what is the proper order of effects, before amp or after on the rack with the GDEC3-15?

No rules, whatever sounds good.

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No no and no

Nikininja, sounds good. Thanks for the comeback. I think I might have to experiment by swapping them around before amp and on the rack.

Well what is on the rack? Or do you mean the effects loop?
It really is all about choice. I've a Way Huge delay, most people agree that delay sounds better at the very end of the effects chain, in the effects loop. However this delay of mine sounds terrible unless it is first in the signal chain.
That is an example, not a rule. Someone else may think the exact opposite to be true. And with any other delay pedal, I'd agree with em.

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No no and no

Very generic advice would be: comp, drive, mod, then amp. Sometimes putting the modulation between the preamp and power amp. This would be like a starting point, then swap as needed.

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My ability to spell is in direct proportion to the amount of coffee I've had.

Even though I have amps with dedicated effects loops,I never use them,prefering instead to plug my pedal chain directly into the amp input.No matter how good the amp or effects loop,I have found that effects loops are tone robbers and even though I've tried many,none are as good as plugging directly into the dedicated guitar inputs.

The order I put my pedals is Guitar-wah-overdrive-octave fuzz-distortion/fuzz-tremolo-chorus-vibrato-Leslie Simulator-phase shifter-flanger-digital delay-amp.

Effects loops are pretty well a latecomer in guitar electronics and for years and years myself and many others did quite well without them and as for me,I'll continue to.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Effects loops will sound bad (suck tone), if the signal is not matched up with the return. If you make sure your signal level is what the return is set for it should sound good. Some people just don't like them no matter what. If you use your pedals for your drive and pretty clean setting on your preamp, there's probably no audible difference with the modulation effects. If you use heavy distortion from the preamp then that's a different story.

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My ability to spell is in direct proportion to the amount of coffee I've had.

Guitar > Digitech Whammy DT > Planet Waves strobe tuner > Electro Harmonix Hum De-bugger > Morley A/B-Y!

A > amp input for pure tone.

B > Zoom G9.2tt with the Zoom output > line-in input of the amp.

Both signals going from the amp head into a 4 x 8 cab, w/ an emulated line-out into a TASCAM interface.

The amp head has a footswitch for clean and gain, and the amp head runs with the speaker in stand-by, or not, so the emulated out is always on > TASCAM > Sony MDR-7506's, TASCAM > Alesis 320's.

When I want to, I run the Zoom stereo > TASCAM.

sssssmokin' hot setup!

When I need to and am able to, I'll be running stereo heads n' cabs and will use an A/B stereo Y switch!

I agree w/ guitslinger, effects loops suck, and I found the order he puts things in is similar to what I do via the Zoom into the head's power amp, the Zoom a full-blown pre-amp with mono and time based effects that can be chained traditionally or in reverse. The reverse order usually gets jumbled up and is nut usable, but there are some interesting sounds there too!

So yeah, there are no rules, whatever sounds good!

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