Straight forward operation, well built not sure what else to say.

Great for building layers of sound. It takes your creativity to next level, highly recommended

I'm going to love it when I get it set up.

Thanks!!!

Soo, there is a learning curve but im getting the hang of it. I am learning to layer and switch to different loops to assist different parts of a song or songs. Need a better way to keep track. No pun intended.

Connor Bowdoin does an excellent job! I will keep buying from Sweetwater due to Connor. Great Customer Service. Jim Paxton

never owned a loop pedal but i knew i needed one, i took a chance on this RC-5, its a little over
my head at times and finally decided i should write something about it, i like it i have fun with what i use it for
never really had it functioning like its full potential unleashed, but for what i do with it it's fine.. if theres a set and forget user
friendly loops over this one, i might make a switch...... untill then it's a weapon of choice........

The RC-5 is perfect for my needs for guitar. It is simple to use, but there is a bit of a learning curve. I have a couple of Looper courses that help. Beyond that Sweetwater had it packed very well for shipping. It arrived in mint condition. My sales engineer promptly followed up to make sure all went well and to offer helpful suggestions.

Hey thank you, the pedal is working great, thank you for replacing the BeatBuddy midi cable at no cost, that fixed the weird issue I was encountering.

The RC-5 is just awesome in its own right, coupled with the dual switch for endless options, this pedal is a beast. That aside, I just learned something incredible about boss in general. I have a large pedalboard with a JHS buffer coming in, but learned that a buffer going out is useful too. I have my acoustic and electric going to an AB pedal and then out to an RC-5 before it hits the mix. Happy with my sound, but curious if I needed another outgoing buffer I dug in and learned that the RC-5 actually has a built in buffer which is an incredible discovery. If you don't know what buffers are, go read about it.

so i purchased this as a practice tool wanted to record my guitar riffs and solos
to play over them and record that.....
i also purchased a singular sound beat buddy mini 2
has a ton of drum stuff
i am mostly after the fast loud and heavy myself the drum pedal works
recorded individual drum patterns onto a loop to create the stuff i am after
that the drum machine doesn't do i can make with the looper and drum machine.

I recorded a Carvin stereo bass into the RC-5 then played that as a backing track for the guitar parts. The RC-5 signal was sent to a Boss Dual Cube Bass LX. It sounds awesome to me !! But check it out for yourselves. See kinked video.

Fun if you're wanting to play with loops here and there, not recommended if you're looking for professional-level sound. Sucks a lot of tone away from your playing. The UI is very cramped since the pedal fits such a small footprint. I'm returning mine

Sweet Looper from Sweetwater it's a great pedal and easy to use- I do recommend the foot switch.

I am so thankful to have purchased this pedal not knowing for sure if I could pull off what I hoped. I am blind and play keyboards and bass in addition to guitar. I lead a church congregation and we're starting a new campus where I will likely be the sole worship leader as well for a time. I was interested in having fun with the looper functions but honestly didn't see a practical use for me for a looper LIVE. I'm not that good! However the fact it had 99 memory slots and 13 hours of record time I believe 100 minutes per slot I had to give it a shot. I have fully orchestrated songs I created on my Roland Fantom 6. I ran 1/4" cables connecting the output of the keyboard to the stereo ins on the pedal. Success! If there is any quality loss…I…a blind man with stupid good hearing cant detect it! Now when I'm flying solo at the new services I may be alone but I have fully orchestrated songs access to full orchestration without playing along with commercially produced tracts. I can be more authentic and real! Thank you Boss for this product. This pedal not only has the …as far as I know… unadvertised potential of being used as a band in a box….but it has proved, at least to this guy that it absolutely can be…and is! Five stars and then some!

What a rabbit hole you can go down and I'm only at the overdubbing stage

Easy to use, great performance and rehearsal tool!

Fantastic for practicing. Sound quality and the UI are great. But also useful as a notebook. Fill the 99 slots over time and then save everything to your computer for further processing.

Only reason not 5 stars is because I can't speak to longevity. Otherwise tons of features, crisp sound, and very responsive. This company actually followed up with a phone call to see if I needed anything after the sale. Thanks Erik.

100% worth it!!!!! It has so many features and is so customizable!

I've been playing on and off for 30 years. I now just play in basement and with friends now and then. I had loppers way back in the day, but never loved them.

I picked this up after playing with a friend who recommended I get one for practicing. I wasn't expecting much, but loopers have come a long way.

Holy cow!

I haven't had this much fun practicing in ages. You can layer in drums, multiple tracks and then solo to your heart's content.

This is a a fantastic tool and incredibly fun to use.

I couldn't be happier.

This was a Christmas gift for my wife to go along with the Fender American Professional II guitar that I purchased for her from Sweetwater in October. and she loves it. She's still in the learning stages of playing and needed this RC5 to create tracks to play along with.

