Summary
• Pros: The NUX JTC Drum & Loop Pro is an intuitive looper with good rhythm backings and plenty of memory. It’s also affordable.
• Cons: Light on features and not many rhythm options for an apparently rhythm-focused looper. Fills get repetitive.
• Overall: A good choice if you’re on a budget, but the pedal it’s copying – the Boss RC-10R – is superior.
Check Current Prices
• Amazon: NUX JTC Drum & Loop Pro
• Guitar Center: NUX JTC Drum & Loop Pro
Full Review
Clones are a fact of life in many industries. When one company comes up with an innovative concept, there are always copies shortly afterwards. But for the customer, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Fair enough, the copies might be rushed-out from some corner-cutting factory and fall to pieces on you faster than a hard-shelled taco, but you just might get something just as good for much less money. This was the case for the NUX Loop Core, which was a fairly good clone of the Boss RC-3. And NUX hasn’t stopped there either: where Boss has the RC-10R, NUX now has the JTC Pro Rhythm Looper/Drum & Loop Pro.
The question is: have they struck gold again by digging in the same place as one of the giants?
Two Jobs; One Pedal
The basic concept of the NUX JTC Pro Rhythm Looper is pretty simple. It’s a looper with an expanded rhythm section, making the drum backing roughly as important as the looper itself. This is reflected in the layout of the pedal, with the rhythm section getting one of the two footswitches and the looper getting the other.
The looper functionality is still the core of what the Pro Rhythm Looper does. This part works pretty much like any other looper on the market. Give the left switch a tap to start recording, play a phrase, press the switch again to play it back. Then hit the switch again to start overdubbing, and continue doing this as much as you like. You can also undo or redo the last overdub if you hold the looper footswitch down while it’s playing back. You can also switch the mode so you go straight to overdubbing if you prefer.
The Rhythm Section
The other footswitch solely controls the rhythm section. Press the switch once and it will start playing the rhythm backing. You can then tap the switch again to add a drum fill. The right-most dial in the middle of the pedal allows you to choose which rhythm backing you want. You can then tap the left switch to set the tempo. The Pro Rhythm Looper has a “smart tap” feature that works out what you’re trying to do (provided you start the drums before the loop).
It comes with 25 drum beats in 4/4, 10 in 3/4 and 5 shuffle beats, with the option to set the tempo between 40 and 240 bpm. These cover a wide range of styles so you’re bound to find something that suits what you’re playing. One downside, the fills are repetitive (although they differ for different styles) so they can get a little boring. On the positive side, the drum loops do have a realistic sound. They aren’t the best arrangements in the world, but it does feel like having an actual drummer playing rather than a robotic backing track.
For the most part, this is what the pedal does. You pick a rhythm track and jam along to it using the looper functionality, or have a loop running then bring in the drums to improve it a little. You need to select the specific pattern using the dial, but after that it’s easy to start or stop the drums using the right footswitch. And you can add a fill, lasting until the end of the current bar, by tapping the switch again. You get 6 hours of recording time split across a frankly mind-boggling 256 storage locations so you never have to lose something good you were working on.
Going Beyond the Basics
The Pro Rhythm Looper can do a few extra little things if you’re not just looking for the basic functionality. There are three stop modes (which you select using a dedicated button) – immediate stop, stop at the end of the loop or fade out – and you can also either start your recording when you hit the footswitch or “arm” the looper to start when you begin playing.
You can also load backing tracks onto the looper to play along with, by connecting with the USB port on the back and moving files from your computer (provided they’re 24-bit, 44.1 kHz .wav files, or you convert them). This is a nice feature if you’re jamming at home or want to use the looper as a practice tool.
This works well with the one-shot playback mode, where it just plays the phrase through without looping it automatically. However, the one-shot mode can also work to turn the Pro Rhythm Looper into more of a sampler, and if you queue up a bunch of suitable files in neighboring memory slots you can get some good mileage out of this.
Good Connections
Additionally, there are a few options for how you send your signal out, including stereo outs, with the option to send one straight to the mixer and the other to your amp. There’s one input jack, and also a spare spot if you want to buy an optional footswitch for the pedal.
Is the NUX JTC Drum & Loop Pro Worth Buying?
On the whole it’s hard to really fault the Pro Rhythm Looper too much. It’s much more affordable than the Boss RC-10R, and it does boil down the core functionality of the more expensive pedal into a user-friendly format. And while the looper is fairly stripped-down in comparison to other options on the market (the JamMan Stereo, say), it is easy to start using and fairly intuitive. You can definitely have fun with this and the rhythm functionality too.
But as soon as you start to really make comparisons, the gulf between this and the RC-10R becomes apparent. For example, the Pro Rhythm Looper – lest we forget, a looper with a focus on the rhythm section – offers 40 drum samples. The Boss RC-10R has 280, literally seven times as many. The RC-10R also lets you choose between 16 drum kits which each add their own unique flavor to the beat. The comparison does not look good for the Pro Rhythm Looper.
And this really gets to the heart of the decision as to whether you should buy it. If you want something affordable that’s good enough to have a little jam along with, it’s a suitable choice. The fills still feel a bit repetitive but you can have fun looping and playing with the rhythm options. But if you can spend a little more or you’re more serious about looping along to rhythm sections, the Boss RC-10R is the better choice.
Where to Buy the NUX JTC Drum & Loop Pro?
• Amazon:NUX JTC Drum & Loop PRO
• Guitar Center: NUX JTC Drum & Loop Pro
NUX JTC Drum & Loop Pro Product Video
can this be used in conjunction with a ditto 4x?
I haven’t tried that but, theoretically, it could work if you put the NUX in front of the Ditto X4 so that the NUX is the master setting the tempo and the Ditto X4 is the slave synching to tempo of the NUX. You might have better luck if you are using the drum patterns in the NUX so that the Ditto has a clearer tempo to listen to when synching.
Hi, can you change backing tracks and rythm with a Nux footswitch ?
Yes, you can use the footswitch to change between phrase memories. Each phrase memory will include a selected rhythm and tempo. Or it can store a backing track if you’ve loaded a song file into a phrase memory slot.
Hello, Firstly thanks for all informations and reviews about loops. I have never used loop pedals and i want to get one of them. According to my budget, I am in between boss rc-5, nux jtc pro and mooer groove loop x2. Nux and Mooer have to swithces but boss has only one. Some people think two switch loop pedals are better in use. What do you think? Which one I should choose? Have you ever tried one of the mooers? Could you review Mooer loop pedals? I believe there are some good looper pedals in competitive prices. Thanks 🙂
Hi Kenan, between those I would go for the Boss RC-5. You can always add an external footswitch later which is useful, especially for things like stopping the loop with one press instead of two, which trips up even seasoned loopers. At home that’s not such a big deal. The RC-5 will have more memory, slightly better sounding rhythms, and better re-sale value. By the way, there’s a review of the Mooer Groove Loop X2. right here. Cheers
Sup! NUX JTC Drum & Loop owners, after updating the firmware, the pedal just shows “SC” and literally become a non-functional brick. what went wrong and how to fix it?