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Pedal placement theories?


Mike Gug

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Are there different schools of thought as far as in what order types of pedals should be placed on a pedal board?

 

With 4 pedals (Fuzz, Tube Screamer, Boss chorus, DOD Grunge), 3 guitars and 3-5 position PUP selectors on them, I'm interested in theory of placement to cut down some pointless experimenting.

 

ie. distorting first, then phasers, then chorus and then wahs? Or Wahs always first, never in the middle, but only in the late mid, early morning. NEVER AT DUSK! NO, I'D NEVER DO THAT!

Mikegug

 

www.facebook.com/theresistancemusic

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My theory:

 

1) Wah - always

2) Distortions/Fuzzes/Overdrives

3) Chrous/Flanger/Phaser/modulators

4) Tremolo

 

The treble spike of the wah that can cause bleeding ears is squashed ("squashed" being a highly technical term) by the distortion. The chorus just sounds better, IMO, after the distortion. The tremolo goes last.

BlueStrat

a.k.a. "El Guapo" ;)

 

...Better fuzz through science...

 

http://geocities.com/teleman28056/index.html

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from my experience the rule is -no rules!

why not experiment-is time that tight?

in my years of playing and seeing and listening to other players you may find some similarities in placement of pedals but man i have seen every conceivable connection made-and if it sounds good to you, thats great imo.

s :cool:

AMPSSOUNDBETTERLOUDER
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How do you find your sound having the delay up front like that? I was always told delay belongs last in the chain, or better still fed from the pre-amp.

I'm curious if you get a certain sound that you like from the delay being first in the chain?

 

Me personally, I go compression, wah, frequency modeler, clean-boost then looping pedal, with the delay and an eq box in the effects loop.

I'm with bluestrat, I prefer the wah before any other effects, except my compression of course!

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Well, I'm not much for the standard setups, I guess. I was rattling off what's on there at this moment.

 

I put it up front because I never use any other effects when I'm using the delay, that's pretty much the only reason. And I figured that the fewer cables and pedals it had to run through before hitting the delay, the better. Obviously, if you're putting effects on it with the delay on, you'd put it at the end. Well, maybe.... dunno, I'd try it both ways, anyway. :x

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There are no rules in this area, except those of what sounds good and what doesn't.

 

As an example, let's say you have distortion and a wah. If you put the distortion before the wah, (closer to the guitar) the wah-effect will process the distorted guitar. If you put the wah before the distortion, the wah-ed guitarsound will be distorted.

 

I don't know if that explanation makes sense to you, (I'm bad at explaining right now, I'm having a hangover.. :freak: ) but it's all about what effect comes first in the signal path. Try different things, and listen to the differences in the sound.

- Bob Freebird

 

A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools. -Douglas Adams

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As an admirer of Robin Trower, I would go ahead and experiment thoroughly. Some great sounds can be obtained by running a chorus or phaser or vibe in front of distortion. It kind of freaks out. I like that "throb" that you get as a result if you set it up right.
Yum, Yum! Eat em up!
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Originally posted by Caevan O'Shite:

Pedal placement?

 

In practice: I put'em on the floor.

 

In "Theory": I know I put'em in my gig-bag; where in th'HELL did they GET TO??!!?? :D

LOL!

Thank god I wan't drinking coffee when I read that!

May all your thoughts be random!

- Neil

www.McFaddenArts.com

www.MikesGarageRocks.com

 

 

 

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In days of yore I would put my wah in front of everything else. Now it's behind everything else. In those same days of yore, as today, I keep my overdrive in front of my chorus. I dunno, I think the bass I'm using now works better with the wah in back. It makes sense to me. But yeah, experiment...you have to do that with the dials anyway, why not with the placement, too?
Well, I see greenboy is back, so why the heck not....
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why not experiment-is time that tight?

Yeah, I don't get the CRANK IT UP time I'd need/like. I thought I'd invest 30 seconds to possibly cut out 2 hours of trial and error. All the POSSIBLE combinations... :freak:

 

Thanks for the input though. :thu:

Mikegug

 

www.facebook.com/theresistancemusic

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I know there are many different opinions on what type of device comes in what order in the guitar to pedals to amp chain. Do a search on the internet and you can read some.

 

I will share my experience with my Digital Delay (Boss DD-3) in my Marshall Valvestate amp. No matter where I put it in the chain, it sounded horrible (they say that delays should be last in the chain to the amp). I then read my amp manual and it specifically indicated that delays should be wired directly to the amp's send and receive effects loop. When I wired the delay as prescribed, the improvement in sound was incredible.

 

For what it's worth, here's how I have wired my devices from 1st to last place in the chain:

 

1. Guitar output jack

2. Boss Tuner

3. MXR Phase 90 (rewired for true bypass)

4. Tubescreamer TS 808 hand made Clone in true bypass

5. Tycobathe Octavia hand made Clone in true bypass

6. Dunlop Crybay Wah (rewired for true bypass)

7. Ernie Ball Mono Volume pedal

8. Amp input jack

 

Note: the Boss DD-3 Delay is separately wired to the amp's send / return effects loop.

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