Roadster: Loop in or Bypassed?

[ibanez4life SZ!]

Hey guys!

****ALSO ADDED ONE MORE QUESTION IN MY SECOND POST FURTHER DOWN*****

I was hoping some of you could chime in on my Dilemma...

I've been considering adding a Delay to my rig for a while now. I don't use delay much if at all in the new band. Only over cleans (which I could live without), and with leads (which we don't have too many....we're more of a riff to all hell band )

So, I ofcourse had to bring the Loop back into the circuitry to run the pedal (an MXR Carbon Copy btw)

I like the delay sound, but I feel like the base tone of the Roadster looses a little with the loop bypassed. To put it simply, the Roadster has ALL OUT BALLZ w/ the loop bypassed...with the loop in, it's still aggressive, but it looses some of the umph, which is just so cool.

So, what would you do? Keep a better base tone, or run the delay?

Since the Roadster has reverb, and 4 channels, I'm considering just ditching the delay and running channel 3 for better leads instead of delay. It should be more than enough without the delay, which though cool, I probably won't use enough to warrant.

Appreciate it!

Eric

 

[echoes420]

I am a recent loop convert.

The Roadsters loop takes pedals better than any amp I have ever tried. It has many ways of making up for that sound loss i.e. the output control and the loop level control. I run 15 pedals of varying quality through the loop and can only notice the slightest difference in tone... and when you are playing with a band in a live setting, you, and no one else will notice the difference anyway.

It might take you a minute to get it right... but I promise you, it will be worth it.

 

[fjk1138]

I am like you and basically use a delay only in the loop, and only on certain occasions. Personally, I don't notice so much of a tone change when running the loop, but find I have to crank the master on each channel to about 1/2 way or else it gets somewhat noisy. I am not sure if this is typical or not, but, the loop works pretty well, especially for how little I use it.

That being said, I say for the little bit you use it, you could also run in between your axe and the input, providing you only use it for the cleans and that way you can still bypass the loop. Just a thought.

 

[thejay]

I used to run everything through the loop and one day I took it all out and ran up front just to see how it sounded. WOW, sounds so much better up front than in the loop in general. My delay doesn't sound as good but I only use it for a couple of things and NO ONE notices but me.

I would say for as little as you would use it, run it up front and see how that works for you.

 

[Nitrobattery]

I'm a big advocate of running the loop hard bypassed. I too would really like to throw a Carbon Copy in the loop, but to me the Roadster sounds so much better without the loop engaged that I pretty much let that idea go. I just use the Roadster's reverb on my clean sounds and my lead tone is really dry.

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

If anyone else would be willing to chime in, I'd appreciate it!

I ran into another small dilemma today.

After reading the manual, I realized that the tuner out and mute also only work with the loop in. I bought a rackmounted tuner, and was planning to just run it off that, using the tuner mute on my footswitch, and calling it good!

If I bypass the loop, my only option would be to run the tuner infront of the amp, and walk up to it and press the mute button to tune.

In your opinion, is switching in the loop in worth the convenience of the tuner mute?

Thanks!

 

[thejay]

Odd... have to check my amp when I am home but I use the Tuner switch as a killswitch when I need to... unless my switch got knocked on the back of my amp; I was running it with the loop bypassed. Recently got an ATA case to prevent such issues...now I am curious :?:

I use a Boss TU-2 in front of the amp which also acts as a killswitch when engaged (it can be bypassed, but who wants to hear you tune??)

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

Maybe I read it wrong...I haven't actually tried it, as my amp is at the practice space.

Let me know what you find!

Eric

 

[Daxman73]

The manual states that if you bypass the loop this disengages the tuner out as well...Weird thing though, mine still works fine...I have a Korg DTR2000 rackmount tuner and it works fine when the loop is bypassed, but the manual states otherwise...Very strange :? ...As far as the loop and tone is concerned, to my ears, the tone is WAY better when the loop is out...With that said though, someone here mentioned that in a live setting most can't tell the difference...They're right, especially if you play in a band with five members or more or have two guitarists...When I record with the roadster, I turn the loop off, but when I play live, I turn it on...I just like delay too much ...Just remember though, everybody's ears are different...Hope this helps.

