All you loopers...what's your rig?

[Dajbro]

I'd love to hear how the rest of you looping guitarists are running your set-ups.

Do you use a mixer?
Do you run it through you amps fx loop?
Do you process your loops? If so, how and with what?
Do you run drum loops (or any other samples)?
What is your routing to accomplish this?

I'd be most interested to hear how any of you approach this.

I'm starting from the ground up so I'd like to hear what others are doing in this area. Thanks in advance.

David

[kevinsaari]

I run my entire pedalboard into a clean amp. The looper is the last pedal in my chain.

That's pretty much it. :).

[KagakuNinja]

I don't do drums or samples, I mainly make ambient drones, and usually solo on top of the drone. None of my amps have FX loops.

Currently like this:

Sunlion fuzz-> Teese wah -> Rat -> buffer -> volume pedal -> A/B box

A side: Gibson EDP looper -> electric mistress flanger -> Ibanez AD 202 delay -> amp

B side: Eventide Timefactor -> 2nd amp

I used to run both A/B chains into my Ibanez delay, or into separate channels of my twin, but I've started experimenting with a dual amp setup.

[Rod]

I also run a clean amp..all FX, od's, delays, reverbs, ect first..loopers at the end...

[Mincer]

electric guitar/piezo from electric/guitar synth all into a mixer, the looper (EDP) in the aux send. I also get inputs from other members of the band so I can steal some of their signal to loop without them knowing. all gets sent to a full range system (JBL eon15s). The looper/guitar synth/guitar preamp is controlled by a Behringer FCB1010 pedal.

[JamonGrande]

I tend to run the looper (currently laptop based) at the end of my chain into one or two amps, though with my current setup I enjoy having some additional effects applied to just the loop. I also like some of the nastiness running loops into a distorted amp provides, but this makes for more of a "closed" system as opposed to loops that sound like textures made by another musician. I use an X-Blender to mix in the looped signal to my amp. Haven't experimented too much with it, but my setup allows for selectable output (loops or samples such as drums) either to my amps, or to PA. Lots of (currently) untapped potential at this point

joe

[simeon]

easier to post a pic than to explain in words...

http://www.simeonharris.co.uk/rack_layout.jpg

the three loopers - TC, LP-1 and Repeater are running in parallel and everything feeds the mixer. the LP-1 has the option of routing it's outputs directly to the mixer, or via the Lexicon for treatments

sim

[Dajbro]

Thanks everybody.

Mainly, I'm looking for ways to process my loops without processing my main guitar signal and also have the ability to run a sampling device and be able to loop and process it also.

I'm new to the world of incorporating mixers into my rig so treat me as if I know nothing.

Thanks again.

David

[KagakuNinja]

Mainly, I'm looking for ways to process my loops without processing my main guitar signal and also have the ability to run a sampling device and be able to loop and process it also.

If you just want your guitar to bypass the processing, you can use an A/B box like I do. To loop and process a sampler too, a mixer is your best bet. Maybe you could use a second A/B box to switch between the guitar and sampler.

[KagakuNinja]

Killer rig Simeon. What do you use 3 loopers for?

[trumpus]

I don't do drums or samples, I mainly make ambient drones, and usually solo on top of the drone. None of my amps have FX loops.

Currently like this:

Sunlion fuzz-> Teese wah -> Rat -> buffer -> volume pedal -> A/B box

A side: Gibson EDP looper -> electric mistress flanger -> Ibanez AD 202 delay -> amp

B side: Eventide Timefactor -> 2nd amp

I used to run both A/B chains into my Ibanez delay, or into separate channels of my twin, but I've started experimenting with a dual amp setup.

How did it work when you ran both A and B into separate channels in the twin? Could the loop play through one channel while you played through the other?

Same question for the delay?

I'm thinking of running my entire board to an A/B box, with

A > DL4 for looping > Mesa DC-3
B > Blackfaced '78 Vibrolux Reverb

Does this seem kosher - this way I can play through my rig - loop it, then play the rig through another amp for soloing over the loop....

Brian

[ZMC]

guitar ,fuzz face, pitchshifter, lbm, DD20, Chorus, Loopstation, Phaser, 1964 Fender Tremolux; Marshall 1987x plexi.

The music is ambient textures. No drumbeats. I play with a pick or an ebow.

