philipacamaniac
Fractal Fanatic
I'm looking to buy an external loop switcher when I get my AX8 to offload some CPU. I plan on using it mainly for external drives, as I have quite a few I'm fond of. I have a few months experience on an XL+ so I know how the drive block sounds, and while it sounds great, I haven't had much success replicating my favorite circuits that aren't yet modeled (Timmy, Klon, etc).
So I'm looking for pros and cons to each of the most popular loop switchers that can fit under a Pedaltrain.
- I don't need to program it on the fly - with a fixed number of loops I can easily assign every possible combination to a MIDI PC, and fire a PC when that specific combination of pedals is needed.
- sound quality is obviously a talking point but I'm not significantly concerned about the "boutiqueness" of the buffer. I don't run any buffer-unfriendly fuzzes or wahs.
- build quality and longevity are a priority, balanced with up front cost.
- I would have as many as 3 drives at a time mounted on the board, plus an actual volume pedal and Turbo Tuner. So 4 loops could be enough but wouldn't leave room for wild cards.
- Power isn't a concern, I've got a PP2+ with available juice
- Cabling to and from the switcher will be all Lava Tightrope, so connector proximity won't be an issue.
---
The contenders:
- RJM Mini Effects Gizmo ($$$)
- Voodoo Labs Hex ($$)
- Decibel 11 Loop Expander ($)
Recommendations and reviews please!
Bonus question: from your experience with the Axe XL/XL+ or AX8, do external drives fare better in the FX Loop (Output 2 / Input 2) or right after the guitar? Thinking about gain and noise levels.
So I'm looking for pros and cons to each of the most popular loop switchers that can fit under a Pedaltrain.
- I don't need to program it on the fly - with a fixed number of loops I can easily assign every possible combination to a MIDI PC, and fire a PC when that specific combination of pedals is needed.
- sound quality is obviously a talking point but I'm not significantly concerned about the "boutiqueness" of the buffer. I don't run any buffer-unfriendly fuzzes or wahs.
- build quality and longevity are a priority, balanced with up front cost.
- I would have as many as 3 drives at a time mounted on the board, plus an actual volume pedal and Turbo Tuner. So 4 loops could be enough but wouldn't leave room for wild cards.
- Power isn't a concern, I've got a PP2+ with available juice
- Cabling to and from the switcher will be all Lava Tightrope, so connector proximity won't be an issue.
---
The contenders:
- RJM Mini Effects Gizmo ($$$)
- Voodoo Labs Hex ($$)
- Decibel 11 Loop Expander ($)
Recommendations and reviews please!
Bonus question: from your experience with the Axe XL/XL+ or AX8, do external drives fare better in the FX Loop (Output 2 / Input 2) or right after the guitar? Thinking about gain and noise levels.