Finally! A no nonsense straight forward, easy to understand explanation of Fx Loop. Thank you sir. Easy.

Gotta say, NEVER considered a volume pedal in my loops to allow for pull amp distortion without destroying the house. Need to try this when I get home.

Send to the pedals then return to the amp. that's how I remember it :)

If you had been my instructor, i'm convinced college algebra would have been a completely different experience. Keep up the good work Matt!

I've been watching several videos from different channels trying to figure out what the efx loop really does in a chain. Finally got it from this video. It all makes sense to me now.

for those that didn't understand his explanation think of your amps front panel as a sentence. So you start reading at one end and finish at the other. If your input is at the left you start there and if your input is at the right you start there. I have a Marshall TSL Combo so my input is at the left. Then everything is in line after that. They don't all go to an output at the same time. So you start at the left. (I Will leave out a few buttons to make it less confusing). - input - gain - volume - Bright button - treble - mid - bass. Then it goes into the crunch or lead distortion channels which take over from clean when selected and it goes the same - lead - v0lume treble - mid - bass - Then it goes to the effects like reverb - Presence - effect - reverb. Then out to the speaker ...or simplified down. input/volume/EQ/Distortion/EFX and loop/ Reverb/ out. So your loop is any effect you put in it and will be after the distortion and before the reverb. pretty much all amps are set up this way.

APPARENTLY I HAVE AN EFFECTS LOOP, THANKS FOR THE DIFFERENT NAMES FENDER

Thank you for making this simple. I was way overthinking things. Easy to understand when explained the correct way and I didn’t know the trick of using a volume pedal to get that tone at low volumes, that’s cool!

Thank you, Philip. The volume pedal in the loop as a manual noise gate is a genius idea, and the answer to my conundrum, I'll wager.

50 videos later and your explanation was the most straight forward. You're a Golden god!

oh finally, I always wondered. thanks for the easy to understand breakdown + useful tips for volume control. love your channel man1

Thanks for this. You seriously deserve a million plus subs.

Great explanation! Now, I have a different idea on how to use the effects loop on my amp. I just usually use time based pedals such as reverbs and delays in the effects loop, but now I have a clear understanding how the effects loop works.

Love it when a video answers the exact question I was just asking myself. :)

Thank you! Picked the guitar back up a few months ago after having not played for 25+ years (teenager then) and all I had was a small practice amp with an overdrive pedal. When I got back into researching amps I just ended up buying a Line 6 so I could play around with different sounds and effects and figure out what I really wanted long-term before dumping tons of money into gear that I really didn't need. I've watched tons of videos on amps and effects and such, and you're the first person to explain it in true laymans terms where it's understandable to a noob how the pedals and amp work together. Thank You! Subscribed...

GREAT EXPLANATION!! Thank you for not only being very informative, but quick. Your explanation was great and to the point without dragging it out. Just about ready to buy an amp and now I know that I want this feature. Keep up the great work!!

Very informative. Thank you! I've never fully understood it's purpose....until now.

Great idea with the volume pedal. I'm using a helix into my evh5150 using the four cable method and I found I can achieve the same result with the helix volume control. Got the amp cranked and sounding awesome but without deafening myself.

Hey Phill, your videos are truly informative. Thanks for doing these over the years. I've learned a lot from your sessions. Best regards.

A diagram would work wonders to explain something like this, but I think you got the point across! The volume pedal thing blew my mind! Thanks!!

Brilliant! Again, Phil, thank you! After all these years, I didn't even put it together to use a volume pedal in the effects loop to throttle the volume of a fully cranked tube amp. You sir, are a scholar and a gentleman.

This is brilliant! I never thought of using my volume pedal this way.

great info, no frills, no noodling on your guitar showing off...love it. thank you!

I’m so glad I found your site, for a week I’ve been trying to run my BIAS FX2 thru my badcat Cougar 5 amp which has an FX loop. Positive Grid, the maker of BIAS FX2 had me going round in circles. You would think they would know dut they didn’t. Thanks again Merrill

Awesome tip. Great to hear someone explain and provide an example about using the effects loop ESP with pedals and a volume pedal.

