Bass amp with FX loop?

Gear
1

Hey all,

So I just got myself a Pod Express Bass and am having great fun playing around with the different Amp/Cab models.

I currently play through a Laney Richter RB1 bass amp, which only has a single input. My current understanding is that if I run my Pod Express Bass into this, with the Amp/Cab model active, I am likely to get a muddy mess coming out (when the models compete with an actual physical Amp/Cab)?

I’d like to be able to make use of the different Amp/Cab models, so I’m trying to figure out how I could do this without breaking the bank. I’d heard that you could plug into the FX loop on a bass amp, which would enable the Amp model to be used (but not the Cab)?

I’m hoping more experienced players out there will be able to provide some ideas/opinion on this, or is this just something that isn’t typically done?

Phil

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  1. nah!
  2. try it, leave all EQ at noon, of course your amp will color some, but it would do the same if you ran it in an effects loop. The effects loop just moves it after the internal preamp and before the power amp, vs. before the internal preamp. Effects loops are really unnecessary for bass in general, but experimenting is fun. The cleaner your bass amp is, the more true modeled sound you will get. Your amp will color it a bit, but the beauty of that is if you don’t like what it sounds like, you can start shopping for a different amp :joy:
  3. I have super clean amps/cabs for this reason, and color things with pedals, all are in chain before the amp.
  4. Exception to above is I just got a Tonex (for essentially turning my bass rig into a guitar rig) and put it in the effects loop for funzies, and I didn’t feel like messing up my pedalboards, and it will travel back and forth with me to my other place.
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Try it out. I doubt it’ll make it a muddy mess but if it does, it most certainly won’t hurt anything. With all of this kind of stuff, twist knobs, make some awful sounds, figure out what sounds good to you and how you got that sound. Be a kid and just play with your new toy.

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Ha! Thanks both for your answers - much appreciated :grin: Sounds like I’m over-analysing a bit, instead of just playing. I’m currently without my amp (playing straight from the pedal via headphones), so I’ll look forward to trying it out when I get back to base :+1:

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