The guitar is one of the most versatile and unique instruments in the world. While there’s practically no end to what you can do with the guitar, there are some limitations to what you can do with the guitar. Fortunately, gear companies are constantly providing guitar players with new ways to push the envelope even further.
The loop pedal is one of the best examples of a piece of gear that makes it much easier for guitarists to take their sound into incredible new territory. Having two hands restricts our ability as guitar players sometimes, and a looper does a great job at eliminating this problem. Ever wonder what you’d be able to play if you had a few extra sets of hands at your disposal?
Today, we’re going to help simplify everything there is to know about these incredible pedals. We’ll also provide a comprehensive review of the best looper pedals currently available.
What Does A Looper Pedal Do?
We’ve all been on a gig and had a moment where we said, “I wish there were two of me.” With a looper pedal, that dream can become a reality. These unique pedals are part guitar effect and part recording studio, and they’re the perfect way for solo musicians and singer-songwriters to add an extra guitar to their playing.
Loopers are also incredibly useful if you play in a live band with multiple guitar players already. Look no further than the work of Dave Knudson and Minus the Bear to hear the incredible soundscapes you can dive into when you have a looper and a full band at your disposal.
Beyond their usefulness for live performance, loopers are also infinitely useful as a practice tool. You can quickly put down a rhythm track and then loop that while you work out lead guitar parts, solos, or improvisations.
Loopers record what you’re playing and allow you to play it back instantly as soon as you complete recording a new track. The looper saves the recording either to onboard memory or to an SD card, and the looper can recall what you record in real-time.
Most loopers offer plenty of features and functionality to help you manipulate the loops you record. Most loopers allow you to continue to overdub new tracks onto your initial loop, experiment with tempo changes and effects, such as reverse looping, and much more.
As a guitarist, your hands are full, so real-time manipulation of effects has always been challenging. With this in mind, most looper pedals are much larger than a traditional stompbox to provide large and easy to manipulate switches and buttons so the guitar player can control these parameters with their feet instead of their hands.
Choosing the Best Looper Pedal for Your Needs
In years past, there were only ever a handful of loopers on the market. As more guitar players begin to harness these potent effects, more top manufacturers have thrown their hats into the ring with their own looper pedals. As you’d imagine, shopping for a looper can sometimes feel stressful or confusing. We’ll help you make sense out of how to choose the best looper pedal below.
Controlling the Looper
One of the most critical concerns for people who use a looper is how they’ll control it live. Anyone with a looper can tell you, if you add one to your rig, you’ll be performing double-duty as a dancer in addition to the guitar.
To access the pedal’s different functionality, several other dance steps may be necessary. You may need to double-tap, hold switches down, or release them immediately to trigger the pedal’s different functions. Not only can it be tiring, but it can also throw you off your game when you’re trying to focus on playing guitar while manipulating the pedal.
Some loopers offer a variety of different footswitches and controls to combat these issues so you can access the functions you need more easily, without having to double or triple tap any switches or perform whatever other gymnastics may be necessary.
Keep in mind that the more switches and controls a pedal offers, the larger it will be. Experiment with different looper pedals and find one that provides all the functionality you need while still being easy to control.
Loop Time
The first looper pedals were able to conjure 5-10 seconds of loop time, and at the time, we thought that was the holy grail. These days, most quality loopers can provide several minutes of loop time or more.
Give some thought to what your plans are for your looper to help you decide roughly how much loop time you’ll need for all the purposes you have in mind for your looper.
Onboard Memory
Equally as crucial as loop time is how much memory the pedal has for storage. Onboard storage allows you to recall loops you’ve recorded quickly, and it’s critical if you plan on chaining multiple loops together as part of your live show.
If you need basic loop functionality, memory will be less of a concern for you. Regardless, it’s always good to have a pedal that offers a decent amount of onboard storage, or the ability to use an SD card to capture more of your guitar playing.
Multitrack Looping
Loopers come in two varieties: single-track loopers, which allow you to create a single loop which you can overdub, and multitrack loopers which will enable you to combine multiple loops together, either for different song sections, or to play simultaneously.
Even if basic functionality is all you need, multitrack looper pedals are always a great tool to have. You never know when you’ll want to make use of the ability to chain a few loops together, and that’s especially true for solo performers.
Size
Many of today’s best looper pedals offer several auxiliary switches or knobs to control how the pedal functions, and this translates to larger pedals. You’ll want to keep this in mind, primarily if you rely on many effects to deliver your tone. Loopers can quickly balloon to three or four times the size of a traditional stompbox, so keep the amount of space you have in mind while shopping.
