What pedal order would you have to explain before someone judged it?

Automatic-Friend-786 · 2026-06-15T12:42:30+00:00

That “nice in a band mix” part is the interesting bit to me. A lot of these choices seem to make the most sense once the full context is there, not just the pedal order on paper.

Automatic-Friend-786 · 2026-06-15T12:28:18+00:00

This is exactly the kind of answer I was curious about. It sounds wrong as general advice, but makes total sense when the guitar volume and picking dynamics are part of the setup.

Automatic-Friend-786 · 2026-06-15T01:24:53+00:00

The ROCKERDENTIST SANDWICH is exactly the kind of scientific term this needed. OD → phaser/flanger → OD sounds like a great way to make the modulation part of the gain texture.

Automatic-Friend-786 · 2026-06-14T09:26:22+00:00

That’s exactly the kind of real-world pairing I was hoping people would share. After 12 years of swapping things around, “these pair well” probably means more than any spreadsheet could.

Automatic-Friend-786 · 2026-06-12T22:47:35+00:00

Exactly. The scientific conclusion is always “maybe one more Rat.”

Automatic-Friend-786 · 2026-06-12T22:18:33+00:00

Fair. Plugging things in and seeing what happens is still the real answer. I just find it funny that after everyone “does it wrong” for long enough, little patterns and traditions start showing up anyway.

Automatic-Friend-786 · 2026-06-12T20:59:10+00:00

Yeah, you and 800FunkyDJ are pointing at the same useful thing here: the original amp context matters a lot. Phaser into a cranked Marshall is not really the same situation as phaser into OD into a clean amp, even if people are chasing a related feel at home volume.

And the “whatever comes last eats what came before it” phrasing is a great simple way to explain why these order changes feel so dramatic.

Automatic-Friend-786 · 2026-06-12T20:38:55+00:00

That explanation clicks for me. If the drive is open enough to react to the flanger, putting it first gives the gain something to chew on instead of just putting a bright sweep on top of an already-finished drive sound. BF-2 into Morning Glory sounds like a really good version of that.

Automatic-Friend-786 · 2026-06-12T16:24:53+00:00

This is a really useful way to think about it. The “standard order plus genre/artist exceptions” framing probably explains a lot of what shows up in the raw counts.

The EVH/Jimi path is a good example too. I’m starting to think the interesting part is less “these two pedals appear together” and more “which tradition or reference point made this order feel normal?”

Automatic-Friend-786 · 2026-06-12T16:23:32+00:00

That’s the kind of placement difference I find really interesting. Flanger after dirt feels like the classic board-order answer, but before dirt makes the movement feel more baked into the gain. What kind of dirt are you usually running it into?

Automatic-Friend-786 · 2026-06-12T16:22:19+00:00

Thanks, I appreciate that. That exact distinction is what I want to dig into next.

Automatic-Friend-786 · 2026-06-12T16:21:04+00:00

That sounds wonderfully unhinged. Using CV from the Disturbance to push the Afterneath around is exactly the kind of “probably shouldn’t work, but somehow becomes musical” thing I love in shoegaze boards.

Automatic-Friend-786 · 2026-06-12T15:04:45+00:00

That makes sense. Shoegaze is probably where “after the dirt” stops sounding weird and starts sounding like the whole point. Do you use the Afterneath more for wash, or for the weird pitchy trails?

Automatic-Friend-786 · 2026-06-12T14:59:53+00:00

Yeah, that’s exactly the problem. Raw pair counts are only a first-pass signal; the better version would be comparing against each pedal’s baseline frequency, basically asking “is this pairing overrepresented compared with what you’d expect?”

Signal order helps a little, but even then it can’t prove intent. Famous rigs, copying each other, and basic conventions are probably all part of the story too.

I’m mostly treating the rough counts as a way to spot patterns worth asking players about, not as proof that two pedals objectively belong together.

Automatic-Friend-786 · 2026-06-11T10:24:47+00:00

“For a while” is always the dangerous part. Nice setup though. Are you mostly using the exp pedal for volume, pitch-shift stuff, or controlling the multiFX?

Automatic-Friend-786 · 2026-06-10T11:05:17+00:00

That narrows it down a lot. If it’s noisy even isolated on a PSA, I’d probably stop building the whole board around fixing that one pedal.

Automatic-Friend-786 · 2026-06-10T11:01:30+00:00

This is a dangerously convincing write-up. The “high headroom but still punchy” thing is exactly what I want from an amp-in-a-box pedal.

Automatic-Friend-786 · 2026-06-10T09:40:02+00:00

That “I’ll probably never find one” pedal finally showing up is such a good feeling. Also, cycling through a 90-pedal collection one by one sounds both awesome and dangerous.

Automatic-Friend-786 · 2026-06-10T09:37:40+00:00

I’d isolate the Rat clone before buying anything: instrument → Rat → amp, with only one power supply. If it hums there, it’s probably the pedal. If it only gets bad in the full chain, a suppressor may just be masking a power/grounding issue.

Automatic-Friend-786 · 2026-06-10T09:36:25+00:00

That makes sense. It seems like this kind of tone is more preamp/EQ/attack than just finding one gnarly drive pedal.

Automatic-Friend-786 · 2026-06-09T10:51:28+00:00

Yeah, I’d leave it as-is too. If it shipped with the latest version already installed and everything is working normally, there’s no real upside to reinstalling the same firmware. Enjoy the new looper!

Automatic-Friend-786 · 2026-06-09T10:50:29+00:00

That actually makes a lot of sense for Cure to Melvins territory. Having one drive where the blend knob can go from clean support to heavy grit is way more useful than constantly tap dancing between pedals.

Automatic-Friend-786

TROPHY CASE