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Yet another Effects Order Question!

This is per Pete Cornish...

1. Filters - Auto wahs, envelope filters, ans other dynamically controlled filter effects respond to your attach, you don't want to limit dynamics with compressors and/or distortion pedals that reduce dynamic range. Most players put wah pedals first in the signal chain-mostly to come before distortion effects. (notable exception - Tom Morello)

2. Compressors - Compressors can raise the noise level of everything that comes before them, so they should as close to the beginning of the chain as possible.

3. Distortion/Overdrive - Distortion and overdrive pedals prefer to see an unmodulated signal and the harmonics generated by a distortion device bring richness to any chorus, phasers, or flanging effects that follow.

4. Modulation - Tremolo, chorus, phaser and flanger pedals fit nicely here, due to the aforementioned interaction with distortion boxes.

5. Volume pedal - In this position, the volume pedal allows you to maintain a consistent signal from your guitar to your distortion devices, and get full shred at low volume. However you'll likely want to place delay and reverb effects after the volume pedal to ensure their tails continue to decay after the volume is cut.

7. Delay and reverb - These effects come last in the chain, usually delay then reverb, because placing them before distortion pedals can trigger a jump in the ambient effect level whenever extra gain is engaged.
 
If you're only using it to switch basses, why not just mute with the tuner and swap basses silently by just unplugging your bass and plugging in the new bass? Would eliminate the line selector and simplfy your board...

I think most folks (including me) put Octave pedals much earlier in the chain so it tracks the cleanest signal more easily, but nothing says you have to, if you like it this way...

-JV
 
All good stuff guys - thanks (especially for the Pete Cornish stuff)

Looks like I'm not too far off the mark, maybe play about and bring the Octave and auto wah a bit earlier.

  1. Boss Line Selector
  2. EBS OctaBass
  3. MXR Bass Auto Q
  4. Deep Impact
  5. Compressor
  6. Gremlin Overdrive
  7. EBS UniChorus
  8. Boss Tuner

I like the line selector as I can set the gain for both basses independently at the pedal and it neatens the whole thing up IMHO. Swap basses - hit the pedal and go...

I've had the chain as it was for a while now, just thought it'd be good to get other opinions :)
 
I would do it this way

1.Boss Tuner(use it to mute while changing Basses)
2.Deep Impact
3.EBS OctaBass
4.Gremlin Overdrive
5.MXR Bass Auto Q
6.COmpressor(depending on how you are using it. Limiting spikes put it here. evening out the signal put it after the tuner)
7.EBS UniChorus
8.Lose the LS2 unless you want to split the signal

But I don't have any of these pedals(except for the tuner and the LS2(for splitting the signal) so I would have to see how they interact with each other. This is how I would set it up 1st.
 
This is per Pete Cornish...

1. Filters - Auto wahs, envelope filters, ans other dynamically controlled filter effects respond to your attach, you don't want to limit dynamics with compressors and/or distortion pedals that reduce dynamic range. Most players put wah pedals first in the signal chain-mostly to come before distortion effects. (notable exception - Tom Morello)

2. Compressors - Compressors can raise the noise level of everything that comes before them, so they should as close to the beginning of the chain as possible.

3. Distortion/Overdrive - Distortion and overdrive pedals prefer to see an unmodulated signal and the harmonics generated by a distortion device bring richness to any chorus, phasers, or flanging effects that follow.

4. Modulation - Tremolo, chorus, phaser and flanger pedals fit nicely here, due to the aforementioned interaction with distortion boxes.

5. Volume pedal - In this position, the volume pedal allows you to maintain a consistent signal from your guitar to your distortion devices, and get full shred at low volume. However you'll likely want to place delay and reverb effects after the volume pedal to ensure their tails continue to decay after the volume is cut.

7. Delay and reverb - These effects come last in the chain, usually delay then reverb, because placing them before distortion pedals can trigger a jump in the ambient effect level whenever extra gain is engaged.

This is VERY helpful-but I plan on adding an octaver-where would that fit in this chain??
 
If I want both to limit spikes from an envelope filter or such and also to even out the signal (due to my inconsistent) picking, then what do I do about a compressor? Is it the case that I can only use the compressor for only or primarily one of these functions but NOT both?
 
Octavers, especially analogs, go at the top of the chain, even before tuner, by some account.s

that's just in your experience i think. i know the overall theory is that the octaver should get as clean a signal as possible to help it track, but i like mine a LOT better after a fuzz and filter.

right now i have on my board Other Stuff -> Fuzz -> Filter -> Fuzz -> Other Stuff -> Octaver. i like the Fuzz -> Filter -> Octaver combo for phatty synth tones, and i like the filter before a fuzz for a slight but noticeable difference to the fuzz character.

but everybody's different. that's why in these (billions of) threads about effects order, invariably somebody makes the point that you really need to try everything plugged up in different routings. just because it "makes sense" to do it one way, doesn't mean it's going to give you the best sound FOR YOU.
 
Finalised on this lineup and been using it for the last little while.

  1. Boss Line Selector
  2. EBS OctaBass
  3. MXR Bass Auto Q
  4. Deep Impact
  5. Compressor
  6. Gremlin Overdrive
  7. EBS UniChorus
  8. Boss Tuner

Works for me - cheers guys for your help.

I know there are some comments about the Line Selector and taking it out, but I quite like it being there to swap between basses and a bit loathe to take it out.
 
yar! wasn't trying to be douchey to you. love forums and stuff, but all text based communication comes off really harsh sometimes when that's TOTALLY not the intention.

just saying that a "common wisdom approach" is great for a starting point, but a lot of times there's something "wrong" that just sounds better to you.
 
yar! wasn't trying to be douchey to you. love forums and stuff, but all text based communication comes off really harsh sometimes when that's TOTALLY not the intention.

just saying that a "common wisdom approach" is great for a starting point, but a lot of times there's something "wrong" that just sounds better to you.

No offense taken and I fully agree with the rest :)