Pedal Order for Drop Tunings: Building an Analog Board for Metal

A metal pedalboard does not need many pedals, but the order matters. In low tunings, a few wrong positions can make a tight rig sound noisy or muddy.

This is a proven order for an amp with an effects loop. Skip what you do not use.

In front of the amp

• Tuner. First in the chain, so it reads the clean guitar signal. Low tunings need a tuner that reads low notes reliably.
• Wah or filter (optional). Early in the chain it reacts best to your playing.
• Compressor (optional). Rare in high-gain rhythm, more useful for cleans and leads.
• Noise gate (input). Cuts guitar hiss and pickup noise before the amp amplifies it. Some gates have a separate detector input so they can also gate the loop.
• Overdrive as a boost. Low drive, high level. It tightens the low end before the amp's distortion and is the most important pedal for metal in Drop tunings.
• Pitch shifter (optional). If you use one to drop a tuning further, it usually goes before the drive. Expect some tracking delay on very low intervals.

In the effects loop

• Noise gate (loop). Cleans up the noise added by the preamp.
• Modulation: chorus, flanger, phaser.
• Delay.
• Reverb. Last, so the whole sound sits in the same space.

If your amp has no effects loop, put modulation, delay and reverb after the drives anyway, in front of the amp, and keep them subtle: in front of a distorted amp they blur quickly.

Power and cables

• Use an isolated power supply. Daisy chains cause hum, especially with high gain.
• Keep cables short and good quality. Long cable runs lose high end.
• Use a buffer if your board has many true-bypass pedals or long cables. One good buffer early in the chain is usually enough.

The minimum metal board

If you want only three pedals: tuner, noise gate, overdrive. Add delay and reverb in the loop when you need leads and atmosphere.

Test the gate and boost at speed: 3-3-2 chugs in Drop C at 120 BPM with stops between phrases.