXPERIENCING NOISE, CLICKS, HISSING, ETC, you do not have the unit dialed in correctly. The Boomerang clips very easily. It needs a low input signal to avoid clipping and light trim work to function properly. I almost sent mine back as defective until I started to really tweak it - I now enjoy great s/n ratio!

I run (1) a Martin DC16-GTE >Yamaha AG Stomp, (2) a modified Fender Mustang >Dunlop Wah >TS-9 >Guyatone Compressor >Digitech RP-5 (for delay, reverb, chorus) >Ernie Ball Volume. The guitars have one lead running directly to their amps - a Crate CA60D and a Roland JC-120 respectively - and a lead running into a Yamaha MG10/2 Mixer. Then I run what amounts to an effects loop out of the mixer to the Boomerang - this way I can maximize my Rang and loop both of my guitars and my vocals without swapping the input. (I also run a line out to active PA speaks, so my loops are running through the PA and my JC-120.)

Once I got it dialed in it wasn't noisy. It does clip very easily.

I am very happy with the 24kHz sample rate. I do lose some brightness and presence with my Martin, but this is negligible when stacked as a rhythm track. With my electric, there is minor noticeable degradation.

I love the reverse function. The delays are nice. I don't use the SLOW function much. The foot controlled volume is great - though I'm not sure why it doesn't cut the sound completely. The mute button comes in handy quite often. And the adjustable decay rate is awesome.

I get great sounds out of it - it doesn't enhance your sound/tone but show me a looper that does.

I love setting up a loop with percussive beats from muted strings and stacking rhythms and wah licks onto it. This can get muddy if you're not careful. Timing is key. The Boomerang also works well for looping vocals. Every seen Keller Williams live? (<= This guy is AMAZING!) He uses a Lexicon Jamman, but same principles.

Uh... yeah.

Gave them a phone call when I first started having the noise issues. They never called me back. I did some reading and worked it out myself. Some folks here have had great support - maybe they had just finished their 5,000 unit run and were on hiatus...

I play solo jam/funk/rock, and the Boomerang is essential and a great match for this. I also play in a jazz-fusion-rock band where it gets used alot. It's perfect for this type of music, particularly the solo gig stuff. I also play in an alternative Christian band where it's mainly used for delay. (Nice for pure delay too;)

I've been playing for 10 yrs - this is my first looper. I did alot of research before I bought it. Compared it to the Boss RC20XL, the Line 6 DL-4, and the Gibson Echoplex. I had to go with the Rang for several reasons 1) it's entirely foot-controlled + foot-roller volume (a must for live applic.) 2) it has a high sample rate (24kHz) and 3) it has looooong recording times (1:30 @ 24kHz.) If I was rich I'd have the Echoplex... oh and about 2 or 3 more Boomerangs.

If it were stolen or lost I would piss on myself, tear my clothes, bury the gig bag, then buy a new one. I love my Boomerang!

I love the quality, the durability, the A/B independent loops, the reverse, and all the delay elements.

I wish it had a "C" loop. I wish you could remove the last stack you put on the loop (if you mess up a stack, you've goofed your entire loop.) It would be nice to have the option of saving a loop. And ideally, I would like to see multiple inputs and stereo outs. It's also really big - which is great because the buttons are easy to hit, but not so good when you have 10 other pedals. OH YEAH - put it last in your rig ;)

THE BEST PART ABOUT THE BOOMERANG: I know it's been said before, but I think it needs to be said again - the Boomerang really does make you a better player/performer. It's alot like looking into a mirror, you get to see how good (or bad) you really are. It is an impeccable teaching/practice tool; and I guarantee it will make you practice more often with a higher regard for timing and quality playing. It also pushes creativity - it seems so simple when you first play with one but there is so much you can do with this big honkin' awesome looper.

Very simple...not much else to say...it's great

I run a PRS Custom 22 through a Boss V-wah, DOD Gonkulator, Boss Super Phaser, Digitech Whammy, Marshall JCM 2000 DSL50, effects loop, Boss ME-30, then finally, the Boomerang.

The Boomerang is great, you should be sure to put it last in your rig if you want things to turn out right. I notice there is some hiss when the unit volume is turned up, but that can be easily fixed with some fine tuning.

I have never experienced clicks or anything like that with the boomerang. Everything is pretty much seamless.

Fun trick, if you have a whammy or a pitch shifter, you can bring yourself down an octave and bingo! You can put those funky bass parts onto your loops.

I've never had any sort of trouble. I would completely trust this without backup. (BTW, I am using the Boomerang +)

Never ever dealt with them. I mean, come one, they mass produce like 5,000 then they go out of business untill they have enough money to make more.

I have recently taken this OUT of my loop because, the thing is huge, only drawback. Other than that, this unit is ASTOUNDING and makes for long hours of fun. If I lost this or it got stolen, I would cry for hours and then buy a new one. I WISH it had a third loop (it would be nice to be able to make a bridge section of a song.

Very easy to use!! Love the fact that hands are not needed what so ever. Perfect for live performance. The manual describes the functions very well. I wouldn't change that. I bought the 2nd version so I didn't need to upgrade.

I usually use a Les Paul Raw Power through a Fender 4X10 Hot Rod Deville. My rig is starting to surround me now. I use two different delays, a crybaby, a rotovibe, a digitech whammy, a volume pedal and finally the rang. The unit is only noisy if you don't set the s/n ratio properly. The unit sounds great!! Two of my favorite artists are John Scofield and Trey Anestasio. I am totally able to copy what each of these players has been using this unit for. Scofield sometimes plays a like and when he finishes, right in time, the same lick plays back in reverse. I was always blown away by this, but it's very simple to do with the rang. Tre always does those dive bombs that show up spiratically in the music. Now those ambient additions are all within my reach!!!

So far I would say that I can definitely rely on it. I haven't had it for too long though, so that could change.

I bought one and found that it was a lemon. The company fedex'd me a new one several days later at no additional charge. I would say that the service is good, but I haven't really needed it yet.

I play highly improvisational music that spans many genres. The rang comes in handy when setting up ambient background loops or building certain sections of songs up for breaks, etc. It's also great for writing. I always get great multi-layered ideas while I'm chillin and previously was unable to get them out of my head. Last night I recorded a version of The Almond Brothers' "In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed". I added several harmony parts and it sounds GREAT!! The ability to record loops in reverse so that each will play backward when the rest is playing forward is another killer function.
If it were stolen or lost, I'd probably buy a used one if I could afford it. If I had to, I'd get a new one. I think that now the rang has become part of my sound and I will definitely need it for a long time... or until version 3 comes out, he he he.
There are two things that I wish this unit offered. One is a way to save a loop when the unit is turned off. That is the only thing that the boss unit has on the rang. The second thing would be to have loops A and B separate so B wouldn't be deleted with each new A recording. It would also be nice to have a setting for BA1 and not just AB1. I'm sure that all of these things have been discussed.
All in all, it's a great piece of gear and within a year or so, you'll probably find me touring the US using mine!!!

If you've ever used the Jamman, Loop Station, Line 6 Delay Modeler, Headrush, etc. then the Boomerang is a breeze. I'm reviewing a new Boomerang + (made probably in 2004) with the 4 MBs and 2 independent loops (which, by the way, is the best feature). Setting the unit to NOT clip requires some patience but is do-able and the size is both a plus and a hindrance: the pedals are a good distance apart so you aren't likely to inadvertantly step on the wrong one but it does take up quite a bit of floor space.

I really wanted this to be better than my Loop Station (it's nowhere close the Jamman), but alas 'tis not to be. Even on the highest quality, there is more high end loss and the biggest hassle is: after I have a loop playing or stored, the unit makes a fairly loud electronic popping sound when the play(stop) button is engaged. It is is bad enough to show up in a recording and I have yet to play it in a gig where the volume is louder to hear how distracting it would be (I'm sure I'd be bummed out of my trance) and I don't plan on using it live either because of this. By the way, this is the second unit I've had (fortunately my dealer had a second one in stock when I brought my first one back) and BOTH units have done this. I've moved my other gear in and out of my signal chain and even played direct to the Boomerang and out to my amp and PA and the unit (both) does this annoying pop all the time. I've used it with my Takamine acoustic-electric and my Parker Nitefly with the same annoying result. I also have an old Jamman and there is no comparison sound-wise. One of the reasons I decided to get a Boomerang + was because I'm not sure how long my trusty Jamman will hang on (the longer loop time didn't hurt either). I'm planning on returning it ASAP as I don't feel very confident in the Boomerang +.

Depend on it? Not really. I used to have the 1 MB version about 4 years ago (which I traded ) and it didn't display this problem. I'm sure it's durable, but I'm not convinced the electronics are of the same quality. Physically this seems to of good quality. Electronically ... ? I'm not satisfied.

I've sent two e-mails with NO response. How would you feel?

Given the popping sound, I think a 5 is generous. I don't want to blow this out of the water 'cause it does cool things and has great features (the reverse is the best of all the looper/delay pedals that do this), but I expect a new piece of gear to be flawless and this isn't. I play mainly acoustic jam-based, folkadelic stuff and if there wasn't this problem I would be a happy camper. It would be perfect for me. As it is, I'll go back to my trusty Loop Station for playing around (and keep my Jamman safely at home thank you very much to ensure it's longevity). Sorry. I wanted this to be able to replace the Loop Station. Unfortunately, it won't.

Pretty basic. The manual is only a few, large print pages for a reason. Hell, it's made in Texas!.

Sounds fine. It advertises infinite loops, but we all know that each loop takes up more random memory. If you really know how to dial in loops, layer polyrhyms and tonal textures it's great. The only issue I have a problem with is that sometimes it just doesn't seem to sync up. Maybe I'm just not used to the switches, but I swear I hit it right on tempo and it is still just a hair of a beat off tempo. Not a problem when using it as a delay (which I do most of the time), but when trying to layer sequences it can be quite annoying. This brings me to the point of this whole review ; I can't find the actual Boomerang website! I've had this unit for a few years and thought that I read the newer versions being midi implementable. That option would be great because then I could quantisize the tempo through the TC Electronic delay unit I'm going to be using. Does anyone have any updated info about this? I bought my Boomerang in 2000, but have recently upgraded my FX rig in a serious manner. Much appreciation to any replies.

trubador@mac.com

Hasn't screwed me yet. Many gigs under this unit's belt! (200-2004!)

