Mono in-Stereo Out outboard pedals in loops

[StaccoP2P]

For simplification's sake: Say I want to run a pedal with mono ins and stereo outs in one of the loops. I could also add additional effects in dual mono after these stereo outs. This loop would come after stereo blocks in the Helix, and I don't want to collapse these to mono.

 

Here are my questions:
 

1. Is there any particular benefit to using 2 blocks (1 mono send + stereo returns)? I know these can be separated, creating a parallel chain, but apart from that...?
2. Should I just insert a Stereo Loop block (say Loop 1/2)?
3. Is there a problem not cabling loop send 2 in the above scenario as it's a mono input? (I could always cable it to a pedal later in the loop which has stereo ins).

[codamedia]

Ultimately I would run two blocks.... mono send and stereo return. This guarantee's a true "mono" send without any information lost. 

 

That said, I don't see any harm in running a Stereo Loop block and just using one of the sends. This is fine as long as you know the signal is MONO before the loop block. The caveat here is that many of the legacy blocks are stereo only... so if you use any of those you may want/need to collapse it to mono before the loop block. 

 

[StaccoP2P]

Thanks! Any other takes?