Boss RC-20 Loop Station

I bought this pedal to help me with writing my own compositions. It's a very good tool to have when writing music bacause you can layer your riffs and simulate a whole band. If you play in a band and don't have a rythum guitar player then this can be used to simulat one. It holds 11 patches with 16 minutes of recording time. You can also plug your ipod or other mp3 player into it and jam with your favorite band. The pedal it's self is complicated to use but the manual that comes with it walks you through step by step.

It's not noisy at all. It records in mono but sounds very good.

If you've ever owned a boss pedal then you know that there built like tanks and this one is no exeption.

never dealt with them.

I play heavy metal music and I like to write alot of my own compositions so i use this pedal to help me play leads behind my rythm parts. I've been playing for 12 years. I would buy this pedal again if something happened to it. The only thing that I don't like about this pedal is that you can't delete your riffs without reaching down and turning the knob to delete.

I got mine a few years ago. All was well until recently. When it worked, I never had any issues, trouble, difficulty etc... Very easy to operate if you're used to tweaking pedals, gear etc...

Sound quality was very good...I never had complaint.

Worked flawlessyly for a few years. Recently, it went belly up. When you power it up, it blinks through all the various lights like it's intitializing or something and finally stops. Then, it has power but nothing functions. I had my local GC guy call Boss. They're rep cut him off and said bluntly "it's broke". When he asked him if it was a common problem, he said "yes."

I've sent it off (almost two weeks ago) to Boss and have yet to hear anything back.

Worked well while it lasted. I've heard of two others locally that had the same problem and while I was actually in GC, a girl came in with a dead one.

all you need to undersand the basics of this pedal is litterally whats written on each stomp pad. the manual goes more in depth, its helpfull, but anyway, really easy to use. well thought out and arranged.

sounds..just like youre instrument..through a looper. only thing to watch out for is the "instrument" or "mic" level, if its too high youll have some nasty distortion going on (..duh..) but if thats set correctly youre good to go.

...boss. need i say more? its been dropped, kicked, submerged in puddles, litterally dropped down a flight of stairs, and has so few scratches to proove it. A+

never dealt...its boss.

i play..well..music. doesent matter what im into, this thing works. in many situations. i've used it to loop a bassline and play a second over it (think, lou reed's walk on the wild side..two basslines..easy as pie to do live (with one bassist) with this beautifull machine!) ive used it to loop something for solo slots at concerts, ive also used it to record numberous full songs! it can save up to 16 minutes of recorded..stuff. i set the metronome to any disired tempo, put down a bassline (or rhythm guitar..or even piano) then put drums to it, and it goes from there. you cant record any full songs longer than 7.5 minutes..but hey, it works! you can also combine tracks when recording full songs with it to be able to put on more tracks. you have to press the save button then turn the 1-11 track knob (if you have it youll know what i mean) to a differnt number and save it on a differnt slot. then delete the old one for more space, and youve combined the tracks, and can add more. very fun, not protools, but i'm really enjoying recording my CD with it. A+ to boss for a great machine. only flaw is that $250 is a lot of money, but yes, this is WELL worth it!

Pretty straight forward to use. Like any looping pedal it has its quirks with catching the end or begining of a phrase correctly. Editing is brutal - you CAN NOT change the tempo of a loop on the fly - you must first write the loop to memory.

Manual is ok.

Does suck some tone - decent controls for in/out levels. Using it with a Parker Fly Deluxe through a variety of pedals into a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. It's at the end of the chain and I had to remove it due to the tone sucking properties and its uselessness in a live situation.

Built like all Boss pedals, like a tank. I wouldn't use it on a gig in the first place - read below.

