Basics & Fundamentals of BASS Effect Pedal Order w/ Sound Samples! 

Thanks so much! You rule!

Preamp at the start of the chain is equivalent to running all your effects into an effects loop if you're going straight into PA. MY Tone Hammer preamp is at the end except for my delay and chorus that I send into the effects loop of the MKS Patch Pad II.

@@TheBassteban. That’s a great point! I tried to use the effects loops of my amps for a while but I now prefer using a loooong chain of effects going to the front of my amps.

Thanks so much! And i’m really glad it inspired some experimenting!!

No problem, i’m really glad it was useful!

Yeah absolutely! Thanks for sharing!

Damn, thanks dude. And thanks for the help with the algorithm! Double thanks!!

🙏

You’re so welcome dude! Enjoy your bass when you get it!

Glad you got something out of it!

👍👍👍🤘

Thank you! I appreciate it!

Thanks so much!!! Glad it helped!

You are welcome!

Hell yeah! Glad it helped!

Glad it helped. Have fun setting up your board!

Thanks man!

Hell yeah, glad you found an order that produces better results!

Perfect! I’m so glad it helped and congrats on your first set up!

That’s freakin awesome

Your welcome 🤘

🙏🤘 You rule!

Glad it’s working out for ya! Yeah I used to rock a bass bone.. a great utility pedal

That chain is pretty spot on to how I would do it as well. The only thing I would do different is try C4 right after the compressor so that it produces a petter quality effect since it’s a tracking pedal and the closer to the instrument it is, the better the effect is going to be… and… so that I had modulation before dirt (C4), and then modulation after dirt as well (chorus), but this all depends on how you use your C4 and chorus pedals with dirt. Do you use your C4 and/or chorus pedal with your dirt? If you do, then you may like the sound of the phaser before your dirt better than where it is which is after your dirt. If you like the sound of the phaser before dirt then C4 should go right after the compressor. That way you have the phaser before dirt AND, the C4 has the best possible signal feeding into it. If you like the filter sweepy effect of modulation after your dirt, and you’re happy with the quality of the C4 effect, then no need to change anything.

Great advice. I have noticed some tracking issues with the C4 when going through my amp. I sometimes use the phaser and envelope aspects with chorus, fuzz and my octave. But I don’t use it with the Soul Food. Thanks for the response. I’m going to move the C4 up next to the compressor and see how that works. 🙏🏻

That chain seems solid to me. Have fun with it!

Nice! Those are the most fun!!

Yes, there are definitely a lot of factors that can disrupt what people say is the “typical” order. That’s why there are no laws when it comes to pedal order. Different combinations and orders are going to sound good to different people that’s why the smartest thing to do is just TRY different things as mush as possible! I love flangers and reverb together 🤙

@@AmbientBassCreations So I just made a little synth bass pedalboard... The order that seemed to work best with the stuff I was using and my ears was octaver + envelope filter + compressor + fuzz + overdrive before the amp, then chorus + reverb in the effects loop... I had some pedal debris on the side, like I chose the MXR Vintage Bass Octaver over the Boss OC-5 (in vintage mode), and the EHX Bass Clone rather than the Boss Chorus. The only Boss pedal I wound up using was the Bass Compressor, but there are some Boss pedals I really love, like the TR-2 Tremolo and the DD-7 Digital Delay (that I use on guitar pedalboards)!!! For whatever reason, out of the common brands I tend to have a lot of MXR gunk on there, and less EHX and Boss stuff.

Thanks! good to hear from you agin Greg! Yes, tremolo does go with modulation. And yes, Ravish Sitar is a tracking pedal just like envelope filter (not like a wah wah pedal you use with your foot though) but it's more like a synth pedal like the SY-1 by boss. I did have Ravish Sitar and I put it after my compressor (as early in the chain as possible). I would try putting it early in a chain to get a better quality sitar sound, but if you like it better last, then go with what your ears like best.

