What exactly is a loop box?

[MegaMustaine]

Hey guys-

 

Sorry for the seemingly dumb question, but I was curious. Is the 'loop box' basically an effects loop in pedal form?

 

My friend had to get rid of his stuff and is lending me his Carl Martin Paralooper. I've read some reviews and it's called a 'loop box'.

 

I run a DL4 and Cathedral Verb through a Twin, and would love a pedal that would emulate an effects loop. Would this pedal meet that description?

 

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/carl-martin-paraloop-guitar-effects-pedal

 

If so, it has an input, output, return, and send plugs. How exactly would i plug in the DL4 and Cathedral into the Paralooper?

 

Thanks guys!

[macadood]

i think that carl martin is more for blending effects in i guess. could use it as a clean blend for a fuzz thats in the loop. or to make pedals with bypass issues true bypass. not sure you'd want your cathedral or dl4 in there either way

 

you'd put whatever pedals you want in the loop out from the send jack into the input of your cathedral and dl4, and out from the cathedral/dl4 into the return. and your main chain into the input and keep going out to the amp from the output.

 

if that makes sense.

[MegaMustaine]

Thanks for the info. Any suggestion on a good box that would actually act as an effects loop?

 

A buddy of mine had some unit that acted as an effects loop, and he was able to plug two expression pedals into it to control his delay time and mix. So far, all i've found is a rocktron unit that doesn't seem to have any option to plug in the expression pedals. I'm fairly certain that the expression pedals were plugged into the loop pedal, not his dl4.

[macadood]

weird. i would think they be plugged into the actual delay pedal.

 

and what exactly are you trying to achieve from this 'effects' loop? whats wrong with just running them straight up front into your amp?

 

it looks like with the carl martin you can plug in a 'remote', which is likely an exp pedal to adjust the mix...so thats about it.

 

also, ask your buddy?

[MegaMustaine]

My buddy was the former guitarist of our band, who was let go due to some other issues. I could reach out to him, but don't want to be popping gear Q's when I basically took his spot.

 

I guess I've just heard that delay and verb typically sound better in the loop.

[sameoldbluesman]

 

My buddy was the former guitarist of our band, who was let go due to some other issues. I could reach out to him, but don't want to be popping gear Q's when I basically took his spot. I guess I've just heard that delay and verb typically sound better in the loop.

 

The loop that you are referring to is the effects loop of your amp. In my experience, that is true, but there are plenty of amps that do not have effects loops that sound find with verb and delay up front, as long as you play the amp clean.

[macadood]

^ exactly. unless you use your amp's distortion then there really is no need for your amp's fx loop. i use pedals for overdrive and distortion almost always and just run everything up front. much easier that way.

 

and if your amp doesnt have an fx loop there isnt a loop pedal that can replace that. you could probably have your amp modded to have an fx loop but its probably not worth your time/money

 

if you do use your amp's dirt then you might want to consider finding a similar amp with an effects loop

[ChuckNorris1982]

Nothing will emulate an effects loop. Your amp either has one or it doesn't. An effects loop allows you a place in the signal chain to run some effects between the preamp and poweramp. Any loop switching device that you run into the front of your amp will always be in front of the preamp.

[MegaMustaine]

Hmm fair enough. I have a Fender twin and do indeed get all my dirt from a GT500 and Dark matter.

 

Any other uses you guys forsee for the Paralooper? My buddy is selling it really cheap, wondering if I could find a use for it. My current setup is:

 

Start -> wah -> OD/Boost -> Cathedral -> DL4 -> Korg Pitchblack. Maybe it's not worth me having, hah.

[macadood]

only reason would be if you have a pedal with really poor bypass and you want it in the loop or if you have a fuzz/OD/Compressor/even phaser or delay or anything else you'd like to have a clean blend for. fuzz with a clean blend makes for some pretty cool sounds.

 

the carl martin stuff tends to be really overpriced new but loses its value greatly when sold used.

[amp_surgeon]

 

only reason would be if you have a pedal with really poor bypass and you want it in the loop or if you have a fuzz/OD/Compressor/even phaser or delay or anything else you'd like to have a clean blend for. fuzz with a clean blend makes for some pretty cool sounds. the carl martin stuff tends to be really overpriced new but loses its value greatly when sold used.

 

 

Another reason is if you want to engage/bypass multiple effects with a single stomp.

[macadood]

^troof. im sure there are probably other uses too

[MegaMustaine]

I would love to use a loop box to trigger all of my lead settings- 3 pedals. The problem is that I use my DL4 for leads and also parts by itself, rather than with my compressor and boost. So I'd have to switch off my two pedals and activate the loop if I wanted to use a heavy delay setting. Might be worth it though..bc hitting 2 or even three pedals for leads and then hitting them to back off can get annoying.

 

Thanks for all the replies everyone! This forum is a life-saver. It's nice to be finaly making money from music though, so I can fund gear purchases. : )

[macadood]

look into the Carl Martin Octaswitch. I think you can set it so that one switch takes various pedals in/out of the chain at a time, and you can set it to whichever pedals you want for up to 8 different combinations

[amp_surgeon]

 

look into the Carl Martin Octaswitch. I think you can set it so that one switch takes various pedals in/out of the chain at a time, and you can set it to whichever pedals you want for up to 8 different combinations

 

 

Yep. It's got eight presets, each accessible with a different stomp switch. For each preset you can select which of the eight loops are engaged or bypassed. It's also got a couple of external switch outputs you can use to control foot switchable functions on your amp, like channel or reverb. So, with one stomp you could (for example) engage a distortion pedal, a compressor, and the dirt channel on your amp. It's pretty cool but a bit pricy at around $400.

 

The original Octa-Switch has been discontinued, but the Octa-Switch II is available. Main difference is it adds a 9th stomp switch that will bypass everything.

 

A couple of features it doesn't have that would've been cool...

 

A kill switch that mutes the output, and sends the input to a tuner out jack.

 

The ability to choose not only which pedals are engaged for each preset, but the order of the pedals. Granted that this would require a switching matrix, a microprocessor to control it, and cost a LOT more than $400.

[MegaMustaine]

Octaswitch looks awesome. Maybe something to consider way down the line- probably will be tap dancing for a while in the near future however.