RP155's looper - any comments?
Hi kids - I'm considering picking up an RP155 for my live rig (my GNX4 stays safely home). And my GNX1 and I just didn't get along.
SO. I'm interested in particular hearing from anyone who has one and has used the looper feature, and your comments. Easy to use? Functional? Effective?
And...if anyone has gotten a 155 and wish they'd gone with the 255, for the expression pedal, or the 355, for it's individually switched fx...
SO. I'm interested in particular hearing from anyone who has one and has used the looper feature, and your comments. Easy to use? Functional? Effective?
And...if anyone has gotten a 155 and wish they'd gone with the 255, for the expression pedal, or the 355, for it's individually switched fx...
Comments
First off - this is strictly a get-what-you-pay-for item. While I feel it has a lot of potential to sound great - once I get tweaking - the factory presets, like most DigiTech products, are simply abysmal. On first tweak, I was able to get a simply luscious tone out of it using my Taylor T5, so I know it's got it in there...it's just that as delivered, it sounds awful. Too bad there aren't SuperModels for THIS thing, eh? I mean...if I could get my GNX4 with it's prehistoric AudioDNA1 chip to sound great without S/Models, I'm sure I can do it with this thing.
I haven't delved deeply into the FX library yet, so I'll withhold comment there, although my first impressions are that they're completely adequate.
As far as the looper - not bad. Considering it's a feature built into a $99 pedal, it's decent. It won't match up sound- or feature-wise with a BOSS or JamMan et al, but for my needs (and considering I'm so broke a pair of new socks feels like Christmas :oops: ) it'll do.
I want to use it to do some solo/open mic stuff, just me, an ac/elec (either the Dean or the T5), and my Vocalist Live2, and the RP155. The 155 and the VL2 into the mixer, and that's that.
So...initial impressions: it'll do fine, until I have a job again and can pick up a decent looper. I think once I'm using it for git'r sounds and not trying to get it to be the looper too, I'll be fine. Then again, the looper - while clearly stripped down feature-wise from more expensive units - is very easy to use, and I might just get used it. And save the money I'd have spent on a real looper to buy other stupid stuff, like food...
I'm much easier to please, as I enjoy guitar for my own leisure time. I know you guy's who aspire to be pro's need a higher level of quality and consistency.
I like to practice off backing tracks, and I run that separately through a small S/S Peavey amp/CD player connection. I'm mostly back to tube amps and stompboxes, but when I use a modeler, like we've always preached here, you have to go with S/S and as clean as possible, if you ever are going to get some decent sound.
You can hook up using a 1/4\" T/R/S Y-cord, but my favorite way to run is with an RCA cable. The best hookup I've managed to come up with, is a Crate Powerblock with the Crate 1x12 Celestion. I'm sure y'all have your own brand of S/S gear.
The Y-cable lets you run the effects loop, putting the signal between the preamp and the power amp. Think in terms of two blocks, the preamp and the power amp. You will notice a difference in tone on some of your patches, if you split your signal between the two, using the effects loop, giving you line level instead of instrument level. (less noise interference)
Considered as a functional block, an effects loop should provide unity gain - no gain, no loss of signal - and be transparent.
The RCA method lets you bypass the preamp and speaker emulator, and I like this method the best. Notice below; you run the RCA method through the (RCA) CD input, instead of using the effects loop. At least this is how I get the most out of my digital crap, and it's made a huge improvement in the quality of sound.
see below I run the left/right (1/4\") output on the RP150 to the left/right (RCA) CD input on the Powerblock, via a 1/4\" to RCA Monster cable.
So...the answer is that I'm apparently too stupid to figure out how to loop \"live\". :oops:
The FX sound pretty good, for a low-cost digital unit. Plenny good enough for me.
The Amp/Cab modeling is not very good, especially in OD/Dist'n situations.
The looper seems pretty good, although I've noticed it altering volume levels of various overdubbed parts. It's hard to get a nice clean \"mix\", and there's no \"undo\" function - you have to stop the loop, clear it, and start all over. I know it's a low-cost unit, but that's a pretty important feature...:evil:
I should also mention that I've been playing my Dean ac/elec and my Taylor T5 through it...I have yet to run a real electric through it yet...perhaps I'll get better OD/Dist'n sounds out of that. The T5 has a HB in it and sounds really good \"electric\" through my GNX4, but this thing doesn't play well with it.
I have to say that, save for a few certain applications, I wouldn't recommend this unit.
Or more precisely, I would DEFinitely recommend it for certain uses, but not others.
If you have any intention of using it for distortion/overdrive tones, whether with an electric or an ac/el (like my T5, which does electrified very well)...this is not the unit. I don't know if it's the chip, or the models built in, or the parameters offered, but I simply can't get a good quality distortion tone out of it.
On the other hand, I've gotten absolutely beautiful clean tones out of it...and the FX are fine.
Also, as noted, the looper has issues with volume levels - it loops much louder than what you play into it.
So...in short - use it for certain things, but know there's certain things it won't do, or at least do well.
Use it for an acous or ac/elec, using a nice clean tone with hints of chorus, reverb, delay/slapback, whatever you like.
Use it straight through (no amp modeling) for FX only; they're good enough to use.
But don't expect this thing to model anything using distortion and produce a quality tone; even the hard-distorted/metal/rectifier type sounds are not quality. You've been warned.
There isn't a balance setting between recording level and playback level?
Probably Obama's fault. Or Bush. Or BP. Or aliens. :P