After you figure how to turn it down it records true. The drum section isn't bad but I haven't tweaked anything……rhythm and loop levels and that it so far. It's fun to play with, and I'm happy with this purchase.

One of the things that attracted me to the RC-5 was the large foot pedal - way easier to work with than my previous, small button looper. Sound quality is great and the visual and audial count-in makes it easier for a novice like me to lay down a loop right off the bat.

Here's the "BUT": If, like me, you are excited about being able to use rhythm and backing tracks from Boss Tone Studio, forget it! As other reviewers have mentioned the BTS tracks are WAY, WAY, WAY TOO LOUD to be usable with guitar input set at any level - at least at any level I could achieve. When I first started up the backing track, set at the default level of 100 (halfway between 0 and 200 allowable on the unit) I genuinely thought I might have damaged my speakers, not to mention my hearing. I had to turn the level of the track from 100 down to 4 to make it listenable. I suppose there is some workaround but there is no apparent way to input the tracks from BTS to the RC-5 at a lower level.

Maybe BOSS will take note and upgrade the firmware or the Boss Tone Studio app?

I'm very new to guitar, and this is helping me to learn by laying down some chords and then playing over them. I should also add that I'm 67 and it's never too late to learn.

This pedal is just as easy to use as a Ditto, so please folks, why would you pass on midi functionality, better sound quality, drum and percussion tracks and historic reliability? And if you have ANY desire to use these loops beyond the pedal, only this pedal has the quantize function that makes the transition to a DAW reliable and professional. Not "feel" but actual time signature. That's a game changer. I've recommended this pedal to numerous players and all of them were grateful to switch. Don't let your minimalist leanings get the better of you!

This is the most user UNfriendly pedal ever. You need a masters degree just to get a drum beat. I can't imagine why they would make it so rediculously complicated. No fun at all.

Proof in the pudding video linked below. I recorded a rhythm track on the RC-5 to come out the B channel. Then play live rhythm and sing, kicking in the RC-5 for the solo. So you should be able to easily hear for your self the live track compared to the looped track. Some differences are there because I send the two signals to two different amps, but still, the proof is in the pudding.

One thing I wish it could do is route the drums to A or B or Both - there is no control for that. That makes stereo setups more difficult. Still, the playback are exactly like the original.

Works great, but has a bit of a learning curve.

Listen up, guitar enthusiasts, because we're about to dive into the world of endless possibilities. The Boss RC-5 Looper Pedal isn't just a piece of gear; it's a creativity generator that lets you build layers of sound like a masterful sonic cake. If you thought playing guitar was exciting, just wait until you start stacking riffs like it's a game of musical Jenga.

First, let's talk about the built-in drum machine. Forget about trying to keep time by tapping your foot; this thing has you covered. It's like having a miniature rock band in a box, but without the attitude or the messy hotel rooms. With the RC-5, you've got a drummer who's always on time, never needs a break, and doesn't mind if you play that riff over and over and over again (and over).

Now, onto the looping magic. The Boss RC-5 isn't just a pedal; it's a portal into an alternate dimension where you are both the guitarist and the entire band. The possibilities are endless, like a buffet with infinite refills. Lay down a rhythm track, add some leads, sprinkle in some harmonies, and before you know it, you're a one-person orchestra. Be warned, though: once you start looping, it's hard to stop. You may find yourself trapped in an endless cycle of riffs, only to realize it's 3 a.m., and you forgot to eat dinner.

The best part? You can store your loops and take them with you wherever you go. Forget about carrying around stacks of sheet music; just grab your RC-5 and you're ready to jam anywhere. And if you're the type who likes to add a little flair, the customizable controls and LED display make you feel like you're piloting a spaceship. Just don't push the wrong button, or you might end up accidentally looping your neighbor's dog barking. True story.

In conclusion, if you want to become a better guitarist, or just have a ton of fun creating music, the Boss RC-5 Looper Pedal is a must-have. It's like having a musical Swiss Army knife, but with more loops and fewer toothpicks. Get one and prepare to loop until you drop!

I am not a seasoned musician but have found the RC-5 a lot of fun. I am just getting the hang of using the memory track features and really love the on board percussion tracks. I have been using some of the percussion tracks when recording new songs and will be trying them out at some open mic events soon. I do recommend the Boss FS-6 switch to use with the RC-5 or RC-1 loop stations. It is a little tricky getting used to some of the loop station's functionality.

Blew my expectations right out of the water. This thing does everything you want and more.

It is compact, not too difficult and does what I need it to do. I reviewed other units and they are a bit too involved and much bigger. You can go wrong with Boss Products!

Linked via midi to Beat Buddy pedal. Who needs a band, lol

Great service, and product……..

