The Art Of Shreddin'

LOOPER PEDALS

This site contains affiliate links, which we receive a commission from any sale or purchase, and are of no cost to you. As a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, affiliate links will redirect you to Amazon.com and its affiliate sites. Please read our DISCLAIMER for more information

As a musician, you can create magical music or an entire symphony of sound by simply layering loops on each other using the best looper pedals on the market during a live performance. If you’re someone who’s fond of complex patterns and intricate harmonies, a good looper pedal can come in handy during live performances. You can play your recorded music, add live music to it, and so on. The experience provided by looper pedals is simple, yet so powerful.

What Are Looper Pedals?

A looper pedal is a device that records a specific part of the performance and plays it on a loop. You can add effects to the original looper pedal recording such as speed adjustments, pitch adjustment, and a lot more. In simpler words, loopers are easy to understand a concept. You record what you’re playing, and as soon as you kick the pedal, the segment you just recorded gets played providing you with a base to add more music and record it all over again.

Memory And Looping Time

Each loop pedal comes with a maximum loop length, and this can vary from one looper pedal to another. If you don’t want your track to sound redundant, you may require a greater maximum cap. Some looping pedals on the market allow you to layer multiple loops, sometimes even infinite, while others come with a fixed upper limit. Therefore, check the looping time allowed and buy accordingly.

TC Electronic WireTap
Digitech JamMan Express XT Looper

As far as the memory is considered, many looping pedals allow you to save loops in separate slots for better management and convenience. Some also allow you to save loops to your smart device or computer. Memory is a critical factor that you must consider if you’re planning to use the looper for more than mere jamming.

Controls And Switches

Different looper pedals come with different control concepts and layouts. Therefore, make sure you buy the one that’s easy to handle and manage. Low-budget loop pedals are compact and have just one footswitch for different looping requirements. This can be a limitation at times. Some looper pedals have separate start and stop buttons. Some even have different switches for different loops.

Coolmusic Jammer Looper
Vidami Blue Looper

Several looping pedals on the market even come with footswitches for switching between effects or exploring the stored loops in real time. The more the switches, the better.

Some looper pedals with simple designs also allow you to plug external expression and foot pedals for better control.

Digitech JMSXT Jamman Looper
Looper Station
NUX JTC PRO Drum Loop

Multiple Loops

Basic looper pedals only have a single loop line and allow you to play the loops one at a time. The best looper pedals can easily handle multiple loops and allow you to play them at the same time. Some looper pedals even come with more than one input or output, which allows you to loop multiple instruments using a single looping pedal.

If you’re planning to create songs with looping as your primary concept, you’ll need a multi-loop pedal.

Synchronization

Great looping is all about perfect timing the loops. If you’re a looping beginner, this can be a difficult task. Many looper pedals come with unique features that make looping easy and fun. The most commonly used synchronization feature is “tap tempo.” It allows you to set the tempo by simply tapping a button for every beat.

JamMan Vocal Looper
Electro-Harmonix Canyon Delay & Looper

Some advanced looper pedals come with “BPM setting” that allows you to fix an exact tempo that the looper pedal will use while playing the loops. “Time stretching” allows you to elongate the recording to fit the length and speed of the loop. The “auto-start” feature begins recording the instant the processor senses a guitar signal. Therefore, you won’t have to press the record button whenever you start recording.

Looping Modes

Many looping pedals allow you to play the loops in different modes such as half-speed or in reverse. While many guitarists consider this a gimmick, musicians who perform live consider this an essential tool. If you like the idea of playing the loops in different modes, you can consider purchasing a looping pedal with a variety of modes.

ZYZMH Delay and Looper
NUX JTC Mini Guitar Looper

Looper pedals record a chunk, or ‘buffer’ of audio, that can be played back on-demand. They were originally developed as an additional function of digital delay units. If you don’t decrease the volume of digital delay repeats, you have a rudimentary looper. Most loop pedals come in single or double footswitch form factors, where one switch controls capture and playback, and the other stops playback.

One of the best ways you can practice is to record rhythm and then play leads over it. It makes you feel the sensation of a full jam session in the pedal. Might not be exactly what you want, but definitely a good start.

