BJFE / BearFoot fx Guitar Effects Community

Donner gave me some great advice recently --- to move my tuner (Boss - buffer) to the back of the line and put my fuzz up front --- it blows me away how much more alive my fuzz is now! I have a D*A*M 1966 that I felt never quite lived up to the hype and now it is a whole new animal. I actually feel somewhat stupid for not having put more effort into trying different pedal placements.

Any revelations you guys have discovered along the way?

-Never put a buffer before my Budda Wah. Totally ruins the wah it reacts.
-Only buy expensive pedals for things that I use more than once a month.
-Not to let my buddies borrow my zendrive (it disappeared for 3 weeks and I had to gig without it)


yeah. order makes a biiiiig difference sometimes.

Fuzz first, followed by compressor, then MGMV>Hotcake>Fix My Duck>Sherlock Tremit. Fuzz needs to be the first in the chain. I have the comp next because Bjorn recommends it before the MGMV and it also sounds best before the Hotcake. MGMV before Hotcake because that sounds better than the other way around. FMD before trem because I want to fine tune the final sound, then modulate rather than modulate, then EQ.

My SBEQ is last in line, I like how it punches the preamp of my Vox and warms it up a little when clean. I also like to taylor whichever fuzz I happen to be running with the EQ and generally leave it on all the time. I did have the chance to run a SBEQ at either end of the chain and enjoyed it, but ultimately prefer the PGC up front as it gives more flexibility.

for me it would have been when i realized OD can come after distortion, not just before,,,I dont know why I was blind to this before.

i feel its important to have VCF (wah filter) upfront in the chain along with fuzz for the pickup sensitivity.

also a LRT or buffered pedal after a TB wah makes running it into heavier distortion much better.

oops I missed the thought starter question/poll...
I use the SBEQ >BPB at the very end of the chain, I like to be able to tailor the eq of everything afterwards if I wanted to.
I would even prefer it after my delay if it wasnt in the amp loop.
the same would go even if I used a more traditional EQ.

I have a thought on the placement of the EQ....it seems like any pedal can contribute to the brightness or darkness of your overall sound, even something like a modulation effect, etc. So it seems to make sense to put the EQ last or next to last if your booster is last. Am I crazy?

My last 3 pedals are:
Morning Dew>Sea Blue>Baby Pink. I use the MDEQ primarily for jacking the mids for some humbuckerish stuff from single coils, the Sea Blue for overall tone enhancement, and the BP for solo boost.

zion wrote:My last 3 pedals are:
Morning Dew>Sea Blue>Baby Pink. I use the MDEQ primarily for jacking the mids for some humbuckerish stuff from single coils, the Sea Blue for overall tone enhancement, and the BP for solo boost.

That's a cool approach!