# Loopers



## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

I'd like to get a looper pedal for playing around at home, not much experience with these, was thinking of getting the Boss RC 30:

BOSS U.S. - RC-30: Loop Station

Good? Bad? Any suggestions?


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## Guest (Jun 23, 2011)

DigiTech Jamman -- of all the small loopers I've tried that one impressed me the most. Seemed to be very good at keeping the loops looping seamlessly. And the CF support to import and export loops is a welcome feature.


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## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

Yeah, after a bit of reading the Digitechs look really nice. If anyone is interested, also foiund this site, lots of good info:

Looper Pedal Reviews

man, there's a lot of stuff on the internet...


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## seanmj (May 9, 2009)

I've had the Jamman for sometime now... and love it. That said... recently... it's been glitching on me in some pretty awkward moments. One time it froze... the loop kept going... but all controls were locked. I couldn't stop it, change loops, turn the volume down... nothing. I had to yank the power.

More recently, it spontaneously squeals... like the most high pitched nasty digital distortion squeal you can think of... right during a very quiet moment in a performance. I'm not sure if these problems have something to do with a bad memory card... power supply or what. I can't replicate the problems as they're spuradic.

Sean Meredith-Jones
www.seanmeredithjones.com


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## Fajah (Jun 28, 2006)

seanmj said:


> More recently, it spontaneously squeals... like the most high pitched nasty digital distortion squeal you can think of... right during a very quiet moment in a performance. I'm not sure if these problems have something to do with a bad memory card... power supply or what. I can't replicate the problems as they're spuradic.
> 
> Sean Meredith-Jones
> www.seanmeredithjones.com


After many years of using a Boss RC20-XL, I sold it in favour of a slightly used Digitech Jamman. Based on my experience so far, I think that the Boss is a superior product when it comes to sound reproduction and functionality. The Jamman has the PC connectivity, storage, and number of channels over the Boss. I'm referring to the older models of both. 

Regarding the squeal, this happened to me in a jam session recently. I had to unplug/plug in the Jamman which I guess resets it. I've never had anything like this using my Boss RC20-XL. 

Now that the newest models from Boss have the connectivity and storage, I would definitely go with Boss for a new looper.


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## dino (Jan 6, 2009)

Boomerang 3 , without a thought of hesitation. Costs a bit more but you get what you pay for.


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## seanmj (May 9, 2009)

Fajah said:


> After many years of using a Boss RC20-XL, I sold it in favour of a slightly used Digitech Jamman. Based on my experience so far, I think that the Boss is a superior product when it comes to sound reproduction and functionality. The Jamman has the PC connectivity, storage, and number of channels over the Boss. I'm referring to the older models of both.
> 
> Regarding the squeal, this happened to me in a jam session recently. I had to unplug/plug in the Jamman which I guess resets it. I've never had anything like this using my Boss RC20-XL.
> 
> Now that the newest models from Boss have the connectivity and storage, I would definitely go with Boss for a new looper.


I have a bit of dilemma. I bought the Jamman to do some solo gigs... so it's paid for itself many times over. I called Digitech to see about having it serviced and eventually traced the path to a place near scarborough. They said it would probably be about half of the pedals value to fix it.

So I see there are some used ones floating around for some decent prices. Trouble is... I would hate to have this problem come up again. If I'm on a job, and the squeal happens... that's just unacceptable.

I would consider switching brands... but I have a pretty extensive library of loops I've created and backed up... so I don't think I could import them into another brand's unit... or could I??? Seems like I'd have to start from scratch at that point.

Sean Meredith-Jones
www.seanmeredithjones.com


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## Fajah (Jun 28, 2006)

seanmj said:


> I have a bit of dilemma. I bought the Jamman to do some solo gigs... so it's paid for itself many times over. I called Digitech to see about having it serviced and eventually traced the path to a place near scarborough. They said it would probably be about half of the pedals value to fix it.


I haven't had mine for too long and it was barely used when I bought it. It's only happened to me the one time so far. I would start by taking it in and getting a firm quote to fix it. 



> I would consider switching brands... but I have a pretty extensive library of loops I've created and backed up... so I don't think I could import them into another brand's unit... or could I??? Seems like I'd have to start from scratch at that point.