N/A

I play everything from jazz to rock to classical. I was trying this pedal out with a improv fusion trio to add some texture - I definately chose the WRONG looper for this situation. I've been playing for over 15yrs and have too much gear to list here, if this unit were stolen I would thank the thief - after writing this I am listing it on eBay. The worst part about this unit is that it claims you can change tempo on the fly - this is only partly true. Here is the reality: Let's say you record a loop on the fly, ok so far so good - now you overdub another layer or texture on it - good, ok - it starts to slip a little out of time with the drummer or the DJ or whoever - so you want to use the tap tempo to get it back in sync - whoa, wait a second - you can't! You have to bend down and hit the 'write' button with your hand which stops the loop playing completely - only after you write the loop to memory can you adjust the tempo on the fly. This unit might be ok for home use or for practicing on the road but with home computers able to operate as a recording studio or what a portable hard disk multitrack recorder can do I don't see any justification for this unit for home or live use.

Fantastic.

Not perfect, but personally I like the muddy effect that happens after many many loops.

Sadly, my RC-20 XL stopped working in December -- don't know what happened, but the whole thing just seemed to short out. Wasn't getting any sound. Lost all the loops I had saved. I love this pedal and call Boss immediately to as them what I should do. They told me I could either send it into them for repair or bring it to an authorized dealer. Since I since in Manhattan, there was a dealer here in the city, so I brought it in. That was 9 MONTHS ago!!! Please continue reading below...

...NINE MONTHS LATER... I am still waiting for my looper. I have called the repair man several times, and he tells me a part's on order from Japan. I called boss's inventory department to see if this were true, and they confirmed that a part was on order. So, at least the repair guy's not lying to me. So I asked Boss if they would provide a loaner for me and they said sorry that's not what we do. I was very dissapointed by this, especially since I've been using Boss pedals for about 15 years and have developed quite a loyalty towards their product. Of course, the common knowlege is that Boss products are built to last, and they usually do, but in the rare instance when their product fail, they must provide better customer support and should be more willing to provide a complete replacement for their product if it dies. I was seriously disappointed by this lack of customer support and appreciation.

A great pedal. I made beautiful music with it, and I can't wait to get it back, but as stated above, I was very disappointed by Boss's lack of customer support... So that's the story, maybe I'll write an update for you all when I get it back...whenever that will be...

This is ridiculously easy. It even has it's own 4/4 metronome.

The only reason I don't give it a 10 is because it's mono. Besides that, I am using this unit with a Rane TTM-56 Performance mixer (and what ever hard/soft synths I have on my mixer channel inputs).

I use this unit all the time. It's nice way to keep my own loops on it and it's for overdubbing (in case if I want to practice and hear my self or just perform).

No problems at the moment.

If it were lost or stolen, I would definately replace it (unless if I could find something similar that works in stereo). I wish it had more memory for dub control (keeping the audio in various channels instead of one).I also wish it had a 3/4 or other offset metronome tempos (I like play keyboard on a 3/4 beat). Aside from that, I am very pleased with this unit.

It only took 1 healthy session in the can with the "how to book" to fully understand how easy it is to use this thing.

The sound quality is just fine for my primary use. (hard drive)

I've been using this for just over 1 year, and I love it! In fact, I would recomend this unit to everyone. NO PROBLEMS AT ALL.

I havn't had to go there yet, so I dont know

I use this unit to dump sound files from a cd for dramitic show intros. I have my tech start this machine right after he tunes up and it seems to work well... The looping part is very cool. It takes a little practice, but once you get it its easy... it helps to have a good body clock though. Also, if you want to use it for a looper, it works best to change pick up settings or have some kind of different tonal options- so when you start stacking phrases it doesn't end up sounding like a bunch of mudd packed in a coffe can. (frequency competition).. seperate your records.. like first .. Use a base tone, then stack a lo-fiish brittle tone for a lead.... and grab your e-bow with a delay setting... and boom! you are a freak with a boatload of s&^t going on!.. Honesty this pedal is a ton of fun!

Recording, overdubbing and saving loops is very easy with this unit: Press the pedal to start and stop recording, press it again to overdub and press the write button twice to store the loop! However, you cannot select different phrases without bending down, or buying a momentary switch which will only allow you to move up through the phrases not down !!!

The unit has no noticable effect on the sound quality and there are independant volume controls for instrument in, mic in and loop out. Overdubbing multiple parts does not seem to add any noticable noise to the output.

It seems very sturdy but I would have reservations about using it at a gig without a momentary foorswitch because of the inability to switch between patches without bending over.

