Ceriatone Chupacabra effects loop/tone changes?

[FourT6and2]

TC Flashback delay pedal works great in my Chupa's loop.

 

[ledvedder]

TC Flashback delay pedal works great in my Chupa's loop.

You don't lose any volume or high frequencies?

 

[FourT6and2]

TC Flashback delay pedal works great in my Chupa's loop.

You don't lose any volume or high frequencies?

Maybe a little high-freq. loss. But that's not a bad thing. These amps bright as fuck. If you want more just turn up the treble

 

[ledvedder]

I emailed Nik at Ceriatone about the effects loop and this was his response.

"The metro type loop doesn’t work so well in this amp, unless you move the position of MV, so it needs some mods."

 

[Chris O]

i got a Klein-u-lator when I had a Chupa. MY GAWD it made things NOISY!

I ended up using a MXR-CAE Boost/Line Driver, and that worked wayyyy better. Still kinda noisy though, but the KUL was awful and very spendy.

 

[psychodave]

FWIW, the CCV has an insert loop and every pedal sounded like shit. Volume got cut and high end was shaved off. Then someone told me to get a Boss SE-50. I was skeptical, but tried it anyway. With the Boss, there is zero tone suck /treble cut or volume loss. Sounds incredible... and cost me $70.

 

[ledvedder]

FWIW, the CCV has an insert loop and every pedal sounded like shit. Volume got cut and high end was shaved off. Then someone told me to get a Boss SE-50. I was skeptical, but tried it anyway. With the Boss, there is zero tone suck /treble cut or volume loss. Sounds incredible... and cost me $70.

But isn't this something you'd have to leave on all the time? Ultimately, I'd want a reverb on almost all the time. Then, I need the ability to turn on and off delay and/or volume boost.

 

[FourT6and2]

FWIW, the CCV has an insert loop and every pedal sounded like shit. Volume got cut and high end was shaved off. Then someone told me to get a Boss SE-50. I was skeptical, but tried it anyway. With the Boss, there is zero tone suck /treble cut or volume loss. Sounds incredible... and cost me $70.

But isn't this something you'd have to leave on all the time? Ultimately, I'd want a reverb on almost all the time. Then, I need the ability to turn on and off delay and/or volume boost.

Any pedal that does NOT have true-bypass, and that HAS a built-in buffer will have the buffer on at all times, even when you turn the effect off. For example, any newer TC Electronics pedal. Like... the Flashback delay. It's a good delay pedal. Affordable. And I can tell you right now it works great in the loop of a CCV, a Chupacabra, my KSR amps, and any other amp I've every tried (except an SLO).

If you want to spend the time and money to mod the amp's loop, go for it. But I would suggest trying something from TC first. Get it from Guitar Center or something so you can return it if you want to just demo it.

 

[racerevlon]

Simple fix==Ebtech Line level shifter.

 

[scottosan]

I emailed Nik at Ceriatone about the effects loop and this was his response.

"The metro type loop doesn’t work so well in this amp, unless you move the position of MV, so it needs some mods."

i have to disagree with Nik. Perhaps he was trying and old version loop and was inserting it in the wrong spot. Between the treble wiper and the PI is where it needs to be on a Jose type tonestack. Both the Yeti and Chupa are based on Jose Master volume circuits. The Brad run CCV's and Atomicas uses the metro loop. I have used it in builds with zero loss. email George at Metro and he will confirm. The boards have adjustable send levels so you can tune it. Most of the amps that Nik has based his amps on I doubt he's even had on his bench. I'll make a video in a bit to show how transparent it is in a Jose style amp

 

[ledvedder]

I emailed Nik at Ceriatone about the effects loop and this was his response.

"The metro type loop doesn’t work so well in this amp, unless you move the position of MV, so it needs some mods."

i have to disagree with Nik. Perhaps he was trying and old version loop and was inserting it in the wrong spot. Between the treble wiper and the PI is where it needs to be on a Jose type tonestack. Both the Yeti and Chupa are based on Jose Master volume circuits. The Brad run CCV's and Atomicas uses the metro loop. I have used it in builds with zero loss. email George at Metro and he will confirm. The boards have adjustable send levels so you can tune it. Most of the amps that Nik has based his amps on I doubt he's even had on his bench. I'll make a video in a bit to show how transparent it is in a Jose style amp

This is great information! Thanks. I'll email George.

 

[scottosan]

I emailed Nik at Ceriatone about the effects loop and this was his response.

"The metro type loop doesn’t work so well in this amp, unless you move the position of MV, so it needs some mods."

i have to disagree with Nik. Perhaps he was trying and old version loop and was inserting it in the wrong spot. Between the treble wiper and the PI is where it needs to be on a Jose type tonestack. Both the Yeti and Chupa are based on Jose Master volume circuits. The Brad run CCV's and Atomicas uses the metro loop. I have used it in builds with zero loss. email George at Metro and he will confirm. The boards have adjustable send levels so you can tune it. Most of the amps that Nik has based his amps on I doubt he's even had on his bench. I'll make a video in a bit to show how transparent it is in a Jose style amp

This is great information! Thanks. I'll email George.