The Top 13 Best Looper Pedal Choices
With so many amazing looper pedals on the market, let’s not waste any more time before diving into our reviews of the best looper pedals available today.
Boss RC-3 Loop Station
Best looper for beginners
The Boss RC-3 Loop Station proves that you can fit tons of functionality into the smallest of packages. This small pedal takes up a single space on your pedalboard while still providing everything you’ll need, like an impressive 3-hours of audio recording capability and room to save 99 loops to the onboard memory.
The Boss RC-3 makes use of the ESC2 DSP chip, which delivers your loops in true high fidelity, so your riffs come through the speakers the same way they came off your hands. There are also several preset drum rhythms for you to jam along to, which is a helpful tool for solo musicians and students.
Like the smaller RC-1, the RC-3 offers a single knob for controlling the volume of the loops and several buttons for making changes to the unit or selecting presets. It also features true stereo operation, so you can run your loops out to multiple amplifiers.
Features & Benefits
Singletrack looper
Up to 3-hours of stereo recording
99 user presets
Tap tempo
Expression pedal compatible
Onboard drum patterns
USB connectivity
Who Should Use This?
The RC-3 is the perfect looper pedal looking for a stereo looper that offers basic features in a compact housing. While the functionality and sound quality is second to none, the diminutive size of this effect and the single footswitch makes it more challenging to use than some larger looper pedals.
Boss RC-1 Loop Station Looper Pedal
Best looper pedal value
The Boss RC-1 Loop Station is a pared-down version of their famous line of Loop Station pedals. It delivers reliable performance, exceptional sound quality, and a compact size that fits nicely onto any pedalboard.
The diminutive Boss RC-1 offers up to 12 minutes of loop time, stereo I/O, and the last phrase you record stays in memory until you record something new, which makes it an excellent tool for solo practice and songwriting.
A single level control allows you to adjust the volume of your loops on the RC-1 Loop Station and a 24-segment LED circle so you can check the mode and status of the pedal at a glance.
Features & Benefits
Singletrack looper
12 minutes of recording time
Last phrase stays in looper memory
Stereo I/O
Compatible with external footswitches
Who Should Use This?
The Boss RC-1 Loop Station is the perfect looper for anyone who needs a basic looper with a single footswitch and isn’t interested in the bells and whistles common among more expensive units.
TC Electronic Ditto+ Looper Pedal
Best looper pedal for cramped pedalboards
The TC Electronic Ditto looper is one of the most well-designed loopers of all time, but it did leave us wanting for a few additional bells and whistles. With the Plus model of the TC Electronic Ditto Looper, this storied effect manufacturer has taken the original looper, souped it up to the max, and sent it on its way.
This tiny looper offers an impressive 60 minutes of recording time with storage for up to 99 loops directly to the onboard memory. Layering is no issue with the Ditto+, as you can add unlimited overdubs to your tracks, and the overdub can even be longer than the original loop, thanks to the Dynamic Loop Length feature.
A large color display lets you know exactly where you stand in real-time, and the nano-size enclosure makes this TC Electronic looper the perfect effect for cramped pedalboards.
Features & Benefits
Singletrack looper
Up to 60 minutes of recording time
Storage for up to 99 loops
Single knob control
Full-color display
Who Should Use This?
The TC Electronic Ditto+ is the ideal looper pedal for guitarists who like to overdub their tracks to their heart’s content. This effect is also the perfect choice for players who need a full-featured looper with the tiniest footprint possible.
Electro-Harmonix 720 Stereo Looper Pedal
Best guitar looper pedal
The Electro-Harmonix 720 Stereo Looper pedal is a powerhouse effect for live performance. This stompboxmanages to maintain a pedalboard-friendly size while adding a second footswitch and additional hands-free functionality to make this a winner for guitarists who use a looper with their band.
The Electro-Harmonix 720 Stereo Looper pedal offers up to 12 minutes of high fidelity, uncompressed audio loops at a 44.1kHz sample rate, so your tracks will sound as good as your natural playing. There’s also no limit to the number of overdubs you can apply to this Electro-Harmonix effect.
The front panel of the Electro-Harmonix 720 offers a footswitch to engage the looper and another to stop it, which is a handy feature that will help save you plenty of dance steps while you’re on stage. There’s also buttons for ½ speed and reverse, which are illuminated and large enough to control with your foot while you’re playing live.
