BOSS RC-1 Loop Station Pedal | Industry Standard Simple Looper for Guitar, Bass, Keyboards & More | 24-Segment LED Indicator | 12 Minutes of Record Time | Record, Playback, Overdub, Undo & Redo Loops

Product Information

As you will read next, a better comparison is the RC-3 and the RC-5. Read about the RC-5 below before you decide on either one. If you’re a live performer and you think you’ll experiment with adding loops to your playing, the RC-3 is a great starting point. The RC-5 is clearly the most advanced compact loop station when you compare it against the RC-1 or RC-3. The RC-1 is the simplest and cheapest loop station pedal. It was designed as a basic looper to compete against the extremely popular Ditto Looper by TC Electronic. If you are a guitarist who wants to play full verse/chorus style songs and jams in full using a looper and rhythm player, there is an alternative worth considering.

The RC-600 also increases the I/O capability by offering two stereo inputs, two mic inputs, and three stereo outputs. You can record different chord progressions and practice improvising over them and have them ready at every practice session. The LCD display includes four dedicated knobs, which should make it easier to control the software side of things. Some hardware controls found on the RC-300 have been removed in the RC-600 and moved into the software side. So having an easy interface is important if you want to be able to dig into personalizing your pedalboard or setting up effects and signal routing.If you’re looking for a basic looper that won’t take up much space on your pedalboard, then the RC-1, RC-3, or RC-5 is probably all you need. Unlike the other loop station pedals in this guide, the RC-10R really does focus heavily on the rhythm aspects instead of the looping aspects. BOSS RC-10R vs RC-30 You may find that the three footswitches on the RC-500 are more than enough to give you adequate control over your loops and you may prefer the other modern features such as the color-coded screen. Stereo inputs and outputs: All BOSS Loop Stations support mono or stereo inputs and outputs. This is great if you run a stereo rig, but it can be a great way to experiment with looping different instruments together. For example, let’s say you have a delay pedal and you want the timing of the delay to match your loops. If your delay pedal is MIDI compatible, you can easily sync it with the RC-300 (the RC-30 also supports MIDI). Choosing between the RC-30 and the RC-300

There are two footswitches on the pedal, the left one for your loops and the right one for your rhythms.

RC-5

Assign functions have been increased from 8 to 16, providing expanded performance control via the front panel, external footswitches, expression pedal, and MIDI If you’ve read through each of the above pedals, you should have a good idea of which one suits you the best. There’s a big difference between each Loop Station pedal, so for most guitarists, the choice will be easy. The BeatBuddy is a superior rhythm pedal and the RC-5 is a superior looper pedal than the RC-10R. You can sync both pedals via MIDI, so they can act as one. Both pedals make use of one footswitch and one level knob. The Ditto Looper is mono while the RC-3 supports mono or stereo inputs and outputs. If you use stereo pedals or plan on using them in the future, this is a great feature to have. There’s clearly a big difference between the RC-3 and RC-30. The RC-30 is also almost twice the price of the RC-3. So the big question for you is whether the extra control and features built into the RC-30 are worth it to you.

The BOSS RC-500 was released in 2020 and while the name implies that it’s a bigger and better pedal than the RC-300, it definitely doesn’t look it at first.If you want something compact, but you don’t want to sacrifice features, the RC-5 is hands-down the best choice. The RC-3 isn’t quite dated, but it feels that way when you compare it against the RC-5’s RGB LED screen. The first thing to point out is that the RC-3 was released in 2011, so it is nine years older than the RC-5. The Loop Pedal is not just for performing and practising, it's even an extremely powerful song sketching tool. You can record and save your ideas to the Looper, meaning you never lose those glorious moments of inspiration again.