Boss RC-20 Loop Station

It's relatively to easy to use after a once-through of the manual and 30 minutes or so of experimentation.

I generally connect it (via the instrument input) to the effect loop of an amp or mixer and keep both the input and output controls at 12 noon. I'm satisfied with the sound. I have noticed that, straight from the guitar, for some reason the instrument input doesn't seem to pick up the signal as well with an acoustic guitar (fitted with a soundhole pickup) as it does with an electric guitar. I don't use the microphone or auxiliary inputs.

I've had it over two years and it's been quite reliable.

No opinion.

I'm an amateur player, playing just for friends and fun. I record jazz and blues using a modest-cost living-room set-up. I bought the RC-20 Loop Station shortly after it appear on the market and I've definitely gotten my money's worth from it and more.

My recommendations to the manufacturer (or anyone else who wanted to make a competing product):

The following features are not good; the device would be better without them:
- quantize
- reverse
- metronome
- aux input (especially since you can't use it simultaneoulsy with the instrument input)
- microphone input (especially since not XLR)
- tempo adjustment
- one-minus function

In order of inmportance, the following enhancements would be much appreciated (provided the cost could be kept at about $300 for the hobbyist/enthusiast):
- the ability to "subtract" the last overdub while the loop is still playing
- overdubbing should go onto a second channel and the unit should have stereo output
- the ability to shift the phrase backward as well as forward
- the ability to "copy" a phrase from one track to another
- more memory (5.5 minutes is great but how about 10 minutes?)
- an off/off switch.
- 2 9V batteries instead of 6 AA.

It's pretty easy to use...not a lot of options for using it live. Just record then loop, or record, stop, and loop later. You can also overdub. It's a little hard to get loops to work seamlessly, especially live. If you set the loops ahead of time, you can get them working smoother.

I use this with an acoustic-electric Guild F47 with a Fishman Blender system. The box preserves the tone of the guitar fairly well, but is noticeably noisy (there's a hiss, even when nothing is plugged into the input). The preamp on the instrument input is horrible...I keep it as low as possible, since that's where most of the noise comes from.

It hasn't screwed up yet. I use it live...Boss seems pretty reliable in general.

n/a

It works well enough for simple stuff. I keep it on a line selector so I can take it out of my signal path when I'm not using it...that fixes the noise problems for me.

Very easy to get it to do what it says, loop, take it out of the box, put some batteries in and your good to go. I've had it for about half a year now and I've not read much of the manual and I think it's great but at the same time there are still some functions I'm not sure how to use exactly. Easy to tell what each nob, button, pedal does and easy to use them.

I play..everything, I love Tool and A Perfect Circle, I love creating soundscapes, wierd timings, Jazz, trippy sounds and loops, and of course jamming to 12 bar blues.
My setup is a custom built guitar(Mahogany base, maple top, Seamore Duncan JB's in bridge and neck, tune-o-matic bridge(like on a Les Paul), old Morley wah/volume pedal and a V-amp(Line 6 POD but cheaper) into a Marshall twin speaker combo job. The sampling is not as good as on some delay pedals but not so as you'd notice, I get a certain amount of hiss(low but noticable) when I add it in but it's not realy that intrusive plus I have a lot of gain on the amp and to get clean tones just turn down the volume on one of my humbuckers and switch to that one so there is allways a lot of gain going through. I've never had any trouble with sounds getting lost when you overdub and multitrack, as long as you don't put your new signal in too loud in the first place.

I do gig without a backup. It's Boss, like anyone else would say if you asked them about a boss product, thats enough reasurence. I am not gentle with this unit, it gets stood on(not just stepped on) and knocked about in transport and has been dropped etc. and the worst thats happened is a few scratches around the bottom.
I seem to have a bad effect on electronics, no matter how nice I am to them, so am allways slightly uneasy about them, hence the 9.

This has been the most usefull learning tool I have ever had if nothing else, you can get absorbed in working out harmonies and solo's over riffs for hours. For song writing too, it's become irreplacable, working out lyrics over your riffs etc. and multitracking different parts, just to hear yourself back is realy usefull.
Using it live can be hard, you have to be very carefull about looping it at the right point, it does have a "loop quantise" function which will automatically make it 4/4 amoung other times(I think), but I use strange timings a lot of the time and they frequently change more than once throughout a song so this has turned out to be effectively useless, where you do use it your band may have to adjust to suit it, and god knows drummers hate being told what to do. But thats ok, during live performances I mostly use it for vocal/noise samples, things that have never come from a guitar, this can sample and store 5 mins of anything if it will sit still long enough to be plugged in.
The only annoying thing is you can't jump from pre-recorded loop to loop from the pedals and even if you buy the add on pedal you can only go from 1-10, but I play bare foot and have developed fairly dextrous toes and twiddle about with nobs that way.