Haven't had to deal with them. If they're based out of Texas, I would imagine they're fairly easy to deal with; smaller, companies like retaining customer loyalty.

I play Jam based music. Grew up on Floyd, Hendrix, Clapton and Zeppelin and fell in love with Trey in 1996. He was my inspiration for grabbing the Boomerang. I've had other units recommended (to get away from the the floor based control), but like the boomerang's up-front control features. Simple and to the point is what I like. Midi programming only comes into play when I know exactly what I want at any given moment (which is rare in the improv world). But, there are time when it is very useful. The Boomerang is very easy to use on-the-fly. I use it as a delay and as a sampler, and works great for both applications. Very controllable (on its own) and very nice sound reproduction.

the sound quality ids ok however the unit tends to clip... and the only way to get rid of it is to trad the cliping with an undesirable hiss from the trim nob

well if you sudenly lose power on stage your loops are all gone

well I think that the product is good however I am a bit discontent with the size of the unit. I found it to be big and bulky, also the jacks in the back are not placed in the same universal configuration found on traditional floor units (line in on right, line out on left)
this makes it dificult to place in a florr board in a convenient formation withought the use of abnormal length cords making it imposible for the unit to be and look uniform on stage also, I think that the unit is a bit costly for what you are getting.
the unit tends to clip an awful lot, and although there is a trim nob conviniently placed in the rear of the unit (as not to disturb anything in the ajusting of it) the unit tends to give an undisirable hissing sound the more u adjust it...
I think the unit is a great idea but would love to see it use a tap deley worked in to it aswell

Very easy to use, at least for the basic operations. I didn't even refer to the manual yet, but I'll need to for the more advanced features. I love the fact that everything can be operated with your feet, leaving hands free to keep playing.

As other reviewers said, be sure to fine tune your input level with the dial on the back of the unit. The 24K sampling rate is one reason why I went with the 'rang over the Boss RC-20, which I believe is 16K, not sure though. I haven't had a chance to compare the rang with an older JamMan or the new Gibson Echoplex, but the stats on those units are definitely better for sampling rate. The Gibson is also double the price, so you get what you pay for.

As stated before, this thing is built like a tank. I've only had it a few days, but it seems very solid through and through.

Haven't dealt with them, no need to yet. I do like their website and have read nothing but positive comments from others.

Comparing this to the Boss RC-20 Loop Station consumed a lot of online reading time for me. In the end I went with the 'rang despite it costing and extra $100.00 The reasons were: ease of use, I can operate the unit entirely with my feet, especially the volume level of the looped part - no need to stop playing and bend down to adjust a dial as on the Boss. Also, I believe that the 'rang has a higher sampling rate than the Boss, which helps my acoustic parts sound better (more high end). Now the Boss does save loops even with the power off, but I didn't really need that feature.

The other reason I didn't mind paying for the 'rang is the amount of use it's getting already, and I've only had it a few days. I teach guitar to 10 students a week and the 'rang is an incredible teaching tool. Students can learn to solo by playing over my looped rhythm parts - parts that can be any chord, tempo, or volume level I choose. That is HUGE for their learning because they can practice IN TIME to the backing loop. This frees me up to teach them licks in context as the loop carries the rhythm. Of course, I'm benefiting as well because my practice time just got a whole lot more interesting and productive. It's also a great tool for writing, as you can solo and/or layer parts without having to drag out a digital recorder and play the whole part for 2 minutes. Looping is an amazing tool and the 'rang gets the job done for me. Now if I was into it seriously, or had the extra $$, I'm sure I'd go with the Gibson Echoplex for superior sound quality and more features. Really, though, once you "clone" yourself and are able to play over your own rhythm parts, the reaction is - "Where have you been all my life!!" - at least for me. I'll never be without it, it's a bit pricy, but the best effect - if you can call it that - that I've ever used!

Very, very easy to use. That's one of the main reasons I chose this over similar products. Great layout, great interface. Operating this becomes second nature in less than a day, even with all the advanced features. Can be completely operated with your feet. This is one of the few digital devices I can honestly say is as straightforward and easy to grasp as analog. It doesn't get in the way of creation at all.

Setting the trim knob is a bit fiddly. Using a Fender Mustang with passive pickups, I had a hard time completely eliminating hiss while avoiding clipping. Get that figured out and the sound quality is good.

Build quality is top notch. No corners have been cut. The unit is expensive, but you do get what you pay for in this case.

I've been using it about 6 months and it's been reliable so far. The company that makes these seems small, run by genuine enthusiasts rather than bean counters that are out to make a fast buck. I get the feeling these guys will stand behind their product if I run into any problems (not that I'm expecting to).

I'm a bit disappointed with the "instantaneous backwards" mode (where everything you feed into the unit automatically gets spit out backwards). I've found this mode almost impossible to use with predictable results (maybe I just haven't nailed the technique). Other than that, the unit works exactly as advertised. It's great for experimental, improvisational music. If you've ever owned an analog tape deck and enjoyed doing sound-on-sound, flipping the tape backwards, messing with the playback speed, etc., you'll have fun with the Boomerang. It also makes an excellent digital delay unit. Better, in fact, than many "dedicated" delay units.

Some folks will also like this as a tool for practicing their instrument. Personally, I find this gets boring, it's a bit monotonous and mechanical to play to. I don't really like it as a songwriting tool either, for much the same reason (it's hard to get the "feeling" or dynamics of a song across when it's exactly the same thing over and over again). I think of this more as a creative tool in its own right, than as a substitute for another musician or a multitrack recorder.

The only thing missing is being able to change the playback speed while a loop is playing. Since this would've been an obvious feature, I figure they must've left it out due to limitations in the hardware.

If you're looking for a quality real-time looper and you don't give a damn about MIDI and all that crap, it doesn't get much better than this.

After reading all of these I just had to post. HAD TO. This is the esaiest looper to use (aside from the line 6 that is). The buttons are self explanitory, and if you just sit with it long enough and play it all becomes quite clear. I do have to agree with most of the flock here about the programming and the manual. Programming takes a bachelors in Comp Sci, and the manual, several languages at your fingertips. Dual funtcions are cool. but not being able to program easily, or on the fly, limits the live applications. Not being a rack piece, it was designed to be a live tool, so this is a dichotomy that cannot be overlooked

SOund quality is alright. Like the fifthe review, those who have noise issues just need to play with the trim pot, and the level selector switch in the rear panel where the jacks are. I will say, what promted the research and posting as of late was my recent exposire to the Gibson Echoplex. which has pristine sound quality, and is far superior to teh Rang in many ways (also double in price, and needs the foot controller to be of any real live use). I bought this one for it's extremely long record time, but htat is at 8khz, that is just too low. So I am littel disapionted (especially since it was following the line 6 whic is also pristine)

Yup, ther rest of teh sheep are right, this fucker's a tank. i dropped it by accident the week I got it, moving to brooklyn, dropped on the cement, not even a scratch. what did they about timex...takes a lickin and keeps on tickin.

These guys (Mike) is a mench beyond all others. Not only timely replies, and good advice, ther is no attitude nor feeling like they suckered you into buying it and then abandoning you.

This is a great looper, and good pedal, thought the instruciton ar not clear and to get the proepr functions you need to learn to prgoram it, it works, is realiable, and offers great features as a practice tool. If you are looking for a live piece or studio recording piece, then for quality of signal to noise, and quality of ad/da converters I would recomend getting the Gibosn Echoplex, it is pircey, but a good studio tool. probably my next purchase.

If it were lost or stolen I would certainly buy one again, but then again I am in the process of getting them all. they all have their pluses and minuses.

After a few sessions,you start learning to get your timming down. That was the real challenge for live use. Other than that, the record and stack features are easy money.

I had a few issues with sound, clicks, hiss at forst, now I have it dialed in, get the clip setting right and it works fine.

I have had mine about three years, not a glitch, even have loaned it out to friends and no one has figured out a way to break it yet.

called them when I first had noise problems, and haven't needed them since.

I play acoustic worship music live with a Behringer pod like thing into the boomerang. I have also connected a Digitech GNX-3 in tandem with the Rang. That is a kick. A whole new world opens up using the two together. I have played the Rang along with cakwalk Drumtrax ( on my laptop) live and timing can be difficult, I have had to stop and restart the Rang after a few measures if it gets out of sync. Thats where the Digitech beats it with it's built in Drumloops. The Effects on the Digitech are cool especially the bass effects with my acoustic. But with the boomerang you can beat/tap a tempo on your acoustic and then start stacking.
It is a great solo jam and prctice tool as well and it will make a better guitar player out of you. You know best what your creations should sound like and it helps when you know all the parts (bass, rhythm, lead) I have even done vocals sung into an acoustic guitar mic/pickup) then stacked a three part harmony into the Rang and sang the fourth directly into the PA mic. Pretty cool, lots of possibilities.
I would like to see the engineers add a third track ( loop "C") (verse, chorus, bridge)and the capability to strip away stacked loops, so you can go back to the begining loop. If I lost it I'd get another, but I really am looking for the next generation!!

The Boomerang does simple things easily, and provides ways of doing many more complicated things. Looping and stacking recordings is simple. It takes me a few pedal steps to change recording from mixing new sounds with old to replacing old sounds with new, but I do it live on stage while playing without a problem. Its versatile and designed for live performance.

I use this most often with my Roland GR-33 synth, which lets me stack a wide combination of sounds live. People love this live, as do I...playing it can put me in a trance. Sometimes use it with my Taylor steel-string acoustic, which provides a whole different sonic environment to play in/with. The sound quality is fine for live performance. If you want better quality for a recording, you can always trade the live playing for looping software. But it's a different aesthetic, and will lead to different music.

I've been using it for 3-4 years, and it has always worked. The switches work as cleanly as the first day I bought it. I don't have a backup, but having one never hurts of course. I find that it is sensitive to input levels if you try to premix several sources. This is just a matter of setting it up correctly though.

