need some help with pedals

[dk1ben]

so i just got my first real amp. ive always hand combo amps. my last one was a Vox Valtronix with mods and effects built in. Ok so my question is how does a effects loop work and what equipment do i need? i just bought a Peavey Classic 50 212. Im looking at only a few pedals. but other than the pedal itself what else. cables i suppose, do the pedals come with there own power supply? I know i could just go to some guitar store and ask but im real busy at work and plan to just order this all online. i just want some more distortion and a blues driver sounds like fun to play with. thanks.

[toejam]

Most pedals run on batteries, you'd have to buy a separate power supply if you want to plug it in. Though, certain effects come with their own power supplies built in.
You'd typically only use time-based effects in a loop... chorus, delay, flanger, phaser, etc. Gain-based effects such as distortions, overdrives, wah, are used in front of the amp. Though, experiment and see what sounds good to you. I've heard of some people using an OD pedal in a loop for a boost. EQ pedals can be used either way, too.

[Inazone]

In the past, Peavey manuals stated that you should NOT use gain-creating devices (overdrive pedals, etc.) in the effects loop. The most recent Peavey I owned was a 1996-97 TransTube Special 212S combo though, so maybe that has changed. If your amp has a footswitchable effects loop, give some thought to what effects you need available that way, such as for playing solos. In general, put effects in such an order that you are getting the maximum desired effect with the minimum noise. For instance, in my rack preamp's loop, I go EQ > Hush > delay.

If you buy pedals that all use common power 9V "wall wart" power adapters, you might want to look into one of the multi-pedal units that will handle 4-5 pedals at once. I bought Carvin's version, and it has worked great.

[m2pmd70]

FYI, don't buy a generic/universal power supply to run your pedals. HUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

[Newc]

IIRC the Classic 50 is like a very old, old 70's model?

It might have some decent Blues tones, but unless it was modded, it definitely won't have anything better than that.

You might want to look for a Chandler TubeDriver pedal to go with it.

As for the effects loop, the Send sends signal from the preamp section to outboard gear and the Return brings it back into the Power section. You can skip the Peavey's preamp altogether by plugging in your pedals straight to the Return (Guitar>Pedals>Return), however, older Peavey amps are notorious for not having a Master Volume, which means the volume will be controlled by the pedals you're running into it.

Pedals such as BOSS and Digitech do not come with patch cables to connect them, and only rack units (and maybe the more expensive pedals?) come with their own power supply. The Chandler TubeDriver (80's model) had its own power cable - looked like a lamp cord