Effect Chain: Your Favorite Order

[Arn C.]

Just curious what works best for others in their effects chains using:

Overdrive
Fuzz
Phaser
Freeper
Volume

Thanks!
Arn C.

[Johan]

ok..here goes..
guitar---> booster/distortion---> wha---> chorus/phacer---> delay---> amp

at the moment..LesPaul (allways)--> boss super od---> crybaby---> easyvibe---> boss DD3---> Marshall super bass

johan

[Ge_Whiz]

Well, I'm still optimizing my rig, but that has more than ten pedals in it at any one time. Accepting the Freeper as a generic 'Wah' (dunno, I've never built it), and given my feeling that 'overdrive' is an attempt at 'valve sound' (my OD is likely to be one-or-other ROG amp emulator), I'd go:

[Guitar]
Wah
Fuzz
Phaser
Volume
Overdrive
[Amp]

However, if the fuzz works best when connected directly to the guitar, this would have to be taken into account.

[Fp-www.Tonepad.com]

Guitar
Wireless TX/RX (not in use when rehearsing)
Booster
Wah
Compressor
Distortion(s)
Phaser
Chorus
Flanger
Delay
Looper
Amp

Damn! and that's what I use... LIVE!

[Yun]

Guitar---->Compressor-sustainer/ boosters---->Fuzz (or other clipping toys)---->Phasers, or swirly stuff of the sort---->Wah---->EQ---->amp

[pi22seven]

Guitar---> Wah ---> Phase  ---> OD  ---> Fuzz  ---> Chorus ---> Delay ---> Booster  ---> Amp

[petemoore]

 HB > BufferVol > Phaser SS [ATmoment]> 'Stratoblaster5457 >or> CMOS TSF Boost Type thing' > Tycho? > EZ-Axis Face > DigitalVerb > 50w into 2x12'' GB's
 I see alot of phasers downstream and past distortions, what is your phase of choice for that order?  

[bwanasonic]

Live:

Guitar-> <Dual bypass loop box> [Bypass loop A] Wah-> Frostwave Blue Ringer-> Dyna-Comp-> RatII[/loop] [Bypass loop B] Nobels ODR1[/loop],</bypass box> AMZ Mosfet Boost, EB Volume Pedal-> Amp-> <FX loop> Alesis Quadraverb GT [GT loop] Supa-Trem-> Boss DC2-> Line 6 Echo Park[/GT loop]-> Digitech PDS 8000 </FX loop>

For recording, I'll often go guitar->amp, or guitar->Rangemaster-> amp. Sometimes I'll swap the Dyna-Comp for a DOD 201 with *univibe* mod. When I'm using phase shifters in this univibe role, I run them pre distortion, but I used a phase 90 *post* fuzz/distortion for years.

Kerry M

[MartyMart]

Gtr -> comp -> wah ->Fuzz/OD/distortions -> swirly stuff ->booster-> vol pedal-> buffer -> amp
When recording :
Gtr -> comp -> one/two pedals -> JMP1/amp -> mic

Marty.

[Steben]

gtr > crybaby > phase45 > rangemaster > axis fuzz > Blue magic > Boss flanger/chorus BF-2 > Yamaha DDS-20M delay > amp w. reverb.

What I like to accomplish is:

... > flanger > Tube Amp > MIC > vibrato/chorus > delay/reverb > small SS amp

The WAH & PHASE pre-distortion and FLANGER post-distortion is the Hendrix - style of playing around. It isn't that metal - friendly though. For shredding I would certainly swap the wah after the distortion.
When I get a compressor It would be between the fuzz and OD. A fuzz is most at the sweet spot at full dynamics.

[brett]

Hi
currently
RGZ guitar>stratoblaster{boost}>JH{wah}>TS9/SD-1{distortion}>Behringer8channel{mixer}>Rebote1{delay}>Marshall 18 watt>12"Sammi open cab 
I only play in my lounge, which is why the mixer is upstream of the amp (so the kids can sing along thru the amp).
Favourites that are on the shelf: AxisFace, Dynacomp, Phase45, 4049 fuzz

[Arn C.]

I thank all of you for your replies!!!!
Now I have a few different ideas that I will try out and find my favorite setup.
I know it will have to be the sound that suits my taste, but to have a few examples does help a lot!

Thanks again!
Arn C.

[Johan]

...so...*scratching my head*..why are so many of you puting your wha before the distortion?...in my experiance, that just makes the effect of the wha disappear..its much more effective ( at least for me ) if it goes efter any overdrive/distortion..

johan

[Steben]

Well, with high distortion settings it's a bit true, yet a wha acts as a variable frequency booster then. Mark Knopfler used this on "Money for nothing" for example and as I heared Bowie's main guitarist did too all the time. Its also this thing one refers to when speaking of "%^&*ed wha" settings.

Yet with lower gain settings one really cathes Hendrix' voodoo tone this way. In my experience however, you should either use this with old-style fuzzes (Faces and benders) or very gentle overdrives. Metal zones and DS-1's are not good examples.

[LoudGreg]

I've been playing with two different set ups.

