Possibly one of the most daunting tasks that electric guitarists face is the construction of their first pedal board, or set of pedals, and most importantly what order to put them in.
“Does my drive go before or after my delay”, “Where should the reverb go?”, and “What is an effects loop?” are the questions most guitarists ask themselves when first approaching pedals.
We’re going to take you through some of the basic terminology, break down different types of guitar effects, and provide you with some general guidelines to follow when constructing your pedal board signal chain.
The Terminology
Before getting into the nitty gritty, we’re going to go over a few commonly used terms.
Signal Chain: Put simply, a signal chain is just the sequential chain in which you put your pedals, that your signal will then flow through. A simple example would be Guitar –> Overdrive Pedal –> Amplifier.
Patch Cable: These are short instrument cables used to connect multiple pedals to one other, and are fundamental to building your pedalboard.
Effects Loop: An effects input in your amplifier which allows you to add certain effects after the pre-amplifier in your signal chain. This is specifically useful when using the overdrive of an amplifier.
The Order
Let’s take a step-by-step look at each element in in order of the point in the chain they should ideally be. Bear in mind that this is a general guideline, and that experimentation will always take you a long way!
#1 The Guitar
It goes without saying, your guitar is the first step in your chain, the point at which your signal originates.
#2 The Tuner
The next step is your tuner. You don’t want any pedals affecting the accuracy of your tuner, so it is best placed directly after your guitar.
#3 Dynamic/Pitch Effects
This includes things like compressors, wah pedals, octave pedals, or pitch shifters. These type of effects alter the fundamental sound of your guitar, so it’s ideal to process that before adding additional sound modification.
#4 Drive/Distortion Effects
Overdrive and Distortion pedals produce tone, or fundamental sound. It is important to add these early on, as you only want to overdrive or distort your fundamental sound. It is important to note that this function can also be carried out by your amplifier if you are using the gain provided by your amp.
These first four categories should always be placed before the effects loop in an amplifier. The following categories, 5 and 6, can be placed either before, or in the effects loop of your amp, depending on whether you are using your amplifiers drive or not.
#5 Sound Replication Effects
This includes effects like delays and loopers. It is important to have these this late in the chain as you don’t want to be distorting your delay or your loops.
#6 Ambience Effects
Ambient effects include things like reverb pedals. These are best placed at the very end of your chain, as they add space to your tone, and it is ideal to have them affect your complete tone.
A Visual Guide
Take a look at this quick reference visual guide from Boss
Shop Guitar Effects
-
Request Stock
- Out of Stock
- Guitar & Bass, Guitar Compact Pedals, Guitar Effects
Mooer A7 Ambient Reverb Pedal
-
R2,955R2,130FREE DELIVERY - Select options
-
-
Request Stock
- Out of Stock
- Guitar & Bass, Guitar Effects, Guitar Compact Pedals, Pedalboards & Accessories
Fender 2-Switch ABY Pedal – Red
-
R1,895R1,610FREE DELIVERY - Select options
-
-
Request Stock
- Out of Stock
- Guitar & Bass, Guitar Effects, Guitar Compact Pedals
Fender 2-Button Footswitch: Channel Select / Effects On/Off with 1/4″ Jack
-
R995R745FREE DELIVERY - Select options
-
-
Request Stock
- Out of Stock
- Guitar & Bass, Guitar Compact Pedals, Guitar Effects
NUX Ace of Tone Dual Overdrive Effects Pedal
-
R2,795R2,180FREE DELIVERY - Select options
-
-
Request Stock
- Out of Stock
- Guitar & Bass, Guitar Effects, Guitar Compact Pedals
Boss IR-2 Amp and IR Cabinet Pedal
-
R6,995R5,035FREE DELIVERY - Select options
-
-
- Guitar & Bass, Guitar Effects, Guitar Compact Pedals
Boss AD-2 Acoustic Preamp Effects Pedal
-
R4,095R2,865FREE DELIVERY - Select options
-
- Guitar & Bass, Guitar Effects, Guitar Compact Pedals
Boss AW-3 Dynamic Wah Pedal
-
R5,895R4,125FREE DELIVERY - Select options
-
- Guitar & Bass, Guitar Compact Pedals, Guitar Effects
Boss AB-2 2-Way Selector Pedal
-
R1,295R905FREE DELIVERY - Select options