Features & Benefits
Singletrack looper
Up to 12 minutes loop time
Stereo operation
Can loop two instruments at once via stereo I/O
Controls for start, stop, ½ speed, reverse, level, and mode
LED display
Exp pedal compatible
USB connectivity
Who Should Use This?
The Electro-Harmonix 720 Stereo Looper is one of the best looper pedals for live musicians who need an intuitive looper they can incorporate into their live show.
Boss RC-300 Loop Station 3-track Looper Pedal
Best Boss Loop Station
If you caught Ed Sheeran at his recent Grammy performance, you were probably blown away by his expansive Chewie II looper, which was custom-built by his guitar tech. If you’re looking to add that impressive looper to your setup, unfortunately, you’re out of luck. But, the Boss RC-300 is the next best thing.
The Boss RC-300 provides three independent stereo tracks with unlimited overdubbing on each and up to three hours of loop recording capacity. This monster also acts as a multi-effects pedal and features 16 built-in effects, dozens of rhythms and backing tracks, and a programmable expression pedal.
The rear panel is a gear head’s dream, with MIDI sync and I/O, Stereo I/O, XLR in, multiple exp pedal ports, a USB port for firmware updates, and so much more.
Features & Benefits
Multitrack looper
Up to three hours loop time
Studio sound quality
Stereo I/O
MIDI I/O/Thru
XLR input
Onboard exp pedal
99 User storage banks
Who Should Use This?
The Boss RC-300 is perfect for singer-songwriters, solo musicians when they’re doing live performances, and anyone who needs maximum functionality from their looper pedal. It’s one of the best looper pedals ever created.
Headrush Looperboard Advanced Performance Looper
Best looper pedal for live performance
Behold! The looper to end all loopers. The Headrush Looperboard is the most full-featured and advanced looping interface on the planet, and if you’ve been disappointed by limitations with smaller looper pedals, this is the looper for you.
The Headrush Looperboard offers four independent tracks and quad-core DSP processing to prevent bottlenecking while ensuring an instantaneous response to any changes you make. There are 20 onboard effects you can apply to your loops, so you can get away with using this powerful workstation as your full pedalboard. Frankly, it’s something to consider as with its monster screen and 12-footswitch workspace, it’s quite large.
The front panel offers a massive 7” touchscreen that allows you to intuitively make adjustments to your loop tracks in real-time. The pedal records all loops with a pristine 32-bit 44.1kHz quality signal path, so you and your audience will enjoy studio-quality sound from the Looperboard.
Features & Benefits
Multitrack looper
Unlimited stereo recording time
300 built-in loop tracks
Studio sound quality
20 onboard effects (up to 8 simultaneous)
Stereo I/O
MIDI sync and I/O
4 XLR/Instrument combo jacks
Includes Pro Tools software
Includes power supply
Who Should Use This?
The Headrush Looperboard is among the best looper pedals for solo performers who are willing to spare no expense to take their productions to the next level.
Pigtronix Infinity 2 Looper Pedal
Best guitar loop pedal for usability
The Pigtronix Infinity 2 is a tiny and exceptionally well-designed stereo looper pedal that provides tons of looping capability while taking up as little space as possible. This minimalist looper offers a dual footswitch for control the two independent loops, volume, and decay knobs, and a button to change the functionality of each footswitch.
The decay parameter is an exciting feature that makes the Pigtronix Infinity looper all the more musical. Turn the decay knob all the way clockwise, and overdubs disappear after a single loop cycle. Turn the decay knob counterclockwise, and it performs like a traditional looper. The space between the two extremes is where the magic happens, and the loop continues to evolve each time it repeats.
The most ingenious feature of the Infinity 2 is its Loop Boundary function, which eliminates much of the gymnastics inherent to creating loops. Any changes or overdubs you make will appear on the next loop cycle in perfect timing, with no need for the dance routine. The Infinity 2 also has onboard effects, including stutter and octave, stereo I/O, and an exp pedal input.
Features & Benefits
Multitrack looper
5 minutes of looping time
Controls for volume and decay
Stutter, decay, and octave effects
Stereo output
Exp pedal input
Who Should Use This?
The new Pigtronix Infinity looper is an excellent choice for guitarists who need one of the best looper pedals but aren’t willing to incorporate a monstrous pedal that takes up half their stage space into their rig.
