Analog pedals in FX loop?

[muramasa]

Right now I have a nova system that I run in my effects loop. The problem is that with the digital processor in the loop it causes phasing issues because of the a/d converter. It sounds good on the clean channel but it makes the distortion sound like its in a tunnel. I tweeked and tweeked but I can't seem to find a good balance, the best I could get was mix at 100% and full send level, even with this I still can't get it to sound like it does with the loop bypassed. I was wondering if I bought all analog pedals would this issue go away since there is no lag because of the a/d converters?

 

[strata189]

I'm using a Moog delay, LowPass filter and sometimes, a Sherman Filterbank with mine.
No issues so far...

Randall

 

[muramasa]

thanks for the reply. that moog delay sounds quite nice. I'm thinking about getting a boss DM-2 or a diamond memory lane 2, but after hearing a demo of the moog on youtube I might order one.

 

[strata189]

The Moog is a very versatile delay and I love the sound of mine. The others you
mentioned are highly regarded, too, but I've only played the Moog.

Randall

 

[fishyfishfish]

How are you running the Nova? The manual says that you have to use the line input to by pass all the drives and distortions and you might have to calibrate the input levels. I just picked up a Nova Delay for my Shiva and thought I got a lemon untill I set it up right. Check out the TC Forum for help as well.

 

[muramasa]

I've plugged into the line in, adjusted the input gain to unity, and adjusted the output to unity. I think that problem is that since the loop is parallel and the nova is digital. because i can't make the loop 100% wet and the digital effects have latency with the A/D converters, it causes phasing when the dry and wet signal are mixed. I was just wondering if this was solved by using analog effects since they don't have A/D converters so that means no latency.

 

[mr_fender]

This is the exact reason for so many people converting the FX loop to serial. The dry and wet signals are phasing as you said. Though, it is not analog vs. digital issue. Analog pedals can do the exact same thing. It's not a matter of latency a much as it is about signal phase. Even in analog pedals, the signal can get phase shifted by various components such as capacitors, opamps, and transistors. When the wet and dry signals are recombined, the out of phase signals cause frequency cancellation and comb filtering (the tunnel sound you described). One thing you can do is set the Nova System to output only the wet signal and then mix that in with the fx loop mix knob on the amp. I prefer serial loops myself. The mod to serial is quite simple if you are so inclined.

 

[muramasa]

Alright, good answer. That brings me to this then, I'd love to do the serial loop mod but when I did it to my single rectifier I still got some bleed through after the mod. I read that others have had this problem too which really defeats the purpose of the mod. I'm wondering if anyone else has had this problem with the serial loop mod or will work differently with my triple compaired to when I did it with the single?