Effects ON result in very high sound levels

[Potatohead]

Hi guys.

Can anyone explain to me, why having the following effects turned on increase sound levels? Reverb, Chorus, Flanger and Delay to some extent all increase my sound levels.

In my situation it's only real nuance is when going through presets and the levels either go through the roof when I have the sound level dialed in to a patch with no effects on, or vice versa.

Is this normal, or is it a flaw on my end? Ie. my setup.

[DrJustice]

It's normal - nothing wrong with your setup. Chorus and flanger can add a few DB, reverb and (non extreme) delay a bit less. I just stacked chorus, delay and reverb with all parameters at 50%, and get maybe 4-5 dB increase. If I go crazy with feedback, send dry/wet it'll double that again.

This is the nature of many fx types. Chorus is a feed forward fx with multiple voices, flanger is a feedback fx, delay is a feedback fx, reverb is a feed forward fx, and so on. These are "sound on sound" fx, and so the levels can increase with unpredictable amounts. I run into the same things using fx in other scenarios. Some fx, in particular feedback ones, can be "dangerous" level wise at extreme settings.

I wouldn't worry about it, and just use the Preset Volume, which has a range of -12 to +6 dB, to take the level down when the fx are set up.

[Potatohead]

Thanks a lot for the thorough explanation Btw I recognize you from Gearspace, and just wanted to say that your quality of posts is really up there. So thanks for the doing what you do