Dumb Question... Again. Mesa Studio 22 and Effects Loop.

Milerky2

Milerky2

Member
Ok. So you guys have enlightened me over the past week or so. Enough so that I am changing the way I think to a certain extent. And thus doing so I have come across a conundrum;

1) I have no money for MAJOR amp upgrades.
2) I have no room/need for an uber-high gain monstrocity.
3) I am supremely happy with the tone of my Mesa (early 80's Studio with EL84's 22 watts of tone)
4) I want to use my lead channel more, (using dirt pedals mostly,) but also use mods and delay a LOT.
5) This amp has a series fx loop.
6) Chatted with Bruce Egnater about a buffered EBtech Line Level shifter. It works, but saps 15dB of signal out of the amp and you DO NOT want to see how much damping it adds across the audio spectrum. It just takes the life out of the sound.

Any ideas on how to put my mods/delays/verbs in this signal path without degrading the signal?

Or am i just hosed?

-Dejected Jason
:confused: :confused: :confused:
 
Hey I will go. I have a Subway Series and the loop does get kind of tricky to dial in. I think the older Mesa's loop "Mix" knob needs to be set at 3:00 when using -10 effects like Boss and MXR. I would also look into cleaning the send and return jacks and might try a new tube in the effects loop slot of the amp. Those things did the trick for my amp.
Hope this helps
 
Mine predates the subway. The send and return are a full normal between the preamp and power amp sections. Like I said, the ebtech line level shifter did the trick, but it killed the life of the sound. Kind of reminded me of a POD, the character of the amp went away. But the stompboxes worked in the loop.
 
And I mis-spoke in the original post. I was looking for a buffered line level shifter, but Bruce only pointed me to the ebtech which is passive.
 
You are trying to put a square peg in a round hole. Either trade your delay/modulation pedals for ones that are line level, or live with the compromise. Not a lot else to say, really. I've had good luck with the Eb line shifter, but some amps don't work well with them. I'd look for a boss DD20 delay - it can run on line level, and holds four presets so it's like having four delays in one. They sound great and are fairly cheap. You of course could always get your amp modded - but it wouldn't be the same tone after you were done, you may not like the changes.... trading off your pedals for line level ones is the easiest route here.
 
So, found the solution... But will be a while before I can swing it. Ceriatone makes a unit called the kleinulator, that does the mix and match of impedance. They also make one called the c-ulator(?) that is tubed.

Anyone have experience with these?
 
Those were meant to interface with dumble amps, and were originally called dumbleators. I still say your best bet is going to be to get line level fx to put in the loop, but even that may not be perfect depending on how well the loop was designed. Remember, we're talking an amp designed in the early-mid 80s.

Pete
 
Why don't you just get a used line level rack processor? It seems like you'll be chasing your tail with pedals forever otherwise. And are you sure it's series? I thought those were all parallel.
 
when you reintroduce the signal, it goes series. It is a half normal connection. On this particular model, you can use the send as a parallel out, but as soon as you plug into the return it goes series.

I believe this Ceriatone unit will also add a mix to the circuit, so it should help by buffering and mixing anything into the send/return, even a rack unit.

But if someone wants to donate a G-Force to the cause I won't complain;)
 
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