direct vs. effects loop

[bassmusic1234]

I have the aphex bass xciter box and was wondering if it matters or not if I put it through the loop or in my direct line? this is my only box aside from a channel select footswitch. what does everyone recommend?

[Moe45673]

AFAIK, it should make no difference (unless you have a tube amp and you're really pushing the tubes). The only difference would be that the FX loop usually pushes out a line level signal (+4dB) so make sure your xciter can handle that kind of signal.

[dannybuoy]

The Aphex pedal (unlike the rack version) overdrives the input really easily even at instrument level if you have a hot output from your bass. The active/passive switch solves this but it drops your signal by a huge amount so it'd work well if you have adjustable input/output gains on your fx loop.

[iScott]

Just want to bump this to get more opinions.
I finally got my hands on a couple of pedals and was pondering the same question.

[bongomania]

http://www.ovnilab.com/articles/fxloop.shtml
^^^ enjoy.

[luzceloffan]

So, in other words, if I want to use for example a BBR MaxCom to compresion and dynamics . . and use some effects let's say a driver, wah, synth , for example, then I should use the effects pedals in line with my bass and se them just in the imput of my amp, and place the Maxcom in the effects loop? cheers.

[runmikeyrun]

just try em out!

Some things work better in an effects loop, especially on tube amps if yours has an effects loop. My chorus, delay, and flange show up better in a loop because they gets lost in all the fuzz and compression of a tube preamp. An EQ or compressor can make more drastic changes in a loop. Generally distortions don't sound good but i had one that sounded awesome when i used the wet/dry blend control. As someone else said, you have to be careful if you're already running the amp hard because it's easy to overdrive the power amp, possibly blowing it or your speakers.