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My Equipment:

  • Engl Powerball 2
  • Boss GT-100 Effektboard
  • Boss RC-300 Looper

What works:

  • 4-Cable-Method with Engl and GT-100. it's great! enter image description here

Short explanation of the 4-Cable-Method:

The 4 cable method is a way to hook up a pedalboard to an amp in a way that allows you to control which pedals or effects are placed before the pre-amp and which pedals or effects are placed after the pre-amp in the amp’s effects loop. This is achieved using four cables hence the name.

source: http://guitargearfinder.com/guides/use-four-cable-method/

What I want:

  • Integrating the Looper will bring much more fun
  • I could also use the RC-300-Pedal as a volume pedal of the guitar signal
  • I could also use the Sub-Output of the RC-300 (see manual) to go into the PA for backing sounds
  • ...

What I did:

  • my idea was to bring it to the end of the chain, like this: enter image description here

The Problem:

  • If I record a loop on the RC-300, I can see it (there is a red blinking light for it) but I can't hear it.
  • Just my guitar signal is coming out. it's like the looper is 'invisible'
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6
  • What exactly happens when you try to loop?
    – Todd Wilcox
    Commented Jun 5, 2018 at 13:37
  • nothing! There is no output. I can see, that the loop is on the rc-300 track (there is a red blinking light for it). But just my guitar signal is coming out. it's like the looper is 'invisible'. (<- added this text to the question)
    – Jobacca
    Commented Jun 5, 2018 at 13:44
  • So with the looper bypassed you can hear the guitar (like the last sentence in your question) but as soon as you start recording a loop the sound goes away?
    – Todd Wilcox
    Commented Jun 5, 2018 at 13:46
  • I play and here my actual play. I record and still hear my actual play. I stop recording and begin to loop. I don't hear the loop.
    – Jobacca
    Commented Jun 5, 2018 at 13:50
  • What happens if you connect the looper between the guitar and the amp with just two cables and don't use the GT-100?
    – Todd Wilcox
    Commented Jun 5, 2018 at 14:08

3 Answers 3

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I don't have the answer but I know what is not the answer. It has nothing to do with the 4CM. The looper has no idea that you are using the 4CM. If you are producing sound through your GT output on all patches you are using to record, it is going into your looper. The issue is with the looper settings to the output, maybe channeled to stereo and you are using the mono out only. To note, if you record ambient effects from your GT, it will be messy coupled with new ambient effects from your overdub. Either use ambient effects from your looper so it will sync or move the looper to before the GT return (assuming your ambient effects are after the loop as should be). Then your loop playback AND your live play will get the same treatment.

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3

Why no fun? Likely because the 4cm puts effects in front of the amp and also between the pre-amp and final power amp stage. If you wanted the ENGL output to go to the RC-300, then you would need another amp output to send a signal from the ENGL power amp.

If the ENGL Fireball II amp had a line-out, such as an emulated headphone jack, then you could send that signal to the RC-300 and loop away. However, you could have more fun by instead by sending the line out from the Boss GT-100 to the auxilliary input of the RC-300 looper and then send the looper's line out (headphone output) to a separate line-level audio, such as the Roland KC60 or a PA or a hi-fi system etc. This way, you can record separate loops using different effects and/or channels on the ENGL each time and the looped playback won't be coloured by the sound of the amp. See picture.

FYI - I struggled with this issue using the Blackstar TVP 260, Boss GT8, Digitech JamMan Stereo and Roland KC60 but the set up just described works well. (The old GT8 still has excellent modulation and compression effects and can do midi channel switching for the TVP 260 across 128 banks).

ENGL with RC-300 Looper and Roland KC60 keyboard amp

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1

To capture the signal from the amp channels as well as the multi effects board on a looper pedal use the 4 cable method for connecting the multi effects then a separate link from the emulated line out of the amp into the looper and out from the looper into a mixing desk.

If you have the boss rc500 you can also split the outputs from the looper so that right goes to one channel on the mixing desk playing recorded loops only and the left goes to a second channel on the mixer playing the bypass live sound. This can then be muted if you only want to hear the live sound through the amp or vice verca.

This is the 7 cable method. Took a while to work out but simple when you know how. Simple always works. This arrangement also allows good level control over each channel as well as the amp so can be balanced nicely.

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