question on using external looper

[xarkon]

In the non-Axe world, one of the annoyances of trying to use a looper is that the looper output goes through your amp setup - and if that changes, so does the looper sound. E.g. if you have the looper in front of the amp, play something through the clean channel, then switch to the lead channel, now your looper output is distorted.

Now for the Axe world:

I've seen one recommendation on this forum to run the looper post-Axe, then just change the presets. However, some note that there are tiny audio dropouts, and also potentially level sensitivity problems.

But here's a question. Given that Axe has stereo in, could I use an A/B switch in front, then a looper in front of Axe (right behind the B side of the switch) and route that, say, to the R channel. Then have different amps in the Axe patch on my L and R channels, but sum everything to mono at the end of my patch?

So then - I would switch to B (R), activate the looper, set up my loop, switch to A, and solo over the loop?

Looking for some advice before I go plunk down for the A/B switch.

TIA for your help.


Dave

 

[simeon]

the audio dropouts only happen if you put the looper in the axe fx loop and you change from one patch to another. the audio drops out as the axe loads the new patch, because the fx loop is part of the layout.

the best thing to do is run the looper after the axe. you don't say what sort of looper you are using, or if you are running into an amp or powered wedges, or if you are using other rack gear or not. a bit more info would enable me to suggest a good setup for you

sim

 

[xarkon]

Thanks for the clarification.

I am currently running a Boss RC-2 but am considering switching to the DigiTech JamMan Solo. I find the RC-2 to not be particularly user friendly, but maybe that's just me.

Axe output is going into PA through a mixer channel. No other rack gear.

Thanks,

Dave

 

[simeon]

yea, the problem is you're using a pedal designed to run at instrument level (in between your guitar and your amp) in a line level environment (in between your axe and the pa)
you can put the pedal in between the guitar and the axe ok, but as you've discovered, it's not very performance friendly, as every time you change patch on the axe, it changes the sound of your loop. you could plug the axe into the pedal and from there into the pa, but you'd need to keep the level on the axe output quite low to avoid overloading the pedal
you could run the pedal in an aux send/return loop on the mixer, but you would need to kill the dry signal passing through the pedal and i'm not sure if either one you mentioned allows you to do this
a pedal looper isn't really the best solution when trying to integrate with rack gear, unfortunately. the best option would be to place the pedal in between the axe and the pa.

sim

 

[bluesdoc]

When I had my Standard a couple of years ago, I built loops into each of my chains, and put my RC2 there. Cumbersome. Now with my new Ultra, I put it after the Axe and it works great. Yes, as a single pedal device, it's not as user friendly as a looper with more controls, but that's what you get with compactness. I add an external switch to the RC2 for added flexibility (instant off and delete). I've been toying around with running a stereo setup, but then that looper only puts out one side. But for an on the fly backing rhythm, it's fine.

 

[xarkon]

yea, the problem is you're using a pedal designed to run at instrument level (in between your guitar and your amp) in a line level environment (in between your axe and the pa)
sim

Both the RC-2 and the JamMan Solo have an Aux input, supposedly line level, to allow sampling from an MP3 player or other source. Of course, it's a mini jack, so will have to run an adapter...but perhaps that is the ticket for correcting the levels?

EDIT: ah...just checked the JamMan documentation - specs for max input and max output level are +4 dBu.

Boss specs the RC-2 as nominal input and output levels of -20 dBu.

So at least it would appear that the JamMan is at the line level standard (at max), albeit not quite up to the Axe's max output of +18 dBu.

Dave