Looper - 2880 or Boomerang?

[tim catlin]

Hi everyone..

My first post here. Hopefully you can help. 
I'm looking at buying a new loop pedal. At this stage it looks like a choice between a Boomerang or an EHX 2880. I'm  leaning towards the 2880 as it seems to have a more intuitive interface and lots of recording time.  Just wondering if anyone has played both of these or if anyone would recommend one over the other? (Looks like I'd need the additional foot pedal that comes with the 2880 to make it more useable?)

At present I use a Line 6 DL4 delay/looper which I really like...only problem is the longest loop time is 28 seconds. However its really intuitive and easy to use and I really like that I can fade loops in/out with an expression pedal. it looks like the Boomerang allows fade ins/outs also and from what I gather the 2880 allows manual fades using the sliders. (which is good, but if you have two hands on a guitar, probably not that easy.) The mixdown capability of the 2880 is also pretty cool..

[taylordeupree]

welcome to the forum, tim..

you'll get lots of love for th 2880 around here.. it's the unofficial 12k mascot. in fact, i don't even think you're allowed to post on the forum unless you have one 

i have a 2880, but not a boomerang, so i can only speak for the 2880... in short, i love it. the fact that you have, of course, unlimited overdubs, but also on 4 tracks, makes for great mixing potential. and how you can record pitch and reverse changes into the loops and stuff makes it a great compositional tool.

drawbacks are few... the main one being no undo, and, you do often get a click, as with most loopers, when the loop turns over. especially if you're looping droning material. would be really nice if it had a crossfade on the loop point.

some day someone will make an ambient looper with a user-controllable crossfade of up to like 10 seconds, that would be amazing.

i use my 2880 without the food pedal, but i'm also not a very accomplished guitarist, so i sort of pick and ebow my way through loops and find i can get by without the controller... but, yes, it would probably be beneficial if you were sitting and actually playing the guitar.

[steinbruchel]

you'll get lots of love for th 2880 around here.. it's the unofficial 12k mascot. in fact, i don't even think you're allowed to post on the forum unless you have one 

in case anyone is wondering: i don't have one 
(in fact i don't even know what this thing is...)

[taylordeupree]

we all know you're above the rules, ralph....

[gjhardwick]

Tim, do you mean the Boomerang + or 'rang III?

I've used a Boomerang +. It's ok, but I found that it was very fussy about the input level fed into it - so Ebow'd guitars, etc usually resulted in very clipped sounding loops.

The Boomerang III is still very much at beta stage IMHO.  The software it's currently shipping with doesn't do half of what was initially promised of it.

I was using a Gibson Digital Echoplex for quite some time (it's still kind of the loopers if you ask me) but at the minute I currently use a 2880 and I find the multi-tracking capabilities of it very satisfying and intuitive.

[taylordeupree]

i guess there's a lot of cool loopers out there, and the thing that makes them fun is that they've all got different features.

the eventide time factor is another great one. it has two unique looper features.. one being a slight crossfade on the loop point to prevent clicks and the other is you can tweak the start and end times of the loops as it's going and perhaps even write those glitches into the loop itself (i thought i did this once, but now i don't remember)...

additionally, it has a bunch of beautiful echoes, too....

[tim catlin]

thanks for your replies. 
yes Gareth I meant the 'rang 111. I have also heard the software is not ready yet. I use ebow a lot, so the input level problem would be a negative.

sounds like the 2880 will be as good as it looks. I'm not so fussed about clicks as I think all loopers will do that (except my old beloved Digitech PDS 800!). guess we have all developed ways of getting around this. (volume swells, silence etc)
not so fussed about undo either, but at least you could record a seperate loop and fade the "bad" loop out..

Taylor I wouldn't describe myself as an accomplished guitarist either, but I often like to use harmonics or manipulate the volume tone knob when playing, so the foot controller would be useful for that.

yes,  the eventide could also be good. I recently got an eventide pitchfactor which I like a lot.

[taylordeupree]

sounds good, tim.. and looks like we can welcome you to the "2880 club" ...

(no ralphs allowed)

as with all loopers, it has its idiosyncracies that can be exploited or avoided...

[billygomberg]

(no ralphs allowed)

you know, one day, ralph & I are gonna start our OWN BOARD and you guys are gonna be SO JEALOUS when we are not talking about loopers.  or whatever.  huh.  how about that.

[mfischer]

yep.  2880 all the way.

it is a pretty amazing pedal.  after consulting taylor on it's capabilities i was sold.
i wound up getting an amazing deal on one... i traded my line 6 DL4 for the 2880 + foot controller to a guy off of craigslist.  

the 2880 and the timefactor together make a really great pair.

[taylordeupree]

i double dog dare you

(dear tim, you'll have to get used to these tangents and insults that billy starts around here. i try to ban him, but he just comes back on some other IP address, under some other user name, etc...)

(no ralphs allowed)

you know, one day, ralph & I are gonna start our OWN BOARD and you guys are gonna be SO JEALOUS when we are not talking about loopers.  or whatever.  huh.  how about that.

[rené]

yep, 2880 is awesome. everybody needs one, I have the footpedal but it really depends how much of a "guitarist" you are if you need it. mine is boxed as I do not "play guitar" that much at the moment.
one more thing: pitch function in semitone = big big love
I never used the usb access or midi sync though and some people say it sucks (midi sync)

[taylordeupree]

yeah, good point on the sync.. i hear it's bad, too, but i've never used it anyway...

[billygomberg]

i double dog dare you

(dear tim, you'll have to get used to these tangents and insults that billy starts around here. i try to ban him, but he just comes back on some other IP address, under some other user name, etc...)

(no ralphs allowed)

you know, one day, ralph & I are gonna start our OWN BOARD and you guys are gonna be SO JEALOUS when we are not talking about loopers.  or whatever.  huh.  how about that.

actually, it happens to be the case that I am really Taylor Deupree FROM THE FUTURE come back to warn you all about the dangers of loopers.

[radere]

On the subject of loopers, my Stereo Memory Man is having some funky issues with its bypass switch. It's unreliable at best, often taking several clicks to engage properly. It's really annoying. Has anyone else seen this issue when their SMM?

Should I give up and buy an El Capistan?