Do you use effects loop?

[newpedals]

I don't use any effects. Guitar > Tuner > Overdrive(s) > Amp for me.

I recently practiced with a friend at his place. He has 2 boards. One for in front of amp, another to be plugged in his effects loop. We almost ran out of power outlets. As an example, he has 2 chorus pedals - one powered by 9v tap of his multi port power supply, another by (24v?) dedicated wall wart.

After we stopped practicing, I told him that he could combine the pedals on both boards and plug them in front of amp. Less setup time needed.

Initially he was defensive and skeptical but I put an amp in a box at the end of his chain, and other pedals in front of it. Now he had 7 pedals, we decided to keep the chorus with wall wart aside.

He enjoyed plugging his new board in front of amp. He didn't use gain from the amp anyway. He said it felt liberating, but he was unsure of the modulation's sound quality. I don't know what it means, but his amp has tube buffered effects loop.

Has anyone here switched from 4 cable method to single board in front of amp?

How did it feel?

 

[Aelred]

Fwiw, I put modulation, delay and reverb into the FX Loop with nothing in front. Some of my amps lack Reverb at least.

And somewhere for the Tuner pedal...

 

[newpedals]

Fwiw, I put modulation, delay and reverb into the FX Loop with nothing in front. Some of my amps lack Reverb at least.

And somewhere for the Tuner pedal...

Some people put tuners at the end of the chain, to use them as muting device.

I prefer it first in the chain. No reason.

 

[HotRats]

Has anyone here switched from 4 cable method to single board in front of amp?

How did it feel?

I can't find it "liberating" as your friend did because I don't feel the opposite when using the loop.

There's no feeling attached to such a change. The FX loop is just a tool you might or might not use depending on what you need/like

And after all setting up a rig using the FX loop requires plugging 2 more cables into your amp, it takes 5 seconds more.

The only reason I see for switching from using the loop to everything in front is if I'm going from using amp drive channel to clean channel with drive pedals.

I would feel stupid if I were putting everything in front, using the drive channel of my amp, while expecting the same results as when using the loop.

 

[Sascha Franck]

I think whenever you don't use any dirt from the amp, it's actually a good idea to slap everything in front. Not only does it save you some cable runs (and hence result in less possible error factors), no, you can as well use any pedal platform amp that way (great in case you ever need to play with rental stuff and all provided is a HRD or similar) - but, for me most of all: I think it defenitely helps to "gel" things together. Even with the cleanest amps, there's pretty much always some sort of compression happening in their preamps, and that's what many things will profit from.
Anyhow, each to their own, but I found not having to deal with 4CM setups to be quite a relief indeed.

 

[GuitarBilly74]

I always use dirt from the amp so I always use the loop for my delay. That's the only thing that goes in the loop.

I use a 4-channel snake so technically I just run "one cable" to the amp. The board side is always plugged in and I only have to connect the amp side. My rig takes literally seconds to set up.

That said, my pedalboard is very simple, simpler than most boards I've seen. But yes, I always use the loop.

 

[metropolis_4]

I don’t think I’ve ever used an effects loop

 

[Orvillain]

I put everything right up front. Even delays and reverbs, even with high-gain.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Wah, pitch, some modulation up front; other mod, delay, verb in the loop.

 

[Blix]

Wah, pitch, some modulation up front; other mod, delay, verb in the loop.

This is the way.

 

[la szum]

Orv told me 4cm is for rubes. Ask him.

 

[Fishbulb]

I have this Victory amp with a really strange effects loop, that's the only amp I really bring out anymore that I get most of my distortion from. Sadly the loop is kind of useless in the Victory and my other gigging amp is a Fender so I just have it all set up to be in the front end.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Wah, pitch, some modulation up front; other mod, delay, verb in the loop.

Sure, in case you're using dirt from the amp, that's the standard procedure. But it's defenitely not required for a clean pedal platform amp.

 

[sleewell]

If your using 4cm the best thing you can do is some sort of wrap or tubing to make all the cables into one. Color code everything w electrical tape. Setup is much faster. Less mess on the ground, better cable management. The pedal python is great.

I like delay and reverb in the loop but it's not a requirement.

It's funny to hook everything up in 4cm and then to forget to engage the fx loop on your footswitch if your amp requires that. Really good look lololol

 

[LeftyLoungeLizard]

Haven't used a loop in decades.

Here's what I do so I get time-based FX after the powertubes (which sounds best if using distortion, and anything else I might want):

Load the amp down, take a line out, go into various FX, then to power amp, then to speaker.

Real world example using stomps:

guitar
|
MXR 6 Band EQ
|
amp
|
THD HotPlate (resistive load)
(THD HotPlate Line out jack)
|
MXR Carbon Copy delay
|
MXR Cathedral reverb
|
power amp (pedal sized? EHX .44 Magnum)
|
speaker

Only thing closer to studio quality FX would be to mic it and slap the FX on the console instead.

 

[FuzzyAce]

I've never been big on fx loops. Partly because I don't normally use higher gain amps, where it could be more useful and make sense. I'm more likely to use a wet/dry setup or just run effects up front.

 

[gearJunkie]

Depends on the anp.

I use fx loops on my JVM 410H, King King 50, Mk VII, Badlander 100, OR15H, and (sometimes) Fillmore 50.

I run everything in front of my Two-Rock CRS 100, and (sometimes) Fillmore 50.

Do I find it "liberating ' when omitting the loop? Nope. I have assembled appropriate cable snakes with all my connections labeled. If something goes wrong there are a couple more steps in the troubleshooting process, but good prep usually pays off.

 

[newpedals]

It seems many people buy amps which have an effects loop, but end up not using them.

I have added a poll.

 

[laxu]

I almost always use the fx loop for delays and reverbs. Modulation could be either, but atm I have it up front. I also have my Strymon Deco up front for its drive side and it can also be used as a slapback tape delay.

I use amp gain like 99% of the time. Maybe a boost up front, sometimes a drive pedal on the clean channel. So having the delays and reverbs after drive is how I prefer it. If I was more of a pedal platform person where the amp is basically just clean and loud, I'd run everything up front.

There's a Temple Audio patchbay on my board that can be used to make the connections very straightforward so you are not wondering where to plug each cable. You could easily swap from 4CM to "everything up front" by just connecting the "to amp input" jack -> "from fx loop send", then "to fx loop return" -> amp input.

 

[HotRats]

There's a Temple Audio patchbay on my board that can be used to make the connections very straightforward so you are not wondering where to plug each cable. You could easily swap from 4CM to "everything up front" by just connecting the "to amp input" jack -> "from fx loop send", then "to fx loop return" -> amp input.

100% this. a patch box is the way to go, imho. makes connections easier, faster, cleaner and let you rearrange stuff easily.