Creating the sound you want isn’t just about which pedals you have—it’s also about where you place them. Pedals interact with your instrument signal and with each other in different ways depending on where they are in your signal chain, opening you up to a ton of opportunities for tweaking and customizing your tone output. While you should experiment as much as you have the patience for, we want to give you some guideposts to follow so that you have an easier time choosing what goes where in your quest for the perfect sound.
To do that, we’re going to look at three of the most popular types of effects and talk about where the conventional wisdom says that they should go in your signal chain.
CRY BABY® WAH PEDALS
The Cry Baby® Wah is the most iconic effect in the history of guitar pedals. Since its invention in the 1960s, numerous models have come out to accommodate just about every tonal preference and playing style there is. Today, the Cry Baby line includes more than 30 such models. And with all of that variation, the overwhelming consensus among guitar players is that the wah pedal should be first in your signal chain.
Wah pedals are essentially tone filters. To create their signature sound, they sweep across the spectrum of frequencies generated by your guitar. A cleaner signal means that a pedal such as the Tom Morello Cry Baby Wah has more frequencies to work with—if you want the full expressive potential of your wah pedal, you need to run it right after your guitar. Using a different effect on that signal before the wah will change the wah’s response. And you might dig that sound—that’s why it’s important to experiment for yourself. But for the purest wah sound, put your Cry Baby Wah first in your chain.
OVERDRIVE PEDALS
Overdrives are a pedalboard staple. In most setups, these and other gain-based effects go at the front of the signal chain, after the Cry Baby Wah and other tone-shaping effects, and for similar reasons. Overdrive pedals such as the MXR® Timmy® Overdrive boost whatever signal is fed into it and then clip the wave peaks to add all that sweet harmonic content that we know and love.
They’re designed to work on clean signals—if you run your overdrive pedal after other effects, such as modulation or delay, all kinds of extra stuff will come through for a potentially very muddy sound. Depending on the specific pedals in question, though, you might like the way it sounds when you run your overdrive pedal after a chorus, flanger, or other such effect. Try it our way first so that you know what your overdrive pedal is supposed to sound like.
DELAY PEDALS
Delay pedals such as the MXR® Carbon Copy® Analog Delay work most effectively—as delay pedals—when placed at the end of your signal chain. Ideally, you want the repeats to clearly replicate the entirety of the rest of your signal. If you put an overdrive pedal or a modulation pedal after, the quality of your repeats will degrade and become less pronounced. Some delay pedals do allow you to tweak the tone and behavior of your repeats—the Carbon Copy Analog Delay has modulation controls, for example—but because they’re designed for it, it’s much easier to dial in a great sound.
On the other hand, if you want some tripped out ambience, running a fuzz and chorus after your delay pedal might be just what the doctor ordered.
ACCOUNTING FOR TASTE
What sounds good to you is a matter of preference, and you won’t know which pedals sound good where until you plug in and play. But it helps to know how different ingredients go together before trying to invent your own recipe from scratch, right? Our hope is that this guide allows you to develop your own sound through informed experimentation. Add other effects to the mix. Move stuff around. Most importantly, have fun with it.
The MXR Tap Tempo Switch allows you to change your pedal settings on the fly. If you have pedals with an output for an off-board switch, then you can use this super compact little box to control time-based effects, toggle specific parameters, and more. And it comes in a super compact housing that’s built to take a beating on the road.
With the MXR Tap Tempo Switch at your feet, you won’t need to be fumbling around on your pedalboard in the middle of a song. Here’s a look at just some of the things it can do.
PLAY IT ON REPEAT.
When you’re playing live, everything needs to be tight. That includes your delay pedal’s repeats. If yours has an output for a tap switch as the Echoplex® Delay does, get the MXR Tap Tempo Switch so that you can sync up your delay pedal’s repeats with the tempo of each song, live and in the moment—whether your’re driving fast slapback or hanging back for psychedelic soundscapes.
Same goes for your favorite trem pedal. Like the Echoplex Delay, the MXR Tremolo has an output for an off-board switch—here, you can use it to set the tempo of the pedal’s pulsing effect. Tap into everything from fluttering licks to choppy, staccato riffage.
The MXR Poly Blue Octave allows you to use an off-board switch to toggle its gnarly vintage fuzz mode and select between analog-style monophonic and modern polyphonic phase shifting. Once again, the MXR Tap Tempo Switch is your hero, allowing you to change both settings through a single output and a single switch.
ON TAP: A BETTER PLAYING EXPERIENCE.
The MXR Tap Tempo Switch is compact and easy to use, and if you use time-based effects or other pedals with features that can be operated through an off-board switch, it’s a must-have for your pedalboard. Don’t fuss over the knobs and switches at your feet just as you’re about to lean into a righteous solo. Get the MXR Tap Tempo Switch, and play in the moment.
The Bass Freq’s Podcast, hosted by experienced recording and touring bass player Josh Paul (Suicidal Tendencies, Infectious Grooves, Daughtry), features in-depth discussions with some of the top bassists working today.
Many of the guests who’ve come on the Bass Freq’s Podcast showed promise from an early age before being hailed as child prodigies on their way to amazing careers. This week’s episode gives host Josh Paul the chance to talk to once such phenomenon while he is actually at the start of his meteoric rise. Aron Hodek, a 12-year old bass player from Slovakia, is already racking up chops, fans, and accomplishments that would be highly impressive for a player two or three times his age. Here, Aron tells us all about how he caught the bass bug and what steps he took to be able to get recognized, who he’s playing with, the gear he digs, and how he still works his best to balance the important work of just being a kid while continuing to build a career that seems limitless.
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The Bass Freq’s Podcast, hosted by experienced recording and touring bass player Josh Paul (Suicidal Tendencies, Infectious Grooves, Daughtry), features in-depth discussions with some of the top bassists working today.
Blu DeTiger is one of the shining stars among a new crop of highly skilled bass players on their way to becoming the icons of the future. She’s been dedicated to the craft since the age of seven, but instead of following the traditional routes to success, she took advantage of the new medium of our age—social media, through TikTok—to make her biggest impact on the scene. On this week’s episode of the Bass Freq’s Podcast, she shares her story, inspirations, insights on gear, and what’s on the horizon with host Josh Paul.
The Bass Freq’s Podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts—subscribe so that you can hear from more intriguing and inspiring guests.
The Bass Freq’s Podcast, hosted by experienced recording and touring bass player Josh Paul (Suicidal Tendencies, Infectious Grooves, Daughtry), features in-depth discussions with some of the top bassists working today.
Respected performer and educator Rufus Philpot wears his love of the bass guitar on his shirt sleeves. He’s studied, taught, recorded, and performed at the highest levels, and in this conversation with host Josh Paul, Rufus dishes on that entire range of experience without holding back. Through stories about his influences, how hard he worked to make a name for himself, and the techniques and gear that aid him in his constant effort to take his art to the next level, Rufus’ passion for his instrument is evident in every word he speaks.
The Bass Freq’s Podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts—subscribe so that you can hear from more intriguing and inspiring guests.
