Harley Benton FXL8 Pro Reviews

Good product

So far I've found the FXL8 Pro to be a well constructed, intuitive and easy to use device. I haven't come across any faults and have only found it to improve my set up ten fold. The switches do feel a touch flimsy which might be a reflection of the low price so it may be interesting to see if they stand the test of time. My favourite feature is the built in triggers - you don't see those on all controllers so that's a definite plus. Overall I can definitely recommend this as a very good entry level pedal controller with plenty of space to grow. It would definitely work a charm for the experienced guitarist too if they aren't looking to fork out on more expensive models (The gig rig, Boss etc)

Best switch pedal in the market

This must be the best programmable switch pedal in the market in this price range. It has so many features, it cannot only "mix" different pedals into a single signal but also trigger other equipment like amps and even send midi signals to external devices (has a midi out port). The programming is easy to do and has enough memory banks for my needs.

Also, no noise or "click" is heard when switching between programs which is fantastic (I have read this is something people apparently find in loops/switch pedals sometimes). I never had this issue with this pedal.

Game Changer !

GREAT VALUE FOR MONEY. I advise you to buy the FXL8 PRO even though you are a beginner because in the near future you will regret about why you did not buy the PRO one. Guitar effects changing has become so easy and fluid nowadays with this precious pedal. My pedalboard is very neat and the tap dance on the pedalboard has finally come to an end lol.

Great value for money

I used this switcher with a pedaltrain II with 8 pedals and it worked perfectly.

The build quality is superb, very tough and solid feeling. The switches are good quality and it feels like a pro piece of gear.

The instructions are a little hard to follow, but there are youtube videos explaining how to program it which explain it very well.

If you need a simple solution to switch multiple pedals on/off and also handle MIDI and channel switching this is a great product. I didn't want to pay serious money for something like a gigrig so this was a great solution for me.

So far it's been fantastic, i would definitely recommend it :)

A couple of months back I switched from a well-known 19-inch rack processor to floor-based effects and almost immediately I realized the need of programmable effects loop switcher to save myself from the tap dance.

After spending a considerable time in research I finally chose the Harley Benton FXL8 Pro not only because of it's affordable price, mainly because the ability to have 2 groups (the High and the Low loops) of effects loops - one before the preamp and one in the effects loop of the amp, so now I am in total control of my signal chain including the switching of amp's channels.

The unit is built like a tank, but still relatively lightweight and is very easy to program. I am using it both for playing/recording at my home studio and for rehearsing with my band.

To me, buying Harley Benton FXL8 Pro was the finishing touch of creating my perfect pedal board and I cannot imagine ever removing it from my gear.

What would be a real cool feature for a next version of the product is backlit slots for labels for the pedals hooked to each loop and for the patches. At the moment I am using home made magnetic labels, but I am sure the guys at Harley Benton may come with an integrated solution.

Best by the price/quality ratio

In my setup this unit handles every fx pedal (besides tuner and a silencer), and their interaction with the amps front and fx loop. It is noiseless and functions faultlessly.

Main experiences:

+ Separate outputs for each loop - there is no need to reserve one switch loop for interconnection with your amp's fx loop and have it enable for every loop. Besides that, it allows even more creativity regarding wiring your pedalboard;

+ No pop noise on toggle - switching of the effects has no malicious effect on the actual audio signal

+ Convenient size - the unit takes precisely as much space as one would want a switcher to have;

+ Additional features like midi compatibility and external triggers allow to assemble the functionality of several units by adding one FXL8 ;

+ Small current draw - the floor unit can be used as a regular pedal in a power supply chain, without having to overload it with additional power adapters;

- 8 banks limit the convenience of use for longer performance sets, but the ease of setup makes it possible to tweak your presets even on-stage;

- The purpose of the separate "TUNER" jack is still quite unclear to me as Average Joe (how it is better than running a tuner pedal before the input), hence the three-way mute button can be intuitively confusing at first. However, it isn't hard to get used to it, and, again, it allows more interesting wiring solutions.

Along with being quite minimalist, this unit contains everything that one would require from an fx switcher and even more. Great product.

Great looper/switcher

This thing can do everything I need it to do! For the price the construct and features are brilliant. I use to control midi devices and my app all while have banks. its perfect. If I decide to upgrade it wil be for something a lot more expensive like boss or gig rig.. but when compared you dont really need them.

the only cons are the fact you cant choose between buffer or true bypass (currently all set to buffer) and limited to 8 banks in my opinion. there is a issue with the switching in terms of noise with reverb/delays but it goes after a few uses.