Loopers... So think of loopers like a recording device. They record what you play, and then play it over and over until you stop the recording. An important thing to know about loopers is that the looper will only record what effects are before it in the chain. Therefore putting the looper last, means you are able to record any of your effects because if your looper is last.. then all your other effects are before it. So if you only have one looper then putting it last is probably going to be the most useful position for it. The ambient music I create is all about recording something into loopers,… and then turning on effects after the loopers. The recordings in the loopers will go into whatever effects I turn on after the loopers, and then set off those effects I just turned on, without me having to play my bass. Thats why I like having the loopers in the middle, because I can record the effects I have before the loopers, into the loopers.. and then the loopers send whatever I just recorded, into the effects I have after the loopers… This method is very useful for ambient music because once you have created loops that you like and that go well with each other… you can just put your instrument down and just listen to the loops play, and just sit back and enjoy the music you just created… and also you can use some loopers like Blooper, Mood and Habit as their own instruments by twisting knobs and what not… I have a looper last as well because sometimes I want to record specific effects that are after the middle loopers or, sometimes I think of something I want to add to the ambient piece I just created, but I don’t want to mess up the middle loopers that are already going with something I recorded. So I only do it this way with ambient music so I can let the Loopers just go and go wile I enjoy!

@@AmbientBassCreations Thank you! I like the Ravish just for the sympathetic voices.

Yikes, I apologies for the super late response. Compressor after dirt is a great way to keep the dirty gain effect but at an evenly controlled volume. The gain effect will get more potent as you pluck the strings harder. Compression before dirt will give you the same amount of gain effect no matter how hard or soft you pluck the string giving you the same amount of volume and gain effect consistently. Compressor before dirt is good if you want the same amount of gain and volume the whole time. Compressor after dirt is good if you want the gain to actually interact with your pick attack. I just plug the chain into the main input of the amp. Plugging a preamp into the amp’s preamp seems redundant and may be, but doing this gives you more tone control (depending on the frequency ranges from both) and you can push the amp to get some gain that way. Plugging your preamp into the return to bypass the amp’s preamp is a good idea if you only want the sound of your preamp pedal.

There's defiantly nothing wrong with the compressor after tracking pedals. If I understood you correctly the way you like to use your envelope filter is to have the Attack and the Threshold adjusted in a way so that you get the wah effect on the desired note when you pluck hard, and then you can just continue the bass line without the effect quacking over and over again on every single note. This is a handy way to use an envelope filter sometimes but this can be achieved through the controls on the envelope filter whether it is before or after a compressor. In terms of whether the compressor “should” or “shouldn’t” be before or after the compressor is not a healthy question because there isn’t a right answer. I have been using my compressor before my tracking pedals and it’s great! If you prefer your compressor after your tracking pedals and are happy with it, then that’s great too. We both are happy. Thanks for throwing that idea out there though because maybe someone else would also prefer their compressor after their tracking pedals. It’s definitely worth experimenting with because theres no “right” answer in this specific situation.

In the video i’m using TC Electronic tuner and compressor. The bass eq i’m using is from a brand called Tomsline Engineering and it’s a budget eq pedal I got on AMAZON. I fully support and recommend Donner. I use the Donner Harmonic Square pedal all the time. I also recommend the budget pedals from Sonicake. I have not tried Rowin but i’ll check them out now that you mentioned them thanks

Yes

I have never had that issue but just pondering that in my head I can see that being possible with heavy compression settings. Interesting.

Getting a blank pedalboard out, and strategically planning out a pedal chain like a game of chess is literally one of my favorite things to do. Just one mans opinion.

I did include the preamp but I just used the EQ mini pedal to represent the "tone shaping" pedal.. whether that be a preamp pedal or an EQ pedal used as a preamp pedal. I did this because the mini EQ pedal didn't take up a lot of space like my Vintage Ultra Preamp, & I just wanted to use simple pedals that are more recognizable to the target audience which would be mostly beginners. I could have probably just showed my Vintage Ultra Preamp on camera when I was talking about preamps for reference, and just used the EQ mini pedal for simplicity, so sorry if that part was not well explained. Comments like this make me better so thank you for reaching out

It doesn’t matter if it’s guitar or bass.. It all depends on how long your instrument cable is, going from your instrument to your board. If you’re just using a six foot cable, then no. If you have like a 25 foot or 50+ foot cable, then I would get an input buffer.

