BEFORE OR AFTER DIRT
PEDALBOARD ORDER PRIMER
From the ProGuitarShop.com Blog
So you’ve narrowed down your favorite pedals and finally bought that pedalboard kit. The next step is often a roadblock for the tone seeker- effects order. It can be especially crucial if you’ve got oddly shaped pedals and you want to cut cables to exact lengths and hopefully do this one time only! Well, the real question to ask yourself is, “do I place it before or after dirt?” Since distortion can have an extreme change in the natural character of pedals, this simple question may help reduce the overwhelming possibilities of effects placement.
Before Dirt Tuner: You probably want to spend the least amount of time tuning, so put this guy first so you don’t have to turn off any pitch altering pedals. Some people even put the tuner through a bypass box since it doesn’t do anything for your tone. Compressor/Volume/Boost: The compressor has always been favored PROGUITARSHOP.COM | 1-503-670-4949
by guitarists at the beginning of the chain. Since compressors have a great affect on your approach, dynamics and sustain, placing it towards the front will ‘preserve the funk’ no matter the pedal combination. Volume pedals placed in the beginning react more like the guitar’s volume knob. It will reduce the amount of dirt to an overdrive or give you spacey volume swells before a delay. Volume pedals serve the role of a master volume when at the end of the pedalboard. The exact tone you have will be lowered as if turning down your amp. It’s always a good idea to still place it before delay/reverb to fade out gracefully. Last, a boost is commonly placed after a compressor to compensate for heavy compression or boost lower output pickups. If you have it setup to buffer, place it before your tuner to help those long cables. Of