I upgraded the pedal to 2.0, and it works fine. I asked for a way to switch live from mixing to replacing sounds, and had an answer (that worked) within a couple of days, from the designer. That's 2 for 2.

I play many styles of music. This is optimized for live performance. It works great. I record long (30 seconds +) loops, and multitrack. I vary from laying down standard pieces (bass, chords, melody) to creating non-standard sonic environments...or I start with one, mutate to the other, and then back, all live. It's simple enough so I can focus on the music, and not the pedal. Wish list: That I could address each instrument I lay down as a separate track, for recording and live erasing/replacing. Would love to have 10 synchronized tracks, all separately addressable live. Until then, this provides a lot of capability.

Depending on what you want to do with this product it's pretty much a no brain. There are several functions that you wouldn't have a clue how to set up if you lost the manual(i.e. changing the settings for the 'delay' in 'program mode') but as far as ease of use goes after you reading the manual this thing is a piece of cake especially when compared to the BOSS.

As long as you know how to set the trim and input setting the sound quality is excellent. Especially if your using it as a deley pedal. I'm convinced those that gave this category an unfarvorable review just didn't how set those levels properly. I play an Ibanez solid body through a Fender Vibrolux and it sounds great.

I've had the Rang just over a year now adn generally speaking the thing is built like a tank. I did have to sent back to get repaired 3 weeks ago but considering I use it EVERDAY in my practice sesssions and on gigs it's been very reliable

These guys are unbelievably awesome when it comes to customer support. When I emailed them about a problem I was having Mike wrote THAT DAY with a list of possible sollutions. When those didn't work I very relluctantly sent it in to get repaired expecting it to take at least a month like everything else does to get repaired. Mike emailed me the day it arrived telling me that they had assessed the problem, would fix it the following day and send it back to me the day after that. Sure enough, just 2 WEEKS! including the time it took get there and back. Mike Nelson is awesome

I play mostly jazz and use the rang mostly as a practice tool for looping chord changes to the tunes I'm working on. It's if there's a difficult 8 bar section to tune, I can isolate them and loop them indefinately for practicing over. It's a phenominal practice tool. In a live setting I use the Rang mostly as a delay pedal which works great along with a Boss OD-3, a BOSS chorus, and a Cry Baby wah. If this product were ever lost or stolen I'd go out and buy a new one the next day

I have been using a Boomerang professionally for 3 years now, and during that time I've amused myself by reading these reviews, especially from the people who complain that the 'Rang is noisy.

It's late Tuesday night, and I'm either tired or cranky or just downright annoyed but I can no longer smile and shake my head at this silliness. Listen up people (you know who you are): YOU'RE NOT USING IT RIGHT!!! Proper adjustment of the back panel trimmer and 3-way slide switch will eliminate the noise you hear. Period. End of story.

The Lexicon Jamman? Are you kidding me? 32 seconds of recorded time in a discontinued rack unit with limited footcontrol is considered bliss? Come on!

Okay, now for a legitimate complaint: the manual is not well written at all, especially concerning the multi-task footswitches. But after reading the manual twice I figured out the operation in about 10 minutes of experimenting. Much easier than trying to operate the Ebow for the first time (and less noisy, too. Gee, I wonder what I mean by THAT?)

Nothing is perfect, though. I'll give it a 9.

Acoustic guitars into a p.a. A touch of reverb, chorus, Ebow and the Boomerang.

Built like a tank (except the volume roller has a history of breaking when stepped on by the easily excited, clumsy or Jimi Hendrix-broke-his-stuff-all-the-time-so-I will-too idiots. Mine has never failed).

Can't comment.

I play music and perform by myself, sometimes to standing room only audiences and sometimes to only a handfull, which isn't important. What is important is that I've turned into such a jerk from playing in bands made up of un-disciplined, un-educated, un-coordinated, talentless, gutless, money-motivated, drunken, livin'-in-the-past-and-ain't-it-grand so called musicians. In other words, guys my age. Or, I've had to listen to the new, young fresh faced crop of talentless, gutless, etc etc, playing HORRIBLE MUSIC HORRIBLY! No technique, no style, no class, no intelligence, NO COMMITTMENT! I am so sick of what I hear on the radio these days that all I can do to retaliate is work even harder at my craft and pray that someday someone will leave a mark that is worth leaving. I'm tentatively hoping, but I'm not holding my breath.

Musically, I can only stomach my own company now.

Listen up, because I'm running out of pearls. I bought the Boomerang because it challenged me when the people around me could not or would not. Buy a Boomerang, and you'll discover how good you really are, and what your potential may be. If you are like most guitarists these days, how good you are is moot.

One last thought: shame on all of you who refuse to pursue excellence.

I just Szabo's review on the rang, as I was interested in maybe picking one up, but Hearing these complaints about the noises and the clicking stops me in my tracks with cleats on. He asked if anyone knew of a better sampler, I would be surprised if I am the first to give him this advice, but here it is. GET YO'SELF A JAM MAN!!! Thats right, I was lucky enough to purchase mine right before they got discontinued.The units came stock with a measly 8 seconds of sample (barely usable in my opinion) but..and I do mean BUT.. it is upgradable to a 32 seconds. I have actually had two, the first one I bought with the stock 8 sec and planned to do the upgrade. Not a great idea, as I put great effort into finding the memory chips for it and no-one had it, seems that it was the same memory that some old omega computer used to use. after a long dry spell I finally found one set and purchased it. the upgrade failed, I faulted the chips. I then sold the unit and bought a used one that was already set to 32 sec (this is my recomendation) you can find them here and there on ebay, just type in "lexicon jam man" and make sure that it is already upgraded. this unit is QUIET like a church mouse. quiet enough that I have brought it into the studio many times and saved myself tons of studio time $$ by being able to sample background vocal stacks directly to it from the board, which allowed me to then just offer a feed to the engineer so that he could record them to a single track (very cost and time effective) not to mention the wild tricks I have pulled off for solos. with the unit you can record in either sample mode or loop, the difference is that in sample mode you cannot stack, but at least in live performance you can sacrifice one pass of , lets say, a guitar harmony and load it into the unit allowing you to kick it in at every other similar point inthe song. To stack you must be in loop mode, the only drawback I find to this is that if I wanted to construct lets say a three or four part stack that I could pop into sections of the song at various times, I am out of luck.once you stack the layers your only option is to let them loop until you cancel them out.solution? buy two and hook up in tandem. Use the 1st one to layer your stacks, once you have the construction the way you like (doing this takes practice as you will want to find the most time economical steps to acheiving this, unless you want to just tell your audience to wait while you do this, best to learn to be crafty with the unit) then you simply use your 2nd unit to take a "sample" snapshot of unit #1's single pass loop, voila!! success, and best of all done quietly. You can even decide to reverse your loop before capturing it with unit #2. well, I hope this helps, as for me I was interested in maybe getting a Rang as a second unit but I think I will be buying another lexicon myself. Feel free to check out these tracks recorded I recorded usingthe Lexicon Jam Man. @ http://www.loudenergy.com/Media/browsemedia.asp?Bio=true&Lead_ID=14266

It's real easy to use for the basic functions. Looping and stacking etc.. Some of the fancier things where you need to go in and adjust repeat settings for delays are not very intuitive at all. Once you get it though the delays are great to use.

I've read some reviews where they talk about the Boomerang as being very noisy. This seems like they have the trim selector set for mic or line and not instrument. If it's set for instrument (assuming your plugging your guitar in) and the trim is set properly it isn't very noisy at all.

The sampled sound is good.

I haven't had any problems with it.

I've never dealt with them.

Overall I love this thing. It has been really great for practicing over chord progressions, writing tunes by stacking parts etc.. It works really nice as a delay as well.

The one knock I have against it is that it has so many dual use buttons. This is good in the sense that is makes it pretty stripped down but it's not very intuitive for some of the extra features. When you want to change settings the labels on the buttons don't correspond at all to what you're doing. For instance, when you want to set the unit to only repeat once you need to go into program mode by holding down the DIRECTION button for three seconds. Then step on the PLAY button until STACK is lit. If you lose the manual good luck figuring that out. The manual is not very good either.

If I lost this I would go out and buy it again the next day. It's been one of my favorite guitar purchases ever.

The boomerang was very easy to use, after the damn plungers on the BOSS loop station, this thing was a peice of cake. Everything was very easy to get used to.

I run a pretty noisy set up as is, which isn't somthing I'm proud of, but this sure ads hell doesn't help one bit. I plugged the thing into my Fender stage 100, with nothing going into it, and could hear and EXTREMELY audible hiss, hell it was like mud on a corvette, coming through as I played with the volume. Willing to deal with this, I moved on. I didn't really think I would pay much attention to sampling, rate, but I was listening to it, and couldn't beleive it was still my guitar. It sounded like my old epiphone 15 was onn the floor next to it with the bass all the way up and treble all the way down. Maybe not that bad, but I figured, I payed 400 bucks, lets move on.

THIS WAS WHERE I DRAW THE LINE!!!! one reason I bought the 'rang was because of its reverse solos, and I thought it would be fun to play over a forever sustained note. But I quickly found out that pressing record, leaves an audible click when you start the recording, so sampling a sustained note is out. (Although I did find that if you hit record twice over silence, hit stack, and volume swell a note long enough to ride through the sample, it sounds clean enough to work. But lot of good that does me with feedback, or in a live situation.) If you wanna find out why the reverse solo idea is a peice of shit, just hit reverse, then record twice. Then sustain a note, and listen to the click when the sample starts every beat/measure/whatever. This note is not changing, you'd think they could find a way around this(sounds like a tracking problem almost, to me.)

AND ONE MORE THING. Why the hell doesn't the volume dial mute the signal? What am I going to do with that quiet noise? I'd run a volume pedal afterwards, but I'm not sacrifising my signal from my guitar.

Bottom line, Sound quality and noise, I can deal with. I Cannot accept how the pedal doesn't perform the simple tasks I bought it for.

