How would you order the pedals of my board?

[che_guitarra]

My pedal board has been pretty settled for a few years, so i'm going to make a custom board with my christmas present to myself - an X-Carve CNC.

Pedals
- Polytune
- Wah
- Timmy
- Arc Klon clone
- Catalinbread Mesmerizer (modulated tremolo thing)
- MXR phaser
- Analogman chorus
- Echoplex delay
- Boss analog delay
- Boss reverb

I'm also pretty settled on the signal chain, but before I set things in stone, i'm wondering what order you'd run these in. Is there a best order for modulation-style effects? And how should I stack delays (faster settings before slower, or slower settings before fast... tape before analog, or analog before tape)?

Hmmm...

 

[Aceman]

Re: How would you order the pedals of my board?

If A loop:

Straight in -
- Polytune
- Wah
- Timmy
- Arc Klon clone
*Klone/Tim or Tim/Klone - whichever you like best loudest goes last

In Loop -
- MXR phaser
- Analogman chorus
*Chorus/Phase. Phase/Chorus does not matter - you won't use both at same time

- Echoplex delay
- Boss analog delay
- Catalinbread Mesmerizer (modulated tremolo thing)
- Boss reverb

I would not stack delays unless I could put them in a parallel loop.


If no loop:

- Polytune
- Wah
- Timmy
- Arc Klon clone
- MXR phaser
- Analogman chorus
- Echoplex delay
- Boss analog delay
- Catalinbread Mesmerizer (modulated tremolo thing)
- Boss reverb

 

[Blille]

Re: How would you order the pedals of my board?

I agree with Aceman, the only thing I would say you should experiment with is phaser before or after dirt, or in between. I prefer it before, others don’t.


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[che_guitarra]

Re: How would you order the pedals of my board?

No FX loop in my setup, and that's unlikely to change.

FYI, the Echoplex above is photoshopped into the equation... I don't own it yet but I plan for a delay that repeats a shade more brightly than an analog delay. Analog delay will be my 'always on' delay, usually set around 180 to 200ms. Echoplex will be a slower repeat for solo lifts, likely set @ 240 to 360ms.



Interesting you'd put the trem effect after the delays - that never occurred to me. I'll have to give it a try.

 

[Mincer]

Re: How would you order the pedals of my board?

I like the phaser before the distortion. Otherwise I'll echo Ace.

 

[Plessure]

Re: How would you order the pedals of my board?

Seeing as you plan to use two delays, i'd put them in very different places in the signal chain. Otherwise i have no input. I haven't tried nearly all of those pedals.

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: How would you order the pedals of my board?

My pedal board has been pretty settled for a few years, so i'm going to make a custom board with my christmas present to myself - an X-Carve CNC.

Pedals
- Polytune
- Wah
- Timmy
- Arc Klon clone
- Catalinbread Mesmerizer (modulated tremolo thing)
- MXR phaser
- Analogman chorus
- Echoplex delay
- Boss analog delay
- Boss reverb

I'm also pretty settled on the signal chain, but before I set things in stone, i'm wondering what order you'd run these in. Is there a best order for modulation-style effects? And how should I stack delays (faster settings before slower, or slower settings before fast... tape before analog, or analog before tape)?

Hmmm...

I think your list, as is, is almost perfect.

I would move the tremolo to just in front of the delays. I run my Pitch Shifter in front of my delays in my amps' loop.

I put my chorus in front of my phasor.

Rest is good. Experiment! When YOU like it...it's right. Nothing else matters.

Bill

 

[Blille]

How would you order the pedals of my board?

Good simple video to help choose modulation before or after delay. Tremolo at 1:00

https://youtu.be/ZY4Xe0veHiE

And phase before or after dirt

https://youtu.be/FsLZmyPIZSw

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[Aceman]

Re: How would you order the pedals of my board?

I like the phaser before the distortion. Otherwise I'll echo Ace.

Depends on the phaser, the distortion, but yeah....

 

[Aceman]

Re: How would you order the pedals of my board?

And I think of it as Tremolo before reverb, not so much after delays.

 

[LLL]

Re: How would you order the pedals of my board?

Fair warning: I think outside the box, know some evil tricks and generally speak in tube amp speak.

I'm assuming you have no stereo stomps (all mono). Also, you didn't list your amp(s). Also, I didn't look up the input/output impedances of these stomps (very important).

I always like placing time-based FX (delay, reverb) and some mod FX (stereo chorus) after any "FX loop" and after the power tubes...
e.g. after the entire amp.

How is that possible?

This is done by loading the amp down with a dummy load (Hot Plate or similar). This is called "slaving". From there, you tap a line out (Hot Plate Line Out, or far better, an isolated line out box) and go into your FX of choice. After that, you simply reamplify things into a speaker cab.

Why would you wanna do that?

For crystal clean delay repeats, reverb and modulation.

When you put these kinds of stomps in front of the amp, the gain stages muddy the effect. Using an effects loop helps with this because it's after the main gain stages, but you're still affecting things with the amp circuit power stage.

So, to diagram with text a general suggestion (from top to bottom) - keep in mind you would need a dummy load (Hot Plate or similar) and for best results, instead of the HotPlate (or similar) line out, use an isolated line out box.