Liked and favorite. This was EXTREMELY informative and very well explained. The volume pedal trick was genius. Thank you A LOT.

Dude, excellent video!! I've been trying to figure out the FX Loop thing for quite awhile now. Thank you so much for the instructional info...now I got my rig set up for the home recording that I want to do!!!! THANK YOU!!!

Appreciate the clarity and simplicity of the explanation; thanks!

Thanks bro! Much better than any other video I watched explaining this!

This was actually extremely informative. Thank you.

love this video. it's one of the questions I've always wanted explained. but didn't want to look dumb. Good job!

Hi. Ich have a hundred Watts Head ( H & kettner trilogy ) and I wann to thank you for showing me a different way to crank the Master lead and master Chanel UP instead of buying an expensive Power attenuator. Ich was trying a ibanez sh7 tubesceamer and I recognized its Not the best Solution so i am gonna trying IT with an eq-pedal next Time Or is a Volumen pedal better than a eq pedal? greez from austria.

One of many questions, demystified!!! My list of questions are getting smaller! Again, Thank you Phil!!!

You explained this very nicely and easily understood. Thanks Phil!

God bless you dude, finally someone breaks this down!!!

Excellent video, buddy! I already use the effects loop, but the trick with the volume pedal for practicing was great! Thanks!

Finally someone who gets straight to the point! plus no unnecessary and annoying jump cuts!👍

never even heard of this channel or Philip McKnight until like 10mins and through Flipbook. so much useful info! the answers to questions nobody seems of want to answer! friggin love it, I'm gonna stick around for sure!

You can also use the FX send on an amp to send it to a power amp of your choice, effectively using the 1st Amp as a Pre AMp only. I got a great result doing this to a little Orange Micro Dark where all the goodness is in the Valve Preamp section but not in it`s cheap solid state Power amp, sending out from the loop bypasses the 1st Amps power amp ( and you don`t need a dummy load on the Micro Dark cos the power amp isn`t valve ) I sent it to a Marshall 120/120 Power amp and the result was reallly good !

Wow this is a great video. I was just wondering how to use the effects loop on my amp. Keep up the great work. Your videos are top notch.

Thanks for showing this with the amps and pedals, makes it easy to understand. Cheers

All clearer now. Excellent video, thanks for sharing.

Thank you so much for the info! I wish I knew that fx loop + volume pedal trick back when I was gigging!

why has it taken so long for someone to use plain language and explain this thoroughly? You have a gift Phil thanks for it

Thanks Phillip! This makes more sense than anything I have seen!!!

Thanks for that info, useful to know about the pedal volume control for pushing the amp but keeping it quieter.

Thanks! Now I can overdrive my Mark V without blowing out the windows. Yours is the first discussion I’ve seen of volume pedals in the effects loop.

Bloody great explanation man! Thanks so much!

Why did it take me until now to stumble across this video??!! Fantastic, thank you!

Excellent, very informative. You helped me a lot

I have a question. I can't seem to find an answer anywhere. I have a 6505+ and a Behringer DSP2024P efx processor. When I run it into my amp, it makes it very quiet and muddy. I can no longer turn the amp up, and no effects like reverb or delay comes through. I have ran the DSP through a Fender Princeton Chorus with no issues and a Peavey Firebass 700 with no issues. But a huge issue with the 6505+ I know the 6505+'s efx loop is working though because I can plug my computer into it via interface and add in effects there and it works fine....so why would everything else work, but not an actual processor?

Cool idea ! using the loop and volume pedal as an attenuator/solo boost. You do really good advisable.Thanks !

Hi, I use a Marshall JCM2000 TSL100 head and 1960A cabinet only the lead channel and i want to use the fx loop but when I connect this I lost gain and my heavy sound because if i want a good delay I have to up the FX MIX and I lost "my sound" . How can I use the fx loop without lossing gain? .

