Effects Placement/Chain

[benjaturner]

I'm sure this has come up before but I've only been coming here a short while. So sorry to all the more seasoned forum users.

What are your hard and fast rules regarding effects chains? I know what mine are but they're mostly based on things I've been told/overheard instead of things I found out through experimentation. I'd be interested in what other forum users think

 

[bungalowbill]

Re: Effects Placement/Chain

Wah, compressor, overdrive/ distortion, chorus, delay works the best 4 me....Joe

 

[joelap]

Re: Effects Placement/Chain

This is the general consensus on order:

Wah --> Compression/Sustainers --> Overdrives/Distortion --> Modulation Effects --> Time Based Effects.

I used to remember where filtered effects like Envelope Filters would go. I'm GUESSING before Time Based and after Modulation, but I'm only about 50% sure.

 

[Tony_H]

Re: Effects Placement/Chain

I'm sure this has come up before but I've only been coming here a short while. So sorry to all the more seasoned forum users.

What are your hard and fast rules regarding effects chains? I know what mine are but they're mostly based on things I've been told/overheard instead of things I found out through experimentation. I'd be interested in what other forum users think

There are a few general rules, like chorus and delay should be after distortion, filter (wah, phaser) should be in front of distortion etc. Other than that it takes some experimenting. I can give you my order of boxes with an explanation why it works for me.

1. The first in my line is Zoom Ultra Fuzz. It's because with certain settings the box can make some pretty sick sounds (self-oscillation) that you can control with the guitar's volume and tone knobs. This won't work if the box is anywhere else than first in line. From that, it's on to

2. my tremolo (Guyatone VT-2) to 3. touch wah (Guyatone WR-2). This is because the trem can control the wah action of the WR-2. It's pretty cool and it never fails to make my bandmates laugh. I put these two pedals before the distortion stage because I prefer the tone this way. When the distorted signal hits the WR-2, it's too squishy and it does not respond well to my pick attack. From there, it goes on to

4. Danelectro Pepperoni Phaser. I love the sound and I like it before the preamp because it adds a little gritty distortion to the tone that warms the overall sound up. From there it's on to

5. Marshall Jackhammer distortion, set for mild overdrive and a huge volume boost.

Out of the FX loop my signal goes to chorus (I'm just buying it now) to delay (I have to find one that doesn't mess with my tone yet) and a clean boost (Marshall BB-2 Bluesbreaker). When you position a clean boost pedal in the loop it will amplify the signal but not distort it as when placed before the preamp, and I plan on using it as clean volume boost.

Right now I'm having my trem, wah and phaser modded to true bypass, and as I said I'll have to find a good delay pedal that won't mess with my tone (the Dano PBJ delay sucks some serious tone). I'm currently buying the Marshall VibraTrem for chorus - not too crazy about its tones but it's got true bypass and with some tweaking it will do what I want it to.

A bit lengthy, but hopefully it'll give you an idea.
Tony

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Effects Placement/Chain

do a search in the forum and you will got lots of ideas...as a general rule this is what I tell people...

any pitch shifting devise should go as close to first as possible...this would be whammy pedals, octave pedals, etc then overdrives, distortions, fuzzes, and boost pedals, then go for the modulation stuff phasers, univibes, flangers, choruses, etc, then delay fx, then EQ fx..the thing I left out is a wah pedal...this is the one thing that causes the biggest stir...some guys runthem after the overdrives and fuzzes, some guys runt them before, some guys run them first, etc...you soulud also put any tuner that you use as the VERY FIRST thing...that way it gets the strongest possible signal! Remember...if you find a specific sound with a different order it's not wrong, just different! This is my signal chain right now...

