Guitar pedals are an effective way to modify your electric guitar's tone.The order of your pedals is important to ensure the best tone.There is no right or wrong way to order your pedals.To set up guitar pedals, you need to learn the basics and experiment to find the best arrangement.
Step 1: Decide what kind of tone you want.
The order of your pedals depends on the tone you want to achieve.The style of music you play will affect this.The function of the pedal needs to be preserved.Changing the order can have a big effect on the tone.Until you find the sound you want, you may want to experiment with different pedals.The golden rule is that drives and gain-driven pedals go first in the chain, followed by the filters and then the time-based effects.You can easily reproduce the same order if you number your pedals.
Step 2: Attach your pedals with patch cables.
Quality is important when choosing the cables that connect your pedals.The tone of your guitar can be improved by the cable.The patch cables should be short.Longer cables will cause the signal to degrade.
Step 3: The first thing to do is position your pedal.
Plug your guitar directly into the tuning fork.You want the pedal to tune your guitar's clean, unmodulated signal rather than the heavily distorted sound produced by first running the signal through other effects pedals.
Step 4: The filters need to be connected early in the chain.
The best filters to use are auto-wahs and envelope filters.If you don't use a tuning pedal, the filters should be the first thing in your setup.A clean signal should be protected by a filter.They can't function properly if they are placed after other effects pedals.Depending on the tone you want to achieve, this may be a good position for phaser pedals.
Step 5: The compressor pedal should be plugged in after the filter pedals.
If the guitar's tone has already been heavily modified, you'll get lots of noisy, unwanted sound if you put the compressor pedal later on in the chain.Depending on the type of music you're playing, you may want your compressor pedal at the end of your chain.If you're playing country music, a compressor pedal at the end of the chain squashes everything.It works better after the filter pedals with rock music.
Step 6: Add distortion and overdrive pedals.
Rock music has some of the most popular types of effects pedals.The unpleasant tone can come from placing these pedals before the other pedals.The overtones of each note are amplified by distortion pedals.You don't want amplified overtones fed into compressor pedals.
Step 7: Decide where to put the pedals.
The best time to use a pitch-shifting pedal is when it's being fed a compressed signal.Unless you've positioned your compressor pedal at the end of your chain, you generally want to place it after compression pedals.
Step 8: The end of your signal chain needs to be connected to the modulation pedals.
If you're using any of the modulation pedals, you want to place them in your signal chain so they have a richer sound.If you have more than one pedal, you may want to experiment with their order until you find the right one.
Step 9: Volume pedals should be placed at the beginning or end of your signal chain.
Whether you put the volume pedal earlier or later in the signal chain affects what part of your guitar's sound the pedal adjusts for.The volume pedal will adjust the volume of your unmodulated signal if it is close to your guitar.If you use a lot of overdrive, it can be helpful to clean up your sound.The volume of the finished signal is adjusted by placing your volume pedal at the end of your signal chain.
Step 10: Put any time-based pedals.
When ordering time-based pedals such as delay pedals, think about how the sound you're creating actually occurs in physical space.Since echo is the last thing heard, it makes sense to place these types of pedals at the end of the signal chain.It's important to keep in mind that placing a delay pedal before a volume pedal can make it more difficult to control the volume.
Step 11: Take a look at your amplifier.
If your amplifier has an effects loop, you can place some of your effects inside it to give your guitar a richer, more nuanced tone.The effects loop begins before the power section of your amplifier.You'll see the effects return and send jacks.Some of these Amps may be labeled "Preamp Out" and "Power Amp In".
Step 12: Place your effects in the effects loop.
The washed out sound that can be produced if these effects are fed into the overdrive and distortion of the amplifier is why most guitarists put the time-based effects in the loop.If your amplifier is generating sound that is overdriven or distorted, this set-up can give you a clearer sound.The sound from your amplifier's section feeds into the effects.
Step 13: Volume and modulation can be moved into the effects loop.
If you put the pedals in the effects loop, you will get a different sound than if you run them directly from your guitar.If you like it, try it out and see if it suits you.You can control the sound coming out of the amplifier by moving the volume pedal inside the effects loop.
Step 14: The right size is chosen.
You can buy pedal boards off the shelf or make your own.Depending on the number of pedals you use on a regular basis and the size of those pedals, you can choose between a small, medium, or large pedal board.If you're using less than five pedals, you want a small pedal board.A large pedal board is what you want for more than ten pedals.If you plan to add more pedals over time, take into account.If you plan on adding three more pedals, it's best to get a medium-sized pedal board so you have room for the others.Even if you only use four or five pedals, you should get a large pedal board.The overcrowding will be prevented by this.
Step 15: Check the power requirements of your pedals.
Whether you're buying a pre-built board or building your own, you need to make sure the pedal board will power all your pedals.Some pedals require more power than others.Don't assume that every pedal in your set-up has the same power requirements.To make sure the board you buy can handle the pedals, you want to check the power requirements of them.
Step 16: There is an adequate power supply.
Once your set-up is complete, your power supply needs to have the correct voltage as well as be able to handle the number of pedals you have.If you have more than 10 pedals, you'll need a power supply that can handle them all.If you have one pedal that requires 12 volts, you'll need to look for a power supply that allows you to isolated pedals, because you don't want the other pedals to use less power.
Step 17: Use compact patch cables.
While you want to leave a little bit of space between the pedals on your pedal board to keep it from looking cluttered, you still need to use extremely short patch cables to preserve the quality of your sound.If you want to cut down on the amount of space the cables take, choose cables with right-angle plugs.If you have the right tools, you can cut your own cables, which will save you money and ensure that your cables are the correct length for your set-up.Black cables can get lost on a stage and you may not be able to identify the problem if one is damaged or unhooked.
Step 18: Attach the pedals to the board.
If you want to change the order of your pedals to make your guitar sound better, use a non-permanent means to fix the pedals in place on your pedal board.If you're working with a lot of pedals, you may want to stagger them so they alternate between the front and rear edges of the pedal board.You will be able to distinguish between them and hit the pedal you want during a performance.If you want to reach the pedals with your foot, make sure they are laid out.The location of the pedals on the board doesn't have to follow the signal chain you've created.You want to follow it as closely as possible to reduce the length of the patch cables.