Hi Brian, and welcome.

I know that common sense dictates that you should run the 11R into the effects return of the amp, but it's not a law... whatever sounds good to you is the right way to set it up. You should try it into the front input of the amp. It's likely that you'll need to turn the treble on your amp way down, or even off, and adjust the mid and bass knobs, too, but it might work for you. It certainly does for me when I put the 11R into my Seymour Duncan 84-40.

As for sounds, perhaps you can offer Singtall, a tone guru here on the forums, a modest donation and he'll send you a link to the Singtall Superpack. This collection of presets is not only huge but also very varied in tone styles and they are, quite simply, the best-sounding collection of 11R tones available anywhere.