Lynch Box Series Loop with Boss DD-3 - The Milks Gone Bad!

Oh Charlie Murphy I can't belive this! So, I'm gonna share it. I have a new Lynch Box and I was trying a new Boss DD-3 Digital Delay through both effect loops. To be blunt - the both loop sounds like hell. The effect I did get was very muffled and very distorted using both the Blackface and XTC modules. One loop didn't seem any better than the other and I was expecting a better fit using the Series Loop. I tried adjusting the pedal settings and the Effects knob on front of the amp and I could not get an improvement. I finally just went old school and ran it through the front and it was crystal clear and fine. Weeks ago, I made a comment on someone's topic about running pedals through the effects loop. I was told by Randall Tech support that the effects loops were designed for rack mounted effects and pedals should be run through the front. I expected a slight differance between the two - but not this! It's almost so bad that I wonder if there is something wrong with my effects loop. It kinda sounds like someone is breathing heavy along with the effect - thats the best way I know how to describe it.

I've done some further reading on the forum and I saw that some other guys have had similar results using the DD-3 through their effects loops on their Randall MTS Amps.

I don't have a DD-3, but am running a DD-20 and some other pedals in the serial loop of my RM50B without any problems.

I don't know about the DD-3 but I do know some pedals are meant to be run through the front of the amp and sound like crap through the loop. An example of this is my Retro-Sonic phaser. The Retro-Sonic is a high end pedal and it sounded very distorted through the loop but great through the front of the amp. I don't think there is anything wrong with your loops, its most likely the pedal. Only other thing to consider is that I heard some pedals can be switched between instrument or line level. If thats the case on your DD-3 then its a matter of setting it to the correct level then it should work either way.

Lob-

DD-3 isn't designed to run in the loop. Try it out front, mine sounds killer out front.

Ned

i'm not sure what everyones talkin about but my dd-3 is the only effect i am happy using through my parrell loop.make sure the effect level is up all the way and gradually bring it in with the effects front panel knob.my sounds killer but i must admit it is only for a slow back delay to fill up my sound. not for radical delaying. if its any matter my series loop sucks though for everyhting. :shock:

i have the same problem & the thing is, for a short time it sounded killer. explained in subject, EFX LOOP PROBLEM

My rm100 did some wierd stuff in both loops when it was new.I tried a dd-2 ,dd-3 a G major and nothig worked.It was under warranty and the people fixed what ever it was .But the dd3,dd2 all worked pretty good just a little level drop.They didn't tell me exactly what was wrong but they fixed it and it was great after that.

Well the only effects I use are a Crybaby 95Q Wah and the DD-3 Delay. So I'm just gonna keep it simple and run the delay through the front. I bought an offset effects coupler and when I use it to connect the wah with the delay, I find that the weight of the wah keeps the delay from moving around. So in the end, it has its simple advantage I guess. However, my former amp was a Peavey JSX and I ran my DD-3 Delay through the effects loop and it actually sounded better than running it into the front. I had a Genz Benz El Diablo 100 before that and like the JSX, the DD-3 sounded better through the loop. I read the Randall manual and it clearly reads that both loops are designed for rack mounted effects and not pedals. The JSX and Genz probably have a differant design.

Only as an effects loop test, I just tried running my 95Q Wah through the effects loop and it was fine. I typically run it through the front because I think I get a better sound. However, I didn't get any muffled distortion like I was getting with the DD-3 Delay. I do know the DD-3 issue was much more noticeable on the Blackface (clean) channel, so maybe the guys that have not noticed a problem haven't used it through a clean channel. So my findings are that the effects loops are fine and that pedal through the effects loop just doesn't mix well.

Tried out a DD-3 (modded by Robert Keeley) through the parallel loop of my MOD50 and had no problems with it whatsoever! I would still have it if a Blackbox Electronics Quicksilver Delay hadn't popped up on TGP last week! :lol:

Man,I love the MOD50!!!!!

Me too!

I played around some more and found that if I had the gain turned down (like no higher than 9 o clock) - it was clear. I also read in the DD-3 manual that high frequency input signals cause the effect to be muddy. I'm far from an expert on the inner working of an effect loops work but it could be linked. Regardless, the guitar shop has another Lynch Box coming in this week and I'm gonna try my DD-3 though that one to see if I get the same results to be sure it's not my amp. I agree with Rudy - I think it's probably just the pedal.

BTW, I forgot to mention that when I first got my RM50B I was running the module master volumes fairly high and running the amp's main master volume fairly low. This made the factory reverb (through the parallel loop) sound like absolute garbage. When I started running the amp master high and the module masters low, not only did this make the reverb sound like it should, but it also made the amp sound better overall since that gets the power tubes cooking. You might look into that if you haven't already.

If I crank the module level to high on my MOD50 into the G-system it will start to clip and varies other things,but set the levels just right and it sings .

I know the loops are supposed to be more for rack effects rather than pedals, but I still run some pedals through the serial loop and others through the front of my RM100. I get great sound this way and minimal noise. It was simply a matter of figuring out what to set the various levels and gain controls on the modules at.
Try the pedals through the front and through the loop and go with whatever sounds best to you.