pedalboard - put in fx loop or in front of amp???

[oldskoolrulz]

hello everyone, new to the forum. found the boogie board while searching for an answer to the question in the subject line: what the general thought on pedalboards in fx loops vs. in front of the amp? posted this here because i have the newest version (2010) dual rect and i'm curious as to how others are connecting their pedalboards to these particular amps. this topic may have come up already and if so just point me to the thread! thanks in advance for all replies, this place looks like it will be a wealth of info!!!

 

[fluff191]

Depends on what pedals are on your pedalboard.

Time-based = loop

Everything else = in front

 

[domct203]

Depends on what pedals are on your pedalboard.

Time-based = loop

Everything else = in front

+1

Time based effects include (but not limited to) delay, reverb & chorus, although some prefer a chorus in front of the amp, especially with clean tones. YMMV.

Compressors, OD/Distortion, and Wahs sound best in front. Phasers, although time based, usually sound good in front also.

These are guidelines that seem to work well in my experience, but everyone has their own tastes.

Welcome to The Board

Dom

 

[94Tremoverb]

Phasers, although time based

No they aren't!

They are *phase* based .

They work by shifting the signal relative to itself, the same amount for any wave cycle, dependent on frequency. Flangers *are* time based and work by shifting the signal relative to itself by a fixed amount of time independent of frequency. (Both are then modulated.) This is why phasers sound soft and 'whooshy' at high settings, whereas flangers sound hard and 'grindy' - the phaser only generates artifacts that are harmonically related to the original signal, the flanger generates ones that aren't.

Sorry, just had to say that since it's a very common belief that they're the same thing (or very similar) .

Of course, it may be one of the reasons phasers sound good in front of the amp, too.


Overdrive, distortion and fuzz not only sound best in front (and usually really bad in the loop), in some cases they can actually make the amp unstable if you do put them in the loop, and very rarely even damage the amp. Don't. Any kind of distortion should be in front of the amp, so unless you can do the 'four cable' method (some pedals in front and some in the loop) with your board, and you're using distortion on it, the board must go in front.

 

[oldskoolrulz]

thanks for the replies fellas, good info all around. i'm running a flanger, phaser, chorus, delay, reverb on my board, all of which i seldom use in the band i play with. just got one of the andy timmons bb preamps and that's on the board also, i see that i will probably be using it pretty much all the time.

so i've been running the board in front of the amp and all these effects seem to work and sound just fine, is there really going to be that big of a diff thru the loop?

i'm assuming if i use the loop then i need to still run the bb preamp in front?

how does the loop effect your tone overall, would it be better without the loop engaged?

sorry for my ignorance on all of this, i appreciate any and all responses!

 

[R_ADKINS80]

it's what ever sounds best to you. I can't stand the sound of my recto's loop so i run everything out front. sounds great to me.

 

[Gjeven]

As said above, I would try some of your effects in front of the amp and in the effects loop and see which way you like better.

I don't have many effects in my pedal board, I have a wah, overdrive, phaser, chorus and delay. I first tried putting the phaser, delay and chorus in the FX loop. Delay I definitely liked much better in the loop, but the chorus and phaser I preferred in front of the amp, the effects were more subtle that way.

It's a pain running cables for effect in front of the amp, and in the effects loop if you use a pedal board. I've seen some people that use a Pedal Snake cable, but I've heard they suck tone. Haven't tried them myself.

 

[Neptical]

With my experience with the Recs, I find it's just better to keep the signal as clean as possible..especially in the front of the amp. They thin out and lose balls the more you throw in the front of them. True bypass is key if your gonna mess with the front of the amp.