Boss RC-20XL

Superficially, not difficult to use at all...it's essentially a simple tool. Maybe too simple (read later). The manual's decent...you'll be looping in no time.

Problems with use mostly involve audible drop-outs when saving a loop and switching between saved loops. Firstly, when you're looping, the point is to get a continuous sound...when you save a loop you've created the unit stops playback, saves, then needs to be re-triggered to playback. Absolutely unacceptable in performances...you need to have some sort of material going to cover the interruption.

Sound quality is pretty fine, though I think the recorded phrases can sound a little thin. Takes a bit of tweaking and practice to find the correct mix between playback level and mic/instrument input to avoid feedback and to get things to sound continuous (ie like they belong in the loop). Bare in mind that you're recording, and if you mess up or play a little too loud/soft then that's how it will sound. The Undo function is fairly useful in this regard, but if you're performing live, it's too late.

The "guide tones" seem pretty useless to me even though they're presented as a major feature. It's a built in metronome, that's all...useless live or in recording. There should be a seperate headphone out for this, but it's mixed in with the loop. Stupid. They sound like cheap onboard MIDI sounds, and there's a different sound for the first beat of the bar; there should be an option to turn that different beat off, but there's not. MOST CONCERNING is that even when the level is set to OFF, I can still hear it faintly in the background...try recording that and putting it through a compressor and it's clearly, if very softly, audible. No good!

Sure, it's reliable...use a power-supply instead of batteries to be safe. Pretty rugged construction too - it'd be difficult to damage this.

When first using it, had some trouble getting a decent level out of it, and was a bit worried that it wasn't putting out sound consistently from one session to the next. It doesn't put out line level sound (which is a little surprising), so I'm treating it at mic level. Sounds good now, just make sure you know your settings.

I hit the ceiling of creative possibilities after at most 2 hours of use. As soon as you create your first loop, you establish the loop length, and any overdubbing will occur WITHIN that loop length. IE you can't create a 2 bar beat, then overdub a 4 bar chord progression, nor can you overdub a 1/2 bar loop layer...you're stuck with 2 bars.

16 minutes of looptime sounds good...but the more you layer the bigger the sound gets and eventually adding the sounds together WILL result in distortion. Depends what you're playing...I start hearing clipping after about 6 layers of clean beat-boxing with my voice. Less if I'm layering guitar. And I don't even want to think of the mess if you're using delay or reverb...

The reverse function can generate some great sounds.

I work with various styles...this is most suited to electronic music. But, saw KT Tunstall use it to great effect on the Tonight Show, and a man called Son of Dave (member of Crash Test Dummies) does fantastic stuff with it live.

Not useless, but I use Ableton Live with a Behringer FCB 1010 and can do much, much more with that; I've also written a simple patch with MAX/Msp which does exactly the same as this. But if you're not prepared to lug a computer around, or get into computers at all, then this unit will actually do fine as long as you're really smart how you use it; keep things simple. There aren't many similar units out there at all. If you're after a phrase trainer (eg to practice guitar solos or something) then you'll find those built into most new multi-effects pedals these days. The list price on the RC-20XL is around $350...worth it only if you really want it and put it to good use...expensive if it's just a toy.

I'm probably going to sell mine on.

Very easy to use as almost all of the control functions are printed on the pedal. Plug-and-play for sure, but there are some deeper functions (ie not on the pedal itself) such as fading out, etc that can easily be looked up in the manual.

Quantize is a little hard to use, but by no means a necessary feature -- it's also really weird to actually hear the looper fight you rhythm wise.

Overall, very good. It feels like it loses a little something, but I can't say for sure.

I put all frequency ranges through it, so no worries there:
6-string bass >> GR-20 guitar synth >> Digitech Synth Wah >> Big Muff Pi >> Opto Stomp compressor >> GEB-7 >> DD-6 delay >> Pulsar tremolo >> RC-20xl >> amp.


I've had a weird problem: I get a constant fast click whenever I record directly (the looper going straight to recording device). I've never heard it on the amp, but I've quadruple checked, and it's definately the looper.

Built extremely sturdily, but never attempt a gig without a power supply (not that you would). This thing eats batteries like you wouldn't believe.

Also, it has some problems with very short loops (< ~3 sec), but it's rare that one would use a loop and not a delay for a loop that short.

I talked to BOSS about the aforementioned clicking noise and they too were stymied. They had a few suggestions and that warranty would cover it if I couldn't figure it out.

A great loop station. Easy to use, good sound, and 16+ minutes of savable/usable loop time. Really excellent. Makes solo playing and song writing oh so much easier. The whole one-man-band bit is much more doable.

I took this looper out of the box 2 hours before a solo gig, played with it for 45 minutes and took it to my gig that night. I had a couple of goofs but that was user error not the product. I have played with only one other looper effect and that was line 6's delay modeler. The boss blows away the line 6! I have sine preset some phrases and will eventually fill up all the phrases except one so I can still loop in real time. The real time loop is really what I bought it for. I used th xl last week with my duo and set the rythym with the looper and played the bass line while my partner played lead. Lot's of fun!