N/A

I mainly play funk and rock on electric guitar and this unit allows me to make multi-layered loops very quickly on the fly. The loop quantise/click-track function is very useful if you want to record an accurately time loop. The unit is ideal for jamming/practising and a very useful composition tool. I think it also has potential as a gigging tool: A solo performer could loop on the fly, or use pre-recorded loops as a backing track and it could even be used for second guitar parts if your band are able to play in time to it! My only criticism would be that it is not possible to step backwards through the saved phrases without bending down ! However given that it gives you 5:30 of high quality recording time and you can save 10+ loops it is still exceptionally good value for money.

Very easy to use. NEver needed to use the manual.

I plug a midi synth into a laptop then plug the laptop into my loop pedal. great sound.

It worked great until I put it in my closet for a few months when i wasn't playing much music.

I took it out and now it doesn't even power up.

It has a 5 year warranty, but BOSS only honors the warranty if you have the receipt even if you registered the product with them.
Who keeps receipts for 5 years?
Needless to say the warranty is pretty useless and i'll need to pay to get this repaired.

A great product, but i wish it had been more than a year before the thing died on me.

Useless warranty, so i have to pay to get it repaired even though i believed it had a 5 year warranty.

I bought this on eBay without a manual. Figured out the basic functions pretty quickly, but I've had some experience with Boss gear. There is a copy of the manual on the Looper's Delight web site.
It's not very good, but you may need it.
This pedal is easy to use during performances, but not in a band situation. The most important features (Rec/Play/Overdub/Stop) can all be done standing up. The less useful ones (Reverse etc.) require fiddling with switches and/or additional pedals.

This is a live tool, and the sound quality is fine. This is not an effects pedal (except for the Reverse setting) - it's a recorder, and what you put in is the sound you get out of it.

It's well built. The pedals require a bit of leg strength, as is typical with Boss gear. I have a problem with the Reverse footswitch input on mine (and yes, I'm using the recommended FS-5U).

Their service is acceptable.

This is a very musical pedal which inspires new ideas & creativity.
The sound quality is good enough for playing live in any setting.
This is a pedal for solo playing more than anything else. I play a Chapman Stick, and it allows me to create instant backing tracks as I go. The important features are all easy to use. There is a lot of "stuff" on the pedal which I will rarely use, including Reverse, 10 of the 11 loop patches and the metronome drum sound.

After a few tries, the Rc-20 was as easy to use as any Boss pedal. The only problem was timing. When I played along with my band it was a little tricky trying to time the loop so that it melted into the music without causeing a an off beat sound. This takes practice!

I have found that digital equipment gives any bass sound a weak kick to it. Not sure why. But the Rc-20 matches up to any other pedal out there for what it does and how it sounds. I even thought that I sounded better after hearing myself looped. lol

Come on..its a Boss pedal. They ain't kidding either when they say "it's built like a tank."

Can't say I ever needed them.

I bought it on ebay and never had any problems with it. I listen and play a lot of Trey Anastasio's (of Phish) stuff so I wanted somthing to help me recreate that sound. He loops several different guitar licks and tricks at once and does so with a Boomerang sampler. I personally think that the Boomerang sucks compared to the Boss RC-20. I would totally buy another one if I needed to. But only on ebay, they are way too overpriced anywhere else.

I thought it was pretty easy to use. You can peak into the manuel to see how to save loops and delete loops and what not to do if you don't want to lose your saved loops etc. I'm a plug and play kind of guy who never dips to deeply into manuels, programming, and advanced technology but, the pedal is not hard to understand how to operate. It can be used live with some practice on punching in and out on time. I have a solo/duo act and I use it live, but you won't be able to synch your loop to your drummer or drum machine. I use it on the songs that I do that has no drum machine. I'm giving it a 9 because you get use to setting your instrument and input levels when making loops otherwise, the volumes are going to be off on the different phrases that you might play over one another

When playing live, my setup is guitar>A/B box>POD>RC-20>PA Mixer. I use an A/B box because I sometimes lay down a bassline live, then grab my accoustic or electric guitar and start adding on top of the bass line. Getting to the subject of sound quality, I don't find it that great. I find my guitar tone degregated pretty much and any distortion comes out a little 'glassy'. I still use it live because after you overdub your 4th or 5th phrase, and assuming you have a cool-sounding loop going, you don't notice the sound degregation as much because the loops are so cool. I definitely turn some heads at my gigs with it. Also, it does introduce a little noise into my chain. Not much of a problem with an electric guitar the signal isn't as strong on an accoustic therefore you have to compensate by cranking the levels on the sampler, thus bringing more noise into the chain.

