loop pedal or ipad

[frogtime]

hi guys

im a bedroom musician in everyday learning process. but i think biab is not well enough for me.

i dont have an amplifier. i sold it years ago. and practising without electric. or sometimes by sound card but it really sucks.

i just need to loop what i play while sitting on the bed. but it will cost about 500 dollars in my country to buy an ordinary amplifier and a pedal.

do you think that cost will worth it or can an ipad give me the result?

[Whirly]

I have a looper and an iPad. I use them both for looping changes to practice over. I prefer, and mostly use, the looper. It just sits there on the floor waiting. Very quick and easy. You don't need much of an amplifier. Even a headphone amp will do. I have a guitar waiting in the bedroom now. plugged into a looper/amp waiting for me right now/always.

The iPad can do so many other things. You'll require additional equipment to get your guitar signal into the iPad. A good input will cost as much as a cheap amp. Guitar, cord, converter, iPad, headphones, it gets a little busy for making music.

For practice-looping, a looper wins by far. You can't check your email, surf the web, store all your music-charts, with a looper though.

[Bill C]

The Digitech JamMan - the original one at least - could power headphones directly. You'll need low(ish) impedance headphones though to get decent level - or maybe I'm going deaf!

[Fred2746]

Some of my students have either the I or the II. Cool amps. My dad just picked up the III. He's having a blast with it. I love the Fender models and the 'verb is really cool.

[phild]

Can I suggest a Boss BR-80, an absolutely amazing piece of gear, it's basically an 8 track digital recorder with backing tracks and drum loops and Guitar input as well as stereo mics. The Br-80 comes with a 2gb SD card which can be replaced with up to 32gb. The icing on the cake is that it has full boss guitar modelling inbuilt. Not sure of the price in your part of the world but I paid just $325 Australian for mine. The Br-80 is small enough to fit in your shirt pocket, runs for around 6 hours on a pair of AA's, all you need is some headphones.

[JimBobWay]

I have a basic JamMan pedal, the cheapest one, which I added a memory card to. This little thing is pretty amazing. I travel with it, and a Pandora headphone amp and usually my Yamaha silent classical. I can plug the whole rig into any amp or PA and do live looping, or playback loops or other pre-recorded material. All of that plus cords and headphones cost around $250 USD about 5 years ago, it's surely all cheaper now online.

I hope you enjoy whatever you end up with as much as I have enjoyed this setup!

[tytlfamily]

Hello, I also travel allot, and have a small travel guitar. I use this :

AmpliTube iRig


It connects your guitar to either an iPhone, or iPad. The iPad has a very inexpensive program called garage band. You can load it on the iPad, or iPhone. It allows you to record, and play your guitar through headphones with various amp models and effects, if you desire. Since it records, it is easy to create your own loops to play with, and record yourself playing over them in the process. Really a nice way to go if you are looking at the iPad.


If your home computer is a Apple iMac, it has garage band already installed on it, you can plug your guitar directly into your computer and play and record. If you have a windows based computer, you may want to check out the free program called Audacity:

Audacity: Free Audio Editor and Recorder

It allows you to record and play through your computer also. Then you create your loops and play all night !!!


Cheers,
Tytl

[JimBobWay]

This is an excellent program. No offense to GarageBand - that's fine for basic recording, but Audacity is incredible, if a bit deep. Be prepared to spend a lot of time with it. It will all be time well spent, if my experience is typical.