Question 1

What is the difference between Free and Pro?

Accepted Answer

The Free tier provides a Summary of Symptoms for your signal path. This is a baseline diagnostic that identifies immediate electrical conflicts such as impedance mismatches and gain-staging errors without providing the deep technical breakdown. It is designed to expose what is hurting your tone so you can understand the baseline health of your rig.

Upgrading to Pro transforms the platform into a professional engineering station with four critical unlocks. You can [view a full sample report here](/sample-report) to see the Pro engine in action.

1. The Deep-Dive Audit. Beyond just symptoms, Pro provides a technical breakdown of the harmonic physics and impedance relationships across your entire chain.
2. Automated Optimization. Access the engine to calculate the mathematically optimal order for your pedals and receive an engineering justification for the new sequence.
3. Pedal Chain Management. Save, name, and manage a persistent library of active boards.
4. Shared Signal Audits. Generate high-fidelity, permanent web links to share your professional technical reports with bandmates, friends, or to post on social media.

Question 2

Is PedalChain Pro worth the investment?

Accepted Answer

Professional tone is not just about the quality of your gear, it is about the electrical relationship between your pedals. PedalChain Pro pays for itself by revealing the hidden potential of your current collection, giving you the engineering data required to eliminate tone-suck and noise without spending thousands on new hardware. It is the most cost-effective way to achieve studio-grade signal integrity. [Take a look at a sample Master Report](/sample-report) to see the level of detail included with Pro.

Question 3

How does PedalChain help me 'hear' better?

Accepted Answer

By providing a technical report of your specific signal path, PedalChain gives you a perceptual bridge between the data on the screen and the sound coming from your gear.

This knowledge helps you de-mix your signal and isolate subtle details that were previously difficult to identify. You aren't just getting an optimized board, you are building a structural understanding of your tone and training your ears to detect signal-health issues automatically.

Question 4

Circuit Specs and Technical Definitions for Signal Physics

Accepted Answer

Circuit Specs allow you to move beyond generic signal chain logic and perform a high-precision engineering audit of your specific gear. Unlike other tools, PedalChain integrates these technical indicators directly into the workflow to ensure our physics engine calculates impedance mismatches and voltage swings that are unique to your pedal chain.

**Technical Definitions**
- **Silicon**: Modern Fuzz architecture that is stable, high-gain, and buffer-tolerant.
- **Germanium**: Vintage Fuzz architecture that is highly reactive to pickup impedance and MUST see the guitar directly for proper cleanup.
- **Photocell**: Vintage Uni-vibe architecture that uses light-dependent resistors for its signature asymmetrical sweep.
- **Modern Uni-vibe**: Integrated circuit or FET-based emulations that provide stability and consistent pulse across different power environments.
- **Passive (250k)**: High-Z (High Impedance) Volume pedal designed to interact with passive pickups at the front of the chain.
- **Active (25k)**: Low-Z (Low Impedance) Volume pedal designed for use after a buffer or active pedal for master swells.
- **True Bypass**: A straight-wire connection when the pedal is off. Preserves signal purity but can lead to high-end loss over long cable runs.
- **Buffered**: An active signal driver that protects high-end sparkle and overcomes cable capacitance.

**Why this matters**
Accuracy is our priority. By exposing these specs, you can audit your pedal chain's logic. If you see a Silicon tag on your vintage Fuzz, simply click it to correct it, and the analysis will update instantly to reflect the real-world physics of your gear.

**Pro Tip**: While we set Smart Defaults based on industry standards, we highly recommend checking your pedal manufacturer's specifications to ensure your labels match your specific hardware.

Question 5

How does the 'Optimize my pedal chain' feature work?

Accepted Answer

The PedalChain optimization engine combines professional signal path physics with an advanced logic model. It analyzes the specific electrical characteristics of every pedal you select and runs millions of permutations to find the pedal order that minimizes noise and maximizes tone integrity.

Question 6

What is a Shared Signal Audit?

