What order should my pedals go? Tips for a better pedalboard.

So you want to put together a pedalboard? You want to figure out the correct order for your pedals. Hope I can help you to streamline a solid take on a great sounding board. Keep in mind, there is no defined correct order to a pedalboard and almost everything musically is subjective. If it sounds good, then it sounds good and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Regardless, I do have some tips for you on the order of pedals based on effect types that might make your board sound better. If this interests you, read on rocker.

Tip #1 - Start with a guitar tuner.

Listen. You hear how your guitar is out of tune? That is because you need to tune it every time that you play. My number one recommendation is a guitar tuner on the front of your board to make sure that you are always playing in tune. Not only will this help you sonically, but most tuners will mute the signal path so that you can tune quietly and your audience won't hear you bending those notes back to where they should be.

Trust me. No one wants to hear your out of tune guitar playing.

Tip #2 - Pedals that deal with dynamics.

Dynamic pedals sound great after the tuner as they can change the volume or filter out your sound. These pedals include compression, wah-wahs, volume pedals, and anything else that may change the dynamic. I should also mention that a lot of players put their volume pedal at the end of the signal chain, but I prefer mine right up front. Also wah-wah is one of the most fun pedals but that's a discussion for another time.

"The wah-wah is the most important pedal on your board and should go right up front." – Some guy probably.

Tip #3 - Gain pedals

Personally, I think this is the ballpark for gain pedals. Gains include distortions, overdrives, fuzz pedals, and other sounds that make you ROCK! You typically want this after the dynamics but but not after time based effects like delays and echos. The reason for this is that putting a distortion after a reverb would cause the reverb to become distorted. While this may be a cool sounding effect, it can also heavily muddy up the sound and make it hard to distinguish what is being played. Unless that is what you are going for. In that case, punk rock.

Tip #4 - A quick message

Listen. I cannot stress enough how important it is to follow your gut with a sound. What I mean by this is that if it sounds good. Do not be afraid to use it. If you have an odd pedalboard with a weird order but it matches your sonic thumbprint, don't listen to anyone else and just DO IT!

Tip #5 - Modulation

Modulation pedals are a great way to give yourself a unique sound to your own pedal board but they are suited best towards the end of the board. Modulation pedals include but are not limited to, Chorus, Flangers, and Phasers. These pedals sound great after gain pedals because they can add clean modulating effects to a dirty rock n roll sound. For this reason, modulation pedals are some of my favorites and sound great right before time based FX.

Tip #6 - Time based effects

Time based effects are effects like reverbs and delays. These sound best at the end of the signal chain in my opinion. As I stated before, the reason for this is that adding delays and reverbs before any of the other types of effects can cause your sound to be jumbled and hard to decipher. That being said, delays are so fun to use and I recommend a good delay on every board. Delays and reverbs can really add depth and width to a mix.

Tip #6 - FX Loop

One final tip I would like to recommend is to throw your delay into the FX Loop on the back of your amplifier if you have one. This allows the delay to bypass the preamp tubes and really clean up the delay as well. It will likely result in a less muddy mix. The only drawback to this is that you will need two extra cables for this method but the massive difference in sound that is achieved is highly worth it in my opinion. Don't knock it until you try it.

In closing,

Now your pedal board is all set up and good to go! Feel free to swap in and out other pedals to find out what fits your style the most. That is the most fun part of building a pedal board. Mine is always evolving. To see more on this topic, visit my YouTube channel Riff With Cliff. I have a video on this very subject. Later rockers!