GUITAR
|
wah (because of interaction w/ guitar, but may need a buffer placed immediately after due to tone suck/impedances)
|
(bonus: buffer would go here)
|
Polytune (although I would prefer a parallel line utilizing an A/B/Y box or something to hang the tuner on)
|
Klon Clone (if you "stack" the clipping stomps, may want to swap with Timmy)
|
Timmy (if you "stack" the clipping stomps, may want to swap with Klon Clone)
|
MXR Phase 90
|
AMPLIFIER (speaker out 1) -> Hot Plate set to Load
| (speaker out 2)
ISO Line Out Box
|
(bonus: EQ stomp to fine tune things)
|
Analogman MiniChorus
|
Catalinbread Mesmerizer
|
BOSS Analog delay
|
Echoplex delay (may want this out front of amp if the "chip" in it gives a pleasing edge to the tone; keep in mind this is not a real TIS58 chip running at 22-24VDC like the original Echoplex)
|
BOSS Fender Reverb
|
2ND AMP / POWER AMP (can even be an EHX .44 Caliber stompbox sized amp)
|
speaker cabinet(s)

===

Now with that out of the way, another much simpler stage-ready setup that I use myself; which illustrates again the coolness of slaving & post-powertube FX:

guitar
|
Marshall (speaker out 1) -> HotPlate set to Load
| (speaker out 2)
Suhr ISO Line Out
|
Strymon El Capitan
|
EHX .44 Magnum (stompbox sized power amp)
|
speaker cab

===

With the aforementioned setup, I get crystal clear delay no matter how much clipping/distortion is being used.

It's like having your very own portable studio FX (which is typically applied after the mic'd guitar has been recorded).

An awesome added benefit to doing your setup this way is you can get full cranked-amp tone any any volume without
attenuator mush or wimpy-toned low Master Volume settings (which lots of guitarists do cuz it's too loud, neighbors, etc).
So, you can crank your first amp, and adjust the overall volume with the second amp.

 

[Jacew]

Re: How would you order the pedals of my board?

Why tremolo in a loop? I've Always thought the gain fluctuation it causes in front of amp to be part of the effect. Haven't tried it myself, but doesn't it just act like volume shifter in a loop?

 

[Blille]

Re: How would you order the pedals of my board?

As long as you don’t put the tremolo before the comp...


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[Aceman]

Re: How would you order the pedals of my board?

Why tremolo in a loop? I've Always thought the gain fluctuation it causes in front of amp to be part of the effect. Haven't tried it myself, but doesn't it just act like volume shifter in a loop?

As always - different spots for different things.

In front, it changes the level of the GUITAR signal to the pre-amp. That will get you one kind of sound.

In the loop, it increases/decreases the total volume of every thing. Example - if you want really serious violin style/tone swells, it needs to be in the back. If you do it up front, you lose the distortion/fuzz tone that a real violin has because the attack is at such a low gain the preamp doesn't distort. In the back, the attack is already heavily distorted and gives a very different sound. Most of the Tremolo effects you have heard in the past were courtesy of fender amps, and that goes Preamp - then Tremolo/reverb.

No "correct" way - only what sounds good for what you want.

 

[Aceman]

Re: How would you order the pedals of my board?

As long as you don’t put the tremolo before the comp...


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hahahahahahah - you know someone has done this and not been able to figure out why not to do that!

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: How would you order the pedals of my board?

I look at this through the Classic lens and the experimental lens. In fact, I had an experimental/looping board separate from my standard board. For experimental stuff throw all the rules out doing what gets the sounds in your head. Reverb into fuzz, etc.

The rest of this post will concern a more “classic” approach.

The first step is to start with your primary drive. Get it dialed into your sound with your guitar and amp. Then add your second drive. Try stacking in either direction to see which works best for your setup. Then keep adding pedals, one at a time in order of importance to you, trying it in every position. It’ll take a while, but you’ll have a board that you know completely and is the right order for you.

Some things to think about:
For tremolo order, on the classic Fender amps, it goes Reverb -> Tremolo, so that’s as good a starting point as any.
For “classic” sounds I’d always want delay before tremolo, delay to thicken, then tremolo to modulate so you don’t have any odd tempo clashing from tremolo into delay. I think I like Spring Reverb into Tremolo like a classic amp, but plate/room Reverb last to emulate a recording.

For delay order, I like Analog as a shorter slap or fattening tone and a tape for longer sounds. I like short into long, try it all ways.

Tuner can go anywhere, do you need it to mute noisy gain pedals? (Should it go first or after drive)

I treat wahs, filters and phasers the same, and before drive.

Chorus and Flanger can go before or after drive for me. EVH used Flanger into amp drive and it sounded awesome. I think I prefer chorus into drive for faux-Leslie type sounds and after drive for more classic style chorus.

In the end, I’d probably be at:
Wah
Tuner
Phaser
Klone
Timmy
Chorus
Analog Delay
Echoplex
Tremolo
Reverb

Have fun exploring all the tones available!

 

[Twang Banger]

Re: How would you order the pedals of my board?

In to Out: Tuner, Compression, Wah, Overdrive, Distortion/Fuzz, Tremolo/Vibrato, Delay, Reverb. Just my opinion. I don’t use a Wah, so that part is guesswork ... the rest is pretty solid.


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[dave74]

Re: How would you order the pedals of my board?

When YOU like it...it's right. Nothing else matters.

 

[6stringerguy]

Re: How would you order the pedals of my board?

I go
Wah
Octave
Gate
Overdrive
Fuzz
Volume
Amp
Fx send
EQ
Chorus
Reverb
Fx return

 

[mwalluk]

Re: How would you order the pedals of my board?

I'd order them online.




Seriously, what everyone else said...