emptyvesselband Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 So Im running a few dirt pedals in the fx loops and finding they sound significantly different tonally and are super loud. To the latter, seems maybe the fx loops are unity at 50%? but then its letting thru 50% of unprocessed signal right? sounds like it. But yeah I know my dirt pedals and they simply dont sound right and are far too loud. I can tell if theyre slightly phase-y or have some strange mid freq thing happening. I pop them out and bypass the helix or run them in front and boom- sound like I know them to sound like. Ive heard a number of ppl who agree they have the same issue. I cant see anything to adjust to fix this but I thought Id ask and ask if more ppl are experiencing this. I know its easy to get lost down the tweaking rabbit hole but Im def not imagining this and it suck because running my pedals in the loops was a big selling point and crucial to my tone. ok now tell me Im crazy and just imagining this lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rd2rk Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 Some pedals sound good in the loops - mods, delays, reverbs, and not ALL of them either. FX Loops were originally designed for use with Rack Units. Most of the pedals that people put in FX Loops these days were designed to be out front, between the guitar and the amp, and some just sound better in the loop than others. This is true not only of Helix, but FX Loops on real amps, too. Distortions get the most complaints. They're meant to be out front, and that's where they sound best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
codamedia Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 9 hours ago, emptyvesselband said: So Im running a few dirt pedals in the fx loops and finding they sound significantly different tonally and are super loud. Although I agree some dirt pedals don't like loops, your description leads me to a different possible problem. I suspect your send/return is set to LINE. Check your Global Settings.... Global Settings > IN/OUTs > Find your Send/Return Pair you use for the loop > Set this to INSTRUMENT Once that is set.... simply inserting that mono loop should work great with it's default settings - although you can use the send/return levels to fine tune it further if needed. IE: Pedals should behave "similar" to normal with just the default loop settings once the global setting is correct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigGT Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 Also the input pad and any blocks that cause a gain change before the loop send will affect the sound of your dirt pedals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil_m Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 Some dirt pedals don't do well with a buffered, low impedance input... It depends on what pedals you're talking about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emptyvesselband Posted February 1, 2021 Author Share Posted February 1, 2021 19 hours ago, rd2rk said: Some pedals sound good in the loops - mods, delays, reverbs, and not ALL of them either. FX Loops were originally designed for use with Rack Units. Most of the pedals that people put in FX Loops these days were designed to be out front, between the guitar and the amp, and some just sound better in the loop than others. This is true not only of Helix, but FX Loops on real amps, too. Distortions get the most complaints. They're meant to be out front, and that's where they sound best. Im talking about putting the fx loops in front of the amp. you can place their blocks wherever needed, obviously. Whats getting me is that placing an fx loop block at the very beginning of the chain doesnt sound the same as running the pedal before the helix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rd2rk Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 8 minutes ago, emptyvesselband said: Im talking about putting the fx loops in front of the amp. you can place their blocks wherever needed, obviously. Whats getting me is that placing an fx loop block at the very beginning of the chain doesnt sound the same as running the pedal before the helix. I know what you're saying - here's the difference: Pedal designed to be used with real amp - Guitar>Pedal>Amp Same pedal with Helix Loop - Guitar>Helix (AD Conversion)>Helix send (DA Conversion)>Pedal>Helix Return (AD Conversion) See? NOT the same at all. Some pedals don't care, some do. Some people can hear the difference, some can't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigGT Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 My Strymon Deco which is probably the least traditional dirt pedal you can get still sounds better with the guitar plugged straight into it so that's where it lives. No you can't turn it on or off with a snapshot, but that's the choice you make and it saves a loop for something else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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