The Jamman loops are wav files so you could import them into the new Boss loopers according to what I've read. However, there are couple of negative issues with the new Boss RC-30 (and apparently the RC-3 as well):

_"On the downside, there is a 1/4 of a second lag when you are shifting between phrases in real time, which makes this pedal a bit more difficult to use in live situations. For example, you may want to record an intro loop phrase, a theme loop phrase, and an outro loop phrase, then shift between phrases to create a 3 phrase song. With the RC-20XL, you could switch seamlessly between phrases while playing over the top. Unfortunately, when switching between phases with the RC-30, there is a known 1/4 second lag, which is awkward for live performances.
_
Like you, if I continue to have a problem with my Jamman, I'm not sure what the alternative would be if fixing it isn't possible. Under normal circumstances, I would probably go out and buy a new Boss RC-30 but only after the "phrase lag" issue would will be fixed...... and who knows when that will be. I would certainly not buy a new Digitech Jamman. 

I guess that in the short term, the only choice is to risk buying another used Jamman if the price to fix the squealing issue is outrageous. BTW, it would be appreciated if you could you post the name and number of place near Scarborough that fixes them.


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## seanmj (May 9, 2009)

I actually called the Digitech service line two days ago. They referred me to Erikson Audio in Quebec... who referred me to PA Plus in Toronto. When I called PA plus... they would ding me $70 just to open the box... and if the expense was going to be really high... I would still be out the $70.

So then I called Digitech back and pressed them a little bit to give me some info as to what the problem might be. Both guys I talked to were relatively sure it had to do with a ribbon cable that's inside of there. They sent over some schematics and a set of instructions as to what needs to be done.

Fortunately, I have a tech that lives relatively close to me. When I sent the instructions off to him... he said it looked pretty easy... so I'll give that a try.

The other thing they said to check were the jacks and pots... so I'll have my guy give it another once over to see if there's anything else that looks suspect.

I have some intricate songs I play with the Jamman that are 7 phrases... so having another machine with a lag time is not an option for me. 

I also never play live with my guitar plugged into the Jamman... it always goes to a separate amp... or directly to the PA. The pedal's A/D/A sucks... hence my live signal is always kept separate.

If you would like, I could send you the schematics they sent me... with the Ribbon cable instructions. Send me a pm with your email and I'll fire it off for you.

Sean Meredith-Jones
www.seanmeredithjones.com


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## Fajah (Jun 28, 2006)

seanmj said:


> Fortunately, I have a tech that lives relatively close to me. When I sent the instructions off to him... he said it looked pretty easy... so I'll give that a try.


Great. Please post what happens 



> If you would like, I could send you the schematics they sent me... with the Ribbon cable instructions. Send me a pm with your email and I'll fire it off for you.


PM sent, thanks.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

seanmj said:


> I've had the Jamman for sometime now... and love it. That said... recently... it's been glitching on me in some pretty awkward moments. One time it froze... the loop kept going... but all controls were locked. I couldn't stop it, change loops, turn the volume down... nothing. I had to yank the power.
> 
> More recently, it spontaneously squeals... like the most high pitched nasty digital distortion squeal you can think of... right during a very quiet moment in a performance. I'm not sure if these problems have something to do with a bad memory card... power supply or what. I can't replicate the problems as they're spuradic.
> 
> ...


Manufacturers are getting better at avoiding it, but it happens that power supplies that work well with *one* digital effect at a time can have problems when asked to power *more* than one at a time. I am unaware of the sorts of problems you report, though. The tendency is for people to say the pedals just got really noisy. That results from the interaction between the clocks on the various duigital pedals, and the lack of any protection against line noise from one pedal travelling to the other via a shared power source.


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## seanmj (May 9, 2009)

mhammer said:


> Manufacturers are getting better at avoiding it, but it happens that power supplies that work well with *one* digital effect at a time can have problems when asked to power *more* than one at a time. I am unaware of the sorts of problems you report, though. The tendency is for people to say the pedals just got really noisy. That results from the interaction between the clocks on the various duigital pedals, and the lack of any protection against line noise from one pedal travelling to the other via a shared power source.


It's on it's own isolated power supply... and it's not even part of a pedal chain as I always have it playing on it's own, and my guitar isn't even going through it.

I went over the power supply potential issue with Digitech... but the fact that the problem is always remedied by rebooting it... led them to believe that it was this ribbon cable.

The noise problem is WELL BEYOND any standard noise problem. Try to envision you're playing chill music in front of 600 people and all of a sudden your music stops and your pedal bursts forth with a note 3 octaves above A440 that sounds like you're plugged into a digital mixer and your input signal is pegged in the red.... and blaring through the house PA.

Hopefully this will fix it... but there won't be any sure way of knowing if it's fixed... unless of course it happens again.... so every performance will be a bit of a gamble.

Sean Meredith-Jones
www.seanmeredithjones.com


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