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Re: The Big Choice





jessethom@canada.com wrote:

> What's up everyone?!
>
> I could really use the advice of some knowledgable,
> experienced loopers.
>
> I'm new to looping, and I'm trying to decide what pedal
> to buy based on my intended purpose, which from what I
> can tell from reading hundreds of reviews (man my eyes
> are sore) is a purpose that is not that typical.
>
> So here is the information I think someone would need
> to help me out with my choice of pedal:
>
> 1) It would be for live use (as opposed to studio)
> 2) Using a small mixer, I'm basically going to be
> performing as a one-man-band, building my songs up from
> the ground by way of looping (drums first, then bass,
> then piano etc.....about 4-5 total layers on the loop
> when I'm done constructing it). Then I pick up an
> acoustic guitar and play/sing along to my loop, then
> move on to the next song etc.
> 3) My songs consist of relatively short loops (ie:
> similar to hip hop), so I would sample a couple of bars
> of drums (20 seconds tops), then add the "riffs"
> overtop.
>
> I've basically narrowed it down to either the Echoplex,
> or the Boomerang, which are quite different in price,
> as you're all fully aware.  If the Boomerang can
> satisfy my needs, please let me know.
> However there are two issues surrounding the Boomerang
> that I've seen in user reivews that I'd love to have
> confirmed or denied:
>
> 1) People complain that as you stack layers, the layers
> at the bottom of the stack become quieter to compensate
> for the new layers.  In my case, the bottom layer would
> be the drums which I definetely do not want
> diminishing, since it's the foundation.  Is there truth
> to this or are people just not setting their decay to
> "no decay"?  Also, I'm only stacking 4-5 instruments,
> so could it be that these people are talking about loss
> of initial layers when they've added their 20th layer
> or something?
>
> 2) People compain about the sound quality.  It's for
> live shows, so I'm not too concerned about EQ problems,
> but is there going to be a general "muddyness"
> happening if I'm layering thick instruments like the
> drums, bass, and piano together?
>
> As far as I can tell, the biggest plus for getting the
> Echoplex for live shows is that there is an "undo"
> function, and it seems easier to get your timing right
> by playing to a click track or something.  For the
> money I save with the Boomerang, I figure I can just
> practice really hard until I'm consistent enough to not
> need these functions.
>
> Can someone PLEASE let me know which of these pedals is
> better for this one-man-band silliness (Or, if I've got
> it all wrong and there's another pedal that's better) ?
>
> I've been very giving to people in general for the past
> couple of weeks so that you'll all pick up on my good
> karma, forgive me for the excessively-long email, and
> offer me any advice you might have....my livlihood
> pretty much depends on it!
>
> Thanks so much for your time guys.
>
> Try and look at Christmas in a new way this year,
> -Jesse

Hey Jesse,
    I use the Echoplex in a similar context, do drums though.  I would
highly recommend the EDP, for it's sound quality, tight rhythmic timing,
and ability to do many things that other loopers can't.  I would
investigate Keller Williams album entitled Loop.  I know that he uses an
EDP now, and does the one man band thing quite well.

John
www.johnmazzarella.com