Rackmount Compressor~Distortion~Overdrive~Delay Question

[Toppscore]

Hi. I'm putting together a rackmount set of effects for Classic Rock, Blues
& Rockabilly. The Maxon Delay and BK Butler Blue Tube II have not arrived.

* Rackmount Maxon DM2000 Digital Delay
* Rackmount Peavey Rockmaster 4x12AX7 Distortion
* Rackmount BK Butler Tube Works Blue Tube II RT924 2x12AX7 Overdrive
* Rackmount Rocktron 320 Compressor Limiter HUSH

Question: Besides going with what sounds good, which
signal chain order do you prefer for your setups and why?
1) Compressor~Distortion~Overdrive~Delay, or
2) Compressor~Overdrive~Distortion~Delay

Basically, Distortion before or after Overdrive?
Thanks.

[Reeltarded]

Delay comes after all gain staging. Overdrive is as if adding a stage to the amp. If you compress after distortion you will be very unhappy.

Funny chain is: delay/overdrive/compression/distortion

Chain that isn't stupid is: compression/distortion/overdrive/delay

Why even use an amp?

[Toppscore]

OK. So Overdrive AFTER Distortion, it is.

Why use an amp? All these are preamps
and I have 4x10 and 1x15 cabinets that
need a bit more than a 12AX7 tubes.

[vibratoking]

It depends on whether your distortion is set as fuzz, distortion or overdrive distortion. Many distortion boxes need to see your guitar's output impdedance to work properly, but that depends on fuzz, distortion, or overdriven distortion settings. If your distortion is battery powered and running from low voltage, as many enjoy, then the compressor could go before or after that depending on your taste. The compressor after the distortion or fuzz can help to clean up the fuzz or distortion depending on how fast you set the attack and decay...you can think of it as modifying the uppper harmonic content generated by the fuzz or distortion, depending on how it's set. The balance of odd and even harmonics can be influenced by the compressor settings and placement and whether the unit has a true-bypass or is buffered. Buffering will affect how the fuzz, distortion will perform, so that the fuzz, distortion will behave differently if the compressor is placed first in the chain and engaged or disengaged. Almost as if the fuzz, distortion will sound like two different pedals. This can make the situation very confusing based on how you envision using the compressor and where you will place it. These issues really open up a big can of worms, like all this guitar stuff usually does, which makes the placement of devices in a signal chain very confusing. This does not even consider the questions of delaying the compressed signal or compressing the delayed signal, which can sound very different especially if there is a fuzz, distortion, or overdriven tone betweent those two devices. You can really chase your tail with this kind of stuff. Best of luck. I am sure Miles has been down this road and has probably given all this quite a bit of consideration.

[Toppscore]

Thanks, Vibratoking.
All of the items are rackmount with no batteries.
I'm thinking of leaving the compressor on at all times more
for initial guitar tone. A low setting just to keep tonal quality.
Then, mess with the signal after the compressor.

I am thinking of using the Rockmaster's distortion
for various types of distortion ~ fuzz, crunch, etc.

Then, have the Blue Tube be more of a clean/boost overdrive
allowing the Rockmaster to sustain it's generated distortion.
Blue Tube II will boost and add flavor to the Rockmaster's sounds.
Anyway, after reading your comment, this seems like a plan.

Therefore, compression before distortion, distortion before overdrive,
will be the path. Can always mess around with it,
but want to better understand distortion/overdrive placement.

I'm also thinking of getting from guitar to compressor, quickly ~
Guitar to tuner to BOSS NS2 to wah pedal to rackmount compressor.

I've pedals that've been pushed around the chain, but
rackmounts seem to be a strange brew. Most of mine have
combinations of EQ, HUSH, Compression Limiter, Gain, Levels,
12AX7 preamp tubes, footswitches, etc.

Probably should have compression before fuzz and before octave up/down effects.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Once the signal reaches fuzz or distortion, why put
limits-on or compress the signal after distortion?

Thanks again.