-Boss Tuner
-Vox Wah
-Boss Octave
-Boss Tremolo
-Spina DS-1
-Pro Co Rat
-Duncan Pickup booster
-Lovetone Brown Source
-EH Small Stone
-EH Electric Mistress
-Boss Delay

Good luck...like I said do that search and you'll find lots of cool stuff

 

[benjaturner]

Re: Effects Placement/Chain

I've got a MXR compressor, MXR EQ and I'm thinking about getting a volume pedal. I think these three would come first in my chain but I'm not sure which order.
I'm thinkingh

 

[benjaturner]

Re: Effects Placement/Chain

I've got a MXR compressor, MXR EQ and I'm thinking about getting a volume pedal. I'll take the tuner out from the volume pedal. I think these three would come first in my chain but I'm not sure which order. I'm thinking:

Volume Pedal >--> Compressor >--> EQ

I'll have to experiment with the effects of the compressor on the volume pedal to find out for sure. I'm after a Mark Knopler type violin sound. What do you think?

 

[Chaos]

Re: Effects Placement/Chain

I've got a MXR compressor, MXR EQ and I'm thinking about getting a volume pedal. I think these three would come first in my chain but I'm not sure which order.
I'm thinkingh

Compressor ->EQ ->(distortion) ->EQ (your choice on the EQ)

Volume pedal in the effects loop last or second to last if you have a delay pedal.

No reason to have a volume up front - that’s what your guitar volume knob is for. A volume pedal at the end of your effects loop will give you an 'instant off' feature with no noise from your pedal chain. It won't clean up a distortion pedal like your guitar volume control so the combination will have more versatility.

Always put your delay after the volume so the decaying signal can fade away gracefully.

 

[Kac]

Re: Effects Placement/Chain

There are no rules set in stone, but effects that work with timing such as delay usually work best at the end of the chain, but you never know, you may be the case in which it's not that way... mine is:

Fender Tuner > Volume Pedal > Wah > DS-1 > Blues Driver > Boss Hyper Metal > Chorus

If I could add one thing it would be a Boss Delay pedal at the end of the chain.

Rock On :headbang:

 

[Closed Eye]

Re: Effects Placement/Chain

Yeah, my setup is pretty traditional in terms of "sticking to the rules" except my tremolo placement (which I may move when I get home) and my boost/OD:

Boss OC-2 Octave -> Dunlop TS-1 Tremolo -> Dunlop Wah -> Zakk Wylde Overdrive -> MXR Phase 90 -> Boss DD-3 Digital Delay

Any purist would go: Octave - OD - Wah - Tremolo - Phase - Delay

(although some guys would put the Tremolo first since it's a volume adjustment)

An interesting thing to note is that Mike Einziger of Incubus actually sticks his Boss OC-2 Octave at the end of the effects chain, closer to the amp, instead of the first thing.

 

[Chaos]

Re: Effects Placement/Chain

An interesting thing to note is that Mike Einziger of Incubus actually sticks his Boss OC-2 Octave at the end of the effects chain, closer to the amp, instead of the first thing.

I would think that the octave pedal would have an extremely hard time locking and tracking (intended) notes at the end of a pedal chain. Probably cool for sound effects but too unpredictable for conventional use.

Side note: the Polyphonic mode on the Boss OC-3 alone is worth replacing your OC-2 (OC-3 can function like an OC-2 if you still want it).

 

[Closed Eye]

Re: Effects Placement/Chain

I dunno, Mike's octave sounds on "Privilege" and "When It Comes" are pretty thick and juicy, if you know what I mean. I'm not sure how he gets IT to track like that at the end of the chain.

Side note: the Polyphonic mode on the Boss OC-3 alone is worth replacing your OC-2 (OC-3 can function like an OC-2 if you still want it).

I actually started out with the OC-3. It's not that I didn't like the OC-3 because it's an excllent pedal, but I sold it in order to buy an OC-2 off of ebay. The two, to my ears anyway, are two differant kinds of octave sounds. I preferred the OC-2 since I never used the polyphonic octave nor the "distorted/fuzz octave" mode on the OC-3. I didn't want the bells and whistles, just the the phat riffs.