# What looper to buy? Jamman solo, RC-2, or other?



## Duster (Dec 28, 2007)

Hey all. I'm thinking of buying a looper for use at home, strictly for practice. I'd like to have something I can play around with, maybe lay down some chords and solo over, that kind of thing.

It seems like delay-pedal loopers are pretty simple to use, but can't really store loops, so maybe that's not enough for my needs. And it seems like dedicated loopers offer so many features, they are clearly in excess of what I need.

That being said, I'm kind of down to the Jamman solo or Boss RC-2, mostly because they seem to have more than what I need, in a small size.

The Jamman solo is a fairly new product, so there aren't that many reviews of it. They both look like they're a bit complicated to use and require some practice. What say you, people of guitarscanada? Which of these is a better choice for home practice? Sound quality and ease of use are probably the most important factors in my consideration. I need something that I can start, overdub, and stop fairly easily...

Thanks in advance.

--- D


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## Cort Strummer (Feb 16, 2009)

I have used and own the RC-2 for a while then returned it because I could use the $300 in a better way, it is ok and easy to learn. From what I have seen of the Jamman it is a better package because it does everything the RC-2 does but you can also load jam tracks onto a SD card and load them into the Jamman so you dont have to jam to the same stuff all the time.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

I have a Jamman stereo and based on what I can remember from the research I did, it had more options than the RC20. I have not gone really into figuring out what is the most I can do with it, and all I've done with it, is to lay down rhythm tracks and loop them for practicing, solos, etc... For that simple purpose it is pretty good. I have not tried loading it with actual backing tracks but I know it can be done. It also uses SDHC cards and has a usb port fot connecting to the computer.


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## Fajah (Jun 28, 2006)

I've been using a Boss RC-20XL for years now. I was torn between the Boss and the Jamman when I was shopping around. At the time, the general consensus was that Boss had better sound reproduction when compared to the Jamman. However, the Jamman had the storage capability and was PC friendly. I'm sure that the reproduction of sound has been improved with both products today. 

I'm not suggesting one or the other but I will suggest that you seriously consider going with a two pedal setup rather than one. It's more expensive but well worth it in the long run. Used ones come up from time to time and usually in excellent condition. You can save a allot of money since many people buy them and eventually lose interest. I paid $200 used.

Here's my setup:










Some other things to consider with the Boss product depending on your use:

1) The addition of the FS-6 footswitch allows me to change channels on the fly. Good for recording tracks that have a A and B sections.

2) If I record a jam track on my PC, I can transfer it to my IPod which get's plugged into the MIC input on the the RC-20XL. The MIC input has it's own channel and volume control which allows me to play the jam track through my amp. 

3) I added an EHX Octave Multiplexor pedal for laying down bass tracks with my guitar. Works great.

Hope this helps.


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## discomalaria (Feb 17, 2010)

I love loopers. Let me first apologize for the long-winded response. Nearly all the music I create is looper/sampler based, and has been for about the last 10 years now; so I have some fairly strong opinions about this topic.

I own/have used the following loopers:

Jamman (older blue one, not the solo), RC20, RC20XL, RC50 and RC2, as well as using an old Boomerrang and the loopers integrated into various products (like the ultra-shitty one on the Boss multi-effects pedals, or the really limited one on the SP-555), as well a bandmate uses the big green line-6 delay/looper and a friend has left his stereo memory man with hazarai in my basement for the last couple of months.

* Jamman sucks for sound quality (it's muddy). Also, on my unit there's a really small delay between when the recording ends and the loop starts/overdub mode starts. It's just large enough to make you have to think before you can jump right in to the accompaniment. But this thing has been through hell, so maybe it's just that my unit is getting worn out.

* RC20/20XL sound and play nice, but the 20 sounds muddy to my ears.  The XL is a pretty nice piece of kit, even though I hated (HATED) the way they implemented undo (you have to hold one pedal down for 2 seconds). The XL is the looper I've used the longest of all my loopers.

* RC2 isn't all that great. While the compactness is nice (fits well on a pedal board), the lack of control really hinders what you can do with it (ie: it's much more difficult to use effectively than the 2 pedal loopers IMHO). I thought it would be a cool little device to bring around with me when I needed a looper in a pinch, but I ended up getting rid of it because I found it just way too limiting.

* RC50 is ****ing amazing. You have to make some tweaks to the default settings to turn off it's stupid quantization (which causes a small amount of delay between recording and looping/overdubbing), and it DOES NOT integrate as well with MIDI as the back of the box would have you believe, but it sounds great and controls really nicely (plus 3 independent synchronized loops with 1 layer of under/redo gives a TON of power). Also, it generates a good stable MIDI clock, so it's great with MIDI devices so long as you use it as the master clock (it can't synch worth shit to an external clock).

* Boomerang sounded flat, and I didn't really like how it controlled (it felt laggy). The guy who I borrowed it off of swore by it however, and his unit is pretty old, so +1 for durability.

* Any looper integrated into a BOSS MFX should be avoided. I mean, seriously, why do they even put these into their products? They sound like shit.

* Green Line 6 delay/looper (not sure what it's called) has this strange "feature" where the layers seem like they are in a queue, and once the queue fills up the bottom most layer disappears (it's neat, but also disconcerting when you add a new layer and the bottom-most rhythm layer drops out). Also, like most line 6 devices it has this annoying hum when I plug it into my PA (all line 6 devices we've plugged into my PA have the same hum). It does have some pretty neat options to screw up your sound though if you like tweaking settings and making noise.

* Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai - I didn't like it. Sounds great, and you can do a lot of tweaking, but the "looper" isn't really any better than a RC2. Hard to control, doesn't seem to start-stop right on the beat (it's almost like there's a delay in the pedal buttons) and seems like it had limited delay time.

Hopefully the above is helpful. You might also want to post your questions at a forum like Loopers-delight or something.


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## zurn (Oct 21, 2009)

I have owned the Boss RC-2 and Jamman, I sold the Jamman to get the Jamman Solo and it's great. The Jamman Solo feels exactly like the RC-2 but with the added SD slot so you can record much more loops and export to your pc in WAV format.


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

Just a note: You can use the FS-6 two button switch with the Boss RC-2 to make it a lot more usable.


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## discomalaria (Feb 17, 2010)

Sneaky said:


> Just a note: You can use the FS-6 two button switch with the Boss RC-2 to make it a lot more usable.


I wish that would have occurred to me when I had my RC-2. Good suggestion!


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