Lehle Parallel SW II FX Looper
LEKATO Drum Looper

The looper pedal is a great versatile help, it is usually quieter and in most of the time, has the feature or features not found in the combo unit. Besides that, you can place it at the front of the signal OR at the end of the signal chain, depending on how you intend to process the sound.

Sometimes, if you’re playing a solo act, you need to be multiple musicians at once. It’s times like these when looper effects pedals come in handy. Loopers are basically miniature recorders that can play back a sample again and again on demand – hence the name.

Amuzik Guitar Looper Station
Looper Pedal BOOMERANG III

They’re a staple for musicians who include looping parts in their songs, or for rehearsals to play back that time you absolutely nailed your big solo so you can prepare yourself to do it again, live, when you hit the stage. A looper effects pedal is a powerful tool in the hands of a creative musician, so it’s never too early to start planning how you can use one to your advantage.

From simple and straightforward record-and-play loopers to ultra-high-tech models that synchronize with companion equipment and allow you to loop sound samples stored on internal memory, the family of looper effects pedals definitely has a lot to offer. 

Alter Ego X4 Vintage Delay and Looper
AQUARIUS Delay Looper

They’re a staple for musicians who include looping parts in their songs, or for rehearsals to play back that time you absolutely nailed your big solo so you can prepare yourself to do it again, live, when you hit the stage. A looper effects pedal is a powerful tool in the hands of a creative musician, so it’s never too early to start planning how you can use one to your advantage.

Recommended Looper Pedals

Electro-Harmonix 720 Stereo Looper

With 720 seconds (12 minutes) of stereo recording time on 10 independent loops and unlimited overdubbing, the compact 720 Stereo Looper provides guitarists with an intuitive tool that’s perfect for practice and live performance. finding the sweet spot in their wash pedal’s sweep. 

Koogo Loop Station Mini Looper

Craft real-time compositions with two loop tracks, mic and stereo instrument inputs, rhythms, and inspiring Loop FX, all backed by premium 32-bit audio quality. Store loops in onboard memories, and explore expanded operation with external controls and MIDI. 

Big Shot Effects Loop Switcher

The Radial BigShot EFX effects loop switcher not only gives you the ability to set up and use two separate effects loops, but it also lets you give all of your pedals true-bypass switching capability. Simply tap the footswitch for the loop you want to bring into the signal chain, and all of those effects are instantly engaged. You can even run both loops simultaneously or none at all. A favorite feature among GearNuts players is the ability to set up Loop 2 as a mute. The BigShot EFX allows you to take advantage of your favorite effects easily and without compromise.

NUX JTC PRO Drum Loop PRO

JTC Pro is an advanced pedal with simplified controls. It’s a dual switch stomp box pedal with 6 hours of recording capability and 256 loop track memories. And the audio recording quality is 24-bit and 44.1 kHz sample rate

TC Electronic

For the first time ever, you can loop with your band in real-time without having to sync with a MIDI clock, letting you make it up as you go, without drifting out of rhythm. It’s like having an invisible band member onstage with psychic powers. 

Our state-of-the-art algorithm is able to snip, stretch and compress each beat of your loop dynamically to your tempo while still maintaining audio quality. 

Donner Circle Looper

Donner Circle Looper is developing the latest generation of donner looper effect, closer to customer needs in functionality.

44.1kHz 24bit high quality looper and drum machine . 100 different drum grooves from 10 unique music styles. 10 types of metronome settings to choose from .

FLAMMA FS01 Stereo Looper

20 minutes capacity looper comes with drum machine

11 different rhythm styles of drum machine, each style includes 11 different rhythm type, 121 different rhythms in total

Three different modes for use: Looper mode, drum machine mode, and mix mode

Electro Harmonix Grand Canyon Multifunction Delay & Looper

The Grand Canyon is EHX’s most advanced multifunction delay and looper pedal. It’s equipped with 12 effect types plus a fully featured looper capable of recording and overdubbing the Grand Canyon’s effects. The pedal provides superior sound quality, up to three seconds of delay time, tap tempo and nine tap divide settings, stereo output, 13 presets, programmable EXP pedal settings, high quality analog bypass with soft switching and more.

Looping involves a lot of creativity and requires a good quality looping pedal. No two looper pedals can provide the same result; so, finding the best looper pedal based on your requirement is very important.