BOSS RC-5 Loop Station — modern, compact looper with first-class sound quality, 99 phrase memories, 57 rhythms and optional MIDI control. Perfect for guitar, bass, electroacoustic

Product Information

Andertons Music Company is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, firm registration number 716155.

You could, for example, create a spacey soundscape with multiple overdubs, and then reverse it for some fun experimentation. 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. If you still want to explore everything that your RC-5 can do, you could also check out the official BOSS RC-5 Reference manual.BOSS, of course, recommends using their PSA-series adapter to avoid any power issues, however, I haven’t run into any issues yet using one from Dunlop. If you’d like to switch to Overdub mode immediately after recording a loop, use this option instead of the default ‘Record→Playback’.

The 99 memory slots should be sufficient for most users, and for a beginner, the 13 hours of recording time should be more than enough. It is also possible to connect two RC-5s to each other, if you, for example, want to record several instruments simultaneously, using only one Loop Station as a controller. I had a Boss looper before and while I never had an issue with recording or sound quality the interface was not intuitive.

If you plug in an adapter while the unit is operating on battery, it will restart and switch to AC power. While the owner’s manual is just a quick start guide, this 24-page document details every clever feature found in the pedal. The reason for this might be the display which shows you the mode the Loop Station is currently in using different coloured back lights. But it isn’t just “here’s a small looper for people who do slightly more than just annoy their families with endless looping” (let’s admit it, we’re all guilty of that from time to time).