Best Loop Pedal Round-up

Submitted by Alexander on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 05:27.

Enrich your practice and solo playing experience by getting the best loop pedal that will match your setup and style.

Looper pedals now come in a variety of shapes, sizes and features. Our recommendations include the best looper pedals available, from which you can pick the ones that fit your current setup, musical taste, and pedalboard space.

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If you are a singer-songwriter and you want to do one-man-band live performances - you should be looking for more features like multi-track capability, longer loop time (above 30 seconds), good control flexibility and low latency. Bedroom guitarists on the other hand will benefit from pedals that are easy to setup and offer basic looping functionality for practice and virtual jamming. And finally, if you are playing in a band with your huge pedalboard, the best looper pedal for you will be somewhat smaller to fit in your board, and have just the right features that you actually need.

Boss RC-300 Loop Station

The Boss RC-300 is the big daddy of all loopers and is currently the best looping pedal around. This flagship model from boss features three synchronized stereo tracks with dedicated volume knobs and transport-control footswitches for each track. You have up to three stereo tracks that are independently controllable with up to three hours of recording time! The RC-300 also comes with an XLR input for creating vocal harmonies that match your guitar samples. It comes with 16 onboard guitar and vocal effects which you can control in real-time via the expression pedal. The only downside I see with this looper is its bulky size, but it is a necessary trade off to get a full featured loop station. Its big frame affords you 8 switches for smooth realtime control over your music. Finally you can easily export your performance via USB to your computer. This pedal is definitely the pedal to beat in terms of feature, build and value.
Manufacturer: Boss | Retail Price: $549.00 | Get the latest price & reviews at AmericanMusical.com

Here is a cool Boss RC-300 demo:

Boomerang III Phrase Sampler

Instead of focusing on just features, the Boomerang III Phrase Sampler offers four distinct looping play styles. The most familiar is the Serial Play Style which lets you create one loop after the other which is how all the best loop pedals behave. Boomerang III improves on this with unique work flows - like the Serial Master Play Style which lets you add rhythmic background to your loops. Sync Play Style lets you lay some hard hitting grooves by playing all your loops simultaneously and in sync. Finally the Free Play Style lets you play all your loops simultaneously but not in sync, for a more ambient effect. This pedal even gives you a fade, stutter and DJ-scratch effects for your loops! With up to 4 loops, it simply is more than enough for even the most hardcore loopers. It doesn't have the bells and whistles of other loopers but is its tonal transparency is appreciated by users. Solo performers will love this pedal.
Manufacturer: Boomerang Music | Retail Price: $469.00 | Get the latest price & reviews at AmericanMusical.com

This video showcases the ambient sound features of the Boomerang III Phrase Sampler:

DigiTech JML2 JamMan Stereo

The original JamMan looper pedal was critically acclaimed when it launched back in 2005 with a mere 8 second loop time. It has since continued to improve on their design and is still a staple looper in many pedalboards. JML2 JamMan Stereo provides the same focus on quality with improved looping depth and layering features. From 8 seconds, now you can store up to 35 minutes of CD quality loops in 99 internal memory banks as well as SD memory card expansions - giving you up to 16 hours! Digitech stayed away from additional features and instead focused on providing in essentials like stereo looping, reverse playback and a nifty mic input. It continues to have its traditional jam-centric features including a built-in metronome with a variety of time signature and rhythm sounds, rhythm output aux input and easy loading of jam tracks. From solo practice, to live performance - this pedal will deliver.
Manufacturer: Digitech | Retail Price: $249.95 | Get the latest price & reviews at AmericanMusical.com

Hear is a store demo of the JML2 JamMan Stereo:

Vox VDL1 Dynamic Looper

This is a full featured Loop Pedal processor packed in a mid-sized multi-effect casing. It features two independent loops and up to 90 seconds of combined loop length with which you can add infinite layers with recording capabilities. With its built in expression pedal, you can create, play and control your loops in real time without having to kneel down to tweak some knobs. You can do overdubbing and it has a very practical "undo" and "redo" feature which will be very practical in a live setting. It also features a nifty loop quantize function that lets you lay down specific beat-length loops. Like icing on an already delicious cake, the pedal comes with 11 Pre-loop effects that include familiar guitar and DJ style effects for making your performance dynamic and fun. And finally you can play with 11 more Loop effects like Reverse, Cross-fade, Pitch, Filter and more. The VDL1 is a fun looper pedal that's convenient to carry and not too hard on your wallet.
Manufacturer: Vox | Retail Price: $259.99 | Get the latest price & reviews at AmericanMusical.com

