Get the RC-3 Loop Station here: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/RC3pedal
In this video, I put my attention on the BOSS RC-3 Loop Station. This is a feature-packed looper in the standard, BOSS compact-pedal format. Three hours of available loop-time, true stereo I/O, 99 memory slots, a rhythm guide, a stereo 1/8″ MP3 player input, and a USB port are all part of this amazing little pedal.
As we have come to expect with all BOSS products, the RC-3 is very guitarist-friendly. It sounds great plugging a guitar in and going straight to a guitar amp. It also works perfectly with other pedals, as you can hear in the intro of the video; I used a BOSS DS-1X distortion for the non-looped, solo guitar. The RC-3 is rock solid and stage ready, and can be powered with either a standard BOSS PSA adapter or a 9V battery. This guy is ready for any pedalboard.
Boss did a great job of making all of the features accessible on the RC-3, even though there’s not much physical space available for knobs and buttons. A little experimentation and a quick look at the owner’s manual and I was navigating the RC-3 with no problem. I started building a loop at about the 1:50 mark in the video and you can see that most of the features are one or two buttons away. Start, stop, record, overdub, and erase can all be accomplished with the RC-3’s built-in footswitch.
The Rhythm Guide makes seamless looping easier in a variety of ways. Simply having either a time keeper or a drum pattern lets you know exactly where to start and stop playing but the RC-3 also starts and stops recording on the measure so you don’t have to have perfect timing with the footswitch. There’s even the option to set up a “count-in bar” so the recording doesn’t start until after one measure of the rhythm guide has played. There’s a variety of onboard drum patterns and a separate volume control for the Rhythm Guide. You can use it to help build your track, and you have the option to mute it for performance.
Having a USB port offers the ability to save created loops to your computer or to upload tracks onto the RC-3 for use in loops. An external footswitch can be connected so more of the features can be one-touch available. This would be particularly useful if you were using the looper in a performance and needed footswitchable access to more parameters
Whether you’re just getting your feet wet with looping, or you’re a looping pro that needs lots of features in a small package, the RC-3 fills the bill. It’s great-sounding, easy to use and I had fun making loops with it. Thanks for checking out the video!
— Don Carr
