VH4 question

[gabe9842]

Hi there,
I would like to ask for advise about a loop question. I have got a VH4 which i love. I just bought it used a couple of months ago so this amp and the features of this amp are completly new to me. Anyway, the best amp i ever heard in my life. I used to have an older marshall at the past which didn't have effects loop so all of my pedals were before the amp. Thats why i don't know the rules about the effct looping. On my earlier rig i used to use an MXR M-108 EQ after my distortion pedal, thats why i thought this EQ must be used in the effects loop on this VH4. I tried it infront of the amp, in the paralel loop and finally in the serial loop. I really loved it in the serial loop. It was sounding amazing to me. Than i tried to adjust the gain and the volume level on that EQ pedal. I turned them to minimal. That was even better cause everything was perfect but on a lower volume, and i thought thats great cause when the amp is at home i can practice in my room at a lower volume level. I was really happy...for a while. After 20-25 minutes i heard something from the speakers. Something like a deep boomy feedback which was getting stronger and stronger and than a quiet pop at the end. I saw that 2 of the power tubes were much more overheated than usual. Suddenly i turned the amp off. I think nothing serious happened, cause i could turn it on again after a while but i realized that 2 tubes are dead. I bought the amp used so i don't kow how old the tubes were (EL34s by the way) or if the previous owner changed the tubes before he sold the amp to me. I was gonna change the tubes to KT77s just to try them and compare to the EL34s and i think thats a good reason to retube the amp. I just would like to know if i am allowed to put this EQ pedal again into the serial loop at all. If yes am i allowed to adjust the gain and the volume level on that pedal? What do you think about it anyway? Is that happened just because the tubes were old anyway or thats because of the EQ pedal?
Thank you very much for the help,
Gabe

 

[Peter Diezel]

Welcome to the forum, Gabe

The bad power tubes have nothing to do
with your effect loop.

Best,
Peter

 

[gabe9842]

Okay, thanks. I will retube the amp. So i can plug the EQ pedal back to the serial loop and adjust the gain and the volume level on it after the retubing.
Thank you very much,

Best wishes,
Gabe

 

[gabe9842]

Oh, anyway... In the future do i need to be aware of anything? Is there any kind of pedal which is not advised to put in the serial loop? Like a volume pedal or anything else?

DIEZEL RULEZ!!!
Best wishes,
Gabe

 

[mindseye]

Your fine with your pedals in the loop, some will sound better in front so experiment with it.

 

[gabe9842]

All right, thank you. Im just asking because i read somewhere that its not a good idea to plug pedals like a volume pedal into the loop.

 

[cardinal]

Volume pedal in the loop is fine, it will just have a different impact on the sound than when it's out front. The only thing I'd think to look out for is that because you're using something in the loop to cut volume, I'm not sure whether you're also running the amp's master volume really high. If you're doing that, obviously the tubes won't last as long, but I don't think it'd really hurt anything.