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The aim is to decide on a suitable signal path for my current pedals -- only two: Boss SY-1 Synth and Dr Scientist Dusk (low pass filter). Both pedals have other functions like loops but I don't intend to use that. My intended use case is:

SY-1

  • Get a glitchy-sounding tone

Dusk

  • Mainly toggle low-pass filter with my expression pedal
  • Maybe tinker with tone if it adds anything interesting

I'm aware that placement of pedals can change the overall sound (like placing a Wah before / after volume pedal). However, as a fairly newcomer to equipment, I'm not sure what kind of category these pedals fall under.

Question

Is it safe for me to experiment with the placement these two in my signal path without risk to my amp (note: I don't have a compressor)? I don't mind experimenting for myself to get my desired tone, but it would be nice to hear from those with experience what kind of hypotheses I may want to be testing along the way.
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    Yes, guitar pedals can be placed in any order without changing the risk of damaging the amp. The main risks to amps come from physical damage and running them at maximum or high volume for extended periods.
    – Todd Wilcox
    Jun 9, 2022 at 13:54
  • I edited the title to match the actual question better.
    – piiperi Reinstate Monica
    Jun 10, 2022 at 16:10

2 Answers 2

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You can place pedals in any order, so no problems, just experiment. The other option on a lot of amps is to use the send and return ports, often on the back. You might even try one as you are doing, and the other in the send/return loop.

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  • Agree. Guitar effect pedals, particularly the ones the OP has, are specifically made for crazy experimentation, so if there was any way to harm the amp, it would be a severe design error in the pedals.
    – piiperi Reinstate Monica
    Jun 10, 2022 at 16:14
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A guitar amp not specifically intended for acoustic guitar will be pretty safe against abuse since it is built to get along overdriven as part of the sound. Even if the overdrive in a solid-state amp tends to be an artificial emulation of an overdriven valve amp, it is rich in overtone content which is the most problematic for separate tweeters. Guitar amps usually don't have separate tweeters. Instead their speakers are supposed to deliver the whole frequency range which limits their accuracy both for lower and higher frequencies.

As a result, using a guitar amp for anything tends to be unproblematic for the amp but less than impressive for the listener. With regard to actually using a guitar on non-guitar pedals, you might want to either put them in the "effect loop" or place them after a "buffer" pedal that will make the best of the high-impedance input from the guitar pickup.

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  • Could you add details on 1. difference between solid state and valve guitar amps (the latter don't have tweeters either normally), 2. what exactly is supposed to be "less than impressive for the listener".
    – user1079505
    Jun 10, 2022 at 20:06

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