I had purchased another looper for my guitar. It did not work well. I spoke with Gage at Sweetwater and he recommended th RC5. Straight out of the box I was able to plug it in and start playing. Everything on the peddle it easy to figure out. The drum tracks make it really nice to play with. Overall, i would recommend this looper.

As other reviews have said, this loop station is an instrument unto itself. The depth of control over looping behaviors, the audio quality, and the super high quality construction all make the RC-5 an awesome piece of kit. The only two limitations of this model are the one-button control (mitigated by adding an external foot switch) and the fact that it's only a single-track looper. Clever loop artists (not me, not yet) I'm sure would have no trouble at all building awesome compositions with this.

In addition to its main purpose as a phrase looper, the RC-5 can also be used as a backing track machine. So far that's where most of my experience with the RC-5 has been focused and it does a great job. Along with its customizable drum track function and MIDI i/o, I could use this thing exclusively for accompaniment stuff and still feel like I was getting my money's worth.

I only have one criticism of the RC-5 so far, and that's with the actual design of the stompbox. I am using this loop station with a theremin, so the precise positioning of my hands and body makes a massive difference in my playing. The amount of weight-shifting necessary to get my foot over the very tall stompbox and press the strong spring of the pedal wrecks every note I try to play so far, making it really hard to use the phrase looping functions at all. I imagine this isn't a problem for guitarists or other musicians who can hold their instruments while playing, but so far it's really gotten in my way. I'm going to look into a short platform to stand on to reduce the height difference, and maybe even try to source a lower-tension spring to make the RC-5 a little more theremin friendly. But this is a pretty niche problem and certainly not one that the target audience for loop stations will run into.

It's a great looper and I miss it. It only lasted about 6 months. I shipped it to BOSS for warranty. They returned it back saying the 'electronics were fried' and no looper for me.

Sounded great and easy to use right out of the box. Beats are super simple but that's a good thing, as they don't exactly sound awesome through a guitar amp speaker, but it does the job to give you a steady rhythm to play along with. I don't use this live, but I do use it to work on song parts for my band. If I need to write a 2nd guitar part, I loop the first part and just let it loop as long as it takes to work on and refine the new part. Works perfectly for this and is the reason I bought it. Was happy to learn that I can easily put together drum loops in EZdrummer, and load them into the Boss RC-5 so I can get whatever sort of drum tracks I want on here. Was disappointed the RC-5 has no built in surf beat, but I can just make my own in EZdrummer, bounce it to a .wav file and then load it in!

If five stars is perfect, it was my best choice, and my disappointment is the ease of use. Because it does more you will need to learn more. I didn't need the manual is 5 languages. Larger print ? maybe.

The RC5 is a huge step up. Loop as many times as you want/slap some drum loops down to jam along with and I guess if you need 13 hours worth of riffs saved you can do that too..pretty rad for the price. Ps bring extra 9v if you take it camping.

I switched to this from a digitech Jamman I was having problems with. I was able to import all my old loops. The boss automatically detected the tempo for all 20 of my imports with pretty good accuracy. There were a couple where the drums didn't synch quite right, but I'm pretty sure if I redid them from scratch, it would come out right.The drum machine is really good though in the boss and sounds pretty natural- especially the "rock" kit. All the looping functions work perfectly. An optional footswitch improves user friendliness. There are 99 loops you can make in total. My old Jamman did 200 with an optional SD card. This would be my main complaint, if any at all. Overall it's a keeper and good value for money. Very pleased.

I love this thing! I have the RC-1 but needed MIDI capability, and this fits the bill and fits on my board! I got the 5' Boss MIDI cable (the one with the 1/8" MIDI jack obviously) and run MIDI out from the Keystep Pro. This syncs my basses and guitars to the drum machines perfectly! The only reason for 4.5 stars is the built in drum sounds. I don't like or use them, and it was a weird workaround to turn the drum sounds all the way down (which turns them off essentially).

Since I had several 9V adaptors laying around, I did not purchase one when I ordered this looper. I found the device would power up when using its battery, but not when using any of my 9V adaptors. A check on Google suggested the product may be defective. Sweetwater quickly sent me replacement, but the same thing happened again. I ordered a Roland PSA-120S power supply and now it works perfectly.

Very versatile pedal. There is a learning curve that is a bit longer than advertised, ( for me anyway ) but once you have learned to navigate the features and operations, this is a fun pedal and it enhances your practice sessions and I believe , does wonders for your creativity

I thought this unit would make the loop start and stop match up? Nope! Also it doesn't tell you (anywhere) that you cannot save a loop until you stop the loop. Dumb old me thought if you stop the loop without saving it would be lost. Figured it out by much trial and error. I can't afford the good ones. Oh well, I make do I guess.

Just like it's big brother, the RC500, which I also own, performance is flawless! I use the RC5 on my small pedal board for performances and combined with the FS-6 pedal, it is a winning combination. I highly recommend Boss RC loopers!

