Michael1987xl
New Member
Prior to owning my 1987xl I had owned countless amps, but I never owned an FX loop amp and had no idea how the loop worked. Don't ask me why, but since it was the first new amp I'd purchased in about 20 years, I was treating it like the whole thing was made out of blown glass and I was nervous about even using the thing. So, when I first hooked it up, I just plugged my pedal rig into the front of the amp; I wanted to take some time to do some research about how to use the loop but still use the amp in the meantime. Others may have different experiences, but no matter how I switched things around, it sounded absolutely dreadful hooked up that way, so I did my research FAST.
As others here have said, it is critical that you have the correct effects in front and then the correct ones through the loop, but at least on my rig, the sequence of the effects in the loop matters, too. Anything with regard to gain just works better in front of the amp, that's fairly common. Once I got the order right, especially of the looped effects (and I do have number of effects that I use) it was bliss and the effects sounded better than they ever have.
On my rig, I run the effects like so:
Guitar > Tuner > Boost/Line Driver > Wah > Compressor > Distortion > Amp Input > Loop Out > Phase Shifter > Chorus > Delay > Reverb > 6 Band EQ > Pre-Phase Inverter Master Volume > Return To Loop
In the interest of full disclosure, not only did it take a little experimenting to nail this particular sequence down, but once I switched over to KT77's in place of the EL34's, I found that if the Delay is not on the board (I sometimes use it with other amps), the EQ (when I use it) works best AHEAD of the Reverb > Pre-Phase Inverter Master Volume > Return To Loop sequence. Don't ask me why, it just does. I've also used this overall sequence on a number of Fender FX loops amps, and it works great on those as well; much better than just slamming the front of the amp with the pedals.
The world being as it is, I'm certain that some amps just have loops that don't work so well or for whatever reason just take all the effects better up front; beats me as to why, maybe it's a personal taste thing or I'm just not hardcore enough to appreciate it, but there are people here who are more qualified than me to get into that more deeply. In my experience, though, and with particular regard to my 1987xl, the loop is the only way to fly.
As others here have said, it is critical that you have the correct effects in front and then the correct ones through the loop, but at least on my rig, the sequence of the effects in the loop matters, too. Anything with regard to gain just works better in front of the amp, that's fairly common. Once I got the order right, especially of the looped effects (and I do have number of effects that I use) it was bliss and the effects sounded better than they ever have.
On my rig, I run the effects like so:
Guitar > Tuner > Boost/Line Driver > Wah > Compressor > Distortion > Amp Input > Loop Out > Phase Shifter > Chorus > Delay > Reverb > 6 Band EQ > Pre-Phase Inverter Master Volume > Return To Loop
In the interest of full disclosure, not only did it take a little experimenting to nail this particular sequence down, but once I switched over to KT77's in place of the EL34's, I found that if the Delay is not on the board (I sometimes use it with other amps), the EQ (when I use it) works best AHEAD of the Reverb > Pre-Phase Inverter Master Volume > Return To Loop sequence. Don't ask me why, it just does. I've also used this overall sequence on a number of Fender FX loops amps, and it works great on those as well; much better than just slamming the front of the amp with the pedals.
The world being as it is, I'm certain that some amps just have loops that don't work so well or for whatever reason just take all the effects better up front; beats me as to why, maybe it's a personal taste thing or I'm just not hardcore enough to appreciate it, but there are people here who are more qualified than me to get into that more deeply. In my experience, though, and with particular regard to my 1987xl, the loop is the only way to fly.