All in all a fantastic piece of kit! Harley Benton have done it again!! If you are thinking of getting a switcher I 100% suggest this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

INCREDIBLE PRODUCT! GAME CHANGER

I've not had my FXL8 Pro for very long, but I already can't imagine going back to a pedalboard without it!

If you're unsure exactly what this product is, I will briefly explain. It essentially allows you to create and store "presets" from your individual guitar pedals - almost like a multi effects unit would do. You insert your pedals into loops on the FXL8 Pro, all of which can be independently turned on or off in combination with any other loops. These combinations of loops can be saved to banks, allowing you quickly switch between sounds. However if you wished to change the settings on the pedal between saved banks, you would have to do that manually using the pedals controls (unless the pedal has MIDI control, but I'll talk about that later)

It's an amazingly useful piece of equipment, essentially eliminating the process of going from SOUND A to SOUND B and having to turn off two pedals and turn on two more to get there. No more tap dancing, you can just switch banks with one button press! I'm only using this in the studio at the moment and I find it excellent for experimenting with tones and ideas, but using this live would be incredible - for obvious reasons!

Using this loop switcher is really easy. You simply assign a loop to a pedal (or multiple pedals, its up to you) and leave all your pedals on. Programming which loops are active in a bank is really easy and there are plenty of LEDs to give you visual hints as to what is currently active.

Aside from its core function as a loop switching system - the FXL8 Pro is packed full of other features, such as;

- There is a dedicated output for your guitar tuner which is activated through a mute switch.

- The 8 loops are split into two further loops. Loops 1-4 are part of Loop 1 (confusing I know), and Loops 5-8 are part of Loop 2. What's really clever is that Loop 2 (5,6,7,8) have a separate input and output from Loop 1, so that you can run it in your amps FX Loop. So an example, Loops 1,2,3 and 4 could be your Whammy, and overdrive pedals, then Loops 5,6,7,8 could be your modulation, delays and reverbs in your amps FX Loop. Very handy!

- The FLX8 Pro can take pedals before and after it's inputs and outputs.

- Two trigger outputs for controlling amp drive / reverb channels. These can be programmed per bank, which is a really useful function if you want to use your amps drive and reverb channels in combination with your pedals.

- MIDI out! You can output a MIDI signal to MIDI equipped pedals (Strymon Timeline for example) and as you change patches on the FXL8 Pro, you can program the pedal to change patches too!

The FXL8 Pro is also extremely well built and of a respectable size, so you should be able to fit it snuggly onto your board.

This is a fantastic product, and actually my favourite Harley Benton product to date. The price is unbeatable, you simply cannot get anything similar to this with all the features for the price. It's a no brainer. Get one!

Excellent

This is the same device as the Joyo PXL LIVE. I haven't found anything to complain about. I have been making all my cables from scratch and the unit is quiet in operation. The midi output works well for switching an amp channel.The programming is simple and the manual is easy to follow. Here in the States this would cost $220. I saved about $40 dollars even with the extra shipping expense added ( I wouldn't order this by itself though). It easily fits on my ginormous Harley Benton Spaceship 80 pedal board. It has all the features that I need. With all the LEDs it is easy to see what you are doing and what you are switching. The Mute and the separate Tuner output work great. I am very pleased with this purchase.

What I have always wanted/needed

This is great. I have always loved pedals, but hated the tap dance , SOLVED!!! not only that, this little bad boy triggers as well, so it can change amp channel, plus it allow upto 8 loops in front of amp and you can still use the amp drive/reverb (I use it like this). If that was not enough, those of you who unlike me have a useable fx loop can split 4 loops in front and 4 in the loop (my amp sounds great but has line level fx loop so I dont do this). Of course if you use only amp drive you could run all 8 loops in your fx loop. Also has midi but i dont use that. Useful mute/tuner switch. Very easy to program. Gives you multi fx style ease of use/numbers of sounds without being a bunch of presets, with eashy to program features, price is nuts for what this is this just great,

Great switcher but MIDI issues

I bought this for its size and price to replace a GigRig Pro14, its a perfect size to fit into the Rockcase RC 23010B with a little room to spare for an input/output box beside it.