I haven't used this with my electric yet but have been using it in line with my Alvarez stage acoustic with a line 6 modulation modeler. I keep th xl last in line for obvious reasons. Chorus & delay come thru fine. I had to fine tune my delay a little, but that was it. I have not used an amp with the xl, just straight thru th PA.

I do use it without a backup. I think it's a dependable piece of equipment. If it died on me at a gig, I would just do my old solo thing because those leads will not sound right without any background music.

NA

If this were lost or stolen, I'd definitely buy another. It's too much fun and on those night when my voice is a hurting, I can cut 4 or 5 songs out of my gig just from the real time looping. If I put a rythym & a bass line down and then add a lead to it, I have now come close to almost doubling the length of the song and that's cool!

I've spent a lot of time with loopers. (Boomerang, Echoplex, Original JamMan...) so I knew what I was looking for. I think this is no less complex than any other unit to get familiar with. I can read, so the decals on the pedal are easy enough to get you started. The manuals look very well written. I read through it once before I ever plugged in. Of course I'll be referring back to them from time to time. It was easy to get a good loop started and sounding good. I don't like having to hold the clear button for 2 seconds, which seems like an eternity for a looper like me. BUT I will get used to it.

At the end of the day I wanted a looper that records, overdubs, and corrects mistakes easily in a compact unit. Done!

I'm using this for several guitars. I'm not going to get into that. I wanted to see what happened in a "bench test" and here are my results:

First, the levels. The input and output level are very important to me. I got rid of my Boomerang because it's just way too noisy and too wide. Too bad, it's a good product. The input level on the RC-20xl is perfect right at 12 o'clock, which is what I had hoped for. The output is for the LOOP ONLY, not the "live" signal from your guitar. Again, much easier to set than the Boomerang. I haven't had to mess with the knobs once they were set. That was a problem with the 'rang: the foot roller was too touchy.

Second, the noise. All Boss pedals have a buffered circuit sucking your tone, regardless of whether the effect is on or not. The question is, how MUCH tone is it sucking. Well, to my ears, I couldn't hear a difference when I A/B'd it with my true bypass box from loop-master. I am not trying to knock anyone here, but if you have noise, it's not from the RC-20xl, or it's extremely minimal and you have a noise issue somewhere. It may be your cables, amp, ground hum or whatever. I use all George L's cabling and I perceive no signal degradation in any way from this unit. I have to give it a solid 9.

I think this will be fine. Boss single stompboxes are... you know the story. This just looks like 2 Boss's side by side. Solid pedals for stomping. The prices have come down a lot on these due to the JamMan and RC-50 coming out, so if it breaks it won't be as painful to buy a replacement.

Never had to deal with them. I guess that's a good thing, but still no opinion.

If noise (or lack thereof) is #1 on your list, this is the way to go. It's silent when the effect is on and off.

This gets the basic job done much more effectively than it's competitors. I don't get into the extra features all that much, so this is more than adequate for me. I actually think it is quieter than the Echoplex. Is it the quietest? It has to be up there near the top.

Looping is one of those technologies they keep reinventing, although the apex really has already been reached. It's more about the creativity of the artist now than the available technology. So in that case, and since it does what I want in it's most basic form, I give it a 9.

Such thing should not be sold.
The recorded sound is not good, not even 44kHz which is a shame!

But even more : it adds noise to your sound.
Whatever tha cable lenght is, in your loop or in front of the amp, it adds noise.
I think it really is not honest to sell something like that.
If your amp is not a crappy one, or if your a bit attentive to your sound, don't even touch this...

I just wanted to modify the post I already did. I gave 5 to the sound, it diserve 2.

It is usefull, but it lacks midi implementation, or an out with just the tempo (for drummers)
but the most important, IT KILLS YOUR SOUND.
Don't buy it

It is easy to start looping. Reading the manual is helpful and recommeded. The features are pretty straightforward. Someone said there is no way to play in anything but 4/4 time. This is not true. I f you hold down the tempo button you can then tap in any number of beats to set up a beat in 3/4 or whatever.

I use this on solo gigs. I have a switching box set up so I can run a bass and guitars through the looper. All effects including reverb are b4 the looper so they can be recorded as needed. I use vintage fender amps. Unit is not particularly noisy. The looper will color your sound some, but it can still sound good. If you bypass it, you will notice a difference though. The looper can take a variety of signals. It takes bass, guitars, and microphones and reproduces them pretty well. Heavily distorted guitars lose something on playback. Overall I am happy with sound quality. But there is room for improvement.

Seems rugged. I gig without a backup. 5 year warranty-nice.

never tried to contact.

