Effects chain

[mullyman]

Ok, guys, I've never been one to use effects. I've always plugged straight into my Mesa and went on about my business. Lately I've acquired a few pedals and I'd like to know what order they should be in on the pedal board. So, what I have.....

Dunlop EVH Wah
Boss Blues Driver
MXR EVH Phase 90
MXR Carbon Copy delay

I plan on adding an MXR Chorus in there someday. Any advice on the current chain, and the future chain, would be greatly appreciated.
MULLY

 

[Patrick from Davis]

A Big Muff Pi is a fun one.  I would also put the delay based effects (Echo, Chorus, Flanger, Reverb, Vibrato (Which in non Fender speak is Tremolo, yeah I know it isn't a delay based effect)) in the effects loop and the other ones before the amp.  A Whammy pedal is fun, but I don't really have a use for one other than to make odd noises.
Patrick

 

[yyz2112]

Delays are usually post gain, but I have seen some guys use them before distortion. Experiment with the wah and phase shifter, different strokes...
Let your ears decide what sounds best.

 

[Return of Guitlouie]

I agree that experimenting and deciding for yourself is the best way to go, but with what you have listed, what I would do is this

Blues Driver>Phaser>Wah>Delay, and when you get the chorus put it between Wah and Delay.  Time based effects usually sound best at the end.  Wahs are tricky,  though.  Depending on what frequency range they sweep (and I have no personal experience with the one you have listed) sometimes before the phaser is better.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Wah always goes first, chorus next, then phase 90, blues driver, then amp.

Put the carbon copy in the loop.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Wah always goes first...

I would agree, but this is preference thing.  Like arguing Mesa vs. Marshall or Ford vs. Chevy, I've heard different guys arguing the pros and cons and lists of artists that do both.  The only "always" for a signal chain I can think of is a noise gate at the end.

 

[yyz2112]

Wah always goes first, chorus next, then phase 90, blues driver, then amp.

Put the carbon copy in the loop.

All due respect, there is no such thing as "always" when it refers to players' preferences. For instance, I personally hate chorus before phaser, and phasers can sound just as great after distortion (in the loop or after a dirt box) as before distortion. Depending on what you want the wah to do, putting it near the end of the chain or post gain can be very effective, as putting it in front often limits frequency bandwiths.
Ask enough players and you'll likely be at square one, so I repeat...experiment.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Wah always goes first...

I would agree, but this is preference thing.  Like arguing Mesa vs. Marshall or Ford vs. Chevy, I've heard different guys arguing the pros and cons and lists of artists that do both.  The only "always" for a signal chain I can think of is a noise gate at the end.

I had a conversation with Robert Keeley when they were building my Nova Wah. He told me that the inductors and circuits of wahs like the dynamic signal straight from the guitar. Other pedals, buffers, etc take away from the tone of a wah pedal. My chain is guitar, Morley Bad Horsie II, Nova wah, then compressor, and on down the line,........

 

[mullyman]

Right now my order is

Wah --> Blues Driver -->  Phase90

The delay is a birthday present that I won't be getting until Saturday at my b-day party. And don't you girls forget that tomorrow, February 12th, is my birthday.  arty07:
MULLY

 

[Dan025]

those are good ones, the blues driver doesn't have much distortion but it sounds sooo much better than anything that resembles a tube screamer (bosses other overdrives are almost identical to a tube screamer)

there is this idea that modulation type pedals (phase/flanger/chorus) pedals need to go before the distortion as distortion is a clipped signal so it is not a series of sine waves. i guess the idea is that a digital processor might have trouble determining the frequencies contained in the signal and modulating it. so the normal chain goes wah-clean boost/compression-mod type pedal-overdrive-delay. but there is no reason that the delay can't go anywhere or the compression cant go after the mod pedal.

i personally have tried it both ways and dont hear any negative quality to distortion before the modulation pedal.

 

[mullyman]

those are good ones, the blues driver doesn't have much distortion but it sounds sooo much better than anything that resembles a tube screamer (bosses other overdrives are almost identical to a tube screamer)

My big amp is a Mesa Dual Rectifier and I just use the gain from that. The only thing I would add would be chorus and delay. The Blues Driver is used with my Fender Blues Jr. to just beef it up a bit.
MULLY