The problem: I have a Whammy 5 not in a loop, in front of the switcher, so need to program Program Changes to switch it off for every patch where I don't want it on. There seems to be a memory capacity issue for this. Very often I will program a Control Change message on a patch in bank 7 or 8 and then switch back to a patch in bank 1 or 2 and the Program Change has been corrupted, so the Whammy stays on. Not great and a real pain. If they got this sorted, for the price this would be a perfect switcher!

Awesome Looper

I use this for switching between a cleen, ambient and distorted sound with my bass.

It's easy to program, super sturdy and very affordable.

Read the desciption or check Henning's review videos of this on youtube, if this suits your needs BUY IT.

This can switch amp channels, turn on effects loop and turn off pedal in front of the amp all in one click.

Awesome.!!!

Everything you need

The FXL8 Pro is really a nice looper. I bought it after a quick look to the manual and a few video on youtube.

Maybe is not as standard as the other loopers on the market, but every detail is well designed and the "Bypass" mode is just amazing.

Moreover is really compact and takes little space on the pedalboard.

The only con is the programming, if you are not familiar with midi programming could result a little triky, but once you understand how it works and you follow the manual nothing can go wrong.

It does the job

The switch works very well and is very transparent. I don't have any additional noise, hum or clicking sound.

It is easy to program and enables switching from a set of pedals to another very easily.

It helps to focus on playing instead of thinking about how many pedals you have to activate/deactivate.

Just be very careful when choosing the jacks to connect this unit. The space between jacks is very small (less than 1.5cm), so you need the smallest possible jacks. As the unit ius also very low, you need the cable part of the jack to be pretty short, or else mounting it on a pedalboard might become difficult.

Brilliant!

How have I gone this long without one of these loop switchers! There are many models out there, with outrageous prices. This does the job brilliantly, no noise, seamless switching. For half the price.

Awesome product!

Why haven't I bought this sooner? My tapdancing days are over! As someone who uses a lot of effects live, this device was a must have. I can switch effects both before the amp and in the FX loop on and off, switch channels or reverb on my amp all simultaneously and all by pressing one single button! Device feels really sturdy and is quite simple to operate. Worth the price and then some !!

perfect choice

The FXL8 is a work horse,simpel to use and the sound is pure through all

the way to your amp,great switching options and easy to operate, no noise

and as a bonus you get midi out to control external devices,such as a multieffect,

add channel switching of your amp to all of this and split secktions og the loops

and you have yourself a complete rig controller.

Harley Benton FXL8 Pro review

Wow what an INCREDIBLE PRODUCT.

I had switched from analogue to digital a while back (Boss GT100) as i was tired of doing the pedal tap dance and I wanted the versatility of having several combinations of effects on at once.

I DID NOT NOT KNOW a system existed which would allow me "store patches" using analogue pedals! This FXL8 Pro allows you to save combinations of pedals and recall them at one tap of a button!! (e.g. you can save you overdrive, reverb, delay) and at the tap of a button recall all three effects! This product has 4 banks of 8 allowing 32 sounds!

It also has the ability to store one bank of 8 OR two banks of 4 patches (one bank of 4 - for effects in front of the amp) and (one bank of four - for modulation and time based effects) into the loop of your amp. This is one of the primary benefits of the pro version.

You also have the ability to program two "triggers" - You can trigger anyhting which uses a quarter inch jack (e.g you can switch the channel of your amp using the pedal OR as i am doing i use the pedal to switch my drum machine on and off)

I now have the warmth and headroom of a valve amp with vintage analogue pedals and the ability to access my analogue pedals in various combinations at the tap of one button!!

BEAUTIFUL!!

Upgraded my pedalboard, now easier to manage

Decided this product, with 8 loops, remote amp switching and two midi chanels was what I needed to make the most of my conventional pedals and midi delay and multieffects in a 4 cable system.

It works really well, easy to set up, quiet, and it now means I can switch compicated patches really easily. It's got a sensible set of features that most of us in the real world need, without the extra features and expense of high-end systems at 5 times the cost.

The unit is sturdy and fits across the bottom row of my pedaltrain, I'd recommend using only elbow connectors to save on board space. It took me a little time to get used to the menu options (only a 2 digit LED to tell you what's going on), but I really like the fact now, that you can stand up and programme it with your feet, once you're familiar with the menus.

Any complaints? Not really, only I wish I'd bought it ages ago!

Go on, tame your unruly pedalboard!!