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Basically all my delays sound weak in the effects loop. BUT they sound insane and damn near unusable in front of my amp. WHat can I do to fix this?

I got an eq pedal on the way that has a separate gain slider, was thinking of boosting the signal with that or maybe buying a MXR micro amp and just pushing the line a little harder at the end of the chain.

GOt an El capistan, Spa Puss, Disaster transtort Sr (sounds good in loop), and an echorec eventually. I run a shitload of amp gain.

I thought people stopped using effects loops in the 80's??? Front of Amp or GTFO...

^ lazy...fx loops are great for delays and modulations if you run amp gain.
there are a few things most arent aware of as not all fx loops are the same...

OP...
details on your amps fx loop?
ie series/parallel? instrument or line level or switchable?
buffered or passive?


reason being...if youre putting instrument signal pedals (with an input/output of say -10db) into a line level loop (with send and returns of say +4db) ...do the math...-10db into +4db...weak, +4db into -10db

some amps have adjustable send and returns...or switchable options like series/parallel with mix knobs
some effects have kill dry functions,which are a godsend in situations where a parallel loop mix knob isnt 100% wet at full.

sonidero wrote:I thought people stopped using effects loops in the 80's??? Front of Amp or GTFO...

My delays and modulations are in the loop. No problem with mine it sound better then in the front.

JohnnyC wrote:^ lazy...fx loops are great for delays and modulations if you run amp gain.

Meh, clean Amps and Fuzz Pedals are the True Way...

My effects loop as an independent send and return volume pots. That works

Mine has no volume pot, but it's a tube-buffered series FX-LOOP.
Even if I don't use the 2nd channel of my amp, I prefer delays and mod in the loop (sound better).

I use all my delays and verbs in the FX loop of my amps. I do this because I don't want them to be EQ'd, if you use something like a shimmer verb or a delay that can add highs or lows they get filtered out if before your amp EQ. Imagine your amp as an FX loop chain, do you put your EQ before or after your time based FX (predirt delay and verb excluded)? I don't, I want them to add on to my base tone without being effected tonally.

TJ - There's one delay I've used that no matter how much gain you threw at it the repeats were always clear and sounded great, a boss DD-6.

Im running a ENGL Fireball 100 watt head. all other amps have no loop.
This is the only info in the manual I could find ----

"FX mix control for the FX Loop. When the knob is set to Dry, the amp signal is routed through with no
processed signal (0% wet balance) added to the mix. Twist the knob clockwise to blend in the
processed signal (parallel/passive, wet balance 1-99%, depending on knob position). When the knob
arrives at the Effect position, only the wet signal (that is, the processed signal generated by the
connected effect device) is patched to the power amp (serial, 100% wet)."

Ive tried turning the wet dry balance down and I lost tons of volume and turning up form there doesnt really sound that great. Will experiment with that more though later today. My buddy has to do that with his mark V to get anything to sound good in the loop.

And skip, he uses a dd7 and he said its the only thing thats good in his loop too haha

I love my pedals though and just want to be able to use them better.

If you have an FX loop mix knob on your amp then set all of your effects to 100% wet and then use your FX loop mix to blend them in, otherwise your blending a blended signal which can be extremely difficult to balance.

Thats a really cool tip, ill try that out too!

Ancient Astronaught wrote:If you have an FX loop mix knob on your amp then set all of your effects to 100% wet and then use your FX loop mix to blend them in, otherwise your blending a blended signal which can be extremely difficult to balance.

if the pedals cant output 100% wet...or dont have a kill-dry function, this could explain the OP's problem.

Aye, tis true!