Stompbox line vs reamp feed

[abt]

I was looking for a reamp box, long story short I picked up a red eye
3d phantom for a really good price. Reading through I the manual there's instructions on hooking up guitar fx pedals. Seemed like a good idea so I gave it a go. It works great.

Later, I actually read the instructions (as opposed to just looking at the pictures) it says "many times you can come right out of the pedal and into the console without using the Redeye 3Ds DI" so I gave that ago. It also works great. So then I ditched the Redeye altogether and just went from the line out into the pedal and back into the line in. This, to my surprise also works great. I always thought you needed to feed the stomp box with a reamp box. After some testing, and swapping for some different pedals, I can't hear any difference between any of the recording chains.

This was not what I was expecting.

 

[abt]

No one? I would have thought that impedance matching was necessary?

 

[deLuther]

For me level matching is more obvious. Without my ProRMP (modded) I have lower level, not enough to recreate initial level.
And most reampers, I think, have output impedance similar to active pickups, still higher than interfaces line output, but lower than passives. For me "impedance issue" is more like marketing trick.
But, anyway, passive reampers are good tools to eliminate some grounding issues by providing transformer isolation.
Usually you will have cleaner result than with ghetto-reamping (at least I have such experience). This alone is very useful, not mention that you can use balanced signal transmission from interface to reamper, thus you can have longer cable.

 

[abt]

I guess I always took it for granted that a reamp box was an essential item. I found this thread that is pretty interesting http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/production-tips/373570-reamping-without-reamp-box.html