Ordering pedals on pedal board

[anaerobe]

I am a bit of a luddite when the topic shifts to pedals. For years I used amp-based distortion (channel switch or sheer volume) if anything. Recently my collection has grown (inversely to my sonic insight ) as has the distribution of genres of stuff I will play.

I have a Radial Tonebone trimode pedal (12AX7 distortion), a BYOP big muff clone (sold as "Large Beaver"), a Zoom 2.1 multi (used for a tuner), a EHX Memory Man delay, an old DOD compressor, DOD stereo flange, and an EHX nano reverb pedal. I'm running this in front of my Univox U-1246 bass tube amp piggybacked on a homemade 2 x12 cabinet loaded with an Eminence Man o War 12 plus an Electrovoice alnico SP-12).

Quick question: Tapping into the experience of this bunch, what are the best ordering of these kinds of pedals? What do you have and what order do you like?

Thanks,

Ian

EDIT -> I found some info on the web - whether or not its useful is _a damned good question_. (It could have been posted by a member of the Teletubbies). I've thrown it up there only to kickstart the discussion.

• Your guitar
  
• Tuners: Although tuners are safe to place anywhere in the signal chain, try to make it the first pedal in the chain, so it receives the completely clean, unprocessed signal from your guitar.
  
• Filters: Here is where you place your wah pedals, auto-wahs, envelope filters, and (sometimes) phaser pedals. These effects depend highly on the dynamics of the signal, so we want these effects to be as close to the unprocessed signal as possible.
  
• Compressors: Placing a compression pedal here will even out the dynamics, and provide a smoother, consistent tone for the rest of the effects in the chain to work with.
  
• Distortion/Overdrive/Fuzz: Unless you want some really wacky tones, it is highly recommended that you place your distortion, overdrive, and fuzz pedals before any modulation and time-based effects.
  
• EQ: EQ’s are often used to shape the tonal character of distortion/overdrive/fuzz pedals, so it is only logical to place them right after these effects. Another common use of an EQ pedal is quick and easy volume boosting during a solo or standout part within a song.
  
• Pitch-shifting: Pitch-shifting pedals work best with compressed signals, so it should certainly appear after your compressors and distortion pedals.
  
• Modulation: This is where you should place your choruses, flangers, and (sometimes) phasers. Modulation pedals seem to function best anywhere after the distortion/overdrive pedals in the signal chain.
  
• Volume: Any pedals that alter the volume level of your guitar signal (volume pedal, noise gates, limiters, tremelos, etc) should be placed towards the end of your signal path, so it affects the levels of all previous pedals simultaneously.
  
• Delay: The purpose of delay pedals, much like reverb, is to simulate an environment’s response to your guitar sound. Therefore, it should be placed at the end of your chain so it can capture all the different effects that are going on.
  
• Reverb: Reverb always sounds best placed at the very end of your signal chain, right before the amplifier. If you have any volume pedals before your reverb, then it will not affect the reverb, allowing it to decay naturally even after you have cut the signal from the guitar.
  
• Your amplifier
  

[DuoFuzz]

Hi Ian,

I found this awhile ago, it's easier reading this than me trying to explain it.

What order should effects pedals go in?

DAN.

[anaerobe]

Thanks Dan!

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