FX Loop question....

[ampedout]

What exactly is the advantage of connecting your pedals to your amps fx loop as apposed to running your chain out front. I realize that it's best not to run certain fx, ie: overdrive, wah, dist. But fx such as time based or modulation, is it best to loop these, and why.

[EricV]

Hey there,

well I i.e. prefer to run my delay in the loop. Why ? It sounds better to me. If you put the delay into the loop ( same goes for reverb etc,. too ), and you use a distorted sound, the distorted sound is "echo-ed". Which to me sounds wayyy better than the other way around: delay in front of the amp, the clean sound is first echo-ed, and then gets distorted.
It sounds a bit nicer, clearer if you put a delay and reverb etc. into the loop, imho.

I also always put the Wah BEFORE any distortion ( others prefer to put it after the distortion ), so maybe I´m weird :)

Eric

[ampedout]

Hey thanks EricV for the info.

[szulc]

There are issues with impedance especially with rack effects that make them better suited for being in the effects loop. The guitar output is typically HIGH impedance rack effects are typically LOW impedance. Effects loops are typically Low impedance, so there is better matching and less signal degradation in this case. Stop boxes are typically Hi impedance so they are usually better suited to be placed before the preamp. (This includes wah/chorus /phasor/distortion boxes). If you have a guitar equipped with EMG active pickups the output is low impedance so you can run directly into a VS880 or rack effect without signal degradation.