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). Now you could viably use the looper in a live situation as well. It might take a while to get used to performing some operations, but with a little practice it becomes intuitive. You can also always add an external footswitch later for easier control of the pedals features. Run a 1/4″ instrument cable from the “output” to the “Return” on the amplifier’s effects loop, then run a 1/4″ instrument cable from the “input” of the pedal to the “Send” on the amplifier’s effects loop. Next to the display of the RC-5, there is a large knob to change the settings and adjust the volume of the loop. Below that, there are four small, illuminated buttons that you can use to switch the integrated drum machine on or off and manage the memory.

As expected from a brand like Boss, the drum machine sounds great. One aspect we liked about it is that the individual patterns are not fixed to a certain drum kit, but that the choice is completely up to you. On top, the device allows you to activate or deactivate certain parts of the rhythm pattern, and the drum machine is able to put in drum fills when switching from one rhythm variation to another. All together these features make a huge number of rhythm variations possible and make the whole composition sound more natural. The Handling You can flip through all the different grooves available under the ‘Pattern’ setting. I personally liked the ‘Shuffle4’ groove a lot. Each pattern has an A/B variation that you can select in the next menu. This awesome pedal features 99 phrase memories, 57 rhythms, and even MIDI control support, making it the most advanced BOSS Compact looper to date. BOSS RC-5 Loop Station Highlights Here’s what my signal chain currently looks like with the pedals I have now – notice the RC-5 Loop Station on the endThey could overheat, stink, or maybe not work at all. In worst-case scenarios, they might even start a fire. 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. The ‘Beat’ setting lets you choose the time signature, anything from 4/4 to 15/8 (if you’re feeling very progressive). And you can use ‘Var. Change’ to automatically variate the rhythm from A to B based on one measure or one loop. Like its predecessor, the RC-5 has a very compact and lightweight case and a mine design. It has exactly the same dimension as the RC-3 with 7.3 cm width and 12.9 cm depth, but with a height of 5.6 cm, the RC-5 is slightly smaller than the predecessor model. The weight has remained exactly the same at 450 grams and downright invites you to take the device along in your gig bag.

We believe the Boss RC-5 to be an excellent device for beginners who are looking for a Loop Station with an integrated drum machine. The signal processing of the device is state of the art with 32 bits and the sound of the drum machine is great for a device of this price class. 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. 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. lb * 0 dBu = 0.775 Vrms *The specifications are subject to change without notice. Five RC-5 Tips for the Gigging Musician

You can use this to import loop phrases stored on your PC. Use them for anything you want really. What’s cool about this is that you can save a lot of loops. There’s no reason to delete things.