Chain Help?

[stepswork4me]

So, I'm new to the world of pedals and effects and could use a little help from those with more experience. This is what I've got to work with.... Bass, Morley aby,Boss volume, DOD stereo flanger, Boss super overdrive, chorus, and two TCE BG250's. The chorus is a cheap Fender Starcaster so I'm thinking of leaving it out as I can run one of the Toneprint effects for chorus from one of the amps. Also, one the amps runs a TCE compressor and I use the Tubetone set high to get a good grit. With all of that said, is there any advice as to how I should put the effects chain together?

Thanks in advance.

[stepswork4me]

No one?

[Crater]

Typical effects order is:

Distortion(s) --> modulation FX (chorus, flanger, ect) --> delay/echo/reverbs --> volume pedal.

There's no hard and fast rules, but this is pretty standard and works good for most people.

[stepswork4me]

Originally Posted by Crater

Typical effects order is:

Distortion(s) --> modulation FX (chorus, flanger, ect) --> delay/echo/reverbs --> volume pedal.

There's no hard and fast rules, but this is pretty standard and works good for most people.

Thanks...

Would I be ok running aby>volume>distortion>flange? I want the volume pedal to affect both amps.

[Crater]

Sorry, I didn't understand your original post. I presume the TCE BG250s are AMPS, right? So you're running a two-amp setup... In that case, yes, I'd put the ABY box last.

Really, you can put the effects in any order you please, but just realize how they interact. For example, you could put your volume pedal "upstream" of your distortion pedals, but then backing off the volume will mostly reduce the distortion and not reduce the volume very much. Likewise, putting a modulation effect like flanger upstream of a distortion will sound different than having it after the distortion.

And just to clarify my original post:

Bass --> Distortion(s) --> modulation FX (chorus, flanger, ect) --> delay/echo/reverbs --> volume pedal --> ABY ==> Amplifier(s)

[stepswork4me]

Thanks again.

Here is what I'm doing.... The split is after the volume pedal.

Bass >ABY >Volume< Amp (BG250) running Comp and Tubetone/Overdriven Tube
Distortion >Flange >Amp (BG250) running Solid State & Chorus

[Ubersheist]

Originally Posted by stepswork4me

Thanks again.

Here is what I'm doing.... The split is after the volume pedal.

Bass >ABY >Volume< Amp (BG250) running Comp and Tubetone/Overdriven Tube
Distortion >Flange >Amp (BG250) running Solid State & Chorus

Utlimately, if it works for you, then it's a good set-up. Crater's summary of how things are typically done works for 90% of the players, probably. There's no real "right" way. For example, there are some great players who like the wah after everything including delays or first before distortion. I personally wouldn't do it, but it works for them.

The bottom line is that no one can tell you how you should set up your effects but you. Take the advice here and elsewhere and learn as much as you can about what the effects actually do to your signal. That'll save you some time and head scratching. Then, experiment and find what sounds and works best for you, and even set up things in an order that seem "wrong."

It's like learning how to drive. You can read about it as much as you want, but you'll eventually just have to learn for yourself.

[Ubersheist]

Oh yeah... about running two channels and the ABY - are you looking to run a stereo sound live? My experience is that on bass, it doesn't really work. It may sound good on stage, but as soon as you get a foot or two off stage, there's tons of phase cancellation and wave propagation. There's usually tons of that already just in any room, but running a bass stereo makes it sound even more muddy, indistinct, the stereo sound is lost. etc. It's worse for bass guitar then keys or guitar, too.

The only times it really works is if you have a really, really, really, really good sound engineer running the board and the room is very wide and set up really well for sound. It doesn't work outdoors except for places designed for sound like the Hollywood Bowl (maybe) - subtle changes in the breeze kills stereo sound, among other things.

If you're running the two amps to have a clean/dirty simultaneous sound, then that can work a whole lot better, so long as you keep the amps close to each other. Even that serves to add more muddiness to your sound, and it works better in most live situations to put both signal paths back into one amp and use the 2nd amp (if you need it) as a slave.

What's the purpose of the two amps?

[stepswork4me]

Going to run one clean and one dirty. They sit side by side and are identical.