[Dajbro]

http://www.simeonharris.co.uk/rack_layout.jpg



sim

Okay, let me see if I understand what you're doing:

Guitar and pedals into Triaxis for your basic guitar tone.

G-Force and Eclipse to process your guitar tone. Are these in the loop of the Triaxis?

Out of the Eclipse and into a splitter of some kind. What is that?

Splitter goes to D2, Looperlative (into Lexicon) and Repeater and sends those outputs, as well as the guitar signal, to the mixer. Do you send each to one channel of the mixer?

Chaos Pad is in the fx loop of the mixer. Can you use that to further process anything that's plugged into the mixer?

Mixer to power amp to speakers.

Am I close? Thanks in advance for the help.

David

[this1smyne]

that is the most complex diagram in teh world.... gimme just a simple rundown instead. good job trying to interpret david....

[simeon]

Okay, let me see if I understand what you're doing:

Guitar and pedals into Triaxis for your basic guitar tone.

G-Force and Eclipse to process your guitar tone. Are these in the loop of the Triaxis?

Out of the Eclipse and into a splitter of some kind. What is that?

Splitter goes to D2, Looperlative (into Lexicon) and Repeater and sends those outputs, as well as the guitar signal, to the mixer. Do you send each to one channel of the mixer?

Chaos Pad is in the fx loop of the mixer. Can you use that to further process anything that's plugged into the mixer?

Mixer to power amp to speakers.

Am I close? Thanks in advance for the help.

David

that's absolutely spot on

the splitter is just a little passive headphone splitter with one stereo in and 4 stereo outs (i use cables which have a stereo jack at one and and two mono jacks at the other).

everything goes to it's own channel in the mixer

the g-force and the eclipse aren't in the fx loop of the triaxis - they're in line - but they could be.

KagakuNinja said: Killer rig Simeon. What do you use 3 loopers for?

well the D2 i use for infinite delays - either for pads or for rhythmic stuff.

the looperlative is the main looper - it has eight stereo tracks which can be synced...or not...so you can get into creating stuff in a horizontal fashion with everything on it's own track, rather then overdubbing in a vertical fashion on a single track. this means that you can process each track separately...adjust the volumes...reverse...scramble etc etc

the repeater is great at timestretching stuff and good at repitching, so you can play a pad with a keyboard (or the pads on the novation controller). you can also store loops on a cfc card, which is handy of you want to drop some radio tunings, or other samples into the mix...
i don't use it so much since getting the looperlative and i may move it out of the rack at some point...

sim

[threeofaperfect]

Simeon - If ANYBODY would make use of a Switchblade GL it's you.. PLEASE get one.. you wouldn't believe what you could do with it :D

[simeon]

Simeon - If ANYBODY would make use of a Switchblade GL it's you.. PLEASE get one.. you wouldn't believe what you could do with it :D

yeah, a mate of mine has one - brilliant piece of kit!

dunno if i could actually lift a 12 space rack though...!

and they're a bit pricey...and i'm not sure if my brain could cope with all the routing possibilites...i'm almost at overload now!

:jo

[monacosis]

cool rigs everyone! the front end of my chain is pretty traditional, allowing a relatively short signal path to the amp:

gtr/lap steel > pedals > (side loop for Boomerang) > delay > amp


the main looper is after the amp:

direct out from amp > EDP >
-------------------mic(s) > mixer > power amp > spkr
------other sound devices >


one benefit of this rig is a small footprint (if i need that) and quick set-up.

mike

[telefmt]

simeon - I just visited your myspace page and I loved it - great music

[simeon]

simeon - I just visited your myspace page and I loved it - great music

thanks mate!

[KagakuNinja]

How did it work when you ran both A and B into separate channels in the twin? Could the loop play through one channel while you played through the other?

Same question for the delay?

Running into both channels of the twin worked great actually. I'm messing with 2 amps now, mainly because I have multiple amps. Also, I've read that there might be issues at higher volumes only using a single amp.

Before that, I was using the AD202 delay to combine my 2 signals. This works because the AD202 has 2 inputs (not stereo, think of it as a built in mixer).


I'm thinking of running my entire board to an A/B box, with

A > DL4 for looping > Mesa DC-3
B > Blackfaced '78 Vibrolux Reverb

Does this seem kosher - this way I can play through my rig - loop it, then play the rig through another amp for soloing over the loop....

BrianThis is basically what I am doing now.