what order for pedals?

[wpkg]

ok so I have a few pedals in front of my VJH. I was wondering about what order they should be in and was wondering what you all thought. Right now its setup as:

 

Tuner>compressor>EQ>distortion>chorus>slap-echo>reverb>amp

 

is this the best way to run these?

 

thanks

[copper1281734000]

That sounds good enough. You really have to play around with it and find what you like best. There is just a standard way of doing it, and yours follows that, but you can really do whatever you want. You might even considering putting the EQ after the distortion for a little different sound, unless you use it as a boost, then it's best in front of the Distortion.

 

But the tuner is a problem. Unless it's true bypass, get the tuner out of the signal, they suck tone like crazy. I'd recommend getting a volume pedal with a tuner out, like the ernie ball ones, so you can mute and tune with out sucking your tone. But if it's true bypass, don't worry.

[wpkg]

That sounds good enough. You really have to play around with it and find what you like best. There is just a standard way of doing it' date=' and yours follows that, but you can really do whatever you want. You might even considering putting the EQ after the distortion for a little different sound, unless you use it as a boost, then it's best in front of the Distortion.

 

But the tuner is a problem. Unless it's true bypass, get the tuner out of the signal, they suck tone like crazy. I'd recommend getting a volume pedal with a tuner out, like the ernie ball ones, so you can mute and tune with out sucking your tone. But if it's true bypass, don't worry.[/quote']

 

Oh i doubt its true bypass... I will see if there is much difference... hate to loose tone to a tuner, but its nice not to have to plug it in separately...

 

although come to think of it my reverb has two outs, maybe I plug the tuner into that?

 

thanks!

[copper1281734000]

You could plug the tuner into the second output of the reverb, but then if you tune, it isn't muted. What kind of tuner is it?

 

I guess if you don't think you're loosing to much tone from the tuner it's okay. There are just some tuners I've heard form people that aren't good.

 

I must also say if this might be misleading information. I've heard from some people that tuners aren't good in your signal, this is not firsthand experience. I should have mentioned this in my first post.

[TWANG]

I don't have anything that doesn't vary the tone of my amp compared to straight in.

 

There are hard bypass units that should achieve that, though.

 

My rack tuner is not supposed to color the tone. but, yep.

 

the thing is, you listen to what it does, see if you can or even want to compensate for it, and then settle on whether you want what you end up with.

 

If you're not tuning in the middle of a song, just turn your amp down. If you are tuning in the middle of song, you can do it like we all did before tuners were common.. just tune it and keep grinnin'.

 

I'd lose the compressor altogether. It just sucks out all your dynamics while adding noise, changing your tone and generally fooling you and everyone else into thinking you play better than you do.

In short, with the vj, I hate my compressor.. the vj showed me lots of places where the compressor had made me lax..and when I compared how much better I played without it, and how much better I sounded, almost all of the benefit was coming right out of my fingers, which the compressor had prevented.

 

don't misunderstand, there are things I like them for, just not with the VJ very often.

YMMV!

[cGil]

I remember playing with the old dynacomps and squeezers, I've still got a couple of ART Tube Pac's and whatnot, but I always found that compression sounded best when used sparingly. I got into picking dynamics and all my compression toys went into a box. But all this kinda makes me want to find my old Carl Martin compressor and fool around with it a bit. It was a really pristine and uncolored clean boost when the compression knobs were rolled off. That can be useful.

 

Oh yeah, tuners are all different, but most do suck tone from your signal chain. I prefer to use a pedal or something with a second output for the tuner, but all pedals are different, too, so you still have to make sure it doesn't manage to mess with the tone anyway. Effects send on amps are pretty good for this purpose if the tuner can handle a signal that strong.

 

Gil...

[wpkg]

 

I'd lose the compressor altogether. It just sucks out all your dynamics while adding noise' date=' changing your tone and generally fooling you and everyone else into thinking you play better than you do.

In short, with the vj, I hate my compressor.. the vj showed me lots of places where the compressor had made me lax..and when I compared how much better I played without it, and how much better I sounded, almost all of the benefit was coming right out of my fingers, which the compressor had prevented.

 

don't misunderstand, there are things I like them for, just not with the VJ very often.

YMMV!

