Do any bass players actually use the FX loop on their amp?

[ICBM]

Just curious.

One of my jobs today is a bass amp that's cutting out... the culprit (as is quite common) is the contact in the Power Amp In jack, which is only necessary in order to break the signal path to use the Preamp Out/Power Amp In jacks as a loop. (Even if you want a power amp input to use the amp as a slave, that can be done just as easily without breaking the signal path.)

Even though I've often used effects when playing bass, I've never once used the loop on the amp, nor have I ever seen any other bass player do so. If no-one ever does, it would be much better to just eliminate this unnecessary source of reliability problems from all bass amps...

[guitarfishbay]

I associate effects loops with time based effects like reverb + delay, neither of which I've ever used on bass guitar with any success.

The fact I had to Google whether or not my current bass amp has an effects loop probably says it all for me.

[Danny1969]

You can use the loop to remotely control the onstage volume of the bass player, and sometimes you need to as what seems like a reasonable volume onstage to the bass player can be way too much 20 metres out, especially with long throw cabs like Ampeg 8 X 10

My gadget is simply 2 jacks into a male XLR. That plugs into the stage box onstage from the amps send and return . At front of house I take that signal from my end of the snake and plug it into a simple box I made which contains a volume knob and a split out for a decent DI. Basically the signal comes out the send - attenuated by the volume knob my end and back up to the return of the amp.

You can use a single XRL as you only need out \ in and common earth.
This allows FOH to set the onstage volume of the bass rig as well as how much comes from the PA

[monquixote]

I never use mine.

I might if it was switchable, but it isn't

[fretmeister]

Very occasionally I put a compressor in the loop. Then I get the sound changes from hitting the preamp soft or hard, but then it's volume smoothed before hitting the power amp.

But most of the time I can't be bothered.

[ICBM]

You can use the loop to remotely control the onstage volume of the bass player, and sometimes you need to as what seems like a reasonable volume onstage to the bass player can be way too much 20 metres out, especially with long throw cabs like Ampeg 8 X 10

My gadget is simply 2 jacks into a male XLR. That plugs into the stage box onstage from the amps send and return . At front of house I take that signal from my end of the snake and plug it into a simple box I made which contains a volume knob and a split out for a decent DI. Basically the signal comes out the send - attenuated by the volume knob my end and back up to the return of the amp.

You can use a single XRL as you only need out \ in and common earth.
This allows FOH to set the onstage volume of the bass rig as well as how much comes from the PA

I'm quite surprised that doesn't cause noise or hum problems - running an unbalanced signal to the back of the room and back again. Or result in 'remedial action' from the bass player .

It's a good way to DI the bass properly from after the amp's preamp though, if the amp doesn't have a dedicated DI out.

[howvard]

I ran a volume pedal in the loop for a while so i could alter the volume for my occasional bass melody parts, without affecting the tone.

[Danny1969]

I'm quite surprised that doesn't cause noise or hum problems - running an unbalanced signal to the back of the room and back again. Or result in 'remedial action' from the bass player .

It's a good way to DI the bass properly from after the amp's preamp though, if the amp doesn't have a dedicated DI out.

It's ok with bass but would cause a bit of hiss with anything else. If the bass player is disciplined in his stage volume then I won't touch it but it's nice to know if, after 5 pints he wants to distroy the mix by cranking his rig up 8dB I can tame it back down without moving from FOH. A unity gain VCA onstage would be a better bet to prevent noise, I might build one.

[lasermonkey]

I've never had a bass amp with an effects loop, but I very much doubt I would if there was one. I think fx loops are great for delay, reverb and modulation, but I don't as a rule use these for bass.

[MrMenturm]

I tend to think that to get a decent bass tone, you need multi-band processing. Unfortunately most effects loops on bass amps are series and not parallel, which screws that whole notion. Being able to have the raw low end of your bass amp, and then scoop out all the low end in a parallel chain and apply pedal distortion, could be a really good thing.