But all in all a wonderfull tool.

Initially, it was a little confusing at first, but now that I have the hang of it, it's super easy. I think it's ideal use is practicing solos on top of your own rhythm tracks. It also good for recording small ideas you want to save. I could see using it live, though only if I were playing solo or the song started out with solo guitar. Pretty neat product, though a bit expensive.

Sounds ok to me. Again I primarily use it for practicing but I think the sample sounds pretty damn good.

Only had it a week so I'm not sure, but feels pretty rock solid.

I like this product a lot, though a few additional features would have been nice. I'm curious as to how cheap digital recorders compare to this unit (as one of the above reviews states) especially given it's price. But I have a feeling this thing is gonna improve my soloing skills a lot!

Pretty easy concept - just push to record, push again to loop, again to overdub, etc.

The guy in the store told me how to do it and in a few minutes I was looping away, much to his chagrin!

It is an extremely valuable tool for practicing, composing, and learning/transcribing. With that said, it does have its limitations.

I use this device with any or all of the following: Ibanez GB-10/Epiphone Dot hollowbody guitar(s), boss oc-2 (for bass sounds), EH small stone phaser, wah, distortion, and delay into a fender hot rod deluxe. Sometimes I will patch my laptop into it for some drum loops. There isn't a considerable amount of noise, but it does thin out my tone a bit, which is a pretty rich, thick hollowbody sound.

Another thing is that if you do a bunch of overdubs over a loop, it gets very loud, and some of the original ideas get buried, but that is something that can be expected of a unit such as this.

The guide tone is ridiculously annoying, loud, and abrasive...totally unnecessary.

This is where I have my biggest pet peeve. This thing is built well and with proper care will last a long time. However, using it in a live setting (with drummer, other musicians) is a disaster. I play a mix of jazz/funk and experimental instrumental music consisting of a lot of symcopation, tight rhythms, etc.

Trying to get a funkyassed drummer to slave his time to a looping pedal is impossible.

And the quantize function, which could be used to fix this problem, can only be used on a loop that has already been stored. In other words, you can't loop on the fly, and then fix the tempo when it gets out of sync with the drummer.

For this reason, I don't really bring it to gigs, unless they are solo gigs.

If it was lost or stolen I wouldn't but another one. I'd probably wait for a better one to come out, or build up a computer based live looping rig.

Haven't dealt with them.

This pedal is cool, but has its limitations. A huge improvement would be to be able to adjust the tempo to loops done on the fly. I would also like to have more routing choices: stereo outputs, maybe a direct out for the loops, efx looping options, etc. And the guide tone, that shouldn't have made it past the drawing board.

However, it is a great tool for practicing and writing, which I do quite a bit of, so I'm not at a complete loss. Going ito it, if I knew what I know now, I probably wouldn't have thrown down 300 for it, but you live and learn...

Very easy to use the basic recording and playback features. Changing the time signature can be a pain, but 4/4 is default and that's probably what 90% of songs are anyway so it's no big deal. There's two input knobs to adjust the recording volume, one for guitar the other for mic, another knob for playback volume, another knob for guide track volume, and one more knob for pinking the recording slot to use. There's ten slots plus one extra for a one-playback only (i.e. "one-shot") recording.

My setup: Squier Double Fat Strat->Big Muff USA (Reissue)->Danelectro Pastrami Overdrive->Fender Princetone 65->(effects loop)Danelectro Pepperoni Phaser->Danelectro Dan Echo->Boss RC-20. The unit adds no noise unless you crank the input knob, so don't. I keep it halfway up myself. The reproduced phrase sounds slightly degredated to my ears, but it's still completely usable. The guide track volume is extremely loud, even at the lowest possible setting, and it's a very unrealistic and just plain irritating sound. It's OK for practice if you can tolerate it but is useless for gigging. A few decent-sounding drum patterns would have been nice, oh well.

