Thread: important placement question

The compressor should go first for least noise and most impact.

The wah and/or EQ can go before or after the distortion, depending on your tastes and preferences.

The location of the noise suppressor would depend on the sequence of the other things. Some folks feel the need to stick it last in the chain to take care of ALL the accumulated noise, but my sense is that it has to be used in too heavy-handed a way at that location.

The delay is probably best situated last.

Originally Posted by guitaristgibson

Ok i have a


boss noise supressor
boss compression sustainer


boss dd-7 delay ( ALSO A LOOPER )


ok here is my question, i run all my pedal form amp> guitar and i need to know what order to place them in to get the best sound and most noise reduction, but there is one thing, my boss pedals have to stay in a group together, cause im running them all off one power supply, and what order should i put my boss pedals in?

so im basicly asking you to fill in these gaps for me

AMP - ? - ? - ? - ? - ????? - GUITAR

the five question mark is my group of boss pedals which im not sure were to place, if someone could answer this for me i would be insanely greatful

thanks,
GG

Guitar > Wah > Whammy > Microsynth > Worm > Distortion > Equalizer > Suppressor > Sustainer > Delay > Amp

I'll be honest, this is ugly. Ideally, you want your equalizer directly into or out of the wah (as the wah is also a 'filter' pedal), followed by distortion, but most people (myself included) agree that you want the delay to be as close to the end of the effects chain (closest to the amp) as possible. Putting all five of those pedals together means you can only accomplish one of the two objectives.

It's tough to say how my suggestion will sound...experiment with moving that block of pedals up directly after the wah, and see if that makes a difference.

Happy Tweaking!

thanks alot this really helped alot

many hours of tweaking ahead!

thanks tons,
GG

Here's the way I see it, for function, then noise... and it will still be very quiet.

Guitar > Wah > MicoSynth > Whammy > Comp > (worm) > OD20 > EQ > Noise suppressor > (worm) > Delay > amp.

A couple things to note:

1) you can still have all of your BOSS pedals next to eachother for powering, just use different patch cables for routing. But NEVER let your physical location of pedals determine effect order.

2) You'll notice two (worm) locations. Depending on how you use it, both locations will be great! After delay can be fun too!

3) Get a true bypass mod / loop for that wah.

4) Does your amp have an FX loop? Delay and worm are great in there...

5) Like Mark said, the noise suppressor can be come "limiting" and over-used in this location, but it does "catch" all of the noisy pedals - comp, dist, eq - before the delay, which can help out for some things.

6) Whammy after microsynth makes for all kinds of gunk-u-lated fun!!

7) consider the comp directly after the wah to assist with pitch tracking for the micro and whammy.

Experiment, have fun!!!

There are effects which depend on the level of what they receive to do what they do, and effects which don't. So, because a tremolo keeps changing the level, and because a compressor reads the level of the input signal and tries to keep it constant, a tremolo is clearly something you do not want to put in front of a compressor...if you want the compressor to work right.

There are effects which add frequency content, and effects which take/carve it away. Wahs, autowahs, EQ, phasers, and Uni-vibes (and the Worm) fit in that latter category. These can be placed before OR after an effect which adds frequency content. If placed after, they dictate what of the existing (and added) frequency content is allowed to pass through. If placed before, they can determine how much or what kind of frequency content is added. This also changes the tone, but in a different sort of way.

Case in point. A phaser placed after a distortion yields a clearly sweeping and fairly resonant and focussed sound. A phaser placed before a distortion yields a much more even and unfocussed sound. Something you'd describe as animated or gurgly, rather than explicitly swept.

take those considerations in mind and think about what you want the inter-relationship between your effects tobe. there are clearly going to be cases where you will not have pedal B, F, and H on at the same time. So consider the likeliest combinations, and decide what needs to go ahead of what else to produce the desired tone.

There are effects which add frequency content, and effects which take/carve it away. Wahs, autowahs, EQ, phasers, and Uni-vibes (and the Worm) fit in that latter category. These can be placed before OR after an effect which adds frequency content. If placed after, they dictate what of the existing (and added) frequency content is allowed to pass through. If placed before, they can determine how much or what kind of frequency content is added. This also changes the tone, but in a different sort of way.

Totally agree, however... there's always that mojo between wah and pick-up that always disappears behind a buffer. This doesn't happen so much with some of the auto-wah's, and EQ's, and I've not yet dipped into the world of "real" analog Uni'vibes, but something to investigate to see if you like it, or don't.

Originally Posted by Alien8

Totally agree, however... there's always that mojo between wah and pick-up that always disappears behind a buffer. This doesn't happen so much with some of the auto-wah's, and EQ's, and I've not yet dipped into the world of "real" analog Uni'vibes, but something to investigate to see if you like it, or don't.

True.

There are also distortions that respond well to changes in the tone of the input signal, and distortions that don't. I've probably got a good 2 dozen or more, and there are some where you can't tell if the bridge or neck pickup is on, and others that respond very nicely to a wah placed ahead of them, or even changes to the guitar tone pot.

ok nowim confused

ok from guitar to amp what is the general consensus to get the absolute best sound out of each pedal?