Main advantage
With over 30 years of experience in the field of audio and video products, Boss is one of the market’s leaders, delivering high-quality products, just like the new RC3 Loop Station Pedal.
If you’re looking for a product that is lightweight and portable yet strong enough to withstand constant traveling, tear, and wear, the RC3 is the right choice for you.
Featuring a hard metal case, the product is designed to resist the hustle of tours and live gigs. It won’t rust, chip or break in time and, what’s most important, it can resist harsh weather conditions. Therefore, be it sunshine, rain or cold temperatures, the Boss RC3 will still perform at a maximum level, allowing you to record or play your guitar with a wide range of effects.
The item is compact and portable, which means it won’t occupy too much space and can safely travel with you anywhere you go. You can put it alongside the rest of the audio gear required for your live performance or place it inside your guitar’s hard case to easily install it and start making quality music.
The hard metallic case will protect all the wires inside and prevent them from overheating.
Buy from Amazon.com for ($254.83)
Main disadvantage
The pedal is built like a tank and designed to withstand prolonged tear and wear while also delivering quality sound looping. Unfortunately, you might experience a loud noise to the signal chain, which can be disturbing when practicing or performing live.
If you’re willing to get past that, you got yourself a sturdy accessory that helps you to record a lot of tracks and play with your sound as much as you can. Don’t forget that the item doesn’t come with a charger either so you’ll have to purchase one additionally to enjoy the looping effects of the Boss RC3 station.
Main features explained
Marathon Looping
Close your eyes and imagine the crowd cheering for you whenever you get on stage, reaching the hearts of thousands of people with the universal language of music. The road is long and filled with the hustle of constantly looking for music inspiration in your life events. Nobody said it’s going to be easy.
Becoming a professional guitar player involves thousands of hours of practice, experimenting with new techniques and sounds until you find your trademark. However, whenever you come across a sound that you’re proud of, you might want to record it immediately or write it down so you can use it in your later tracks.
The Boss RC3 Loop Station allows you to do that and so much more. The product provides three hours of stereo recording capacity directly to internal memory, which means approximately 60 songs of 3 minutes each, the equivalent of 4-5 full albums.
In other words, you will get plenty of space to experiment with the sound effects of your liking and create unique music. With the help of the Boss RC3 Loop Station, you can record long phrases without ever having to worry about memory.
The product features 99 memory location slots that allow you to save as many ideas or samples as you can create, and fastly navigate through them whenever you want to compose new songs. And, if this isn’t enough for you, you can incorporate external stereo effects devices for more versatility and creativity.
This loop station pedal from Boss represents the only tool you need to boost your guitar’s tone and experiment with new sounds as much and as often as you like. No idea will ever be too bad or too complicated to interpret, which means you’ll put your brain at work to come up with fresh reinterpretations of classic songs or unique sounds that will help you develop your trademark.
Rhythm Guide
Think about your favorite guitarists and the one thing that defines every one of them. It’s not about the guitars they use or the years of experience they have behind. It isn’t about the thousand-dollars gear they make use of whenever they come on stage or their attitude toward music.
It is about the emotions they can create and transmit with the help of music notes. It is about finding the perfect music genre to interpret their creations and stick to what works best for them.
Finding your rhythm can take a long time but you’ll have an easy start with the help of the Boss RC3 Loop Station Pedal. You can keep your loops tight and in time and play along with one of the basic rhythm patterns in the item’s onboard library as you record.
Therefore, if you haven’t found the perfect music genre to define you and your life experiences, you can try from a wide variety, including R&B, Latin, pop, funk or rock. Experiment with these pre-recorded loops as much as you want until you find the perfect combination to show off your guitar solo skills.
There is also a dedicated knob that allows you to adjust the volume of the rhythm, and you can set the tempo with the help of the tap tempo. This ensures increased versatility, precision, and customization in the music-making process.
Another feature of this amazing loop station is the time signature. If you want to know exactly when you composed and recorded a piece of your liking, you can specify the time signature. Whenever you save a phrase or a demo, the time signature and rhythm will be saved so you can go back to what you previously recorded faster and easier.
USB Connectivity
We live in an era of technology when making music has never been easier. Practically, with the help of a good laptop and some mixing devices and accessories, anyone can become a music composer or a musician.
So why not take advantage of what technology has to offer you and step into the 21st century? The Boss RC3 loop station pedal can be easily connected to your computer or any other smart device (smartphone or tablet) with the help of a standard USB cable. This ensures increased versatility in the music-making process and, what’s best, you can back up all your RC-3 recordings to your computer for safekeeping.
Thus, if you ever happen to run out of memory on the device or want to experiment with a completely different style and music genre, all you have to do is download your recordings from the Boss RC3 to your computer and start composing new music to your liking.
Given that there are various genres that the Boss RC3 supports, it would be a shame not to explore all its opportunities. You might think you’re a rocker fan but every good musician has to step out of his or her comfort zone at a certain point and experiment with new styles.
Take Chris Cornell for example. The late musician, songwriter, and guitarist for the rock bands Audioslave and Soundgarden decided to switch his rock influences for a more commercial, pop approach on one of his albums. This allowed him to extend his fan base and, ultimately, made him more popular.
Getting back to our little miracle box, the Boss RC3 also allows you to load WAV files from your computer directly into the pedal so you can create presets for different shows. The maximum size of the WAV files is 1.7GB.
Auto Record Function
Another great feature of this device is the auto-record function. The Boss RC3 will start recording the moment you tune in your guitar and begin playing or as soon as you connect the device to an audio player. This means that you’ll never have to worry about missing a phrase that sounded exactly like you wanted to. Combined with the three hours of recording time available, the sky’s the limit when it comes to this accessory.
Perhaps one of the most useful functions is the count-in mode that gives you one-bar of rhythm before the recording starts, which means you’ll have plenty of time to prepare before playing your music. In other words, you have your own sound system engineer and personal assistant any time you tune in your guitar and you’re ready to play it.
To sum up, the new Boss RC3 Loop Station Pedal represents a useful accessory for your guitar that helps you experiment with new sounds, loops, and record new music, no matter the genre you’re interested in. It allows for up to three hours of recording and various sound, rhythm, and effect features that enhance your playing skills and allow you to create unique songs.
Perhaps one of the most useful features of the device is the Auto-Record setting which will start recording a demo the second you begin playing your instrument. This means you won’t waste a second or a sound.
Given that musicians find their inspiration in the most random moments, the function of this loop station pedal will prove in handy, especially if you have someone else trying to play your instrument. Who knows what sounds they may make that you will want to further integrate into your songs or guitar solos?
Buy from Amazon.com for ($254.83)