fuzz, distortion and overdrive in what order?

[nad]

Fuzz into fuzz into an overdriven amp.

Because it sounds awesome that way.

 

[Smit_Dogg]

Makes sense, I'm curious to try switching the order of my pedals now, watch this space..... Lol

 

[MrPierre]

I place my fuzz first, simply because it doesn't sound the same if there is another active pedal (or inactive but with a buffered bypass) in front of it.

 

[Richard Sabines]

more votes and opinions would be cool

 

[Dazonbass]

OD,Fuzz,Dist,OD

must try!

 

[Dazonbass]

Hmmm...I think I've got some messing around with my pedal order to do tonight now...I've always done low gain into high gain, but this is a good sounding argument.

+1 questioning my order as well. High to makes sense as well now.

 

[AaronVonRock]

I use a Bass Big Muff Pi which is on for every song we play. It's on the dry setting with the sustain set at 8/9 o'clock to give the bass some bite. I want to add a Boss ODB-3 on top of it for certain songs to get a more extreme sound.

Does anyone use these two pedals together? If so, what are your thoughts?

 

[Vlad5]

I've been scrutinizing my distorted signal for a while now... here's what I've come to understand.

It's all distortion. But for conventions sake...

Overdrive - mild breakup
Distortion - moderate/heavy breakup, but not fizzy, mostly buzzy and honky
Fuzz - heavy breakup and very fizzy, compressed and inarticulate

I used to run mild breakup to heavy breakup, but have changed my ways.

overdrive (distortion) > fuzz = more fuzz (gain)
fuzz > overdrive = totally different fuzz flavor, and maybe some more articulation in the break up too.

So yeah, I run my overdrive last, but have been experimenting with overdrive > fuzz > overdrive and do like it.

Most likely though, I'll settle on fuzz (set to full gain) > overdrive (set to full gain, distortion) > overdrive (set to mild breakup, flavor)

or

Tall Font Russian (Green Muff clone) > OD2 (Bassdrive clone) > B3K (modern drive)

 

[Smit_Dogg]

I've got GAS for a new overdrive unit. Looks like it's going to be Owen Electronics Bass Bomb Driver. The Darkglass B3K is my other option. They're both around the same price and probably have similar performance abilities but i like the extra commodities the Bass Bomb Driver has such as; a bigger more rugged chassis, Tube driven, dual channelled and an internal power supply for other pedals to run off.

 

[Richard Sabines]

i just readed this somewhere:

“There are multiple reasons to run the lowest gain pedal 2nd in the signal chain. First, since an overdrive and distortion pedals are both gain devices, you want to place the lower gain pedal last so you will have the high gain distortion pedal amplify the clean guitar signal rather than have it amplify a non-clean, overdriven signal. This will keep the overall noise lower with the added benefit of allowing the OD pedal to also function as a boost pedal.”

“So, you set the distortion pedal first at unity gain followed by the OD pedal set for higher than unity gain to achieve a slight boost in volume. Since most OD pedals are based on the Tube Screamer, you will also get some midrange boost to also help your solos cut through the mix”.


Is this correct?

 

[Unrepresented]

i just readed this somewhere:

“There are multiple reasons to run the lowest gain pedal 2nd in the signal chain. First, since an overdrive and distortion pedals are both gain devices, you want to place the lower gain pedal last so you will have the high gain distortion pedal amplify the clean guitar signal rather than have it amplify a non-clean, overdriven signal. This will keep the overall noise lower with the added benefit of allowing the OD pedal to also function as a boost pedal.”

“So, you set the distortion pedal first at unity gain followed by the OD pedal set for higher than unity gain to achieve a slight boost in volume. Since most OD pedals are based on the Tube Screamer, you will also get some midrange boost to also help your solos cut through the mix”.


Is this correct?

It's not "incorrect." There's no "correct" way to do things but there are merits to those statements.

 

[Thylacine Dream]

Since the purpose of overdrive is to create distortion, and since fuzz is a particular type/degree of distortion, I consider using all three simultaneously to be redundant, and therefore overkill.

One good overdrive is sufficient. Just use overdrive. Simple.

MM

If fuzz can be a vastly different-sounding distortion than overdrive, how is it redundant? By this logic, wouldn't owning different types of basses and amps also be redundant?

 

[P-oddz]

I wanted to vote overdrive, fuzz, overdrive but that wasn't an option.
Or really overdrive, fuzz, boost.

 

[18eranaRic]

how do you set those three pedals in the order of you pedal chain and why?

you want to overdrive your fuzz pedal to max it out, then distort the over-driven fuzz,

sooooo it goes "guitar>overdrive>fuzz>distortion>amp"

 

[JimmyM]

i just readed this somewhere:

“There are multiple reasons to run the lowest gain pedal 2nd in the signal chain. First, since an overdrive and distortion pedals are both gain devices, you want to place the lower gain pedal last so you will have the high gain distortion pedal amplify the clean guitar signal rather than have it amplify a non-clean, overdriven signal. This will keep the overall noise lower with the added benefit of allowing the OD pedal to also function as a boost pedal.”

“So, you set the distortion pedal first at unity gain followed by the OD pedal set for higher than unity gain to achieve a slight boost in volume. Since most OD pedals are based on the Tube Screamer, you will also get some midrange boost to also help your solos cut through the mix”.

Is this correct?

Except for the part about most OD pedals being based on the Tube Screamer since OD pedals were around long before the Tube Screamer. Otherwise, yeah, that's what I do. Did try flipping my fuzz and OD with no appreciable difference, though, so whatever.

 

[fisticuffs]

I'd never have more than one on at once so it wouldn't matter. If I had an
"always on" drive pedal like the SFT I would put it before any other drive pedals.

Fuzz-Fuzz-Fuzz does sound like fun though.

 

[JimmyM]

Ya, really! You can get some really cool sounds that you can't get with just a single pedal if you combine them.

 

[Stevorebob]

“There are multiple reasons to run the lowest gain pedal 2nd in the signal chain. First, since an overdrive and distortion pedals are both gain devices, you want to place the lower gain pedal last so you will have the high gain distortion pedal amplify the clean guitar signal rather than have it amplify a non-clean, overdriven signal. This will keep the overall noise lower with the added benefit of allowing the OD pedal to also function as a boost pedal.

So, you set the distortion pedal first at unity gain followed by the OD pedal set for higher than unity gain to achieve a slight boost in volume.”

I do this, but not for the reason stated. My always-on mild OD (Barbershop) is second with my heavier OD (modded ODB-3) first. The Barbershop responds very well tonally when driven by the ODB-3. And it seems to marry the ODB-3 wet/dry mix better. With the Barbershop first, the ODB-3 turns things to mush (it was off my board until I got the Barbershop).

 

[shane-0-matic]

I have a multi effects pedal that I have a "Cliff Wet" Patch on for playing stuff like For Whom the bell tolls. Occasionally Ill run my Big Muff INTO that, Smooths out the muff a bit and gets some cool harmonics.

 

[JP Morin]

Using an "always on" overdrive, I prefer the "always on" OD first, as I use this as my main sound/tone, I like the other effects to process that main sound, no matter if this is a delay, modulation, fuzz, octaver, overdrive or distortion (not necessarely in that order). After that always on OD it is just a try and see to me, it depends on the character and what it does in combination...