Effect loop. Amp

[danny-79]

Just a random thought but who here uses the effect loop on there amp and if so what do you put through it. 

I put all mine (in my chosen order, another topic) through the front but is there any advantage to say putting an octave pedal in the loop ? Obviously compression and drives need to go through the front but anything else ? 

I know guitarists generally use the loop for delays, reverbs etc but what about bass ? 

Thanks in advance! 

[Japhet]

I've had a few issues with buzz (at particular venues) so I'm waiting for a noise gate to turn up which I'd like to try between the preamp and power amp. At said venues I found that in one particularly noisy situation, running my entire effects board through the loop eliminated the problem, but the overall sound was different. I have a T Rex Chameleon power supply which has isolated outputs but I had to daisy chain a couple of pedals which is probably a contributing factor (as is my single coil bass), but £24 for a noise gate might get me a cheap fix.

[pete.young]

There are hundreds of threads about this. Generally, loops are intended for line-level (ie rack) effects. Most pedals work off instrument level and belong ahead of the dream. Just because guitarists do something does not mean it is actually a good idea - the 64 million flies argument applies.

[Happy Jack]

Ahead of the dream?

[pete.young]

Some weird auto-correct going on there - should have said 'ahead of the pre-amp'. Apologies.

[Johnny Wishbone]

15 hours ago, pete.young said:

Generally, loops are intended for line-level (ie rack) effects. Most pedals work off instrument level and belong ahead of the preamp. Just because guitarists do something does not mean it is actually a good idea - the 64 million flies argument applies.

+1.  To quote Chris Rock: "You can drive a car with your feet if you want to. That don't make it a good *expletive deleted* idea". 

The only thing I have in my FX loop is an HPF to trim off frequencies below 40Hz before they hit the power amp section (and my speakers).

EDIT: I do understand the reason for guitarists putting reverbs/delays in the loop. I would think that's less of an issue with bassists.

Edited September 7, 2018 by Johnny Wishbone

[Newfoundfreedom]

Hmmm. Interesting. I tend to split my pedal output (line 6 M13) going with 2 banks in the front for distortion, volume based effects, and the second 2 banks in the effects loop for ambient effects (chorus, flanger, reverb, delay, etc etc.) 

No idea why, except that that's what the manual suggests and the way it's "supposed" to be done from what I've read on various forums and internet posts. 

To be honest it all sounds the same to me whether it's run through the effects loop or direct into the front.