Two different 4-cable methods?

[wilkinsi]

http://www.xycl.de/en/guitar-effects/boss-gt/4-cable-method.html

This link states the complete opposite of what I was told by a local shop. The link says the FX send of the GT-10 goes into the front of the amp and the GT-10 main out into the FX return of the amp. The shop says the GT-10's FX send goes into the amp's FX Return. Is there a right answer to this?

[Bri]

The whole intent of 4CM is to put filters and drives before the preamp and mods/delays in the loop. The shop's advice won't do that. I use a M13 so I don't know the exact labels on the GT-10.
Guitar>GT-10 guitar in
GT-10 effect send>amp guitar input
amp loop send>GT-10 effect return
GT-10 output>amp loop return

[BenoA]

GT8 user here. I'm with Bri. He's right, this how I hook up my GT8 with my 3 amps: DSL50, 6505, Mini Rectifier.

Guitar>GT-10 guitar in
GT-10 effect send>amp guitar input
amp loop send>GT-10 effect return
GT-10 output>amp loop return

I add a fifth cable, from the "amp ctl" output from the GT8 to the amp input for the foot switch. Let me program the GT to switch my amp's channel.

BTW, the GT8/10 have a very flexible FX chain. You can put wherever you want the FX.

Rule of thumb, you want your wah, overdrive/distortion, comp, pickup simulator before your FX loop send.

Reverb, delays would go after.

But the best and fun part is to experiment!

[wilkinsi]

So the shop is wrong then. One other thing: Where precisely do I place the FX loop block in the GT-10's signal chain?

[BenoA]

I never use amp sims when doing the 4CM with my GT8 so here is one of my basic 4CM patch below:

FX chain: fv cs wah fx1 od pre LP eq NS fx2 ce dd rv dgt

I like to put the foot volume (fv) first so I can set it to use it as my guitar volume. But most of the time it's OFF.

My loop is set that way:

--- LOOP (On) ---
Mode: Normal
Send level: 100
Return level: 100

But you may have to experiment depending on your amp. BTW what amp are you using with your GT?

[Bri]

Hopefully BenoA will be back. I haven't used my X3 Live with 4CM in ages and it may differ from the GT-10 anyway. I'm thinking after wahs/drives/distortion/compressors and before delays/flangers/phasers/reverbs. Like he said there is room for experimenting. Sometimes I like phasers and flangers in front, but the rest I stick to the standard.

[wilkinsi]

I'm using a Marshall JMD501. I know it has built in FX, but they can't be edited. I also have a Randall RT50C, which doesn't have any FX.

[BenoA]

So does those 2 amps have a "serie" FX loop? You may have "phasing" issues if they have parallel loops.

So, does my FX chain details a bit of help for ya? If I had a GT10 I could email you my personal patches.

[wilkinsi]

Nope. Both amps have serial FX loops. I'm at work now, but will try everything out tommorow whilst I'm on leave.

[BenoA]

Keep me posted!

[toejam]

The shop says the GT-10's FX send goes into the amp's FX Return. Is there a right answer to this?

That's not a 4-cable method, but you can do it that way... it'll just be sending the GT-10 preamp into the amp. You'd then just run the cable from your guitar into the GT-10.

[Chad]

The shop says the GT-10's FX send goes into the amp's FX Return. Is there a right answer to this?

As has been said, that is not 4CM. They were likely trying to tell you how to set it up to bypass your amp's preamp and use it merely as a power section. But they got that wrong too. You'd go from guitar into the GT-10 input, then from the GT-10 left mono output into your amp's effects return. If you did like they said, then I'm pretty sure you'd only hear what is in front of the S/R block in the GT-10 effects chain. I guess you could move the S/R block to the end of the chain, but that seems like a whacky way to set things up and I've never heard of anybody doing it that way.

I run my GT-10 into the effects return of my Randall RM50B combo and it works great.

[wilkinsi]

As has been said, that is not 4CM. They were likely trying to tell you how to set it up to bypass your amp's preamp and use it merely as a power section. But they got that wrong too. You'd go from guitar into the GT-10 input, then from the GT-10 left mono output into your amp's effects return. If you did like they said, then I'm pretty sure you'd only hear what is in front of the S/R block in the GT-10 effects chain. I guess you could move the S/R block to the end of the chain, but that seems like a whacky way to set things up and I've never heard of anybody doing it that way.

I run my GT-10 into the effects return of my Randall RM50B combo and it works great.

I only mentioned half the setup. When using the Randall, I've only used the GT-10's main Left out to connect to the amp's return, thus using the amp as a poweramp (bypassing the preamp).

I'm also concerned about how to setup the GT-10's loop, as there are no seperate send and return blocks that can be moved within the GT-10's signal chain, none that I can see anyway, just the one S/R block.

[Chad]

The one S/R block should be all you need unless you are wanting to put other outboard effects into the GT-10 chain.

Think of 4CM another way: you are putting your amp's preamp into the GT-10 effects chain. Think of it like any other block in the effects chain. It can be anywhere you like in the chain and it can be on or off. You can use some patches with your amp's preamp. You can use other patches with just the GT-10's preamp sims. Or you could have a patch with a dual amp setup with both your amp's preamp and one of the GT-10's preamp sims. The GT-10 is extremely flexible.

[wilkinsi]

So does the S/R block is the GT-10's signal chain go before or after its own built in preamp?