In what order should I run my effects?

[scott 351 wins]

I recently picked up the guitar again after 3 years off. I bought a 08 Les Paul standard with the PCB, a blues jr. tweed nos. I also have 3 effect pedals a boss blues driver, a dunlop classic wah and today i bought a mxr m-108 eq. in what order should i chain these pedals to get the best results?

[PraXis]

If the amp has no effects loop, order as follows:

Guitar -> wah -> blues driver -> mxr eq -> amp

If you have an fx loop:

Guitar -> wah -> blues driver -> amp
FX send -> mxr eq -> fx return

[scott 351 wins]

thanks i'll go plug it in and see how it sounds.

[st.bede]

IMHO....I like to think what effect what in which way....yes, there are some "problems" but even if you set it up "wrong" you might find a tone that you like for a certain thing...(but. Pwozzie did give you very good advice...but, do not be scared to experiment)

[scott 351 wins]

i like the factory clean setting of the mxr 108 brings life to my blues jr. i am glad i bought this peadal today.

[LEFTY LES]

Originally Posted by Pwozzie

If the amp has no effects loop, order as follows:

Guitar -> wah -> blues driver -> mxr eq -> amp

If you have an fx loop:

Guitar -> wah -> blues driver -> amp
FX send -> mxr eq -> fx return

Does that mean that what ever pedal is "first" in your line up, is that one going to be the most pronounced out of the three???? So with that set up will there be more well.....wah than if you had the blues overdrive first????

[notjustdrew]

Originally Posted by LEFTY LES

Does that mean that what ever pedal is "first" in your line up, is that one going to be the most pronounced out of the three???? So with that set up will there be more well.....wah than if you had the blues overdrive first????

I don't think so les. I find it best to visualise the journey your signal goes on.

For instance: overdrive is a very dynamic effect and what precedes/follows it will have a big effect on its sound. With the wah, whatever goes in comes out wah'd.

So if we put wah first, the guitar signal is wah'd and then this signal is overdriven. Overdrive compresses a signal (mostly) and excentuates certain parts of the sound, such as the treble and obviously distorts the signal. This makes the wah less clear, accentuating the overdrive, almost as if the guitar itself were making the wah sound. I find this gives a more bluesy, natural feel to the wah'd sound.

The other way, the guitar signal is overdriven and then the entire signal goes through the wah. So the driven sound is processed by the wah giving a more excentuated wah sound. This way the wah is much more obvious.

The same is true with any effect, although some are more noticable than others. Some effects, for instance some fuzzes are very strong and whatever effects you put before will be pretty much masked by the fuzz. IMO a fuzzface has to be first!

Sorry if that doesn't make sense, its quite a difficult concept to get your head around/explain.

[st.bede]

Originally Posted by notjustdrew

I don't think so les. I find it best to visualise the journey your signal goes on.


So if we put wah first, the guitar signal is wah'd and then this signal is overdriven. Overdrive compresses a signal (mostly) and excentuates certain parts of the sound, such as the treble and obviously distorts the signal. This makes the wah less clear, accentuating the overdrive, almost as if the guitar itself were making the wah sound. I find this gives a more bluesy, natural feel to the wah'd sound.

The other way, the guitar signal is overdriven and then the entire signal goes through the wah. So the driven sound is processed by the wah giving a more excentuated wah sound. This way the wah is much more obvious.

this is how I think about it (what effect what) but, there are some problems with putting od/drive pedal in front of a wha...but, if it sounds right to you then it is....and it never hurts to experiment

[LEFTY LES]

I think Im gonna just try the different combo's you know guys? I love a bluesy sound but I rarely use my envelope filter for blues. I like my wah to be voiced bvery clear and pronounced. So that being said I would more than likey enjoy the overdrive first then to the wah for a crisper wah, not a muddy what. I'll tell you it is tricky to get the envelope the way I like it. It constantly has to be adjusted if I switch pups. I have the best luck with it and get the best sound out of the lead pup (bridge) on both my LP and Strat. I think the wah reacts to a more twangy setting and clean channel on my amp. I then slowly adjust the drive till I get it where I want it. Any thoughts?? Thanks for all the imput guys...

[notjustdrew]

yeh they are abit tricky. I have mine after my turbo-rat which gives a fairly constant output peak so I don't have to change the sensitivity.

You could try changing the pickup heights to try and balance the output more if it bothers you. I know some people, such as jonny greenwood, use a volume pedal after their envelope filter to control the volume and drive of the amp but not effect the envelope response. I tried this but I like using my guitar controls to find different tones so it didn't last long for me. But some people really like it.