Guitar Amp FX Loop Vs. Input Only
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- čas přidán 7. 08. 2024
- A lot of guitar players can't live without the four cable method (using their amps FX Loop) and others have never experimented with their amps fx loop at all.
An amp FX loop is not for everyone, but it is another handy tool that is readily available on a lot of amps. At the very least I hope this video inspires you to try out your amps FX loop and make up your own mind its practicality for your rig.
In this video we show you the differences between running into the front of your amp vs. using your amps FX loop, how to connect your pedal board to your amp in both configurations and how to make this easy to go back and forth without huge amounts of re-patching.
Post your comments and questions below! - Hudba
![Using Effects Pedals With Multi Channel Guitar Amps [And A Bit On FX Loops] - That Pedal Show](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/K-YbjgNcMQ4/mqdefault.jpg)
![Using Effects Pedals With Multi Channel Guitar Amps [And A Bit On FX Loops] – That Pedal Show](/img/tr.png)
Man, great video. I finally get why an effects loop is such a big deal for so many players.
Thanks for checking it out!
I play hard rock and utilize reverb and delay; this means i'm living in the fx loop and it's such a God-send!
Such a huge difference eh! I remember as a kid I tried an FX loop having absolutely no idea what I was listening for... never tried any wet effects of consequence while I was testing haha. Years later, my mind was changed and now Im a huge fan (in the right context). What amp(s) are you using?
@@GoodwoodAudio game changer! I remember before I really understood the purpose of an fx loop: plugged in all my wet fx into the front and used the onboard distortion channel only to realize that that was NOT the sound I wanted! Tis the moment when the epiphany of the fx loop happened lol. I'm currently using a mesa recto-verb 25 watt head for the rock stuff I do.
@@GC-bk1mv Love that! Its a good day when you realise what an FX is for haha.
@@GoodwoodAudio exactly! i'll always use one when I can ;)
Very clear and straight forward. My problem is I have a dozen or so amplifiers including a bunch of vintage Fenders and a Carr Rambler none of which have effect loops. I also run my rig with 2 amps in stereo ( with the help of your Interfacer). I guess this works because Im not pushing the preamps to begin with. Have you ever done a video on stereo setups? I do this in a home recording environment. Really gives a huge guitar sound! Thanx for your efforts.
Great tutorial..
I have both an effects loop and pre amp/ power amp in/out too. Which one is better or the same? For noise gate and delay. Distortion from pre amp.
Now I got it...so its safe to use a clean channel when using an overdrive pedal + delay pedal w/o effects loop but when using the amp's high gain channel + delay pedal, it would be better to utilize the effects loop. Thanks.
That's one way of looking at it. But I would discourage trying to find black and white rules to define your signal chain by and instead listen for what you want to hear. As an example... I use an amp where the clean channel can be pushed into overdrive. I never use the high gain channel. If I push the preamp of my amp (the clean channeL) into overdrive, the FX loop can be a HUGE help. So although you're correct in what you say, depending on the sound you're going for / how you run your amp, you might also want the FX loop depending on the amp type and how you're running it. Hope this helps a bit! Trust your ear and do lots of experimenting.
@@GoodwoodAudio Thanx for elaborating...I surely get your point. Thanx again. 😁
thank you for the video! a couple of critique points: during the Amp FX loops section some visualization would help a lot and the sound level of the presenter's speech and music in between section is very different, i.e. I have to turn up my speakers to hear well and then the music is too loud. Would help if you could calibrate. Thank you!
Noted! I've made changes on this in future videos. Also can't say how much I appreciate you giving constructive criticism (politely telling us where we can improve) rather than just throwing rude comments... It's a small thing but really appreciated!
So many of us simply don’t understand these simple pieces and how they interact. Simply cannot run everything through the front or through the FX. Thank you for the breakdown. That being said, is there any reason to add an OD to the FX loop when there is already an OD/ Distortion on the Pre-Amp? In addition, is there a parallel FX loop amp that you would recommend?
Hey Alan. Thanks for the kind words. If you're up for experimenting, there are definitely reasons to try an OD in the FX loop... Similarly to changing the order of your ODs on your board, changing where the FX loop goes could be a fun experiment. Typically though, players tend to keep their FX loop as the last 'drive' section on their board.. .but its not a hard and fast rule.
I actually don't have a parallel FX loop I'd recommend. Its not an area Im extremely well versed in as I only have real experience with a couple different versions, but there would be better people to ask for advice on different parallel FX loops
I have a two amp setup. I'm running delay, reverb, and a looper pedal in one of the amps effects loop (wet amp), but not the other amp (dry amp). It actually works, and I love just having the loop in just one amp. I can play lead over the loop getting the sound of both amps, or use the ABY switcher to just play lead with the amp not running the loop (the dry amp) which is set for more gain. When I tried to run the looper in the front of both amps, it ends up getting delay added if I'm using delay while playing lead. Having it in the effects loop of just one amp avoids this issue. My question is -- is there a downside to running my looper in one of the amp's effects loop? Have you tried it? What are your thoughts?
