Why effect loop

Registered in England. Company registration number VAT no. By using the Dawsons website you agree to our use of cookies to improve your experience and our services Close. What is an effects loop and how does it work?

You might be interested in Tags: how to guide. Related Articles. Previous Page. Next Page. All rights reserved. Other things, the effects loop lets you use JUST the power amp if you want so you could plug a modeller or multi effect into it This thread will end in debates about whether the added cable length involved in using the loop makes the loop unusable or not.

This entirely depends on the tones you're looking for and the amount of gain you're getting from your amp. Messages Messages 6, If you are using gain from your amp's preamp, an effects loop is pretty essential. I only use very light amp gain and prefer to have my delay and modulation in front of it. I like using fuzz for high gain sounds, so that comes from a pedal anyway. Messages 3, One thing I never got: some people think delays sound bad in front of an amp with gain, but delays are just repetition of what you just played you can even simulate "delay" with repeated picking with decreasing volume.

So, since it's more or less the notes you just played, repeated at a quieter volume It doesn't really make sense. Jack DeVille Member. Messages 2, Messages 12, It's the difference in delaying the distorted tone and distorting the delayed tone. With anymore than mild distortion the difference is noticable; with high gain the difference is pretty dramatic. Take a clean amp, a delay pedal and a gainy distortion pedal, play a phrase with the distortion going into the delay into the amp.

Now reverse only the distortion and the delay pedals and play the same thing. You will know pretty quickly which way you prefer. To whatever ends this thread leads us Unless an amp has no buffer some folks describe them as tube-boosted circuits which impacts total cable length used more on that in a minute : many players use LPB's linear power boosters of some sort or make that push the signal along without too much signal loss or too much dynamic gain. I have used a short cable to my wah when used and don't need for my tastes to slam the input of any amp with a crunch box, and the longer cord to the amp's input.

But it's subjective and you can have fun getting your own tone. This is called preamp distortion. This is particularly important for players that use their amp for distortion sounds but still want clear delay and reverb sounds from their pedals. What this means is that the amp has loads of clean headroom so that the pedals can give your guitar sound the voice.

And remember the preamp is the part of the amp that is giving you that saturated distortion sound anyway? So essentially, an effects loop gives you the ability to use your amp distortion in the right place in your signal chain. If you did the same thing with an effects loop because you want to use the amp for distortion, it would look like this.

Tread with caution as you could end up breaking your amp completely. Generally speaking, delay comes first and then reverb. That way the delay repeats will also be covered in that lovely reverb but still be clear enough to be heard. The other way around will mean that the delay repeats your reverberated sound.