Boomerang is at Guitar Center!

[The Man Himself <altruist@shoko.CALARTS.EDU>]

I was in the Hollywood Guitar Center last night, taking a passing glance
at the footpedals on display, when what should I see but a Boomerang
Phrase Sampler sitting there.  I gave it a fairly quick run-thru, and here
are some thoughts: 

-- The thing is nicely laid out for live performance, and is clearly
designed more for live work than studio endeavors; the pedals feel pretty
substantial (definitely a step up from the Lexicon jobbies), and the
addition of a foot-roller volume control and a thru-signal bypass are very
clever features.  There's also a selectable, three-stage input gain switch
for toggling between instrument or mic level inputs. 

-- The controls are somewhat reminiscent of a tape recorder, as there are 
controls for "starting" and "stopping" the loops, as well as a "one-shot" 
playback feature.

-- The overdub function only seems to work while the button for it is
being held down; this is a fairly significant limitation in my opinion. 
(I didn't have access to an instruction manual, so there may be provisions
for this that I'm unaware of, but the thing is pretty spartan in terms of
its layout and available controls, and seems to be designed very
intuitively, so I'm a bit inclined to doubt that I may have missed a
possible way around this). 

-- The half-speed function is very cool.  Unfortunately, I was only able 
to access it by first stopping the loop and then hitting the overdub 
button (which alternates as the half-speed button), and then starting the 
loop up again.  Not exactly the most seamless procedure.  Again, there 
may be provisions around this that I missed by not having the manual, but 
I doubt it.

-- The reverse function is cool (as it was/is in the Echoplex) and has 
its own dedicated pedal.

-- I didn't see any feedback control on the unit.  There may have been one
lurking on the back panel next to the input gain, trim, and other
controls, but once again, I think I would have noticed running across it. 
The volume control can be used to fade a loop in or out, but there's a lot
more to using feedback than simply fading in or out, and if this isn't an
available factor, then that's another fairly substantial drawback. 

-- The sound struck me as very good.  I was running a guitar (with a 
still-affixed, broken top string -- see, it really *was* at Guitar 
Center!) direct into the Boomerang, then straight out into the 
standard-issue Fender combo, and heard fairly little difference between 
the actual input signal and the looped sound.  If someone's hoping to 
loop higher-fi sounds than an electric guitar, they should spend more 
time checking it out, but it seemed quite passable to me, especially 
given the Boomerang's obvious slant towards off-the-cuff live work.

This is a very happening box; GC was selling it for somewhere around $350
(one of those year-end Holiday deals, ya see).  The half-speed function is
awfully cool, though I'm not sure it's $350 worth of cool for someone who
already owns one of the other Big Three.  There were some things, such as
feedback, automatic record start, and others, that I missed from the
Echoplex, and I would much rather have seen a pedal dedicated to
half-speed rather than to a one-shot playback.  Nevertheless, it's a
must-see for anyone on this list, and if the Hollywood GC is carrying the
thing, then chances are most other store sin the chain can get one in. 
Check one out if you get the chance, and please correct me if I'm in error
regarding the limitations I cited above.  (That seems to be my mantra 
these days...  :-/ )

--Andre