Top 7 Best Looper Pedals For Guitar & Bass Of 2024

Looper pedals are incredibly useful in live, studio and practice environments. They can help us learn theory and chord/scale relationships, build larger-than-life walls of sound, free up our hands to do other things, provide a repeating section to modulate with other effects, and much more.

Having a looper pedal can really open up our creative world and get us to hear things we otherwise wouldn't be able to do on a single instrument.

In this article, we'll discuss the top 7 best looper pedals in the world, ranging from simple one-button machines to in-depth looping stations.

Of course, any list like this will be subjective. I would hope and expect your top 7 to be different than mine (though I would hope there would be a lot of overlap). Regardless, this list will present to you 7 of the best looper pedals your money can buy!

The Top 7 Best Looper Pedals Are:

• TC Electronic Ditto
• Boss RC-300 Loop Station
• Boomerang III Phrase Sampler
• Electro-Harmonix Nano Looper 360
• Electro-Harmonix 720 Stereo Looper
• Line 6 JM4
• HeadRush Looperboard

Let's discuss each pedal on this list and the reasons why they are the best.

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What Are Looper Pedals & How Do They Work?

Looper pedals are effectively small computers that will record a section of audio and repeat it (loop it) until they're told to stop.

Looping can be thought of as an extension of delay, in a way. A delay that has infinite repeats and a very long delay time. Many digital delay modeling pedals have loop functionality. However, in this article, we'll focus on dedicated looper pedals.

A looper pedal will have controls to begin and end recording as well as a control to turn the loop off.

Most will have additional functions, including but not limited to:

• Additional loops (layers on top of the original loop)
• The ability to mute and unmute specific layers of the loop
• Level adjustments for each level
• Re-triggering the beginning of the loop
• Reversing of the looped audio
• Time stretching or compressing functions

It's important to note that, in the context of other pedals, the looper pedal will loop the signal at its input.

Therefore, depending on your goals, a looper pedal can be put anywhere in the signal chain.

If you're looking to preserve your tone within the loops, perhaps it's best to have the looper pedal at the end of the pedalboard.

If you're looking to modulate the effects of the loop (kind of like how a lot of Eurorack modular synth music is performed), then putting the looper pedal at the beginning of the pedalboard will likely work better.

Related article: How To Order Guitar/Bass Pedals (Ultimate Signal Flow Guide)

With that being said, let's talk about some looper pedals!

For more in-depth information on looper pedals, check out my article What Are Looper Pedals (Guitar/Bass FX) & How Do They Work?

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TC Electronic Ditto

First up is the wickedly simple but highly effective TC Electronic Ditto.

The Ditto is a super-simple, highly intuitive looper pedal with 24-bit uncompressed digital audio, 5 minutes of looping time, analog-dry-through, and true bypass.

Its internal memory even retains loops even after power down.

With one footswitch, one knob, one input, one output and one USB connection, the Ditto is about as simple as a looper pedal can get.

The small footprint of the Ditto allows it to fit easily on any pedalboard. Its die-cast metal body is designed to handle life on the road.

The USB connection allows us to connect the Ditto to our computer and upload firmware updates (not that a pedal this simple would really benefit greatly).

The Loop Level knob only controls the level of the looping audio. That leaves the footswitch to control the following:

• Record, Play and Overdu: by single clicks.
• Undo and Redo: by pressing and holding the switch.
• Stop: by pressing twice
• Clear: by pressing and holding (once the loop is stopped)

This pedal is super easy but may not be what's required on the road.

Luckily, TC has a line of Ditto pedals to choose from. Many pedals have much more functionality than the original Ditto. Check them out for yourself.

I chose to talk about the original because it's a great introduction and perhaps the best single knob looper on the market!

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Boss RC-300 Loop Station

The Boss RC-300 Loop Station is the flagship model of Boss's RC line and is fully deserving of a spot on this list for its impressive functionality.

I know, I know, I didn't mention the more advanced TC Electronic Ditto pedals, but I'm writing about the more advanced RC looper from Boss. I couldn't do this article without a dedicated spot for the legendary RC-300.

This beast of a pedal is practically its own pedalboard. It features 3 synchronized stereo looper tracks, each with its own dedicated volume knobs and transport-control footswitch. It also has a whopping 16 built-in effects with a master expression pedal and a control panel that meets all our parameter-tweaking needs.

Each track has a dedicated Record/Playback/Overdub switch and a dedicated stop switch, making triggering and stopping loops a piece of cake in live and studio situations. There’s also a master start/stop footswitch onboard.