There's a little bit of a learning curve, but it is a fast curve. Just don't get discouraged. Playing before you begin looping is best…it helps the guitar to be resonating fully when the loop initiates. This is important as it allows the end of the loop to dovetail nicely with the first beat of the loop. The RC-5 accurately reproduces the amplifier sound when run through the effects loop.

Overdubbing is readily achieved as is writing/storing a loop.

If you need a practice partner, this is by far the easiest and least expensive route as you can do it all without an expensive recording setup.

As a bonus, the built in drums are really quite useful and come with several different styles. You pick the style, set the tempo and begin your loop.

Don't forget to write/store/save your loop before changing memory locations. Doing so will eliminate any changes that have not been stored. Knowing this can also allow any overdubs made to a previously stored memory to be quickly undone by leaving the memory and returning back.

Great tool!

Who needs more humans to mess things up! Use this peddle and you are a one person band. In `complete control of everything. So many features in here. Use it for recording or "live". Amazing little pedal. 20 years ago this would have been a 10 lb. rack mount costing about a grand. Thanks!
David s. Monk
Powers of the Monk, Detroit area

BOSS RC-5 This is the most unintuitive pedal I've Ever Owned In My Life! I REALLY DISLIKE IT!
The 'Owner's manual' is a JOKE. I've owned Dozens of pedals, rack units, Pedalboards, and Computers/DAWs, and this is the FIRST TIME I'm returning a unit To the Dealer, After Days of wasting my time trying to figure out this CUMBERSOME, UNINTUITIVE PIECE OF JUNK.
The Boss Website has NO USEFUL INFO, and there is NO WAY TO communicate with them, They offer way to message, but they do NOT REPLY! This I'm a long time BOSS user and have ALWAYS Praised BOSS for their fantastic products, but I Can't Get behind the RC5…
DO NOT BUY THIS UNIT.

I'm still getting acclimated to all this little jewel can do, but I can see it's value to me.

I am mostly just using this looper to practice/educate myself in improvisation, but I really wish now I had acquired a looper pedal ages ago.

The Looper is fairly simple to use, in theory, but Roland/Boss certainly don't provide you with anywhere near the product guidance that they should in my opinion. You can find helpful information on YouTube, and there is even one guy who sells a course in how to use the pedal, though that seems like overkill to me. I found that reviewing the manual for the RC-500 is helpful in terms of changing settings, etc., but should a purchaser really have to review manuals fro other products to obtain this information?

Once I learned some basics I was off and running and you will be too.

This is a great product from Boss… I first heard about it from Eric Gales in a gear interview and it's everything he says and more. Especially love the drum sync feature , which seems to add a groove immediately to your loop, which is super useful! The sound quality is superb and it's great for fleshing out arrangements and ideas in real time… definitely on e of the best loopers available today!

This looper holds it's own against the contemporaries. Quite a bit of features packed in such a small box. There's one main know and four buttons (that's it). Keeping that in perspective makes the learning curve very small and quick. If you are inexperienced with loopers as I was, I was quite surprised with how easy it was to get it running right out of the box. Built in drum loops, fast recording, dubbing, and MIDI I/O. You can't go wrong with this one as a beginner or experienced guitar geek.

I can't imagine a better pedal to enhance your guitar playing experience! Going to the loop pedal seminar at Sweetwater the morning of the purchase helped me understand how to use it properly. I went with the RC-5 because I really liked the rhythm option and the ability to store so many loops. I don't regret it at all.

Bought this to work on my rhythm and timing. The ability to create a spontaneous jam track, with or without drums, and with or without overdubs…has already improved my playing/soloing/improvising. Deducted one-half a star because (as other reviewers have mentioned) there really should be a way to set a master tempo and volume for the drums. The default is pretty fast (for me anyway), and the volume is loud - I turn it down to 40 or 50 and it is still plenty for a backing rhythm. Other than that one minor gripe, this is a fantastic pedal. Sturdy, compact, powerful. Oh, speaking of power, it ships with a 9v battery…but go ahead and buy the AC adaptor. Batteries don't last long…not a complaint, just reality.

Would love a Boss Rc-4 that is this pedal just without the drum kits. Love this pedal nonetheless. Has the highest quality audio in a compact package.

