Console emulation not responding

Hi there.  I am doing a mix. MY kick drum track is going through the console emulation and then into a Fx chain bin (is that what it is called?) on the same strip before routing to the master bus.  The console is switched on with some drive but the meters are not responding. No matter how high I turn the drive up there is no response.  Am I doing something wrong?  Can I mix the channel strip with 3rd party plugins in the FX xhain bin?