Hi all, I've got a Mark IVb medium head that I bought used last year. Its an early B, I think around 1993, but seems to be in great shape. I've been building a rig around this amp as a hobby for the last year and have run into some odd behavior regarding buffers and the FX Loop.
I'm running a Gmajor in the loop along w/ a chorus pedal (either a Boss CE2, CH1 or Corona, whichever suits me that week). All of those effects are switched by a GCX.
The issue is that each of those chorus pedals has a built in buffer. Since they are switched in and out with a true bypass GCX loop, when they are off, the buffer isn't in the chain. When the loop comes on, I get a huge volume boost (specifically, for the BOSS pedals I get the boost when the loop switches on even if the pedal isn't engaged because those aren't true bypass. The corona chorus is is switchable from true-bypass to always buffered, but that doesn't matter here).
So, I can solve the problem by always including a buffer in the FX Loop, by inserting the GCX buffer as the first element in the loop before running to the GCX loops. But should I even need to do this? The cable run from the Fx loop send up to the rack is about 3 feet max. The Mark IV loop itself is supposed to be buffered so it can even handle a 20 ft run out to a pedal board, right? Is it possible that the Mark IV buffer isn't working right? Is there are way to measure this?
Another thought is a bum cable between the Loop send to the GCX. I wired everything using Lava Solderless (soldered isn't an option for me), and when I switched from all my crappy store bough cables to these, these were a million times better. But maybe something is weak on that one cable...
Thanks, any help or ideas is appreciated!
I'm running a Gmajor in the loop along w/ a chorus pedal (either a Boss CE2, CH1 or Corona, whichever suits me that week). All of those effects are switched by a GCX.
The issue is that each of those chorus pedals has a built in buffer. Since they are switched in and out with a true bypass GCX loop, when they are off, the buffer isn't in the chain. When the loop comes on, I get a huge volume boost (specifically, for the BOSS pedals I get the boost when the loop switches on even if the pedal isn't engaged because those aren't true bypass. The corona chorus is is switchable from true-bypass to always buffered, but that doesn't matter here).
So, I can solve the problem by always including a buffer in the FX Loop, by inserting the GCX buffer as the first element in the loop before running to the GCX loops. But should I even need to do this? The cable run from the Fx loop send up to the rack is about 3 feet max. The Mark IV loop itself is supposed to be buffered so it can even handle a 20 ft run out to a pedal board, right? Is it possible that the Mark IV buffer isn't working right? Is there are way to measure this?
Another thought is a bum cable between the Loop send to the GCX. I wired everything using Lava Solderless (soldered isn't an option for me), and when I switched from all my crappy store bough cables to these, these were a million times better. But maybe something is weak on that one cable...
Thanks, any help or ideas is appreciated!
