Is my loop pedal broken, just rubbish, or am I using it wrong?

[ilovemyjazz]

I recently got my first looper pedal. It's a Donner Looper. I am not sure if it is faulty though, or if it is just a rubbish product. The problem is, after I record a loop and it starts to repeat it sounds fine, but once I start to play over the top of that I cannot hear the loop properly. It is not the level that is the problem, I don't change that, I let it continue to loop at the level I recorded it. But each time I play a note over it, especially if I let it ring out a while, I can no longer hear the loop properly, it gets muffled to the point it is practically silent and I can't hear it any more. It isn't just my playing overshadowing it either, you can really notice the difference in the loop, it is no longer audible!

Is it supposed to be like this? Surely not all loop pedals do this? I thought the whole point in a looper is to be able to play WITH whatever you have looping, not just to listen to it on its own without playing anything else over the top. Or perhaps I am not using it properly?

[dave74]

Re: Is my loop pedal broken, just rubbish, or am I using it wrong?

You have the level blasted? (max)

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: Is my loop pedal broken, just rubbish, or am I using it wrong?

Also, are you running it infront of the amp or in the loop?

[Mincer]

Re: Is my loop pedal broken, just rubbish, or am I using it wrong?

I am not familiar with that particular looper, but I've been using looping for over 30 years and this isn't normal. Does this happen with a completely clean sound?

[dave74]

Re: Is my loop pedal broken, just rubbish, or am I using it wrong?

Also remember that once you've created the loop you can (if it's at the end of your chain in the effects loop) always just adjust your preamp-section volume for the leads.

If you have an amp with two drive channels you can even make your loop with one channel and then use the other channel for leads or 2nd-guitar parts, or even use a pedal through a clean channel, make the loop, and then a different pedal or amp-channel for leads/2nd-guitar.

Loopers are way more fun and flexible when they're at the end of the loop.

[ilovemyjazz]

Re: Is my loop pedal broken, just rubbish, or am I using it wrong?

Hi all, thanks for responses.

I've got it in front of the amp, not the loop. When I use it, it is the only thing between the guitar and amp. I recently got a Katana and have everything I need built in, so no more pedals for me!

I did try adjusting the level, putting up higher, and although the problem persisted I will admit it was less noticeable. I still feel like my playing should not be muffling the loop at all though...

And as for using a clean sound, the problem was less noticeable on that setting but still there. It was harder to tell, but definitely still happening when I let a note ring out over the top.

Trouble with the Katana is that it is basically one channel with five different settings, rather than five different channels, so I can't really try using one channel for loop and one for my lead playing. What I found was that when I recorded the loop on the clean setting, then switched the Katana over to the lead setting, the loop came out via the lead setting as well, so I couldn't have the loop clean while I played with lead. But I'm guessing that is normal anyway???

What do you guys think? Is the pedal the problem, or could something about my setup be the problem? I will send the pedal back, but don't know whether to get a replacement or just get a refund and not bother with a looper.

[Mincer]

Re: Is my loop pedal broken, just rubbish, or am I using it wrong?

For a looper to have consistent volume with an overdriven sound, the looper has to be *after* the source of overdrive. A looper going into a distorted amp is a big sonic mess where the compression of the amp is is making a big sonic mess. So, if you use a clean sound, go guitar>looper>amp, and loop a phrase, when you play over it, you can't hear the loop? That certainly isn't right. You should hear it clearly.

[Jacew]

Re: Is my loop pedal broken, just rubbish, or am I using it wrong?

Simply. You can't use looper in front of amp with dirt: You need to keep your amp perfectly clean (and add possible dirt from pedal before the looper), or put it in the fx loop for it to work.

The big caveat in loopers is that in usual setup, whatever you're looping comes out the same as the guitar signal, Hence it's only really useful for complex clean passages. With dirt you want to separate the lead and backing, so you need to use pedals for overdrive, or make complex setup with more than one amp.

Using two channels might work for some amps, but I have no experience about that.