Delay Placement Poll

  • Thread starter Thread starter stephen sawall
  • Start date Start date

Do you prefer delay in the effects loop or in front of amp ???

  • In the effects loop

    Votes: 61 74.4%
  • In front of amp

    Votes: 2 2.4%
  • Both

    Votes: 19 23.2%

  • Total voters
    82
I like my delays dirty as fuck, in front. If I played some 80's shit with 8 Eventide chorus going and 4 reverbs or was in the band Tycho I would probably go in the loop.
 
I pretty much always used the effects loop. Recently I have been in front of the amp most of the time. I definitely am not using a clean amp.
 
I pretty much always used the effects loop. Recently I have been in front of the amp most of the time. I definitely am not using a clean amp.
Interesting. I dont know that i have tried there. I have always been with dan on this one. But i mostly use delay on cleans so i wonder if it would even hurt me in front
 
Have a tape delay in front and a digital delay in the loop, use 'em for different things.

Catalinbread Belle Epoch (aka echoplex) in front of a dirty amp for surfy Dead Kennedys stuff. Then a Source Audio Collider, set similar to a Boss Space Echo, for more clean repeats.
 
I like a good simple analog delay pedal in front sometimes, for clean to mid-gain sounds.

Digital delays like my strymon, I prefer in the loop, where I can run nuclear gain levels if I want.

I actually have timeline and a dm2 on different boards, for that very purpose.
 
Interesting. I dont know that i have tried there. I have always been with dan on this one. But i mostly use delay on cleans so i wonder if it would even hurt me in front.
With amp gain basically each repeat is lower volume so less overdrive. I find I set the delay level a lot lower.

As the gain goes up on the amp eventually it reaches a point where you can't get enough definition.
But depending on the delay settings it might be the sound you want. Just a matter of spending some time with it to get the balance you want.

I voted "Both" in the poll. I started thinking about all the people that use gain with delay in front of the amp. Some use pretty high gain. It's been a interesting experience.

As others have mentioned analog delay is more common in front. But I am using digital also.
 
In the loop of my guitar rigs for clean delays if high gain stuff. On bass I run everything up front, but the amp is clean(ish). Either way it's at the end of the signal chain after the gain stages.
 
Definitely most of the people here use delay in the effects loop.
 
If the amp is clean, it is in front with the rest of the pedals (but after distortion). For distorted amps it is in the loop (if it has one) or after the load box.
 
It’s for different effects for me. If it’s a clean amp I want it in front where I get all the goodness going through the whole amp. It’s a little more lush.

But for dirty tones, for just ambient echo that can stay on all the time or at least for solos then I want the delay in the loop. That way it doesn’t get in the way of what you’re playing.

Pretty standard so far.

But for that really intense echo; mostly used for effect here and there, then I like a tape delay in front of the amp.

A great example of a tape delay in front of a dirty amp is The Song Remains The Same. The violin bow solo in Dazed wouldn’t sound the same without that Echoplex in front of that Marshall. A lot of Edge’s cool echo is in front of a semi dirty amp. Bullet the Blue Sky is a good example.
 
I am definitely using a fair amount of distortion on the amp with the delay in front of the amp. Preamp distortion and poweramp overdrive.
 
 
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