Boss generally makes very tough gear, although this doesn't seem quite as solid as their standard single pedals. Still, it seems tough enough. The knobs do look a bit questionable though, and a peice off the silver covering was already off one of mine when I got it.

I called them once about repairing another pedal of mine (the ME-30) and they wanted $75 an hour plus parts plus shipping. They bill time at fifteen minute intervals, but still, that seems kind of stiff.

The few faults it has doesn't keep the RC-20 from being the coolest pedal I own. You can do so many things with it it's insane, and for the price has a ridiculous amount of sampling time. The reverse feature is like a nice little bonus feature, though you probably won't use it a lot. The center cancel and flat amp simulator for the line in jack is kind of pointless, though. I also could've done with a third footswitch, though you can buy one for $30 that will either change from forward to reverse playback or move up one phrase at a time (when you reach the last phrase, that's it though- you can't go back or start from the first phrase). Kind of stupid. Still a great pedal, especially if you are a one guitar band.

This is my first looper. It is very very easy to use. Hit the left pedal to record , hit it again to play and again to put you in overdub mode. You stop the loop by hitting the right pedal. The pedal is a great size for what it does. to erase a loop just h old down the left or right button for 2 seconds and it is erased. That is the most basic way of using this pedal. The manual explains how to save loops and how to erase saved loops. this is also very easy to do. You can quantize a loop by tapping the tempo with the right button, then you can either have a 1 measure count off and start recording or set it to auto start where you hit record and it will start recording as soon as you play. Quantize will make your loop start and end in sync so that beat 1 is still beat 1 , several measures later. I found I could get accurate loops using the auto start. Some people have complained about the guide track, which is sort of a built in metronome. There is a volume for this so the volume of it is really not that big of an issue. It helps keep you in sync for making an accurate loop that you want to save. one word of advice - you can not tap a tempo with the pedal of a loop that has not been saved. Also some p eople have said that the buttons for reverse and next loop are inconviently on the floor. I used a keyboard sustain pedal and it worked fine for reversing and advancing loops. You can only advance to the next loop in the sequence and not backwards. As far as using it in a live situation I have recorded intros to songs that only have the guitar, so I can add the fills, or played short rhy thmic parts. As far as playing a long loop on the fly and having your drummer play, it is very difficult because your drummer has become a slave to your loop and without a click its game over.Beat 1 may move an increment or two if your not totally accurate. The trick is to start and end record on the down beat. This is an amazing practice tool.

I use a Boogie Mark 2 B with a Gt6 running into the front of the amp. The siganl is sent to another amp sometimes from th e slave ou t of the boogie and sometimes from the Gt6. I run the Loopstation to the effects loop of the boogie or off of th e slave output so that the loop is only coming through one amp. this adds a little seperation. The loop station is mono. The sound I get is really accurate as long as you have your levels set correctly. There is a slight bit of hiss from the pedal as you turn it up but I can't say that it really changes my tone. It definetly dosn'et if I use the slave out. I use mostly a Strat with EMG pickups. I would recommend trying different ways of running the loop station. I run it so that only the sound that I send to it goes through th e loop station. Any effects or distortion after have no effect on that sound.

So far so good. Batteries are a great plus. I have the adaptor. It would be nice to try it using the mic input and instrument at the same time. Haven't done that yet

I've been playing for 25 years. I play all styles. Currently play in a variety of bands.I also teach and I can't wait to use this with my students. This unit is a great learning tool for guitarist of all levels.

Very easy to use. Makes producing multiple layers very easy. Can be akward at first, but after a little practice its very natural.

I have been playing a Talyor 314CE with Fishman Prefix electronics through a Marshall AS100. When bypassing the RC-20 it has a clean full sound. However, when going through the RC-20, the sound was rather degraded. There seemed to be a loss of brilliance, and a new presence of noise. Also when looping, it seems the sampling rate must be low because it really kind of mushed together and was not clean. I tried playing around with the setup, but I was never really satisfied. I sold the pedal on EBAY for this reason.

Yes, Boss is a generally good company. I would use this by myself, but not in a band setting.

