Setting up volume pedal in an effects loop

Using a volume pedal is not a new thing. A large number of musicians use volume pedals as their primary musical instruments. They even appreciate the facilities that a volume pedal offers. 

Many other musicians, however, think that a volume pedal is merely a solution to non-existent problems because you probably will not face many issues related to its use. So, what is the truth about the volume pedal in an effects loop?

The truth is that the volume pedals perform some particular task which is not always crucial for musical artists. But it is okay to have the facility. If you want to use the volume pedal and what it offers, you have to select some specific things to handle the volume pedal practically.

How to use a volume pedal?

To use a volume pedal properly isn’t that difficult. First, you want to place the volume pedal attached to your guitar and then overdrive. This setup is handy, and you can control your volume pedal with your foot without even using the volume knob of the guitar. It will let you focus on your hand while playing.

To set up the volume pedal in an effect loop, you need to place the volume pedal right after the overdrive and amplifier. This will receive the sound you are playing on the guitar and let create the loop.

Volume pedal in an effects loop

Have you ever looked at the guitar amp? You will see the two-quarter inch labeled send and return. Any idea what that is and what it’s for? That is your amps effects loop.

In early days guitar players would plug straight into the front of the amplifier. But nowadays guitar players turn their amps louder and play dirtier. Today’s generation guitar players also started to experiment with effects like fuzz, delay and reverb.

There was a time when guitar players would put the effects in front of the amp, which means you would plug from your guitar into the impact and then from the effect into the front of the amp. In many cases, that kind of setup works fine. But sometimes that kind of set can create some problems, especially when you are playing an overdriven sound.

So, guitar players needed a solution. And the answer is with the effects loop. This is the way to insert a guitar effect in between the preamp section and the power amp section of your guitar amp. In this setup, you can get the cranked amp sound and a beautiful apparent pristine delay or reverb at the same time. The effects loop sits in between your preamp section and the power amp section.

To create the best sound, you have to put your delay pedal and reverb pedal which is attached to an effects loop. There are two types of effects loop, such as series or parallel. The way the series effects loop works is by sending the amp the signal through the effects loop and through the volume pedal which you are using.

On the other hand, parallel effect is it splits your amps signal into two identical signals. One is unaffected to the speaker, and another one is affected through your effect loop. It depends on whatever effects loop you are using.

There is a blend knob that allows you to blend the affected signal. For this reason, many players prefer to use a parallel effects loop because it will enable you to get more control over your overall tone.

Setting up an effects loop is very simple. You need to have two quarter-inch jacks on the back of your amp. One labeled send and other labeled return. You are going to need two quarter-inch instrument cable and your effects loop.

So, what you have to do is plug one cable into the send jack and another end of the cable plug it into the input of your effect loop. After that take another quarter-inch cable and plug it into the return jack of the effects loop. The second end of the cable needs to plug into the main output.

This is the best-closed loop setup. And the volume pedal needs to be placed right after the guitar and the drive you are using. If you do this kind of setup, you will be able to focus on your hand. You can also place the volume pedal right after the drive then the amplifier. This is the best set up of a volume pedal in an effects loop.

Conclusion

There are no specific settings for a volume pedal. Every musician has a preference for how they want to set up the volume pedal. Because in any setup they sound different and very noticeable. Setting up a volume pedal is like an experiment.

You can even set up the volume pedal right after the guitar. But in an effect loops, I highly recommend setting the volume pedal right after the overdrive and before the amplifier.

If you follow this setup, I am pretty sure you will love the sound even better. If you want to experiment more with the volume pedal, follow the above instructions. I hope this will help you.