Question: Do you all use an effects loop, or chain everything straight through the front of the amp?

I don't really have any pedals, aside from a Dunlop Cry Baby wah. I have an old Digitech RP7 processor, but I mostly use that to record with and/or play with headphones. I have tweaked a bunch of settings to work with my Fender Frontman 65r solid state amp.

Anyway, I discovered that the wah sounds really great through the effects loop on the Frontman 65, verses straight through the front of the amp. It's more cleaner sounding and even better - the drive channel sounds pretty good too with the wah in the effects loop. I mean, run the wah through the front of the amp and click on the drive channel, and the tone becomes so harsh and the wah so sensitive, it's like a ice pick straight into your brain!

Give me a quick rundown here... What can run out of an effects loop and what can't?

I'm thinking a wah, a chorus, and an EQ can go through an effects loop. But, overdrives, distortions, and maybe delays shouldn't be run through a loop. Is that right?

you can run what you want through the loop. personally, i run everything straight to the amp. i think i'll run my reverb into the loop though when i get it.
a lot of amps have a crappy loop and some dont.
most people go straight in.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

.

I like an effects loop for some things. When I don't want the sound colored by the amps preamp. I guess some effects get squashed in the preamp. I go back and forth with it. I think a cool set up would be an awesome amp with a guitar hooked up to an A/B box so you could go straight in for just the amps classic sound or go to the other channel and get a effects board going into the effects return, and it would be really cool to blend them. That way if you had a modeler on the effects board it could really come through to mimic some other type of preamp.

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My ability to spell is in direct proportion to the amount of coffee I've had.

I have both Marshall and Vox amps with pretty sophisticated effects loops but I never use them.Even though their loops are supposed to be good I find that even they suck a lot of tone from your signal.I have yet to find an effects loop that doesn't have a detrimental effect on the tone so I always go directly into the amp.BTW what kind of wah are you using?I have an Old Vox Clyde McCoy,both vintage and new Cry Babys and a vintage Morley Power wah and I have no problems going straight into the amp using them.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

I have a very common, no mods, late 90's Dunlop Cry Baby GCB-95.

Amp: 2011 Fender Frontman 65R solid state.
Wah: (Clean, through front of amp) - Nice.
Wah: (Clean, through effects loop) - Very nice, crystal clear shimmering wah tone. Sounds exactly like the intro on that country tune by Alabama called "Tennessee River" { rock the wah back and forth in a 4/4 tempo and strum --- D (open F chord) on 10th fret, G (open D chord on 7th fret), A (open D chord on 9th fret), D (open F chord) on 10th fret. }

BUT YET....

Wah: (Drive channel, through front of amp) - Whoa... Very, very trebley, wah is ultra-sensitive, and the tone is very harsh. Ice pick, anyone?
Wah: (Drive channel, through effects loop) - A whole lot better, and not has harsh. Can almost sound like Cream's "White Room" or Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile' (Slight Return)" depending on pickup selection.

thats funny, some folks will say that their wah sucks tone and others say that they dont notice anything. i wonder how that can be? im wondering if better quality cables are at play on things like this or the amount of effects in line differ from one to the other?
there has got to be something right?

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

generally when the drive on the amp is beeing used you need to run the wah through the efx loop as it by passes the pre amp, in effect what you are doing when running the wah in the front as well as using the drive on the amp is distorting the wah which when running a wah that has a deacent range ( cry baby in this case) it will cause quite a harsh tone... most musicians run their wah strait in the front because they have valve amps and in the true spirit of guitarists run them till they clip, so it gets that warm overdrive tone but the wah still sounds fine...

the efx loop ( if you are running the drive on the amp ) should be used for anything you dont want to run throught the pre amp - normaly any wahs, and modular efx... if you are running external drive pedals then its way easier to just run everything throught the front, less cabels to drag all over the place.

i run a efx board that consists of +- 14 pedals so running through the efx loop sucks tone and volume, i know some people sware by efx loops and will tell me that they arnt tone suckers... on a solid state amp with a few pedals... yes... its not that noticable... but in a full valve amp... very noticalbe, as stated in topics around the forum... the efx loop on a valve amp adds 2 halves of a solid state chip into the signal chain thus making it sound like a solid state amp. which aint too cool if u gave a arm and a leg to get that valve tone

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blues - its a religion...

ok i follow you there but why doesnt the amp design team look into a better loop design if
this is the general opinion of loops? you would think they would do so or just not install them since a lot of people dont use them anyways. i guess for options sake they leave them.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

i think the invension of a efx loop that dosnt tone suk will come with a solid state amp that sounds like a valve.

might not be that far away... BUT for the general muso who is sane enough not to have a huge efx board, turining up the treb a lil to combat the loop dosnt cost much

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blues - its a religion...

invention nt invension... my bad, typo

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blues - its a religion...

hey i typeo all the time. ok ok ok, i just plain leave letters out lol.

i hear that a lot of people putting boost pedals at the end of their boards to drive the tone and volume loss back up to where it should be. wonder if the same would work for the loop section? maybe? i dont have a boost pedal to try it either way at the moment.
i might be able to get one for a day to try it out. ya think it would work?

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

I was hoping to also throw in a quick question for anyone willing. I have three 6" instrument cables. Would it work out if I were to run the effects loop of my amp with two pedals sitting directly above the effects loop outlets?:



So it would run:

Effects Send > OCD input ; OCD output > EQ input ; EQ input > Effects Return
(or alternate pedal order)

Does this seem logical or would anything be wrong in doing this?

Thank you

when i get off my but and go get a reverb pedal thats how i wanted to run it, since its not something i will likely turn on and off all the time.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

But it would work? I am asking because I'm inexperienced with pedals and I just want to make sure it wouldn't blow anything.