@@AmbientBassCreations Thanks a lot! I rarely use cables longer than 12ft so this gives me confidence that I don't need to stuff another pedal in my board. I think I've been sounding fine without an input buffer on my board until now but recently both our guitarists have been talking about them needing those so I was wondering if I was getting left out even if I couldn't hear a difference in sound when I use my pedalboard or when I plug directly to my amp. Now I have a good guideline to know when I need one.

Sorry for the late response. I unfortunately am not familiar with that pedal or style of music.

Wave Crush by Sonicake is such a good bit crusher for only 50 bucks! I use that thing all the time for lofi sounds. I put mine after my octave, and after my chorus or modulation...Stacking Wave Crush after chorus makes a sick lofi pedal combo, and Wave Crush stacked after Octave makes a sick funky Bit Crushed sound that's addicting. Thats just where I've been putting it lately. Hope this helped.

Good ideas@@AmbientBassCreations Maybe have one before octave and one after chorus? Hmm...

@@AmbientBassCreations Here I ran 3 loops Loop A - bitcrush > octave > terra echo. Loop B - chorus > terra echo. Loop C clean. All 3 into reverb > compressor/eq/pre-amp unit ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-OPqkKUkhdKI.htmlsi=fHmLkcfTkcN9yFx1

Lol you mean 2 Wave Crush Bit Crushers? You can't go wrong with that lol. It is a very cheep pedal so Wave Crush would be a pedal to get 2 of.. 👍 @@ErickT1970

Bass end

Thank you. This video is so helpful@@AmbientBassCreations

Haven’t heard that one. Tell me about that..

@@AmbientBassCreations well, you know balanced wiring, it cancels noise nearly completely, cable length can be well over a hunnerd foots and still sound fine, some apparently get clean signal at over two hunnerd n fiddy foots. many mixers support balanced signal with no modification if you plug directly in for some weird reason. basic idea is, one side of the pickup goes to the tip of a stereo jack, other side to the ring, all the grounds to the sleeve. if you plug in a normal mono cable it'll connect ground as if it's unmodified. you'd need a box at the amp end to undo the balancing for using it with all the standard effects. i'd contemplated putting a d frame xlr mic connector on my 'strat', there's space with a new flat jackplate for both jack types, i'd have to only 1/4" stereo jack mod my bass though, unless i feel like drilling it, some day. naiantDOTcomSLASH2014SLASH02SLASH14SLASHguitar-wiring has schematics for it, you do need to get new ganged volume pots, but they'll work fine with the ground connected. sorry for the munged link, youtube can be dickish. one magical thing is, you can shove power over both signal wires and tap it in the guitar for onboard effects/active pickups/preamps/fancy rgb lights... power returns over the ground, you can use the exact same box that feeds 48v phantom power to xlr microphones.

and now you know that... the horror of soldering?

I personally like having a preamp pedal that I can get really specific with, with my tone. Set it, and have that my main tone shaping tool… and then having my onboard preamp as secondary tone shaper that I can fine tune and make little adjustments when needed without deviating too far away from my main sound that I created with my preamp pedal.… Does this mean I “need” a preamp pedal? It’s how I create music the best way that I know… so I’d say yes. If you have like 3 or 4 pedals on your board and your plugging into an amp with preamp/ eq controls, then I would say no you don’t need one. If your pedal obsessed and have like 10+ pedals on your pboard, then you might want to consider a preamp pedal because sending your instruments signal through your instrument cable + 10+ pedals + patch cables + 2nd instrument cable or wireless system that goes into your amp or audio interface… Your going to loose tone and volume. Having that preamp pedal helps make up any losses. Hope this helped and please let me know if theres any follow up questions!

DI preamps with a XLR out have to go last if you want to use that XLR and get your whole chain through the PA. I don't use the XLR out on my Vintage Ultra, so I put mine right after my tuner and before my compressor. I used to put an eq pedal first, and have my SansAmp VT Bass Preamp last in chain when I played live and that was a lot of fun. If having an eq pedal and the B7k Ultra is too much tone finagling than I did use to put just a MXR mini boost pedal with only Volume & Treble controls first, and my preamp last. I hear Aguilar makes good mini bass preamp pedals like that if that sounds like something you want to try out. Sorry... to answer your question.. yes it will affect your tone of corse but it's up to you to experiment and see if you like it or not. I did the same sort of thing too so I fully support you. Let me know how it goes!