Didnt use it

For any functions that can be controlled by the two footswitches, it's easy to use. For the rest, you have to bend over and find the right button (they are small) or twist the appropriate knob. You can record, start, stop, overdub, tap tempo change (haven't been successfull with this) and erase loops with the footswitches. The reverse, *set* tempo, loop selection, mode and volumes in & out are contrlled by knobs and those small pushbuttons. There is two jacks on the back for footswitch control of the reverse and to switch progressivelly to the next loops that you have saved. Those extra footswitches DO NOT come with it, and I haven't been able to find that particular switch anywhere! Just any footswitch won't work, it needs to be their type of switch, and they don't tell you what type, just their model number for their switch.
Most of the time it's easy to use, but it can be a hassle when changing things with those little buttons.

If my setup matters, my setup is Guitar -> Loop Station -> Amp. Guitars used are Fender Jazzmaster, a couple of Strats and a Tele. Amps used include Fender 65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue, 65 Twin Reverb Reissue and Fender 8 Channel powered mixer PA system.

The Loop Station sounds like whatever you plug into it. In other words, the sound you put in is what you get out. It isn't noisy in the least. For me, it couldn't sound better. It's just what I wanted - a phrase sampler with zero noise of it's own.

I've only had this for a few months. So far, So good. Hopeing for the best. We'll see, on down the road.

I don't know. I Haven't had to deal with the company ( and hope I never have to)

This thing has been a great help to improve my playing and to help the creative process. One of the most usefull pieces of equipment I've found. If it matters, I've been playing since the early sixties and play a wide variaty of music, but my favorites are 60's surf and jazz.
Why this one - I wanted a 'Looper' and bought a Akai Headrush first. That was a mistake (it was noisy and customer support was nill)(see review by 'Heads Up People!'). So, I bought this hoping for a better product. I 've been very pleased, so far, with this Boss product and my current feelings about it are I would buy it again if it were lost or stolen.
A BIG thumbs up!!

Alright, the main reason I'm writing this review is for this guy below me who has problems syncing the Loop Station to the rest of his band. I too, use mine in a live situation with a band, and yes, it is VERY hard to sync loops to the rest of the band (because it is just human nature for the drummer and the rest of the band to speed up and slow down very slightly. Humans don't run on quartz!), but I find the Loop Station particularly useful where either (a) the guitar is just playing without the drums or completely solo, (b) you are using the looper for short snipets just to harmonize parts, or (c) you are using guitar parts that don't necessarily have to be rhythmically accurate (IE: noise tangents, volume swelled parts...). Using this mentality, I've actually come up with a lot of parts with the looper I use live with my band, and with typically good results (although I've screwed up the loop once or twice on occasion, but managed to cover it up well). For instance, we have a song where in the middle part of the song, the only instrument playing is a lone, dry signaled guitar with reverb, where I first record these chordal strums, but then go into this arpeggiated part, then play the strums back in reverse behind the arpeggios, record the arpeggios over that, record a harmony part over that, then record another melody over that, harmonize that, and then the drummer crescendos and comes back into the song. It's somewhat Mogwai-esque. Similarly, we have anothe song where I play a short guitar lick between these chordal riffs, where I record the lick the first time, and then play it back and harmonize with it the second time it comes around. It's only about 2 or 3 seconds long, so it prevents me from screwing it up too badly. Last but not least, we have a song we're working on which segues from the end of another song using these volume swells over delay and phaser with a bit of overdrive; the volume swells just consist of chords played from the tonic of the key of the last song, so it doesn't really matter if it stays in sync when the band comes in because it's so seamless where it begins and stops, so I just record those chordal volume swells, and we go into a short jam part (with a nice, swelling, noisy backdrop to boot). It'd be nice if I could control the volume of the loop while I'm playing, but I could probably get a volume pedal and an AB/Y switch and do that. But hey, the Boomerang is much more suited to doing that, as it has a volume control design for being used by the foot.

The sampling rate is pretty low, but you'd never be able to tell in a live setting (and hell, it'd be somewhat convincing in a studio setting too...). The pedal definitely does add a bit of hiss and definitely color your sound a bit, but it's not incredibly audible. If you isolate it in an effects loop you should be pretty well-off.

It's a BOSS. Depending on getting it in sync is another story ;)

Haven't dealt.

I'd definitely say this is worth the cost; the ability to save loops is very nice feature too, although I rarely use it. If I had to buy another looper I'd probably get the Boomerang instead (although, they could have stood to have made it smaller). I'm pretty happy with mine though; just wish BOSS would have made it a little easier to use in a live setting.