Clean boost in the effects loop.

[STINNETT]

I had tried the clean boost approach before in front of my 5150 II. It worked but I never thought it made a huge difference. Last night I decided to try it in my effects loop instead just out of curiosity. I used my MXR Wylde overdrive with the gain on zero and the output cranked up.
Jesus Christ! It is not even recognizable as the same amp. In addition to boosting the power section, it seems to work sort of like a filter between the pre-amp and the power amp, becasue it totally sucked out all of the scratchy high end and now the amp just sounds super smooth and really fat. This thing is absolutely monstrous for lead tones now. It's the sort of tone that I always wished I could get out of that amp, smooth and scorching. Also there was no problem with feedback or noise. In fact the amp actually seems quieter than before. This was like a revelation for me!
That pedal stays in my loop forever. Live or recording.

I have never heard anyone talk about doing this before. If you've never tried it, I encourage you to give it a try, especially 5150 owners.

 

[STINNETT]

Of couse this wouldn't be an option on an amp with a line level effects loop, but it works great for me. I just thought I would add that.

 

[musickey]

I had tried the clean boost approach before in front of my 5150 II. It worked but I never thought it made a huge difference. Last night I decided to try it in my effects loop instead just out of curiosity. I used my MXR Wylde overdrive with the gain on zero and the output cranked up.
Jesus Christ! It is not even recognizable as the same amp. In addition to boosting the power section, it seems to work sort of like a filter between the pre-amp and the power amp, becasue it totally sucked out all of the scratchy high end and now the amp just sounds super smooth and really fat. This thing is absolutely monstrous for lead tones now. It's the sort of tone that I always wished I could get out of that amp, smooth and scorching. Also there was no problem with feedback or noise. In fact the amp actually seems quieter than before. This was like a revelation for me!
That pedal stays in my loop forever. Live or recording.

I have never heard anyone talk about doing this before. If you've never tried it, I encourage you to give it a try, especially 5150 owners.

Whats up man! are you talking about just throwing a distortion pedal in your F/X loop?

 

[xmarcelx]

Cool this works for you!
most overdrive pedals are mids boost and suck highs and lowend like a band pass! A bandpass is what many use for recording too!
This is the reason a Tubescreamer helps tight up the sound in front!

 

[Tachy]

Your loop is serial or parallel?

 

[STINNETT]

Whats up man! are you talking about just throwing a distortion pedal in your F/X loop?

Not distortion, just an overdrive pedal but with no gain. Just boosting the output level.
Basically the same thing people do when they stick a Tubescreamer in front of their amp for a clean boost, but putting it in the loop instead. Basically I'm not boosting the level to the pre-amp, but I'm boositng the level hitting the power tubes.
Putting it in the loop is cutting out the fizzy top end that the pre-amp typically adds. By the way, I'm not talking about bypassing the pre-amp, I'm still plugging my guitar into the input of the amp.

This may not be what people are looking for for their rhythm sounds. I like the way it sounds for rhythm, but I'm mostly liking what it's doing for my lead sound.

 

[Exocaster]

That's cool! I've heard the 5150s far prefer pedals to rack gear in the loop, so I can see why that would work.

Since you're not running any gain on the pedal, it's essentially acting like an EQ + level boost in the loop. The Wylde OD is based on the Boss SD-1, which has been a staple of my rig no matter what amp I'm using for the past couple years now. It should tighten the crap out of your bass and give you a nice kick in the mids; like the others have said, it's basically a bandpass with some nice color to the tone, rather than a transparent cut/boost like an EQ would be.

I should try this with my Stiletto later. It kicks the crap out of the shitty loop on the Recto and the bizarre-ass loop on my old Mark IV. I wonder if it'll take an OD pedal?

 

[STINNETT]

Your loop is serial or parallel?

It's a series that is switchable. It's either on or off.

 

[STINNETT]

That's cool! I've heard the 5150s far prefer pedals to rack gear in the loop, so I can see why that would work.

Since you're not running any gain on the pedal, it's essentially acting like an EQ + level boost in the loop. The Wylde OD is based on the Boss SD-1, which has been a staple of my rig no matter what amp I'm using for the past couple years now. It should tighten the crap out of your bass and give you a nice kick in the mids; like the others have said, it's basically a bandpass with some nice color to the tone, rather than a transparent cut/boost like an EQ would be.

