Effects Chain Talk, what, where, why?

Zombienosh

Y~o#~!

Hey,

Something i always play around with is where effects and pedals should go in a chain.
Lately I've been messing with my NS-2 some people say the end, some say the start, what do you think?
I usually go
Guitar ->[TU-3]->[DIST-X]->[DD-5]->[NS-2] sometimes throwing and RC-2 and the end.

rcaz

Everything should go wherever you think it sounds best.

quicklickpaddy

El Pr0n wrote: »

Everything should go wherever you think it sounds best.

True... But there are ways that sound "conventionally better" or just more pleasing to the ear

It depends on where your hum is coming from. If you are going to be leaving distortion on then it's better at the end, just make sure that it's not too intrusive

darrenw5094

quicklickpaddy wrote: »

True... But there are ways that sound "conventionally better" or just more pleasing to the ear

It depends on where your hum is coming from. If you are going to be leaving distortion on then it's better at the end, just make sure that it's not too intrusive

With your pedals, the delay would sound better after the distorion box. But, like was suggested earlier, no rules with these things.

The placement in the chain of the tuner and noise gate won't affect the tone much.

Zombienosh

Well thats why im asking I myself wouldn't get too fussy about positioning but some people swear by certain ways.

rcaz

Zombienosh wrote: »

some people swear by certain ways.

Indeed, so find your own way to swear by! That isn't meant to sound sarcastic or arrogant or anything, this is one of my favourite things about pedals, and the thing that sets individual boxes apart from multi-effect boxes.

As for 'conventionally better', for me the obvious example of this is distortion-should-go-before-reverb. Says who? If we never put fuzz after reverb, we wouldn't have sounds like Loveless.

As for positioning tuners, putting it at the start makes tuning quicker in emergencies (don't have to turn off other pedals before it before you start tuning), but putting it somewhere else can have interesting, more flexible uses. Instantly muting noisey delay oscillation is one of my favourites.

Modulation before delay? Not if you want to modulate your delay. Wah before distortion? Not if you want to filter your distortion. Etc.

I've had a lot of fun trying to figure out my own ideas and signal chains, and I think way too many people look for the 'right way' to do these things. Trust your own ear and nobody else's

quicklickpaddy

El Pr0n wrote: »

Indeed, so find your own way to swear by! That isn't meant to sound sarcastic or arrogant or anything, this is one of my favourite things about pedals, and the thing that sets individual boxes apart from multi-effect boxes.

As for 'conventionally better', for me the obvious example of this is distortion-should-go-before-reverb. Says who? If we never put fuzz after reverb, we wouldn't have sounds like Loveless.

As for positioning tuners, putting it at the start makes tuning quicker in emergencies (don't have to turn off other pedals before it before you start tuning), but putting it somewhere else can have interesting, more flexible uses. Instantly muting noisey delay oscillation is one of my favourites.

Modulation before delay? Not if you want to modulate your delay. Wah before distortion? Not if you want to filter your distortion. Etc.

I've had a lot of fun trying to figure out my own ideas and signal chains, and I think way too many people look for the 'right way' to do these things. Trust your own ear and nobody else's

Yep I'd agree with you almost 100% there. The only thing is - as proved by your thread the other week - it seems the majority of people don't want a new or interesting sound. It's great fun throwing things around in different orders and making strange sounds but, as far as I can see, more people than I would have expected want a Slash imitation sound as opposed to their own sound. To get the sounds they (no idea what the OP wants) are trying to create the conventional signal chain would be modulation before delay, distortion before modulation, wah before distortion etc.

rcaz

quicklickpaddy wrote: »

Yep I'd agree with you almost 100% there. The only thing is - as proved by your thread the other week - it seems the majority of people don't want a new or interesting sound. It's great fun throwing things around in different orders and making strange sounds but, as far as I can see, more people than I would have expected want a Slash imitation sound as opposed to their own sound. To get the sounds they (no idea what the OP wants) are trying to create the conventional signal chain would be modulation before delay, distortion before modulation, wah before distortion etc.

Yeah, there is always that. I had that in mind while posting actually. Chose to ignore it

Zombienosh, what sort of stuff are you interested in?

Zombienosh

I'm not into imitating sounds, I'm all for original sounds I was just trying to start a discussion and see what other people do with effects chains, I'm pretty in decisive and always experimenting.

quicklickpaddy

Well there ya have it! Go figure it out! I've been tempted to go and buy the same pedals twice just to have them before and after other effects

rcaz

quicklickpaddy wrote: »

Well there ya have it! Go figure it out! I've been tempted to go and buy the same pedals twice just to have them before and after other effects

I've got 3 delays, and that's one of my favourite reasons for keeping them all on. That and multitap sounds

I need another looper though, one at the start and end would open up so much.

Zombienosh

every used more than one noise supressor?

Grolschevik

Zombienosh wrote: »

every used more than one noise supressor?

Not sure why you'd need to, or what it'd do, to be honest. I do use a muting tuner as a killswitch effect sometimes... No real substitute for using the guitar controls though.