Boss RC-20XL

Very easy to use, press the left pedal once it starts recording, press it again it will stop recording and begin playback, press it again and it will record and over dub, hold it down it will delete/undelete the most recent overdub. Right pedal stops playback, hold it down and will delete the loop, can also be used to set the tempo. There are other things to get to know but those are the basics.

This pedal can sound great, the recorded singal coming out sounds the same as what is going in. However I also get that annoying squeak/whine in time with the tempo indicator. I have found that it is at its worst when running off the same power supply as other pedals, on its own it is greatly reduced but turning my amp all the way up and it is still there. It is ok for just playing around but you wouldn't want it on a recording. I am going to try getting some high quality shielded cables to see if it helps.

No problems so far

Appart from the weird noise, I have another problem with this pedal. I assumed when I bought it that when you use it in tap tempo mode it would automatically quantise the loop, but that if chose not to the recording and playback would depend on when press the pedal, this is not the case. Unless you program in the time signature you are playing beforehand (in the same way you would in tempo mode) it will assume you are playing in 4/4 and quantise the loop accordingly. This is pretty annoying that you have to work out what time signature you are using and fiddle about in advance rather than giving you the option to control it completely with your feet. Just to be clear there is no setting on this pedal where the loop recording is ended and playback begins when you press the pedal, instead it will always calculate when it thinks you should have pressed the pedal.

This pedal could have been great.

I was up and running with my first loop in under 5 minutes. It's worth your time to follow the manual and do the first few loops using the tempo/beat feature. This causes the quantize function to kick in-and results in a clean, usable loop. It takes a fair bit more practice to cleanly punch in and out of a loop without missing a beat if you don't use the quantize function. The manual is pretty basic: read the fine print or you'll miss something important. For example, the fade out function is not in the index, but is found under "stop mode" on P. 23.

I bought this for solo performance with high end acoustic guitars. I use this with both my Goodall and Charis guitars. Signal chain: on board Baggs IMix > Boss loop station > tube preamp > BBE sonic maximizer > Genx Benz acoustic amp. Other reviewers have complained about noise. Either they had a defective unit, or, bad signal in = bad signal out. I heard the crystal clear, beautiful tone I always get from my guitars. Layering harmonics and riffs over the loop resulted in exactly what I'm looking for. Going 5-6 layers deep results in a rather dramatic crescendo. Hit the reverse button and you'll think you're Phil Keaggy! [Well, sort of...]

So far so good. It's pretty well built.

No experience.

I play only acoustic fingerstyle singer song writer stuff. This pedal is what I've been dreaming of. Been playing 33 years. I demo'd this against the Akai Headrush [noisy and short memory] and Digitech Jam Man [more bells and whistles, but tone not as good]. I can't imagine using up the 16 minutes of storage with my playing style: I don't save loops very often. If I did, however, I wish this thing had a memoory card that could be upgraded. This and usb connectivity is what the Jam Man has over the boss. Awesome creativity tool.

Fairly easy to use, the manual explains the pedal fairly clearly and you can start layering loops in under a half hour.

The actual looped sound of the guitar is fine. However, there is a barely audible rhythmic beeping sound (like that a digital alarm clock would make), coupled with some hiss, that increases as you turn up the INST volume knob. Like the other reviewer who experienced this problem, I use a lot of pedals in my signal chain. However, I experience the beeping/ringing sound even when the only pedal I'm going into is the RC-20XL. It may be possible that there is a defective batch out there. Regardless, it's very annoying and makes it impossible to use the loop station for recording. It's unfortunate, because the sound of my guitar is not diminished much by the pedal, but the beeping/ringing tone throws it all out the window.

Other than the audible beeping/ringing tone the pedal makes, I've not had any problems using the pedal. I depend on it.

I only just emailed the company to find out if my pedal is defective and if it's covered under warranty. I will update my review once I hear back from them.

I play mostly improv stoner metal. I use a 1971 Orange 120 into a 4X12 cab. Variety of guitars, mostly Gibson SG or Fender Telecaster Deluxe. Furman pedal board, BBE wah, MXR delay & Smart Gate, Digitech Whammy, Arion tubulator & flange, ZVEX wooly mammoth, EH Worm.

