Putting Pedals In The Right Order |
|
|
|
|
Sep 23 2020, 03:41 AM
|
|
 Are you pedals in the correct order on your pedal board? Some folks say one thing, some say another. It's true there is no "absolute correct way" to do anything related to guitar as it's a very personal thing to seek tone. I can say that there is a good way to go about it. For reference, here we go  POSITION 1 (FIlter Effects) Your WAH pedal (The classic dunlop wah is a good example, it sounds like the name, it makes your guitar go "wah wah") will do best as the first thing in your chain. Of course you can put it anywhere you like, and it can be fun to experiment. But typically, anything that's going to effect the attack of your tone goes in the front of the line before anything else. That way, it is getting your entire guitar tone with which to work. If you were to put your distortion pedal first, (as some folks in fact do) the distortion pedal can crush your dynamics/squash your signal and then the wah has less to work with. POSITION 2 (Compressor) A compressor (a compressor is often used to "compress" a signal. It stops the signal from going to hot or to quiet) is usually placed at the second position in the chain. It's good to put it as close to position one as possible. A compressor can bring up the level of the noise floor (the noise present when you stop playing) for pedals before them in the chain. As a result, putting too many pedals before the compressor can add noise to your output signal. POSITION 3 (Distortion) Distortion pedals and overdrive pedals (a distortion pedal distorts the signal making it more aggressive/chunky/fuzzy) are best used near or at position three. Adding gain/distortion to a guitar signal creates the rock tone we all love. Adding a lot of distortion pushes the tone from rock toward Metal. In the process, harmonics are added to the tone which make it more rich and often more thick. These aspects are passed on to pedals further down the chain. POSITION 4 (Modulation) Modulation effects (any effect that modulates your guitar signal) such as chorus and flanger pedals are best used near or at position 4. That way the signal that is going in to them already has it's filter effects (wah wah) and distortion effects (distortion/overdrive pedal) baked in. This allows your chorus and or flanger to have optimal impact on the signal. POSITION 5 (Volume Pedal) A volume pedal (looks like a wah pedal but just controls volume) can be very handy. It allows you to reduce the signal going to your amp to zero without having to touch your volume knob on your guitar. If you are trying to do gentle volume swells, for example, a volume pedal can come in very handy indeed. It allows you to use you pick hand for striking and your fret as for fretting without having to reach awkwardly for the volume knob during or right after a pick strike. POSITION 6 (Delay/Reverb) Delay pedals (a delay effect makes a copy of the signal going in and repeats it) and reverb pedals (Reverb effects simulate a sonic space like a room or stadium) are best used at the last position in the chain. When placed after a volume pedal, they still create sonic "tails" and let a delay/reverb effect decay naturally. If the volume pedal were placed after the delay/reverb, a delay effect can be cut off too early. This is just a guide, a reference. Is it the way you use your pedals? Is it how you structure your patches in your Multi Effects device or in your favorite guitar plugin? or do you do it differently? Please do share your preference This is based on an article from guitar player magazine. https://www.guitarplayer.com/gear/pedal-ord...-on-pedal-order This post has been edited by Todd Simpson: Sep 23 2020, 03:43 AM |
 |
 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sep 23 2020, 08:30 AM
|
|
Interesting, I always put my volume pedal straight after the guitar.
-------------------- SEE MY GMC CERTIFICATE  “Success is not obtained overnight. It comes in instalments; you get a little bit today, a little bit tomorrow until the whole package is given out. The day you procrastinate, you lose that day's success.” Israelmore Ayivor |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sep 23 2020, 11:38 AM
|
|
Oooops, yeah my tuner pedal first, then into THU where I put a volume first then a noise gate, my mains supply is very noisy.
-------------------- SEE MY GMC CERTIFICATE “Success is not obtained overnight. It comes in instalments; you get a little bit today, a little bit tomorrow until the whole package is given out. The day you procrastinate, you lose that day's success.” Israelmore Ayivor |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sep 23 2020, 07:40 PM
|
|
QUOTE (Adam @ Sep 23 2020, 05:39 PM)  What kind of noise gate are you using, if I may ask? It's just the one called "Quiet" in the noise reduction list, there is also a master noise reduction in TH-U but I tend not to use it as clean tones don't need it. Cheers -------------------- SEE MY GMC CERTIFICATE “Success is not obtained overnight. It comes in instalments; you get a little bit today, a little bit tomorrow until the whole package is given out. The day you procrastinate, you lose that day's success.” Israelmore Ayivor |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sep 26 2020, 01:42 PM
|
|
Oh! I thought you meant a physical stompbox.
I've never tried MXR but I'm happy with ISP noise gate. It does its job well for my tastes. --------------------   |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Oct 1 2020, 11:08 AM
|
|
Volume pedal 1st will reduce the signal to your OD and distortion pedals thus reducing the gain rather than loudness (your guitar volume can do that for this purpose)
Having it before reverb and delays near the end will affect the loudness whilst letting delay and reverb trails carry on. That's my understanding -------------------- My SoundCloud
Gear Tyler Burning Water 2K Burny RLG90 with BK Emeralds Fender US Tele with BK Piledrivers Epiphone 335 with Suhr Thornbuckers PRS SE Custom 24-08 Ax8 Fessenden SD10 PSG Quilter TT15 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Oct 2 2020, 03:36 PM
|
|
I put my volume pedal first. I like to 'swell up' my overdrives.
Fuzz and wah can be a problem if you use both as they both like to see guitar pkup impedance in front of them. Thankfully a lot of builders now make wahs and fuzzes that have a mild buffer in their output stage that mimics a guitar's pickups. -------------------- - Ken Lasaine
https://soundcloud.com/klasaine2/foolin-the-clouds https://soundcloud.com/klasaine2/surfin-at-the-country-hop Soundcloud assorted ... https://soundcloud.com/klasaine3 New record ... http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kenlasaine Solo Guitar ... https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXZh...5iIdO2tpgtj25Ke Stuff I'm on ... https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXZh...b-dhb-4B0KgRY-d |
|
|
|
|
 
|
1 User(s) are reading this topic (1 Guests and 0 Anonymous Users)
0 Members:
