Parallel effects loops suck...........

[carfish7]

.........part of your amp's power out. Duh.

I have 2 amps that use the parallel loop, and both have benefited greatly by simply placing a jumper between the "input" and "output" of the loop. The first is a small Laney LC15R tube combo that grew bigger balls with a simple 2 inch long George L's stuck in the loop.

The second was a Marshall JTM60 that sounded thin and wimpy until I did the same, and then cranked up the front-mounted "effects level" knob. Muuch betta!

Many of you might know this trick, but if you didn't and have an amp with a hard-wired (non-bypassable) parallel loop, give this a try! All designs might not be exactly the same of course, but I have found this to be the difference between "meh" and "yee-haw!". YMMV.

[Crimsontider]

Not effecting the sonic's of the amp was the whole point of Parallel over serial! Sounds like that is not true:)

[carfish7]

Not effecting the sonic's of the amp was the whole point of Parallel over serial! Sounds like that is not true:)

To take a "portion" of the amp's signal to drive your effects and then return them to "blend" with the original signal, with the idea that if you didn't process "all" of the signal it would remain more "pure" I guess.

/---------------------effects------------------------\

input signal------------------/ -----------------straight signal-------------------- \-----------power amp

Maybe the design in these examples was lacking, but it makes a big difference when jumpering that signal back in there.

[Crimsontider]

I bought a digital effects/EQ integrated amp last year that had a built in noise gate that was ON by default. When I turned this off it made a huge difference in the subtleties of the guitar, like rhythmic delay and muffling the strings during leads. It's a nice feeling to find something that makes the amp twice as good!

Hopefully others will know more about your setup. I do know that these routing's are important because the effects use a lot less power than the amps overdrive. Trying the get the effects to sound natural without hurting the umph of the amp.

[Nuclear Wessel]

Thanks for the info about the Marshal JTM60. I got one last year, and I like the overdrive, but through the amp's speaker it sounds kinda thin. it's better if I plug the output into an external speaker cab, but I think I'll try connecting the effects loop send to the return.

[carfish7]

Thanks for the info about the Marshal JTM60. I got one last year, and I like the overdrive, but through the amp's speaker it sounds kinda thin. it's better if I plug the output into an external speaker cab, but I think I'll try connecting the effects loop send to the return.

This is exactly my experience too. It sounded thin and annoying - no ass at all. Make sure you crank up the effects level on the front panel too.

You WILL notice a difference!

[Caddie]

Dear Marshall JTM60 and JTM30 owners,

I owned one too. Great sounding amp, one of my faves. But caution, Marshall did a really poor job of engineering that amp. Power tubes are mounted horizontally underneath the pre-amp board. It works like a toaster on the pre-amp board. It will be scorched to death. No spare parts. Oh the humanity. Suggestion to lengthen the life of your JTM: 1) put a fan in it, 2) put vents in the top to give the heat a way to escape, 3) always bring a spare amp. Ummm…..do all three.

I have a matching c12 cab if you are interested.

This is gutted but it looks cool! (Celestion still in it) Put it next to another Marshall and a cable into it, now it looks like you have daisy-chained Marshalls!

MORE faux POWER!!! Chicks dig it.

Cheers

caddie

[velorush]

Carfish, was there any difference in the Subway Blues when you modded that to series?

I remember you offering to put it back to stock (and you did IIRC) when I bought it, but having no experience with parallel loops I never considered it might make a difference in the sound.

If it makes a difference I might need to check out that mod (though I have no complaints about how it sounds as-is!).

[Disturber]

Dear Marshall JTM60 and JTM30 owners,

I owned one too. Great sounding amp, one of my faves. But caution, Marshall did a really poor job of engineering that amp. Power tubes are mounted horizontally underneath the pre-amp board. It works like a toaster on the pre-amp board. It will be scorched to death. No spare parts. Oh the humanity. Suggestion to lengthen the life of your JTM: 1) put a fan in it, 2) put vents in the top to give the heat a way to escape, 3) always bring a spare amp. Ummm…..do all three.

I have a matching c12 cab if you are interested.

This is gutted but it looks cool! (Celestion still in it) Put it next to another Marshall and a cable into it, now it looks like you have daisy-chained Marshalls!

MORE faux POWER!!! Chicks dig it.

Cheers

caddie

Lots of great mods for these Marshalls. Can turn something not so well designed into a great sounding amp.

[BillW]

To make it more interesting, try a clean boost in the loop. I used to put a ZVex SHO in the loop (blend about 50-50) of my TSL 60 ...HUGE difference

[carfish7]

Carfish, was there any difference in the Subway Blues when you modded that to series?

I remember you offering to put it back to stock (and you did IIRC) when I bought it, but having no experience with parallel loops I never considered it might make a difference in the sound.

If it makes a difference I might need to check out that mod (though I have no complaints about how it sounds as-is!).

Hmm, I modded that simply because I liked using a serial loop better. I don't recall if it had an effect on the sound?

Try jumpering it and moving the blend/mix know and see if there is a diff I guess.

[carfish7]

To make it more interesting, try a clean boost in the loop. I used to put a ZVex SHO in the loop (blend about 50-50) of my TSL 60 ...HUGE difference

That sounds interesting too!

[KH Guitar Freak]

Well, not that my Laney Lionheart 20W head doesn't sound great without jumpering the loop, but yes, it did grow bigger balls with the loop jumpered...

[Hamer95USA]

Most folks who use the parallel effects loop on their amps never set their effects to 100% wet to take advantage of the parallel loop's wet/dry mix control. I use a Korg DL8000R delay for chorus/delay/reverb set 100% wet on my Marshall 6101 combo amp and use the parallel effects loop mix knob to mix in the amount of dry/wet ratio for the effects. It sounds bigger that way.

What kind of effects are you running in your amp's parallel effects loop? What is the impedance of your effects? Do you set your effects 100% wet and use the parallel effects loop mix knob on your amp? Does your amp allow you to run the effects loop in serial, if you don't like the parallel effects loop sound?

Guitar George

[carfish7]

What kind of effects are you running in your amp's parallel effects loop? What is the impedance of your effects? Do you set your effects 100% wet and use the parallel effects loop mix knob on your amp? Does your amp allow you to run the effects loop in serial, if you don't like the parallel effects loop sound?

Guitar George

Luckily, the Marshall has BOTH, so I just use the serial for the effects and run a jumper to "bypass" the parallel loop. The Laney is a little different, as I use it clean(ish) and run all effects in front, after the dirt. My Boogie Heartbreaker has a serial loop, and my Trace Elliot allows me to choose (series, thank you very much), so I'm happy.

I do recall trying to use effects in the loop of my Subway, Maverick, and Nomads (all with parallel loops) and did the 100% wet, dial in the level with the return deal, but I always got strange phase things happening or something that made it sound poopy. Usually Boss and Ibanez floor-based pedals, or a Korg A2 rack unit. It was probably a case of using effects that were not giving the right level or were poorly suited for this type of use? I do seem to recall the Korg had a selectable output level, and that it worked far better than the stompers.