NOT QUITE SOLVED THANK YOU why do i need a bus?

Output the track to a bus, not a send.

 

when I route it to the bus I loose the EQ I put on the kick

 
If you have the EQ on the bus and not the track, this is exactly what you would expect.
Move the EQ to the track.
 

ok, i should have made myself clearer (more clear?) anyway, instead of EQ i should have said effects. @GOSTABO that is another thing i'm mystified about. the relationship between SEND and where something is routed to.
my main concern is, if i have an effect on the snare and use both SEND TO DRUM BUS and (at the bottom of the strip) output to the drum bus. 
somehow the effect i used on the snare seems to get lost or buried when i solo the drum bus.
i've been reading and watching tutorials on SENDS, but i'm having a hard time understanding the benefits/drawbacks of them.
i know for most of you this is recording 101. however, if i don't ask i won't know. 

Ok now we're getting somewhere. When you route a channel somewhere (i.e. select an output destination at the bottom of the channel strip), that is where all the output of that particular channel goes. Everything, or in certain cases almost everything post fader is going to go to what is selected at the bottom on the channel strip. Those certain cases mentioned in the previous sentence would be cases where a aux send is used.
 
Aux stands for auxiliary which for our purposes here, means 'in addition to'. So an aux send is creating an additional output for the signal. Now some portion of the signal goes out the aux send and some portion ALSO goes out the channel output. 
 
For effects like EQ, I use the effects rack inserts because I want all the signal processed. For effects like reverb or delay, I also use effects rack insert most of the time. This way any output of that channel sounds the same no matter what. This method works perfectly in cases where the reverb/delay/etc is set and never needs to change throughout the song. But sometimes you want the reverb to change. Lets say I want a little bit of reverb on the snare during most of the song but I want a lot of reverb on it during the bridge section. 
 
This is where I'd set up the reverb as an aux send. Create a new audio channel and put my reverb in the effects bin. Then add an aux send to the snare and patch the output of that send to the input of my reverb channel. Now I've got a knob that I can easily automate and I can 'send' a little bit of snare for most of the song, but then turn up the knob and 'send' more snare to the reverb during bridge of the song. Patch the output of the reverb channel (bottom the channel strip) to the same bus as the rest of your drums and everything should be seamless.

I've returned. I have 4 vox tracks. I made a vox bus then I put the output (bottom of strip) to that bus. on that bus I inserted 2 effects. questions follow.
i'm still not sure of the sends. when the blue light is lit it's post fader. which fader is it, is it the main fader or the knob that's on the send. how do I blend the tracks with the bus with the FX on it? also,
I want to put an effect on 1 vox track. and not have it effected by whats in the bus, do I simply change the output to the main?
 

Something to bear in mind, from a technical standpoint, is that 'bus' can mean lots of things in studio land. In this case, you seem to be referring to an internal group bus. To answer your original question, "Why do I need a bus?" The answer is you don't. However, ask the question, why do I need a group bus? And you have your answer. To group things. Why do I need an effects bus? Again the answer is in the question. To have a single effect or effect chain that you can send a portion of multiple signals to.

thank you all. i am now at peace with the world. (sort of)