I prefer my Delay in front of the amp! Am I the only one???

Lately, I have been experimenting with different setups.
I've been comparing pedals vs. processor.
I've been comparing pedals in the loop vs. in front of the amp.

I use lots of gain for my distortion sounds. I like my cleans with just a little bit of hair on them.

I have found that I like my TC Electronic Flashback delay much better than my G-Major 2.
And...I have found that I like the Flashback in front of the amp much better than in the loop.

I have tried this on several amps, to rule out the possibility that I simply have loop issues on one amp.

Here is my setup:
97 PRS CE-24 (or 02 PRS McCarty)
Fulltone Clyde Deluxe Wah
BYOC OD-2 (silicon buffers, mosfet boost and clipping)
MXR Distortion + (newer version, highly modified)
Planet Waves Tuner Pedal
Digitech Whammy Pedal
TC Electronic Flashback Delay
Mesa Heartbreaker 2x12 combo (severely souped up!)
-or
Mesa Maverick 1x12 combo (severely souped up)
-or
Mesa Express 5:25 1x10 with a Mark series 1x12 extension cab

I know this goes against every thing that most guys here say they do, but it sounds much more organic this way to me.
Plus....there are way less cables to connect/step on!

If you like the sound, go for it. Just keep in mind that putting any delay (the brand is irrelevant) in front of a tube preamp that is running into distortion territory is going to cause that amp to compress and add gain to the individual delay signals, including their sound artifacts. Multiply this times ten if you're using a circuit to generate your distortion sound (e.g., analog or digital distortion pedal). This will sound noticeably less natural than it would the other way around, but if you still like it better, then by all means use it.

Probably not. A lot of us run mod FX in front like in the old days. I'm personally not fan of pre-gain delay, as it's always sounded terrible in my setups. But it was the only way to do it before they made FX loops.

Having written that, I believe most issues with FX in loops are caused by terrible impedance mismatch. Especially on old amps, there are major design problems that cause mismatch and bleed.

1. Output Impedance: amps often have a few kOhms of output impedance in the FX send. This means the effect has to have at least 1MegOhm (hopefully even more) as its input impedance, or else you will get filter effects from the coupling caps combined with source and load impedance. Usually kills high frequency and messes up overall tonal balance. This can be easily solved by adding a buffer between FX send and the first effect box.

2. Input impedance: The FX return can be low impedance (again a few kOhms). So the effect that drive FX return needs to have only a few Ohms for output impedance, which you'll never find. This is difficult to solve, and may not allow for use of the loop in a way that sounds good.

3. Time based FX are often directly copied from the designs of their studio-use cousins. So they are often set up to run large signals (+4dBu/LINE) and are set for low impedance to reduce noise. The assumption is that they will be driven by a low-impedance piece of studio gear. I could not find a spec for the Flashback's input impedance, but if it's less than 1MegOhm, this will be an issue unless the FX send is internally buffered, which is very likely not the case for an amp designed before about 2005.

3. Signal bleed: Most amps have some bleed around the FX loop, even when the loop is series or 100% wet. This is because the pre-and post loop gain stages often share the same tube, or because of circuit design or layout problems. When you have a dry signal (the bleed-through signal in the amp) in parallel with the wet signal that is delayed by a few milliseconds (because it goes through an ADC and DAC (which does NOT affect the tone, but causes a slight delay as it processes the signal), they combine and cuase both constructive and destructive interference over frequency. This is a comb filter, and it sounds like a weird flange-y artifact. You may have to set the delay as 100% wet and use a parallel path (either an internal parallel path in the loop, or an external parallel path, like with a line mixer or something liek a Rocktron Tru-Loop) for the dry signal. This almost always makes a significant improvement on the sound.

Why all the typing? I'm avoiding some work I need to do. Anyway, if your delay is having any of these problems in the loop, it will make putting it in front sound better. But it may sound even better in the loop if the impedance and bleed issues are addressed.

It sounds great in the loop.
It just sounds better in front of the amp.
Even with lots of gain.

I do keep it set to the Modulation Delay setting, so I obviously am not looking for stellar clean repeats.

The loop on the Heartbreaker is very hot. I tried my old Nova Delay in the loop and had to use it in front of the amp.

Ultimately, one should set it up however they think it sounds best, not whether it's easier, more convenient, takes less effort to learn, etc., etc. Monsta-Tone, I know you've already tried it both ways, so this is more of a general comment to everybody than to you. Starting with the pendulum swing toward brutal simplicity in the grunge years, too many guys in the last 15 to 20 years have simply not learned how to use their equipment properly, whether they didn't have someone around who could teach them or they simply were too lazy to bother. As a result, the level of familiarity and knowledge of tone and effects today isn't as prevalent, even though there are vastly more tone-shaping options today than there ever have been.

It's great if somebody tries something a little unorthodox and discovers a sound they actually like better than the prescribed way of doing things. That's how a lot of great sounds have been pioneered in the history or rock. But breaking the rules, so to speak, should always be a choice, not a limitation.

I run out front too, I dig it

I prefer the TC Flashback in front of the amp also.

Actually, I think I prefer all of my foot pedal delays in front of the amp (Boss DD-2, 6 & 7, EH Memory Toy, Jacques Prisoner, TC Flashback) for the same reason you stated also. I prefer a little grit with the delay to fatten up the tone a bit.

But I don't use them all at the same time. Only one or two get plugged in at one time.

Just outta curiosity I tried my Flashback delay on both my amps in front and in the effects loop and there was no comparison. Sounds so much better in the loop.

My DD-7 is in front of my amps at the end of the effects chain. Three of my of my four amps don't have a loop, so I really don't have a choice......I think it behaves well this way.

xxDavidxx-
Typically, if you use a lot of preamp gain, a delay will sound much better in the loop because the loop inserts after the preamp. This way the preamp distortion delays "cleanly". If the delay is in front of the amp with a lot of gain, each repeat gets distorted also, which is usually not as pleasing.

For us old-timers, I don't use a lot of amp gain, so it is less of an issue to not have/use an effects loop. If I am going to crank gain, it will be a pedal which is in front of the delay.

As always, so much is based upon one's specific use.

Yeah, it has a lot to do with the gain structure of the amp and the loop circuit.

On my Heartbreaker, it sounded much better in front of the amp. This was true with my G-Major (1 & 2), my Nova Delay and the Flashback that I have now.
I just switched to a DC-5 for weight purposes, and it sounds much better in the loop.
FWIW: I turned the DC-5 lead channel into the same souped up Marshall channel that I had in the Heartbreaker. The loops are completely different though. The loop on the HB was all tube and very hot (lots of gain) for some reason and the loop on the DC is 1/2 solid state because it shares the GEQ driver circuit.

Either way, I guess I learned that I should always experiment instead of taking it for granted.