 

[Yetti]

Hey Fellas Im itching for a Roadster really bad and from what ive studied and read online...being i havent even played it but as i read this im even more gassing for this amp...
How it states in the manual if you run in hard bypass you loose the solo, tuner out and something else. But it only states that when the footswitch is in. So how i read it is if you hard bypass everything you will not be able to activate it with the footswitch or get a reading. Hence why your racktuner probably tunes all the time because of the signal being outputed...but if you went to engage that tuner muteon the switch...it wont mute **** since its deactivated.
i could be wrong but thats how it seems logic in my head.

@ Daxman
So you notice a difference in tone with the loop engaged? And its way better when its bypassed. Im not a big FX guy but when i go live i plan to have at least a Deja Vibe Mini and a Boss tuner going into the loop.

But what i want to know is when the tone "loss" occurs... I understand Hard bypass = full tone.
But how about if you have the loops active but just not switched on by the footswitch? Does it still sound like a hard bypass full tone? And then when you activate the FX with the footswitch is that when the tone dips?
Or is the tone different immediately after coming out of bypass and switching and engaging the loop...regardless if you have foot switced ON the loop or not?
I understand it may not be super noticeable but im just looking to clear up what is on and what is not, and how the tone may suffer.

Thanks!
-Yetti

 

[echoes420]

Im not a big FX guy but when i go live i plan to have at least a Deja Vibe Mini and a Boss tuner going into the loop.

I don't recommend running the tuner in the loop... especially if the amp has a designated tuner out. While the Boss TU-2 is a great tuner, it sucks a lot more tone that you think. By taking it out of my chain, I gained a noticeable amount of headroom.


When I went loop... I set all four of my channels to where they sounded the way I wanted them to. Then, I flipped that bypass switch to on and set my output level to where it brought it back up to where it was before I switched the loop in. The difference in tone on the channels was nearly immeasurable. A little more mid here and there and I was certainly close enough to the tone I had with the loop out. Now obviously if I were tracking a record, I was bypass the loop for the parts with no effects... but only then. In a live setting, or even by yourself, the pros certainly outweigh the cons.

But how about if you have the loops active but just not switched on by the footswitch? Does it still sound like a hard bypass full tone? And then when you activate the FX with the footswitch is that when the tone dips?
Or is the tone different immediately after coming out of bypass and switching and engaging the loop...regardless if you have foot switced ON the loop or not?

Its strange... once you have the effects loop active... regardless of if it is engaged on the footswitch or not, its in the chain. BUT, the actual effected tone only comes through with the fx loop button engaged... meaning I have a space echo pedal that has a level knob on it, and that level knob works regardless of if the pedal is actually engaged or not, or if the fx loop is engaged or not.

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

Anyone actually check whether the tuner mute function works with the mute out? I'll get to check tomorrow at practice, but this is really bugging me :?

 

[Turumbar82]

My Single Recto always sounded more aggressive if I wasn't using anything in the loop. Of course it wasn't switchable like the roadster but same idea. When I put effects in the loop and put it at full mix the amp lost a little oomph. I guess that's just the give and take of using the loop unfortunately. Maybe something like a VHT Valvulator would take care of the issue.

 

[thejay]

Anyone actually check whether the tuner mute function works with the mute out? I'll get to check tomorrow at practice, but this is really bugging me :?

Yup, I checked. Loop bypassed and Tuner/Mute works...

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

You're my hero sir! And the tuner mute on the footswitch works aswell?

Eric

 

[thejay]

Yes, it does for me. Strange b/c of what the manual says but hey I'm not complaining at all! I love using it when I need to

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

Well I'll be damned...

The tuner out and mute all work, even with the loop bypassed.

PROBLEM SOLVED