Check out this impressive demo video for the Vox VDL1:

Electro-Harmonix Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai

The Electro-Harmonix Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai is a basic looper pedal added to a full featured multi-tap delay. If you are wondering what Hazarai means, it is basically saying "all the good stuff", according to my favorite guitarist / product demo-ist Dan Miller. This pedal will let you save some space on your pedalboard because it can function as a reverb, delay and a looper. Its looper functionality is a bit basic but it gives what most electric guitar players need - a 30 second loop time with continuous overdubbing, tempo/speed adjust and reverse adjustment. The beauty of the Stereo Memory Man however is how the delay and reverb features compliment the basic looping, it provides you with plenty of ambient, spacey and experimental sounds. Other notable features include true stereo outputs, ping pong delay, tap tempo footswitch and user presets. Hazarai is ideal for players that love to experiment.
Manufacturer: Electro-Harmonix | Retail Price: $220.50 | Get the latest price & reviews at AmericanMusical.com

My favorite demo man - Dan Miller - showing off the Stereo Memory man with Hazarai:

Line 6 JM4 Looper

If you want a looper that has everything you need packed in one package with reasonable quality, then the Line 6 JM4 Looper will definitely appeal to you. This pedal has all the essential looper functions with all the bells and whistles that Line 6 is known for, packed in a sturdy tank like case. You get up to 24 minutes of recording time and storage for up to 100 recordings, this unit will simply capture all your musical ideas and riffs. Your practice will no longer be lonely with the JM4's over 100 virtual Jam tracks that span various styles of music - recorded by real Nashville session players. Other added features include 200+ artist-created presets, 150+ song based presets and even comes with 12 Line 6 amp models and various guitar and vocal effects.
Manufacturer: Line 6 | Retail Price: $329.99 | Get the latest price & reviews at AmericanMusical.com

Checkout this solo jam session with the JM4 Looper:

TC Electronic Ditto Looper

If you are looking for a looper that does the job well without any complications and distractions, then you should check out the TC Electronic Ditto Looper pedal. TC Electronic stripped off all extra features in this pedal, and simply designed it to be a looper in its purest form. Instead of complicating matters with more controls and features, this pedal focuses on audio quality and capacity. The Ditto pedal gives you enough recording time to loop an entire song, for up to 5 minutes, which is quite impressive for a pedal with such a small footprint. Another cool feature of this pedal is its unlimited realtime overdub, which when coupled with its undo/redo feature allows for a wide variety of looping variations and styles that you can incorporate into your live performance. To ensure audio quality the pedal features true bypass circuitry and analog-dry-through, which means your signal goes unaltered whether you engage the pedal or not. Aside from reduced features and size, the Ditto pedal also comes with a reduced price tag, which makes it within reach of guitarists world over.
Manufacturer: TC Electronic | Retail Price: $129.99 | Get the latest price & reviews at AmericanMusical.com

Cool demo of the Ditto Looper pedal:

Boss RC-30 Loop Station

The Boss RC-30 Loop Station is the kid sibling of the bigger Boss RC-300, featuring the same quality packed in a mid-sized twin pedal Boss chassis. This pedal features two synchronized stereo tracks with built-in loop effects and true stereo outputs. Each of the recording tracks have their own dedicated controls and faders making them independent and easier to mix. This smaller pedal has a surprisingly huge internal memory - with up to three hours of stereo recording time and 99 onboard memory presets! Built-in effects include pitch-bend for changing the pitch, sweep filter for changing texture, step phaser, tempo delay and a cool Lo-Fi effect that intentionally degrades the sound to give it a more analogue sonic character. Singer songwriters will appreciate the balanced mic input and the basic rhythm patterns that are included in the RC-30. Solo performers who prefer a smaller pedal would do well to try out this popular looper from Boss.
Manufacturer: Boss | Retail Price: $299.00 | Get the latest price & reviews at AmericanMusical.com

Here is a simple demo video for the Boss RC-30: