Plus, with 13 hours of stereo recording time, there's plenty of space for extended creative journeys. Thanks to the inclusion of BOSS's best-in-class 32-bit AD/DA and 32-bit floating-point processing, this pedal manages to capture your own personal sound the way you want it to be heard. The middle foot switch stops the recording or playback, while with the right foot switch you can select a track. Multi-layered loops on the older pedals started to take on a distinctly lo-fi feel as you added more and more loops, and not necessarily in a good way.

The bottom line is that if you’re like most guitarists, looping mainly as a practice tool or for a bit of fun, with the occasional gig, it’s comfortably towards the top of the pack. And finally, practice, any musician wishing to hone their improvisational skills can on the fly record a progression into the looper and practice soloing. The RC-500 is also ideal for rehearsing at home or refining ideas – whether learning and practicing riffs, working on a solo, or going over the entire set list to prepare for the next gig. Some value them as a practice tool, laying down a basic chord progression over which they can work at expanding their lick vocabulary. I don't really have need for the effects, and would like to disable them, as occasionally I trigger the effects when tapping the left pedal (and the default effect is the Bend Down, which drops the signal frequency, and is very jarring when done accidentally).Finally, the MIDI signals not only trigger audio files – they can also be used to synchronise the tempo with a DAW. The first thing I'd point out is how much more bomb-proof this - and other Boss pedals - look these days. A. If the standard guarantee with the product is 2 years, by adding this Extended Guarantee the total period of cover would be 5 Years. The RC-500’s ins/outs and footswitches are factory-configured for basic operation, but you can customise what they do to suit your personal looping preferences - reassigning them in a variety of different ways. Things like MIDI integration if you’re using an external clock source, or the ability to load up loops from a laptop.

The RC-500 operates along similar lines – while adding twenty years' worth of technological advances and experience. To get the absolute most out of the RC-500, you can connect up to two external footswitches for direct control of many assignable functions, or an expression pedal for continuous adjustments.The fact that there are better options for live looping musicians shouldn’t distract from what the pedal can do. If it is deemed that the repair is required due to any of the areas covered, Rimmers Music will pay for the expert and the subsequent repair or replacement. Instead - since the time stretching algorithm employed by the RC-500 is abysmal - the audio skips, distorts and fragments almost constantly. Note: If you want to know when the Boss RC-500 was released relative to other Boss loopers, we’ve made a timeline here.

Nevertheless, the drum tracks on the Boss RC-500 are more than enough to get your creative juices flowing. I also like the full stereo in and out connections, and the fact the XLR connection has phantom power too, while a total of 13 hours of recording time and 99 save locations means you’ll have a way to go before you run out of space. While the older unit had a just two footswitches, supplemented with a fairly busy upper section, the RC-500 adds an extra switch and streamlines the top. We're supplied with a bright LCD with a multi-colour backlight for viewing loop status and editing parameters. What if you just need to have stuff like reverse mode, onboard effects and more rhythm backing options than you’re likely to ever use?Not that big of a deal but the drum patterns could be a bit more sophisticated and let you import your own pattern, which it doesn't. While Boss may have missed an opportunity to add more useful effects (rather than ones I honestly can’t imagine using other than as a novelty), the RC-500 stands out as a happy medium for those who want to take their looping to the next level.

We use cookies to analyse site usage, provide social media features and personalise content and ads. Overall i would recommend the RC500 but really it is just an RC5 with volume controls and a second loop option. And, even if you do, you can connect via USB to a laptop and import/export WAV files to your heart’s content. This is a crosspost from r/guitarpedals, someone there made me aware of this subreddit and it looks cool - hi everybody! while others help us to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used.

Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Three onboard footswitches make it simple to control recording and playback, track switching, and more.