[/quote']

 

HELL NO! :) I have the aphex punch factory and that thing is not like the boss ce-3 or any squishy thing I have played. this adds sparkle to cleans very nicely and separates the notes in chords nicely too. it doesnt do much else! I usually turn it off for overdrive though.

 

My tuner is not one that mutes whiles its on so I dont think id loose anything by putting it in the reverbs 2nd out...

[TWANG]

Well.. I had a rack compressor for about a year, and I thought it was doing what a good compressor can do and dumped it.

 

as chuck said,

which goes to show you never can tell.

 

TWANG

I like 'em for country... I like 'em on electric or acoustic for strums sometimes.. but now and then for fingerpicking, too.

but I guess with me, it's grudgingly in any case.

[m-theory]

You're close enough on the order, although I would personally agree about getting the tuner out of the chain. I'd also do without the compressor and EQ myself, but that's personal preference, of course. I'm a big fan of "less is more," so my stuff is very minimal. Some prefer "stuff," though, and that's fine, as long as it's not mucking up your signal with excess buffers, non-true-bypass, and/or excess cable length.

 

At the end of the day, though, it's ultimately what inspires YOU, not some stranger on the internet. Tone is, and always will be, purely subjective. It's what works for YOU that matters.

[TWANG]

no no no.

it's what works for ME!

 

 

sheesh. I keep having to say that.

 

TWANG

[bluefoxicy]

I use low-tech tuning solutions. I wouldn't want a tuning pedal in-line.

 

http://www.amazon.com/DAddario-PW-CT-06-S-o-s-Guitar-Tuner/dp/B000FJEL9C/ref=cm_lmf_tit_12

 

Amazon says I'm massively popular because of this list:

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/listmania/fullview/RPBQPJTPJV9HC/

[wpkg]

You're close enough on the order' date=' although I would personally agree about getting the tuner out of the chain. I'd also do without the compressor and EQ myself, but that's personal preference, of course. I'm a big fan of "less is more," so my stuff is very minimal. Some prefer "stuff," though, and that's fine, as long as it's not mucking up your signal with excess buffers, non-true-bypass, and/or excess cable length.

 

At the end of the day, though, it's ultimately what inspires YOU, not some stranger on the internet. Tone is, and always will be, purely subjective. It's what works for YOU that matters. [/quote']

 

for the most part I agree. id just run the reverb if I could. but the valve junior is my sole amp apart from a small 8 inch bass combo I sometimes take to a buddy's place. The VJR is great at over drive and needs nothing else (apart from some reverb) but i want the EQ solely to scoop a touch of the mids out of the signal, this gives me the sound I want for cleans.

 

I will say that I have had the compressor for about two months now. its a real subtle effect and sometimes it really adds something nice and sometimes it really sucks the dynamics right out of my fingers... jury is still out on that one, but for somethigns so far its pretty nice.

 

the tuner in the reverbs second out does seem much better than in the chain.

[m-theory]

I will say that I have had the compressor for about two months now. its a real subtle effect and sometimes it really adds something nice and sometimes it really sucks the dynamics right out of my fingers

 

When a tube amp is overdriven, the tubes themselves are compressing. To my ears, external compressors are a detriment in that setting.

 

the tuner in the reverbs second out does seem much better than in the chain.

 

Tuners aren't generally true bypass, although if you have a Boss, it's entirely possible that there are input and output buffers in it. A buffer or two in the chain isn't necessarily a bad thing, particularly if it's a quality buffer, like the one that Boss uses. Too many buffers can load the signal, however.

 

Personally, I don't want a tuner in my signal chain at all. I use a VS1, so that's not really an option anyway with that tuner, but if I used a floor model (other than the strobo-stomp, which I believe is true bypass), I'd build a simple A/B pedal to take it out of the signal chain entirely.

[wpkg]

 

When a tube amp is overdriven' date=' the tubes themselves are compressing. To my ears, external compressors are a detriment in that setting.

 

 

[/quote']

 

yeah. thats why I said I shut if off for overdrive.

[m-theory]

yeah. thats why I said I shut if off for overdrive.

 

Yes, I realize that. I was agreeing with, and fortifying your conclusion with my own personal opinion. Didn't mean to confuse.

[wpkg]

 

Yes' date=' I realize that. I was agreeing with, and fortifying your conclusion with my own personal opinion. Didn't mean to confuse. [/quote']

 

ah! gotcha #-o/