Please help me put my FX Pedals in the correct order?

SouthpawMark

So my brief love affair with my Line 6 Helix ended recently, and I've decided that pedals are the right way to go. I went to Andertons, got a little carried away, and have ended up with 14 pedals. I've got a basic idea of which ones should go straight in to the front of my amp, and which should go in to the FX loop. My amp is a H&K TubeMeister 36.

So the pedals I think should go straight in to the front are as follows:
Boss Tuner
Wah
TS-808
Triangle Big Muff
Keeley Filaments
MXR Dyna Comp
Xotic EP Booster
RYRA Klone
Plimsoul
ThorpyFX The Dane

FX Loop:
Keeley Bubbletron
Keeley Seafoam
Keeley Caverns
Micro POG

My question is, esteemed fretboard members, which order would you put said pedals in on each loop? I have tried looking at google for an answer, but the answers seem to be pretty generic. Some advice would be much appreciated.

stickyfiddle

Crikey that's a lot of drive pedals. 

I would generally go 

tuner - pitch shifting - compression - fuzz (if you must) - dirt/drive (heaviest to lightest, but sometimes with something clean at the front to push the dirty ones harder if needed, same for fuzz - sometimes a boost first is good, especially with Muffs) - solo boost - amp (if using fx loop) - mod - delay - reverb

Sassafras

I'd have the Dyna Comp right at the end of the board so I couldn't reach it.

smudge_lad

What a shopping spree! I’d love to be able to go and buy 14 pedals at once, ha ha!

Since the Dane has one of the best boost’s ever created and it’s in front of the OD section, I’d be tempted to have this at the front of all my drives so that it can be either used as an “always on” boost or so that you can use it to juice your other drives if the need a kick up the arse.

You’ve always got your EP booster or potentially TS808 to use as a solo boost after all the drives

smudge_lad

Also, depending on how you set your RYRA, this could also be your “always on” pedal. Sounds ace with drive on zero, treble about 1 o’clock and volume at unity/just above unity

tone1

You are Lee Anderton and I claim my £5....

SouthpawMark

smudge_lad said:

What a shopping spree! I’d love to be able to go and buy 14 pedals at once, ha ha!

Since the Dane has one of the best boost’s ever created and it’s in front of the OD section, I’d be tempted to have this at the front of all my drives so that it can be either used as an “always on” boost or so that you can use it to juice your other drives if the need a kick up the arse.

You’ve always got your EP booster or potentially TS808 to use as a solo boost after all the drives

smudge_lad said:

Also, depending on how you set your RYRA, this could also be your “always on” pedal. Sounds ace with drive on zero, treble about 1 o’clock and volume at unity/just above unity

Thanks @smudge_lad . That’s really helpful. 

The Anderton guy probably thought I was mad. My wife definitely did. I guess it’s just trial and error, and you’ll eventually come up with a sound combo you like, and the pedals which don’t fit in will become redundant. At least the resale value on pedals is pretty good, from what I can see. 

SouthpawMark

tone1 said:

You are Lee Anderton and I claim my £5....

Sadly not. However, if I was Mr Anderton the first thing I would do would be to sort out the **** parking situation at said shop. 

smudge_lad

SouthpawMark said:

  ... and you’ll eventually come up with a sound combo you like .... 

Nope.....

NelsonP

Good question. Where does an EP Boost go in the signal chain?

prlgmnr

Did you try them all at once in the shop?

monquixote

Micro pog after the wah then Dyna comp then drives the order that they stack best which is trial and error

SouthpawMark

prlgmnr said:

Did you try them all at once in the shop?

Yes. Well, not all at once, but one after the other, then in a few different combinations. I was there for just over two hours...was great fun, and it’s refreshing to go to a shop where the staff are genuinely interested in helping. 

dilbert

Too many pedals into the front. Compressor, Wah, Tuner, Boost, O/D, Crunch, is the limit for me. Anymore and I'm thinking multi. 
  
But then it ain't my board 

english_bob

NelsonP said:

Good question. Where does an EP Boost go in the signal chain?

  Depends what you want it to do exactly. Basically, it'll send an increased level of signal ("louder") to whatever is next in line.

Put it in front of another gain pedal and it'll boost the signal to that pedal- more distortion and probably more volume.

Put it directly before your amplifier and it'll boost the signal to the preamp valves- more volume and/or more distortion depending on the amp design.

Put it in the effects loop and it'll boost signal going to the power amp- probably more volume *without* more distortion, still dependent on the amp design.

NelsonP

@SouthpawMark

So what was the answer to your original question?

I'm currently considering a adding a Big Muff to my board and am trying to figure out where to put it relative to an EP Booster and EHX Soul Food. As all of these are before the input of an Atomic Amplifire, I also have the ability to add another drive after it (e.g. Tubescreamer, Distortion, Clean Boost, Fuzz)  Therefore I'm thinking Soul Food > EP Boost > Big Muff > Atomic Amplifire.

And to think, I used to get by with a guitar straight into a 2 channel amp. I think you still have me beat for gain stages though!

SouthpawMark

NelsonP said:

@SouthpawMark

So what was the answer to your original question?

I'm currently considering a adding a Big Muff to my board and am trying to figure out where to put it relative to an EP Booster and EHX Soul Food. As all of these are before the input of an Atomic Amplifire, I also have the ability to add another drive after it (e.g. Tubescreamer, Distortion, Clean Boost, Fuzz)  Therefore I'm thinking Soul Food > EP Boost > Big Muff > Atomic Amplifire.

And to think, I used to get by with a guitar straight into a 2 channel amp. I think you still have me beat for gain stages though!

I’m still playing around with it (plus have added quite a few new pedals in the past couple of weeks). I’m taking it all to the GigRig chaps next week, so after they’ve stopped laughing at all the overdrive pedals, I’ll hopefully have an answer! 

NelsonP

Did they give you an answer yet?

SouthpawMark

NelsonP said:

Did they give you an answer yet?

I didn’t go. I’ve got a Volante and a couple of other things on order, so we thought it best to get everything I want before getting them to set it up properly.