I’d be a worse guitar player without a looper pedal. Here’s why I think every guitarist should own one – especially with deals starting at $59

As far as simple loopers go, it's hard to look past the RC-1. In our review, we said, "The Boss RC-1 Loop Station is a really easy-to-use looper pedal with great functionality, 12 minutes record time, stereo ins and outs, and superb build quality. This pedal is perfect for simple looping in a live performance setting or for writing."

The RC-5 builds on the RC-1 in just about every way. You get 13 hours of recording, spread out over 99 memories, so you can store your loops and recall them whenever you like, along with tempo and reverb assignments. There are 114 drum grooves and seven drum kits to accompany your playing, too. It’s all easily navigated via the onboard screen, which helps keep you in time, as well. This isn’t just a looper; it’s a fully formed songwriting assistant. It’s discounted across the web, but B&H Photo has the best price, knocking $30 off.

One of our favorite cheap looper pedals has had $50 slashed off the price. One footswitch covers your record, overdub, undo-redo and loop erase functionality, and you can store up to 11 loops on the pedal itself. With its easy-to-follow LEDs, it’s a great entry point into looping, especially at this price tag. Sweetwater has already sold out, but we’ve found a few more units lurking at Walmart – just be quick!

Its form factor may be diminutive, but this Donner mini pedal is deceptively well-featured. For starters, it features three loops, with up to 30 minutes of looping time, plus unlimited overdubs and undo/redo functionality. It will save your loops when the pedal powers off, and its built-in display shows where you are in the duration of your loop. It’s a steal at $59.

If you're serious about looping, so is the RC-500 with MIDI capability, an animated colour LCD, 114 onboard drum grooves and 16 kits for jamming, and 13 hours of 32-bit stereo record time. It's great for guitarists, vocalists and keyboard players, channelling Boss's expertise as a market leader in looping technology. This is a tasty price from Sweetwater on one of the best looper pedals around.

This EHX offering is very reasonably priced for a twin-footswitch looper with onboard effects. This means you get separate switches for Loop and Stop/FX, which makes it easier to handle live, while Reverse and 1/2 Speed options give you some fun options for manipulating your loops. 12 minutes of uncompressed audio and storage for 10 loops makes it a great intermediate option, especially with this discount.

One of the most advanced looper pedals you can get your hands on, the Aeros is so packed with features, it blurs the line between looper and DAW. Chief among its feature set is a 4.3” touchscreen, as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, expression pedal support and SD card compatibility. Perhaps most impressive is the ability to create a ridonkulous 36 loops per song – with unlimited overdubs per loop – making this a solo loop performer’s dream.

Walrus Audio’s first foray into looping is deceptive: it looks simple, but it’s loaded with functionality. Two independent loop channels each feature their own slider and pan knob – it’s a killer function in stereo. Each loop can run in reverse or half/double speed, and there are three modes: Sync, Unsynced and Poly, which offer up a host of rhythmic possibilities. It isn’t one for looping beginners, but we hailed its strengths as a “fun creative tool” in our 4.5/5 review.

A comprehensive looper and drum machine in one compact pedal, the Groove Loop X2 is the ideal rhythm partner in your one-man band. 14 save slots can store loops of up to 10 minutes in length, while 121 drum grooves spanning 11 musical styles should cover whatever kind of music you’re making. There’s even a time stretch function to adjust the speed of playback without affecting the pitch. There’s $22 off at Amazon right now for Prime members.

The dual-footswitch Circle Looper takes Donner’s Triple Looper to the next level. A formidable 40 memory tracks are onboard, with 160 minutes of recording capacity, plus stereo operation, USB import/export and 100 drum grooves.

It's a bit of a wildcard pick here, but this iconic digital delay is also a legendary looper. Four footswitches make managing your loops easy, and the onboard half/double-time and reverse effects appear on countless classic recordings. This is the 25th Anniversary edition, which trades mint green for a sterling silver colorway (and comes with some limited-edition merch to boot). It’s usually $300, but Reverb’s Black Friday deals continue to confound; you can get it with a huge $120 off. Read our 5-star review.