Help with my Effects Signal Chain

[pobrien_ie]

Hi all,

Just looking for some guidance with my pedal chain. Apologies if similar threads are already open, but I couldn't find any answering my specific queries.

I have for five pedals - Cheapo tuner pedal, Behringer BDI21, Trace Elliot SMX Compressor, Boss Overdrive, Boss Flanger and Boss EQ.

I'm not a huge user of pedals and have just accumulated these along the way. I'm going to be jamming with a grunge / alternative rock covers band I used to play with a long long time ago and all these pedals are required. I was thinking of putting them in the above order from bass to amp. Would this be correct, if there's such a thing?

Thanks in advance!

Paddy

[thisnameistaken]

There isn't really a 'correct', no. What are you using the BDI for - just as a DI? What are you using the EQ for? Those are the only two I personally would think about changing the order of, but it depends how you're using them.

[pobrien_ie]

Yeah I know it's a pretty subjective topic, but just looking for a starting point really and then see what I like.

The BDI will be used for tone shaping and not as a DI at all. The EQ will be used for scooping/boosting the mids occasionally and/or a volume boost.

[xgsjx]

Tuner is best at the start, the rest is really up to how you want to sound. Some people will say stick the compressor 1st, some will say last, some will say in the bin. As for the EQ, it depends if you're wanting to shape what's going into pedals or what's coming out of them. Putting it after gain effects means you can roll off the top end to remove the harshness, but you might be trying to get that harshness.

Play about with your pedal order, it's 1/2 the fun of having pedals. You'll probably move them about again in a year or so.

[pobrien_ie]

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1341923065' post='1726194']
Tuner is best at the start, the rest is really up to how you want to sound. Some people will say stick the compressor 1st, some will say last, some will say in the bin. As for the EQ, it depends if you're wanting to shape what's going into pedals or what's coming out of them. Putting it after gain effects means you can roll off the top end to remove the harshness, but you might be trying to get that harshness.

Play about with your pedal order, it's 1/2 the fun of having pedals. You'll probably move them about again in a year or so.
[/quote]

Thanks. Yeah I've been searching for suggestions for the last few days and everything is conflicting. We have our first jam this evening, so will see how it sounds!

[thisnameistaken]

In that case EQ is probably best where it is - after the dirt. I might prefer the BDI after the compressor but to be honest I've never liked sansamps and I rarely use compression, and certainly couldn't imagine using both of them at once so I suppose it doesn't matter.

[pobrien_ie]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1341925819' post='1726279']
In that case EQ is probably best where it is - after the dirt. I might prefer the BDI after the compressor but to be honest I've never liked sansamps and I rarely use compression, and certainly couldn't imagine using both of them at once so I suppose it doesn't matter.
[/quote]

I'll certainly try that suggestion re the compression. Haven't actually used compression myself in a while so might drop that entirely. Thanks again!

[thisnameistaken]

To me it never sounds good if you compress a dirty signal, it's better to do any compression you want on your raw (or raw-ish) input signal before you start adding to the sound. Of course it depends to some extent on how you're using the compressor - if you are making a deliberate and obvious compressed sound you might want it later in the chain so it sounds more obvious, or you might want to feed a boost into it from your dirt so it squishes harder. As you said earlier there's no right way it just depends what you're going for.