Looks sturdy to me. Don't have a backup. Right now, I'm only using it for 7 or 8 songs in my show. Not quite enough to justify getting a backup.

I gig with a bass player and a drum machine, and also gig solo. It adds to my show as a solo artist. I play blues, a little jazz, and some accoustic stuff from the classic rock era and later. The looper allows me to change the dynamics of my solo act. I can give my voice a rest and do some instrumental stuff, I can put my accoustic down and play around with my electric guitar and a bass. I can even do a whole song with drums with this machine. I said earlier you couldn't synch it with a drum machine and you cant but, what you can do is send your drum machine through the looper, and if you punch it out at the end of a phrase, you now have your drums in your loop and you can easily overdub bass and guitar over that once the drums are in your loop. Another thing that sounds good and gets people's attention is when I lay down a haunting bass line, overdub some delta blues chords over it with my accoustic, then add some slide guitar with delay. Real spooky sounding. You can overdub a harmonizing slide phrase over everything else and on and on. You can really create some stuff with it without the stigma of using backing tracks or midi sequencing because you can do it all live. I've been having mine for about 2 months and haven't begun to exhaust all the possibilities of this thing in a live situation. I would have to get another if something were to happen to this one.
I haven't tried any of the other loopers so I can't really compare this one to another but I'm pretty sure this one has far more sampling time than any other. There's plenty info on the sampling time and how it can be used in the other reviews so, I won't go into detail about this. Overall, I find it very useful.

I don't like to read manuals, but this is the first one I had to read. To learn basics like saving and deleting loops, and what the auto start function does.

Honestly I'm a looping maniac with no money. So this is the only loop pedal I've ever owned and I can't compare but this is what I know:

The GOOD: Great sound and easy to use. Gives you the option of having a mic and an instrumemnt plugged in at the same time. Allows control of the level of the loop, and current input.

The BAD: You can't mess up. If you loop somthing bad over the first loop, then you're screwed, you either got to suck it up or start over. It doesn't give you the option of choosing which loops you want to play and which to not. Once you've added something, it's added, and you have to stick with what you got. The guide (which is a cheesy drum and cymbal) is useless, it was basically put in their for people who bought this to practice learning the guitar.

boss builds them like bricks for a bomb shelter.

don't use it.

This pedal is created for beginners who want to practice, but it can still be used for some great looping. THE BEST PART ABOUT IT IS THAT IT IS A CHEAP AND RELIABLE LOOP PEDAL COMPARED TO THE EXPENSIVE ALTERNATIVES, SUCH AS BOOMERRANGS. I give it a nine because it gives you a lot for your money, but if you're serious about having fun with looping, than save up for one that is more useful, that's what I am doing right now.

Very simple if you have a good sense of time. I only wish there was a way to save by stomping and not bending over. And the fact that the sound stops during a save is annoying.

Doesn't mess up the sound TOO much. There is a noticable amount of high end (treble) loss, but not bad. I usually EQ the amp to compensate. The sky is the limit in terms of sound layering. The loops retain a pretty good spectrum of lows, mids and highs. Not quite CD quality, but much better than mp3 quality I'd say. I use a Boss OC-2 and EH Q-Tron in front of it. I like to drop a bassline out of the OC-2 to start sometimes. The octave effect seems to sound better through the looper than it does live! It's also fun to feed some analog delay in at about 500ms. Loop the intro for "where the streets have no names" then I can fill in the other parts over the top.

I've owned many Boss pedals over the years and I never had a problem.