Accepted Answer

A Shared Signal Audit is a professional document that captures the technical story of your signal path. It serves as a review of your tone journey by documenting your original pedal order, the identified issues, the internal analysis, and the final optimized solution in a single, shareable view. You can [view a sample report here](/sample-report) to see the level of technical depth provided.

Management. These audits are tied to your Saved Boards. You maintain full control over your data. If you delete a saved board or choose to revoke a shared link, public access is immediately disabled.

Privacy. All audits are generated with a unique, randomized ID. They are not indexed by search engines, meaning only those you explicitly share the link with can access your technical documentation.

Question 7

How do I cancel my subscription?

Accepted Answer

You can manage your subscription at any time by clicking your profile picture in the top right corner and selecting Manage Subscription. This will take you to the Stripe portal where you can update payment methods or cancel your plan instantly.

Question 8

What does the Signal Health Score represent?

Accepted Answer

The score is a diagnostic benchmark of your signal's integrity from input to output based on our current ruleset.

- **9 to 10**: Signal path with zero identified impedance or gain-staging mismatches.
- **7 to 8**: Stable path with minor efficiencies that are unlikely to be audible in most environments.
- **5 to 6**: Technical conflicts are present such as tone-suck or gain-staging errors that can affect high-end clarity or dynamics.
- **Below 5**: Critical electrical conflicts are detected that typically result in increased noise floors or altered pick attack.

Question 9

What if my specific pedal is not in the selection list?

Accepted Answer

PedalChain is built on category-based signal logic rather than a static database of specific models. This allows us to apply universal electrical principles to any rig. Simply select the category that best matches your pedal. Once selected, you can use the Circuit Specs tags to fine-tune the hardware details to match your specific gear perfectly.

Question 10

How do I categorize a 'Hybrid' fuzz (Silicon/Germanium)?

Accepted Answer

For the most accurate signal audit of hybrid hardware, we recommend identifying the pedal by its most hardware-reactive component. In a Silicon/Germanium blend, selecting the Germanium detail allows the signal physics engine to prioritize the more volatile electrical requirements of that specific architecture. By identifying the most sensitive component in your chain, the system can accurately calculate the complex impedance relationships required to find the mathematically optimal 'Home' for that unit in your signal path.

Question 11

Does PedalChain work for Bass guitar rigs?

Accepted Answer

Yes. While tonal objectives differ between guitar and bass, the electrical physics remain identical. PedalChain audits your rig to ensure that high-impedance mismatches and bad buffering do not soften your attack transients or thump. Bassists should use the Optimized Path as a blueprint for their effects chain to maintain maximum low-end stability and signal punch. If you use a parallel blender for your distortion, use PedalChain to audit the effects side of the split to ensure your signal maintains its integrity before it is mixed back with your clean low-end.

Question 12

Can I use this with digital modelers such as Helix or Kemper?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Use PedalChain to audit how your physical pedals interact with the input of your modeler. Treat your modeler as the amp or the final point in your physical signal chain to see how your gear is loading the signal before it hits the digital conversion.

Question 13

What is 'Sonic Identity'?

Accepted Answer

Sonic Identity is a high-level classification of your board's harmonic personality based on your pedal selection and order. It categorizes your sound into archetypes to help you understand how your gear configuration shapes your fundamental tone profile.

Question 14

How should I implement the 'Optimized Path' in the real world?

Accepted Answer

Think of the Optimized Path as your structural blueprint. Re-patch your physical board to match the suggested pedal order exactly for a measurable increase in harmonic detail and dynamic range. If your board has physical constraints such as cable length, prioritize the suggested placements for high-sensitivity pedals like Fuzz and Volume units.

Question 15

Can I access my rig collection if my subscription expires?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Unless you choose to delete them, you retain permanent access to all of your saved rigs and generated Master Reports—these technical audits are yours to keep forever. However, loading an existing rig into the 'Live Engineering Station' for further refinement or running new optimizations requires an active Pro subscription.

How can we help?

Frequently Asked Questions

Account & Billing

Technical Support

Terms of Use

Privacy Policy