This petal is awesome right up to the point it wont run more the 5 minutes on ac power…. And yes its neg center 9v with 500 ma i think they recommend atleast 170ma

Like many other reviewers, my only prior experience with a looper has been with the RC-1. It is a very good pedal and I highly recommend it as a starter pedal and/or for the loop-curious who aren't sure if a loop station is what they need.
That being said, I am amazed with the RC-5 and its' capabilities. The 32-bit sound quality alone makes this pedal worth the money, imo (the RC-1 is 16-bit). The pristine, crystal clear recordings I'm getting have wowed me from the first time I used it.
There are more rhythym options & settings than I'll ever need or use, but that's a good thing. It means that anything I could possibly want is in there.
And HOW it works and records is also fully customizable in more ways that can be explained here.
There is, as others have said, a learning curve, but there are many useful videos on YouTube to help you with that. A little time spent in exploration will be greatly rewarded.
Btw, mine came without a manual, for some reason, (an oversight at the factory and not Sweetwater's fault). I had no trouble figuring out the basics and was looping within minutes.

**Two Important Notes**
1) This pedal draws 170ma. Make sure that your power supply is up to snuff. (I have a Voodoo Lab so no worries there). I have read some reviews that mention performance issues and I strongly suspect that these are due to insufficient power supplies.
2) The default settings are LOUD! If you are buying this to practice at home, then BEFORE you start looping, set the Rhythym Level to about 25-30 and the Loop Level to about 50-70. Otherwise you'll wake up everone in the house, LOL.

Finally: The quality & versatility of this pedal is phenomenal. If you're ready to take your looping to the next level, it's hard to beat the RC-5.

Bought this looper about 3 years ago. After creating and storing over 30 background percussions in the looper's memory over a two-year period, suddenly all was lost. Fortunately, it happened at the beginning of a rehearsal. Re-created and stored the percussions a second time, then after a few months all was lost again. Have no idea why the looper's memory was erased. But if you buy this pedal, by two. A second one as a back-up. And be sure to write down all the settings for each background percussion. A mistake I made the first time.

This thing is amazing and I know I'm only scratching the surface!! Will help with practice, songwriting and more!!

Highly recommended!!

Works great and shipped quickly!

Pro:
- great little looper
- easy to use
- decent amount of storage/mem
- stereo!
- lot's of rhythyms

Cons:
- for $, Roland/Boss should include the power supply
- eats batteries

Good things: I love this looper. As loopers go, this one is the best. I love the drum patterns, the flexibility of settings, tone is very nice top of the line looper.

Bad things: Takes a little time to get the hang of all the settings but that is a small problem easily fixed. The biggest thing that I didn't like was that you need a special kind of 9v battery, an alkaline battery, none of the other 9v batteries work.

Sweetwater is great no problems there, but I can't understand how Boss can say this is easy to use and 4 easy steps to load backing tracks onto the Rc-5 simple and easy this and that.....

NO WAY!

The only way this is easy to use and load backing tracks on to among other things, is if you're a computer genius or a computer engineer !!

It's absolutely ridiculous how technique sensitive it is!

Some company needs to make a looper that actually REALLY is easy to use like they claim!

I really hope that this can be forwarded to Boss

CAVEAT - I don't loop. I'm using this as a backing track playback unit.
What I like about it:
Solid construction
Compact
Awesome Stereo sound quality (sample rate & bit depth)
Loads of recording time!
Good MIDI implementation
Decent drum machine (good range of patterns, time signatures & decent sounding kits - a definite improvement over past offerings)

Why I didn't give it 5 stars:
Higher power draw than typical guitar pedals. If your pedalboard's power supply doesn't provide 250mA, get the accessory power supply (not included). Yes, it can run on a 9 volt battery, but it'll suck that puppy dry in nothing flat. When executing a "permanent" write of audio to a memory slot, if it isn't getting enough amperage it will just quit and reboot. You'll have to start over.

When one is live looping, it is assumed that you will have set the tempo, rhythm pattern, & beat (time signature) and are playing against it. No problem, and the Auto-Record function works great too.

If you are wanting to load a pre-recorded backing track onto the RC-5, things get a little more complicated:
You can load pre-recorded audio files, using BOSS Tone Studio for RC, *BUT*... the resulting machine tempo will differ from the song tempo. This means the rhythm function will not be in time with your audio, and you cannot simply chain this device to another clock dependent midi device, and expect the audio to playback correctly. THERE IS A WORK-AROUND, but it is a mite cumbersome. You have to set the tempo and time signature on the RC-5, set the loop function to Auto-Record, set the Rhythm function to play when the unit is armed, patch the audio from an external playback source into the RC-5, arm the RC-5 and press play (on the downbeat) on your external playback source. Once the audio is finished, stop the RC-5 (press the pedal), and execute a "write" procedure. Turn off auto record in the loop memory! Now you can midi chain the RC-5 to other midi devices and things will work fine, so long as the clock tempo is the same as the tempo the audio was recorded at.