Quick demo, nothing special

Clean:

Dirty:

 

[fusedbrain]

I emailed Nik at Ceriatone about the effects loop and this was his response.

"The metro type loop doesn’t work so well in this amp, unless you move the position of MV, so it needs some mods."

i have to disagree with Nik. Perhaps he was trying and old version loop and was inserting it in the wrong spot. Between the treble wiper and the PI is where it needs to be on a Jose type tonestack. Both the Yeti and Chupa are based on Jose Master volume circuits. The Brad run CCV's and Atomicas uses the metro loop. I have used it in builds with zero loss. email George at Metro and he will confirm. The boards have adjustable send levels so you can tune it. Most of the amps that Nik has based his amps on I doubt he's even had on his bench. I'll make a video in a bit to show how transparent it is in a Jose style amp

Agree, not sure what Nik is thinking here. The metro loop will work fine. The only thing to remember is because this is a Jose style master vol. before the tone stack, you don't connect the loop to the wiper of the master vol. like it would say in the Metro instructions. The loop connects off the wiper of the treble pot. If you look at the Chupacabra layout on the Ceriatone website, you would connect the Metro loop to the same 2 places that the Ceriatone insert loop is connected.
As stated before, the ONLY issue you will have with the Metro loop is the physical spacing of the jacks. One thought I had was asking the Metro guys if they can make you up a loop board without soldering the jacks to it, and you could mount the loop board on a stand-off and fly leads over to the jacks like Nik does with his buffered loop board. Just an idea....

 

[scottosan]

I emailed Nik at Ceriatone about the effects loop and this was his response.

"The metro type loop doesn’t work so well in this amp, unless you move the position of MV, so it needs some mods."

i have to disagree with Nik. Perhaps he was trying and old version loop and was inserting it in the wrong spot. Between the treble wiper and the PI is where it needs to be on a Jose type tonestack. Both the Yeti and Chupa are based on Jose Master volume circuits. The Brad run CCV's and Atomicas uses the metro loop. I have used it in builds with zero loss. email George at Metro and he will confirm. The boards have adjustable send levels so you can tune it. Most of the amps that Nik has based his amps on I doubt he's even had on his bench. I'll make a video in a bit to show how transparent it is in a Jose style amp

Agree, not sure what Nik is thinking here. The metro loop will work fine. The only thing to remember is because this is a Jose style master vol. before the tone stack, you don't connect the loop to the wiper of the master vol. like it would say in the Metro instructions. The loop connects off the wiper of the treble pot. If you look at the Chupacabra layout on the Ceriatone website, you would connect the Metro loop to the same 2 places that the Ceriatone insert loop is connected.
As stated before, the ONLY issue you will have with the Metro loop is the physical spacing of the jacks. One thought I had was asking the Metro guys if they can make you up a loop board without soldering the jacks to it, and you could mount the loop board on a stand-off and fly leads over to the jacks like Nik does with his buffered loop board. Just an idea....

I think Nik is loosing out on customers because of the crap loops.

 

[fusedbrain]

Nice Vids there Scottosan
That amp has some wicked grind

 

[ledvedder]

Sounds great!

I wonder if they could make a board where the jacks are 1" apart, instead of 1 1/2"?

 

[scottosan]

Sounds great!

I wonder if they could make a board where the jacks are 1" apart, instead of 1 1/2"?

The metro loop and mojo loop at at the 1 1/2 inch because that was the spacing on the old Marshalls with 4 output jacks. You could retrofit the loop without having to drill. All Marshall DIY kits that I know of use this same spacing except NIK. I mean his amps are a great value, but he dropped the ball on the loops

 

[fusedbrain]

Sounds great!

I wonder if they could make a board where the jacks are 1" apart, instead of 1 1/2"?

I wonder if Nik can drill his chassis' with the damn send and return holes 1 & 1/2" apart

I don't think the Metro guys are gonna re-work the PCB for ya. You might get one with no soldered jacks, but that's probably about it. If the Ceriatone buffered FX board is any good, that would be the easiest solution.
I'm going to try and get my Ceriatone build done in the next day or 2, so I can test out their buffered loop add-on board and I'll let you know how it goes. This last week has been crazy busy....

 

[paulyc]

A tube buffered loop is the way to go, it's like $20 in parts, the labor will be more of course if you have someone do it, but it is the ultimate solution.

 

[ledvedder]

Sounds great!

I wonder if they could make a board where the jacks are 1" apart, instead of 1 1/2"?

I wonder if Nik can drill his chassis' with the damn send and return holes 1 & 1/2" apart

I don't think the Metro guys are gonna re-work the PCB for ya. You might get one with no soldered jacks, but that's probably about it. If the Ceriatone buffered FX board is any good, that would be the easiest solution.
I'm going to try and get my Ceriatone build done in the next day or 2, so I can test out their buffered loop add-on board and I'll let you know how it goes. This last week has been crazy busy....

Does ceriatone offer an internal loop add-on board? If so, I wasn't aware of that. The only things Nik has mentioned are the external units (Klein-ulator and C-later).