What order should guitar pedals go in?
The standard order is tuner, then filter effects like wah, then compressor, then drive and distortion, then modulation, then delay, then reverb. The rule behind it is that each effect should act on a signal that already contains everything it needs to react to, and nothing it should not.
Time-based effects go last because running a delay into a distortion smears the repeats into the distortion instead of layering them over it.
The standard chain, and why each position
Tuner first, so it sees the raw signal. Anything that compresses or distorts before it makes pitch detection worse, and a tuner with a mute switch at the front of the chain kills the whole rig silently.
Wah and filters early, because they sweep a peak across the signal and you want that peak feeding the drive stage. A wah after distortion sounds thinner and more like an effect sitting on top of the tone rather than part of it.
Compressor before drive, so the drive receives an even signal and the compressor is not fighting the drive pedal's own compression. Some players do the reverse to control the output of a fuzz, which is a legitimate exception.
Drives in order of least to most gain, so a boost can push an overdrive rather than the other way round. Stacking is the point: a light overdrive in front of a driven amp tightens the low end and adds saturation without adding mud.
Modulation after drive, because chorus and phaser applied before distortion get flattened by the distortion's compression.
Delay then reverb last, in that order. Reverb after delay puts the ambience around the repeats, which is how a real room works. Reverb before delay makes the delay repeat the reverb, which almost always sounds wrong.
Effects loops change the answer
If your distortion comes from the amp rather than a pedal, putting a delay in front of the input means the delay is going into the distortion. The effects loop sits between the preamp and the power section, which is after the amp's own distortion, and that is where time-based effects belong on an amp that has one.
Drive pedals stay in front of the input regardless, because they are meant to interact with the preamp rather than bypass it.
The exceptions worth knowing
Fuzz usually wants to be first, straight into the guitar, because most fuzz circuits interact with the pickups directly and lose their character behind a buffered pedal.
Volume pedal position changes what it does. Before the drive it acts like the guitar volume knob and cleans the tone up as you roll back. After the drive it acts as a master level and keeps the amount of dirt constant.
Noise gates often work best in two places at once on high-gain rigs: one before the drive to catch the input noise, one in the loop to catch what the amp adds.
Order is not the whole answer
Getting the order right stops the chain fighting itself. It does not tell you what to set anything to, and the settings depend on the amp underneath as much as on the pedals.
Tonelify takes the pedals you own along with your amp and guitar, and returns both the order and the values for a specific tone.
Common questions
Does delay go before or after distortion?
After. A delay in front of a distortion has its repeats compressed and saturated along with the dry signal, which smears them together. Placing it after keeps the repeats clean and layered over the distorted tone. If the distortion comes from the amp, that means putting the delay in the amp's effects loop.
Where does a wah pedal go in the chain?
Early, before the drive pedals. A wah sweeps a resonant peak across the signal, and feeding that peak into the distortion is what produces the vocal, expressive character. After the distortion it sounds thinner and more like an effect layered on top.
Why does fuzz go first?
Most fuzz circuits have a low input impedance and interact directly with the guitar's pickups, which is part of how they respond to the volume knob. Putting a buffered pedal in front of a fuzz breaks that interaction and usually makes it sound thin and harsh.
Settings for your own amp
This guide covers what is true of every rig. For a specific song on a specific amp, Tonelify reads the documented chain behind the recording and returns gain, bass, middle, treble and presence values for the controls your amp actually has. Free for 7 days, no charge until the trial ends.
Keep reading
- What every knob on a guitar amp doesGain sets distortion, volume sets level, master sets power-section drive, presence works above treble. What each guitar amp control does and which ones interact.
- How to EQ a guitar ampSet the gain first, then cut before you boost, and move one control at a time. A repeatable method for EQing any guitar amp, and what each band actually does.
- Why your amp doesn't sound like the recordRecords are layered, compressed, mic'd and mastered. What of a recorded guitar tone is reachable on your own amp, what is not, and where the remaining distance comes from.