Talking About Pedal Order

Let’s talk about Pedal Order. I’ve had this conversation SO many times with SO many guitarists out there. It’s a hot topic, and it’s a topic that doesn’t necessarily have a right or wrong answer. There are conventional orders that some people follow, and that conventional order I do like to recommend people to start.. but you need to decide with your ears and make judgements on what types of sounds you’re trying to create.

When we talk about pedal order, it can be hard to determine if you like a pedal position because you need to unhook and re-hook the effect on the fly and remember what it sounded like. Bypass strips can really help with this or other types of routing switches are great to test with.

This morning I stumbled across a great video talking about Pedal Order, but he uses software to play with effect position. I thought this was a great idea. Now.. it’s important to understand, these are simulations and obviously wouldn’t have all the exact effects you might, but it could give you a feel if you like modulation after distortion or before? If you like delays early or later in your chain for what you’re trying to pull off.