A lot of people experience a problem using Jam Tracks with the Boss RC-50 Loop Station because the built-in metronome (otherwise known as the “Guide”) automatically starts playing at the same time as the jam track. So, imagine you are all set to jam to a blues funk backing track and you tap the pedal to start the jam track. Once you tap the foot pedal, both the jam track and the metronome start playing at the same time. The result is a lot of noise until you manually turn off the Guide (metronome) by leaning over and pressing the Start/Stop button with your finger. Obviously, this won’t do for any type of public performance, and is annoying even at home. Relax, you didn’t get a defective product.! We figured out how to fix the Boss RC-50 guide problem.
First, this problem doesn’t exist with all jam tracks. With the Boss RC-50 Loop Station, you can jam to a variety of jam tracks that come with the looper pedal on a separate CD, although there are a few tracks preloaded. To load different tracks into the RC-50‘s memory from your computer, you have to load them into patch numbers 7-99. Patches 1-6 store the factory default jam tracks. For some reason, the GUIDE problem only happens with patches 7-99, and not with the factory default jam tracks in patches 1-6.
Here is how to fix the Boss RC-50 Guide problem so that the Guide does not start playing automatically in patches 7-99:
First, before recording in any new patches, turn the Guide knob all the way to the “Off” position and then press WRITE to store the setting into the patch.
– Turn off Tempo Sync for each phrase in a patch. This will take care of the “jumbled” sound you’re hearing.
– Press one of the PHRASE buttons (not the pedals).
– Press PARAMETER right to select “Tempo Sync.”
– Turn the VALUE dial to select “Off”.
– Repeat the process for any other phrases.
Now you can start jamming to a patch without having to deal with turning off the Guide with your finger. While having to go through this fix may seem like a design flaw, Boss may have thought that guitarists would mostly be recording their own loops in patches 7-99, and would want the guide to turn on automatically to get the timing perfect. It’s really up to you how you set it up, but I prefer having the Guide off unless and until I turn it on myself.