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Shopping for a looper again... RC-50?...
So I went and listed my 2880 (with foot controller and 12 compact flash
cards) on eBay - I dont'
suppose many of you will be interested in that after all the public
complaints I lodged here about
it last week, but if you are then the listing is here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=019&item=290035966509&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1
My reason for posting, however, is not to find a buyer for my unwanted
gear, and I don't wish to
abuse the list... which is to say, I know there is a huge archive of info
for this list, not to
mention user reviews at Harmony Central, which are at my disposal for
evaluating the currently
available tools of the trade - I spent two or three hours last night
looking over some of that
material and barely scratched the surface of what's already been discussed
in depth here (wish
there was a way to narrow my search since when I type in Boss RC-50 I get
an enormous page of
posts to look at and there is no way to guage the contents of each one
without opening them one at
a time, or so it seems)...
Anyway, I'm shopping for another looper - I definitely don't want a
laptop/software based setup
because it's too much money for me to spend (I'm broke, unemployed, and I
don't want to pay more
than the $500 I hope to recoup for my 2880 deal) and I haven't got the
time or the patience to
learn all of that - I'd prefer not to have to learn MIDI either, at least
to start - And for
rather petty reasons (I'm out of rack spaces in my gear case and I don't
want to have to sell my
road rack and buy a bigger one) I'm leaning away from buying a
rack-mounted looper (there is the
added issue of having to shop for a footswitch if I go that route, also,
which I'd prefer to
avoid)
So, that leaves me with the floor-mounted models that are out there: Boss
RC-50, RC-20XL, DD-20,
RC-2, Digitech Jamman, Boomerang, etc... Forgetting about the Line 6 and
all of those which have
the loud metal pushbutton switch design, are there any others I'm missing?
I've used Boss pedals
before (the DD6 was my looper before I got the 2880) and I've found them
to be quiet and suitable
for use with quiet live-miked instruments, so I may go with a Boss
I'm deciding to let go of a lot of the features I was hoping to find in a
looper, because I can't
afford to pay for them all, basically (I'd probably need to get a
Looperlative) - I'll have to
live without discrete loops I can pan and fade individually (I'm not
buying another Repeater,
having owned one and got frustrated with the noise issues it had) - I
guess I can live without
storing loops... I'd love a reverse button, but it's not essential...
One thing I would like is a stereo output (my mixer only has mono effects
send but it has stereo
return, so I don't need 'true stereo' but I would like a looper that
offers a stereo output) -
Although I'm not sure if this is a meaningless thing, I mean: unless the
looper takes the mono
send and processes it to a stereo signal (like a stereo delay) then it
wouldn't amount to anything
but a left and right send of the same signal? - I don't know... the RC-50
and the DD-20 have a
left and right out; the RC-20XL, RC-2 and Digitech Jamman only have one
mono output
But the DD-20, which I am leaning toward on account of the price (Boss has
so many options)
doesn't have a feedback control for the looping feature ('sound on
sound'), apparently: that
sucks...
Now, the RC-50, that model appears rather forbiddingly difficult to master
in terms of its vast
feature set, but it does appear to have everything I want in a looper
except the individual track
mixing option (that only the Repeater, 2880. and Looperlative offer, or
does the EDP have that? in
any case it's too much money for me) - Now, many of the Harmony Central
reviews state there is an
issue with the RC-50 about cropping off the first part of the loop when
you go from record to play
- Is this a real defect in the unit, or is it due to some failure on those
users' parts to read
the manual and make the proper settings?
I don't expect everyone to want to repeat everything that's already been
written here, but if
maybe one of you would (or point me to a specific link where my questions
are addressed)... Is the
RC-50 bunk? Does it have serious drawbacks any buyer will have to contend
with?...
And a more general question, if not the RC-50, then what would you
recommend I buy, based on my
above criteria and profile (I'm kind of a tech dummie, need quiet foot
controls, want stereo
output)?
Sorry to burden you with my doubtlessly redundant discussions, but there
is just so much info and
so many choices out there that my head is spinning trying to come to a
decision (one real option I
am considering now is to abandon entirely the live looping option, and
just get a basic stupid
effects pedal)...
Oh yeah, the other thing is, I hear that Mike Nelson is gonna introduce a
new Boomerang upgraded
model next year, with lots of new features, so I'm thinking I might do
without a looper till then
and check out the new Rang when it hits the streets...
And one other thing (sorry): there is the option of buying a used looper
of some kind, I know
there are a lot of cool discontinued models out there that are worth
looking at... but I'm
thinking I might be better to play it safe and get something from Guitar
Center with a 30-day
trial option, and test it out THOROUGHLY this time, so I can return it if
I find any unexpected
drawbacks that I can't deal with (like noisy footswitches or what have
you)...
Ferrara Brain Pan
http://www.formsofthingsunknown.com
"Let the great constellation of flickering ashes be heard..."
Noel Scott Engel