Effects loop

[solspirit]

Yes or no?

Please explain your uses of it, if you do.

Help me understand it better.

[ErikH]

Very beneficial. The loop sits between the pre-amp and power amp. It's literally right after the tone stack in many amp designs. This is good where you want drive from the amp and the loop allows you to put time based and modulation effects AFTER distortion. There are other ways an effects loop can be utilized but that is the most common and often used.

With my Worship setup, put all time based and modulation in the effects loop of my DI amp simulator. Drive and compression are out front.
My 1x10 combo has an effects loop but I don't use it since it has reverb/delay/chorus built in to it. I have used the effects send to send signal to a tuner that I didn't want sitting out front. The return I've used with my DI amp simulator which bypasses the pre-amp completely and thus the amp is now nothing more than a powered monitor for it.

[Erlend_G]

I'm going to put a BOSS GE-10 graphic equalizer, in the FX loop of my Blackstar HT-20mkII.

Because; it has a "hammock" EQ stock; even diming the mids and turning down bass/treble, still leaves it kinda "flat" to my ears. :/.

so; I want to boost the mids; 500-2khz; and maybe turn down the very lows and highs- AFTER the preamp .

Still haven't tried this in practice (need a Boss PSU), but- I think it will give me "The tone"!

-Erlend

[Toe-Knee]

Generally i hate them.

However recently i've found them essentially for my rig as I have a single channel preamp that I needed the loop to pair it with the gsp1101 to have a clean sound.

But in general I think every amp sounds better without a loop. Even the 'transparent' ones still mess up the high end or soften the attack to an extent.

[Mincer]

I don't use them, as I usualy get gain from a pedal, and put modulation after the gain pedal. So, I just ignore it on the amp.

[NegativeEase]

For me personally, I like to use my amp pre for handling Compression, Overdrive, Distortion and adding natural gain goodness, and don't like my pre amp preoccupied with the complexities of a modulated waveform -so an FX loop is essential to separate the 2 in stages for me.

[Sirion]

I usually put my modulation and time effect in the loop. I like them to sound more pristine than they do in front of the gain stage (phasers might be an exception, but I'm not using a dedicated pedal for it these days, so...)

[devastone]

I always put delay and reverb in the loop, chorus is in there right now too. Compression, OD/distortion, wah, phase, flange, uni-vibe type stuff I put in front, some people put all modulation stuff in the loop, kind of personal preference. Using a high impedance volume pedal in front will clean up the gain as well as lower volume, a low impedance volume pedal in the loop will lower the volume, but the gain/tone will stay the same, kind of a personal/application choice.

[Securb]

I don't use them it is one more signal path that can fail live. I try to keep my live rig as simple as possible.

[nexion218]

Another thing people use it for is to bypass the preamp and only use the amp's power stage and get all the dirt from a dedicated preamp pedal. Useful if your preamp is crappy and don't want to spend a fortune on a new amp. Most of the hip boutique stuff can be had for under 500, while you can easily spend 2+ large on a good amp.

Having written all this down I realized that NegE basically said the same thing... Oh well...

[Erlend_G]

I'm wondering. If you put a clean boost in the FX loop;

-this will increase the gain into the power amp stage, right? How will this affect tone, if any way?

Erlend

[devastone]

I'm wondering. If you put a clean boost in the FX loop;

It will increase volume.

[solspirit]

Another thing people use it for is to bypass the preamp and only use the amp's power stage and get all the dirt from a dedicated preamp pedal. Useful if your preamp is crappy and don't want to spend a fortune on a new amp. Most of the hip boutique stuff can be had for under 500, while you can easily spend 2+ large on a good amp.

Having written all this down I realized that NegE basically said the same thing... Oh well...

Hahaha. That's cool, you're just reinforcing the lesson.

[ErikH]

Another thing people use it for is to bypass the preamp and only use the amp's power stage and get all the dirt from a dedicated preamp pedal. Useful if your preamp is crappy and don't want to spend a fortune on a new amp. Most of the hip boutique stuff can be had for under 500, while you can easily spend 2+ large on a good amp.

Having written all this down I realized that NegE basically said the same thing... Oh well...

Not really. He's talking about using the amp's preamp still for the tone shaping and put all the modulation and time based stuff in the loop. What you are saying is definitely another way.

[PFDarkside]

I'm wondering. If you put a clean boost in the FX loop;

-this will increase the gain into the power amp stage, right? How will this affect tone, if any way?

Erlend

On a small lunchbox you’ll get more saturation, on a bigger amp you’ll get more volume. It’s a classic solution for people that need more volume for a lead boost but the pedal in front of the amp just gets more saturation.