Running a Distortion Pedal in the Effects Loop?

This raises a question for me- how would an “amp in a box” pedal sound in an effects loop? I gather it would be similar to running a dirt pedal into the loop. I have a small, extremely clean tube amp based on a Fender Blues Jr, and wondered what running a pedal like the WIIO (a Hiwatt style pedal) or a SansAmp English Muffy would sound like.

Nice sounding distortion!

Definitely easier than having 4 different cables all over the place

Honest, I like that. From Blighty

I have been doing this with my mxr full bore metal pedal I feel that it takes the "overly compressed" tone out of it and makes it sound huge! That's played regularly on my cheap orange crush por 120 for almost 2 years. No problem with the amp. Thanks for the great video!

Great video! Would I be able to split the signal of the guitar and half of it going through the pedal to the effects return and half of it through the amp's preamp? If yes would I need a clean boost to much the volumes?

Way back in the 90's, I ran a zoom 505 through my Marshall Valvestate effects loop and it sounded awful! I was so clueless that I thought every pedal would sound as bad as that cheap plastic one,lol. So I never used an effects loop again.

I'm so glad I was fortunate enough to get an ADA MP-1 back in 2008. Thanks for the video!

I run my Rfx950 shockwave in loop cant find um anymore its made by the dude who started DoD effects pre Dod i think its a 1995 if anyone has any Rfx pedals ill buy um

ADA pre amp. Great sound in the late 80’s

Thanks for making this video. I want to try this with my Plexi Drive Deluxe.

I used to use an ac30 and every drive pedal sucked until I used the fx loop

I know this post is old, but I've found tube overdrive pedals (such as Kingsley, tube driver, etc) work well placed in the loop post the preamp & pre your dly/rev. It's that cascading type thing like Boogie or Dumble. They have the clean preamp cascading into the OD. Most ODs are not meant to be post the preamp by design. I feel like the tube ODs take the higher gain stage push of the preamp better by compressing smoother when hit. I even had my Dumble amp back in the day push my Groove Tubes Trio in the loop for more gain that my Dumble ODS didn't have. Sounded great.

Thx! Brian, I still play your “triple-wreck” dist. pedal——absolutely love that beast!

Pedal to effects return vs loop (amp send to pedal to amp return)

What's the difference

Will a procorat 2 and big muff op amp sound good plugged into the effects return with a cab/amp sim?

I started running my ts9 direct into my effects return and it sounds fantastic. Thanks for posting this. I have been looking for others showing the same with other “preamps”. Thanks so much

need a way to swap this but I think I would need 2x LS-2s instead of 1 while still keeping a reverb pedal after it

Just tried this with a BE pedal into Return of my Origins 50 and nothing 😵. Blah.
This demo youve done sounds Great! Which Tele bridge pup are you using?

I just tried this today with a JCM2000 & a Blackstar Distx pedal. Its my first amp with an effects loop and I figured why not try it. I got horrible results. A huge amount of noise. I plugged the guitar into the amps input and then ran the send to the pedal input and return to the pedals output. The noise was unreal. I got curious as to why I was getting negative results with it and finally came across your video. I never thought to try using the pedal as a preamp though. Im going thru some pedals debating on selling a few off since my amps have changed over the years and this Distx doesnt get much use anymore. Thanks for doing this video. Subbed!!!

send mee your family tree.. your jewish right? German jewish roots?

So you didn't run it in the loop, you ran it right into the return.
It's different things.

Talks way to much.

I like that you take the time to explain exactly how the cables are connected, and into what input and what output

What about from overdriven channel to Distortion in effect loop. Does it similar with putting overdrive over distortion in front of the amp?

uhhh, why would you use the actual fx loop send and return and plug ur guitar into the main amp input?

The distortion pedal is increasing the noise of the preamp out, I'm getting the same thing thru my cab (I have a rockerverb100). I'm getting the same high pitch noise too. Do you think maybe putting a noise suppresor between the preamp and distortion would solve this?

