effects loops and how to set one up

dan_alive

hey all.. hope everyone's doin ok today

i've had my amp for about 8 months now and have not gotten around to figuring out the effects loop... the little time i have spent on it, i couldn't understand the benefits and workings of it.
my amp (fender hot rod deluxe) has the following two jacks: "power amp in" and "preamp out"

i've currently got my Boss Me-30 multi-effects, H20 Delay and Crybaby effects pedals... all going through the main input, nothing is happening with the two aforementioned jacks..

is this something that can be briefly explained? if so, would love your help in understanding what it can do... i'm usually ok with this kinda thing but this is kinda stumping me.

thanks jammers

dan

exhausted

in general. put your wah and distortions before your preamp. ie, put them in between the gtr and the gtr input on the amp.

put your modulations and delays in the effect loop (between the preamp and poweramp).

you don't have to. you can put everything infront of the preamp. things will just sound different. it's all what you like.

try putting the crybaby and the multieffect in front and the H2O in the loop.

dan_alive

hey exhausted

sorry about the next question, i guess i'm a lil more clueless than first thought lol

Is this what you're suggesting? => guitar into distortion into wah into main input... then H20 Delay plugged into PowerAmp INput??

i'm trying to picture it in my head

Pacomc79

the out from preamp out to pedal in to whatever pedals to power amp in

Wah in the effects loop Ewww!

exhausted

Originally posted by dan_alive
hey exhausted

sorry about the next question, i guess i'm a lil more clueless than first thought lol

Is this what you're suggesting? => guitar into distortion into wah into main input... then H20 Delay plugged into PowerAmp INput??

i'm trying to picture it in my head

guitar ---> wah ----> multieffects ---> amp

and

preamp out ---> H2O ---> poweramp in.

dan_alive

sweet will try this tomorrow... i've got the picture.. let's hope it sounds good.. that depends on the guitarist hehe

exhausted

play around with it. using multieffects kinda limits you b/c if you use it for distortions and modulations you can't split what goes where.

but hey, most vintage style amps have no effect loops so we're all stuck too.

dan_alive

Got a loop going now...

As well as a question.. this is my setup

guitar ---> multieffects ---> wah ---> amp

and

preamp out ---> H2O ---> poweramp in.

Sounds pretty good... there's not much noice at all, but when it comes to my H20 pedal there is a prob with the chorus effect. if u don't know, it is a dual chorus and delay pedal... when the delay is activated it's sweet, no probs.. then, in any combination when the chorus effect is activated there is this loud hum...

any ideas as to what could be causing it?

exhausted

as for the order of the pedals: whatever sounds good to you is valid.

as for the hum, sounds like a problem with the pedal itself but i don't have any experience with visual's stuff.

LoveThemBones

Is it a series or parallel effects loop? This makes a difference. Do you have a knob in the front of your amp that lets you control the amount of signal?

dan_alive

hey there
it's a series effects loop

i cant control the amount of signal / is it possible to do that?

exhausted

Originally posted by dan_alive
hey there
it's a series effects loop

i cant control the amount of signal / is it possible to do that?

not if it's series. it would only cut the total volume in the case of series.

LoveThemBones

I got this from amptone.com:

Effects loops give you the opportunity to plug effects between the preamp and the power amp. This is best for modulation (phaser, flanger, chorus, pitsh shifting) and delay effects because it allows them to effect the distorted signal as opposed to the preamp distorting them. It also runs a line-level signal, instead of instrument, which works better with most rack mount effects. (Distortions and boosters, etc, usually work better going straight into the guiatr input where they can affect the preamp gain)

Most have output jacks that run to the effects and input that run back to the amp. Regular guitar cable is good to use for these jacks. A few have one stereo jack that has both input and output and require a stereo-plugged "Y" guitar cable with one cable running as the input, one as the output.

Serial effects loops rune directly between the preamp and power amp, parallel ones allow you to mix the "wet" loop signal with the "dry" preamp signal.

You may also run the preamp signal out of the effects loop into the effects input of another amp to get a "slaved amp" effect or just to use different preamps with different power amps.

There is no "wrong" way to set effects up before the amp, in the effects loop or both. You just have to experiment with what you like best. Many effects, wah and chorus for example, will sound more dominate in the effects loop. This could be desired or not. I run my wah and Micro-Vibe into the guitar input (slightly overdriven for rythym), because I like how the preamp's O/D softens, or delutes, each of them. I keep my O/D and Fuzz pedals before each though, so the wah and Vibe and affect and fatten the fuzz tones. I keep my chorus and echo in the effects loop both because I like the way the affect all that comes before it, but also because they are both picky vintage pieces and work better with the line-level signal.

The more distortion the effect runs through afterwards, the more the effect is lost in the finished tone.

They explain pretty well. I believe that more of your signal gets mixed if you put the effect through the series effects loop. And if your pedal is not true bypass, then you loose tone.

dan_alive

cool, that's something i'll hang on to... i had rehearsal yesterday and it all worked out ok with the loop... the hum from the chorus pedal was a little less apparent too.