Anyone actually use their effects loop?

[pine]

Is there an advantage to using the loop as opposed to putting effects in front of the amp?

[TD_Madden]

Depends on the design of the effects....most of the pedals I've used don't really like the effects-loop.

[Earl Norton]

If you use onboard overdrive or distortion, the effects loop is the place to put time dependent effects....chorus, delay, reverb and such. If you don't use onboard overdrive or distortion, it does not matter.

[Enzo]

Yeah, generally we prefer to run overdrive/distortion effects in front of the amp, and the chorus/delay/compression types in the loop.

And the loop is a line level thing, so some floor pedals do not have enough output to sound good there, but some do. So experiment. It won't hurt anything to stick any effect wherever you want.

I like to think of it this way: when ordering effects, you can have a distorted guitar that reverberates, or you can have a reverberant guitar sound that is then distorted.

[Paleo Pete]

I've run my delay through the effects loop for years, it works pretty well. Amp is a Peavey MX 130 watt tube head through a 1967 Kustom 2x12 cabinet, very clean amp, delay is a Arion SAD 1 analog delay. I don'yt use the distortion channel of the amp, I much prefer the sound of the clean channel with a distortion pedal (Ibanez SD 9 in this case).

I tried a Boss 10 band EQ a few times, never liked the way it performed, and dropped it except for occasional tinkering at home. The delay is also excellent for running stereo, it has a stereo output with two separate jacks, one back into the effects loop and the other to a straight power amp and speaaker on the other side of the stage and you have stereo guitar, with all preamp, EQ and effects included.

I also tried other effects at home, (always do before even thinking about trying it onstage) and nothing else really worked well except a digital delay set for flanger. That also was available in the stereo setup.

I still use the analog delay through the effects loop, but since I'm running a dual amp rig now with an A/B switch I'm getting ready to rework my pedal board and put it back inline so it's available through both amps. The best thing about running it in the effects loop is it helps cut down the noise and "tone sucking" of having 4 other effects and a volume pedal in front of the amp. If I didn't want it available for the other amp too I'd leave it right there.

All that considered, it does still work a tad better inline, probably due to the signal strength, but the difference is not very noticable.

[Rigormortis]

I play clean into the main amp, then run out of the loop, through a pedal, and into a smaller amp that I can alter the volume on.

No cord comes back to the main amp, but the effects seem to color the sound of the main amp somewhat, depending on the volume of the little slave amp. I don't know why, or it it really does, since the two amps blend so perfectly.

[hasserl]

I have a couple of amps with an fx loop, I've never used them. I hate the idea of running even more cords from the amp to the pedal board and back. All my pedals on the board just go into the front of the amp, I have no problems with that. But then, I'm not using real heavy OD either, just classic rock level. But this makes it easy to use whether I'm using a newer amp with the loop, or an older amp without one. Just run everything in front and be done with it. On my pedal board I run a tuner -> wha -> clean boost -> OD -> delay -> out to amp.