That Pedal Show - Pedal Order Basics: What Goes Where & Why?

This was a great and really really informative video on pedal order...this was my favorite one yet....but just wish you would of gotten into phasers and flangers...

Both JHS and Wampler say they prefer their compressors before the overdrives. But I agree with TPS: I did not buy my analog overdrives just to have my tones taken away by the compressor, so I, like Dan prefer compressor AFTER the overdrive. The GigRig makes switching the order of the pedals really easy, so much so that Josh and Brian would likely agree with Dan and Mick - if preserving guitar and OD tone is the most important criteria.

The chorus before OD is very interesting. I'm going to have to try it. Also wondering if it might work with flanger and other stuff closely related to chorus.

After all those years, Iam watching this episode again to get my basics back. You guys are true gems of the guitar world.

Unreal (!!!!) how far you multi-talented guys have come.

Rebuilding my pedal board setup after tearing it apart in the studio! Thanks to you guys think I’m on the right track 😅 currently running :

Guitar - wah - tuner - noise gate - fuzz - octavia - chorus - booster - overdrive - compression - phaser - organizer - delay - tremolo - reverb - amp

And if u wanna play punk do the opposite

where do I put my digitech whammy in the signal chain?

So I’m very new to compressors. I have a BB Plus as my main distortion so I have quite a bit of gain. Is it better to use the compressor before or after for more sustain and smoothness? Also how do you use a reverb after the amp if you don’t have an effects loop? I have a THD Flexi 50 so I’ve always used my effects before while the amp is super clean with a lot of gain from the BB Plus.

Cool video, though the effects order in the show notes does not match the effects order summary at the end of the video.

Forget effects.Stay away from effect pedals like chorus, delay and all that garbage.Why ? Because those are creating sound. And sound is dead and tone is alive. it's all about tone. So to get that natural breaking up Sweet sound , overdrive pedals, chorus pedals, And delay pedals will only degrade that. Its not really about modulation, it's really l about stacking the boost pedals. And yes definitely with a compression Pedel.Meaning the most important pedals are the boost pedals, clean drives ,and a good compression pedel.. A lot of people don't even bother with overdrive pedals ( they tend to sound too artificial, even the best.) If you want that beautiful natural breaking up amp tone without having to turn your amp all the way to 10 ,then you use boost pedals for your overdrive. A lot of people use boost pedals and stack them with a clean drive pedal. For example the Kelly Kantina boost with the clean drive Steel String is a really good sound. So it's not about delay pedals and chorus, and that church sounding ambient atmosphere. . It's about stacking the right pedals. Like the V2 boost drive( you can leave it on all the time ),and then turn it on with a clean drive pedal( like the steel string.)

What do you mean at start is from guitar to start of pedals and end to my amp.

cool vid, don't know why I started watching. I just pick up any pedal or 2 off shelf at random and plug it in. then jam.

Just started getting into building a board. Needed this. Thanks guys!

I love watching videos from the before times. These guys don't even know what's coming.

Damn, just re-arranged my pedalboard and got it all wrong... ;(

Thank you for mentioning Scott Henderson to me. I listened to "Scott Henderson Live @ 50/50 Art Gallery (Victoria BC) - November 2005" and I swear he sounds like half-Hendrix and half-Gilmour with the brain of Frank Zappa and listened to with the flu after eating bad shellfish. Great and weird recommendation!!

So What about Multi function pedals like the Keeley DDR & DCR .Where do they come in the chain???

Keeping this great thread alive: so the Helix will guess the required impedance based on the first block in the chain if it is an overdrive. But what if your first block is linked to an expression pedal for wah, pitch shifting or the likes? Will it still use the OD for setting impedance?

That creepy look when a dude plays a riff and stares at you for approval. All through this segment...otherwise, very enjoyable.

Five years later - my god, you both look young!

tuner
wah
fuzz
modu chorus
high gain overdrive
lower gain overdrive
buster
compression
delay
tremolo
reverb

A 40 minute 'basics' video. I think someone is unclear on 'basics.' Maybe should have gone with 'in-depth' instead.

cork sniffing to the max

Great vid! Where do you stick octave pedals

Cmon guys send me a t shirt please

Years later and this video is still helpful.

Despite their popularity, I always hated chorus/vibrato/flanger/phaser type effects. Maybe I'm just sensitive to it, but to me they all sounded similar and bad because the modulation wave was always so crystal clear to me that it was crazy distracting. I guess I had just been hanging out with people who put them after the overdrives.

Putting them before the overdrives seems to solve that issue for me. The effect is still there, but subtle enough I can appreciate it without being distracted by the wave.

Very confusing

Are you guys using a gate in post? I cant here any amp hiss, which I get whenever I stack compression with overdrive

Please could someone tell me if I’m doing this right. Tuner, wahwah, fuzz, octaver, distortion, phaser, delay and finally my reverb?

Just makes a loop switch such an asset in your sound pallet. Thank you for a great video. I could watch you guys all day.

Where in the signal chain would you recommend putting a POG Pedal?

Thank you!

. . . or, get yourself an EHX Tri Parallel mixer and have your wah, fuzz and drives all in parallel? That way both wah AND fuzz are first in chain, and they’re separate from drives

If you like wahs and auto-wahs and want to keep one of each in your chain for variety, would it cause any signal issues? Would the auto-wah necessarily have to come after the wah in the chain? If so, why?

Suggested pedal order:
Wah > Fuzz > Modulations > High gain OD > Lower gain OD > Compression > Delay > Reverb > Tremolo

guys im buying my first pedals in some days (chorous and reverb) but the distortion pedal is not at the stock of the shop, will i have problems if i use my amps gain AFTER the pedals? will sound be bad? please tell me

Can you do a newer updated version of this please? It’s super helpful

Man I can watch this show for hours

How many Boss Metal Zones are too many on one pedal board?

Its clean boost...yeah..if you look in the box thers nothing there...cost you 200 dollars tho..

I’ll try it both ways, but is the standard convention to put your transparent drives first, or the lightest distortion first? Great show.

The speech to text really.. um.. struggles with the word "impedance" 😅

hey gentlemen. i hope you have a second to read a long winded, heartfelt thank you. if you are, this week marks 3 years since i watched this video. my first tps video. early in 2017 i completely overhauled my entire rig and wondered about pedal order. watched this. and well. 3 years later i have the guitar of my dreams (Silverburst Les Paul), a perfectly curated and ordered 15 pedals (id love to send you a pic somehow) AND im proud to say...after playing for 18 years, my first tube amp EVER will be here tomorrow (Blues Jr. Im a bedroom/hobbyist). ive learned everything i know about tone from you guys. not only all that but ive NEVER missed a TPS post, have a fair amount of.your merch and without sounding like a weirdo, kind of consider you guys and your whole crew friends! so thank you. for everything. truly guys. (and if there's anyway i could send you a pic of the board, id love to! i feel like you're know how built it) cheers, Dan, Mick and the crew that help make it happen! (off for an impish dance)

Love the chicken picking!!

nobody has an actual tremolo pedal on their board.

That was amazingly informative guys!! : Wah wah, Fuzz, modulation including chorus, high gain overdrive, low gain overdrive/booster, compression, delay, tremolo, reverb. 🤘Thanks!