Effects loops overrated?

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Doughboy

Doughboy

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I've been messing with my gear lately & noticed how much better my phase 90 sounds plugged right into the amp & as opposed to the effects loops.

I then tried this with my chorus & flanger & they all sound better this way. More warm & creamy & less harsh for some reason.

I'm thinking of bypassing the effects loop all together, taking my delay out as well & going straight in from now on.

Something like: guitar = delay + modulation effects + compressor + overdrive = amp

Has anyone done this? Any pros or cons?
 
Doughboy":24k3cpn6 said:
I've been messing with my gear lately & noticed how much better my phase 90 sounds plugged right into the amp & as opposed to the effects loops.

I then tried this with my chorus & flanger & they all sound better this way. More warm & creamy & less harsh for some reason.

I'm thinking of bypassing the effects loop all together, taking my delay out as well & going straight in from now on.

Something like: guitar = delay + modulation effects + compressor + overdrive = amp

Has anyone done this? Any pros or cons?
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Depends on the amp/type of loop.

Phase will be best suited in front of the amp, as do OD pedals and compressors. You can always boost in a loop though, if the FX are what you want to boost. Delays are usually better in a loop for depth and ambiance. But, its fine in front too if used sparingly. Depends on what you want the signal chain to do.
 
Depends. The loop on my Ecstasy works really well. I have a Nova System running in the loop and it sounds great. I tried running it in front but Reverb never sounds good into the front of a dirty amp.

The loop on my Peavey 5150 isnt so good. Everything goes into the front of that amp. It's the 2X12 combo so it has decent reverb already...
 
I like modulation into the input as well. I mean, who in their right mind puts phaser in the loop?

However, for high gain delay sounds best in the loop as well as reverb. But I also like running another delay into the input for a different feel, like Cathederal.
 
Depends on the loop... the metro zero loss loop i have is awesome. Phaser i would tend to run outfront.. chorus as well though that sounds good in the loop too. Reverb and delay though? No question for me.. in the loop. If you are playing with any sort of gain you are going to get a mess out front.
 
Thanks for the info gents. I will keep the delay in the loop & take the modulation effects out & run them directly into the amp. I'll throw in an Xotic X-Blender in there so I can mix the dry to wet levels & that should sound pretty good I hope.
 
I wont even consider an amp that doesn't have a loop.
 
That's gonna sound great. Any type of serial to parallel mixer makes a cheap delay with tone degradation sound like a million bucks...you can do a lot with a great serial loop tho, a switching system can really turn a single channel amp into a multi-function monster.

Doughboy":2087knke said:
Thanks for the info gents. I will keep the delay in the loop & take the modulation effects out & run them directly into the amp. I'll throw in an Xotic X-Blender in there so I can mix the dry to wet levels & that should sound pretty good I hope.
Click to expand...
 
I like having a loop as I definitely prefer my reverb and delays in the loop with any kind of gain but I agree that phaser definitely sounds better in front, I think most would feel the same way. I think ideally the way to go is to go all out and have a w/d or w/d/w setup so that you aren't messing with your dry sound at all but that's a lot of gear to haul around.
 
I have not used a effects loop in years ... I quit using delay pretty much 8 years ago. But I have been thinking about plugging a delay in again lately....
 
I like having the option to route modulation in front or in the loop, of course delay and reverb are in the loop...sometimes a delay out front can be cool, but not usually.
 
Other than delay/reverb I usually prefer chorus/phaser/flanger through the front end except for a few specific signal chain scenarios.
 
For me I must have my delay and reverb after my gain source. So if I am getting the gain from an amp, it must have a loop. The lack of a loop is the main reason why I am no longer considering picking up the Marshall sl5.

For me I like the chorus in the loop, though it works fine out front. I prefer my univibe and phase 90 out front. Never owned a flanger, so no idea where I would put that.
 
For me i would rather use a Slave/Direct out from an amp to my time based effects , then reamp it back instead of the loop because some loops are not very friendly with all effects .
Yes it's an extra amp or power amp to carry along in your setup but it sounds so much clearer like studio recordings do.
 
danyeo":18oei42n said:
I like modulation into the input as well. I mean, who in their right mind puts phaser in the loop?

However, for high gain delay sounds best in the loop as well as reverb. But I also like running another delay into the input for a different feel, like Cathederal.
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My feeling too. I don't like the way delay sounds in front of a high gain amp at all. In front of my Bassman set clean or with my OCD it sounds great.
 
I have a clean amp where everything is run before - delay/verb are just after the gain pedals. Best sound I have.

If I'm using an amp where the preamp gain is used then I'm like most that like delay/verb in a loop - but in this case I would mostly run FX into a different amp/cab.
 
both of my amps have good loops and I never use them
most effects sound great in the front with these particular amps, in my opinion
SOME delay and chorus pedals don't work well in the front with lots of gain
sometimes you just gotta adapt the playing dynamics or the settings
I don't even need to switch channels in most cases
just a mild gain setting on the amp, low output pickups and an overdrive to push the amps into high gain territory
 
Shiny_Surface":2wi4pb0v said:
Other than delay/reverb I usually prefer chorus/phaser/flanger through the front end except for a few specific signal chain scenarios.
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This. EVERYTHING other than delay / verb in front of the amp. No exceptions
 
Phaser doesnt work well in a loop.
Overdrive, octave, envelope.. anything signal dependant before the preamp, any time based effect like chorus, delay, reverb after the preamp. Thats a good starting point.
Some chorus's sound better running in front but not all.
I can tell u that delay in front sounds reaaaally muddy. There isnt really a time that i prefer that over delay r reverb in the loop.
 
I have. They all sound better to me in front rather than the effects loop.
 
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