What use is an FX Loop?

[Rick_no7]

I always figured it was better to use distorting after the other effects, but perhaps my thinking is wrong in this?

You're not doing anythign wrong at all. If you like the sound, there is no "wrong" way. I simply like certain effects not to be distorted or changed. A distortion pedal doesn't know what's bass tone and what's a flanger for example. Its going to distort everything put into it. For that reason I like to have things of that nature put AFTER distortion, and usually AFTER Eq.

If you want that swoosh to have its own distortion, then its perfectly fine to have distortion after your filter.

 

[bongomania]

in the entire bass amp kingdom. I've looked - there AIN'T any. Line level, unbalanced, is -10dBu. Most amps have that. Some combos don't even meet the requirements for -10dBu - that may be what you're referring to.

I was referring to the standard +4/-10 reference. Even so, you may be right about "most bass amps" after all- I did some Googling, and the only bass-specific heads that clearly indicate a +4dB fx loop are Glockenklang. However the majority of manuals I read through (Ampeg, SWR, Eden, Euphonic, GK) do not specify a +4 or -10dB rating. The ones that bother to specify anything at all seem to give either voltage or impedance ratings, which is very helpful info (and perhaps more technically correct, since dB is a relative measurement), but doesn't bolster either of our positions. For example a GK manual says:

The level is1.5V rms (4.5V P-P) into 100K ohm.

Perhaps somebody with the right knowledge can clarify the voltage and/or impedance ratings that would most commonly correspond to +4/-10dB, or "line level", or "instrument level". My thinking was probably confused with mixer effects loops, which are usually +4dB or switchable. I also found a lot of guitar amps with switchable loop levels.

Even if it turns out I'm mostly wrong about the +4/-10 issue for bass heads, I'm not wrong about instrument level versus line level procesors. This note is in the Eden manuals:

This loop is at line level; do not use instrument level effects in this loop as they tend to be overloaded by the higher signal level which can cause distortion.

And here's a note from Sweetwater: http://www.sweetwater.com/expert-center/techtips/d--10/24/2001
And a simple Google turns up many, many more references like that.