Almost as surely as the sun rises and sets, new threads are posted here, asking for advice on arranging pedals in a certain order. Considering that bass guitarists tend to use the same types of pedals fairly consistently, can it be true that each player’s situation is somehow so special that it requires a new analysis unlike the uncounted others before it? Sometimes maybe. But I think that the default answer is: It almost never is.
If that is true, then most players asking for this advice can benefit from the same information that would be helpful to nearly any other player asking for such advice.
Here then is that advice. Here is the information that appreciably every aspirant to pedal order happiness can use to at least set themselves on their way. It is not a concrete solution, but a guide to a definitive approach for finding your own solutions:
1. Set realistic expectations.
Accept that no pedal, neither by its design nor by your own use of it, is guaranteed to make you sound like your ideal, whether that is “the sound in your head” or a celebrity’s sound or whatever. A pedal is a tool. Like any tool, it can be used to some useful end by someone who understands what it can and cannot possibly do then learns how to use it.
2. Start with basic knowledge.
Know that each pedal is an example of a type. Some examples do more, others less; some do things better, others less well. But no one example is the be all and end all of the type, even if well meaning and enthusiastic people online tell you that it is. Understand what type of pedal yours is, and what behaviors and uses are characteristic of that type. This is about knowledge of theory, but is also related to setting realistic expectations.
3. Grow from the simple to the complex.
You own a bunch of pedals, which is great. But you don’t know how to use them together, which is possibly not great. The real point, though, is that you might not know how to use any given two of them together, not to mention several of them or the whole lot. In practice, this is the pivotal matter. The previous points dealt with theory, but this one deals with putting that theory into practice.
Get to know each pedal in use by itself. With that experience, then get to know any two given pedals in use together. Do that instead of trying to use several pedals together at once early on, which would land you back where you started, overwhelmed.
4. Prove things to yourself firsthand.
Continuing from theory, further into practice, this is the ultimate piece of advice in this guide. It is how you will finally get yourself the indisputable result of the foundation you have been building by doing the previous points first. Why indisputable? Because you yourself will prove to yourself by your own actions, observations, and thinking, what order your pedals should be in. Not theoretically. Not in general. Not for someone else. Not for the interwebs. But for you uniquely.
What you will do is try out all combinations of your pedals, in all possible orders, starting from the smallest pairings and expanding to the most complex. You will arrange, play, and listen to the full set of permutations of your pedals’ orders. Take notes as you do, since if you have a lot of pedals there will be a lot of possible combinations.
The real purpose of this step is not to learn which orders you like best; don’t worry, you will do that. Rather, it is to learn by firsthand observation what the result of each permutation is. The result doesn’t just mean the sound. It means the sound, your experience of playing and hearing it, and its usefulness in your own music making situations.
Do that thoroughly enough and you will not only prove to yourself which order of your pedals is best for you, but also (and maybe most important) you will understand why it is best on the basis of your own experience.
If that is true, then most players asking for this advice can benefit from the same information that would be helpful to nearly any other player asking for such advice.
Here then is that advice. Here is the information that appreciably every aspirant to pedal order happiness can use to at least set themselves on their way. It is not a concrete solution, but a guide to a definitive approach for finding your own solutions:
1. Set realistic expectations.
Accept that no pedal, neither by its design nor by your own use of it, is guaranteed to make you sound like your ideal, whether that is “the sound in your head” or a celebrity’s sound or whatever. A pedal is a tool. Like any tool, it can be used to some useful end by someone who understands what it can and cannot possibly do then learns how to use it.
2. Start with basic knowledge.
Know that each pedal is an example of a type. Some examples do more, others less; some do things better, others less well. But no one example is the be all and end all of the type, even if well meaning and enthusiastic people online tell you that it is. Understand what type of pedal yours is, and what behaviors and uses are characteristic of that type. This is about knowledge of theory, but is also related to setting realistic expectations.
3. Grow from the simple to the complex.
You own a bunch of pedals, which is great. But you don’t know how to use them together, which is possibly not great. The real point, though, is that you might not know how to use any given two of them together, not to mention several of them or the whole lot. In practice, this is the pivotal matter. The previous points dealt with theory, but this one deals with putting that theory into practice.
Get to know each pedal in use by itself. With that experience, then get to know any two given pedals in use together. Do that instead of trying to use several pedals together at once early on, which would land you back where you started, overwhelmed.
4. Prove things to yourself firsthand.
Continuing from theory, further into practice, this is the ultimate piece of advice in this guide. It is how you will finally get yourself the indisputable result of the foundation you have been building by doing the previous points first. Why indisputable? Because you yourself will prove to yourself by your own actions, observations, and thinking, what order your pedals should be in. Not theoretically. Not in general. Not for someone else. Not for the interwebs. But for you uniquely.
What you will do is try out all combinations of your pedals, in all possible orders, starting from the smallest pairings and expanding to the most complex. You will arrange, play, and listen to the full set of permutations of your pedals’ orders. Take notes as you do, since if you have a lot of pedals there will be a lot of possible combinations.
The real purpose of this step is not to learn which orders you like best; don’t worry, you will do that. Rather, it is to learn by firsthand observation what the result of each permutation is. The result doesn’t just mean the sound. It means the sound, your experience of playing and hearing it, and its usefulness in your own music making situations.
Do that thoroughly enough and you will not only prove to yourself which order of your pedals is best for you, but also (and maybe most important) you will understand why it is best on the basis of your own experience.
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