Keller Williams got me into this whole Looping thing. Check him out if you need some looping Ideas. I think this pedal is priceless as a practice machine. Especially for lead playing. A good loop forces you to jam over yr own playing. It's like having a really tight repetitive band playing with you. I wish I had this thing when I first started playing. I would probably be a much better lead player for it. The RC-20 is also priceless for solo musicians. You can really make some jaws drop if you use this at an open mic.

Loopers in gerneral require a learning curve to get used to. After you get experienced, they're all relatively easy to navigate.

Here's the deal. I own 2 Loop Stations (yes they get used)and a Jamman, and I have owned a Line 6 Delay Modeler, a Headrush, a 1 MB Boomerang (years ago), and I recently traded for a 4 MB Boomerang +. I know, I'm a freak. Anyway, the Boomerang + had this annoying electronic pop when I engaged the play/stop button (after a loop was recorded into it). What a disappointment. I actually tried 2 different Boomerangs and they both did it. The Boomerang sounded fine, save for the popping noise. Needless to say, they both were returned (I'm getting a H-K Tube Rotosphere instead). So... what's the point to my story? The Loop Station isn't perfect but it does the job, is more reliable, sounds as good, and is smaller than a Boomerang. The Loop Station doesn't sound as good as my Jamman, but offers more loop time and is way more durable (I won't take my Jamman out of my house since it's basically history if it breaks). I feel the Loop Station is better than the Line 6 (more loop time, but less options overall- I have plenty of delays) although the Line 6 doesn't sound bad at all. The Loop Station blows the Headrush away on all counts. I hope my ramblings help any of you considering getting into Looping. The best thing is to try them out, consider what options you want/need, and let your ears be your judge.

I have 2 Loop Stations, over a dozen Boss pedals, a V-Wah, a VF-1, and a BR-864 and have never had one problem.

Never needed to deal with 'em. Now that's great customer support.

The Loop Station is a great piece of gear for the money. My only wish is that it could be used in stereo (like the Jamman or Digital Echoplex Pro). I'd even trade some of the 5+ minutes of loop time. Or better yet, I don't use the rhythm guide tones nor do I need the quantize function so I'd gladly trade those features for stereo (are you listening Boss?) I like its size, sound quality, and its reliablity.

At first, I thought it was extremely complicated, but after a good read through the manual, it made perfect sense. Very simple to work now.

I play a rickenbacker 4003 through an ampeg cube. I don't do loops on the fly ... i make them all at home, and play them direct to the PA (i.e. i don't ever plug my bass into this). If you've ever plugged this thing in direct to PA, look out: the hiss is deafening ... it was easily fixed, though, by putting an active direct box (Behringer) between this and running an XLR to the PA. Now, it is so quiet, and the loops are unbelievable! Sounds like thay are coming directly from my computer.

my whole pedalboard is boss ... i slam my feet down on the whole board for fun. indestructible.

haven't had to yet ....

This is a good match for the dubbed out brit-rock post-punk stuff we play ... maybe we should just hire a keyboard player. Either way, I have two enhancements that i would find very useful:
1. After recording the loop, being able to change the pace of the original sample, and storing the new pace. obviously, you can change the pace of the original loop on the fly, but you can't change the stored pace.
2. a visual adjustment of the pace ... i.e. what if i just wanted to speed the loop up 2-3beats per minute ... i have to tap everything.

... my problems are all with manipulating the pace .... i think the quantize feature is amaxing, by the way ... i ahve no idea why people wouldn't ifnd this useful.

I think the RC-20 is very easy to figure out once you have glanced over the manual. I got mine yesterday and was able to start using it in 5 minutes or less.

I guess the best I can say here is you get what you put into it. I have a clean guitar and get a clean input I have a noisy one and can get noise. If it sounds good going in, it sounds good comming out!

