BOSS RC-500 Loop Station - Advanced Two-Track Looper with Built-in Mixing & Deep Control Options - Leading Sound Quality - 16 Versatile Drum Kits - 13 Hours Recording Time

Absolutely brilliant! Wish I had bought one a long time ago... Do not be put off by suggestions that it is difficult to use - it is not. The additional functions available over lesser loopers will take a little longer to learn, but you will be using it like a pro in no time! For the functions that it offers it is great value for money. It comes with its own (excellent) power supply. The built in rhythm is a standout feature of this looper. Each track that you produce has two rhythm parts available in addition to fill ins, intro's and outro's. You can also combine two (or more) track(s) together by using an additional foot switch (not supplied) to get even more rhythm variety. Sound quality is excellent. Build quality is excellent. Highly recommended -You won't be disappointed if you go for it!

It's an already 'classic' product, widely used and familiar. My first impressions upon the purchase? it 'does what it says on the tin' - literally - and does it very well. Functionality is basic, but for anything more sophisticated there are bigger boxes which can do more. And for anywhere outside street busking, there are computers and programs that can do a lot more. Solidly built, as you can expect from the brand and the class of stomp-boxes, electronically functional and reliable, and easy to understand / learn to operate. The slightly more difficult part - smooth on-stage operation and performance -comes with practice and I haven't had the time for that yet. But in the first minutes of owning the RC-1 I was confidently recording loops and having fun jamming with myself, it's that simple. In addition to the included printed instructions, there are many online videos that show how to use it and provide great ideas of what can be done. I am perhaps satisfied because I didn't expect miracles, already knew exactly the capabilities of this unit, and the experience fully met my expectations. Any disappointed users I have come across simply had unrealistic expectations because they had not made the effort to research the product in advance. Yes, it's basic and limited - but within its limitations, the possibilities are nonetheless... endless! :)

Very basic but works well, no issues with its build quality. Controls are simple although the undo function is a little clumsy. It’s very much a basic practice tool and its sound reproduction quality is excellent. It only stores one loop session at a time but for practice that’s not an issue. The Boss foot switch seems a little curious at first for a looper pedal but it’s easy to learn the dynamic. I use it regularly and find it an interesting contrast to my 2 foot switch EHX looper. It’s fun to use and probably reasonable value for money if you can get one at a slight discount.

This is a belter of a pedal, very simple to use the rotating lights showing the loop running is a really great idea extremely easy to see, takes away a lot of guessing. i would recommend using the extension pedal to make the double, long presses etc simple to operate. I did not buy the boss one but a British pedal maker called 'bright onions' they make a micro double switch pedal that does the job for £24, excellent and really small, together they are formidable. I do also have a electro harmonix 4 track looper but it is very complicated, reverse sample, slow sample, but i never use the effects and this boss pedal has the same quality of sound. if you want to run one or two sample this is great and more and it gets more complicated in scrolling back and forth to start and stop samples etc. Being stereo is a bonus very good if you use two amps or a stereo set up obviously but equally as useful if you just want to run mono again this is obvious. The only negative to me is the big switch which is part of the Boss design hence buying the bright onions pedal was a no brainer as you get the normal button type switch which always feels more solid and immediate to me, that's just me though may be others will prefer the boss switch. There is the electro harmonix 720 which is approx £118 compared to this at £85, both are stereo and the EH does has a loop selector switch where you can load up 10 samples from a computer for example, and half speed but no use for me as mentioned earlier I needed a simple practice pedal to noodle over, and when live for an acoustic set both of these needs are done with this pedal.

I can't believe that they can make this for the money. Excellent piece of gear. A bit of a learning curve but that's because it's so versatile. The 5 pin DIN Midi in & out allowing direct connections to outboard equipment makes it perfect. Excellent service from the supplier. 10/10

