front of amp or FX loop?

[ChuckD]

I've been mucking about with using the FX loop or not? The only pedal I've been using in my FX loop(at the moment) is a delay pedal. The pedals I use in the front, are a tuner, a compressor, a BD2 and a Flex drive. The BD2 and Flex are used sparingly for color. The Mark 5-35 solo channels are my boost for the most part.
In my Mesa Boogie Mark 5-35 owners manual it states pg. 26
"anything you insert in this extremely sensitive junction of an amplifier(between preamp and power section)may have the potential to slightly alter the sound." uhm?
I'm curious of others thoughts, experiences? Is it worth running one pedal through an FX loop? I'm not convinced I hear that much difference.

 

[Eevil]

Yep. My delays sound like turd in front of the amp

Delays and graphic eq in fx loop for me and boosters etc, modulations before amp.. but that’s just my preference

 

[ChuckD]

man, I can not tell the differance with my delay up front or in the FX loop? I have it set up as a very light slap delay though, maybe that's why? I gave up on my EQ pedal, it was just too noisy for my taste or I just have a really crappy EQ pedal?

 

[Eevil]

man, I can not tell the differance with my delay up front or in the FX loop? I have it set up as a very light slap delay though, maybe that's why? I gave up on my EQ pedal, it was just too noisy for my taste or I just have a really crappy EQ pedal?

My delays are long, rhythmic and full range so those will not work at all before amp.. I found myself playing mostly higain channels so there’s that also

What’s your EQ pedal? If you actually need one the. I’d suggest buying proper one. The bad ones (read: cheap) are hissing and messing up with the signal. Years back I bought Source audio EQ and it’s been great works correctly in most amps’ fx-loops that I’ve gone thru

 

[Evenflow]

In my experience, it really depends on which amp you’re using and you’ll have to experiment with each amp and each pedal for the best sound. Generally speaking wah and gain pedals up front and modulating in the loop for me.

 

[mace]

The way to think about it is simply if your delay in front of the amp, the delay tails will go through all the pre-amp distortion circuits. If the delay is in the loop then the tails will already be distorted (having gone through the pre-amp). So, for little short slap delays, it may not matter. Long sweeping and modulated delay tails will have a huge difference (having the tails go through the distortion or the tail already being distorted).
Same as others here I have chorus, vibe and delay in the loop. Tube Screamer, RAT, tuner, and volume pedal in front.
The volume pedal can go either in front of amp or in loop, depending on what you want. In front of amp it's like a guitar's volume pot and in the loop it is like an amp volume knob (won't affect distortion characteristic).

 

[smunger4]

In my experience, it really depends on which amp you’re using and you’ll have to experiment with each amp and each pedal for the best sound. Generally speaking wah and gain pedals up front and modulating in the loop for me.

I've been mucking about with using the FX loop or not? The only pedal I've been using in my FX loop(at the moment) is a delay pedal. The pedals I use in the front, are a tuner, a compressor, a BD2 and a Flex drive. The BD2 and Flex are used sparingly for color. The Mark 5-35 solo channels are my boost for the most part.
In my Mesa Boogie Mark 5-35 owners manual it states pg. 26
"anything you insert in this extremely sensitive junction of an amplifier(between preamp and power section)may have the potential to slightly alter the sound." uhm?
I'm curious of others thoughts, experiences? Is it worth running one pedal through an FX loop? I'm not convinced I hear that much difference.

For my MKV, I have all delay and modulation through the loop and Bad Horsie wah in front. No gain pedals

 

[Rider1260]

If an amp has a good effects loop I use it for Delay and Reverb , Swishy effects because those effects stay clean.
On my Non effects loop amps a really good multi effect pedal ( Line 6 HXFX or TC Electronics Nova system for me ) works best you can play with signal routing to keep you drives and delays and such separate.

 

[Acey Boy]

Years back I bought Source audio EQ and it’s been great works correctly in most amps’ fx-loops that I’ve gone thru

I’ve been using the Source Audio EQ2 for a couple years. I configure the stereo inputs/ outputs from the EQ2 into a dual mono setup so I can use it as a pre-EQ in front of the amp and a post-EQ in the effects loop. Each band of the EQ is completely customizable, it has a built in noise gate, and it’s midi so you can switch EQ settings with your different amp settings. Pricey but it’s the single most powerful pedal I have for shaping my sound. It’s dead quiet too. Highly recommended for any Mesa in my experience.

 

[woodbutcher65]

I run rack effects in the loop, and if I use a pedal at all, it's in the input jack.

The loop almost always has an Alesis DEQ-230 digital programmable 31 band EQ in it. This is used to fine tune the tone to absolute perfection.

General rule, time based effects after distortion. Distorting a reverbed signal is just weird.

 

[SunnO)))]

Distorting a reverbed signal is just weird.

I prefer to call it psychedelic