Newbie questions regarding FX loops/running pedals

thisisajs
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Newbie questions regarding FX loops/running pedals

« on: December 15, 2011, 10:19:16 PM »

Hi there folks, looking to possibly trade for a 100 watt HRM Bluesmaster and have questions about the FX loop.

I normally like to plug my pedals directly into the input of the amp, and never had an amp with a loop before. I have 2 questions for you.

1 - Does plugging your pedalboard directly into a d-style amp cause a significant loss/change in tone? It seems like everyone who owns one talks about using a ___ulator of some sort.

and

2 - What is the advantage of using a FX loop? I have a pretty minimal setup (OD, Fuzz, Reverb, Delay, and Rotary) - What would be the ideal setup if I were to in fact do the FX loop thing?

Thanks for answering my noob questions everyone, much appreciated!


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boldaslove6789
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I'm never too loud, HAHAHA

Re: Newbie questions regarding FX loops/running pedals

« Reply #1 on: December 16, 2011, 06:31:51 PM »

Yeah effects loops are designed for Line Level Time based effects ONLY (Ex. Reverb, Delay, Flanger, and chorus). Only some Time based effects pedal will work properly in an effects loop. Rack effects of course have balanced in's and outs which are much better for use in an effects loop as the levels are quite higher.

Also the Dumbleator runs in Series operation (one after the other) so there is no ability to "Blend in" the effects. I highly suggest the Suhr MiniMix II, it lets you blend in the effects in Parallel if the time based effects aren't in parellel.

The Dumbleator's purpose is an Impedance matching device that's designed for line level rack effects. Yes, it has a smoothing effect, as well as making it sound quite a bit more articulate and almost 3D sounding. It adds a slight compression too, all of which are good things.

It also doubles as an Overall Master Volume for the amp. You can run the Master's higher (like 11:00 or so) on the amp and use the Return or Level control on the Dumbleator to set the Overall Volume to taste. It will make the overall sound scape of the amp much broader and let you tune in the amps sound and adjust only the volume.

All that said and done, you'll have to spend a bit more coin to get everything right. Once your done though it's very rewarding.


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Tone Control
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Re: Newbie questions regarding FX loops/running pedals

« Reply #2 on: December 20, 2011, 10:20:29 AM »

Whenever you use the passive fx loop, you are changing the amp,
the circuit no longer feeds as designed, you have added the FX's input impedance, eq changes and output impedances
All fx are different. You may be lucky and find some that work well, but the normal rule is that the cables must be very short

The 'lators are intended to remove these problems

If you use the preamp OD in the amp a lot, reverb should go after the preamp
If you play with the Amp set between clean to just-breaking-up, and use pedals to get your OD tones, then there is less benefit from adding time fx in the loop, they work well before the preamp

If you OD the power tubes mostly (apparently this is not as common as people think), the I am not convinced any reverb will work well before the amp or in the loop, I think you'd need to mic the amp and add it through the PA, which is the best way anyway. Quiet delays and chorus can work before the amp


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Dr Tone Control, Strats mostly, prefer saturated clean tones, a little OD sometimes
BM50, JTM45, 36w EF86, DZ30, Expression, + non-Ceriatones (Matchless, Victoria, Wienbrock)
Just started with pedals a little after a 10 year purist spell, but usually just delay

thisisajs
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Re: Newbie questions regarding FX loops/running pedals

« Reply #3 on: December 20, 2011, 10:07:13 PM »

Thanks for the info guys, very helpful!


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