MXR Clone Looper Pedal
Most durable looper pedal
The MXR Clone looper is a bulletproof workhorse of a looper pedal, which is precisely what you’d expect from the folks at MXR. This simple and compact pedal is easy to use and rich with features that are sure to help take your live performance to the next level.
The MXR Clone looper delivers up to 6-minutes of loop time, unlimited overdubs, and an impressive sample rate of u to 88.1kHz, ensuring your loops come through in studio quality high fidelity. There’s also an exp pedal input and reverse and half-speed functions.
Features & Benefits
Singletrack looper
6 minutes of looping time
Reverse and ½ time looping
Exp pedal input
Switchable bypass
Who Should Use This?
The MXR Clone is among the best looper pedals for guitarists who need a basic and compact looper that’s easy to use and built for life on the road.
Boss RC-5 Loop Station Compact Phrase Recorder Pedal
Best stompbox looper for long loops
As one of the most potent stompbox-sized Loop Stations from Boss, the Boss RC-5 delivers an impressive 13 hours of loop time, with 90 minutes available for a single loop. The RC-5 offers unlimited overdubs and tons of drum patterns and rhythms for you to pad out your loops with. Saving your work is easy, as the RC-5 provides 99 user storage bays for loops.
Making adjustments or selecting drum loops is easy, thanks to the large color display and a few tiny buttons on the front panel. The RC-5 offers stereo I/O and a multi-function footswitch for pulling even more functionality from your powerful new looper pedal. You can also add an additional footswitch or EXP pedal.
Features & Benefits
Singletrack looper
13 hours of recording time
Up to 90 minutes per loop
57 drum loops with variations and seven different drum kits
Compatible with external footswitches
Who Should Use This?
The Boss RC-5 Loop Station is one of the best looper pedals for guitarists who want a stompbox-size looper that offers some useful bells and whistles over what you’ll find with the less expensive Loop Stations.
DigiTech Trio+ Looper Pedal
Best looper for backing tracks
If you’re a solo artist or singer-songwriter, rejoice! The DigiTech Trio+ picks up where the original Trio pedal leaves off, adding even more rhythmic and accompaniment options to help turn simple songs until fully fleshed-out masterpieces, with sequencing for up to five different song parts.
The Trio+ can intelligently apply drum and bass accompaniment to what you’re playing according to the genre and style you select, making it an excellent live performance or practice companion.
You’ll find 12 different genre options, with 12 accompaniment styles for each genre. You can also choose from three different “busyness levels” for the bass accompaniment. Thanks to Audiolastic, you can even change tempo in real-time without affecting pitch.
You can record up to five different song sections, making it easy to create fully-realized productions of your original music, and there’s an onboard effects loop so you can add all of the effects you need to give life to your songs.
Features & Benefits
Singletrack looper/song generator
Provides intelligent bass and drum accompaniment
12 accompaniment genres with 12 styles for each genre
Independent control of your loop, bass, and drums
Onboard effects loop
Who Should Use This?
The DigiTech Trio+ is among the best looper pedals for solo performers looking to turn their one-person show into a full band performance.
Vox Lil' Looper Multi-effects Pedal
Best affordable 2-track looper
The Vox Lil’ Looper is a powerful little guy that offers multitrack looping and loads of onboard effects to help you fully realize all your musical ideas. There are also 12 onboard effects, including phaser, distortion, delay, and more. The powerful Lil’ Looper can even quantize your loops, ensuring that they stay perfectly on time at all times.
This pedal is perhaps the most affordable multitrack looper you’ll find, but it does have some drawbacks. For one, it only offers a maximum of 90-seconds of looping time per track. It also runs on AA batteries, and it drains them like they’re going out of style, so this is a pedal you’ll want to invest in a power supply for.
Features & Benefits
Multitrack looper
12 onboard effects
Quantization keeps your loops on beat at all times
Compatible with guitar or vocals
Exp pedal input
Who Should Use This?
The Lil’ Looper from Vox is one of the best looper pedals if you’re looking for a multitrack looper on a tight budget.
TC Electronic Ditto X2 Looper Pedal
Best loop pedal on a budget
TC Electronic hit it out of the park with their Ditto Looper, and the TC Electronic Ditto X2 improves upon the original with some useful effects that are a handy tool for creating a vibe and atmosphere at your next gig.
The Ditto X2 offers up to five minutes of 24-bit audio looping capability with unlimited overdubs. It also provides half-speed and reverse effects which allow you to explore interesting new sonic territory. These effects are especially handy in between songs to keep the show moving forward while the band grabs a drink or tunes up.