@@AmbientBassCreations Thank you so much for noticing me . Yes i am currently using that kind of signal chain and planning to remove my ampeg optacomp i dont know but maybe i'll be replacing it with DG harmonic booster after my EQ pedal what do think of that kind of idea? im sorry to bother you i just really need some help thank you man.

@@Schizmzzz Do you mean your thinking of doing a chain that starts: Bass - tuner - eq - Harmonic Booster - then the rest of your pedals - amp? Or: Bass - tuner - eq - the rest of your pedals - Harmonic Booster last - Amp? ** (Just to be clear, in the video I was only using the mini EQ pedal as an example for a “tone shaping pedal”. I wasn’t saying that I put an actual EQ pedal in that position. So really, I put that mini EQ pedal to represent a preamp because my Vintage Ultra preamp took up too much space on the board for my liking for the video. I tried to communicate that in the video but maybe I could have done a better job on that) Still hear me out though.. It makes sense to me to do: Bass - tuner - Harmonic Booster - Compressor - then the rest of your pedals - and then put your EQ pedal after any effect pedal that is causing you problems - then amp. (If your not going to use the comp anymore then same chain goes, just without the comp) An example of a pedal giving you problems is a chorus pedal. Chorus pedals sometimes suck the life out of basses low end. So it would be a good idea to put an eq pedal after the chorus pedal so you can boost your low end frequencies to compensate for the loss of low end from the chorus pedal. My thought process on this order is to try and make your bass sound as good as possible to your liking first in the chain… so that once you start putting gain, modulation, or all these effects onto your bass signal, it will still sound good. (If that makes sense). Stacking effects is awesome but it does change your clean tone, so if you sculpt your clean tone as good as you possibly can in the very beginning of your chain, it’ll sound as good as possible once it travels to the end of your chain, to be amplified out of your amp. EQ pedals are good tools that can go anywhere and they really thrive when you put them after other pedals that degrade your clean tone. If you don’t know what pedal is causing you to either loose, or bring out too much lows/mids/highs, then just play them one by one to troubleshoot which one is diluting your clean signal. Or just put the EQ pedal last and then it’ll be after all your pedals and you can make up and lows/highs/mids for all your pedals if needed. If you meant tuner - eq - Harmonic Booster - rest of the chain… then I personally haven’t needed to put an eq and preamp next to each other. If my video led you to think that that’s what I do then that’s on me man, i’ll do better next time. But… What some people do is, they have the EQ and preamp right next to each other on the board but for 2 different tone selections. So if you want a bright twangy tone on your Harmonic Booster, and then a low dub step tone on your EQ pedal, then yeah, put them next to each other so you can change to 2 completely different tones from just the tap of your foot. The order of these 2 doesn’t matter if you’re not playing them at the same time. If you meant Bass - tuner - eq - the rest of your pedals - then Harmonic booster last - Amp, then that makes more sense to me only I would flip it… Bass - tuner - Harmonic Booster - compressor (if you want) - then the rest of your pedals - then EQ last so if there is any low/high/mids that you want to boost or cut from using any of your pedals, then you can do so because the EQ is after all the pedals, just like I mentioned before. I do it this way when I make ambient music that requires a lot of effect pedals on at once. Hope those are some good ideas that you can use. Keep me posted!

@@AmbientBassCreations Got it, Thank you so much!🤗 much love and respect for that. Anyway, i dont have any modulation effects on my chain. My plan is tuner - EQ, microtubes X as my Dirt pedal for heavy music, harmonic booster and my B7k ultra ( without engaging dirt) for my XLR out is that the right order for my pedals ? or lets say MICROTUBES X first before my Harmonic booster? yes your ideas are helping me so much for my future builds but for now just want a small rig. By the way, am I gonna make an ( ALWAYS ON ) to these pedals ? EQ - HB and B7k Ultra? as a clean tone yes , ill just listen to what tone that my ears loves but i just wanna know that my personal ideas are right. Thank you always.

