using 1/4" stereo to 2 mono jack cord for fx loops?

[Wounded Paw]

Anything wrong with this?  Just an idea to save space.  I'm building some pedals with parallel effects loops for more pedals and could easily rig up some short stereo to dual mono patch cords to save a little space and clutter.  The pedal with the effects loop would have the stereo jack for send and return like in smaller mixing consoles and the pedal to be patched in would use two mono jacks like normal.  In the cable you just wire the grounds together and use the tip and ring for send and return.  Sounds easy, am I missing something specific to guitar pedals that would be different than effects processors for pro audio?

[ADR]

Yep.

I built an AB box that has insert loops (closed circuit stereo jacks) and made my own insert patch cables. If there is no cable inserted, then it's as if it's not there.

This way I can switch between channels on my AC30 w/ complete signal chains in place for them. I custom fit the lengths for my pedal board and the various effects.
The reason I do this is cuz the amp would still amplify the noise if the pedals came after the a/b box. But with the insert loops, one gets grounded out when the other channel is selected, so no noise from a compressor or dirt box. Also, there is only so much real estate on my AB box, hence the stereo insert jacks.

[sfr]

Anything wrong with this?  Just an idea to save space.  I'm building some pedals with parallel effects loops for more pedals and could easily rig up some short stereo to dual mono patch cords to save a little space and clutter.  The pedal with the effects loop would have the stereo jack for send and return like in smaller mixing consoles and the pedal to be patched in would use two mono jacks like normal.  In the cable you just wire the grounds together and use the tip and ring for send and return.  Sounds easy, am I missing something specific to guitar pedals that would be different than effects processors for pro audio?

I've got a small guitar amp with the effects loop rigged up like that.  Works well enough with the pedals I've used there - although I wonder what happens when you run a real high-gain pedal through a loop like that - could having the input and output so close together lead to oscillation/noise? 

[ADR]

Naw, none that I can tell. I've run an FKR style RAT clone, a mosfet/minibooster concoction, an electra distortion or whatever I fancy that week for overdrive. On the other chain, a dyna/rosscomp clone, an orange squeezer, a phase90 clone etc.

Usually there is more white noise and the guitar feeding back than anything else, and that's due to all the gain for my designated OD channel. Of course sometimes I run a minibooster for a bit of grit in the clean channel.

I run a tillman cable preamp in front of it all. I find the buffer drives the chain very nicely, and these two boxes are the always on my pedalboard.

So, it works great, and the amount of noise it silences from the opposite chain is more appreciable than any oscillation that might occur, which is nil, that I can tell anyways.

although I wonder what happens when you run a real high-gain pedal through a loop like that - could having the input and output so close together lead to oscillation/noise? 

[rmo]

I used to do live sound work when I was in high school and all the rack mount compressors and eq's we used were hooked up with stereo insert cables, basically the same thing you're describing. There was a special jack on the mixing board for inserting the effect. I can't imagine a setup like that would be used on professional equipment if it was going to induce a lot of noise into the signal.

[ADR]

Guess where I got the idea from. 

There was a special jack on the mixing board for inserting the effect.