A compact and reasonably priced looper with exceptional sound quality, the 1440 can serve as a practice, writing or performance tool, and has a number of cool features to expand upon the basic looping blueprint.
Pros
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Compact size.
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Two footswitches for easy operation.
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Audio quality.
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Decent amount of looping time.
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Informative display window.
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Reverse and pitch effects.
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Loop transfer.
Cons
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Hard to fault this one…
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Following on in the tradition of naming its loopers after the number of seconds of looping time they provide, Electro-Harmonix’s latest offers 1440 seconds (24 minutes) of uncompressed 24-bit/44.1kHz stereo audio with an unlimited number of overdubs.
This pedal has the ability to store 20 different loops and can connect via USB to a computer running the associated free EHX 1440 Loop Manager app for download and upload of loop audio flies. It can also be synchronised to the external MIDI Clock.
Operation of the looper is pretty straightforward: once you’ve selected a loop number with the Mode knob you use the Loop footswitch to carry out recording, overdubbing and playback. A two-second press will do the job if you need to undo or redo a layer, while a double tap will stop playback.
The second footswitch, which is always available to erase loops when held down, offers a number of user-set functions. While its default use is to stop playback, it can also be set up to retrigger loops from the start or to bring in either of two effects that are otherwise operated by front-panel buttons: a reverse function that will play the loop backwards, and an octave function that drops a loop down to half-speed and an octave lower.
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(Image credit: Future / Phil Barker)
(Image credit: Future / Phil Barker)
(Image credit: Future / Phil Barker)
The other way to change the speed/pitch of a loop is with the Tempo knob, which operates either side of the 120bpm default looper operation in a range from 60bpm up to 240bpm. Should you want more foot control, the EHX Triple Foot Controller (£40) can be used both for selecting loops and undo/redo.
Sound quality is pristine, and you can choose how to build layers as an Overdub knob sets how quiet the previously recorded layer gets with each loop cycle, if you don’t want to keep the layers at a constant volume.
Verdict
With loads of memory and cool creative effects, this pedal is a solid choice if you need a compact looper either as a performance tool for live looping (or running onstage backing tracks), a practice aid or as a creative sketchpad where loop transfer means that any song ideas or elements you come up with can be easily transferred to a DAW.
Trevor Curwen has played guitar for several decades – he's also mimed it on the UK's Top of the Pops. Much of his working life, though, has been spent behind the mixing desk, during which time he has built up a solid collection of the guitars, amps and pedals needed to cover just about any studio session. He writes pedal reviews for Guitarist and has contributed to Total Guitar, MusicRadar and Future Music among others.