If my pedal were lost or stolen, I would try out other loop pedals. I might consider getting the smaller Boss loop pedal (if it didn't have the ringing/beeping sound problem). Overall, the pedal helps me make music, create sonic textures. It is slightly difficult to set up rhythmic loops in a live setting that will be in time w/ what the drummer is playing. But mostly I use it just to create atmospheric sounds, or for practice guitar runs at home.

The manual is clearly written and very usefull.

In my opinion the sound is perfect only when you are playing in a clean tone. When you switch to overdrive tone the situation gets a little messy.

I agree with other users that for practising purpose at home is the perfect tool (if you learn to use it quite well), but for live performances is the worst one.

I bought it from the net. I have never upgrade it and I don't think it will be nesessary.

I like the sound that is coming out from the pedal and also two pedals that it has are very usefull for me. I don't like at all the sound of the drums. Moreover I can connect it with my CD-player and that gives more options.

Pretty straight forward for a looper. Everything is laid out well and easy to use. I'm not sure how to change the time signature but I haven't looked into it either. That's the one thing that isn't obvious from a quick glance.

I got this as a replacement for a DigiTech JamMan and I am much happier with the RC-20XL's sound quality. With the JamMan, once you finished overdubbing and the phrase started playing back, the transition from "live" to "looped" was really noticeable. To me, the Boss pedal's playback is much more "lively" and natural.

And to me, when the Boss looper gets to the end of the phrase, it seems to do a better job of restarting the phrase smoothly. The JamMan actually sounded like a CD skipping back.

Boss is known for their reliability.

Never dealt with them.

I'm not entirely sure I needed a looper but I've been pretty happy with this pedal. I think it's been a good purchase. It's been good for practicing timing and learning about soloing, harmonizing, scales and so on. It's easy to use, sounds good and has features that competing loopers don't. I also like the second 1/4" input jack, which I use for connecting a bass or keyboard. You can't do that with an XLR input.

most effects can figured out without an instruction manual, but the rc-2 isn't one of them. this isn't a bad thing, but that's just how it is with this pedal. you may have an easier time getting the hang of it if you've had experience with other loop pedals before, especially if it's a boss. but for me, this was my first and it took me a good full practice session (about 2 hours of messing around?) to fully understand how the pedal worked - and maybe a day and a half to remember it all. it's just a dense pedal, so there's a lot in it, but it all makes sense.

this is the main reason why i thought i should write a review on this pedal - to make mention of the noise issue i've been getting. this pedal will spit out exactly what you put it, without any alteration to the tone of the original passage played. HOWEVER, on top of what it plays back, there is a really high-pitched digital ring that is always there (whether it's playing back a passage or not). and of course, if you've got overdrive pedals in your chain of effects, that ring will be amplified when those OD effects are on. i'm not sure what other people's effects setup is but this issue may have something to do with it being at the end of a chain of multiple stomp boxes with the power distributed in a daisy-chain fashion. i know many reviewers have expressed that this pedal produces no undesirable noise whatsoever, but perhaps their setup is different. but regardless of that fact, i can't be the only person with an effects rig set up the way mine is set up. i'm not sure what to try in order to remedy this issue, but i'm hoping more people who have this issue will at least make it known.

very strong. but i'd be more careful with this than, say, one of my other boss effects. it just seems like it might be more fragile on the inside.

the reps were unfamiliar with the issue...so they were not able to help me too much. but they were friendly.

overall, it's a neat pedal that can be extremely useful in live or at-home situations. but i'm still trying to figure out this noise issue i've been having with the high-pitch ring.

If you read the manual, everything's laid out pretty clearly. The pedal has a fair amount of functions (switching between loops, switching guide tracks, yadda yadda) which are simple if you take the time to learn with the pedal.

Timing the loops to sync up properly and sound like natural playing through the cross-over between loops is a learned art, but if you take the time (a few hours, and at the price I can't imagine you wouldn't), you can get it right pretty close to 100% of the time.

Sound quality is almost irrelevant to this kind of pedal. As has been said, you get out what you put in.

I've noticed a very slight hiss while erasing a loop. If you're playing, it is unnoticeable.

