Harley Benton FXL8 Pro 5-stars Reviews

Great, flexible fx switcher

There's little point listing specs in these reviews as they're all available in the product page description.

I bought this as my first step into individual fx switching. Before this I had reverb/delay/chorus in the loop and drives into the front end of the amp.

I have since found it is absolutely ideal for what I want it for. I'm using it across three amps, Friedman Runt 50, Smallbox and BE100 Deluxe (plus a DV Mark Micro 50 as a backup).

Having two trigger outputs, which are either latching or momentary and that you can alt the polarity is ideal depending on what amp I'm using.

The Smallbox and Runt are two channel and the BE100D is three. The Smallbox has a different footswitch polarity to the Runt, but this works out well as I can run a twin mono to single TRS cable to the BE100D and have full functionality without changing anything.

It all works flawlessly, no audible pops when changing channels, buttons are solid, LEDs are bright but not too bright.

It's so good I bought a second one and made another board with some spare pedals I had and as a backup in case this main one ever breaks.

I have been successfully powering the switcher running power from either a TC Polytune or more recently a Boss Waza tuner, it doesn't seem to require much in the way of power to operate correctly.

My only real criticism is that it's quite tight between the send/return jacks, some pancake leads might not fit side by side. I use Boss DIY cables and they fit perfectly.

All in all, it's a great value, flexible switching solution. Having two separate loops is really useful, as is the ability to use it in across different amps.

I can see a need (for me) for a bigger version with maybe 12 loops, six on each side as at the moment I'm having to use a Line6 M5 connected to both loops to carry out different roles, flange in the loop, whammy in the front end etc.

I can't believe I managed to live without it for all those years!

Excellent!

I created my pedalboard and I needed a floor pedal to switch between the different effects. This pedal does an excellent job in this regard. You can mute all effects and go for the tuner. You can have stereo output. I recommend it 100%

Using the FXL8 Pro in band reharsals and a few gigs. Never let me down, super reliable and solid construction. Switches spaced right even for my big feet and the Led's inform very precisely where you are on the presets.

Most of your needs at a great price

It is of great quality. It runs on 9v. Sucks as much as a TC-electronic pedal. It has plenty of features, and it's quite intuitive to use. Doesn't suck tone, doesn't add noise. It only lacks the chance to jump from loop to loop without having to select a programme. But you can just run it on edit mode to do that. Awesome

A easy unexpensive solution

Works as expected, for a very good price with quiet a lot of features! It really changed the way i can dial a lot of effect and do the job extremely well.

Great Looper for the price!

The quality and features of this looper are excellent, especially considering the price.

I explicity bought this for its MIDI functionality.

You can send up to two MIDI signals per A,B,C and D switch. And also differnet ones when turning them on or off.

Everytime you switch a preset you have to then select bank A,B,C or D.

So you have 4 preset banks per number (e.g. 1a,1b,1c,1d,2a,2b,2c...) this unfortunately means you cant switch from preset to preset with just one click.

Sturdy programmable looper

This rebranded Chinese (Joyo?) looper is extremely sturdy looking.

Easily programmable, and it's easy to modify presets on-the-go.

The LEDs offer a good view of which loops are activated.

I haven't had any use yet for the triggers, MIDI out and tuner output, so I cannot judge those features.

My first looper, it's been a godsend while troubleshooting as I keep many pedals daisy chained.

Best in its price, essential for every guitar player

Not much to say: if you have a pedalboard and more than one sound, and don't want to be tapping all the way through dozens of pedals, that's the right tool for you. It's definitely the cheapest one out there (there are cheaper ones but without the added features of MIDI etc.) and does its job wonderfully so why not go for it?

It covers everything, can send two MIDI messages at once and is very versatile in general with MIDI, and with the possibility of sending two triggers (like amp channel switch and whatever you want), and with two independent channels for front and s/r.

Very small footprint is a plus for crowded boards.

Only small flaws: sometimes I found my MIDI settings to go off and I had to re-save them into the unit (just do a quick check before a gig and you're okay). The number of presets is 32 with 8 banks of 4, which may be not that much for some, plus I found that I would have benefited having a fifth preset at hand.

Does what it suppose to do

Thank you Harley Benton FXL8 Pro - no more dancing on the pedals!

Very nice Loop 1/2 feature, so you can connect 4 of your pedals in front of the amp, and other 4 in the amp FX loop.

Haven't tested the MIDI performance - have no need for that.

The only con for me - It's not so comfortable to use the mute/tuner button. I've got used to using a tuner pedal, when you press it once - you get muted too. With FXL8 Pro the first press activates your tuner, the second button press activates your tuner + mutes the sound. So if you're used to tuning muted - it could be a hard time getting used to press the button twice :)

Great!

I started looking at switchers because I wanted to quickly switch between my main distortion sound (distortion + tube screamer) to a clean sound with reverb and delay without having to press 5 buttons. I couldn't believe the amount of features this thing packs for the price. In summary:

Pros

- no noise or latency when switching between sounds

- easy to program (haven't tried MIDI yet)

- 32 presets

- can switch channels on my amp (2 triggers)

- 240 mA so you can plug it in your power supply (no additional cable or power supply)

- the price!

Cons

- footswitches are not the highest quality (I wish it would be momentary footswitches, but the price would then go up)

I've been using it for 6 months now, for practice, at home and live, no problems. Thank you Harley Benton!

Excellent switcher

Does exactly what i need. 8 loops plus midi and amp switching. great design and solid build, Great price

Useful device - highly recommended

Since I built a few pedals to use with the amp, I felt the need to avoid the hassle of tap-dancing - solution was to buy a pedal switcher.

Had some prerequisites that the device had to satisfy:

- can connect good number of pedals

- can control amp channel switching

- has two effect loops, one to use in amps input, other for amps effects loop (for modulation effects)

- relatively small size

- not too expensive

After detailed investigation, I ordered FXL8 - and haven't looked back! This is perfect pedal looper. It is built well, switches are sturdy, can't find any hardware flaws. It is easy to program and use. Packed with features - it even has tuner output and dedicated switch which mutes the output and sends guitar signal to tuner. Has two switches for controlling external devices (e.g.. amp channel) as well as MIDI control which I haven't used yet.

I use it to toggle between 4 preset sounds (chorused clean, warm light overdrive, rhythm, boosted lead), each can be recalled with only one tap. Each preset uses one to three pedals.

If You are looking for inexpensive but practical and durable effects looper, I highly recommend this unit.

For the price, it's excellent!

I've gigged with this for over a year now it's showing signs that it will last forever! The features it has still amaze me for its price range and the build quality is top notch. Once you've played it a few times it's easy to work your way through all the setting and the LED's make it easy to read whats on/off when playing.

Pros: Price, build quality, features

Cons: need a big pedal board, would prefer silent buttons but no deal breakers

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!