Secret To Setting Up Your Effects Correctly

Get the best from your pedal board with this brief guide to effect types and where they sit best in your signal chain.
These are rules based on my preferences and where I feel the effects pedals 'behave' the best in the chain.
Feel free to experiment with your order and see how much the order makes a difference to the sound of your effects.

[mikejones]

gotta say, your voice and accent makes it so much easier to listen to you, and makes it interesting rather than boring as fuck, as many other youtubers do.  keep it up man.

[ScienceofLoud]

Good reasoning here, very much worth taking into consideration.
I experimented with my noise gate before putting it in the position I presented in this video, for my set up it worked best here, and had minimal effect on the over all tone.
If I was using a low gain, single coil set up, I'd certainly have a pedal chain closer to what you are describing.

[MrRockandroll]

One of the main reason's I watch your videos is because of your accent

[patrickdbuck]

Seriously the best guitar channel on youtube right now. So helpful and informative. I just wish I had this information explained to me when I started playing guitar 8 years ago!

[Videoorbiter]

Finally a perfect video on pedal order! Thanks!!

[ScienceofLoud]

I was recommending getting a good noise gate if you are using high gain amps, especially if they are valve driven as they tend to have more noise on the gain channel that solid state amps.

However what I didn't explain was that the main reason for me getting mine was that my pedal chain was adding a LOT of background noise to the signal and it desperately needed to be cut out. So if you are running a few pedals it is also a good idea to get one. The MXR works really well.

[ScienceofLoud]

The patch cables I made up myself.
I'm not sure where you are from but if you are in the UK then all the stuff I used comes from Maplin.
The thin angle jacks are about £2 each and that red (sometimes purple) audio cable is about £2.10 per metre, really good quality stuff.
I'd need a board twice the size without those patch cables.

[ScienceofLoud]

I'd suggest putting the boost before the overdrive, as that would raise the signal before you distort it. That would be the cleaner way to do it, but try it the other way too and see what you think.

I make my own patch cables from quality screened audio cable, and some thin L shaped mono jacks.

[ScienceofLoud]

Of course you can, I'd recommend putting the multi FX early in your signal chain as it will be dictating your sound most. Use other pedals like delay etc after it to add to its sound.

[ScienceofLoud]

Without a FX loop, just keep the pedals ordered in the way they sound best.
Delays and Modulation pedals react differently before distortion than they do after, so as long as you are using an outboard distortion you'll minimise any drastic difference in sound.
That's not to say you shouldn't try switching them around, you might get a completely different sound that you like.

[albertohervello]

Well explained. Great info and many thanks!

[VioletDeliriums]

This is nice explanation of the starting point for the basic order of pedals most people use: effects. One thing you haven't talked about is pitch shifters (like harmonizer, electronic whammy). People put these in different spots. Since I use some monophonic "synth" filter pedals that go stupid when you feed it two tones, a good trick is to put the harmonizer after that the chain so you process the sound and then turn it into a chord. :)

[ScienceofLoud]

My power supply only provides 9v outputs.

Some more expensive power blocks provide different outputs for different voltages, which are surplus for my needs, but in situations like yours are very useful indeed. The T-Rex Fuel Tank is one such power supply that comes to mind, but again expensive.

[edgarlee]

Your Ibanez flanger pedal certainly has character! Mabe reliced pedals will be the next big thing! Great video by the way.

[awesomeneses]

that outro had me cracking up, awesome content as always.

[guitardrumskate]

thanks so much for this!!! helped me out a lot

[JamesJohnson-hbme]

Thank you for this video! It helped me a lot!

[ScienceofLoud]

Mine is badged as Stagg, but I think it is essentially the same board with a different badge on it. Mine and the Kinsman are identical in all but name.

[EasyHeat]

Great video. Very helpful. Ditto looper and delay sound much better thru the fx loop.

[Xflect]

this is probably the best pedal board explanation video i've seen, apart from maybe tone king's one.
you covered all the bases though, nice job!