The "Effects Loops" on a Pedal Switcher are not the same thing as the FX loop on an amp. Placing pedals in the Pedal Switcher loops basically just interfaces them to a MIDI controlled true bypass relay switch so that you can engage/bypass them from the signal path with your MIDI controller.

In terms of placing them in the amp's FX loop, IMO they're much better suited to being in front of the amp before the overdrive but again what's considered "good", "better" or "best" is a very subjective thing. It's definitely something you should experiment with to find out whether it's "good" or not to your own ears.

so you can plug anything into these pedal switchers then. it doesnt matter if there gain devices or modulations. so your saying that the order they go in does affect the overall sound. and that all the pedal switchers should go through the front end?.

Correct.



It affects which effect affects which effect (if that makes any sense at all ) so yes it will have an effect on the overall sound.

An example would be placing a delay/reverb after an overdrive vs placing it before an overdrive. In config 1 you would be delaying/reverbing your distortion (which is what most people do) whereas in config 2 you would be distorting your delay/reverb (which I don't think you'll find will sound very good at all).



No...UniVibe's should go in the front end. You can place Pedal Switchers pretty much anywhere you want. If you place one in your amp's FX loop I would suggest using the unbuffered input on the Pedal Switcher.

is there somewhere u can put tuners? i know of the tsl slots. but can you use them for tuners. is the signal path still strong?

I'd place the tuner in loop 1 of the very first Pedal Switcher, but don't connect the tuner's output to the loop's return (only connect the "send" of the loop to the tuner's input). This will make it so that when you engage the tuner loop your signal will mute for silent tuning. Placing it in Loop 1 of the 1st Pedal Switcher eliminates the chance of another effect affecting what the tuner sees.

could you explain why i would need 3 pedal switchers? and a more detailed description of how to control my amp via midi in conjunction with my commander

Well if you want to be able to call up individual effects directly from the Pedal Switcher you would install each of your pedals into their own Pedal Switcher loop. Since you have 15 pedals and a Pedal Switcher only has 4 loops, you would actually need a total of 4 Pedal Switchers to pull this off (4 Pedal Switchers x 4 Loops per Pedal Switchers = 16 Loops Total for 15 pedals).

Seeing as how you already have 1 Pedal Switcher, you would need 3 more for a total of 4.

That being said, in order to use the Commander to MIDI switch your amp, connect a MIDI cable from the MIDI Out of the last Pedal Switcher to the MIDI In on your Blackstar. You would then have to ensure that the amp's MIDI receive channel is set to Channel 1. You would then have to program the amp to switch to a different setting config as you switch presets on the Commander. Pages 12 and 13 of the Blackstar Series One owners manual explains how to do both of these things.

Just so you know, in the Blackstar owner's manual when it says to "Send the appropriate Program Change message to the amp", this means to select the preset on the Commander that you're trying to program.

well i would put my . univibe and wah infront of the amp without the loopers. or into the buffered input. and im not sure about the whammy pedal. although i know its a major tone suck if only there is a true bypass mod for it. my tuner pedal is a sonic research pedal. its somehow true bypass. and has a true bypass mute switch.

id really prefer not to use one of the effects bays up with a tuner if there was a tuner out built into these switching systems it would be really handy. coz each bay costs £50 its expensive to place just a tuner in one of them.
the line 6 jml looper i wont use live i dont know why i mentioned that.
same with the talkbox i havnt had a use for it yet the only tune i can think of would be bon jovi. i might sell it actually.

i want to use the mxr carbon copy delay like an echo and the nova delay as a proper digital rhythmic delay. and i want to use it so the nova delay comes first and the mxr comes last for the echo.

i also want to use all the modulation effects through the effects loop in the amp.i think i read somewhere u recommended otherwise. if so why.

ideally i want the reverb last to take off the highs and smooth it out and air a bit of "air". mxr carbon copy delay before that. nova before that. chorus before that. flange before that.
not sure where to put the clean boost as i like it as a gain pedal but i find it doesn't really boost the signal as much as putting it into the effects loop.

and the other effects into the front end of the amp with another switcher using the buffered input. such as fuzz or distortion.

OK...let's back up a bit and I'll explain this type of system's intended purpose.

A Pedal Switcher is a device with 4 true bypass relay switches that we refer to as "loops". You can install a pedal in each one, then use switches 1-4 on the Pedal Switcher to bypass each one.

You can have an endless number of Pedal Switchers in your rig and you can place your pedals in any order you feel sounds best. The "loops" on each Pedal Switcher are "daisy chained" sequentially in the order in which they are numbered.

With the Commander, you can store up to 10 presets of different combinations of Pedal Switcher loops on/off. Let's say you want Pedal Switcher loops 1 and 4 to come on simulatneously? Turn on loops 1 and 4 and program them into the #1 preset of the Commander. Now everytime you call up preset 1 on the Commander, Pedal Switcher loops 1 and 4 come on simultaneously with the press of a single Commander button.

You can control an endless number of Pedal Switchers with 1 Commander and you can have as many Pedal Switcher loops coming on/switching off simultaneously with the calling up of each Commander preset.

Each Commander preset sends out a Program Change message on MIDI Channel 1. This means that if your amp is receiving MIDI on MIDI channel 1, it will change presets which you configure to suit your needs.

Again...if this rig is a rig you've already been playing through, integrating the Pedal Switcher/Commander is not going to change the order in which you are currently patching your effects.

i mainly wanted the tap dance elimination aspect. as well as making an overall better signal. which i think is the whole purpose of this right. sorry im a bit thick sometimes. just need to understand things in a certain way before it all clicks.