F-50 loop Q's

[mikeyp]

I tried the loop on my F-50 last night for the first time in the year that I've owned it. I ran chorus to delay and back. We jam pretty loud and I had to have the loop volume pegged for the effects to be equal volume. Is that normal?

This might be hard for me to word correctly but hears another Q. With this same setup and the loop volume turned all the way down the amp sounds normal. I thought once something was in the loop that the loop volume would need to be turned up to get sound from the amp.

This is the first time I've used a loop so excuse the silly q's.

One last question. If you were going to add a distortion pedal to this where would you put it. Right now it's guitar, wah, amp and the loop.

Thanks.

 

[plumptone]

I use the loop all the time, and I've never had any volume issues. That dial on the back of the amp is not an effects loop volume control, it's an effects LEVEL control - it determines how much effect is sent back into the amp to combine with the non effected signal.

The way I set it up is to set my effects as I usually do, but make sure that any volume/output controls on the effects are maxed out, and run the level control turned all the way up on the back of the amp. It's a parrallel loop, so there shouldn't be any change in volume.

The other way to do it is to set the effect level on the effects pedals at 100% so that all that's coming through is the effected signal and none of the non-effected signal. Then dial back the level control on the back of the amp until you get a nice sound with the effect blended in. This works great if you're using rack effects, but I find it basically useless when I'm also running pedals in the loop because some of mine don't have an effect level on them, so they get diluted too much if I roll back the effects level on the back of the amp.

I've had best results running delays, external reverbs and chorus through the loop. I don't have tremolo, but I know guys who do and who run that through the loop too.

Don't put a distortion pedal in the loop, it will sound like crap. Same thing for wah and compression. You have an F-50 anyway - do you really need a distortion pedal?

You should read the manual - it describes how to set it up right. Good luck!

 

[Brewski]

I run my chorus and tremelo into the loop, which gives them a rounder sound to my ear. Try turning your effects depth all the way up and then turn the loop mix up until you begin to hear the effect through the loop. You need more effects signal to run through your loop. Try 30-40% on the loop knob to begin with and adjust to your taste. You may need to adjust your amp volume up a little more than if you were running those effects straight in between your guitar and amp.

If you're pegging the loop knob, then you're over saturating the loop which will affect your volume and tone.

If you put a distortion into your chain, just run it straight in, rather than going through the loop.

 

[hal9000]

<snip>If you're pegging the loop knob, then you're over saturating the loop which will affect your volume and tone.
<snip>

The mix is completely passive, so there is nothing wrong with running it up to 90%. I keep mine at max with my G-Major and I can get better low volume performance that way, than with the channel masters.

You can also do this for low volume if you're not using the loop: