Signal chain

The ordered path a guitar's signal follows from the strings to the speaker, including every device it passes through.

Every stage loads the one before it and feeds the next, so the chain's behaviour is not just the sum of its parts: a buffer changes what a fuzz hears, a boost changes how an amp distorts, and a volume pedal's position decides whether it changes distortion or only loudness. Understanding the chain is what allows a player to place an effect deliberately rather than by habit, and to diagnose a problem by eliminating stages one at a time.

Example: moving a volume pedal from the end of a chain to the front changes it from a loudness control into a control over how hard the amp is driven.

Signal chain

See also