What cables to use for external stereo pedals in fx loop?

[knulp]

I've poked around and haven't been able to find the answer to this, which I assume is common knowledge in general ...

 

I am trying to use a few external stereo pedals in the fx loop of my Pod Go and not having luck maintaining their stereo capabilities. Can someone point me in the right direction?

 

I'm using TRS cables but I'm guessing there's a specific cable that goes in/out of the Pod Go and splits into two cables so it can go into the L/R of both the I/O of the external stereo pedal that I need to use?

 

Thanks in advance.

[cristt]

yes you need what's called an "insert" cable. it's just a Y cable, stereo jack to the pod go and two mono to the fx. for both send and return of course. then set your loop as stereo. should work actually. 

[knulp]

7 hours ago, cristt said:

yes you need what's called an "insert" cable. it's just a Y cable, stereo jack to the pod go and two mono to the fx. for both send and return of course. then set your loop as stereo. should work actually. 

Thank you! I knew it had to be a simple fix.

[knulp]

So I purchased an insert cable and yet I am unable to get stereo sound from the stereo pedal I have inserted into the FX loop ... Anyone have any thoughts/advice?

[cristt]

keep in mind that if you put your cab simulation after the stereo fx, you'll get a mono signal anyway. put you fx loop after the cab. 

[knulp]

1 hour ago, cristt said:

keep in mind that if you put your cab simulation after the stereo fx, you'll get a mono signal anyway. put you fx loop after the cab. 

 

Thank you. Actually I wrote too soon; it looks like the problem is with my recorder/interface (Spire Studio--anyone using one of those?), as when I plug headphones into the Pod Go, I get full stereo sound. So something is off with the Spire, or perhaps the audio out in general. Will have to going out to two speakers before I blame the Spire. I will say however that up until I tried to use the fx loop, I was getting stereo sound out of the Spire. I don't know if that's a coincidence or what..

[knulp]

Another question here: I am hoping to use more than one stereo pedal in the fx loop. I assume I need to use a mixer or stereo looper pedal to do this, correct? I am not seeing how I can just run the pedals in series and have the y insert cable effectively doing what it needs to do as it can't fully connect to the pedal closest in the chain to to the Pod Go, as it would necessarily have an in/out cable from the following stereo pedal I'm trying to run ...

[cristt]

I don't think it's such a problem. If every pedal has stereo ins and outs, just connect a standard mono cable from left out to the left in of the next pedal, and same for right channel. And then back with the y cable from the outs of the last pedal to the fx return of the pod go. Doesn't that make sense? 

[knulp]

8 hours ago, cristt said:

I don't think it's such a problem. If every pedal has stereo ins and outs, just connect a standard mono cable from left out to the left in of the next pedal, and same for right channel. And then back with the y cable from the outs of the last pedal to the fx return of the pod go. Doesn't that make sense? 

Thank you! This did work--I had thought the y cable had to go to and from the same pedal for whatever reason, so never tried what you suggested.

 

Another issue might have come up--the stereo delay I had in the Pod Go preset block was only acting like stereo when it was after the fx loop--so I'm going to explore that further but I may be back on here regarding that soon ... Thank you so much again for all your help @cristt

[cristt]

no problem @knulp!

as for the other question, it's kind of strange. Just keep in mind the general rule, that if you put a mono "thing" after a stereo "thing", you'll get a mono signal. So if your fx loop is set stereo, you shouldn't have problems.

[gsjung]

There are L&R ins and L&R outs on a stereo pedal. An insert Y cable has 3 - 1/4'' ends one send one return and one TRS stereo end that I presume gets plugged into either the send or return on the effects loop on the pod go. so am I to believe you need 2 insert Y cables to cover the 6 connections or can it be done with only 1 Y cable ??? I'm confused this is so different then an effects loop on an amp I wish someone could draw me a diagram !?!?

[phil_m]

13 hours ago, gsjung said:

There are L&R ins and L&R outs on a stereo pedal. An insert Y cable has 3 - 1/4'' ends one send one return and one TRS stereo end that I presume gets plugged into either the send or return on the effects loop on the pod go. so am I to believe you need 2 insert Y cables to cover the 6 connections or can it be done with only 1 Y cable ??? I'm confused this is so different then an effects loop on an amp I wish someone could draw me a diagram !?!?

You need two insert cables to use a stereo pedal that has separate left and right ins and outs, yes. If you get insert cables with all male ends, you would need any other cables. You could a y cable that a male TRS end and two female TS ends, and then you’d need additional cables. I mean, it’s pretty straightforward, really. But you have to split out the stereo ins and outs from and to the POD Go to take advantage of them.