***** The Good (things I like) 👍🏻 - Compact. The RC-500 is just the right size. It could have been slight smaller depth-wise but it ok as it is. As a reference, it is roughy the size of the Line 6 HX Stomp. - Assigns. Every programmable or multi-effect unit should have them. In a nutshell, they trigger a specific action (e.g. start a loop or change the reverb level) when a specific even takes place (e.g. a MIDI message or a footswitch press). The RC-500 allows 8 of them for every memory location. - Sound quality. The sound quality is excellent. It is faithful to the input signal regardless the number of overdubs or the number of tracks. - Drums. It may not satisfy the purists but I like the drums sounds. The different drum kits, the A/B variations and the 'parts' allow a good customisation. - User interface. The sliders to set the tracks, the rotary input knob and the clear display help in quickly move around the complex functionalities of the unit. - Construction. In the best Boss tradition for floor units, the RC-500 is built like a tank. - Footswitches. They have a short travel, are completely silent and the respond well. ***** The Bad (things I don't' like but I can live with) ☝🏻 - Knobs. The knobs are made of cheap plastic. It's not a show-stopper but for a unit that is supposed to be used on stage and mounted on a pedalboard, they don't project an image of quality. It is unexpected as the rest of the unit is made of solid metal. - Micro-USB. Another minor detail but a USB-C connection would have been better. - PC software. The PC software is a little minimalistic but it is not bad. It would have helped if it allowed at the least the rename of the memory locations. - Unbalanced outputs. For a standard pedal, it wouldn't matter that much but for a looper, it is almost essential. Loopers are supposed to be the last pedals in the effect chain, if they are connected to a PA or a mixer, they need to send out a balanced output. One could use two DI boxes but bal/unbal outputs would have really helped. Line 6 did it with the HX Stomp, Boss could have done it with the RC-500. - Drumbeats. They are good but I would have liked to see more of them. The RC-10R had far more drumbeats and it is an older unit. I can't believe Boss could not include more of them in the RC-500. - Manual. The manual is spit in two parts: the Owner's Manual and the Parameter Guide. They are reasonably well written but there are some deep gaps . For example, the constraints related to the loops lengths are missing and some parameters like "TRK CHAIN" is unclear what they are for. ***** The Ugly 👎🏻 - Loop length. From the various reviews it would appear that loops can be of any arbitrary length: "you can have 1 hour loops if you want". This is true only under certain conditions. The problem is that if one wants the two tracks to be in sync, one loop must be exactly a multiple of the other loop's length. If the tracks are in parallel (i.e. they are played at the same time), it makes sense as they have to sync. When the two tracks are in series (i.e. in a verse and chorus structure), it makes zero sense. A 4 bars verse and a 8 bars chorus or a 4 bars verse and a 12 bar chorus it's not a problem. However, if one tries to record a 12 bars verse and a 8 bars chorus, the RC-500 forces the tracks to a 12 bars chorus or a 16 bars verse, depending which one was recorded first. There is a way to (almost) avoid that. Set the two tracks without sync constraints (in RC-500 lingo, LOOP.S=off). This works as far as there is no on-board drumming present. If the drums track is present, the active track will start to drift away from the drums after a few bars. And no, quantisation doesn't help (QUANTIZE=measure). - Volume levels. I don't know who tested the RC-500 and how but there is something seriously odd with the volume levels. If you own a RC-500 try the following. Using the RC-500 PC software, load a backing track to the RC-500. The Boss software can connect to the internet and it offers a large number of tracks in various styles to choose from. Pick one that you like, import it and play it with the RC-500. The volume will so loud that, if you are not careful, you will end up breaking your amplifier. I found that to have the track level at a reasonable volume, it has to be set at 2-3. However, if you sets the level to 2 and for some reason, you touch the level slider, the volume bumps up to the level set by the slider. I tried to fix the problem exporting the backing track, attenuating the level in the WAV file and re-importing the file in the RC-500. The attenuation I had to use to match the levels was -32dB. I would like to have a chat with the Boss/Roland engineers to understand in which universe this is normal. The drums level was less extreme, instead of the default level of 100, I had to set the level to around 30 (the range is 0-200). At the very least, there should be an option somewhere to set the level of the imported files. Regardless if they come from the Boss/Roland server or if they are created by the user. There should also be a global option to set the drums volume level (as a default for new patters or better, as a master level for the drums output). I appreciate that not all instrument have the same output signal level and if one uses a guitar as a reference point, something is bound to sound too loud or too quiet (although this explains a 32dB difference up to a point). But if this is the case, the answer cannot be extremely loud levels. There has to be a way to set the levels globally. This is not something new: the RC-3 had the same problem and, as far I understand, the RC-5 has the same issue. *** Final thoughts 💬 The RC-500 is a good unit but it could be much better. Boss/Roland should have had musicians involved in the design process and the vast majority of the negative issues wouldn't be there. What I find very odd is that the 'Ugly' issues could be addressed with software updates. There is nothing wrong with the hardware. Will Boss address the loop length and loud levels in future updates? I hope so but I'm not betting on it. Would I recommend the RC-500 to other musicians? I would for the sound quality and the compactness but I wouldn't as writing tool or a live looper used in a verse/chorus configuration. It a real shame. The RC-500 could easily be a 5 star product but with the current issues, I cannot give it more than 3. --- Notes: I can't comment regarding the mic input as I don't use it. RC-500 tested with firmware 1.02.

I held off on writing this review until I had spent a few months with the product, around four months of on-and-off use. My main intention was to use it for fun in a home studio setup alongside synths and beat boxes, and it has absolutely delivered on that front. It’s a joy to use, letting you quickly capture ideas and layer them without the hassle of diving into a DAW (like when some inputs no longer seem to be recognized.... or something else isn't working since you last used it. ... It's probably a me thing.... but then again perhaps not!). At the time of purchase, it cost about £385, and I’ve already had many hours of enjoyment with it. The biggest challenge I’ve faced is recording the first track to a specific BPM. For some reason, you can’t simply set the tempo (say 120 BPM) and record without the track length shifting unless it’s perfectly aligned. If anyone has a reliable bulletproof workaround for this, PLEASE PLEASE I’d love to hear it! That said, after experimenting with settings and watching a few YouTube tutorials, I’ve managed to work around this "feature" but occasionally I still struggle with it when I come back to the device weeks or months later. This isn’t a plug-and-play device—you’ll need to invest time learning its functions. But if you’re willing to do that, it’s a rewarding piece of gear. The number of buttons and the menu system make it more intuitive than earlier models, and once you get comfortable, it really does make you feel like a musician. Is it fun = YES!

Excellent pedal. The durm sounds are great, the looping functions work well. Great value for money, a must buy for solo musicians!