Rounding out the Ditto X2 is stereo I/O and an internal dip switch that allows you to customize how each footswitch will respond when you engage them. There’s also a USB in so you can import or export loops from your computer.
Features & Benefits
Singletrack looper
Reverse and half-speed effects
Five minutes of looping time
Stereo I/O
True Bypass
Who Should Use This?
The TC Electronic Ditto X2 is one of the best looper pedals for guitarists who need a basic and easy-to-use looper. If you like the original Ditto but find yourself wanting reverse and half-speed functionality, this is the pedal for you.
Boss RC-10R Rhythm Loop Station Pedal
Best Boss looper value
An excellent pedal for guitarists looking to move up from Boss’ smaller loopers but aren’t ready to take the plunge with the RC-300. The RC-10R Loop Station is a multitrack looper that offers up to six hours of recording capacity, 99 user bays, and more than 280 different drum rhythms across 16 different kits.
32-bit floating-point processing ensures studio-quality sound for all your loops, and Boss optimizes playback with their ingenious output structure, which allows you to send your guitar to your amp while sending the rhythm tracks from the looper to a separate full-range speaker or amplifier. You can also optimize the sound of each track separately if you don’t have the option to send them out to separate speakers.
The pedal also offers a USB port for downloading or exporting new loops and rhythms. It’s compatible with Boss Tone Central. It’s also compatible with MIDI, expression pedals, or an additional footswitch.
Do keep in mind that while the RC-10R is a multitrack looper, the rhythm section counts as one of the tracks. If you plan to record two loops independent of each other on your pedal, you won’t be able to add a backing track.
Features & Benefits
Multitrack looper
Six hours of recording time
99 user bays
280+ drum rhythms across 16 different drum kits
MIDI I/O
Stereo I/O
Who Should Use This?
The Boss RC-10R Rhythm Loop Station is perhaps the best looper pedal for guitarists who love the features of the RC-300 but need a more affordable option.
Looper Pedal Alternatives
While a standalone looper is usually your best bet for adding additional tracks to your music, there are some alternatives you may want to consider. These alternatives are perfect for those who want a looper to use occasionally but aren’t going to use one often enough to justify purchasing a dedicated unit.
Many multi-effects pedals offer loop functionality, as do some of the top delay pedals on the market. One pedal, in particular, makes an incredible alternative to a looper, and we’ll discuss it in greater detail below.
Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler Pedal
Best looper that isn’t a looper
The Line 6 modeling pedals took the guitar world by storm, and they’re still some of the most popular effects on the market almost twenty years later. Dave Knudson of Minus the Bear fame was using a DL4 to provide a veritable masterclass of how to incorporate loops and loop effects into live performance. It’s still one of the best pedals for looping even though it’s a delay.
The main draw of this multi-effects pedal is as a delay, and to that end, it’s tough to beat. The DL4 offers 15 different delay modes and tons of control over each effect. Beyond the delay, it also offers a 14-second looper that with ½ speed and reverse effects.
As a standalone loop pedal, the Line 6 DL4 is more powerful than some of the best dedicated loop pedals around. Add to that all of the delay effects that are the main draw of this pedal, and you have a very compelling alternative to a standalone looper.
Features & Benefits
15 different delay modes
14-second looper with ½ speed and reverse
Tap tempo
Stereo I/O
Exp pedal input
Three programmable presets
Includes power supply
Who Should Use This?
The Line 6 DL4 delay modeler is the perfect pedal for guitarists who need a high-end delay pedal in addition to looper functionality. This pedal is an excellent way for the occasional loop user to get more mileage from their effect.
Getting Started with Loop Pedals
Once you’ve selected the best looper pedal for your style, you’re already well on your way to utilizing this exciting tool to take your music to the next level. Whether you plan to use your looper as a practice tool, a way to improve your live performances, or to push the envelope of what the guitar is capable of, there are some easy ways to help you get the most out of using your looper.
Spend plenty of time learning all of the features and functions of your pedal. Youtube is a goldmine for understanding precisely what your new pedal is capable of, along with the manufacturers website and your owner’s manual.
Practice along with records you know make use of a looper to familiarize yourself with using your new pedal on the fly. For that matter, practice along with any record you love. Loop the rhythm guitar part, and then switch to the lead part to practice getting comfortable looping parts in time with the band.
