I've noticed that my analog delay pedal sounds great when I put it after my distortion pedals, but terrible when it's inline and then I use the amp's overdrive channel (delay before distortion). Is there any way around this besides using an FX loop? I am considering having my Super Reverb (no loop) modded to make Ch.1 higher gain but still want to be able to use my delay. Any suggestions? Thanks!

"Higher gain" is one thing; distortion is another. On a basically clean amp, turning up the preamp volume for more saturation and compression will give you a more ballsy tone and make your echo sound louder.

BUT, if you're modding your amp to get distortion all the time, and there's no fx loop; you're just asking for trouble. The echo will sound ugly and dirty and too loud.

The best way around that is to keep your amp clean and use a low-wattage amp like an old Wallensak reel-to-reel or an old phonograph player with tubes as your preamp (after your distortion pedal), and run the speaker-out into a PowerBrake, HotPlate, or PowerSoak. This will give you the tube distortion you want. Dial that PowerBreak signal all the way down to a quiet line level so you don't toast your stompboxes that come later in line. Then, run that output though an eq pedal (like a Dano Fish'n Chips or a Boss EQ7) with a mild smiley-face curve to brighten the tone back up a little if it gets too muffled-sounding, and then into your echo and reverb effects.

You'll love it. Haunt the Goodwill stores for an old, low-wattage, tube phono or tape player.
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Paul d: I'v had the same problems. I am using an old marshall and my delay fx does not sound too good in front of it. I am considering modding my amp with an fx loop. My friend "Marsa" had his deluxe reverb modded with a serial fx loop between the preamp and power amp stage. He then blends his delay and reverb fx with the dry signal using a mixer. I must say that this solution sounds incredible, he is able to keep the natural sound of his amp and blend in the fx. I have tried the hotplate solution but I am not comfortable with the way this affects my sound, espesially when using overdrive/fuzz in front of my amp.

Thanks guys, I should clarify my question a bit: I'm planning to take Ch.1 of my Fender (which I never use, I always use Ch.2) and do 2 things: add reverb/vibrato to that channel, and modify it for higher gain (the guy doing it said it would sound "Marshall-esqe", I don't think he's talking real high gain b/c he's basically a blues rock player like myself). I'll then use an A/B box to switch back and forth, giving me two channels that I can EQ separately, one clean and one with more natural gain. I'll still have all my pedals in line for both, I'm just wondering if I can still use the delay with both channels or if the higher-gain channel will sound dirty and too loud as mentioned. I guess I'll just try it and see!

You may not hate the tone of your echo through the high gain channel, depending on how distorted it is. Eddie Van Halen used an EchoPlex through his hot-rodded Plexi in the early days, and it sounded great. Notice, though, that he always had the echo mix turned way, way down?

You'll probably find that the "right" echo level will be very different for the two different amp channels, though. One solution would be to get a second delay and have each one dedicated to a different setting if you can't bend over and tweek your knobs during a gig. That would still be a drag, though, if you were using delay AND both amp channels in the same song; you'd have to either do a pedal dance or make yourself a more sophisticated A/B/Loop switching system for one-stomp channel and effects-loop switching.

Hey; more complicated things have been done! Imagine how many switches David Gilmour would have to stomp without his MIDI-powered effects-loop/amp selector to get through "The Wall" live...

But, as long as you're having your amp modded anyway, why not add the fx loop too? That parallel fx loop mixer sounds like a good idea. The Marshall TSLs have that feature stock.

Oh yeah; DUH!

If you had 2 delay pedals and a regular A/B box, you wouldn't need any kind of fancy loop selector. You'd just put the delays between the A/B box and the amp channels. Then the delays would be waiting for you in whatever state you left them last as you switch channels.

This still assuming that you'd find the need for 2 different delay settings for the 2 amp channels as I theorize.