Where to put a Looper in the effects chain?

Dommak89

Member
So I'm thinking about buying a Boss RC-3, a loop station (not a loop switch). Now I want to be able to play something for example distorted, record it with the looper, and play something clean along. My question is: How do I connect said pedal to my rig so that it does exactly that.

My Axe Fx is my main amp, so my chain is:
Guitar --> Axe-FX --> 1. Power Amp --> Cab
and
Guitar --> Axe-FX --> 2. (Cab Simulation) PA

Also I use a profile for each major change meaning I have a clean, a crunch and a distortion profile (in contrast to having just one profile but having several distortion pedals in it).

So where do I put in the looper so that I still get simultaneous sound with my two output scenarios?

Thanks in advance.
 
Well hello,
When I understand it corectly what you want to do is: using an external loop device together with your axe fx. to record sound A and overdub with Sound B and play along with Sound C.

If this is the case, I might be able to help you. If not, I'm sorry.
At first make sure what you want to record on your loop device. Meaning: if you go: guitar-- looper-- axe--poweramp--cab. you will loop the sound of the guitar before it hits and effects in the fractal unit. On changing the sound fron "clean" to "lead" you will notice that even the looped clean guitar will change to your lead sound because of the wiring.

to be honest, .... that is quite stupid to do.

I would recomment sth like this:

Build 3 presets. clean sound, crunch and lead. just as you like them and store them. Now take your loop station and plug it into the FX Loop on the back of the Axe.
Now recall your stored presets ONE BY ONE and add an "EFFECT LOOP" Block AT THE VERY END OF YOUR SIGNAL CHAIN.
Do this with every preset. Don't forget to store. Then you are able to clean and loop it with the Boss unit. change the preset on the axe and paly crunch or lead overdubs and the axe won't change the sound of the already looped parts.

So your new signal chain would be:

1: Guitar---Axe FX--- Axe FX (Fx send) --- Boss Looper (input) --- Boss Looper (output) --- Axe Fx (FX return) ---Poweramp---Cab
(Cab sim disabled)
2: Guitar---Axe FX--- Axe FX (Fx send) --- Boss Looper (input) --- Boss Looper (output) --- Axe Fx (FX return) ---PA
(Cab sim enabled)

I hope I could help you. If you need more advice, I can add some pictures of how I would do it.

The Other way would be:
Are you using an axe fx Ultra or a Standard?
the Ultra has already a looper built in.
 
Hi,

thanks for the quick response.

I kinda figured it would go into the Effect Loop, though I wasn't really sure, because, and that's how I understood it and that's also how my axe is wired, is that the FX Loop Block in my preset is the block that's responsible for sending a signal to output 2, which is the output connected to the PA.

So the block chain is:

Effect Pedals --> Distortion Pedal --> Amp -----------------------> Output 1
--> Cab Sim --> FX Loop (Output 2)​

So from my understanding, plugging in something into the Effect Loop would now only be heard in Output 2. But I also want it to be heard in Ouput 1.
 
Well,... you already made a wiring fault in what you mentioned above.
I just tried it out on my ultra and it worked well =)

listen:

Take your Looper, plug it in as I mentioned above.
Axe Send -- Loop In --- Loop Out ---Axe Return

Then you go creating your patches like this.
8b82ca-1476349659.jpg


Make sure you get 2 different chains to the output.

Have in Mind that you are now using output chain ONE and output chain TWO

click now on the output all on the right.
d5c318-1476349848.jpg


As you can see, I panned output 1 Hard left and output 2 Hard right. In this case the singal going out on output 1 is the signal WITHOUT the cab simulation and the output 2 Singal is the one WITH that cab sim.

Do this for every Sound you would like to use with the Boss Looper. DO NOT FORGET TO STORE THEM.

Now go to the back of your axe Fx and Cable it up like this. (the looper is already wired)
You will ONLY need to use output 1 on the back of the axe for this method. (as output 2 is already used to connect the looper)

On the back wire it up like this:

OUTPUT 1 LEFT --- POWERAMP----- CABINET
OUTPUT 1 RIGHT --- PA

In my test setup i used the balanced (XLR) Outputs of the Output one section. on the back of the fractal.
Now it should loook like this on the back:

e60533-1476350575.jpg


Now you are ready to go. and everything should work fine.

If I could help you, Don't forget the "like" button =)
 
Last edited:
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