ENGL E530 in the loop of a JMP1?

[Forceps]

Hey guys,

I have two preamps:
- Engl E530
- Marshall JMP1

I could get a (MIDI) looper to use both, but is it also possible/ wise to put the E530 in the loop of the JMP1? When I use the E530, I wanna use it full throtle so I program a patch in the JMP1 that's as clean as possible. When using the drive 1 or 2 from the JMP1, I set the loop volume at 0.

Is this possible or should I go the loop way?

 

[Tommy Gun]

No man. DO NOT put a preamp in the Effects loop of another preamp. Never put a preamp in the Effects loop of ANYTHING. No matter how clean you get the patch on the Marshall, it's still going to sound bad. Examine the word "Preamp", basically "Before the amp". The signal the preamp gets is supposed to be the equivalent of a D.I. It's not a "clean guitar tone" like you would put a distortion pedal in front of. And even then, you would put the pedal BEFORE that clean tone, not in the FX loop. I don't know if putting the e530 in the FX Loop would overload it's input, but I wouldn't want to find that out the hard way. Either way, pick 1 of them, or get your MIDI cabling setup to switch between them.

 

[Forceps]

Thanks, that's what I was expecting as an answer... this time I'm not gonna find out the hard way
I'm gonna look if I should get a A/B box to switch between them, or a looper.

 

[demeyed]

No man. DO NOT put a preamp in the Effects loop of another preamp. Never put a preamp in the Effects loop of ANYTHING.

Running a preamp into the effect loop return of an amp is pretty common though, it's the way a lot of people run their preamp through the power section of an amp. I wouldn't run the effect send into the input of a pre either though. I'd get an AB pedal and run the 2 preamps into that with the send going into the poweramp. That way you could easily switch between the 2.

 

[Tommy Gun]

Running a preamp into the effect loop return of an amp is pretty common though, it's the way a lot of people run their preamp through the power section of an amp. I wouldn't run the effect send into the input of a pre either though. I'd get an AB pedal and run the 2 preamps into that with the send going into the poweramp. That way you could easily switch between the 2.

Yeah, but that's not what we're talking about here. He's asking about putting the preamp in FX loop of another preamp. Somewhere, in that signal chain/loop, something would get overloaded. Not to mention it would sound like total shit.

 

[TheWinterSnow]

I'm facepalming here. No, running the fx out to the input of another preamp will not "overload" the input of the following preamp, change the characteristics of the amplification and gain of the tubes...yes, which depending on settings can be a good thing. The way I see it, you could use the Marshall as a clean channel and even a clean boost like an OD and when you engage the Engl, you turn on the high gain. The Marshall can act as a way to boost or add more saturation if say the marshal is dialed in for mild saturation and would allow you to get more cascading staged distortion which would blend the tone of marshall and engl.

Weather it would sound good or not or is worth the hassle in the other hand is a different story. If your intent was to have two separate preamps that you wanted to switch between with one poweramp, then having them separated by an A/B box would be more suitable.

 

[Tommy Gun]

LOL, yeah ok.

Call me "old-fashioned". I'm not putting a preamp in an FX loop.

 

[Forceps]

I probably get the G-lab MIDI controlled looper. 2 loops controlled by MIDI, so I can use the ENGL for the heavy stuff and de Marshall for all kinds of sounds, controlled by MIDI agian. Gonna put my old Boss CE2 and a delay pedal in the FX loop of the Marshall and I have all the versatility that I want