Who uses switchers / loop selectors on their board?

[playas]

If you use a loop switcher what was it that made you you decide to?

How do you use it/program it?
Do you have every pedal in an individual loop or various pedals per loop? Why?

Which selector do you use?

Does it serve your purposes adequately?

Do you have a favourite loop/program?

 

[PFDarkside]

I have an ES8. I was caught up in the wave of using a ridiculous qty. of pedals to try to get any tone possible as well as automate/create presets for all tones. The ES8 is extremely flexible and including MIDI I can switch presets on the Strymon pedals. I also “nested” smaller loop switchers within loops (all controlled my MIDI) to increase the number of loops yet keep the manual switching flexibility.

Each loop is dedicated to a “function”.
1. Compressor
Vol. Volume + Boost
2. Fuzz
3. TS Overdrive
4. Klone Overdrive
5. Amp in a Box (4 in a loop switcher)
6. Modulation (4 in a loop switcher)
7. Delay
8. Reverb

By selecting a preset I get all of the loops selected plus MIDI commands for Patch Change to set the sub looper active loops and Strymon presets. I can then go to manual mode to bring modulation in/out, or engage an overdrive, etc. Its complicated but makes perfect sense to me since I designed it.

I’ve since moved back to just a simple board with fewer pedals or even just the Waza Air headphones for practicing. I still have the ES-8 board, I’ve pilfered a few pedals off of it for synth and small board usage, but I’m proud of the ridiculousness I built and used. I’ll post a pic here soon.

 

[PFDarkside]

When I started building:

 

[NegativeEase]

Ive built my own using relay controls around each pedal on my pedal board which sits back at my amp -and then I control that via a single pedal by me onstage.

I'm building a new one right now with built in MIDI preset control, tuner, and a little spectral analyser -its fun.

 

[playas]

That's interesting PFD, grouping by function.

Do you select the individual pedal(s) you want beforehand and then just select that function during the song?

 

[PFDarkside]

That's interesting PFD, grouping by function.

Do you select the individual pedal(s) you want beforehand and then just select that function during the song?

It depends on the song and what I’m doing. For example if we play Wish You We’re Here by Incubus I’ve got a patches for the intro (mid gain), the verses (chime with phaser), the choruses (heavy gain) and the outro (heavy gain with flanger) that are fully programmed.

I’ve also got my first bank which is “utility”, patches 1-4 send MIDI messages to the Amp in a Box looper to select one pedal and 5-8 that send MIDI messages to the modulation looper to select which pedal. At that point I can manually bring in what ever loops I want. I also do “artist” banks, so 8 different EVH type tones or 8 different Hendrix type tones.

While the 4 Wamplers sound really good along with my Fender clean, they don’t respond like the different amps. It’s more like varying levels of gain and EQ. The Triple Wreck os bassy like a recto and the Pinnacle is mid-pushed, but they feel more like varying flavors instead of completely different amps. I’m considering an AxeFX to get the varying tones and just a small pedalboard and one of the tube amps for specialty tones. We’ll see.

 

[beaubrummels]

I used a Rocktron switcher for a while. Each pedal when in it's own loop, then you program which loops/pedals are 'on' for presets in banks. Worked great. I could change amp sounds and delay times with one switch between songs.

 

[playas]

Is it worthwhile if none of your pedals have midi capabilities, and if so does anyone have an example of how they use theirs?

 

[Artie]

I use the EHX Tri-Parallel mixer. I use it mainly to A/B pedals instantly. It's a nice unit.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/TriParMix--electro-harmonix-tri-parallel-mixer

 

[playas]

...so how does that work then, eg A/B between different drives or different types of modulation etc. or which pedals do you use it to A/B between?

 

[Artie]

...so how does that work then, eg A/B between different drives or different types of modulation etc. or which pedals do you use it to A/B between?

The TP Mixer has two modes of operation. When you hit a footswitch, it can either add that one in, or select that one exclusively. So, for example, I can switch instantly back and forth between my Duncan Twin Tube Classic and my EHX 5150. Or, I've gone back and forth between my Boss DS-1 and SD-1. Or a couple chorus'. Its just fun to switch instantly.

 

[playas]

Man, that's a really interesting tool/gadget (not 100% sure which - EHX seem to excel at that).

 

[AJ6stringsting]

I use a Decibel Eleven Loop Expander , it has a Class A Buffer input and four loops to add foot pedals in my MIDI Controlled signal chain.

I got it to add an Acoustic Simulator and Sitar Simulator and the other two will not be used until later.
The fourth loop can be used to change channels on an amp head, if I chose.

I can do songs like Can't Kill Rock n Roll, Diary Of A Madman, Dead Or Alive, Fade To Black, Damn Good and it will add the Acoustic simulator or Sitar simulator seamlessly without any glitches.

The RJM Mini Effects Gizmo is a great one too, but more expensive.

 

[FuseG4]

I love my One Control White Loop a/b loop switcher
it has two loops and is either Loop A, Loop B, or Off.

Loop A is blues driver set to light overdrive and rat set to boost level a lot
Loop B is green Russian big muff reissue

that way I can leave the big muff and blues driver always on and switch between the two with one press, and sometimes step on the rat for lead boost. it's my pseudo three channel amp.

 

[Blille]

I love my MS3.

My delay/reverb settings are pretty stable so I just really need a couple of loops. I have the Phasor, Golden Boy and Muff in the three loops. I also use it for midi with the Golden Boy and for the tap tempo in the DD5. It also helps me keep my board smaller because it replaces some effects that I seldom use like octaver or slow gear.

 

[jeremy]

i use a simple radial loop pedal. there are some pedals i dont love the buffer or bypass tone so i put them in a loop, works great and really simple and easy to use

 

[PFDarkside]

I use a Decibel Eleven Loop Expander , it has a Class A Buffer input and four loops to add foot pedals in my MIDI Controlled signal chain.

I got it to add an Acoustic Simulator and Sitar Simulator and the other two will not be used until later.
The fourth loop can be used to change channels on an amp head, if I chose.

I can do songs like Can't Kill Rock n Roll, Diary Of A Madman, Dead Or Alive, Fade To Black, Damn Good and it will add the Acoustic simulator or Sitar simulator seamlessly without any glitches.

The RJM Mini Effects Gizmo is a great one too, but more expensive.

Not sure why they discontinued it. You’ll see two on the underside of my big board above.

 

[AJ6stringsting]

Not sure why they discontinued it. You’ll see two on the underside of my big board above.

Back I'm the day ( 1980's ) , things like the DB 11 Effects Looper or the RJM Mini Effects Gizmo would have cost $ 700.00, easily.

Decibel Eleven should make the the Effects Looper again or make a better version of it.

 

[PFDarkside]

Back I'm the day ( 1980's ) , things like the DB 11 Effects Looper or the RJM Mini Effects Gizmo would have cost $ 700.00, easily.

Decibel Eleven should make the the Effects Looper again or make a better version of it.

100%! What I can do with the Boss ES-8 and a few DB11s would have been $10K+ from Bradshaw or Cornish in the 1980’s. It’s wild.

 

[AJ6stringsting]

100%! What I can do with the Boss ES-8 and a few DB11s would have been $10K+ from Bradshaw or Cornish in the 1980’s. It’s wild.

Technology, is not as expensive like it was in the 1980's.

I was in bands that owned the top of the line rack gear, now I own my own.

Times are sweet my friend !!!!