Seems reliable, but I wouldn't know, cause I'm returning it ASAP

While the boomerang is a fun pedal, and I used it a lot, I shouldn't be trying to think about how to get around the problems it came with. I didn't spend 450 bucks to sit around thinking about "Well, maybe if I arrange my pedals differently." If anybody knows a better phrase sampler, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know!

I've already submitted a review; this is just a follow up.
I recently played a solo guitar gig at a fashionable establishment using the 'rang with a Godin LGX-SA guitar and a Roland guitar synth. I played one set of just straight chord/melody arrangments of some standards, which was 'ok'. I then fired up a few tunes by laying down some changes with guitar, (and utilizing the guitar synth) bass guitar and keyboard. I then jammed away while the 'rang sat there happily looping the changes I'd just layed down. It turned some heads and caused a few customers to come sit near me to watch how I was doing this. Way cool!!!

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.

I've got the upgrade 2 version. Since there are a lot of parameters which are programmable, the functions of the switches is not so obvious anymore. But with the help of my computer and the laser printer, I produced a sticker with the essential programming info and attached it to the back of the unit. Once you set it up to your needs and got a little used to it, it's easy to use. The software version I had before the upgrade was even easier to use, but nor as flexible as version 2. Versatility comes at a price of course (not in terms of meney, the upgrade was relatively cheap, about 100 Swiss Francs)
With the upgrade also a new manual came. In there, everything is described carefully and it is easy to understand.

As with all digital equipment, the dynamic range of the Boomerang phrase sampler limited of course. I'm not using a compressor, and therefore have to attenuate the input signal by quite a big amount in order not to overdrive the Sampler. Because of this, there is a little noise. Since I'm not using the Boomerang for studio recordings :-) this doesn't bother me. I'm sure that I could improve the signal to noise ratio by a great deal, if I would use a compressor.
Apart from that, the sound quality is very good!

No problems upto now. Guess that the reliability should be quite good, since the case seems to quite robust and I'm not an elefant :-))

Marvellous!! I contacted the Boomerang people about 2 or 3 times by e- mail and always got a very quick and helpful answer! If I could give an 11 here, I would :-))

An extremely helpful tool! I'm using it mainly for practicing may guitar playing for about half a year now. If it would be lost or stolen, I'd definitly buy it again! There is no favourite feature, I love about everything on it :-)) Especially upgrad 2 offers a few very useful add- ons:
- direct change from record mode into stacking mode
- possibility to switch off stacking decay
- two independant loops possible
It more or less exactly meets my needs! The only thing I'm going to add soon, is a true bypass switch :-))

easy to use
great sound
manual is good
this was a 1 meg memory unit, took the memory out and installed a 4 meg chip for $10, hehehehehehe
this saved me about $200

heheheheheh

i have bought and sold many guitars toys, but i have always kept the boomer. i love it and will never sell
the unit is quiet
man, i can't get over tis unit, its just the absolute best guitar toy to have
just run your drum machine into the aux in, do a record
then, add some rythm guitar
then its time to JAM !!!
its just the ultimate for comen up with your own song ideas !

still run'n after 4 yrs

never contact

the only problem i have with this unit is price. come on !!!!
$450 for the 4 meg !!!! man o man
buy the 1 meg and put the 4 meg chip in for $10 or $5

so, other than that, i love it. i also happened to buy this baby at a big sale, thats why i got it so cheap.

i recommend a used one, since there so pricy

This thing could not be easier to use than it already is. Mine didn't have a manual when I got it but it was pretty easy to figure out. For help on what I didn't know about it, their website has the intstructions online. Once you have it set up right and can use it effectively it's very simple.

I'm currently playing an Ibanez RG 270 through a Digitech RP-20 into the Boomerang and then into my Ampeg Reverberocket. The sound quality on this unit is very good. Whatever you record into it comes out exactly the same. I read some people saying the bitrate wasn't as good as other units but if the sound it puts out sounds just like your guitar signal than it is perfect. With my Ampeg tube amp recording a loop and playing something over it sounds just like two guitars. I don't know if the outcome would be as great with a lower quality amp but for a great sounding amp it's truely amazing.

It has a fairly thick metal case that protects it pretty well. I knocked a metal chair onto it and when I turned it on it had a horrible distorted sound to it. I emailed my problem to the company and they told me how to fix it. A chip was knocked loose and all I had to do was take it out and snap it back in. It was very easy to fix and it sounds like new again.

When I emailed the company they got back to me pretty quickly and told me a number of things to try to see what would fix my problem. They were very helpful and I had it fixed within minutes of getting a reply.

This isn't just another effect pedal, it's a new way to evolve as a guitarist. I was very close to selling it since I didn't use it very much. But luckily I decided to keep it. When I got my Digitech Rp-20 the great tones available for solos of all kinds wether over metal distortion or clean picked arpeggios made this unit worthwhile. If you are looking for new inspiration for your music this is it. It has brought out a lot of music I would never have created without it. Look on Ebay for a good price on it. I got mine from Ebay as well as my RP-20. If you are every looking for a very good quality effect processor for a very cheap price the RP-20 is worth a look.
I give the Boomerang a 10 for the price I paid ($300). It was worth every penny. For $400 or more it's a lot of cash but if that was the lowest cost available I would definently still pay it.

Dead simple. It took no time to get going and about 30 minutes to get the hang of everything. It's a very intuitive device, designed for looping on the fly.

I've heard it trims highs a bit (especially in 1/2 speed mode). I currently only use it for bass (though I've tried it on guitar a bit) and haven't had any trouble.

The box itself is metal. The buttons look like they'll go eventually, especially if you have a heavy foot. Lot's of people here bitch about the location of the trim pot, but it doesn't bother me (it's on the back, but you can see it from the top). Someone else complained about the wal-wart, but it uses a standard adapter--like on most every other pedal. To me it looks solid. I've had it since May and it hasn't messed up at all.

Haven't had to deal with them.

I use the 'rang mostly for rehersal. I loop parts and then improvise on top of them. I also use it to build up contraptual bass parts which consists of several lines that intersect. If you love to improvise or like playing chords on the bass and want to be able to do high-up-the-neck stuff while keeping a bass line going, it's incredible. It's a great tool for putting music-theory concepts to the test. And it's just a great creative tool. For me, the real point of it is as a practice tool. But I've seen players use them live with great results and I'm going to eventually start using mine live as well (it has an auxilary out, BTW, so you can feed a line to your drummer--giving him/her a monitor so you can sync up when you're playing over loops).

Forgot to mention... the Boomerang PLUS eliminates the volume problem when stacking mentioned by other reviewers. You can still PROGRAM it to do that if you want to, but it comes set up with a "no decay" rate.

The Boomerang is pretty much a plug in and go pedal... very easy to understand. I think I spent more time setting a good level than I did trying to figure the thing out. I got the Boomerang PLUS (boy was I suprised when I opened the box... was expecting the regular Boomerang). In this version (2.0), there are some programming options which are pretty cool. The "STACK" and "SPEED" buttons are now programmable and there's now an "A/B" button in place of the "ONCE" button. You can record TWO loops and switch between them. The manual was fairly clear and helpful in explaining these programming options and upgrades for the new version. I never had the last version, so I don't know EXACTLY what the differences are...

I play bass and when I have my 'Rang plugged into my rig, I've found that there's a slight hiss. However, it's not enough to bother me. It sounds pretty good... not CD quality, but still pretty good.

This thing seems to be built like a tank. I've never gotten the chance to use it in a live setting, but I wouldn't be afraid to do so. The casing is all metal (which makes the pedal heavier, but that's okay by me) and the plastic buttons seem to be able to hold their own (but they ARE the reason I'm giving it a 9). It seems to be a solidly built unit that I wouldn't be afraid to bring to a live gig.

I haven't needed to call so far...

Overall, the 'Rang is a pretty fun pedal. Once you get the hang of it, it's easy to use and sounds pretty good. I bought mine new, and $500 seemed a little steep at first. But now that I've gotten a chance to use it, I enjoy it more and more and the half grand price tag is easier to handle. Right now, if it were lost or damaged or whatever, I'd probably replace it. The 'Rang is a very fun pedal... I can sit for hours playing and seeing what I can create next (stacking chords is very cool and the playing reverse leads is kinda trippy). It gets a 9 because $500 isn't exactly pocket change. Well, maybe it is for some...

Very easy to use, the ability to reverse and run at 1/2 speed are also a bonus. After you get used to the controls, you can create loops very quickly.

The sound quality goes down after several passes, the features and sampling time make up for this. I have a friend with a lexicon jamman and the sound quality is MUCH better, but I prefer the way the boomerang is set up. It just takes time to adjust the settings and you can get a pretty clean sound.

Built very well, haven't had any problems after about a year of stomping. Has a small adapter cord as do many of items like this, you just have to be careful where on stage you put it.

One of the buttons was loose when I first got the unit, I talked to the owner and they fixed it free and quickly. Very impressive!

I use the boomerang to make percussion loops and atmospheres for my band and I find it a very fun and creative tool. The sound quality could be a little better, but with some thought most loops come out great. It is one of my favorite pieces of gear, a very fun and easy to use tool!

Love the ease of use. Only wish I could add a remote trigger to it like Trey Anastasio of PHISH. Anyone know how? That way I could use my Whammy and Wah to record. The roller volume takes some getting used to but the other features make it worth the $$.

From my Paul Reeds I go into a ErnieBall Volume pedal to a Crybaby 535Q to a Digitech Whammy to an Ibanez TS-9 to my Rang then into a Digitech GSP 2120 with a Korg Kaoss Pad patched into the fx loop, then stereo out to a BBE 882 then powered by a Mesa Boogie Stereo Simulclass 295 to two matching Marshall 412s. Alot of stuff but the variety of sounds and effects I can generate. And if you think that 4 minutes of record time isn't enough, just try to use it all. I get lots of comments everytime I play live on the killer loops and wild sounds I have been creating since I bought the Rang.

So far the Rang has held up great. I mounted it in a ATA pedal case so that helps keep it from getting knocked around.

Waiting to hear from them about my remote trigger dilemma but otherwise OK.

The Boomerang is great for any style of music. Jazz, Funk, Rock, whatever. A must have for any musician. I put one in my home studio as well.

