If you want to practice playing over chords, if you want to solo over chord patterns you create, or if you want to build instant multi-tracks, you are going to need a good loop pedal!
This is the loop pedal I own and use – I have found it to be easy to use, reliable, and with no fuss. It may not have all the bells and whistles that some more expensive, more complex loop pedals have, but for pure usability, and simplicity, The JamMan Express is certainly the go to loop pedal for my day to day practice, and recording sessions.
If you want to check out all the official specs, have a read of the instructions, or if you just lost your copy – you can download the complete JamMan Express XT manual here!
I have had, and used this pedal, for several years now, and found the Digitech JamMan Express XT is an intuitive, easy to use, loop pedal, excellent for creating simple, or multilayered loops. It can create loops up to ten minutes long, though I find most of the loops I make are a couple of minutes or less. I love to make loops I can practice on top of, or just jam for hours for fun!
This is the pedal I use on most of the tracks that I have posted to this blog. If you listen to some of the sessions I have put online, you will hear how good it sounds when things go well – and also what it sounds like when I mess up and don’t quite synchronize the loop!
I generally record quite short loops, of just three or four chords, a few strums each – then, if I get it right, I follow the chords using a simple minor pentatonic scale, arpeggios, up and down the neck, or practice one of the modes of the major, scale, and play about with that, up and down the neck, and generally just jam along to the music – it’s great fun, and I find I often get totally lost in the moment, especially if I have been at a bit of the herb before I start!
If I don’t get the loop just right, (and that does happen – more frequently than I would like lol) it sometimes quite easy to repair – Using the overdubbing feature of the pedal, you can fill in gaps, or empty spaces, re-strum any buzzes or dull sounds – even put the same chords down again, on top of your track – which gives a fuller sound, and the impression of two guitars playing the same thing at the same time, which can sound really cool. Of course you can add more guitars infinity!
Creating a loop couldn’t be simpler! Plug the pedal in, you will see all three LEDs will light up, followed by all three lighting up individually, for a second or so each, then all the lights turn off – The pedal is ready to record!
Start strumming, and just at the right moment, hit the button with your foot, the red LED light will come on – It’s recording! Though not necessarily at the exact moment you wanted to start recording – that takes practice! Hit the button again, it stops recording, and begins seamlessly playing from the beginning of the loop you just created! The red LED will have turned off, and the green LED will have turned on – so you can easily see you its now on ‘Play’ You can hear it too!
Overdubbing is as easy as creating a loop – all you need to do is hit the button one more time, while the loop is playing, and you will begin overdubbing on top of your already recorded loop – The Yellow LED will now be lit! Easy! Since you have an unlimited amount of overdubs, you can keep building a loop that becomes fuller and fuller of sounds.
Should you make a mistake – and, if you are like me, you probably will at some time – its just a matter of two hits of the button to erase the last overdub you recorded. of course if you really mess up, it only takes a moment to delete the whole track, and lay down a completely new one!
There are two in sockets, and two out sockets on the sides of the pedal – Standard 3.5mm jack plugs my standard guitar cable can plug into, a left and a right for each. The left bears the legend ‘mono’, the right socket does not. personally as I am generally only plugging one guitar in, just using the left mono channel works fine me.
I have, on occasion, had a go at running my keyboard through the pedal, which works fine – though I have read, your keyboard needs to be ‘tip negative’ to do this – So check yours out first! Microphones apparently work too, with the same ‘tip negative’ proviso – I haven’t had a go at this yet, ‘cos I’m not much of a singer – Maybe I will one day! I should add you can also use a bass guitar, either alone, or in combination with a standard guitar, or with a keyboard or mic, if that was not obvious!
It is possible to use a guitar and the Keyboard together simultaneously, each into its own jack plug socket, and each out of its own jack plug socket. of course this leaves you with two out cables, which unless you have a mixer, as I do, or an amp with more than one ‘in’ socket, this could be a problem.
Being able to jam along to a keyboard and a guitar is an amazing experience, and the loop pedal means you don’t need to invite two friends round, who are soon going to be bored out of their brains, while you jam along happily oblivious of their frustrated, and prolonged monotony, repeating tedious chord patterns for hours on end.
There are two 3.5mm sockets on the back of the box, an in, and an out, for the jam sync cables – should you want to sync your JamMan Express up with another JamMan Express pedal, or other compatible Digitech loop pedal,and there are several compatible Digitech pedals out there!
The last socket, also on the back of the box is the power socket, a standard 9v 150mA socket, that my daisy chain plugs into, meaning I don’t need the 9v alkaline battery that I could have used instead!
If you don’t have a 9v power adapter, and a daisy chain that you can use to power several foot pedals, I strongly advise you to get one. Batteries may be great in an emergency, but as a primary source of power they are going to be expensive, a nuisance to change, and a bother to keep buying.
My adapter, and daisy chain, cost around 25€ and can power five foot pedals simultaneously. I can only imagine the nightmare, continually buying and changing batteries for five foot pedals, would be – and I would never wish that fate on anyone. Both adapters and daisy chains are available on amazon – so do yourself a favour if you are still messing about with batteries, and buy one now!
The pedal comes with “Silent Clear,” feature which enables you to delete the entire loop without having to set it playing first – which I am certain could be a real problem for anyone trying to do this on stage! Unwanted bits of songs suddenly popping up then promptly stopping are never good!
This pedal also boasts ‘True bypass’, which means a clean sound, with no interference, or buzzing whatsoever, while the pedal is not being used.
I am not going to bother explaining the volume control, because it’s kind of obvious – You turn it up if you want it louder, and turn it down if you want it quieter! I like to set the level for the loop, then turn my guitar up to play over it, or hit my grunge pedal, with plenty of volume, for a really great screaming rock sound!
Digitech have been in business for years, so they really know how to make guitar pedals, and the features they have put on this JamMan loop pedal are simple and intuitive. Meaning you will spend your time making music, rather than fighting complicated settings.
Living in Spain, as I do, I find myself in summer, practicing my guitar at home with my feet, unshod, un-socked, and bare, as it can get quite hot here, and bare feet makes things much cooler! The problem I find with this is, when happily strumming away on my guitar, I go to hit the loop button with my unshod foot – if I don’t catch the button just right with my big toe, and very often I do not, it hurts like holy hell on the underside of my poor tender foot! So I find myself having to wear one shoe, slipped onto my right foot, when I practice, which is not an ideal situation, as it causes my foot to get hot and sweaty – and makes me look, with just one shoe on, really quite ridiculous! Wearing two shoes of course, would make me even hotter, and more uncomfortable! I realize this is only a problem in hot countries, but personally I think a more comfortable button, one that didn’t hurt with bear feet, would be much better!
The uncomfortable button is my only real beef with the pedal though, and I think overall, it is a great pedal to use – easy and fun. Its simplicity allows you to concentrate on the music you are making, rather than worry about settings, buttons and technology. If mine ever breaks, I will buy another identical one, despite the occasional pain in the sole of my foot, when I forget I don’t have shoes on, and hit that loop button again, with my poor bare foot!
Go check it out – and find the current price, on Amazon right now!
Remember – You can help out a starving artist by buying him a coffee or a beer – at TimB.Green@BuymeACoffee.com or at TimB.Green@ko.fi
Yours Gratefully –
Tim B. Green
Digitech JamMan Express XT Guitar Looper Pedal – US And International Link
Digitech JamMan Express XT Guitar Looper Pedal – UK Link
Digitech JamMan Express XT Guitar Looper Pedal – CA Link
Digitech JamMan Express XT Guitar Looper Pedal – ES Link
Enjoy!
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