no fx loop in amp

[bluesfloyd]

hi guys ,
i read/hear that guitar players run delay /reverb in the fx loop of there amps, i do not have a fx loop on my vox ac15hw, so if i run a chain of pedals into the front of my amp with delay /reverb in the chain will that sound ok, compared to only having the delay/ reverb in fx loop,
so in other words, delay/reverb plus other pedals into the front of the amp OR delay/reverb only in the fx loop, will i hear a big differences

thanks again for you time to answer my post,

all the best, bluesfloyd

 

[Nacho8807]

Re: no fx loop in amp

It will sound ok in my experience. I have actually never run my delay through the loop and I think it sounds great. I can't comment on reverb since I've never had a reverb pedal, but I can't imagine it sounding bad. I assume there is a difference running them through the loop, though now slight I cannot say.

 

[dominus]

Re: no fx loop in amp

Usually you want time based effects after the distortion but before the power section. If you're getting your distortion from pedals, you'd typically put the delay/reverb/chorus after them. If you're getting the distortion from the amp, you have to decide if it sounds right to you.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: no fx loop in amp

Sometimes delay into distortion can sound good, think The Edge with his Deluxe Memory Man overdriving an AC30. However, reverb into delay is a VERY specific sound that most don't want. The easy solution is to use pedals for distortion then delay/reverb after.

 

[Agileguy_101]

Re: no fx loop in amp

Well I don't see you having too many options.

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: no fx loop in amp

I don't care for my delays being distorted. I want the distortion into the delay or reverb. So the delay and reverbs should be the last pedals in the chain into the front of your amps. But if you are cranking your AC15 to get distortion from the amp, you may not like the effect.

In my case though, with my channel switching Mesas, if I want to have great sounding delay on my LEAD channel, I have to patch my delays into the amp's EFX loop. Now I can use the preamp distorted tone and the clean channel, and the delay's won't be distorted. This works very well for me.

Lots of different ways to get the job done.

Bill

 

[xxxplorer]

Re: no fx loop in amp

Just mod it... It's not too hard.

 

[bluesfloyd]

Re: no fx loop in amp

hi guys ,
lots of good advice from the posts above, so it seems that i do run my amp clean, and i do use pedals to drive the amp when i wish , so what you guys say is that i can still use delay pedals etc into the front of my amp, making sure they are after the distortion pedals etc,
i have been told by other forums that the fx loop was the way to go, but now from you guys advice i think their is two sides to this debate, i always thought that dave gilmour had clean amp sounds that he dirted up when needed ???????? i am new to this guitar stuff and still learning bit by bit, i welcome more input from you guys,

all the best, bluesfloyd

 

[misterwhizzy]

Re: no fx loop in amp

If you're running the amp clean, it shouldn't matter in the slightest. If you like your dirt from your amp, your delay may not sound so hot. I'm pretty sure Gilmour got at least some of his dirt from a Fuzz Face, so that would be in front of the amp, which may or may not have been clean. I just don't know a lot about his tone. But if you're handy with a soldering iron and amp schematics, you could do what I did and install one of these.

 

[jimijames]

Re: no fx loop in amp

Agreed w/ everybody here, it all comes down to: Do you want to distort a delayed signal or delay a distorted signal?

If you get your gain from your preamp (like mesa boogies and most channel switching amps do) then yeah, put your delay in the fx loop.

But, if you get your gain from pedals, then an effects loop is redundant - the take-away is that you want your delay to happen after your signal distortion happens (and yes there are exceptions to this like the edge mentioned earlier)

Or, you could do what the hard-core guys do, and just play every note twice.

 

[hydro]

Re: no fx loop in amp

Personally I always found fx loops to be a royal pain in the azz. Too many cables, knobs, etc. And to my ears, delay after distortion can sound too slick and processed, but that's my own personal bias. So I put my delay straight into the amp. I do have a TS-9 in front of the delay on my board, but get 90% of my overdrive from the amp gain stage.

Reverb on the other hand, to me sounds way better at the end of the chain after all the overdrive/fuzz, etc. and that's why I like to have an amp with a built in spring reverb for example. If I didn't have built in reverb and I wanted it, I'd throw it in the FX loop assuming it was still footswitchable.

 

[Red_Label]

Re: no fx loop in amp

As has already been stated, run your amp clean and then you can use whatever you want. Right now I prefer things that way and it's why I purchased a couple of single-channel tube amps that don't even have loops.

 

[Psykel]

Re: no fx loop in amp

I run my AC30C2 clean with OD/distortion/fuzz first in the chain and my delay at the very end before the amp. I doubt I'd hear any difference if I ran it in the loop.

 

[bluesfloyd]

Re: no fx loop in amp

hi guys,
thanks for your help above for answering my post, i understand the fx loop thing,

all the best, bluesfloyd.