Pedalboard setup

KareemMonzer

Hey guys,

I've been considering getting a few pedals lately so I figured it would be a good idea to check out some pedalboard setups. Most pedalboard set-up guides suggest putting the wah first from the guitar side, however, when i do that along with my Boss DS-1, it sounds horrible and hardly gives off the right sound. But when I put the ds-1 before my wah, its sounds right, as it should. Why is this happening??

JerkMoans

Received wisdom suggests the best order to start with goes something like Tuner > Wah > Compression > Distortion > Overdrive > Modulation > Delay > Reverb. 

Every set up is different however and your ears have to be your best guide.  If following the above order sounds crap, but reversing it sounds good, then reverse it!  It's setting up your pedals to make a good old racket, not Holy Writ.

Let's see your board when you're done.  I'm in the throes of sorting mine out properly for the first time.  It's kinda fun.

steer

Experiment and do what sounds right for you. My setup is in the same order as @JerkMoans mentioned, but with the modulation moved earlier in the chain, simply because to my ears it sounds better there. 

EricTheWeary

Just what's right to your ears. The wah is sometimes off the pedalboard and, therefore, first in line for other reasons ( physical size, older wahs that only have battery power, only an occasional use pedal, noise problems created by the proximity of the wah and power supply,etc) so it ends up first in the chain by default rather than necessarily sounding best there. 

DesVegas

Like the people say, half the fun is experimenting, at the moment i have a delay post fuzz but before distortion for those dirty repeats and another delay later on in the chain after reverb although that is mainly as it has a looper and i like layering reverbs. there are 13 pedals on my board with the wah off board and first as i only use it sometimes and it's a heavy bastard

markjohnson

Yeah if it gets the sound you want then it's right. There's no right or wrong answers and if you always do things the 'correct' way then we'd never innovate and find new sounds! 

A lot of the wisdom with regards to wah placement is more to do with fussy old vintage fuzz pedals, so if you're using a modern distortion pedal shouldn't matter where you put it really, it's just a matter of taste. Personally I've always likes to go distortion after wah so that the distortion compresses and evens the wah a little, but that's just what works for me.