Simple to operate,

I use this unit for live, practice and recording, a set of congas and percussion wiyh a microphone. A wonderfull tool! Very cool! And a ton of fun!

Layout is fine - bad location on trim pot

Just plain bad - MY JAM MAN BLOWS IT AWAY. This is why I returned the Boomerang. I have a friend who dumped one for the same reason. Grainy, no highs, the layers decrease in volume as you "stack".My only question here is WHY????? Crikey, if you're going to go to the trouble of building this thing, get the sampling rate up there, and figure out the volume problem. Very unsatisfactory in this department.

I wouldn't trust that flimsy power supply for more than a dayor two. I really have trouble with a company that builds a potentially good and strong piece who then screw it up with the one thing that can ruin your gig.

I love the sound quality of the Lexicon, but wanted more than 32 seconds of sampling. The Boomerang sounded like the answer to all of life's problems, but deep down I suspected it was too good to be true, and I was right. Man alive, get the thing right, and charge a little more if yu must, but GET IT RIGHT! Glad I got my money back.

very easy to use, very easy to use, great manual

sounds great, no noise

very reliable, no problems

don't know

this is what i recommend, they sell a 4 meg and a 1 meg.
buy the 1 meg and put 4 meg of memory in it. you'll save big $$$.
i got my unit, which was a 1 meg, at a 1/2 off sale. then i put 4 meg in it. there aren't many products i keep for a long period, but this unit i will always keep. its just some nice to have. its a fun toy.
but, its pricy......... too pricy. so, look for a deal on a 1 meg unit.

Plug and play here. Can you tap your foot on the beat? If not, put your instrument down, and please don't pick it up again. Very easy to record,loop and stack. In fact, suprisingly so. The machine knows exactly what it was created for and does it exceedingly well. The most difficult part is the setup. There is a switch in the back with 3 different sensitivity settings Line, Inst, and Mic. from least to most sensitive respectively. Then there is a trim knob which adjusts (fine tunes) the sensitivity within each setting. You must figure out how to get the most sound and the least hiss without breaking up a good clean signal. This can be a little tricky when you factor in a strat a paul and a boost pedal. The boomerang will play back at the same volume as your guitar if the volume roller is set on halfway. That's where I keep it because during a gig, you don't want to lay down chords and then have the volume drop as soon as you complete the loop. My strat is has beatiful tone but no volume, so I need a boost pedal to help cut through the chords. Problem is it lights up the clip led quite a bit. I tried adjusting and readjusting but finaly just gave up. Now I just dial in the best sound and if the clip lights up, well, so be it, the sound is still clean. With the paul all I have to do is cut the vol on the guitar, lay the chords, then turn it back up for a solo. Easy as pie.

I play both a Korean Squire, and an Epiphone (Korean) Les Paul. My signal for both is dry right now. It goes Strat> Marshall bluesbreakerII> Boomerang> Fender Bx-100 bass amp> Crate Gx15. Kinda strange I know, but I can play loud and clean with the strat and get all the bass I want without breaking up at all. The Crate adds the highs. The result (if mixed tastefully) is big booming honey tone that can only come from a strat in the out of phase switch positions. This setup is fine for the strat, but the signal from the paul is hotter than hell. It's very hard to control through a base amp and the base is overpowering (go figure). I have to cut it down to nothing just to make it sound halfway decent. For this reason I usually just jack into the Gx15 for practice, unless I'm getting ready for a gig and need *live* sound. The sound from the boomerang is good. It's fine for guitar. I notice only a slight difference from guitar to recorded sound. I haven't recorded on half speed yet, haven't needed to. (2min is a hell of alot of room to play if your just looping chords and rythms, I haven't needed to venture into the four minute zone yet so I can't really comment on sound quality there) Keep in mind I'm not a tube man I'm only as picky as my wallet will allow. It sounds great. If you want to bitch about sonic timbre and the fine subtleties of tone, go spend $3000 on a keyboard rig or some other such device. The Rang is excellent equipment, certainly capable of live performance, that is exactly what it is designed for, and the contols are almost intuitive. when it comes to practice and self instruction, this thing is positively outstanding.

I just got it. It's not broken yet... Seems to be pretty solid. At $400 a pop I'll just as soon not test that assumption. Keep in mind this thing is produced by a small company which only makes one product. They have a vested intrest in making sure it's a good one. No mass produced cheap plastic crap churned out by a huge corporation that make so many things it doesn't care if some of them are crap. I would gig without backup (assuming I had I choice).

Excellent! Have had communication with the man himself. Awesome.

Do you think you have what it takes to become an oustanding musician? Are you willing to bet $400 that you do? The Boomerang is as indespensable to a serious guitarist as the instrument itself. It throws the doors wide open on the exploration of harmony. With the Rang in tow, there are no more excuses, no limitations. It will bring you face to face with your own abilities, and ,if you have what it takes, it will challange and enable you to become the best you can be. You'll be free to develop YOUR OWN SOUND free from other creative infuences and limitations. But if you lack the ambition and the will to succeed, then you've wasted $400. Of course, if you're some rich bastard that can spend that kind of money just to noodle around on the weekends, then have at it. It's a great machine. If you don't like it, it's not the Rang's fault, you suck. I'm 22 and I've been playing for 8 yrs. About a year ago I decided that it was time to get serious. I studied music in a big way, did my homework and learned my scales. Now it's time to learn how to use them well. I've never had a lesson in my life and don't sound like anybody else. I'm pioneering my own sound and am both teacher and student simultaneously. This is the HARD SLOW way to learn. But for me, it's the right way. It takes huge effort, but we wouldn't have guitarist like Hendrix, Stevie Ray, Allan Holdworth, Loe Kottke, Eric Johnson and others, if they weren't willing to bust thier ass creating and perfecting a new sound. If you are like me, then the rang is a must have. I give it a 9 cause it's not cheap, but it IS worth every penny! Consider it an investment in your future.

very straight forward, similar to my jaman with a few added xtras. cool volume knob, the trim was kind of unstrategically placed though.

this is where I really found my self dissatisfied with this machine. I was processing a guitar thru an mpx 1 into the boomerang into a mackie 1402 monitoring via akg 240 df headphones. the first thing that stood out to me was how much noise was produced by it at its own unity gain. the sample was kind of hazy and had an air of dirt to it as well. one thing that really bothered me was every time I went to punch in a sound it left a tell tale 'click' imprinted on the loop. this is not something Ive grown accustomed to with the jaman, which leaves no click and records solid and clear (although its sampling rate is less than that of the boomerang.) the diminishing layer effect was also a creative bummer.

built like a tank. it SEEMS reliable

punk rock looping machine.

it's fairly simple to use. i'm not exactly fond of the tap-dancing that's necessary to make it happen, but this is something i was already apprised of. another slight problem in its use is trying to get the timing right. but i realize this might be because i have the timing of an ox. nevertheless, once you get beyond these 2 problems, the boomerang's pretty straightfoward, and the manual is pretty good and helpful.

does a very good job of recreating guitar loops. however, i've noticed a phasing sound when parts get repeatedly layered. but so what- it's almost cool, if you ask me. i run it through the effects loop of my boogie dual rec.

i confess i have some slight reservations about the pedal's reliability. i discovered that the "trim" knob in the back has mysteriously become bent. i'm hoping that this doesn't lead to further damage, but i definitely pay more attention to it that i'd probably like to.

aside from the problems i've raised, i still think it's a fun pedal and a great idea. i use it to loop back certain riffs or melodies, and then reverse them for the bonus effect. although i have problems trying to stay in time when i record the loops, the out-of-timeness can make a riff sound even more interesting. and with the reverse function, i lose ALL sense of time and let a riff stick out like a sore thumb (i realize i may be making myself sound less and less like a musician with these admissions, but c'est la vie). i'm very glad i came across this pedal, and would have no problem recommending it to someone who needs a little adventure in their playing.

It's quite easy to get the hang of--most of it can be figured out just by looking at it, the rest with a quick read of the manual. Like others have said, the key to getting even loops (without "skipping" at the end of the phrase) is to tap the record/stop button ON the beat. Tap your foot along with the phrase you're playing, and hit both start and stop right on the beat. I found it quite simple, and was getting smooth transitions almost right away.

The ease of use is helped by the fact that nothing can be "edited" or stored--when you unplug it, your phrase is erased and everything resets to default. So all the controls are really real-time. And there are no tone controls--so whatever sound comes out of it is what you get. The key is having a good input signal and playing around with the trim control & output level. Mess with the trim control and "clip" LED and you can get a good level fairly quickly.

The output roller is a good space-saver, but inferior to an expression-pedal-style control. But it's good to have it as it removes the need for more knob-tweaking during performance.

I used this with bass (Music Man Sterling, Godin Acoustibass fretless), acoustic guitar & bouzouki, through a G-K amp, and into a multitrack. The sound is solid and clear, with a slightly muted top end.

One aspect of the unit which will either be handy or annoying (depending on your intent for the unit) is that each time you overdub a new layer onto the loop, the previous layer's volume is decreased slightly. This is to keep the sound clear (which is an issue with the reduced treble response), but it limits the amount of "stacking" that you can do before the original loop is erased. I would personally prefer having better high-frequency response and being able to stack as I see fit.

I didn't have any troubles with noise. No tone controls--it's a recorder and player only. Inputs and outputs are both mono.

It seems quite reliable--the body of the unit is sturdy metal, and the output roller has a rugged-looking textured rubber covering. The buttons are solid and easy to use, but are plastic--they should really be of metal, IMO, and this is the only weak link in the unit's construction. But they're the best-quality plastic buttons I've seen.

It's too expensive to have a backup! I would use it without fear of it breaking, though.

Overall this is a solid and effective tool. There's really not much else like it out there. The main issue for me is the PRICE. Over $400 for a mono phrase sampler with less than ideal high-frequency response seems excessive to me, especially since there's very little way to tweak existing loops and no way to save them.

I returned this and bought an Akai Headrush pedal--$270 less than the 'Rang, and you get terrific delay and tape-echo functions as well. It only samples 23 seconds (compared to the Boomerang's 2 minutes), but to me it was a much better value (with better sound quality too).

