One of the earliest points of confusion for many rookie electric guitarists comes when first exploring the crazy cocktail of tonal possibilities that their shiny new amplifier can dish out. The extreme highs and lows that can be twiddled out of the EQ controls, the ear-bleeding noises that are all-too-easily created when pushing the gain settings; it can generally turn into a minefield for some! Our Guitar Amplifier 103: Toning Up article hopefully answered any questions our readers may have had when it comes to getting the very best basic sounds from your main rig.
Then there’s the exciting world of effects pedals - the next logical route to take when expanding your guitars sonic capabilities. Increased distortion, extra delay, or some modulation of the signal such as chorus; all these are brilliant choices for a guitarist who wants to discover new sounds and ideas with their instrument. However, what you may not have considered when playing with your stomp boxes is your signal chain. Or (to put it more simply) are you plugging everything in properly?
Ooooooh yes. Because your guitar amp isn’t JUST an amplifier. And we’ll now explain this using a variety of different illustrated methods to connect your equipment together!
The Guitarist's Guide To Electric Guitar Amps
It’s an understandable assumption that your ‘sound’ or ‘signal chain’ starts at the guitars output socket, and ends at the speaker cone of your amplifier. And if you’re only using one cable, connecting the instrument directly to the amps input socket, then this is indeed the case.
Your guitar amp actually contains TWO vital electrical circuits - the pre-amp for creating the basic initial tonal color, and the power amp which then turns that basic tone into a signal powerful enough to drive a speaker. Meaning that ANYTHING connected to the amplifiers input socket will run through the pre-amp section.
This is actually fine for stomp boxes designed to simply condition the guitar signal - things like distortion/overdrive/fuzz, wah-wah, compression or boost pedals can actually benefit from being placed in front of the pre-amp (not to mention any tuner pedals, which usually double as a useful stage mute). So, a two-cable method is entirely appropriate here.
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Now we come to the tricky question of what to do with guitar stomp boxes that effect time or modulation. Anything that introduces an element of delay, reverb, chorus, phasing or similar will tend to sound unpleasantly extreme or uncontrollable once the pre-amp has finished with it - particularly if you’ve dialled in a high level of gain.
Fortunately, many guitar amplifiers feature an effects loop as standard. This allows you to send an output feed from the rig that comes after the pre-amp stage, run it through your stomp boxes, and then bring it back into a return socket that sends the signal directly to the power amp stage.
This three-cable method is definitely the cleanest way of hooking up the more esoteric parts of your pedal collection! But what if you wanted to work in ALL your pedals at once?
Tips For Looping Your Guitar Amplifiers
As you’ve probably guessed, we can easily combine the two and three cable method ideas into one overall stomp-box connection strategy. Just line-up the conditioning pedals (distortion, was, boost etc) BEFORE the pre-amp, and your time/modulation pedals through the effects loop AFTER the pre-amp.
A four-cable setup really is the ideal way to achieve ultimate control over your sound when introducing stomp boxes into your setup.
And there you have it - the apparent complexity of all those sockets on the back of your amplifier should hopefully now seem a little less complex! Although we’re going to guess that many of our readers are already browsing Amazon for some extra jack-to-jack cables to enhance their equipment arsenal. Until next time…
Digital Guitar Amplifier/effects Processor
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This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners.The answer depends entirely on your set up and how you want your modulation, reverb and delay pedals to sound. However, if you’ve never tried your effects loop, now is a good time to try and you’ll be surprised at the difference it makes.
A guitar tube amp effects loop is an input and output section between the preamp stage and power amp section in your amplifier. It normally appears on your amp as the send and return. What this means is that you can
The preamp – which is where your amp gets its tone and voice from – in your actual signal chain with your pedals. This is called preamp distortion.
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This is particularly important for players that use their amp for distortion sounds but still want clear delay and reverb sounds from their pedals.
Often you’ll hear the term ‘the perfect pedal platform amp’. What this means is that the amp has loads of clean headroom so that the pedals can give your guitar sound the voice. The amp itself won’t compress or saturate until much higher volumes which means it’s a platform for you to use all of your wonderful, juicy guitar pedals!
Normally, with a ‘pedal platform’ amp like a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, you’ll simply have all of your guitar pedals in a certain order going into the front of the amp. You’ll use pedals for distortion and because of how you set up your board, you’ll probably have Modulation > Delay > Reverb a bit later in the signal chain.
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This is where an effects loop comes in because it means you can still use your drive and boost and compression pedals into the front like you normally would, but you can put your Modulation > Delay > Reverb into the effects loop which puts them
So essentially, an effects loop gives you the ability to use your amp distortion in the right place in your signal chain.
It’s worth noting that whilst these are all suggestions, there is absolutely no right or wrong way to wire your pedal board and the best guitar pedal order for your pedalboard is merely a guideline.
The 4 Cable Method (4cm)
Guitar > Tuner > Boost > Overdrive >Distortion > Fuzz > Modulation (like Chorus/Flanger/Phaser etc.) > Delay > Reverb > Clean Channel on guitar amp.
If you did the same thing with an effects loop because you want to use the amp for distortion, it would look like this.
I’d suggest some experimentation, especially with the order of your modulation pedals in the effects loop as there aren’t really any hard and fast rules.
How To Use An Effects Loop
Suggest using any boost, overdrive or distortion pedals in the effects loop as these will boost the gain and the signal and could cause damage to your guitar amp by overloading the power amp. Tread with caution as you could end up breaking your amp completely.
Generally speaking, delay comes first and then reverb. That way the delay repeats will also be covered in that lovely reverb but still be clear enough to be heard. The other way around will mean that the delay repeats your reverberated sound. This could create a cool effect but certainly not the most versatile.
Jed has worked on our shop floor, handled guitar content on the site and now leads the digital content team. He's equal parts rock frontman/guitarist and wannabe folk singer-songwriter. Jed's a PRS, Tele and Orange Amps lover with an unhealthy obsession with fuzz, octave and ambient effects.Back in the 1980s I played guitar. Yes, I’m that old. I learned from books and by playing along with CDs, and I jacked my Charvel guitar (awesome) into a Session guitar amp (terrible), and I never really got any better.
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Now, 30-odd years later, I’m at it again. And like most things, except mobile phones, everything is better than it was in the 80s. Mid-range and even low-end guitars are better-made and cheaper. Amps are cheap and no longer terrible. And we have iOS devices and apps which can replace whole suitcases full of effects pedals.
That’s what we’re looking at today – iPad (and iPhone) guitar amp simulations, along with virtual effects pedals. And along the way, we’ll look at hardware to connect up your guitar to the iPad, and at some speaker options so you can actually hear yourself play.
When you plug an electric guitar into a guitar amplifier, it doesn’t just make things loud: It adds its own character to the sound. The vibrating strings slice through a magnetic field created by magnets in the guitar’s pickups, and create a current. This travels through the guitar’s output jack, down the cable and into the amplifier.
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If you crank that amp up loud, then things start to get dirty. The broken-up, distorted sound you get when you overpower the tube/valves
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