Here's the quick review: I love it. It's a really fun and functional looper that does everything I need – and most of what I want [I'll explain in a minute]. It's well-built, it sounds great, it's easy to use…

The stereo input/output can also be used as a dual-mono in/out, which means you can plug in two different instruments (ex: guitar, bass) at the same time and then run those two signals into two different amps (in my case, Champ 20 & Rumble 40, respectively). What's great about this is that my bass line – and rhythm guitar, if I'll plug and play through that channel – can run into a "clean" amplifier while my lead guitar runs into the modeling amp with its overdrive and such. Obviously, if you've got some other effects pedals, you can put those in front of the looper and have more flexibility, but this dual-mono feature – in and of itself – makes the Boss brand pedals (all of which are stereo) an undeniably better choice (at least for me) over some other popular brands.

And as far as other Boss loopers are concerned… Anything fancier (like the RC-500) would be overkill; I just don't need all that. But, I did strongly consider the RC-1… Here's why I'm glad I splurged for the 5: I had initially thought the drum tracks on this model were something I could do without — after all, I can just use an auxiliary line-in with a drum track from my phone, right? – but having these built in is a huge plus; it's just infinitely more convenient having the drums synced and saved together with your loop rather than trying to sync up (and not be able to save) from an external source. And having the drums just makes it all sound so much better! For my purposes, and I would say for anyone who wants an all-in-one package, this is ideal. Treat yourself to the 5, if you can afford it.

Also, the RC-5 has tons more control over how the loops function, how the display looks and functions, etc. It's surprisingly versatile and customizable. I've dug into some of the settings... Boss provides a QR code video link, but their tutorial barely scratches the surface. There are some YouTube videos that go into way more depth and have really helped me learn how to navigate the sub-menus more efficiently. But, don't get me wrong; it's pretty easy to master the basic functions within just a few minutes, if that's all you want to do.

My two gripes: 1.) I kind of wish that you could not only undo the loop you just laid down but that you could somehow keep mashing the pedal to undo loops that are further back — because if you ever lay something down and accept it, then you move forward and do another layer but THEN you realize "oh, that previous loop was trash," you've just got to start over from scratch – which is a little annoying if you are like seven or eight layers in! I'm not doing anything except having fun and messing with it by myself at the house right now, so it doesn't really matter, but I think if you were performing in a coffeehouse or something you would really need to make sure you got a good loop before going on to the next layer. And, 2.) the drum tracks (which I do love) are WAY too loud until you go in and set them at like 10 or 20% volume. The default setting is basically like having an actual drummer right next to you (i.e., TOO LOUD), which is not some thing I need while I'm practicing at the house.

Otherwise, I unequivocally recommend this product.

Sometimes when I record a track, it will play back as if it's been run through an out of tune, garbled Leslie sound. Why does it do this? It will sometimes do it right away, then sometimes it will play back OK a few times and then sound garbled. The pedal is one month old, used only at home, and has been pampered. Now I don't know if it's reliable enough to gig with.

My RC-5 sits on top of my Yamaha MX88 keyboard and is activated with my cloned FS6 footswitch. I can't think of one negative thing to say about this looper. I love it.

I love my RC-5. This is my first looper and it gets shared between my guitars and keyboard. The fact that this pedal accommodates a stereo keyboard was a selling point for me. This thing is a blast and between all the storage and loop lengths it has endless possibilities. I also find the RC-5 great for practice. Run a chord progression through it and play along to the loop. It's like having another guitarist to practice with.

I am new to looping. I have tried some other devices and did not like them very much because I had trouble using them live. People have said to me a looper is a like a new instrument in itself. My early attempts to count in and start a phrase or chord progression with the RC-5 were successful. I feel like I can add this looper to our trio for some outro jams etc. I would like very much to move beyond that with some prerecorded parts and layers (maybe from keys too) I can add to some of our songs. It appears with the 99 memory locations that will be possible. I downloaded the some Boss SW but have not used it yet for saving loops. I sent some things to the band and THEY liked it (more important than anything). I have the FS-5U from another application so my next work out with the RC-5 I will add the footswitch, but the RC-5 switch works really well. The looper is feature full. I have gone through all the settings for the looper and the rhythm (drums) and they are easy to use. My only nit is the loop and rhythm level is quite high and to get it to a rehearsal level for example you really have to turn everything down significantly. Maybe I am just mellowing out too much, but the drums are quite loud at the default level and get to a "play along" level you really have to dial it down. The good news is the level controls are easy to operate.

I really like this looper station but I'm still having problems figuring out how to work this device. I can't seem to learn how to record my over dubs & play them back. If there is any instructions to help me get the most out of this pedal I would appreciate it. Otherwise I'm enjoying recording rythem sections and playing lead over them.

Bought it to add some subtle second parts for acoustic guitar performances. Sound quality is really good, display makes it easy to use even if you're not used to looping. It's great that you can easily upload and download loops. Being able to use external pedals is really helpful.

There's a tremendous number of features buried in the menus, if you're willing to download the reference manual from the Boss website and figure it all out. I found it straightforward to get exactly the setup I wanted.

