FX loop with an out but no in...

Jetfire

So if I was to put a tuner into an FX loop of my amp but only had an in but nothing going into the out, would that be ok for is it bad?

Sporky

Depends on the amp. Lots of them won't give any output if there's something in the send but nothing in the return.

Sporky

Depends on the amp. Lots of them won't give any output if there's something in the send but nothing in the return.

Jetfire

Wouldnt be a problem if that was the case silent tuning for a tuner without a footswitch

ICBM

It won't do any harm, whether or not it cuts the signal path.

EricTheWeary

I did that for quite a long time with my Laney LC50, turning up the effects level knob to give silent tuning, with no obvious ill effects.

Nerine

Aren't most tuners "silent tuning"? Regardless of their position in the rig. 
Also, for my money at least, I always try to make the tuner the first thing my guitar plugs into. 
If it's in the fx loop, it's going to be seeing the preamp/pedals/gain stages of the entire setup, which would more than likely make tuning less accurate.

Jetfire

Yeah, most are but i fancied a korg pitchblack custom which is more a home use one. Decided to get a korg pitchblack poly instead now so this is a little redundant now... ho hum

But your point about accuracy is a very valid one..

EricTheWeary

EricTheWeary said:

I did that for quite a long time with my Laney LC50, turning up the effects level knob to give silent tuning, with no obvious ill effects.

Nerine said:

Aren't most tuners "silent tuning"? Regardless of their position in the rig. 
Also, for my money at least, I always try to make the tuner the first thing my guitar plugs into. 
If it's in the fx loop, it's going to be seeing the preamp/pedals/gain stages of the entire setup, which would more than likely make tuning less accurate.

This was when I owned a non pedal tuner, you could get a through signal if you put it in the chain but not silent tuning. 

ICBM

Nerine said:

Aren't most tuners "silent tuning"? Regardless of their position in the rig. 
Also, for my money at least, I always try to make the tuner the first thing my guitar plugs into. 
If it's in the fx loop, it's going to be seeing the preamp/pedals/gain stages of the entire setup, which would more than likely make tuning less accurate.

Not unless there's any modulation in front of the tuner.

Distortion or EQ has no effect on tuning accuracy, since they don't alter the frequency.

Sassafras

My Polytune doesn't get on very well with my Fuzz Factory.

Nerine

ICBM said:

Nerine said:

Aren't most tuners "silent tuning"? Regardless of their position in the rig. 
Also, for my money at least, I always try to make the tuner the first thing my guitar plugs into. 
If it's in the fx loop, it's going to be seeing the preamp/pedals/gain stages of the entire setup, which would more than likely make tuning less accurate.

Not unless there's any modulation in front of the tuner.

Distortion or EQ has no effect on tuning accuracy, since they don't alter the frequency.

EQ shouldn't make too much of a difference, but the additional harmonics of distortion/gain stages will start to throw a tuner IME. As well as the fundamental note, harmonics of that will start to increase as the amount of gain etc increases. However, I'm wondering if I'm coming at this from too much of a "studio" viewpoint. 

When I was being taught by Guthrie Govan, he always tuned his guitar on the neck pickup with the tone rolled off completely. His argument being that you were effectively increasing the intensity of the fundamental note by dulling the harmonics as much as possible. 

Whatever is correct, I'm always most comfortable going direct to the tuner from the guitar for the most accuracy. 

ICBM

I've always found the bridge pickup to give the most accurate response.

With a guitar that has the neck pickup at the 24th-fret node position (which is most, on guitars with 21 or 22 frets), you don't want to use that since it will be more likely to have an odd mix of harmonics.

I've never found distortion pedals to be any problem for a tuner either. Maybe it depends on the tuner.