Good question. This depends a bit on how you're routing everything. Do you mind sending me a rough drawing of your signal chain so I can see how you're splitting these signal paths? Feel free to send it to info@goodwoodaudio.com. Happy to take a look.
Yo, can you guys start making longer, more in depth videos. Id happily listen to you for 20-45 mins at a time
You're too kind. I have a feeling not everyone wants to nerd out as much as you and me though haha.
@@GoodwoodAudio i think you'd be surprised, haha.
@@imantisocial3179 Noted! And thank you!
Where is the best place to put my boost pedal for solos in a amp? Is it on input amp or in a effects loop? What happens if put boost pedal in a parallel effects loop, after my effects that are with kill dry on?
VERY good question. The thing want to consider (both can work well depending on what you want) is how you want your boost to interact with your amp / pedals. If you put a boost before your amp input it will drive the amp / preamp / gain stage harder resulting in more gain but less volume. If you put your boost in your FX loop (after the pre-amp in your amplifier) it will tend to give you more volume but not more gain (im generalising a bit). You will hear more of the boost characteristics if its after the pre-amp stage. If you are running a parallel fx loop with a boost into pedals in kill dry, only the wet effects will 'see' the boost (assuming you are at 100% wet.). Its a big question that will change a bit depending on a few variables on your board, but hopefully that gets you started. let me know if that makes sense!
At 3:34 you say "we go from out LAST dry effect.."
besides coming in clean straight from the guitar, what other 'dry' effects are there?
its been so long I honestly dont' remember what I used. Most likely a compressor and a light OD - I tend to grab a TS9 but it's really more about the 'theory' of how to run an FX Loop anyway... You put your gain (dry pedals) before the amp input in most scenarios which is why I referenced the dry fx / last dry effect.
WHAT!? I'm more confused now then when I started the video. Wet effects, dry effects, what is that? What qualifies as wet or dry? Which one is a compressor for example? is that considered a damp effect? Do I put modulation and reverb through the loop, and plug my overdrive straight in. I think you may have over complicated this.
Good questions... Wet effects typically refer to delay and verb (effects with trails after the initial attack of the guitar). Modulation would be chorus, tremolo, flanger etc. Dry would often refer to overdrives, compressor, fuzz...effects that would typically come before your amp fx loop. Again - these are general terms only but help in breaking up a pedalboard signal path into sections. Modulation and delay/verb would often go in your amp FX loop, yes. Although this rule can also be bent or 'broken'. Volume after your amps pre-amp is also common. So is a boost. All of this is just a starting point for you to manipulate to what suits you best!
I have a question off/on top about send/return loops. I run a pbc 10 with multiple drives in the loops. I'm looking at getting the new Boss SY-200 (Midi controlled Synth Pedal) and it comes with a send and return loop. I really want to run all my other pedals in parallel with the SY-200 but keep everything in PBC loops. Is there a way to accomplish this? If that makes sense? Thanks!
depends how picky you are with routing. it definitely is. You could start by going Guitar - SY200 input - Send to Input of PBC (go through all loops) output of PBC to return of SY200 - Sy200 Output to amp. There are a few other ways you could do this with the insert loops on the PBC if you only wanted to run part of your signal chain in parallel, but that's the way to run the whole signal chain in parallel. Make sense? Feel free to email info@goodwoodaudio.com with more questions.
Is there a seperate effect loop device to buy without buying a whole guitar amp?
Hey Eddy, can you clarify this a bit more? Do you mean a way to take an amp without an FX loop and mod it / get a device that allows that amp to separate it's pre and power amp?
@@GoodwoodAudio No, is there just a single FX loop pedal or divice (that is not an amp), so I don't have to buy a amp, I just need the FX loop to record my distortion pedal. Do I have to buy a whole amp or I can just get the FX loop (for better sound)?
@@eddykingdomsbrandson1827 What if you split your signal after your distortion... So you had a 'dry output' that you could record distortion only and at the same time you could record distortion INTO your wet effects. Would that work? The reason I'm a bit confused / wanting to clarify is generally the FX loop is used to take advantage of the preamp on your amplifier... so without that I'm just trying to figure out how to make this work the way you want. But if I'm correct on teh above - YES - you can do that. We have a product called 'Isolator' we make on request that can help with this. Feel free to email me at info@goodwoodaudio.com if that helps.
@@GoodwoodAudio Let me put it this way. I recorded a song with my band. And the guitarist says the distortion sounds just so bad and broken. And I can't find anything on youtube that could help me. I connected directly with cable from distortion pedal to PC. I don't know how to record, everything I tried just sounds the same hissy, broken guitar distortion sound. See this, one of our songs how it sounds like - czcams.com/video/3bz0SSEeQHo/video.html
some graphics would be better than a straight up lecture. yawn.