Boss RC-20XL
Sixteen minutes of loop time, eleven saved phrases, and a pedalboard footprint small enough to disappear under a guitarist's foot.
Overview
The RC-20XL is Boss's second-generation Phrase Recorder. It packs a reported 16 minutes of maximum recording time and up to 11 saved phrases into a compact floor unit measuring 173 mm wide, 158 mm deep and 57 mm tall. That makes it one of the more pedalboard-friendly loopers of its era. At 1.2 kg with batteries installed, it has enough heft to stay put underfoot without being a burden in a gig bag.
Two pedals handle the core workflow - REC/PLAY/OVERDUB on the left, STOP/TAP TEMPO on the right. Six knobs cover instrument level, mic level, phrase selection, guide level, overall output level, and the phrase shift function. Dedicated buttons for REVERSE, TAP TEMPO, WRITE, EXIT, AUTO START and MODE round out the panel. It is a busy faceplate, but the functions a performer needs mid-song are underfoot, and the ones that require a free hand are up top.
A 1/4-inch instrument jack sits alongside a 1/4-inch mic input, with input impedances of 1 M ohms and 1 k ohms respectively. The instrument side is the high-impedance load a passive guitar pickup wants to see, while the mic input is voiced for a dynamic mic rather than a condenser. A stereo miniature AUX IN jack (47 k ohms) lets players loop along to a backing track, and the phrase shift jack accepts a 1/4-inch TRS plug for an optional footswitch. Output is a single 1/4-inch jack at a nominal -20 dBu, with a recommended load impedance of 10 k ohms or greater.
Power comes from six AA batteries - carbon cells are rated for about six hours of continuous use, alkaline for roughly sixteen - or from a PSA-series AC adaptor. Current draw is a modest 120 mA at 9 V. Battery power mattered in the mid-2000s, when not every venue had a spare outlet near the stage.
Phrase management is what separates the RC-20XL from a bare-bones looper. Eleven memory slots are available, and the unit can dump programs, guide sounds and individual phrases between two RC-20XLs over a serial connection using the REVERSE and PHRASE SHIFT jacks. Boss documented this for system updates, user data backup, and temporary phrase storage during repairs. The factory reset procedure is old-school too. It requires a second RC-20XL already loaded with factory settings to act as the transmitting device, since the original ROM image is not stored on board. A full transfer of program, guide sound and all phrases takes about two minutes.
Press the right pedal and the mode LEDs spell out the revision numbers for the internal ROM and the external flash ROM. The internal ROM runs from Ver1.00 to Ver1.03, and the external flash ROM from Ver1.01 to Ver1.06. The external flash ROM is user-updatable via the same serial dump procedure.
Sound on Sound (September 2005, p.155) reviewed the RC-20XL at a UK price of £249 and noted that although the unit is designed mainly for guitar, it also carries an unbalanced jack mic input — a point the reviewer flagged as a practical limitation rather than a strength. The same review singled out the Guide level control, describing the guide rhythm part as best thought of as a cross between a metronome and a backing track. Boss followed the RC-20XL with the RC-50, a seven-footswitch floor unit that Sound on Sound (March 2006, p.21) described as positively dwarfing the "diminutive RC20XL" and capable of manipulating three stereo loop tracks simultaneously with MIDI Clock sync.
In test mode, the phrase select knob steps through positions that verify the INST volume, MIC volume, mute circuit, guide volume and DA converter stage. Boss's service documentation specifies residual noise below -78 dBm (IHFA) with both input volumes at maximum. That is a quiet enough floor that the RC-20XL will not add audible hiss to a sensitive amp or interface chain. The mute check calls for output below -22 dBm, and the DA check watches for DC leakage and level asymmetry that would indicate a failing converter stage.
For players who came up on the original RC-20, the XL's expanded memory and phrase count were the headline upgrades. For everyone else, it was simply the pedal that made live looping accessible without a rack of gear. The RC-20XL has since been superseded by newer Loop Stations with more tracks and stereo operation, but its combination of compact size, battery power, and eleven storable phrases keeps it relevant for songwriters who want to capture ideas quickly and guitarists who want a looper that fits on a crowded board.
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