I have a pedal board with a Zoom G2 and a Boss SD-1 perdal. Right now the order is guitar>G2>SD-1> amp. I'm getting a Boss Fender Twin Reverb pedal and my question is: Is there a recommended order for the pedals on the board (should the overdive pedal come before the multi-effects pedal?, should the twin reverb pedal come after the mulit-effects pedal?, etc.) Any thoughts are much appreciated.

I'd put the drive pedal before the multieffects unit and the ampclone pedal after it. Also if you have a effects loop on the amp dont plug into the front end of the amp. take the out lead from the amp clone pedal and plug it directly into the effects return. By going into the front end of the amp you over equalize everything which leads to those horrible fizzy treble, woofy bass sounds. Also the amps front end gain messes everything up, even on clean channels unless your using a keyboard amp with its eq set perfectly flat.. If you go direct from the multi effects into the effects return of the amp you will notice a jump in sound quality too. You'll need to re-adjust your multieffects eq settings though.

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No no and no

I usually have mine like this:

Guitar
Wah
OD-2 (over drive/Distortion)
MT-2 (Metal Zone)
EQ
Flange
Chorus
Amp

I never use the 2 distortions at the same time nor do I use the Flange and chorus at the same time, just as needed for what I happen to play.

If I had the TWIN REVERB pedal, I would that before the amp. I would see how that sounded, then adjust pedal position until it sounded good. But that is the order I would start with.


RK

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

I found this posted on another website. I have shared this before.


Personally, I find it helpful to think of effects pedals as being in the following categories:


Preamp-type effects
Noise Gates
Volume-based effects (Slow)
Time-based effects
Volume-based effects (Fast)
Post-production effects
Preamp-type effects. These pedals establish your basic sound, and include Compressors, Clean Boosts (if you have a tube amp), Overdrives, Distortions, Fuzzes, and Preamp modeling pedals. They're usually placed in order of the amount of harmonic distortion they are introducing into your signal (e.g., Boost before Overdrive before Distortion before Fuzz). This is HIGHLY subjective, though, as some fuzzes sound better before distortion pedals and vice versa. Some people like to have an EQ pedal here as well. If you consider that a Wah pedal is merely an EQ filter pedal, you can see that they usually fall in this category as well. Whether you use it before or after your preamp pedals is really a matter of personal taste. IIRC, early non-master volume tube amps had their tone circuits before the amp's preamp section, while many newer master volume tube amps and nearly all solid state amps have post preamp EQ sections these days.

Noise Gates. These pedals act as noise filters to limit the amount of line noise, static, or hum you've created up to this point from getting to your amp. They're especially helpful when you're playing heavy metal with a Strat and a cheap cable under florescent lights.

Volume-based effects (Slow). Lots of people like to put volume pedals before their delays and other time based effects. This allows them to have cool fade-outs and smooth violin-like sounds when they play. Volume pedals tend to sound really good here. Some people like to put their volume pedals before anything else in the chain, but I find that hum, static and line noise brought about by the preamp pedals can still make it's way to the amplifier that way. Also, if volume changes occur too fast at this part of the signal chain, it can create a lot of sonic clutter - especially if you're using a lot of other effects down the audio chain. That's why Tremelos generally don't sound too good early on in the chain.

Time-based effects. These effects are typically added to add width, depth, and length to your basic sound. They typically sound more natural AFTER a distorted guitar signal, which is why a lot of players prefer to put these types of effects in the effects loops of their amps - after the preamp circuits. Also, it sound most natural to have shorter delay times followed by longer delay times followed by the most ambient effect of all - reverb. Typically, this means Flanger (1-10ms), Chorus (20-30ms), Phaser (>50ms sweeps), Delay (>50ms), and then Reverb last. That said, these are definately not hard & fast rules - just ask The Edge.

Volume-based effects (Fast). Tremelo is a great volume-based effect, but it often moves so fast it blurs your sound if it comes before your delays & reverbs. Many people find that using it after their time-based effects allows it to sound better.

Post-Production effects. If you still need to tweek your sound, an EQ pedal can help here a lot. A Parametric EQ can be used to remove 60 Cycle hum, for example, while a Graphic EQ can be used to add low end to your final tone. A clean boost can work here as well but will serve a completely different purpose than the one in the preamp section of your chain. Here a small volume boost can be used to make up for the signal loss associated with the large amount of cable you've probably used to route through all of your pedals.

Using the above logic, one way to arrange pedals might be like this:

Guitar > Compressor > Wah > EQ > Clean Boost > Overdrive > Distortion > Fuzz > Noise Gate > Volume Pedal > Flanger > Chorus > Phaser > Short Delay > Long Delay > Reverb > Tremelo > EQ (if still needed) > Clean Boost (on a very modest setting) > Amp.

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Chet Feathers

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

Thanks to you all. Sounds like a lot of personal choice with recommended positions. I'm going to put the overdive pedal before the multi-effects pedal and that before the ampclone pedal. I'll see how that sounds. Again, thanks for your advice, opinions, etc......

Excellent post, good info, Mike

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The blues ain't nothin but a good man feelin bad.