Effects pedals

[cage77]

Steel -

You're right man....interesting sound is very subjective....lol. OD or Distortion after the pre is pretty pointless. Unless you you're running tubes where power amp distortion is desirable in certain applications.

But you're right....od and distortion in a fx loop doesn't sound very good at all.....

Brandon

[supedupviper]

Steelpriest said:

Hi Cage! it depends on what someone considers as sounding interesting, hehehe! Okay, I mean it is possible to connect a distortion or overdrive in a loop, you won´t damage anything, but I really doubt it´ll sound very good. Just my opinion!

I have a Marshall MG30DFX and a Boss MT-2 Metal Zone, and I've had it connected into my FX loop for quite awhile now. I've had it connected into the input before, but when you turned on the pedal's distortion, it sounded very bad, like there was just WAY too much treble, and even when I adjusted the knobs it didnt make much of a difference. So then I plugged into my FX loop, and everything sounded much better! The distortion sounds perfect now. I've asked about this before on the main Epi board, and I was told that when you plug into the FX loop, you bypass the preamp and just send the raw guitar signal, and from there just use whatever effects you have, and you should get the right sound.

[ZacAttack]

I never liked what I got when I went into the FX loop. But thats just me. But on the other hand I only had one amp that had a loop before my new Cyber Twin. Wait my Crate had one too but I never used it.

[Steelpriest]

Hi Supedupviper, when I understood it right you connect this way: guitar--->distortion pedal--->FX Loop return? That would mean you don´t use the preamp section of your amp at all, and use the distortion pedal as a preamp. This is an option that should work well. Or do you connect guitar--->amp input--->FX loop send--->distortion pedal---> FX Loop return? If you connect this way you obviously have only very few gain set on the guitar amp´s preamp? Again, to me it makes no sense to route a totally overdriven signal into another device for the purpose of adding even more distortion. The outcome should be a sound considered more as noise than as sound... with very sharp and buzzy brilliance and in most cases more like a fuzz box than a proper hi-gain sound.

[supedupviper]

yes, you read it correct, I go guitar - distortion pedal - FX loop.

[mandough]

You guys are gonna think I'm nuts, but I put them in this order: Tuner--Volume Pedal--Wah--Overdriver. Looking at Jimi Hendrix's rig gave me the idea to try the overdriver last. It sounds great, and I figure that this way, the other pedals don't have to deal with a messy distorted signal. That also keeps any other colorations from getting into my distortion sound after it's generated. It goes out from the overdriver straight to my amp. Just my way...not advice, or anything.