Hello, A question that has made me hesitant regardless of whether good or bad sounding can I damage the amp by plugging in a gain pedal,overdrive or distortion in the loop.

that 1,5khz shrill noise i got on my pedal board, i found the culpret was the volume on one of my drive pedals being turned up way too high (you know they say put volume at 80% and gain at zero turns out this doesn't work for all pedals). I turned that pedal down to 25% and added a clean boost after it - sorted out the problem.
I had the same problem with my pre-amp section of the amp - very loud 1.5khz squeel, after finding the problem on the pedal board I've just now turned the master/fx send volume right down - no more squeel. Problem selved.

Love the Greg Marra shirt! He was my guitar teacher. Thanks for the sacrilegious demonstration! Enjoy seeing gear used “incorrectly”.

I have an amp with a very full crunch channel and a thin lead channel. I've thought of using something like a bogner extasy blue and ignoring the lead channel or a high cut for when im using the lead or even going from a 4 ohm to an 8 ohm speaker to just compress it down a bit. Thanks to this vid I probly won't run a pedal as a pre amp

Like the ada in the back I got one lol

What is the difference between an Overdrive pedal and a Distortion Pedal?

Grittier.. I like it more in the loop

Hello ADA MP-1. Nice seeing my classic, crispy friends once in a while.

I'm using the effects loop on my Marshall to run a chorus and delay, using the send and return and also want to use the return only to run a Boss DS-1, without having 2 returns can I split the return using a 2 into 1 cable and if not is there any other solutions you could advise me on? Thank you!

I wish you would turn down the volume on the introductory music etc.

What about a pinnacle deluxe V2 into an Orange pedal baby

I am confused. I have a 2 channel combo with a send/receive loop. Can I put my amp sim pedal in that loop or do I have to keep it on my pedal chain that goes into the input?

Hey Brian I hope you get this question/comment Bringing it up with "loop" in the equation on U-tube totally gets nowhere OK I want to separate two partial signal chains Fuzz and overdrive in two separate chains but the same vibe and echo after the two different fuzz and ODs Both the fuzz's are germanium so putting them in line does not work in my set up I'm sure there are ways to do this so basically isolating the two fuzz's from each other Thanks Brian hope you see this comment Plus I will look up your latest demo Maybe catch you easier that way Thanks again 👍 and stay safe Tone Man

Love the wear on the fret board! About a million miles worth if use lol

My amp doesn’t have a effects loop so does any one know any pedal that is good for heavy metal going straight in the front of an amp

I finished building an amp a few months ago, and I added an effects loop. I found I had to attenuate the signal a lot before pedals in the loop stopped clipping. The end result though is that I have a slightly less distorted OR120 clone, but it sounds great with fuzz and other dirt pedals, and also does a nice clean

Just tried to plug my paddle through the back of the amp through the return and plugged my guitar into the pedal no sound only works if I trick my amp by plugging a jack in the front as well.....anyone know why?

Theres tons of viids out there telling me its wrong to use my mt2 pedal as a preamp... I have no effects loop on my blonde blackstar amp. Any solution for this?

So, I like my Tumnus deluxe, but now I'm thinking I need a pinacle. (Which I'd put into the front)

weird electronic dilemma that I'm curious about:
I have a two channel tube amp (Jet City JCA50) with an FX loop. Most pedals work fine in the FX loop; however if I put a high gain pedal in the FX loop it works fine on the clean channel, but when I kick into the dirty channel it gets a massive volume drop. If i turn the drive pedal off the dirty channel behaves normally. So far it has only occurred if I put a high gain fuzz or overdrive pedal in the FX loop. Not looking for a solution (it all works fine if I run drive pedals through the input), just curious as to what may cause it to happen.
Any educated guesses or theories?

I haven't tried a dist pedal in a loop but use pedals like the EP boost quite often Don't be skeerd lol 😁 Never know till you try Thanks Brian