Your KATANA, SPARK And THR Finally Have A Proper Looper | XSonic ULooper Review

Disclaimer: The ULooper was provided to me by XSonic, and I was compensated for my work. However, the company has no say in the content of this video/post.

XSonic ULooper

Included: ULooper, USB A-C Cable, User Manual
Ports: AMP (USB A), 5V (USB C), 9V (DC IN, Center Negative), Line Out (1/4-inch TRS), Input (1/4-inch TRS, reserved for future use)
Power Supply: 5V/1A or 9V/1A
Max Recording Time: 180 Minutes
Line Out: Balanced MONO TRS
Controls: Footswitch, LEVEL Knob
Indicator: Loop Status LED
Dimensions and Weight: 97 x 56 x 39 mm (3.82 x 2.20 x 1.54 inches), 160 g

What is the XSonic ULooper?

The ULooper is a looper pedal designed to work with popular modeling amps like the BOSS Katana, Yamaha THR, Positive Grid Spark, Fender Mustang LT, and Marshall Code amps. Since these amps don’t have an FX-loop, you typically have to plug the looper into the input of the amp. This means that if you want to, for example, record a clean chord progression and switch to an overdriven lead tone for a solo, your rhythm tone would also get distorted.

The ULooper solves this issue by integrating with your amp’s USB port, creating a workaround for this limitation while also offering a generous 180 minutes of recording time.

How to Set Up Your ULooper to Work with BOSS Katana

The setup process varies slightly depending on the amp, but since I have only used it with my BOSS Katana Gen 3 amp, I’ll focus on the setup for this model.

If you need instructions for setting up with a different amp, you can find them here: ULooper Setup Manual.

Before you begin, make sure you’re running the latest firmware on both your amp and the ULooper.

Latest Katana Updates: BOSS Support
Latest ULooper Updates: XSonic ULooper Updater

Once everything is up to date, follow these steps to set up the ULooper with your Katana:

Plug an instrument cable into the ULooper’s output on the left side of the pedal.
Power up the pedal using either the 5V USB-C port or the 9V power input.
Press and hold the footswitch until the light on the pedal starts flashing.
Turn the knob on the pedal counterclockwise until the LED shows red, which sets the pedal to Aux In mode.
Press the footswitch once to confirm the selection.
Hold the footswitch until the LED turns green.
Unplug the power from the pedal to save the settings.

Connecting the ULooper to the Katana Gen 3

Plug your guitar directly into the Katana’s input.
Run an instrument cable from the ULooper’s output into the Katana’s Aux In using a 6.3mm to 3.5mm cable or, like I did, use a regular instrument cable with a 3.5mm adapter. Since I was monitoring through the speaker, I was fine using a regular mono instrument cable. If you wish to monitor yourself in stereo with headphones, use a 6.3mm to 3.5mm stereo cable instead.
Have fun looping!

How to Loop with the ULooper

When the LED on the pedal is (BLUE), hit the footswitch to start recording the loop.
Press the footswitch again to stop recording, and playback will begin immediately (GREEN).
To overdub during playback, press the footswitch again to start overdubbing (YELLOW).
Press the footswitch once more to stop overdubbing (GREEN). (As of writing this, you cannot undo an overdub, but this functionality will be added in a future update.)
To stop playback, double-tap the footswitch within one second.
Press again to start playback.
To clear all of your loops, double-tap the pedal and hold for 2 seconds.

Is the ULooper Good?

In terms of build quality, the ULooper feels very sturdy, and I never felt uncomfortable stomping on it, fearing it might break. The initial setup, especially with firmware updates, took some time—partly due to the BOSS system’s somewhat convoluted update process that requires uploading files into the amp, which can feel unnecessarily complex.

However, once the initial setup was complete, the effort was worth it. Looping with the ULooper is easy, and the generous recording time allows for plenty of layered guitar parts. Thanks to clever signal routing, each layer can have its own distinct tone.

If you own any of these amps and want to get into looping, the ULooper is a fantastic choice.