FX8 and small amp with no FX loop questions

B

bustedstring

Inspired
I'm considering the FX8 but am concerned that with no FX loop I'll be missing some of the quality of the post effects. I have a Fender Princeton and a Vox AC10 stereo rig. I'm mostly a home player who jams with friends at times so I can't justify the AX FX II or even an AX8. Plus, I've done modeling and I really missed that "amp in the room" feel.

Any tips, suggestions, pointers, or shared experience with a set up like mine would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance, folks.
 
Are you running the amps at distorted levels? I would bet not... The reason people use effects loops is because usually time based effects like reverb and delay sound better when they are delaying or reverberating the already distorted sound. If you run a delay into a high gain amp for instance the delay is distorted rather than the distorted notes being delayed. I find in doing the delay into gain you have to lower the delay level quite a bit to make it work.

Example:

But there are always exceptions!
 
It will work fine just into the front of an amp. If you decide later that you would like to run the FX8 in 4 cable method (using the amps FX Loop) just find a local amp doctor and get him to fit (a serial) one. They are not expensive to retro fit.
 
To sum it up just run the two amps clean and to add any dirt use the FX8 drives. Then it's simply a matter of putting your effects in proper order in the FX8 and run the stereo outs of the FX8 to the inputs of each amp and your good to go.
 
I do both. 4CM with a Friedman amp and straight in with a Louis Electric Buster. Both work fine. Since I use reverb and delay I need to keep the volume on the Buster at below overdrive levels.
 
The fender Princeton recording amp looks to be a perfect fit, lovely tones from a high-end fender amp, and an effects loop....
 
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I'm a single-cable FX8 user. For amps, I've standardized on cleanish amps with Fender DNA. My stage amp is a Morgan SW50R (D*mble SSS clone) and my studio amp is a Vintage Sound Vintage 15 (Fender BFPR clone with a 12" speaker). The amps sound remarkably similar, primarily only differing in volume.

Anyway, the FX8 works fine for that setup. Better than fine actually. I'm delighted with it. Given some of the posts about weird phasing artifacts some folks experience in 4CM, I'm not interested in changing from single-cable PRE mode any time soon.

Note that I'm obsessive about controlling levels. I think that's an important key to using an FX8 straight into a cleanish amp.
 
I also use just one input. I like the FX8 because the drives are so good, I can keep all effects in the FX8. I also generally prefer the delay effect in the front also. Amp is mostly clean.
 
As those above have said, run your amps clean or just on the edge of break up. Use FX8 drives for dirt and put "post" type effects after the drives. At least as a starting point. No problem at all. If you ever watch the That Pedal Show videos on YouTube, you'll see that's how Dan typically runs his amp. Clean, with pedals for dirt, and post effects after the dirt.
 
Deadpool_25 said:
As those above have said, run your amps clean or just on the edge of break up. Use FX8 drives for dirt and put "post" type effects after the drives. At least as a starting point. No problem at all. If you ever watch the That Pedal Show videos on YouTube, you'll see that's how Dan typically runs his amp. Clean, with pedals for dirt, and post effects after the dirt.
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I was thinking about this today in the context of Keith Urban making the change from discrete effects and amps to a full digital system. Honestly, for me going 100% digital would be kind of a hassle. I'd still need some sort of stage monitoring (I can't afford IEMs at a local level). But for Keith and every other major touring artist (especially those using IEMs which nearly all do these days), it makes a lot of sense.

For me, the FX8 into a cleanish tube amp is the best blend of functionality and convenience. I long ago decided that effects loops were more hassle than they're worth, and that getting overdrive and distortion from the amp was equally inconvenient. So for me the FX8 into a cleanish amp was the culmination of a journey that began at least 15 years ago. BTW, discrete effects into a cleanish amp is essentially what David Gilmour does (albeit on a larger scale and with a lot of assistance) and his tone is universally touted as being some of the best ever. Ditto for Eric Johnson and many others. So I don't think of the FX8 into a clean amp as any sort of compromise at all.
 
Atmospheric said:
For me, the FX8 into a cleanish tube amp is the best blend of functionality and convenience. I long ago decided that effects loops were more hassle than they're worth, and that getting overdrive and distortion from the amp was equally inconvenient. So for me the FX8 into a cleanish amp was the culmination of a journey that began at least 15 years ago. BTW, discrete effects into a cleanish amp is essentially what David Gilmour does (albeit on a larger scale and with a lot of assistance) and his tone is universally touted as being some of the best ever. Ditto for Eric Johnson and many others. So I don't think of the FX8 into a clean amp as any sort of compromise at all.
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I've been using the TC-50 lately and loving it. I use all 3 channels and the FX loop; it's great. With that said, I can easily use the FX8 in 4CM into just the clean channel and that's great too. It's nice to have so many awesome options.
 
I use my FX8 into my Matchless Lightning and my JTM45. I just run it in series and sounds great. The FX loop would be nice, but there are also other options too ie some attenuators like the Bad Cat or the Fryette have a loop.
 
The quality of the effects are the same regardless of how you have the FX8 configured with an amp. Time based effects are more susceptible to undesirable overtones and sounds when placed going into the front of an amp as more gain is used. Even then, there are ways to adjust those effects to make them work at higher gain settings and still be effective and useful.
 
Sonofiam said:
The quality of the effects are the same regardless of how you have the FX8 configured with an amp. Time based effects are more susceptible to undesirable overtones and sounds when placed going into the front of an amp as more gain is used. Even then, there are ways to adjust those effects to make them work at higher gain settings and still be effective and useful.
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Then again I personally find that the right amount of hair on time-based effects can make them sound less sterile and more lifelike. It's the same thing that makes tube hi-fi sound superior to SS hi-fi.
 
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