I agree it's a pain that it doesn't come with a power supply - as it happens I already had a Boss PSU I could use.

All good then, except for a couple of annoying (and in one case undocumented) features. Number 1, it tries to autodetect the tempo of recorded loops, and then, if you correct the tempo, it timewarps your loop (using a horribly crude algorithm which makes the sound unusable). You can avoid this happening, but you can't turn the timewarp function off. Number 2, if you're not very careful with the tempo button, it will interpret presses as "tap tempo" and change the loop tempo *and there's no way to undo this*. So you have to remember what the tempo was and manually reset.

Neither of these are dealbreakers, and the many, many good features certainly outweigh the bad. Deducting half a star for annoyance. Would still recommend.

The BOSS RC-5 looper pedal is valuable in helping me practice playing duet guitar songs without needing another guitarist.

My Sweetwater Sales Engineer, Jordan Clohessy, assembled a BOSS looper pedal package for me that contained the required A/C adapter and patch cable needed for the BOSS RC-5. I received my BOSS RC-5 pedal package within two business days of placing the order. Thanks, Jordan!

I'm slowly working my way through the William Levitt "A Modern Method for Guitar, Volume 1" book. I use the BOSS RC-5 looper pedal as backing track metronome to practice playing the book's exercises and etudes. For the book's duet pieces I use the BOSS RC-5 looper pedal to record the 1st and 2nd Guitar parts into their own RC-5 memory spaces as "1SHOT" recordings (a BOSS RC-5 term). This lets me replay a recorded Guitar part as many times as needed while I practice playing the duet's accompaniment Guitar part.

This is my first looper, so I don't have any reference to compare it to. I've always been able to depend on Boss quality, reliability, ruggedness, and consistent/predictable size on the pedalboard. I'm really enjoying the drum tracks and overdubbing. I like the LCD screen and the functionality of the buttons/knob. The memory space seems ample. For practicing/composing it is fulfilling my needs currently.

I'm not having that much fun trying to export loops to the computer/tablet. I probably need to reach out to Boss support…but so far that has been the only drawback for me, resulting in -1 star.

great lop station has improved my playing tremendously. Love the drums on it as well. There are lots of different setting for drums and great with the BPM is a plus. Its nice to see where I am exactly in my loop with the digital screen, Dont think I could loop well without a timer.

Bought this a few weeks back and am very happy. Still figuring out how to use some of the options, it has many, but I am getting there. Sweetwater is a good company to work with, very helpful and knowledgeable.

Love the looper. Hate that it didn't come with a power supply. So far I'm averaging 3 hours per battery. Seems that they could throw in a power supply instead of trying to fleece you for another power cord.

Fun and versatile. Not coming with a power supply when that happens to be proprietary really sucks. Just include everything. The most annoying part about buying pedals.

This is perfect for playing around with at home. Sounds great even after recording a bunch of overdubs on the same loop.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my new loop pedal. I play acoustic guitar and I have never owned a pedal before so I wasn't sure how difficult it would be but after playing around with it and watching a couple YouTube videos, I feel like I have a good grasp of how to use it. Also, the people at Sweetwater have been super helpful in assisting with any follow up questions or concerns. Thank you!

I have nothing but good things to say about Boss pedals. Yes, I realize they are a bit pricier than some pedals, but they have been SUPER reliable. I store all my gig songs on the RC - 3 and now the RC - 5. I'm always confident that they will work night after night. AND Forrest Powell always saw that they got here in record time - the service is just as reliable as the pedals. Thanks Forrest!!

I ordered this... after several other loopers, because of a few features I knew of. But the ones I didn't are even better.
1. You don' have to time your start perfectly. You can set it to either record automatically when it hears you play(hit the button, it waits, then strum and it records). Or you can set it to a one measure count in(hit the button, it counts you in with a metronome and the records on the next 1 beat).
2. You don't have to time your stop perfectly... or even change chords You can preset it to a certain number of measures, after which it stops recording automatically. Want to do a 4 chord progression... set it to 4 or 8 measures, record the first chord for 1 or 2 measures, it will continue until the end of all measures, hit overdub when it comes back around, record the second chord for the next 1 or 2 measures, rinse, repeat.

Everything else... the way it only saves that you are doing if you hit save... and then get to pick where... so if you have a preset you like it doesn't automatically overwrite as you record. The rhythms, sound quality, display... all work great. Best looper I've come across.

I just the RC-5 and love it. The sound quality is excellent and I love the features. I had a little trouble downloading tracks from Boss Tone Central, but I emailed Roland and they provided the details I needed. The instructions could be better as it took a little practice to get familiar with the procedures.
Sweetwater was great as always.

Love all the features. Drum loops are great. Easy to use and figure out.

This pedal has most of the features you will ever need, but the added power supply is a must. Battery life is short - not enough for one gig.

