Now that I have tripped over my Zoom multi-effects processor and fallen down the rabbit hole of effects pedals, I’ve been doing a lot of online shopping and a bit of research. In my quest for knowledge, I came across this rather interesting article about setting up the chain, and in what order the chain should be set. Most of you probably already know this, but here it is for those who don’t (like me).
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I would generally agree with that, with for me the important parts being:
- Compressor first (well, after tuner)
- Distortion before modulation - in their diagrams, OD before Chorus
- Reverb dead last
Putting a compressor after distortion can be interesting too but you use it for different reasons in that position.
EHX gives a good example of why I like modulation after distortion at this timecode in their Bass Clone demo:
Manny does good demos. He’s the engineer that designed the Battalion and (I think) the current Bass Big Muff.
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Great article @PamPurrs and great explanation and example with the Bass Clone demo (still probably the Chorus pedal I will get).
The thing to know, is, and it has been said by multiple YouTube video personalities, in pedal chain and stacking videos, is that, even tho there are good general rules of thumb, which certainly helps when you are first starting out, you are able, and encouraged to come up with your own chain and stacking ideas to play with, test out, find your own sound and learn from.
This is the main reason I went to pedal board, and away from Zoom, IME, the zoom always sounded better if you followed the rules of thumb, and has very little, if any room for error. Anytime I stacked things out of suggested order, it sounded like crap. And I can tell you for sure that when I stack pedals in different order, I get different sounds, and some are quite nice. I think that was a limitation of the effects processor. Again, that was my experience, some of you or all of you may have had better success in the zoom when chaining against the grain.
Plus, I would have felt lost without reading up on chaining order and watching videos, and reading posts here, from @JoshFossgreen and @howard and some others, and I still mostly follow the general chaining order, but I am not afraid to try other things, and there are no fails.
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As he says at the end of the article
Most important rule: There are no rules!
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Yes, that is great way to close the article. 
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Most important rule of fight club?
You don’t talk about fight club.
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not most important rule.
“Rule #1 about Fight Club, Nobody talks about Fight Club”
“Rule #2, Nobody Talks about Fight Club”
“Rule #3, If you are new, you will fight tonight”
I have not seen it in a while, so I can’t keep going right now.
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The first time I watched that movie I was completely confused. Then someone told me a little bit about the plot points that I missed. So, I bought the DVD and now have watched it about 6 times. It’s still a very confusing movie, but quite interesting.
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Oh, I love it. He has some serious issues, and it makes fore a great movie.
I love how much he confused her, and when you first see it, you think she is a nut job, but then when you know what is going on, you realize she is mostly justified in her nuttiness.
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Umm… Sorry for sentancing you to a good time. LOL
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It’s a really fantastic movie - the book is good as well but it’s one of the cases where the movie even exceeds the book.
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If you like that kind of twisty, the same author has more of the same style material in his other books. In “Survivor” the main character is a member of a death cult. He works the suicide hotline and encourages people to go through with it. His arguments are disturbingly convincing.
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Sounds good, If I get time, I may check it out.
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