So if you're aware of what the Boomerang does and you want that, and you're willing to pay the price, you should enjoy it. It's a quality tool that's built to last, and it can certainly help you make music--either through loop-building or as a practice tool. And it has features like reverse playback and live reverse record/play that are pretty unique at this point.

This rating reflects the overall quality of the unit (an 8 or so) minus 2 for not being a good value.

Wow. really easy to use - everything is on the floor in front of u.

I go from an ESP M2 to a electro-harmonix big muff, ice man chorus, flange, tremelo, reverb, delay then the phrase sampler. I heard about this thing in a magazine and wanted one striaght away. Even with all my pedals in front of it, it makes an amazing sound. I absolutely LOVE this pedal.

Built like a tank. Very sturdy, hasn't ever given out on me in three years of continuous use.

I love this thing. It's like you've got a band full of guitar players with you. I have a hughes and kettner amp going to four cabs and it sounds so huge when everything is cranked. I heard the guy from Will Haven has/uses one, as does several other well known metal/noise players. For ANY experimental guitarist out there - GET THIS PEDAL!!!

This is one of the easiest pieces of equipment I have ever used. 5 minutes after I plugged it in, I had awesome loops going with no problem. Everything is foot controlled, which is essential if you're playing guitar. Buttons are very clear in what their function is and are easily manipulated.

My Boomerang is one of the last things in my chain. I have an old Peavey Predator, (and soon my own built guitar), going into an Ibanez TS9, andother TS9, a Ross Compressor, a Digitech xp100, the boomerang, a dod gate/loop pedal which runs a loop to a yamaha R100 reverb into a Peavey amp. Even with all the equipment in front of it, the Boomerang still sounds wonderful.

It is very rugged and built to last. It's body is hard steel which I'm not worried at all about damaging. The buttoins are hard plastic which I'm a little careful about but I'm just being cautious. I would definately gig without a backup. If I ever lost it or it was stolen I would die, come back to life, and get another one. It's that great.

I've never dealt with the company and never hope to unless it's concerning a new product.

I play lots of diferent music but mostly jam stuff like Phish, and I play some blues. It's a very cool tool to help you practice cause it'll play rhythm guitar for hours and never get tired! It's also cool for getting neat-sounding effects and loops. If you don't own one of these, get off your butt right now and get one. Boomerang has created a fantastic unit and I praise them to no end. It's the best investment you can make.

The Boomerang is really simple to use. I had everything down in just a few minutes after I got it home. It comes with a little users manual which can suggest a few things that you might find interesting.This unit has five buttons: record(play), play(stop), once, direction, and stack(speed). I bought the 1 Mbyte version which can sample a loop for 32 seconds at the high rate and a little more than a minute at the slow rate. A friend of mine was showing me what it could do at the music store and I knew I had to have one. It's the best investment I've ever made as far as a learning and practice tool. I've had it for a little over 2 years now and can honestly say I have learned more new techniques and discovered more licks just fooling around with this thing. I've been playing about 30 years but haven't been in a band for a long time. If you have to play by yourself a lot it gets kinda old after a while. But the boomerang allows you to lay down a loop of anything you like and will loop it while you practice as long as you want to. I've sat there and played leads over the same loop for an hour without realizing the time that's gone by. It's just too cool! I understand the new ones come only with 4 Mbytes which means a longer loop time but it'll cost a little more than mine did. I'm thinking about trading mine in for one of them.

I'm playing mine through a Fender DeVille 410 with an '85 LP Standard and a little import Squier tele I can't seem to part with. I usually put my multi-fx unit in front of it. This let's me layer on parts with various effects. The setting level on the back is a 3 position switch which I keep on the inst. setting the other two (mic & line) produce some hiss. These are my only gripes: the trim knob on the back which is similar to a clip adjustment, I guess, is too easy to turn. You usually have to readjust when you take out of the box or if you breathe on it, maybe. Also, since I've had it I've cracked two of the buttons. I'm usually sitting when I play so there's no undue pressure being applied here. Once it was the record button, next time it was the play button. They are plastic when they should be metal. What I did was open the unit up take super glue and glue up the crack. I also strengthened the spot with a piece of model car framework plastic which has held up great so far. But these are pretty minor things when you consider how this thing can improve your playing. If you are thinking of getting one take it from me, you won't regret it. If you've got one here's a neat little thing I like to do; lay down a rhythm part at half speed then hit the speed button and play it back at full speed. If your quick enough you can lay down a bass line with your E and A strings (sounds best done without a pick). Put it back on half speed and you've got a bass player in the mix! (sort of).

Well, like I said earlier, I've had a little trouble with the buttons. Those guys really ought to consider using metal buttons. If anybody else has had this prob drop me a line. I don't play with anybody right now so I don't know about gigging with it. The case is really heavy and well made, just don't stand on those buttons!

Never have talked to them so I don't know. I've heard they are really nice guys. So far I've done my own repairs on the buttons. Anybody can do it. They just pop out and pop back in.

I play whatever I'm in the mood for. Usually rock, sometimes country (chicken pickin' stuff). I also have a guild D4 and an LG1 Gibson. My other amp is a little Blues Junior that I like a lot. It just sings like a fat lady! If my boomerang were stolen I'd be mighty pissed. I would have to have another ASAP. When I play at home I NEVER plug in without it. My favorite feature is that I can practice and play what I want to anytime for as long as I feel like it. It never gets tired of playing backup. I haven't compared it to other samplers but you can't get any more simple and straightforward than this. It would be nice if I could store some of my favorite loops but when you unplug it everything is gone. I really haven't found much use for the direction or "once" buttons yet. Anyone out there that wants to learn to play better(and who doesn't) will want to check these out. They are LOADS of fun!

I had seen the ads in Guitar Player for this thing and was impressed by its seemingly logical and relatively simple layout. 5 SENSITIVE micro switches to control record/play, play/stop, once, direction, and stack/speed right on the unit itself. ( no racks with extra cables to make spagetti with ) Icing on the cake, a roller volume Knob built into the unit. It looked intriguing.
I tried one out at my local dealer. I took one home a week later. It works folks! I was cruising on this thing 5 minutes after I touched it. Mine is the upgraded model.( 2 minutes high, 4.5 low ) It will jump seamlessly from Record mode to Playback with no audio or timing artifacts. Holding down the Stack button enables layering. Reverse will pull your loop the other direction from the point you press the button. ( think about that ) You can stack parts while in reverse at high or low speed. ( think again ) The Once button will start your loop in forward or reverse for one-shot or staccato efx. The Roller Volume keeps the loop volume in control for soloing. It all works with little effort. The switches are fast and quiet and the unit is built like a brick. Three down sides. Big feet will accidently activate record mode, erasing wonderful loops in the process, while trying to manipulate the Volume Wheel. ( SENSITIVE switch, too close ) The Volume Wheel does not taper out to absolute silence, leaving phantom loops playing unless you stop them with a switch. ( or use a seperate volume pedal ) This is petty after all the great things this unit does...but... It would be cool to be able to switch speeds without stopping the unit. ( this probably requires a breach of physics ) I recently got a chance to use a JAMMAN and compare. The JAMMAN's switching system is much more difficult to use. The Boomerang has the ability to playback loops more like a sampler, on demand. The JAMMAN syncs to either a midi or internal clock ( which is precise ) and its loops, once started, continue to play in time to it. The only way start/stop a sample is to mute ( a four switch press operation ) and unmute in time to the clock. If you bypass a loop, it's gone. The JAMMAN will do multiple sample loops and sync to midi clock so it obviously has its place, but I passed on getting one in favor of another Boomerang.

I am using my Boomerang thru the effects loop of a Mesa Boogie DC-3. I have found the best results in signal to noise is to run the Boomer with the amp send mix on 100%, the Boomer on INST input level set to -5 to -10. I dont know why, but the line input level seems to introduce more noise. The Aux in and out also seem weak. I have tried hooking my Boss SP-202 sampler and my CD player thru the Aux's and have not been impressed. Once a good setup has been acheived, the unit sounds great. I won't say that it's got the clarity of the Lexicon JAMMAN. It has more of an analog vibe to it. Layering will eventually erode and replace previous material. I find this to be more useful than annoying. I also did not notice an undue amount of hiss added to layers even when holding STACK with no input. ( this fades the loop out of existence ) The DC-3 is a hiss factory at low volumes, but the Boomerang does not seem to be adding to this problem. I would be surprised not to see this box with David Torn, Adrian Belew, Robert Fripp and Co. very soon.

Steel ala Mackie. A Tank. We'll see how the switches hold up. So far, so good.

This is a GREAT product. It does truly original things with uncommon grace. Since getting mine I have looped, reverse soloed, practiced, composed and been generally a better human. ( really ) The Lexicon JAMMAN has better clarity, but who cares about that if it's a pain to use. The Boomerang does everything it sets out to do with about the lowest learning curve out there. I look forward to their next model. ( hopefully with memory banks so I can store my loops )

The guys at Boomerang really did their homework on this! It is STILL the easiest to use looping device on the market- after nearly 5 years! I saw Mike demo one at the NAMM Show in L.A., and bought it! I then bought a second one, for another purpose. These are the best tools a guitarist can own besides an amp & guitar! Guitarists are an odd lot- they see their favorite guitarist play, and then go on an endless search for effects, amps, and guitars. The BEST IMPROVEMENT they could make in their sound is practice !!! Learn which notes are 'friendly' and which are 'not friendly' buy learning where to put your fingers! Don't bore your poor drummer and bass player friends while you try to get it together. The tracks you create are S E E M L E S S, and play over and over endlessly, with no 'pops' or gaps, like a CD looper.
Adding layer of your leads to the track is easy....hit 'STACK" The coolest....backwards "Hendrix-style" reverse leads.....played by you L I V E are a really cool use, and sound entirely authentic!

