effects loop or wet / dry rig for 50 watt plexi

[johnnymenudo]

Haven't played out in years until recently and I have quickly realized the problems that come from running time based effects in the front of a cranked plexi. I play the amp loud for gain. Do not like using pedals through a clean amp for distortion.

I built a 50 watt plexi kit and love the amp, but need to integrate the time based effects. I prefer a slightly wetter sound than just a dry cranked amp, and would love a little reverb.

Can anyone comment on their experience with the Zero loss effects loop in a 50 watt kit? I have the PPIMV set to about 50%, but could obviously crank it up a bit more if I used an attenuator that I would need to do a wet dry rig. The zero loss loop is cheaper than an attenuator and another cabinet or amp, not to mention ease in transport. If the loop isn't all it's cranked up to be, I would just take the plunge and do a wet dry rig.

I put this in the VH forum since I like his tone but not trying to duplicate it exactly.

Any thoughts, sound clips, comparisons, experiences?

Thanks.

[garbeaj]

Check out some of the threads about VH reverb...you'll see we are all experimenting with different ways to accomplish this.

[dirtycooter]

Cheapest w/d rig right here
Build a line out box or buy the suhr lineout box. $10-$150.
Grab a Randall RH100 head and plug into its fx loop return-$150-$300 very top. Most are around $200-$250
If you don't have a second cab thats gonna be a few dollars more.....but I am seeing tons of marshall cabs with t75's for $350 as well as 5150pv's on craigslist for the same dough. Either of those cabs will compliment greenbacks graciously.
Throw your fx between the two. You can thank me later. Add on all the above twice and you'll be full wdw. So you could build toward it this way. Plus....you don't need full 4x12's for left and right-you can use 1x12s or 2x12s. Pete Thorn uses 2x12s like that in his wdw rig I seen.
Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.....
Beasty here uses verticle 2x12 ADA cabs on the out sides as well as bmf5150 uses 2 1x12s.
Also don't forget all new marshall standard cabs can be stereo as well as mono-so one extra marshall cab can sit on top in stereo. Tons of cool options here.
You can dick with the zero loss if you want and it will layer in the effect without dickin with your tone one iota but you will miss some serious spatial imaging usin a true w/d set up. And this is about the cheapest its gonna get goin w/d. Or do the zero loss if you gotta super tight budget. If I couldn't do w/d the zero loss would be the next best thing to it though. It does work the best for its intended purpose if your fine with a simple loop. All it does is basically bleed off a tiny bit of signal to feed fx and mixes back in-the pre power amp haven't a clue its there really

[vanhalen5150]

I have a line out going to a one of those .22 Caliber EH's. Its pretty loud if you want it to be. I just slave it of a 16 ohm 300w ohmite resistor with a DIY line out box. Into a 1/12.

Attenuator in the other speaker jack to my 4/12. Works great for reverb and delay. Blends you sound much better than a loop.

[jape88]

If you built a 4 holer you could try popping a reverb pedal in the jumper between 1 and 2, I used to do this on an old '69 50 watter I had, worked great, bring the volume of channel 2 up to suit your taste but remember to keep the reverb pedal fully wet. Give it a try, if it works great, it's pretty much like a wet/dry rig, if not try the zero loop.

[cebix]

Since I don't want to start another thread, I'll just post in here.

I have a 1987X reissue that has a Marshall factory loop in there. It doesn't sound too bad but do you guys think replacing it with the zero loop would make much of a difference?