Forgetting a very important part...power amp distortion. Sure you can crank your amp and use a volume/EQ/whatever pedal in the loop, but this only gets you preamp distortion, since the effects loop is patched in BEFORE the power amp, which means you're cranking the signal through the preamp, but then sending it to a pedal that lowers the signal before it hits the power amp. If you want preamp AND power amp distortion then you need a good attenuator, which allows you to crank the power amp as well, and then attenuate the signal before it gets to the speaker. However even then, you won't get speaker breakup, so it's still a compromise. Plus there are good attenuators but they cost a lot of money. There are cheapie that are crap. Of course it all depends on whatever amp you're working with, power amp design, tubes, etc, as to whether or not it sounds good. But using the volume pedal method you'll never know. Gotta get those power tubes cooking to find out!

Thx very much for that explanation, it helped clarify something for me....much appreciated.

awesome videos. love the way you explain things.

Right on Phillip. Thanks for this. I never truly understood this.

My Orange Roland Cube 60 guitar amp. has a Pre-Out and Main In connection at the back. As it is more than 30 plus years old with no Manual, I don't know what they are for? Please advise.

Good video Philip, never knew what that effects loop was for until I stumbled through here!

I have marshall Slash signature combo.. It doesn't have effects loop, and I plug flashback delay looper x4 in front end.. it doesn't sound good when I try to play with looper, it cuts signal.. help?

What about a pedalboard looper? Say I have a couple of delays, a reverb pedal and flanger running through a Boss Es-5. Do I run the unit through the FX loop and then the Big Muff into the front?

That volume pedal hack is superb! Especially as I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW I HAD AN FX LOOP!!! Pre-amp out, good lord!

Awesome info... I'm definitely trying that out, volume pedal in the loop, excellent

i already knew the purpose of the effects loop, but had never considered the volume pedal trick before. great idea. thanks.

So many dislikes? You are so knowledgeable. Great no nonsense instructions and information. Great tone and great video! Thanks.

So if I have a pedal going through the effects loop, the sound goes from my guitar, the sound gets altered by any effects I have on the amp, through the pedal, and then I hear the end result?

Very nice! Thank you

Quick question was wondering if you could tell me this or if someone else could. I am getting a Mesa Boogie Quad Preamp, but the down side is that it doesn't come with a power amp section. I have a Marshall JCM 2000 and am using a JCM 900 1960B cab and it runs at 16ohm's. My JCM 2000 does have an effect loop, would it be a good idea to run it though the effects loop of the JCM and then run my delay, chorus and such through the effects loop on the Quad Preamp?

Hi Phillip, I have a question, can I connect fx loop in my amp to audio interface and use digital effect plugins on my computer?

Is there any point in using send and return for modulation effects, if you rely overdrive/distortion pedals in your FX loop and not the amp's overdrive?

hello, i have my MXR EVH flanger plugged whit my MXR analog chorus in FX loop, but when the flanger is active, the volume drop ( a little bit) If the flanger is plugged whitout the chorus , there is no problem , could you help me if you can to solve the problem ? thank

Thanks alot I just picked up an old fender stage lead 212 and that's exactly how mine is

I love my Fender Amp cleans but don't want to run a distortion through the front end. Question: Can I run a preamp (jmp-1) into the effects loop thus having Fender cleans and Marshall Crunch?

I have a Blackstar ID Core, Can I run a noise gate pedal after the amp's send in the effects loop to gate the amp distortion? I just started to use my boss me 80 thru the effects loop and only use the mods, reverb and delays with that unit

Hi Phillip, I have a Fender Supersonic 100 combo, the manual isn't clear but given your explanation. I think Ive got two in/out options as I've got an effects loop Send/Receive on the gain channel and the classic Fender Pre Out/Pwr In on the clean channel. So, I'm laying out my time based pedals via the dirty channel as per normal Send/Receive effects loop and use the foot-switch option for access. I am then planning to just add a fuzz and neutral-ish overdrive pedal to the clean side using the Pre Out/Pwr In. Given that on either clean or dirty channels I've got the option to switch between Vintage Twin and Bassman tones, that should then boost signals on either side without any weird exaggerated tones. Am I right and does that sound correct? Many thanks in advance. Roy

Thanks for the video. It was really helpful.

wow. today i learned. thank you

Great Vid brother...you taught an old dog some new tricks!