Great set-up example: From your CD player, cue-up the Allmond Brother's version of "Stormy Monday". Make a seemless sample of the complete intro right where the entire band starts the progression. The BOOMERANG will hold 120 seconds of material- almost as long as any entire song. Now- jam along to "Stormy" in the key of "G" for 2 hours..........press stop......go to the restroom...... pop-open a fresh beer......get comfortable again......press play! The Allmond Brothers have been patiently waiting for you to return. Play your leads in different scales....up the neck, down the neck...... keep playing the 'friendly' notes, and remember what you did. Take some chances- this is where you grow as a player! The band won't mind, and you have nobody to impress except yourself. This style works well with any blues song that has a progression that comes around- preferably with no singing or other lead playing. (You'll get sick of hearing the same words over & over again!) You can of course play your own chord progression into the Boomerang, but the entire band sounds best! There is NO LOSS of quality! People that have complained in other reviews are either putting a distorted signal into the unit, or are recording at 1/2 sample rate initially. Run it on normal speed, match your input and output levels, and enjoy it forever. Keep in mind- some people say the old 33 albums sound terrible, and some say that CDs sound terrible!! And some people can not operate simple electronic devices. I save the rating "10" for live performances.

As I mentioned earlier, I bought a 2nd BOOMERANG. I use it 24 hours a day............and it has been running for 3 years, and I have never had a problem with it. I made a musical cassette tape, and included a 30 second pitch on what our company does. I loaded it into the BOOMERANG.....the full 2+ minutes, and presto.......we have a tapeless "music-on-hold" custom message. It has never needed any tweaking!! This outgoing message is pleasant to listen to for our customers, and has paid for the Boomerang 1,000 times over! Want a back-up, in case of a power failure? Just re-load the cassette tape. Still want a back-up? Use a small UPS, like for your PC. They are very cheap these days. The Boomerang is just plain rugged- designed to last a lifetime!! Do not place it behind the wheels of your car- you may back over the unit.....but it would most likely still work. This is a piece of eqipement you can be proud to own. Cauton- DO NOT LOAN IT TO YOUR FRIENDS- even your closest pals. They will NOT want to return it without a fight! And most cheap smacks will never buy one anyway. Again, loaning not recommended.

The guys that run Boomerang are ultra-friendly, and should win an award for the BOOMERANG!! The word "GENIUS" comes quickly to mind!
No guitar or amp has EVER helped me sound as good as working with the Boomerang, and I have more than most. Remember- Stevie Ray sounded great with a Guild Thunderbird thru a Blackface Champ! I will always be grateful to Mike and his partner! Spend the $$$!

Here's the real deal- the BEST IMPROVEMENT IN YOUR TONE will NOT come from better equipment, amps, effects, guitars, etc.
Lessons from a great player whose style you want to emulate is really good..........but PRACTICING is the absolute best. And the best deal for ENJOYING PRACTICE is the Boomerang!! Before this, practice was a necessary DRAG. But jamming with other guys was great! But who wants to jam with you endlessly. while you try lick after lick???? The B O O M E R A N G !! Buy one, and you'll dig using it. You and your friends will see and hear vast improvments in your phasing, licks, speed, etc., etc!! Then they will want to borrow yours...........JUST SAY NO !!!

I literally did not know very much about this product before bying one in the store. I tried out a 2mb model, and decided that an upgraded model would better fit my needs. I took it out of the box, plugged it in, and was off to a whole new world. Just looking at it explains the basic functions. The manual explains everything in detail, not that you need that.

As long as you play smoothly and have the volume set correctly, you couldn't go wrong. The have speed quality did not work for me. I will definitely will be using as a live sound in my band. It makes playing those killer rhythm patterns easy, if you don't mind using a device like this. I am using in a blues band, but will mainly use this for song writing, and learning lead guitar. I am using it with a few Fender Strats with Texas Specials, and a Ibanez RG770. For a amp, I use mainly a Fender Blues Deluxe and a Peavey Classic 50 4x10. The stack features work great. One example that I use is the classic blues song "Rockin' Daddy" by Howlin Wolf. I sample the main rhythm, and do leads over the top.

Yes... The case is made of steel. No need to worry.

Called the company to get info. They were very helpful in helping me contact a local vendor who had one in stock.

I play alot of Blues and Jazz... a little Rock. The backward function gives a great Hendrix sound, that I thought I would never be able to capture. I would buy another one in a heartbeat. I did compare it to many of the Multi-Effects pedals out there, that offer 32 second sampling, but I did not want all of the other effects. The thing is great for learning new riffs, or patterns. You can plug in a CD player to it and sample drums, bass, keys, or what ever you want. Best purchase I ever bought. Used along with my Kawai GB2 Session trainer, I am a one man band.

The Boomerang is very, very easy to use. If you can operate a tape machine's controls, then you've got it licked. The sampling rate at 2 minutes of loop time is 16 bit--drop that to 8 bit for 1/2 speed for 4 minutes of time. At high-res, it's pretty good. At lo-res, the highs definitely disappear. Stacking sounds in a loop is easy, and is a nice feature. The manual explains every feature nicely--and encourages one to experiment with new applications of the device. It's a small, concise manual. The company now only makes the 4mb model--as opposed to the once-optional 2mb version. I give the unit a 9 only because one might have some difficulty at first getting the hang of making clean loops.

Here's how it works in my rig: I run my Carvin DC127 into a Digitech Whammy pedal. That signal goes into a splitter box. The A signal runs directly to the guitar input of an AxSys 212. The B signal runs into the Boomerang--allowing me to make loops with the Whammy still in the picture. From there, the looped signal runs into my Aux channel of the amp--which lets me mix in clean loops with the original guitar signal. One nice feature on the Boomerang is that one can output either the loop and the thru/orignal signal--or turn off all sound except the loop. Works great for my setup. The unit is relatively quiet, unless you crank up it's output to the max. The input section is flexible enough for a variety of signal types to be pumped into the unit cleanly. The Boomerang offers many, many textural and looped possiblitlies. It works great with my improv trio, and really adds another layer to what we do. The long sampling time really makes its applications unlimited. I give it a 10 for it's sound quality for my applications and flexibility in my setup. I've seen other people complaining about the way it sounds--but for the frequency range of guitar sounds and loops, it's just fine.

It's very sturdy. I wouldn't be too worried about it. I do, however, try to take care not to beat on the hard plastic toe pieces. I'm sure they're strong as well, but I'd be mindful of them, and not stomp like a maniac on them. I would definitely use it without a backup. I give it a 9 only because of the plastic tap controls. The rest of the unit is built for war.

Michael at Boomerang Musical Products was VERY helpful on both the phone and via email when I was looking into the pedal. He was exceptionally friendly and responsive to questions and ideas. I feel that if I ever needed work on the unit, that there would be no problem. A 10 for this rarity.

I play experimental and improvised music. The Boomerang is a fine tool for this--and a perfect match. I've been playing for 19 years, and this device and the E-Bow are the two most fun and useful things that I've spent money on. If it were taken from me, I would get another immediately, if possible. I've love the fact that it's a powerful device for live performance--and how intuitive its controls really are. For looping and textures, it's just incredible. I compared it to several 8 second delay samplers and JamMan units, and felt that it was the clear choice for what I needed. I wish that it had storable memory , however--so that I could sample in a keyboard or percussive loop at home and haul it to the gig for incorporation into the set. At home, it's a great rehearsal and inspirational tool--at live shows it's super as well. Almost like another member of the band. It really does help and inspire my music. I give it a 9 only because I wish it had storable memory--and something other than a standard wall wart power supply.

the most intuitive piece of equipment i have ever had the pleasure to use - a quick read of the manual will take you to the details that aren't already blatantly obvious

pretty damn good - it is 16bit i believe so not absolutely hi fi - but as far as live goes it is pretty much indiscernible (i can speak for bass only though)

yes it is a really rugged bit of gear

unbelievable - call up support and speak directly with the guys who designed and built it. They have set new levels in customer support for me - an absolute pleasure to deal with and responsive - willing to listen to suggestions, they actually care about the customer and want to help out. I can't speak highly enough about their support.

this is a fantastic piece of gear, for practise, and as a creative tool, and also a phenomenal piece of gear for live performance, quite a challenge to conquer and find the right context, (unless you are just doing wierd ass experimental stuff) - however i believe that this is really an instrument in its own right - if anyone can conquer this and be as confident and fluent and expressive with it as they are with their instrument then they will be able to take their instrument and sound to a new level. (please keep in mind that i play bass and this is written from a bass players perspective). I use the boomerang in an experimental electronic/dj/live instrumentation, and also in a more 'normal' band context, and also for song writing, and practice. (i think it is probably not as hi fi and does not have as many features as the echoplex, not as many features as the jamman, but i have not personally ussed these things - read reviews about these as well, as i believe these cover some of the same turf as the boomerang)

The unit is straightforward and simple, although doing some of the more technical operations requires fast pedal-pushing, its response is always accurate.

The sampling rate is slow, so the sound quality isn't great (especially at low speed) but the tradeoff is long sampling times (32 seconds without the upgrade!) at a low cost.

I've dropped it on hardwood floors, cement floors, pavement, and my cat... so far no problems.

I play rock with it mostly. The only other effects gear I own is a wah pedal which I lay in front of the 'rang and it's all i've needed. You can create your own delays with it, and you can generate ambience for the background. If you get used to it, it can be easily incorporated into the writing of a song itself to make a band more full. Good luck with a drummer, though. Even with a drum machine, there's no timing output so you're on your own and bound to lose track.