@@Schizmzzz Oh ok I thought you were building a full set up. So your only using: Tuner - EQ pedal - Micro X for Distortion - Harmonic Booster clear preamp - B7k clean for the XLR out. These are all pedals of the same general category of ”Tone Shaping” and then Distortion. Theres a clean preamp, a clean EQ, a distortion pedal, the B7k which is both a preamp & Distortion, and a tuner. Theres no “right” order for just these pedals. I would just do the Tuner - B7k - Amp (always on). Or if you like the Micro X Distortion better than the one in the B7k then: Tuner - Micro X - B7k - Amp. (Always on except the Micro X) The B7k has an awesome preamp already so I wouldn’t even use the Harmonic Booster, and unless your using the EQ pedal for a specific reason that I cant think of, then the B7k can also take the place of the EQ. As far as if these pedals should be always on, it’s up to you to decide, I cant answer that. It sounds like the Micro X won’t be an always on pedal since you only want it on to get heavy. If you’re adamant on using all the pedals I would do: Tuner - Harmonic Booster - Micro X - EQ - B7k. Or honestly just get rid of the EQ and do: Tuner - Harmonic Booster - Micro X - B7k… This way you have a tone shaping pedal before and after your dirt and then you won’t need the EQ. Amongst all the pedals you listed, you have 2 preamps and 1 eq pedal which I’m never going to say that you can not have multiple preamps and tone shaping pedals on your board but theres really no “right” order when we’re talking about the same type of pedal. Hope this helped!

This doesn't make sense. I agree with having a compressor AFTER eq, but then your chain says it "should" be: Bass into tuner into compressor INTO EQ??

I don’t but if you go to my RU-vid channel home page and click on Playlists, there’s one that’s titled “My Songs” and “Meditation Music” which contains all the music I have written. (The playlists start with the older videos first.. so scrolling all the way down will have my newest stuff)

@@AmbientBassCreations thanks for letting me know

If the di pedal with a preamp has a XLR out and you use the xlr out, then it needs to go last. If you don’t use the xlr then it can go in the beginning before or after your compressor, which ever you prefer. And by Di pedal, do you mean just regular di like a radial di box? You want that last. Let me know if I missed something

Yes , I have a DI box with XLR out and pre amp , but I also prefer to set my tone at the beginning of chain before the compressor ! Should I get another pre amp pedal for that ? And just leave the other one at the end for the XLR? Or , like you said , maybe should I just get a DI box type Radial for XLR only ? My question is , it’s not logical to have 2 pre amp pedals , is it ? Pre amp should always come at the beginning of the chain , correct ? Thanks for your help on clarifying that ! Really appreciate! 🙏🏻

I think having your di with a preamp and xlr should go in the beginning since that’s what you prefer, and get a Radial DI Box for the very end so you have that xlr balanced output at the end of chain. If you get a second preamp di pedal just for the xlr at the end.. that is not logical. But if you want two preamp pedals on your board, because maybe you want one to be your low and warm tone, and the second to be a dirty bright tone, or another reason that makes you sound better and create better music… then that sounds logical to me. So preamp pedals typically go in the beginning unless you use the xlr then it should go last.

Watch this video on DI boxes if your new to them: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-exY06hCOYpc.htmlsi=3oDTIYeiNsKVWc0a

Thank you so much! It really helped to understand and to make my decision ! 🙏🏻👍

From the envelope filter. So modulation, reverb and delay in the effects loop

@@AmbientBassCreations Thanks! So, if I take your suggestions into a practical case, with my pedal board, it would go as follow (?) : Tuner -> Noise Suppressor (input) -> Noise suppressor (Send) -> Preamp (Geggy Lee YYZ) -> 10 band EQ -> Compressor -> Aguilar Agro -> Tech 21 Fuzz -> Aguilar Octave -> Source Audio Manta -> MXR bass envelope filter -> AMP Input -> AMP effect send -> Noise suppressor (Return) -> Noise suppressor (Output) -> Tech 21 Chorus -> Boss Reverb -> MXR Delay -> AMP effect return -> Cabs I don't see a case where I would use the Agro and the Fuzz stacked, so it would be one or the other into the Octamizer. Same with the 2 types of envelopes (manta and MXR), they have different purposes. Does that make sense to you? It's not at all how it is now, but your video made me rethink my whole setup.