I got this second hand and it was missing some silver labels on the knobs. I was not at all reluctant to buy it because it is built like a horse and rides like one too ;)

I checked them out and Boss rules

If I lost this one after just one day, I would have to get another. I looked at the Boomarang pedals but they were too cheap in my opinion. Not built as tough. I play rock and contemporary music. I have 7 guitars and 2 amps. My main gear is a 95' Les Paul Standard with a TSL 100 Head playing though 4X Green Back Marshall Cabinate. I have some Vintage 30s that also sound awsume but that is another story. My sugestion is to record loops before you gig if you don't have timming problems with your drummer you can record the loops with him or alone if you don't have a drummer. Then when live, just do the loop live and then hit the pedal to keep it alive while you add lead or picking or more cords etc.

This pedals pretty easy to use, given an understanding of it's limitations. Good manual and straightforward setup, but it seems this pedal could easily do more with some simple changes in design.

It's a little noisy. My guitarist has one that's noisier and i've heard some that are really clean, so who knows? I use it with bass and some other effects but it's at the front of my line just behind my tuning pedal. It's touchy about the recording levels of the input and out put i've noticed, but it doesn't seem to color the tone of my bass to any noticeable degree.

Very reliable, i primarily use it a sampler, in the sense that i make ambient melodic loops, no beginning really, just single notes from arpeggios, feedback, harmonics, all mishmashed and over dubbed and reversed so it sounds like, i dunno, notes breathing, i guess. It's never crapped out on me.

NA

I wish this pedal had a few things. The click track should be much less aggresive, and there should be a headphone out that has an output signal with a click track, so you can use it live and sync up with a drummer with out that ridiculously loud THOOM THOOM THOOM CLICK coming out your speaker. The mic input should be XLR. Also, it would be nice to be able to use the tap tempo pedal to set time signatures instead of that tiny little button. Of course, more Time is always great, and it would also be nice if there was a way to scroll up and down through the memory banks with a footswitch, instead of just sequentially up.

easier to use than headrush and line 6
just as easy to use as boomerang
not quite as eay as jamman
can't say about echoplex digital pro
i've owned all of the above but the echoplex
you don't need the quantize or rhythm guide features (they're a waste)

what you put in is what you get out
you do need to feed the loop station a strong signal otherwise the sound can be slightly choppy
as long as the signal in is good and strong the signal out is good and strong as well
i use my loop stations (i have 2) with tech 21 trademark 60 and bronzewood 60 plus a bunch of pedals and results are as good or better than what i used to get with boomerang or line 6 and way better than headrush and jamman is better but you only get 32 seconds
don't know why there's so many low ratings, it has not been my experience

i have a plethora of boss stuff and have never had a problem

i've been looping since 1998 and have owned 2 loop stations, a boomerang (older model), line 6 echo modeler, akai headrush, and lexicon jamman
as of now i still have the boss and the jamman loopers
i like the sound quality, the smaller size, the ability to store loops if i want (even though i don't usually), and the 5+ minutes of available time
i don't like the quantize or rhythm guide features
loop station works great live and in studio, is great for solo jamming and practicing
i'd get another if need be (although i would at least check out the new version of the boomerang)
the only thing i like better about the looper on line 6 is ability to add delay while in loop mode (but you only get 14 seconds)

This pedal is crazy easy to use. There are volume knobs all over the place and two simple pedals for playback, overdubbing, stopping and tap tempo. It took me five minutes to learn how to use it, but it can create things as complicated as you like.

It plays like its goin directly to the amp. No added sound, except when i plug a mic in...but that's because my mic is hella shady.

This pedal is savage. It hasnt failed yet, but it is fairly easy to erase the entire memory when turning the power off...But it wouldnt ever crap it its just too damn beastly

The Boss website, and everything included with the pedal were all helpful and should i ever run into trouble it wouldnt be that hard to get help

I've been playing for a couple years now, but this isn't a pedal that is specifically for beginners, or pros. I was debating between the Line 6 DL4 and the RC-20, but in the end i got the RC-20, because it is great for practicing alone, jamming, and even for playing live. If it was stolen or lost i would be so sad i would probably cry for a while, then sit in the corner for a couple months then sell my soul to raise enough money to get another one. IF you can get a good deal on it, its definately worth it, but retail is pushing it...at least for my budget. It would have been nice to see some effects other than reverse on it, but nevertheless it is still a ritriculous pedal.

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...