The 16 built-in effects include:

• Transpose
• Flanger
• Phaser
• Pan
• Tremolo
• Slicer
• Bend
• Chorus
• Robot Vocal
• Female Vocal
• Male Vocal
• Guitar-To-Bass
• Filter
• Delay
• Lo-Fi
• Distortion

The pedal's not only for guitar and bass. It works incredibly well with keyboards, synths, vocals and any other audio source. Its mic input offers switchable phantom power for microphones.

The 300 model's internal memory allows up to 3 hours of recording (effects included) and 99 onboard memories. The pedal's USB port lets us save loops to a computer and allows for importing and exporting of WAV files.

The RC-300, like its smaller version, also has Auto Record functionality along with a built-in drum machine with rhythm guide and count-in capabilities. On top of that, the RC-300 has a Loop Quantize feature that helps get recordings looped in time.

The pedal is MIDI compatible for further control and synchronization (as if there wasn't enough in the pedal by itself). It also has 2 expression/control pedal inputs for additional control over the pedal parameters.

The I/O section of the RC-300 is very impressive. It features the following:

• 1x XLR mic input (with switchable phantom power)
• 2x 1/4-inch (stereo) instrument input jacks
• 1x 3.5mm aux input
• 2x 1/4-inch (stereo) main outputs
• 1x 1/4-inch headphone output
• 2x 1/4-inch (stereo) sub outputs
• 2x 1/4-inch control/expression inputs
• MIDI in, out and thru
• 1x USB

This pedal is perhaps the best loop station on the market. If you're going big with your looping, I suggest going with the Boss RC-300!

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Boomerang III Phrase Sampler

Boomerang may not be a well-known company per se. Still, their Boomerang III Phrase Sampler is an excellent unit that has put them on the map in the pedal community.

The Boomerang III Phrase Sampler is a superb looper for live performance. It's highly functional and straightforward: a best-of-both-worlds machine!

The looper has two sample rates (24 kHz and 48 kHz) with 20-bit samples. The through signal is always 48 kHz|24-bit. Depending on the sample rate and output (mono or stereo), the Rang III can record from 4.5 minutes (48 kHz stereo) to over 35 minutes (half-speed 24-bit mono).

A big part of what makes this pedal so functional is the 4 distinct play styles:

1. Serial: loops play one after the other for building a song in verse/chorus/bridge fashion.
2. Serial Master: plays a master loop along with any other loop (great for rhythm).
3. Sync: all loops can play simultaneously and are synced so they stay together.
4. Free: all loops can play simultaneously and are not synced (great for creating ambient soundscapes).

Each of the modes has 3 dedicated loops with the option of a 4th loop assignable to the Yellow Bonus Button.

The Yellow and Green Bonus Buttons are both programmable to have a tap and hold function each. There are 11 assignable functions for these buttons (4 can be assigned at any given time):

1. Stack: add additional sounds to a loop without writing them into the loop.
2. Erase: select & erase loops one at a time or erase all loops at once.
3. Once: play a loop one time or arm a loop to stop playing when its end is reached.
4. Octave: loop will sound an octave lower and play at either normal or half speed.
5. Reverse: play loops backwards.
6. Reverse Solo: built in effect that simulates the studio trick of playing a recording backwards.
7. Play-Stop All: plays or stops multiple loops simultaneously.
8. Fade Out/In: initiates a time-adjustable volume fade.
9. Undo/Redo: the last part stacked on a loop can be silenced, re-recorded or played again.
10. Copy: copies one loop to another. This function can also resample playing loops.
11. Loop 4: add a fourth loop if you like. It behaves just like Loops 1 and 2.

Other parameters of the Rang III include the decay knob, which controls the rate at which older parts of the stack fade out (we can turn it all the way down so that no stacking is replaced or all the way up so that a new stack will completely replace the previous stack).

The volume knobs control the overall volume along with the volume of loops 2 – 4.

The Fade Time knob controls the fade-out time (when triggered). It's adjustable from about 3 to 45 seconds.

The pedal has full MIDI compatibility for external synchronization. It also features an expression pedal jack for easy control over the playback volume or decay rate.

That covers the basics of this powerful unit. You'll have to try it out for yourself to really hear and feel how great this pedal is!

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Electro-Harmonix Nano Looper 360

Next up is the compact Electro-Harmonix Nano Looper 360 of EHX's looper line of pedals.

The Nano Looper 360 is a compact, affordable pedal looper with 360 seconds of total loop recording time (hence the name). It has an internal memory to store and recall 11 loops. These loops remain in memory until they're manually erased.

This is a simple and effective looper with 24-bit|44.1 kHz digital resolution and 6 minutes of record time with unlimited overdubbing and easy undo/redo controls. Note that the stored loops eat into this time.

There are two knobs: one to control the loop level and one to select a loop memory slot.

To record or play a loop, press the footswitch once. Press the footswitch again to enter playback after recording. During playback, pressing the switch will engage overdubbing.

