Amp and pedal question

[stevie1556]

Recently, the sounds coming out of my amp are starting to sound a little like guitar sounds since I've actually sat down and put some time into practicing, so thought I would treat myself to a new amp (for anyone who maybe interested, I got the Blackstar HT-5RS mini stack). It's a great little amp, and it has an effects loop for pedals. Would I be right in saying the effects loop misses out the pre-amp as it preserves more or the guitars original sound or something? Also, I built a SHO clone in SMD, but I've heard they sound best driving the pre-amp, so I would plug it in on the input if this is right.

It's my first proper vavle amp since I've been able to play, and I think what I've wrote above is correct, but if someone more knowledgeable then myself could confirm it that would be great.

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[sturgeo]

The effects loop is the guitar signal post preamp, hence why certain effects like delays work better in the loop that before the amp.

I keep looking at getting the blackstar mini stack to complement my blues junior for more overdrive & distortion tones but then think I'll make a pedal that gets those tones out of my blues jr 

[Willybomb]

I keep looking at getting the blackstar mini stack to complement my blues junior for more overdrive & distortion tones but then think I'll make a pedal that gets those tones out of my blues jr

You could get the best of both worlds and get a Blackstar pedal!  I wonder if anyone has traced the TL line yet..

[marmaliser]

I wonder if anyone has traced the TL line yet..

I have not seen anything yet but I am keeping my eyes open for a cheap one to pop up.  The fact that I also own a HT5-S makes me interested.

[Leevibe]

Doesn't the HT5 use clipping LED's in the preamp? My friend had one for a while and liked it. Definitely a different flavor than a Blues Jr.

[sturgeo]

You could get the best of both worlds and get a Blackstar pedal!

The issue is, and I'm sure I'm not the only tight bastard like this, since i started putting pedals together a few years back I've not been inclined to buy any mass produced commercial pedal.

I'm local to Blackstar and a friend of mine worked for them in the admin dept, she might still be there, i wonder of they do staff discount

[gordo]

Like sturgeo mentioned, the effects loop essentially breaks the connection between the preamp and the power amp.  The nice part is that if you feed reverb and/or echo into an overdriven amp it gets mushy and garbled (which can be an effect in itself really).  In an effects loop your distorted signal is in front of the reverb and/or echo and you get a very pristine and clear effect.  Modulation effects sound much "swooshier" (technical term) and there's even a certain logic to putting a boost or overdrive in the loop for level or drive boost.

The downside is that it can sometimes mess with your tone and modulation effects can sometimes come off as 80's cheese.  Lots of room to experiment with loop vs input.  Be careful here...now you might need two of everything :-)

[stevie1556]

Sturgeo - you should definitely get one! They sound awesome! And thanks for confirming what I thought about the effects loop.

Gordo - I knew the position of pedals in a chain had effect, I didn't know so many pedals were affected by the before input/effects loop though.

Leevibe - absolutely no idea on if it uses clipping LEDs, but it does sound nice.

As above, since I've learned to build pedals I have absolutely no interest in buying any pedals.

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