Damn this is a sick chain. I drew it out just to get a visual. I only have 2 tiny suggestions and then 1 concern about the position of the octave, but honestly it looks pretty damn good. I have never used a Noise Suppressor, and I am unfamiliar with how the Send & Return works with it, just so you are aware of that. I know you said you're not going to be stacking the fuzz and Agro but I would just put the fuzz first anyways. It's just my opinion but stacking fuzz into overdrive sounds better, just in case you decide you want to stack them in the future. But like I said, just a tiny suggestion. Also, put the MXR Envelope Filter before the Manta. You still want your regular envelope filter as close to your bass as possible. Manta is digital so it's going to sound good basically anywhere. In the set up you listed above, there will be 7 pedals in-between your bass.. and your octave. In the video I only had 4 pedals in-between my bass and my octave. There is a limit to how far away your octave can be from your instrument before it doesn't track well. I don't know what that number is but 7 pedals seems far to me. Keep the Octave pedal where it is and see how it sounds. If it's glitchy and doesn't sound good, then you'll have to put it sooner in the chain. Id try it right after the compressor if it needs to be placed closer. This same issue might apply to the MXR envelope filter too but maybe not. If so, then move it closer along with the Octave. Side Note: Replacing your tuner pedal with a clip on tuner is a good way to improve the quality of your bass signal because it's one less box and 2 less patch cables your signal has to travel through. But if you hate the clip ons, or like having the tuner pedal then I get it. Just an idea. This is a killer chain so I hope you get it set up and you're happy with it! Hit me back here, or privately through insta or email with any other questions or to just keep my posted on how the chain is going!

@@AmbientBassCreations That’s good advice, thank you :) I will work on the board over the weekend and let you know about the results. For the tuner, I really appreciate the ‘mute all’ effect it has when I tune that I can’t get with a clip on. It used to be at the end of my chain, but wasn’t ideal when tuning when other effects were active. It did mute everything though. For the tracking at the octave level, if it is indeed too far but would like it to stay in this order, would adding a gate before be an acceptable solution?

@@Chewbacca0678 A noise gate before the octave would unfortunately not be a solution to the issue. A noise gate just blocks out all noise, until you play loud enough to trigger the blocking (or gate) to stop, and then all the noise is let through. You can try a buffer if you have one, but honestly in this situation it won’t make any difference so don’t go out and spend money on one for this

Last. All your effects go into the DI and then out to amp with an instrument cable. If plugging into a mixer or DAW then use XLR

Best comment right here

Thrilling 🥱

@@AmbientBassCreations I'm not a native in english so I thought that was the ultimate word joke, but I can see how it's not 🤣

I used an affinity precision bass that I moded out with custom shop 64 pickups in this video. I’ve never used any real or digital keyboards in any of my 100+ videos. I only play bass.

That seems rather limiting. Then again I like Chris Wolstenholme. I guess it comes down to what genre you play.

The bad news is, I don’t have a definitive answer for this. The good news is, there’s no wrong answer because it comes down to what sounds good to you personally. If I were you I would plan the wah and compressor around the big muff. See if you like wah before or after big muff. Then see if you like compression before or after big muff. Once you find out, then that should lead you in a direction of the best order for you. Let me know how it goes, or if it just leads you to another question

@@AmbientBassCreations thank you for your response. Yesterday I tried several combinations. Wah after compressor and muff sounds awfull, no dynamics, no tone...Also I tried compressor behind muff and the bass lost all its punch bottom bass, just muff sound. I left these like I had before and just with a few buttons set up I finally get a good sound. I modified the effect pedals as you sugessted and I like the results. So mi final setup is: active bass>>tc electronic bonafide buffer>>donner tuner>>Dunlop Bass Q Crybaby wah>>tc electronic forefield compressor>>donner octaverdonner echo square (multidelay)>>donner mod square(multieffects)>>donner verb square (multireverb)>>mxr m80 di>>amp. Thank you for your video and made me think again how to improve my sound. I really apreciate your work and made us musicians to keeping research.

I’m an ambient guy 🤘