You’ve got your boost pedal. You’ve got your volume pedal.
Both seem simple enough, right?
They make things louder or quieter — how complicated could it be?

But if you’ve ever placed your boost before your drives and wondered why nothing got louder… or put your volume pedal after your reverb and wondered why things didn't sound right… then you know there’s more to the story.

Let’s walk through what’s actually happening — and where these two pedals can work best on your board.

1. Boost Pedals — Gain or Volume?

Your boost pedal can do two completely different jobs depending on where it lives in your chain.

👉 Boost Before Drive

When your boost pedal sits before your gain pedals (overdrive, distortion - exclude fuzz from this list due to them typically needing to plug straight into your guitar), it pushes those pedals harder.

You’re increasing gain (the overdrive sound), not actual loudness.

What you’ll hear:

• More sustain and compression

• Thicker, more saturated tone

• Great for solos that need a little more drive
  
  

Why: Because the drive pedal is already compressing and clipping your signal — pushing more into it doesn’t make you louder, it just makes you dirtier.

👉 Boost After Drive

Now your boost pedal is acting as a guitar volume lift.

Your gain structure stays the same, but your overall output jumps up.

What you’ll hear:

• Your tone stays very similar.  If running into the front of a tube amp, you may notice a bit more saturation from the amp, but not from your pedals!

• Noticeable jump in volume

• Perfect for solo moments in a live mix where you need to come to the front of a mix for a short while
  
  

Why: Because your boost is now after all of the gain — it’s amplifying your final tone, not hitting another drive pedal that squashes it.

Try both. You might even love having two boosts — one before drives for grit, one after for volume.

2. Volume Pedals - Swells or Guitar Clean-Up?

Volume pedals are one of the most misunderstood tools on a board.

Where you place it totally changes what it does.

👉 Volume Before Drive

This placement acts like your guitar's volume knob.

You’re controlling how much signal hits your drives.

What you’ll hear:

• Rolling back = less gain, cleaner guitar sound

• Feels dynamic and touch-sensitive

• Great for players who need a wide range of guitar sounds controlled with their feet (not their hands with the guitars volume knob)

Bonus: Perfect if you love “cleaning up” your tone without switching pedals.

👉 Volume After Drive

Now your volume pedal acts like a master fader.

You’re controlling overall loudness — not gain.

What you’ll hear:

• Tone stays similar, just quieter or louder

• Ideal for guitar swells where the clipping of the overdrives are maintained the whole way through the swell - no guitar clean-up!

• Works great before delay/reverb if you want your trails to keep ringing

Pro Tip: Keep your volume before your delays and reverbs if you want those beautiful ambient swells where the echoes keep floating even when your guitar goes silent.

3. The Rule (and the Exception)

There’s no single “correct” order.
There’s only what works best for you and your sound.

The goal is to find what suits your playing style and genre. Church music (CCM) tends to go with volume and boost AFTER drives as one example. 

If your board feels easy to play, reacts well under your feet, and helps you focus on the music instead of the gear, then you’ve got it right.

So move things around, listen closely, and don’t be afraid to break the “rules.”

Final Thoughts

Boost and volume pedals might look simple, but where you put them can change how your whole rig feels.

Take a few minutes to experiment.
Try both before and after drives.
Record yourself, compare, and trust your ears.

At the end of the day, the best setup is the one that makes it hard to stop playing guitar and creating great music.

-Hope this was helpful! 
     Grant Klassen 

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