Harley Benton FXL8 Pro

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!

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.

For me, this is the perfect combination of form factor, functionality, and price. On that basis, I can't give it less than 5 stars. However, I would have paid more for some nice to haves and there are a few things worth mentioning:

1. Two MIDI messages per preset is a little restrictive, but not critical so far.

2. I do find that I miss a stompbox mode.

3. It's not the easiest to mentally map the A B C D stomp switches to L1 L2 L3 L4 of LOOP1 (low bank) and LOOP2 (high bank). I think I'm going to end up covering this thing with a load of tape and writing!

4. Programming the unit is not intuitive at all, but everything is explained in the following video manual. Essential and worthwhile 1 hour viewing if you want to deep dive, particularly with MIDI. of presets seems really over the top and a potential waste of preset memory which could have been used for other things (i.e. additional MIDI messages).

6. Final important point. There are two non-defeatable buffers in this unit. One is between the main IN and LOOP1 L1; the other (on my unit with PXL-LIVE-V4 motherboard) appears to be between the LOOP2 L1 (i.e. loop 5). If you want to use a vintage fuzz in either L1 then it's probably not going to play nicely. You may be perfectly happy with these buffers, but I'm a tone purist and I have already voided my warranty and permanently bypassed them.

This is a great product if you have too many pedals to manage on stage. Not too big or small, lots of features and relatively easy to set up.

Once you get your head around how to save your sounds, it's a dream. The only negative I can think of is that the switches are quite clunky, but at this price it's hard to find any real fault with it.

Personally I would pair it with a boss solder free patch cable kit or similar so you can route your cables exactly where you want them and not stuff your board with leads.

Overall, It's made my life a lot easier - no more pedal tap dancing!