Looper

Having toyed with the idea of owning a looper pedal for the longest of times, I finally decided to take the plunge. There are so many loopers out there on the marketplace; all with varying degrees of sophistication and of course, prices to match. The ones I’d seen and read about had loop maximums of 30 or 40 seconds, some slightly more, some less, and then I came across the Donner Triple Looper. The Donner Looper is about as simple to operate as they get, but what really had me hook, line and sinker, was that, not only did it have three separate recording banks (hence the ‘Triple Looper’) but boasted of unlimited overdubs. With these credentials, and given what I’d gleaned from the specs of other pedals, I was genuinely expecting something in the region of 100 quid. Well, not a bit of it, this wee beauty tips the scales at a penny under 56 quid and I reckoned I’d have been insane not to grab this looper – and so I did. Power to this pedal is via a 9 volt power supply which is not included in the purchase, but bear in mind that, apart from the low cost of this looper, if you have other pedals then the chances are you already have the power pack and your other pedals are daisy chained together. This is a true bypass pedal so that when the pedal is off (bypass mode), the signal from the guitar is routed directly to the amp without interference. It is also a very small pedal which in no way detracts from its capabilities as a looper although some might feel, because of its size, that the bank selector switch and the volume output control, are a bit on the tiny side. Me? I just think they’re perfect. As small as it is, the screen is very readable and definitely bright enough to see even in the dimmest of venues. Entire control of the looper is down to the solitary footswitch and works as follows; Stomp: 1st Starts loop record 2nd Plays loop 3rd Records overdub 4th Plays loop By repeating steps three and four you can build up an unlimited amount of overdubs and by applying two rapid clicks you will stop the loop playing, one more click starts the loop playing again. If during an overdub you should make a mistake, you can undo that overdub by clicking once whilst in play mode and the screen will read ‘UNDO’, if you change your mind and want to reinstate that overdub press the switch one more time and the screen will read ‘REDO’, but remember you must be in play mode for this to happen. If you intend to completely clear out all overdubs from a track you must stop the looper, hold down the switch for 2-3 seconds and the screen should then read ‘EMPTY’. Travelling around the circumference of the small screen, during playback and overdub, an animated indicator shows you where the loop starts and where it ends. This adds greatly to the accuracy when laying one track on top of another. On any one of the three tracks, which you can select from using the right hand switch, you can have a recording time of thirty minutes, giving you a total of 90 minutes. This is incredible specs for a 56 quid looper especially once you’ve heard the clarity with which this pedal reproduces your sounds. In summary, this looping game takes a fair bit of practice and I’m getting there, although I don’t think I’ll be showing off my skills with the pedal on stage anytime soon. I’ve been playing guitar as my main instrument for half a century and it’s been a long time since I’ve had this much fun with a pedal. Go get one, you know it makes sense. Recommended.

Now the honeymoon period is over, I remain very impressed by this little beast. Sound quality of the loops and overdubs are very good, even after multiple dubs. 30 mins loop and overdub time per preset is very impressive. Would I use it live; under certain limited circs perhaps but it’s been much more a very useful tool for song writing and ideas. Very good fun, simple to operate and offers a lot of functionality for the price. It’s nice-looking too with a very clear LED display.

I am a learner at the intermediate stage (level 4) and new to pedals. Just built my first board and this fits in well. I find it tricky to get the synchronisation spot on, but this is down to practice. Can select 3 different tracks, each one up to 30 minutes, so plenty of capacity. Nicely made so would recommend

So, I haven’t fully exhausted the use of this pedal but first thoughts are it does what it says. It’s easy to use but I have only been hand pressing the button as it’s not on a pedal board yet. Display is readable and shows the timing of the recorded track in seconds, there is useful bar that rotates around the outside of the screen which I used for timing with reasonable results. You can make three tracks which are saved when power is removed so in theory you could come back to t the next day and take up where you left off. Multiple dubbing is good, I used chords on first record with up down strum, second record down strum and less chords and finally upstrum with just a single chord. All recorded easily and playback was ok. If I was hyper critical the sound is slightly muddy or flat but that I believe could be simply my not being fully setup yet to use this pedal. I think this will be an excellent practice aid for timing and playback of anything I want to get right . I got this on Black Friday and made a great saving but I think it would still be worth a higher price.

Added hum when off, out of two loops one worked with hum in the background the other was very loud hum. Bad luck I guess, as other reviewers are happy, but no more donner pedals for me.

This is a great little Looper pedal. It’s simple and easy to use, it has true bypass meaning the sound is not distorted in anyway. It has 3 memories, and the screen on it shows you the loop sequence and is really bright and makes looping so much easier! I use mine with an acoustic guitar / amp and love it! So if you are looking for a good quality pedal which is so easy to use then definitely worth going for :)

Noisy as. So I wouldn't use it on stage. Ok for playing about at home tho

Great looper pedal , simple to use , display works well. I’ve not used it for a gig but there is enough flexibility to think that it’s more than capable. It’s not going to compete with the more expensive premium brands but it does not disappoint if you are new to using a looper or just want a practice pedal. I have used other Donner pedals in the past and they are good value for money.This is no exception.