Pedal Chain question

[ihasakeyboard]

Apologies for the basic question. I’’m seriously trying dirt pedals in front of a clean amp now for not quite the first time, but close. Pedal chain is just a comp and dirt pedal in front of a clean amp. Been placing the comp first in the chain for clean tone and switching it off when switching on the dirt pedal since it compresses too, but it also seems to work ok if I leave the comp on when I switch the dirt pedal on and just turn up the level on the dirt pedal a bit. The comp is a tone press that does parallel comp, so maybe that has an impact on the result not seeming over comped. Is there a wide preference for how to set up and operate this kind of pedal chain?

[Caevan O’Shite]

I'd say that you're right in the way you're doing that; if you can find compressor settings that you like for both your clean tones and for a lead-boost hitting your overdrive pedal for bigger fatter "MORE!" on demand, with your overdrive dialed-in to sound the way you like for leaner (not necessarily cleaner) rhythm riffs 'n fills without the compressor, you'll have a very flexible 3+ sounds Win-Win-WIN. Add use of your guitar's volume-knob and your "touch" to vary from clean and clean-ish through mean to scream and you've got veritably infinite shades of KRANG...

[Winston Psmith]

@ihasakeyboard- Using a Compressor in front of a Dirt box, particularly Overdrives, is a very common practice. I know several players for whom a Compressor/OD combo is their basic Dirt tone.

 

OTOH, placing a Compressor after any Distortion or Overdrive can wind up clamping down on your Dirt tone, while potentially boosting any noise from your OD/Distortion pedal; the worst of both worlds.

 

And yes, a Parallel Compressor like the Barber Tone Press, or Compact Tone Press, essentially blends a slightly boosted Guitar signal with the compressed signal, so it sounds, and arguably "feels" less compressed, more open.

[Larryz]

@ihasakeyboard,  Welcome Aboard!  

 

+1 on the above suggestions using the compressor in front of the dirt pedal.  Back in the day when I used distortion and overdrive pedals, I used to set the compressor for a clean boost for leads and off for rhythm.  I could also use the distortion pedal on/off for leads with a little less volume (Both independently).  Then upping the game by using the compressor in front of the distortion would make it sing out with lots of lead volume and sustain (Both in concert)...I was using an older MXR Comp into an inexpensive Boss distortion.  (And later a Boss Blues Driver. And Tech21 Blonde. along with an MXR Dyna comp independent of the MXR comp). Just sticking to a Comp and a Dist pedal is all you really need LoL! Good luck and have fun with it! 😎👍

[CEB]

Depends on genre and what effect you are going for but I always place the comp pedal in front. 
 

I stay away from using both comp pedals and drives at the same time.  It can greatly increase your noise floors.   The  clean blend on something like a Tone Press lets you produce a highly compressed effect while dialing in your initial pick attack and bring back your highs.  Comp pedals can murder your highs.   Again it depends on your genre and the sound you want.    FWIW, drives do the same thing to your attack and highs.   I carry at least one drive with a clean blend. Either a Sparkle Drive or Route 66.   If I want fat I usually get that from the guitar.   Turn the guitars with hot output pickups wide open and roll off a little treble.  I will sometimes cascade a cleanish drive and a less clean drive or just use a fat sounding drive. My fat drive is the Wampler Plexi Drive.   These approaches seem to create less unnecessary noise than running pedal grade compression into drive pedals.   
 

Now if I am running amp sims and IRs direct… I always run LA2A type compression at the very end of the chain to help the entire guitar sound pop in the mix more.  This is related to direct to FOH environment and is something I learned from engineers when I played sessions.   This doesn’t apply if guitar sound is coming from a stage amp live.   Only if using something like Helix or AxeFX live.   I’m assuming you are a live player.