I should try this with my Stiletto later. It kicks the crap out of the shitty loop on the Recto and the bizarre-ass loop on my old Mark IV. I wonder if it'll take an OD pedal?

Hope it works for you, I am totally loving it.
By the way, your avatar is fucking hilarious.

 

[Exocaster]

Hope it works for you, I am totally loving it.
By the way, your avatar is fucking hilarious.

My Stiletto has a series loop as well, like the 5150. Hopefully it'll work. I don't think it would work at all with a parallel loop.

Thanks! It's either that or this one:

 

[JBroll]

It would probably help to keep in mind that apart from relatively boosting the mids the Tube Screamer (as well as the SD-1 and the ZW, which are very similar) also has, in its clipping section, a capacitor that will 'roll off' the very high end, killing the fizz at the top. First, this accounts for the reduction in harshness and scratchiness. Second, it may imply that (excepting mechanical failures due to power) turning drive up will increase the scratchiness reduction (if you have any left...) and extra gain can be removed easily by reducing output or the preamp gain. Any chance of trying this out?

Jeff

 

[cobhc]

My Stiletto has a series loop as well, like the 5150. Hopefully it'll work. I don't think it would work at all with a parallel loop.

Thanks! It's either that or this one:

is there a big version of that somewhere?

 

[VH100R]

I'm gonna try that on my Laney VH100r with an OD3 in the loop (serial).

 

[JeffTD]

You guys realize that by boosting the gain level in your FX loop you basicaly shorten the life of your tubes a ton?

 

[Ola Englund]

You guys realize that by boosting the gain level in your FX loop you basicaly shorten the life of your tubes a ton?

+1
This was the first thing that came into my mind reading the post.

 

[iekobrid]

You guys realize that by boosting the gain level in your FX loop you basicaly shorten the life of your tubes a ton?

The manual for the JSX (which, unlike the 5150 or 6505, has variable send & return level knobs) warns against putting any gain-increasing devices in the loop, but then suggests getting a "volume boost" by using high settings on both knobs instead of the usual one high / one low arrangement.

Would running a short patch cable from the send right straight back into the return with both levels turned up be similiar to an OD pedal in the loop (minus the EQ filtering), but without the extra stress on the tubes?

 

[kaomao]

Usually I have an eq pedal in the fx loop and I boost the level.
Never had a problem shortening my life tubes, I don't know if adding an overdrive pedal would do that.
Think about this: there are a lot of people using an effects unit as g-major in the loop.
Gmajor has a compressor (that is a gain boost effect), never heard a person having a problem of shorten tube life.
I know that compressors (and all gain effects) must be placed in front of the amp, but I really don't know if you push really hard the poweramp section adding a comp or an overdrive in the loop.
Time will tell to our buddy if he will shorten his tubes life

 

[nuclearass]

Usually I have an eq pedal in the fx loop and I boost the level.
Never had a problem shortening my life tubes, I don't know if adding an overdrive pedal would do that.

Same here. Never had a problem.

I also thought about this:
What if you bring the volume back down after the OD pedal with an EQ pedal? Will this affect the sound much or is the desired effect mainly achieved by giving the power tubes a harder signal?
I'm propably going to give this a try during the weekend

 

[cobhc]

Same here. Never had a problem.

I also thought about this:
What if you bring the volume back down after the OD pedal with an EQ pedal? Will this affect the sound much or is the desired effect mainly achieved by giving the power tubes a harder signal?
I'm propably going to give this a try during the weekend

Well I guess the idea is to change the sound using the OD pedal as an EQ, so maybe you could try setting the OD pedal so that the level it is outputting is the same when it is turned on, as it is when it is off by A/B'ing it. Then set the tone so that it changes the tone of the amp to what you want it to sound like, thus getting the tone you want, without putting extra stress on the tubes. Because in modern metal, a boosted poweramp section isn't really a good idea, i find it compresses the sound a little and starts to muddy things up if you push it too hard.

 

[nwright]

from what I've read and heard, a clean boost in the loop the same as turning up the master volume, pretty much. Any tonal changes heard would be strictly due to the boost pedal's characteristics, which would be exaggerated due to the lack of a preamp to filter the pedal's tone.

If that tonal change is for the better, go for it.

But, my opinion is if the tube life is shortened, it would be due to the effect of the pedal in increasing the volume of the amp...Just like running your master at 7 will shorten the life of the tubes vs. running your master at 2.