This is the best thing ever for practiceing. You will lose track of time and play for hours. I have some beats fed into it so the loop is all set up. I start the loop, lay down a bass groove. Mabey some chords and start jamming. Usually I do about a 10 minute loop on solo gigs. I play some funky stuff, blues, jazz standards, and have been trying some acoustic guitar through it too. I went with the boss after reading many reviews and haven't been disappointed. If it was lost I would probably upgrade to the rc-50 although it is quite large. I might take a look at that digitech one, but am skeptical about it's quality. I think this pedal has really helped my music evolve over the last several months. Unless you want to create a crazy jumble of sound, stick with two or three layers of loop.

Fairly easy to use though the saving features to save a loop or overdub are not obvious - I still dont know what some of the feartures do
BUT SEE OVERALL RATING _ A BIG DESIGN FLAW _ NOT WORTH THE MONEY!!!!!
THE rating is not due to difficulty of use - IT is impossible to use in real time due to the quantize feature - ******WHICH can never be turned off**** Roland should refund and apologize!!!!

I havent noticed much noise - I like that it has 2 inputs I put a synth through one and the gtr through the other (Strat and various amps or recordi through a pod) and the volume controls allow you to have the input signal louder than the loop
watch out if you are using effects at the end of the path since the loop will be affected by that series of effects (If you are using a modeling amp the loop will be distorted)

I think it is pretty reliable and lasted a long time on batteries

Never called them for anything

Funk, Blues, Rock, Fusion, Mid Eastern
I am playing for 30 years and would love to start loops live with my bands BUT YOU CANNOT
$300 YET HERE IS THE PROBLEM - DOnt buy IT - the quantize function forces your loop to adjust to a specific tempo - The manual tells you that if you dont adjust the tempo the quantize function is off - THAT IS A LIE - The small print in the manual tells you that there is ALWAYS a default Tempo - therefore quantize cannot be turned off!!!
ROLAND should be ashamed of itself - all the fancy features (Who needs a reverse Loop?) and I cant use the thing live!! I am a skilled player and when I start a riff I want the riff repeated EXACTLY as played - I should be able to get that for $300 - I Will have to sell it and buy the line 6 (though limited it repeats what you play) or upgrade - I dont know if the JAMMAN has the same issue but if it does I wont buy it
WHEN ARE THESE GTR TECHIES going to consult REAL Musicians - I am pissed and so is my band!!!!

This thing is so incredibly simple to use it's unbelievable. Especially the recording auto start so you don't have to step on the start button at exactly the same time as you start playing your riff to record. The manual is very easy to read and makes perfect sense. I only need to use it for reference though because the RC-20XL is so self explanitory by itself.

I run mine out to the PA system with my backing guitar loops pre programmed and with both my amp going into the PA and the RC-20XL going into the PA I can't tell the difference in sound because it records it so cleanly.

I've only had one and I beat the crap out of it so it's definitely a top quality road dog, unlike the crappy switches inthe Jam Man that I broke in 2 days.

The people at Roland/BOSS are the nicest people to talk to. I can't get the time of day from any other company, and the Roland people are just a quick phone call away.

I play heavy music and this thing is great for filling in the open area when I need a background guitar player while I'm playing a solo. If it were stolen I would definitely buy another one without a doubt. My favorite feature is the real time tempo stretching for the loop. If the drummer is a little fast I can tap the tempo in real time and it will stretch the loop without changing the pitch. This thing kicks the crap out of the Jam Man for overall sound and quality, and you don't have to buy extra memory cards to make the damn thing work, just plug and play right out of the box. Now I can't wait for the BOSS RC-50!

abbastanza intuitivo....ma alcune operazioni necessitano del manuale

lo uso principalmente x loop con chitarra x esercitarmi su basi di accordi x cui nn mi interessa la qualita audio che sinceramente nn mi sembra eccelsa come prhase trainer ho notato che nn puoi rallentare di molto la frase....

onesto ma mi aspettavo di piu.....

It's easy and not so easy. You have to read some pages in the manual if you want to know what thas that button do with the shift etc...

A cable pluged in on the loop station and than directly to the amp. Man, you can hear quite clear the loss of quality when it is being looped, especially the high freq. But don't worry, it's good enough for performing and even recording.
Anyway it can be an advantage if you think that the thing that you record it will became not so bright for background loop.
Anyway the sound is very acceptable! I already saw a lot of great musicians from Jazz and experimental stuff performing and recording with this thing.
I don't believe that loop station from digitech it would be better. They say a lot of good things about it, more time, more sound quality, etc. But I doubt the quality of it!

Until know I think so, no problems at all until now. I just have for a week or two.

I miss some things on this station, the metro only gives you the chance to perform in 4/4! If there is possibility to change it, I haven't found it yet.
And 16 minutes to record is time enough to do what ever you want. If you are were expecting more, you've should a proper record machine and not a loopstation. This is for playing live and for recordings. Not to record at home first and then perform it live!!!
This box is very easygoing, it lets you to do whatever you want. It only depends in your imagination!

I don't give a 10 for 2 main reasons, 1st the quality of the sound which is not the best and 2nd the 4/4 metro that is always the same.