need advice on positioning pedals

W

weatherbill

New member
I have some pedals and one I'm gonna buy and would like people's opinion on what sounds best in what order. Should I put my compressor at the end or middle or at the beginning of my fx chain.
This is what I have
I have a zoom 1010 multi effects. I use the delay, reverb and chorus sometimes on it. Then I have an mxr dyna comp. then a TS9 Ibanez tube screamer and I just got an Akai VariWah and next I'm a gonna get me that big envelope filter made by I forget, but it's black and has like 5 knobs on it. I like those Phish and Jerry G. sounds.
So what's a good order to put all this in? As it is now I've been getting a good sound when I go into the zoom 1010, then the dyna comp, then the tube screamer.
 
There really is no best way and you may want to change the config from song to song.

The order can make subtle and big differences. It just depends on what you want.

Compress early for more sustain, compress later for more overall compression.

Distort early if you want a more natural reverbed and delayed distortion or distort later for a different type of sound.
 
Hey weatherbill, I could take that Tube Screamer off your hands and clean up your signal chain for ya! Seems like a neighborly thing to do :D :D :D.
 
The only thing I recommend strongly is to put the Zoom at the end of the FX chain - you don't want the chorus and reverb distorting - you want the distortion to be chorused and reverbed. This will cut down on signal chain noise big time.
 
Hey Gidge bet you'll love my live setup!:D

In order of hookup:
Samson Broadcast STD wireless XLR out to LMT
Morley Power/Wah/Fuzz (worst fuzz EVER)
Phase 90
Old TS9 Hi-Z back to
Mesa MKIII preamp to direct box XLR out to LMT
Old Ross flanger
MXR analog delay
Boss HR-2 Hi-Z back to
MKIII power amp

Sorry only one digital box. Noise is not a problem. I find that running the Lo-z out to the pedals and Hi-z back preserves my tone better than an all Hi-z setup despite the addition of 3 transformers. I got one of them digital FX swiss army knife things. It lives in my PA rack as a reverb/delay because it destroyed my tone just being in the signal path.
 
Ive run alot of stuff live, my last pedal board was about 70 lbs, I had it custom built to control my midi as well as misc. pedals like whah and some bypass swirches for all this Rockman stuff I was con'd into buying. Anyhow, you need to get some compression in there first to get control over your signal before it enters the labrynth of effects. Any wierd or uncontrolled harmonic or noise may(will) get amplified the farther they get into the chain. You don't need alot of compression just a little dab will do ya.

Peace,
Dennis
 
Hey Mr. Brane

What a setup you have ...

Look very impressive and complex !
By the way, how does it sound ?

On my side, I use a Gibson connected to a Digitech 2101 Artist 2U rack, controlled by a foot controller indicating with illuminated long words (20 characters) which setting (song) I'm playing.
The preamp section is brilliant (no need to put layers when recording Lukather type of things in order to get a fat sound).
The other effects are numerous and can be placed in the order I want just by software. Possibilities are out of range for my pocket calculator !
I must confess though that the programming is somewhat complex ...

Then the sound leaves the Digitech by a pair of balanced XLR outputs (including an active amp simu) to go ... directly into the mixer !!! No amp at all in my studio.


So your question is "what about live performance?"
No problem. Just the same settings, the same sounds on stage as in the studio ! Going into the FOH mixer (through stage box) and relying on top quality PA system (FOH + stage monitors).
Just forget about amps + miking problems + annoying noise on stage for the other guys of the band + problems with your neighbours when you start up a late night session because you just had THE idea ...


Hope it helps ...
 
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