Intuitive- even a bonehead guitarist will get it easily.

make up your own mind- call it a lo-rez aesthetic

Just wanted to clarify my earlier review.
A lot of people had assumed that I was slagging the Boomerang. I wasn't and now that I know that the guy who makes them is very cool, I have been sort of racked with guilt.
I guess what spurred this is that I sort of wish I had one- let me explain.
When I was looking for a looper, I was looking for something where I could play a line, loop it, and add harmonies and the like. When I tried out the B'rang, I tried to loop out a few bars and play other chords on top (using the bridge pickup of a telecaster), it all came out a bit muddy.
So I bought a JamMan.
Now, on those rare occasions that I use the JM with other people (because it is a bit of a pain in the butt, requiring a separate rack, massive Ground Control pedal to control all the functions, etc.,etc.) what I do mostly are long, amorphous ebow pads, etc, etc- stuff that doesn't require a lot of hi-fi reproduction. Plus low sampling rates can be very tasty- I have a friend who has an old Digitech RDS-900 with a really, really gritty sampling rate. Sounds amazing though.
The JamMan is getting to be a bit of a hassle- I am thinking of sticking it in my home recording rack and just using it as a songwriting tool- which it is ideal for. Doesn't complain, doesn't make mistakes, and will patiently let you try out every conceivable harmony.
For live use though- at a gig, I already have to set up 2-3 guitars, six effects pedals, and an amplifier, make sure that my lever is not too loud for the soundman (that would interfere with his all-drum, all vocal mix) making sure my mike works, making sure I can hear myself sing, getting the other mikes working, cuz no one seems to be able to figure these things out...
In other words, I really don't feel like setting up a midi pedal, mixer, effects sends, etc., etc., etc.
It would be nice to just plug in a B'rang.
Anyway, the point of this rambling narrative is this:
1) the B'rang is not something that you are going to layer three sets of chords with a counterpoint harmony line and maintain crystal clarity.
2)If you make simple and/or textural loops, this box makes a lot of sense.
Of course MAKE SURE THAT YOU TRY THE BOX OUT YOURSELF! Determine your own needs.
Bear in mind that some people's ideas of high fidelity may be lower/higher than yours.

The boomerang is in my set-up because the interface is the most musician friendly I've seen. I've had a jamman for the last several years and, frankly, have to work too hard to take advantage of it's features. By contrast, I was getting around very well on the rang within the first few minutes. And the features are also geared toward individual creativity...these guys started from the player's point of view, not some industry statistical standard... It allows me to create incredible textures and atmospheres almost effortlessly. The flat switches are amazingly responsive and the functions are laid out logically. Rather than dealing with editing patches, the rang features analoguish toes-on simplicity, giving the "pilot" more realtime control of the outcome.

I use both the jamman and boomerang loopers. With the exception of a few characteristics, I prefer the rang BUT the sampling rate IS lower than the jamman. So, when highs are more important to the sound I'm going for (as for percussion or vocals), I use the jamman. And when I'm playing bass, guitar or trombone, where mid-range harmonics rule, the sound quality of the boomerang is great...and the sampling time!!! Even with the jamman maxed out, that 32 second barrier is always breathing down my neck. I've also maxed out the rang and love having all that luxurious time to create whole through-composed pieces, NOT just little chunky phrases. I'm giving it a 7 due to lack of highs.

metal chasis with very durable exposed parts. I've put this thing through hell (drop test, spilled beer test, dust, smoke, you name it) and never had a single problem.

I've never needed service, though I've talked to one of the owners about new upgrade features, including hardware and software and he was very curious about my needs as a musician in search of more expressive options. They are definitely as interested in making a better product as they are in making a profit.

The boomerang is a great addition to everything I'm doing these days. I play a wide variety of styles with many different set-ups. From a single mic and minimal processing, mostly playing trombone...to "The Hindenburg" rig, incorporating a Nordlead synth midied to various modules, bass, guitar and horn/vocals through a Mackey mixer...with processing including the rang, jamman, 2 digitech whammy pedals (one for the mic, one for the bass), various (mostly boss) stompboxes... and a bag of toys (percussion, melodica, talking drum, etc.) I've often thought about adding another rang, but, as you can tell, I'm a gear lover and, if something's good, I always want 2...at least. In GOUGE, one the bands I play in in Dallas, three of us have boomerangs and the fourth guy is not far behind. We improvise mostly "world jazz" with touches of triphop and Zappavant garde. We love being able to get a loop texture going and walk out into the audience to listen and play along. Finally, as a practice device, working on musical ideas and techniques on the fly, I can't imagine a more perfect companion... well, I can imagine it, but it doesn't seem to exist. There's always MORE you can do, but the rang is pretty damn fine, as is.

It is very easy to use. It is laid-out nicely so that everything is easily accessible with a tap of your foot.

Sound quality is very good. I generally play very clean: no reverb, no chorus, no nothin'. The Boomerang reproduced my guitar sounds quite faithfully. Upon listening very closely, the main thing I noticed was that it's weird to hear your guitar playing back through your amp but not feel it vibrating in your hands!

The pedal itself is extremely rugged - very heavy duty construction. It uses a wall-wart instead of a real powersupply/power cord, so that is a potential weak point (those tiny wall-wart wires). I would use it without a backup, but I would be most comfortable if I had a backup for the wall-wart.

I would buy it again. I use it primarily as a composition and practice tool - set up a loop and jam over it for a while occasionally stacking some additional parts. It's pretty pricey for that, but I feel that it has been tremendously helpful for my playing (and I was pretty good to start with!).
I don't like the wall-wart (but who does?!).
I compared it to the JamMan but preferred this for its longer sample duration, self-contained aspects (you need trigger pedals for the JamMan) and because for me it was more performance-oriented than the JamMan.
Here is part of a review I did for friends:
Description: It sits on the floor and it's about as big as your average computer keyboard. It's got 5 buttons on it ([Record/Play] [Play/Stop] [Once] [Direction] [Stack/Speed]), a "thru mute" footswitch and a volume "roller". It can record 30 seconds of high quality sound or 1 minute of sound at half the quality. It lists for $459. I got mine for $375.
There's a picture of the pedal at http://www.netbutler.com/boomerang/
Uses: This pedal is great for practicing and developing leads, working out "second guitar" parts for songs, composing, messin' around having fun, and idea-generating in general. It can also be used to sample commercial recordings and loop them or slow them to half speed if you're trying to figure out a part. It is the rhythm player that never gets bored.
Making it do its thing: The simplest way to use it is to start playing and hit the [Record/Play] button once. When you've come to the end of your phrase you hit the [Record/Play] button again. It then starts looping the phrase you just recorded.
This way, to play a song, you just play your starting chord progression once (while recording) and then let the pedal loop it repeatedly while you play leads or whatever over it. Then when you're ready to go to the chorus or the next part of the song you can hit the [Once] button to stop the playing when the loop finishes. You could then either record your chorus progression first time through and loop that _or_ you could just save the first progression you recorded and hit [Play/Stop] when you're done with the chorus part.
The [Direction] button lets you play a phrase backwards. The [Stack/Speed] button lets you stack more stuff on top of a phrase that's playing. If the pedal is sitting idle, this button lets you choose full speed/resolution or half speed/resolution. Using stacking, direction and speed, you can record any combinations of forwards and backwards tracks, half speed and full speed tracks, etc. You can record a quick melody line and then hit the half speed button to drop it an octave and turn it into a bass line. Then hit the direction button and let it play backwards. Then hit the stack button and stack a lead on top of it. Then play it forwards again and your lead is backwards. The possibilities are endless!
Other stuff: There are other cool features like the "thru mute" footswitch. This allows you to record phrases silently - the original signal from your guitar (or mic or line-level signal) doesn't pass through when you've got this switch engaged.
One of the coolest features is the volume foot-roller. It's a roller knob that's textured so it's really easy to adjust with your foot. Unity gain on playback of your loops is achieved when the roller is about at its halfway point. That means that you can turn your loops up in volume considerably or you can turn them way down. That makes it very easy to "mix" the levels of your loops with your live playing.
There are a few other secret super-cool features, but you'll just have to buy your own and read the tiny 8 page manual to find out (hint: think real-time backwards leads).
While being a heck of a lot of fun, it just may make me a better guitarist!

very easy

The whole reason I'm writing this is that I found the Boomerang's sound quality to be sorely lacking. My guitar loops (and the loops of several other players) really showed just how low the sampling rate of this gadget is.

I hate to put out such a negitive opinion, but I know that if I had bought this pedal sight-unseen (as the previous reviewer had) I would have been sorely dissapointed.
It is great that the guys who make the product answer the phones themselves. I wish there were more people who cared that much. I wish them the best and have a bit of constructive criticism from someone else: there is a way to double the recording time by cutting the sampling rate in half., Why not have it record at twice the sampling rate for half the time? I think it will hold a loop of up to four minutes with the memory upgrade. That's a lot of sampling time. I bought a JamMan instead for higher quality and less sampling time (after looking at the Boomerang first).
I belong to a newsgroup by and for people who use looping devices. There is a matching web site maintained by Kim Flint (the 1/2 time/double sample rate is his idea (I think)) and the address is: <http://www.annihilist.com/loop/loop.html> Check it out- there is a ton of info from people who use this stuff. Right from the horse's mouth, as it were.

This is a brand new product. It is similar to the Oberheim Echoplex which was popular in the 70's. It is a 17 in long floor unit that digitally records your chord progression/lead/vocal/etc., and loops it back through your amp/pa on command. A great performance/practice tool and super easy to use. I had mine operating perfectly in about 10 minutes. I do the solo acoustic/vocal thing in Chicago area clubs and this has really added to my repertoire. I hit a button with my foot, play a chord progression and then hit another button and the loop begins. Simple.

Since it's digital with no tape loop - it sound's exactly like what you put into it. There is a cool little foot roller which controls the out put volume and there is also a trim pot to regulate input trim. You can record at 1/2 speed and play back at full speed. This raises the pitch one full octave ( also plays back at 2X speed) I can make my guitar sound like a mandolin by recording at 1/2 speed and playing back at regular You can also record and play back in reverse. A very, very, cool effect. It may be the path I'm using but there is the littlest bit of sonic drop-out during playback. Nothing to worry about.

I have only had this effect for one week and have used it on three gigs with no problem. It seems to built extremely well and it has a 6-month warranty. Too new to judge reliability.

The company is a basically a couple of musician/technoheads who had a great idea and brought it to fruition. I spoke to one of the principals before I ordered and he was eager to talk and real helpful in my decision to purchase. I bought this product on concept alone. Sight unseen. I suppose that when the owner returns your phone call you have to give a favorable review of customer support. (Try to get Hartley Peavey to call you back.) Who knows how they'll handle probable growth but for now it's a 10.

I love this thing. Great composition tool, practice buddy, rhythm player. It hasn't complained yet about endless three chord progressions. Every one I've showed it to wants one. It's a little pricey - but if you love to play it's probably worth every dime.