I just bought an amp with the fx loop option. 1st time using. My question is: If I ONLY plan on using the clean channel do I need to use the fx loop? I pretty much have all the effects pedals. Distortion, OD, phase, delay, flanger, etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanx!

A simple analogy is so useful…got it. Thanks man!

Again, a great instructional video from Phillip, this time about fx loops and how to use it, although I found it a little unclear about the over priced power soaks, compared the to the performance of a simple volume pedal. Thank you for the explanation.

Thanks for the clarification, I had it all backwards with the effects loop.

Thanks for the excellent explanation, Thank you very much :D. I still do have a question, if I've got a phaser and a EQ in my effects loop (and a tuner, wah, booster and distortion in chain), I would think the EQ comes last, is this correct via the guidelines of setting up effects? Thanks again for the great video ;)

Thank you I have a Marshall amp and I bought 3 wash pedals and I couldn’t connect the I see this in the back of my amp so do you need 1 more cable from out put to your guitar?

I've been doing this since the early 80's. My question is do you think it's best to use a voluume pedal like the Ernie Ball JR 6180 25k for active electronics?Also note, I have the JCM 900 Mod 4100 and am loosing volume somehow. What could cause this??

What's your favorite speaker and cab for your mark 5 head? I just got one and am actually playing it through a Marshall DSL 40c combo with a cream back right now. I bought a 1/4 inch female coupler and had a short 3 foot 1/4 inch speaker cable to extend the DSL speaker cable so to reach the mark 5 head. I plug it in to the 8 ohm input on the mark 5, though the DSL says its 16 ohms? It's working though so I guess that's ok. Anyway I'm going to want a nice 1x12 or 2x12 for my mark 5. What do you think would be best for recording but still loud enough to play live band? Thanks, I aprreciate your videos and tips.

The volume pedal trick in the effects loop is something I've never thought of. Clever boy Phil. I approve wholeheartedly.

Is it okay to not use an effects loop if I'm not using the amp's clean tone? the amp I'm looking at getting doesn't have an effects loop. I'm running a dl4, dynacomp, blues driver, and a rat. would that clutter up my sound? as in would my clean tone be uneffected?

Thx Phil, never thought about running volume pedal through the loop. I have the Mark V:35 with a vertical 2x12 Recto cab. To get it sounding nice even in 10W setting it is too loud for home. What's the best way to get that cranked tone at a lower volume? Volume pedal or attenuation?

Thank you for the time and knowledge ...

Luv the vids n hacks!! Keep up the good work!!

Hey Phillip I have a evh lbx amp and is to loud for practice at home so if I plug a volume pedal in the loop I can still crank my amp and lower the volume with the pedal to keep my tone and also can u still run delay in the loop along with the volume pedal thanks for any info

So can I still use my reverb, delay, etc in the EFX loop before the volume pedal if I wanted to use one?

To play a distorted lead over a clean rhythm using the amp' s overdrive will I need to put the Looper pedal through the effects loop?

Wow someone finally gave a straight answer, thank you so much

may i ask, what if i dont use the distortion of the amp and use another distortion pedal. where do i put the distortion pedal? also where do i plug the guitar?

I'm using a Blackstar HT 20 and I use that amps overdrive for the primary amount of gain for my sound. I use a Walrus Voyager OD as a bit of a slight boost/tone shaper. That pedal is fucking amazing and it's not noisey in a negative way at all. However the Blackstar's overdrive is. I've tried messing around with the volume/gain multiple times but I can't get the ammount of distortion I want without noise when I'm not playing. Would it be better to run my Noise gate in the effects loop instead of into the front of the amp?

This is the best I have seen on effects loops. Would really lie to see the set up though. I am a visual learner on this stuff and need to see the looped pedals set up/ Thanks for this video.

Thx for the awesome tip Phillip....my question is in relation to volume pedal order as I current have in the effects loop of my mini rectifier; clean boost-tremolo-noise suppressor-delay-reverb. Thx

hey phillip on my crate vc 50, there is only a send... there is no return. how would i use my effects loop if its just 1 input?