Looper/True Bypass Boxes

[KennethC]

Hey guys, need some advice on looper/true bypass boxes.

I recently got a 6-loop true bypass box w tuner out and master bypass. Does anyone have experience with how these things work e.g.how to create more than one efx loop using the same pedals but in different combis. ? Hope to hear from ppl who have used them or know how to make the best use of them. Thanks!

Would love to see pics of various pedalboards with such looper configurations for reference as well.

Here's a pic of my looper just fyi:

Many thanks in advance peeps!

 

[kentheman2000]

Looks very steamy... Very nice looking thingy u got there... Sorry for random rambling, hopefully the experts will come in and help you out.

 

[imcorn]

Hey Kenneth, wooo.. nice 6 looper.. doesn't look like a loop-master though.. is that a custom made one??

anyway.. it depends on what you put in your loops.. you can put individual pedals into each loop and when u need them just switch all off with the master bypass and on the ones you need.. for those pedals that are always "on" like buffers, its best that you put them outside the 6 looper in your main chain (i.e. guitar --> buffer / other pedal --> 6 looper (with your choice of pedals in each loop) --> booster?? --> amp

most people like to put their modulation effects into the true bypass loops.. esp those wch are non-true bypass

hope that helps a bit

 

[KennethC]

hey ken, thanks haha..no prob abt the rambling =)

bryan! thanks man, that made sense. Yeah cos I'm gonna have abt 12-14 pedals on my board by end Dec, so I got this looper so that I wouldn't have to pedal dance. It's a custom built looper, i got it off hcfx (soon after u recommended that place to me haha), quite a good deal (though not as good as the 90 usd 5 loop loopmaster on tgp now!!)

I basically want to switch between different combis, e.g.

always-on pedals +

lead sound 1: blackstone + ts9 + dd20/dd5
lead sound 2: crunchbox + dd20/dd5
lead sound 3: small clone + dd20/dd5
lead sound 4: blackstone + ts9 + small clone + dd20/dd5
rhythm sound 1: blackstone + ts9
rhythm sound 2: crunchbox + ts9
rhythm sound 3: screwdriver + dd5
rhythm sound 4: mayo + dd5
rhythm sound 5: one of the above ods + EVH phaser

I'm just listing as many combis as I can think of in my head, not that I want all of em as the sounds I must have. As you can tell, I don't really have that much modulation on my board, so I'm mainly looking for ease of switching between sounds that I usually use, to avoid pedal dancing.

Thanks for all ur opinions and suggestions!

 

[imcorn]

hmm.. i'd take it that your ts-9 is for boosting purposes.. that can be outside the looper so you got space for the rest, the delays would be outside also (unless you wanna make them true bypass)

as for the rest, you've got to experiment liao.. the evh phaser should be at the front of the chain though.. cos its quite responsive to picking dynamics (wah and envelope filters also apply to this theory) and if you put it somewhere else then u can't make full use of it

 

[edo83]

I don't mean to sound like a jerk, but why did you pay for something when you don't even know its function?

As for how it works, i'll assume all the loopers are in series...seems that way to me.

For e.g. Whatever is in loop1, once switch1 is stomped then those pedals in loop1 are in the signal chain. Switch on loop2 and more effects are added in to the chain.

What i see from your switching options, it looks a nifty tapdance. Either you'll sacrifice some of those options and not maximising what the true bypass strip is for.........or you use the whole strip and be a bloody good tapdancer.

Good luck in figuring out your switching options, it's gonna be hellish imho unless you sacrifice some options like i said

 

[ShredCow]

KennethC, you'll have to do tap dancing to accomplish what you noted.

If you wish to do 1 stomp = a horde of complicated pedal connoctions, you need a midi switching system.

What you have is a means of convinience... the foot switches are allocated in a convenient row in front of you...

As for arrangement, I propose you wire up your board without the looper first, find the arrangements that please your ears... then when that is done, bring the looper and start dividing your signal chain up.

Remember, you only go from one end of the looper to the other end... so you can't have a compressor before od then on another click, have the same comp after od...

