Effect order observation

[tungngruv]

I just finished up 3 effects ( MXR 45/Vibe, Neoctavia and the mighty "Multi-Face") and I noticed that to me, they sound best when connected in this order: Amp-Vibe-Octave-Fuzz. I haven't ran my Wah in this yet but I think this order is contrary to everything I've ever read as far as effect order. I thought it may have something to do with the lack of a buffer but I'm not sure. Any ideas?

[MartyMart]

Let me just turn that around to see if you mean this ? :
Gtr - fuzz - oct - vibe - amp ....
That seems like a perfectly "normal" order to me  :shock:

Or did you mean to put :
Gtr - vibe - oct - fuzz - amp .... ie: for your post "amp" meant "Gtr" ??

I've always used this kind of order :
Gtr - comp - OD - Fuzz - modulation - delays - buffer -  amp

Hope I'm making at least some sense here !!

BTW with some DIY/Commercial builds the order can seriously change
the sound/volume/tone, that's due to impedance miss/match somewhere
so your "buffer" idea is correct IMO

Marty.

[tungngruv]

Or did you mean to put :
Gtr - vibe - oct - fuzz - amp .... ie: for your post "amp" meant "Gtr" ??

The above is what I meant

When I buy effects, they sound best like you describe (gtr, fuzz, octave and modulation closest to the amp). But when I run the above pedals like that, the fuzz volume acts very strange when you start backing off the guitar volume ( almost on /off effect) and the phase sounds really "overly effected", kind of nasally (is that a word?). I did read somewhere that there is no set rule in effect order, so I'll just use what sounds best to my ears. Strange though!!!

[MartyMart]

Yeah, thats kind of "odd" but I've had similar problems !
Its seems that fx with impedance of 510k - 1M , like boss etc all work
well together, as do DIY's with that kind of input impedance.
Not forgetting that Boss/etc have a built in "buffer" which helps when
there's one or two of these in your fx chain ....
Perhaps the "Fuzz" you've built has a much lower impedance, under 300k
or so ? ... or its output requires a buffer/Boss pedal before the next
pedal, such as before the "45 ... ?
Worth a try I guess ?

Cheers,
Marty.

[Steben]

uhmmmmmm....
Fuzz face's family ALL have low input impedance.
A guitar's output is quite high when backing off volume.
Fender singlecoil guitar has 250k pots as volume control, others have sometimes 500k or 1M.
Therefor fenders will sound brighter on FF's. But Low gain FF will always be brighter backing off volume than high gain, since less backing off is needed, if you follow me...

Try swapping guitar volume pot with a 250k one or even 100k if you feel like it. It will make for less noise too.
RM Axis Fuzz sounds brighter and cleaner since it has a high input impedance.