I originally considered buying the Boss RC-1 before deciding that the extra features of the Boss RC-5 was worth the additional money.

The Boss RC-5 looper pedal is intuitive to use. I like that it has dozens of built-in drum tracks and that the looper pedal can layer more tracks from my guitar than I need. I bought the looper pedal to record myself playing the 'guitar two' part of a duet so that I can play over the recording using the 'guitar one' part.

Four stars for the Boss RC-5 looper pedal + one star for the great Sweetwater service = five stars overall rating.

This is a great Looper pedal. However, I wouldn't recommend it if you're going from a different Looper and want to transfer loops from your old pedal. I went from a Digitech Jamman Solo XT which is 16 bit and the Boss is 32. I spent 2 weeks converting files to get it to work. However, if you're more technology advanced than I it shouldn't be a problem.

I'm an amateur at best, I use this to practice and try to keep time. The addition of the drum kits for Rhythm has more options than I'll ever use, but it's an amazing tool for learning and having someone to play with.

I would imagine someone who is a real pro would do far more with this looper than I can. I did upgrade from the rc-1 and it was worth it.

Ethan was great to work with and helped me get the right gear to go with it.

I waited a long time for this peddle, and I'm over the moon happy with it. There is a short learning curve as with any peddle based looper, and I've only scratched the surface of it in the short time I've had it. That said, it has already injected adrenalin into my creative process, and I can see that my practices will be not just more fun but exponentially more efficient.
A couple of comments. As is the trend for the past few years, the shipped documentation is quite sparse. Basically, flow charts with no tutorials. There is an excellent manual to download, but I had to hunt a bit to find it. I hope Boss makes that a little more obvious soon. I also found a couple of great walkthrough videos and great demonstrations on youtube specific to it.
Hooking it up to the computer was a breeze. Once I remembered that I had an old Boss BR800. Using its USB cable, I was up in no time. The ability to easily backup the pedal using my computer's OS without any additional software is awesome! I downloaded the Boss Tone Studio for RC3 software, which works perfectly with the RC5. The amount of rhythm and backing tracks available online were a bit underwhelming to me, but I expect to create my own backing/Jam tracks on my computer and import them to the pedal. This software is essential for that.
Overall, the pedal's quality, and the range of features, sheer "tweekabilty" of this pedal make it the perfect enhancement at the end of my signal chain. I've so far used it into my Fender Mustang amp and directly into my Focusrite audio interface. The sound quality is excellent either way.

SWEET, SWEET SWEEET ! ! GREAT FOR PRACTICING.

This pedal rocks. It looks great with the new color screen and is very easy to see if you are recording or if you have a clean loop to record to. It clears track faster then the RC-3 so less time between songs. I am very happy with the looper and was delighted that it got here so quickly from Sweetwater.

I'm a huge fan of this product and it is perfect for me!! I tried the Boss RC 3 and I wasn't very impressed but when this came out I knew I had to get it immediately and it exceeded my expectations so much!! Thanks, Boss!!!!

The RC-5 is an interesting product. It would be great for someone who can benefit from the size of the pedal. But I returned mine the day after receiving it. I'm exchanging it for the RC-500 instead. In a nut shell - the RC-500 will be easier to change settings as it has more physical buttons, switches and knobs - at the price of being a larger pedal.

Pros of the RC-5:
Very compact, fits on a pedal board and matches the size of all the rest of the Boss compact pedals. The visual indicator is great, it lets you know if you are recording, playing or overdubbing. The visual indicator also lets you know where you are in your loop, which is my favorite feature by far. Other pedals by Boss that let you know where you are in your loop are the RC-1, RC-10R, RC-500 - not sure about the other 2-3 Boss loopers that are very large and expensive. Another one of my favorite things about it is all the drum tracks, drum kits and tempo adjustments. It has a huge amount of options and patterns for the drums that the older loopers lack.

Cons of the RC-5:
Very compact pedal. Now why is this a pro and a con? Well, the small size comes at a price - navigating the menus to change volume and features, saving, deleting, etc. You have only 4 buttons and a knob that click rotates and can be pressed in like a button. It takes a long time to change things without the extra physical knobs, switches and buttons that a pedal like the RC-30 or RC-500 have. This is my only real complaint, but it made using the pedal very cumbersome and slow - which was frustrating for me. I have an RC-30 with more physical buttons, switches and knobs which makes it very quick to use and do what you want it to do - like changing the volume of the loop or drum pattern.

I'm looking forward to getting the RC-500 and selling my RC-30 (the RC-30 does not have a visual indicator for where you are in the loop). I'm also keeping my RC-1 as a basic looper, as I think it's the best "no frills" looper and it has a visual indicator for where you are in the loop as well.

Hopefully my long-winded review helps some people with their looper purchase.