 

[edo83]

This is the kind of looper that meets your demands

 

[antishred]

One cheaper alternative instead of using a looper - put the pedals that you want to engage at the same time near each other, so that you can stomp both at the same time. Howeva, this technique is only possible if you use pedals like Boss. And that's the advantage of Boss pedals, the design of switch is very cleva.

 

[KennethC]

Thanks guys.

edo, it would be more accurate to say that I misunderstood how a true bypass strip was to be used, rather than saying I bought the strip w/o knowing what it was for. Some ppl aren't as well-versed with pedals that run the whole gamut, so it is not implausible that one bases his choices on impressions/what he hears from ppl, and not on concrete knowledge. I understand that you're not trying to be a jerk, thanks for your opinions nonetheless. =)

Daniel, thanks for correcting me. Looks like I'll need to thin the herd a lil eventually. =)

 

[edo83]

Glad that you didn't took offense, kinda expensive lesson to learn eh. I'll say go with Daniel's suggestion of running your pedals more thoroughly and noting down what are the real needs compared to extra 'wants', perhaps not thin the herd but run those shortlisted pedals in the strip and see how it goes first.

Usually only after a couple of sessions/gigs then you might realised what actually works for you.

 

[teleholic]

actually for your purposes 6 loops is overkill imo..i don't use much modulation too and run more drive pedals than you but use 3 looper with tuner out and master bypass..quite effective..

 

[ShredCow]

Hmmm... yes, 6 loops is a little hard to control.

Personally, I use 2 major loops, one for my dirt pedals, 1 for my clean tones, and I toggle between 2 of them: no running the 2 loops in series.

Then my delay and boost are out of the loop, past it.

 

[tany]

Hmmm... yes, 6 loops is a little hard to control.

Personally, I use 2 major loops, one for my dirt pedals, 1 for my clean tones, and I toggle between 2 of them: no running the 2 loops in series.

Then my delay and boost are out of the loop, past it.

ah yes that's what i'm planning and have finally understood!

 

[edo83]

no running the 2 loops in series.

Are you dissin' me? :roll:

 

[ShredCow]

no running the 2 loops in series.

Are you dissin' me? :roll:

Yes. Bring in on!!!!!! :twisted:

 

[Phil]

Haha, most of my thoughts were already voiced by Ed and Daniel. :lol:

First off, I noticed that most of your pedals are already true-bypassed eg. Blackstone, Crunchbox, Mayo.
If your signal chain has 5 Boss pedals then I would understand the whole 6 true-bypass looper idea.
Maybe it'd be more sensible to have the not true-bypassed pedals in the loop, DD5/DD20 etc.

And I see that the DD20 appears in 4 of your stated config, and the DD5 in 5.
I am assuming that you understand that for this configuration to work, the DD20 and DD5 will have to be outside your loops.
So they'd effectively be non true-bypassed, unless you use the 'master bypass' function.

 

[hub37]

hey ken, thanks haha..no prob abt the rambling =)

lead sound 1: blackstone + ts9 + dd20/dd5
lead sound 2: crunchbox + dd20/dd5
lead sound 3: small clone + dd20/dd5
lead sound 4: blackstone + ts9 + small clone + dd20/dd5
rhythm sound 1: blackstone + ts9
rhythm sound 2: crunchbox + ts9
rhythm sound 3: screwdriver + dd5
rhythm sound 4: mayo + dd5
rhythm sound 5: one of the above ods + EVH phaser

just a little add-on
It's probably possible to reach this combination, but not all can fit into ur 6 loops, some may have to stay outside.

I think other than planning ur sound, it's also about planning what sounds for what songs when u are gigging, too much planning to be done in my opinion. Especially under dim lights, it's easy to get confuse trying to stomp here and there. Try keep things simple

rgds
CK

 

[ShredCow]

Especially under dim lights, it's easy to get confuse trying to stomp here and there. Try keep things simple

Colour coding I say!!!!!

Every LED a different colour!!!!

Or you could have a custom made true TUBE bypass box with tubes mounted on top of it... so that the ghostly glow of 9v heated tubes will light your stomp path!

 

[imcorn]

lol.. what happens if you accidently step on the tube? then you'll just get glass in your shoes or on your feet if you're not wearing shoes