It's interesting that Dave puts his pedals in front of his amps, not the FX loop. And the tone is awesome! Was also interested when Dave mentioned Duane Allman's tone on "At Fillmore [Live]." Methinks Les has some audible roots in this area. Just re-uploaded my ABB CD to hear what Dave was speaking about...
You couldn’t be more right about where I’m coming from; ABB always had a wonderfully rich sound, and are a great example of those buttery-smooth low-medium-gain tones, especially with humbucker guitars, and heck, I only play ‘buckers and P-90s.
I don’t use effects loops, either; I like the more saturated result of going in front of the amp, and fact is, countless classic rock tones that people chase after were recorded before amps had effects loops. But I’m one of ten zillion opinions on that, and by no means do I think anyone else ought to follow my example. Plus, I am not exactly a shining example of great guitar playing!
Neither my HXDA nor DG30 has a loop, and the other amps’ loops go unused at my place.
However, if I was a high gain player, I’d use a loop for time-based effects like delay if I wasn’t recording. With recording, I simply add time based effects to high gain tracks at the mixing stage, where they sound best to me.
