Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Effects Loop not working

[ChiTao]

Hi all,

I own a Fender Hot Rod deluxe that I purchased from you new, never gigged, never played past vol.2, never moved from, my living troom and I've never ever plug pedals into it before.


I've just bought some boss effects pedals and I'm very disappointed and the OverDrive and Distortion sound really weak, cheap and nasty going through the normal input.. not what I imaged after spending $400 on these things.


So I'm trying the effects loop for the very first time but it doesn't seem to be working, I'm not getting any effects sound at all.

I have a clean guitar signal using the normal connection but even turning the distortion pedals up to maximum has no effect whatsoever when running through the effects loop.

Can you think of any reason why this would not be working considering it's never been used before?

Thank you.

 

[Billy3]

First of all. What kind of pedals did you get? Power supply? If there is nothing wrong with your amp we'll get you there. Probably just a connection issue. I don't recommend putting any drive, distortion, or boost in your effects loop. Those typically go in front of the amp. Usually the effects loop is used for time modulation and eq's. Many YouTube videos about this topic. One misplaced chord can make everything fail. Check all of your connections. Good luck!

 

[ChiTao]

Hi Billy,
Boss DD8, BD3w, Ditto Looper 2.

If I put the Delay through the effects look the delay works, but soon as I turn it off I have no normal signal in the regular input. Guitar is dead.

If I put the Blues Driver through the effects loop I get a signal through the normal input but when I turn the pedal on I get a clean sound but no effect at all. The GAIN dial simply acts as another volume instead of adjusting overdrive amount. Weird.

If I put the Looper through the effects loop it works correctly and I also hear my guitar signal through the normal input as well.

You say not to use any distortion through the effects loop yet through the normal channel the BD3w sounds utter crap. So bad I feel pissed for spending $174 for such an awful disgusting sound and want to send it right back.

This guy had the same issue as me.. UNTIL he did the very opposite of what you advised and put this distortion through the effects loop .. the resulting difference is quite astounding and a 1000 times better.

Jump to the 3 minute mark as he talks a lot of junk before hand..



Why does the same not work for me?

And even more worrying. why does every single pedal have a completely different effect on my entire amp when used through the effects loop? Only the looper behaves normally.

 

[Dacious]

When you say, turn off, is that powered off, or just toggled with the footswitch? Do you have power adaptors connected to each pedal?

Your amp and the pedals have eqs and adjustments. It's true to say not all amps and guitar combinations work with all effects in front. And many may require different settings from your normal clean tone.

Boss used to sell an SD1 intended for use with humbuckers, and an SD2 intended for single coils. The SD1 tended to be thin and buzzy with Strats and Teles. The SD2 tended to be muddy with humbuckers.

Things like where you have treble, mids, bass and reverb matter. If your distortion is fizzy back off treble and increase mids. What are you experiencing and how is it different to what you wanted?

 

[ChiTao]

Naturally by on/off I meant toggle the footswitch. And of course each pedal is powered. What else? They each have a brand new battery inside and adapter powered too.

I also tested one pedal at a time so hardly room for error.

"Your amp and the pedals have eqs and adjustments." Really? I have had this Hot Rod Deluxe III for 6 years now and never noticed those before..

I already said I tried every and all adjustments possible and nothing made any difference at all.

None of them work through the effects loop at all.. no matter what is turned or how much.

If you see my profile pic I have a Yamaha Mike Stern sig.. it has a humbucker in the neck.. and. I have a classic vibes tele with a single coil in the neck. This BD2w sounds crap on both.. and tapping the delay footswitch not only turns off the delay sound but also somehow kills the guitar signal completely. which is plugged into the regular input. That's just abnormal. You chose to ignore that for some reason.

Treble mid and bass? Pardon? What does any of that have to do with an effects loop that is non existent? But yes I tested every dial in every position. Zero overdrive effect through effects loop even with everything turned to MAX.. and utterly thin, insipid, fizzy garbage through direct input.

And.. no tweaking lows, mids and highs on either the amp or pedal does NOT and can NOT remove all overdrive effect entirely to the point where it is non existent.

I have been playing guitar for going on 40 years and maybe a decade professionally in more bands than you can imagine and all kinds of amps. Except I have always used full on effects units.. never any pedals.Does not mean I'm an idiot.

The question is not do I know how to use a pedal.. or what a tone of volume control does.. or on being too dumb to not have a pedal power supply.. the question was purely about why an effects loop is simply not working as it should.

Thanks for your time but seems you completely ignored that video and are just stabbing in the dark. It's really not rocket science.

 

[Dacious]

Didn't realise such a master was In our presence. I bow and scrape as I exit backwards.

You're obviously way beyond any advice or attempts to diagnose your problem or assist from mere board members.

Have fun and good luck.

 

[NoTeleBob]

What happens if you plug a patch cable into the effects loop and just jump it? Don't connect any pedals anywhere. Does the amp sound normal?

If it sounds odd, try a different cable. Report back.

EDIT: Also connect each of your cable, direct from guitar to amp, into the normal channel, and see if they sound good. Even the 6" patch cables - just get real close.

We need to know that the effects loop doesn't have an issue and that the cables don't have an issue. That's two possible problems. We can move to diagnosing pedals after that.

 

[wildschwein]

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