Note that the recorded loop will be saved to memory. To erase the loop from memory, we need to stop the loop and then press the footswitch two times quickly.

Undo and redo functions are initiated during playback by holding the footswitch down.

To stop a loop, press the footswitch twice.

Simple and easy. The Nano Looper 360 is cherished for sounding great, having easy controls, and its 11 banks of storable loops.

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Electro-Harmonix 720 Stereo Looper

We've discussed the 360. How about the Electro-Harmonix 720 Stereo Looper? This larger pedal has more features and is an excellent choice for your looping needs.

The 720 works very similarly to the 360, with a few key differences:

• 720 seconds (6 minutes) of total recording time.
• Dedicated loop footswitch and stop footswitch.
• 10 independent loops (instead of 11).
• Stereo recording (input and output).
• FC jack to extend the controllability with an external footswitch (to control the 720 bank up, bank down, and instant undo/redo).

The 720 Stereo Looper also adds on buttons for reverse and half-speed effects.

The stereo input allows us to record a stereo instrument or two mono instruments at once.

If you're looking for additional functionality over the aforementioned 360 Looper but don't want to go too far down the looping rabbit hole, then the Electro-Harmonix 720 Stereo Looper is the looper for you!

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Line 6 JM4

The Line 6 JM4 is Line 6's dedicated looper pedal. If the DL4 gets a spot on this list, the JM4 definitely gets a mention.

The JM4 is a very in-depth pedal. To learn it all, I suggest reading through the manual. In this article, I'll cover the basics to give you an idea of how great it is.

The JM4, like the DL4, is actually much more than a simple looper. This pedal combines a fully functional looper with real jam tracks from real studio musicians and a multi-effect unit for not only guitar but other instruments and vocals as well.

There are over 200 artist-created presets for guitar FX, 26 user-programmable presets, 12 Line 6 amp models, 7 Smart Control FX, 3 tone controls, and even an integrated tuner. Right off the bat, we're into multi-effects territory.

The pedal packs 100+ Endless Jam tracks and drum grooves in more than 10 styles performed by top LA and Nashville session players. Real-sounding rhythm accompaniment can really amp up inspiration above the typical drum machine loops found in other loopers.

The internal memory can store up to 24 minutes of recording time and 100 jams. The SD slot allows even more storage with an SD card.

We can transfer WAV files to and from the JM4 from a computer or recording software. The JM4 can be used to transpose, time-stretch and/or loop over any audio we import.

There are dedicated footswitches for Record/Overdub, Play/Stop, Half-Speed and Undo. This makes the JM4 incredibly easy to use.

So this pedal is more than a looper. It's a full band in a box! There are other pedals like this one, but I give the JM4 a solid A+ in terms of looping.

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HeadRush Looperboard

The HeadRush Looperboard is an advanced looper pedal with tons of features. If you're looking for a deep unit, this could be the looper for you!

If you think the Headrush Looperboard looks highly functional and intimidating, you're absolutely right in your thinking. This unit is a beast. Where to start?

Rather than getting into the nitty-gritty and rewriting the user manual, let's go over the main features to get a good idea of the Looperboard.

The Headrush Looperboard allows us to record up to 2 stereo or 4 mono looper tracks. It has over 9 hours of internal recording time with additional time available via USB storage (not that we'd ever need that much time, or would we?).

With a 7″ high-resolution multi-touch display monitor, this pedal is reminiscent of a computer. Actually, it's pretty damn close to a full-blow DAW! It's even got a built-in USB audio interface and includes Pro Tools | First: HeadRush Edition with a new purchase.

It's got a click track, smart quantization features, tap tempo, an intelligent time-stretching feature, and awesome effects for guitar and other electric instruments.

Features are accessible via 12 footswitches, 8 knobs and the touchscreen, along with any additional MIDI, expression pedals or external stompboxes.

With the Looperboard, we can track record, overdub, and playback four separate tracks. We can alter the length and speed of the full loop. Other featured actions include reverse, fade, transpose, bounce, undo/redo, peel, and clear individual tracks as needed.

It's more than a looper; it's a multi-effect masterpiece.

It's got over 300 built-in drum and percussion loops for getting started, full MIDI capabilities, and an impressive I/O section.

The I/O section has:

• 4x combo inputs (XLR + 1/4-inch) with switchable phantom power for microphones.
• 1x 3.5mm aux input
• 1x headphone output
• 2x 1/4-inch outputs
• 2x XLR outputs
• 1x expression input (1/4-inch)
• MIDI I/O
• 3x USB
• 1x SD

The HeadRush Looperboard is a top-of-the-line looper pedal and is certainly deserving of a spot on this list.

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