Effects Order
This is a perennial question on all guitar oriented forums - what order do I
put my effects in? While there are some simple guidelines, there is no
"right" way to do it. It's all a matter of taste and your personal
tone. Let your ears be the final arbiter.
The order of effects that produce the sounds most people have become
accustomed to hearing is this:
- Amplitude altering effects
- Pre-distortion EQ
- Distortion(s)
- Post Distortion EQ
- Other tone controls
- Small time delays and Phasers
- Longer time delays - chorus
- Reverb and echo, tape delays, etc.
There is a rationale for the placement of each effect in this order; it goes
like this:
- Amplitude altering effects
- As simple as your guitar's volume knob, or as complicated as fancy
compressors, attack-delay or other note-shaping device. The idea here is
that the basic "shape" of the note that will interact with the
later distortion devices gets set for the best tone at that level. Because
distortions are level sensitive, the higher the level that comes out of an
amplitude device, the more it will be distorted in any following distortion
devices, and vice versa. A distortion following a level changing device
converts the level-altering device into a distortion-intensity modulator -
and that reverts to level changes if you switch the distortion out.
- Pre-distortion EQ
- Once again, as simple as your guitar's tone control (which is really a
simple treble-cut filter) or as complicated as a parametric EQ;
pre-distortion EQ sets up which frequencies are loudest - and the louder the
frequency, the more that a following distortion will affect it. As I
mentioned before, distortions
are level sensitive devices - anything under the level at which distortion
starts will be largely unaffected. Anything over the threshold will be
distorted. So by boosting things we want distorted and NOT boosting things
we don't want distorted, we can select the things that get distorted and
have a much more animated sounding distortion.
- One of the most recognizable uses of this was Jimi Hendrix' use of a
wah pedal (which is really a sweepable resonant filter - see the Technology
of the Wah Pedal at GEO) before a Fuzz Face. A wah boosts one band of
frequencies a lot, and if the levels are set right, the frequencies in the
boosted range will be distorted most.
- Distortion(s)
- The Ronco Veg-a-Matic of the sound world, distortions take whatever signal
is coming in and slice it into analog coleslaw. In doing this, they add
harmonics and intermodulation products that were not present in the original
signal. This usually results in a hotter high end, as it adds more signal
bits at higher frequencies that were originally present.
- Post Distortion EQ and tone controls
- Once the distortion has had its way with the signal and inserted a hash of
harmonics into it, post distortion EQ can step in and select which bits out
of this sonic stew get heard.
- As in many things musical, this started out unnoticed, just the nature of
the beast. A 10" or 12" speaker in a cabinet has a frequency
rolloff that starts between 4kHz and 6kHz, and is quite steep. This puts a
serious cut on any real high frequency content from guitar. In fact, many
"speaker simulators" are just multipole lowpass filters with
turnover frequencies in the 4K to 6K range, and do a creditable job.
- Having noticed the post-distortion tone effect, we can mess with it
deliberately, of course. Distortion devices make for lots of high frequency
harmonics. We can cut, boost, trim, notch, and otherwise shape what the
distortion device turns out.
- Notice that Pre-Distortion EQ changes what gets distorted in the first
place. Post distortion EQ can only cut and trim on what has already been
created in the distortion device. You should try it both ways - or both ways
at once!. Notice that
Post distortion wah sounds very different from pre-distortion wah. Try
it!
- Anything else that does frequency shaping goes in here as well - remember
the interaction of level boost-cuts with distortion.
- Small time delays and Phasers
- These add a spacious sound by causing multiple notches in the signal at
specific frequencies. The ear is fooled into thinking it's in an acoustic
space that has odd cancellations and echoes.
- Longer time delays - chorus
- Reverb and echo.
Some combinations and the rationales behind them:
- Compressor before distortion
- Gives a "smoother" distortion sound because the signal level the
distortion gets has less variation - the compressor wipes off more of the
signal changes, so the distortion works mostly at one level, and the tone
quality of the distortion changes less as the note decays. The disadvantage
is that the hiss of the compressor is further amplified by the distortion,
so this setup is noisier than either by itself.
- Distortion before compressor
- The compressor adds little but hiss, because the distortion already sets
up a fairly fixed output level. The tone quality changes as the distortion
would without the compressor.
- Distortion before time delay
- The subtleties of the time delay, chorus, flange, etc. are generated after
the distortion's harmonic hash, so the nuances of the delay can be heard.
- Time delay before distortion
- The distortion's harmonic generation tends to fill in the response notches
the time delay created, usually less acceptable.
In the end, only your ears can determine what your sound needs to be.
Experiment! Find *your* sound. In the end, the only right way is your way.