Asked in Guitars

Should you place the distortion or overdrive box before or after the wah pedal when setting up a guitar rig?


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most players do either, theres no 'right way' just like no right way to play the guitar itself...each give a slightly different sound.

The function of a distortion pedal is similar to the preamp gain stages in a regular guitar amp. All of the classic wah sounds were produced in this manner: 1. guitar 2. wah 3. guitar amp 4. speakers If you put the distortion first, you will not get the classic wah sound. In addition, every guitar multi-FX processor made puts the wah before the overdrive/distortion in the FX chain. Many of these processors put the overdrive/distortion AFTER the preamp gain stage which is in the effects loop of a typical guitar amp. You would start at your guitar and go guitar-distortion-wah-amp. Because you want to wah a distorted signal, not distort a wah. If you distort the wah, you're not really getting the right effect. It makes a big difference.