The order of your pedals changes your sound as much as the pedals themselves. Each pedal processes whatever arrives at its input, so a drive fed by a delay sounds very different from a delay fed by a drive.
Here is the classic order, from guitar to amp:
| # | Pedal | Why here |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tuner | Gets the cleanest signal, and often mutes the board |
| 2 | Filters and wah | They shape the raw guitar tone and react best to your picking |
| 3 | Compressor | Evens out your dynamics before anything adds gain |
| 4 | Drives | Lower gain first, then higher gain, or experiment |
| 5 | Modulation | Chorus, phaser and flanger color the distorted tone |
| 6 | Delay | Repeats a finished sound instead of distorting the echoes |
| 7 | Reverb | Places everything in a room, so it goes last |
Why this works
The big idea: gain first, time-based effects last. Put a delay before a fuzz and every echo gets crushed into a muddy smear. Put it after and the repeats stay clear. The same goes for reverb.
Two options slot in around this list. A volume pedal works for swells near the start, or after the drives to change your overall level without changing how hard you hit them. A noise gate usually sits right after your drives, or with a four-cable setup it can wrap around them.
Fuzz first
Vintage-style fuzzes like the Fuzz Face, in germanium or silicon versions, are the classic exception. They have a low input impedance and want to see your guitar pickups directly. Put a wah or a buffered pedal before one and it can sound thin, harsh or fizzy. That's why many players put these fuzzes first, sometimes even before the tuner. Many modern fuzzes, especially ones with a built-in buffer, usually don't care.
Rules are starting points
Wah after drive sounds more aggressive and vocal; some players prefer it. Two drives swapped give two different flavours. Phaser before drive can sound wild. Start with the classic order, then move one pedal at a time and trust your ears.