Re: Boost/buffer pedal placement
I have a small pedal chain of a compressor, overdrive,flanger, and noise suppresor before my amp/Rack setup. I wanted to buy a suhr koko boost pedal (clean/mid boost with an internal buffer) and use its internal buffer in my signal chain. I heard buffers are best at the beginning of the chain, but I also tend to keep my compressor first before any boosts/OD's in the chain....would It be best to place the koko boost before the compressor, or would I be better off keeping the compressor first and using the koko boost + buffer 2nd in line, and have the buffer coming into play from there? I'm not sure how well the compressor will take a clean boost/mid boost before it... What order should I put them? I'm not sure because typically a buffer goes before a compressor, but boost/OD goes after, yet this pedal is 2-in-1....
I would re-arrange your pedalboard and, here you are reasons.
0. Possible place for Koko
1. Noise Gate
The noise gate should be there to tame down your original floor noise.
The noise that is being generated inside your guitar and thru the cable.
The NS goal is to avoid such a noise to enter in the rest of your chain.
2. Compressor
A compressor is a gain pedal that reduces your dynamics, in a way that it lifts all your weakest signal up to a certain middle point and, tames down the loud peaks tending to same middle point. It tends to make everything equal loud, depending on the amount of the compression effect.
One of your weakest "signal" is just the floor noise, which is lifted in the same amount than your wanted subtle sound.
Because of this, the earlier the compressor in the chain, the more healthy.
And, if you clean the floor noise before with the NG, better results.
3. Posible place for KOKO
4. Overdrive
5. Flanger
6. Other possible place for the Koko
In fact, a buffer can be placed at any place in your chain, you only have to take into account that some pedals (as old school fuzzes) doesn't like to see a buffer before.
The earlier the buffer, the early the rest of your pedals see its benefits (or drawbacks).
But, the Koko is also a booster (like my Wampler Decibel+) and, in my experience, clean boosters work better at the end of the chain, just to lift a tad the already processed signal to put the tubes in their sweet spot. Also, to place a booster before modulation and delay effects can exagerate the effect and even introduce some clipping.
My Decibel+ is now at the end of the chain, after experimenting.
But, even that all the above is logic, the only logic is:
Swap your pedals and see how they react with each one stacked before or after and, get the arrangement that better serves to your taste and needs.
Sometimes, pedals should be arranged based on their input/output impedances to take the best from them.
