Signal chain order...?

ORCRiST

Hero Member
Messages
759
Hi all, in what order would you arrange these pedals/effects from guitar to amp - and is there a rule of thumb to know how to do so for future effects?

1. Overdrive/distortion
2. Delay
3. Chorus
4. Reverb
5. EQ

Thanks!


 
I would do OD/Dist > EQ > Chorus > Delay > Reverb, but there are a couple of ways to do this. The most importing thing is to not have Chorus/Delay/Reverb > OD/Dist
 
rockskate4x said:
I would do OD/Dist > EQ > Chorus > Delay > Reverb, but there are a couple of ways to do this. The most importing thing is to not have Chorus/Delay/Reverb > OD/Dist

Thanks! Thought I read somewhere EQ should always be last...?
 
I don't know, but one thing I know for sure is that your Overdrive pedal should come first. If you had a Compression pedal, that should come before the Overdrive. If you had a Wah pedal, that should come before the Overdrive.

Not sure about the EQ, but it seems to me that it would amplify any noise produced by the Delay and Chorus pedals (if they're analog). I'd probably put that before the Overdrive pedal as well.
 
It depends on what you are EQing. I put an eq after my distortion pedals to cut out the uglier boxy midrange sounds that you get when you combine fuzzes, distortions, and OD's. Some people use EQ's to fine tune the sound of their guitar before it ever hits any of their other pedals. This will determine where on the board you put your EQ.
 
I would always put tone-shaping first and spacial effects last. And modulation somewhere in the middle. Like

EQ>Distortion>Chorus>Delay>Reverb


Something like EQ is more subjective. I would never put delay in front of pretty much anything though except for possibly a reverb.and i wouldn't put anything after a reverb at all.

but that's for your typical trian of thought. Honestly, there's so many different tonal and creative possibilties when you change it up, there's just no reason to try and peg a right or wrong. I've gotten some of my best tones by placing a delay pedal in front of an overdriven amp. It's noisy and chaotic and amazing
 
I have a big board with lots of pedals on it, and my signal order is kind of dictated by my having three stereo pedals - which obviously have to go at the end of the chain. I have all the pedals you listed with the exception of EQ (I sold it because I'm happy with the sound of my guitars and never used it). WIth your list of pedals in mind, leaving out the ones not on your list, my order is: guitar > OD/DIst. > EQ (went here when I had one) > Delay > Reverb > Chorus. I'd normally put reverb last, but my chorus is stereo, so there's no good way to do that. But I find that I don't ever use chorus and reverb together, so it doesn't seem to matter. I do follow a few rules though: OD/Dist is always before modulation; compressor goes in front of OD, and wah goes before everything else.
 
mrpinter said:
wah goes before everything else.

I agree with pretty much everything else you said, but I think that Wah doesn't always have to go before everything else. If you put wah in front of a distortion pedal, you're going to compress that boosted signal (because a wah is really just a parametric eq with a footpedal to sweep frequency) signal a lot. This is neither good nor bad, but it WILL sound very different than putting the wah after distortion. I would highly recommend A/Bing the wah in front of and behind your distortion and see if you notice much difference. It will depend largely on the rest of your rig too, but I'd bet you'll hear a difference.
 
I would say it should be as follows, generally speaking:

If you have a fuzz pedal (meaning an actual fuzz pedal - some people use "fuzz" as a synonym for any distortion box, but it's really not), that goes first.

Unless you have an envelope filter (or other envelope controlled pedal), then that needs to go first.

Then wah.

Then compression.

Then perhaps phaser.

Then overdrive/distortion.

EQ can go either before or after the overdrive/distortion depending on what you want and how you use it.

Or phaser can go here, but more pronounced phasers can sometimes be "too much" when placed after the distortion.

Then flange and chorus.

Then noise gate.

If your amp doesn't have an FX loop, delay then reverb go last. If your amp has an FX loop, possibly chorus, then delay, then reverb can go there.
 
dNA said:
EQ>Distortion>Chorus>Delay>Reverb

I agree on this as well.  Especially if you are using a tube screamer (which I believe you are).  The EQ can double as a booster into the tube screamer.  I use a Tone Source into a Tube Screamer and it just sounds beautiful.  The Tone Source is basically a low gain tube screamer with great EQ shaping.

After your OD/dist you want your modulation (chorus, flanger, phaser, etc.).  Then your delay.

Have fun!
 
I'm running my Tube Screamer before the wah, but not because I think it's the correct way to do it. It's more of a case of logistics.
I just didn't want the wah pedal on the very end of my pedalboard, and I didn't want the cables looping all over to put it first in the signal chain.
Additionally, the board already had a routed opening under the wah for the battery compartment, so switching them around after the fact would not work, and I don't feel like building a new board right now.

With that said, it is rare that I ever use the wah when the 'Screamer is on, and even when I have, it didn't sound terrible.
 
here is a page with some answers
http://www.ratcliffe.co.za/articles/effectchain.shtml
I looked at a lot of pages and seems the one List broken down the most. I notice that reverbs and delays are always before the noise gate which is always last, and that eqs and dist is always first. some of the middle stuff is debatable, but this guy breaks it down further than most guys so he seems to have experimented more than the others
 
Teletuby said:
here is a page with some answers
http://www.ratcliffe.co.za/articles/effectchain.shtml
I looked at a lot of pages and seems the one List broken down the most. I notice that reverbs and delays are always before the noise gate which is always last, and that eqs and dist is always first. some of the middle stuff is debatable, but this guy breaks it down further than most guys so he seems to have experimented more than the others

I wonder why he puts the Chorus before the Overdrive.

In any case, he needs to discover the letter "Z".
 
Thanks for all the responses guys!

A follow-on/up question...?

What are 'best practices' for placing effects somewhere between guitar > cord > amp vs placing effects in the amps' effects send/return loop?

How would you combine (or would you period?) effects in the signal chain using both listed above?

Thanks again!

ORC
 
Generally speaking, you want signal-modifying effects in front of the preamp, and time-based effects after it.

If everything must go in front of the preamp (no effects loop available), then time-based effects go last.

If you have a loop, they generally come two ways: series or parallel. Sometimes, you can switch them to be one or the other. But, the same ruleset applies.

Signal-modifying effects are things like power boosters, distortion, fuzz, overdrive, filters (equalizers and wah pedals), compressors, etc.

Time-based effects are things like reverb, delay, flange/chorus, etc.
 
A little less technical description of way the fuzz or wah should go at the front is that they tend to have more of a response to the dynamics coming out of your pickup.  Once it has gone through a compressor or dirt box or... these have been largely modified and the response is not the same.  It doesn't mean that you can't run them anywhere in the chain and sound fine.  Those two types of pedals react to the unmodified signal with greater usable effect.
Patrick

 
My rig is like this, YMMV.

In the primary chain I have this:
guitar -> Wah -> Tube Screamer (rarely used but there if needed) -> Flanger -> Octiver -> Amp

Then in my effects loop:
Amp EL Send -> Digital Delay -> Reverb -> Amp EL Return

It''s pretty straight-forward, but can get any sounds I need.
 
MikeW said:
My rig is like this, YMMV.

In the primary chain I have this:
guitar -> Wah -> Tube Screamer (rarely used but there if needed) -> Flanger -> Octiver -> Amp

Then in my effects loop:
Amp EL Send -> Digital Delay -> Reverb -> Amp EL Return

It''s pretty straight-forward, but can get any sounds I need.

'Sounds like a good set-up.
 
Back
Top