The drum guides kind of sound like shit, but it's not really meant for performance. They are also too loud when compared to the guitar level. The lowest setting seems to be on par with 12:00 to 1:00 on the "level" knob for the loop with the volume on my guitar knob turned up.

I've had it a few months. It's solid. Boss makes good housings, which is good because loop pedals, but nature, need to be stepped on a lot.

Haven't had to deal with them.

For practicing solos and improvisation, it's great.

There are some things that would vastly improve the device, however.

1) There's no way to delete just the most recent layer of a loop. Meaning, if you've set up a bunch of layers, and you add one that you don't like, it's on there for keeps--like paint on a canvas.

2) Playing a loop and then stopping and starting another is pretty jarring. Sometimes I fade out of a loop by turning the level down by hand. I wish there were a way to attach an expression pedal and fade out. A volume pedal after the device would work, too, but it would also lower the volume of your guitar. Having a second device (Ian Williams of Battles does this with Akai Headrushes) would let you start a new loop so that deleting the old one would still present a level of coherence between the two. But that's expensive.

damn easy. no problems in getting a perfect loop. sometimes good, to play by internal rhythm.

this is why i am writing this: have a look at the rating for the RC-2. i have had it before the RC-20XL and - the same quality! what goes in will come out. a 9 cause the drums are not really usable (ok, sometimes i use THE one of those).

best

i do like their online pages.

learning and experimenting - this is what i bought it for, and it does its job.

Need some time but then it is a clear winner!

No hum, no hiss. Great sound

Built like a tank

No need for one. After all it's Boss

I bought this used, but it was in mint shape (the previous owner was stymied by it, I think). At first, even though I had been give a "primer" in it's use by a friend who uses one all the time, I too found it daunting. Then after about an hour I had pretty much mastered it. I love this thing. It is idiosyncratic, the way it operates, so you have to really get down with learning it and "let it train you" somewhat, but the pay off is worth it. I also hooked up a 1/4" stereo Fender Vib/Rev pedal and a non-latching keyboard sustain pedal to it an voila, all those functions are easily foot controllable as well! Boss makes special switches for this that come out to around 75 bucks for both but if you have comparable switches at home try them out. probably one of the trickiest things to figure out is the correct time to stop and start the recording with the pedal in order to get a satisfactory loop that will work the way you want it to time-wise, but this is a talent you have to master through use, the box itself is very predictable and once YOU learn how to do it right you'll get good results. Using the timed loop with quantization will yield better timed results. I'm not the biggest fan of that "click" sound you play along with, but it does the job perfectly. I'm trying to do everything with this box, from setting up 3-5 part loops for songwriting and to play drums with, to making ambient Bill Frisell -like loops on the fly, to making psychedelic reverse sounds to add in where appropriate. It does them all, and with the extra pedals for scrolling up and down through the 11 memory locations and the footswitch for reverse you can really get a lot done without the dreaded "having to bend over". The manual explains everything but like most manuals it probably doesn't explain it 100% exactly like you would like to have it explained, again, like any good box or keyboard or whatever, no matter how intuitive there is the matter of YOU having to acclimate to IT. Go for it, you can handle it!

Good sound quality, doesn't step on the signal/tone. i use it with a variety of telecasters, les pauls, gretsches, danos, etc etc into vintage fender tweed and blackface amps. I wish some of my boutique stomp boxes, which I often love, could achieve the quality and reliability of the Boss line. If I had the balls I'd go ALL BOSS, but they have a tendency to cancel some of their cooler boxes, like the stereo Trem and the VB-2 vibrato and the parametric EQ....wTF?

I have had some Boss boxes go bad and have them repaired, but rarely, and I drag them all over the world. I expect this one will be no different. I'm still not a fan of their tuner, but apparently everyone else is.

When I needed something fixed, they fixed it. Also have gotten good tech answers from them.

I guess unless it became a part of your overall style a box like this could be in danger of being something you only dragged out once in a while, but I expect to get some good use and fun out of it. I love making up a song in it with 4 or 5 overdubbed parts and playing drums with it or lead over it, makes sitting around with yourself practicing or coming up with ideas WAY more fun.