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Joe Bonamassa Forum → Joe's Guitars, Amps and Gear → Do you use an effects loop?
Nic's thread about making your own cables (https://forum.jbonamassa.com/viewtopic.php?id=23281) got me thinking...
How many of you use your effects loop to put some of your pedals post-pre-amp?
I'm currently lazy enough that all my pedals are pre-pre-amp, but considering mixing it up a little bit and thought I'd see what the Gear Talk brain trust had to say on the matter?!
kestrou
I run everything in front of the amp at the moment too. Two reasons - the FX loop on my MkIIC is not working for some reason, and also I like less cables running about the place.
If I was to run my delay and reverb in the FX loop and my other pedals in front, it would make my pedalboard look like the roundworm and octopus dance festival of 2012... 
Personal opinion is unless your using distortion from the tubes you don't need it. If your running pedals for distortion it sounds about as good. I could be wrong but thats my theory. Blues jr doesn't have one anyway.
-Agree with AD3, anymore I just use a tube screamer into a broken up amp for my desired tone, and another dirt pedal to boost it for leads. So having a reverb and delay before amp sounds just fine and I don't feel as if I'm having to compromise either.
-Like Devan I didn't care for the mess of additional cables, even though I tethered all my cables together like a snake with the ends exposed and labeled the ends, its less muss and fuss.
You'll find you can get a smoother tone from your reverb in the loop. It blends well with the tone on the front of the amp. I personally keep the reverb and delay volumes a bit lower with a longer decay. By doing so, they work well out front for me. I don't get that sudden hit of reverb after a dry tone like you do sometimes if the effect volume is higher.
I used to be a staunch effects loop user and advocator but not anymore. I'm happy with everything out front. They didn't have effects loops back in the day and things sounded pretty good. But if your amp has one, try it out and see what works I guess. I think the more you mess around with gear, the better your ear develops at picking up on different nuances etc... Never a bad idea to tweak things.
I run delay in my amp loop just to free up some space on my board. I have a DD3 and a carbon copy controlled by a gigrig switcher box thing, forget what it's called. Remote Loopy is it?
All I will say is that I have deliberately ensured all my rigs have an FX loop option and I put reverb and echo through the loop - much better IMO. I even run the Hughes and Kettner Rotosphere through the loop if I use it live.
I don't use an FX Loop with my Plexi 50W replica, but I think I soon will. Since I play the amp opened up to 8/10 I get my main distortion from the amp and by then my reverb (a Neunaber Wet Reverb, supposed to be one of the best reverbs around, if not the best!) is awful, even on the lowest settings (and when I say low I mean like 1/10 on the reverb pedal's volume). It totally drowns the guitar signal and I lose everything that the amp is good at which is mainly: dynamics. I have long got rid of my DD-3 which was just unusable with my amp settings and I absolutely refuse to lower my amp's volume to 4 and use dirt pedals instead of the amp's own crunch which absolutely slays any high $ dirt pedal I have tried.
So I'm considering adding an Fx Loop to the amp OR buying a loop pedal. I think I read somewhere that Joe used a Lehle D.Loop when he recorded a certain album (was Black Country Communion I if I remember well!) with old plexis that didn't have an fx loop and obviously his results were up to his reputation.
Maybe you can chime in if you know the D.Loop or Fx Loop or whatever...
I use the effects loop for delay because I unplug my guitar and plug a theremin into the guitar amp with a separate cable. I need delay for both, so it goes in the effects loop.
Delays and reverbs through the loop ..oh and a graphic eq as a solo boost & tone tweak if needed (top tip!)
I put everything in front of the amp, nothing in the loop. I've tried putting my delay in the loop a while ago and just didn't like it. That said, I think the last time I tried it was 10 years ago so maybe I'm due to A/B again...
Joe Bonamassa Forum → Joe's Guitars, Amps and Gear → Do you use an effects loop?
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