1) Simple set up.
Wah - OD - Phase90 - Delay - ---Amp (Marshall - tube - set to Hi-Gain)

2) Floor Board set up.
MXR Blue Box - Wah - Cmp - OD - (then to modulation effects) Phase 90 - MXR Flange -  (then to Sans Amp - used only if  going direct into the P.A./Mixer or non-tube amp set to clean) -  Boss NS (Noize Gate) - (then to delay effects) MXR Chorus - Delay DD3 - Boss Reverb  -   then to Marshall amp,  mixing board, or Whatever amp is available set to a clean sound.

MXR Blue Box reacts well if first in the chain, I like the Wah first in the chain as well (personal choice - but thinking about adding a swtching loop box to change this order on the fly (Wah - OD or OD - Wah) if I want), and I never use Cmp & OD on at the same time. It's either one or the other.  Sans Amp does a great job at replacing an actual good sounding amplifier if I don't like the amps available at the time.   

[Mark Hammer]

...so...*scratching my head*..why are so many of you putting your wha before the distortion?...in my experiance, that just makes the effect of the wha disappear..its much more effective ( at least for me ) if it goes efter any overdrive/distortion..

johan

Wha after distortion changes what parts of the additional harmonics are de/emphasized.  Wha before distortion will determine where the frequencies to distort are drawn from.  You are right that wha-after-fuzz produces a more obvious effect each and every time.  However, wha-before-fuzz can often produce a more vocal "human-sounding" effect.  Please note, though, that not all distortions sound good after a wha.  I often find that if a distortion seems to respond to changes of your guitar's volume control, then it will likely respond nicely to a wha in front of it, and if rolling your tone control this way and that has very little effect on the tone of the distortion pedal, then a wha in front of the pedal will not sound great every time.  of course, the same thing applies to autowahs.

Remember that anything that filters will by definition adjust the signal of different parts of the spectrum.  If the amplitude of some part of the spectrum is attenuated, even for a moment, then it will be farther away from the clipping threshold and less likely to clip.

Phasers, uni-vibes, whas and flangers provide filtering which can make some parts of the spectrum temporarily unable to clip (well, to push the distortion circuit into clipping) if they are placed before the distortion.  In my own experience, I have found that placing a swept notch filter of either shallow (uni-vibe) or deep (phaser, flanger) type before a distortion can often produce some very interesting "animated" sounds.  It won't give you the obvious peaks and valleys of a phaser/flanger, but rather it will give you a kind of distortion that is shaky and won't sit still...animated.  This works well at medium speeds, say, between .7hz and 2.5hz.

I suppose you can tell by my comments that I would elect to use:
booster - compressor - distortion - wha/autowah - distortion - phaser/flanger - distortion - chorus - echo - reverb, etc, etc. or some means to invert the order of some pedals.

Of course, don't get me started about how confining series processing is, relative to parallel processing.

[nelson]

Rat, Small Stone, Big muff, Axis fuzz face, Fuzz Factory , polychorus, Small Clone, Rebote delay, tremelo.

I dont have any sort of wah....yet...

[Stevo]

Keeley.com I guess that is it, has a good explanation of why each pedal needs to be where...makes real good sense to me..Like put a compressor after a distortion cause a comp. will act as a boost for the noise created by the distortion.. Lots of info on his site about pedal line ups....

[petemoore]

CHanges...
  Yesterday it was the same as today, and I liked trying phase 'here'
  HB's>Buffer>Wah>Stratoblaster>FF>EZ Vibe>3knob TB>Reverb>Amp.
  HB's...less noisy than the SC's in my Washburn, also have a nice series wiring tone, sorta close to SC Sound but W/HBing effect. Four Conductor Dimarzio's, B & N pickups wired "Dual Sound".
  Buffer...guitar pickups were not designed for use with cableS IMO.
  Wah...847 W/Yellow Fasel, BC transistors, Vocal mod, boost mod Buffer, basically every mod tried at least once. Sounds Great for once.
  Stratoblaster...generally used as cleanish boost to make the amp 'dusty' [not quite dirt], also used as 'enhancer' for the FF, EZ Vibe, and 3K TB.
  FF...for use as a FF [ ]
  EZ Vibe...this is EZV #2 for me, using higher spec parts than the first one, and closer to the 'right' input cap [larger than what seems a *very small value the schem calls for], after reading earlier posts in this thread, the EZ Vibe moved between two Fuzzes for testing, What can I say other than this order is working really great !!
  Three Knob Tone Bender...quite the beastt, with tone control, works very well right where it is, how it's set for 'solitary fuzz' also works quite well with the Jfet or the FF pre-driving it. The FF and TB, with choice of 'other' as Jfet///anyway between these three buttons are quite a nice selection of tones with increased and super increased gains...for some reason, I'd guess being four Ge's in the mix, the gain can go really high and still not 'freakout into squealing or super noisiness.
 

[KORGULL]

Right now it's:
Guitar > Comp > Wha > Blue Box > OD/Dist > Chorus > Delay > Boost > Tremolo > Noise Gate > Parametric EQ > Volume > Amp.
I think I need to mess with the booster placement again though.
Sometimes the delay is in the amp's FX loop.
Also want to try out some parallel combinations one of these days.