Compare two tones

Two chains rarely differ everywhere. Most of the time one or two blocks are doing the work that makes the tones sound unrelated, and the rest is close enough to ignore. Putting them next to each other is how you find which ones.

Start at the amp, not the pedals

The amp model and its gain setting decide most of what you hear. If one chain runs a clean amp with a drive pedal doing the distortion and the other runs a cranked amp with a boost, no amount of matching the pedals will get you across — those are two different distortion sources with different compression and different response to your picking hand.

Then check what's in front of it

Order matters more than the count of blocks. A boost before a drive pushes the drive harder; the same boost after it just gets louder. When two chains share a pedal but sound different, check where it sits relative to the amp before you touch a single knob.

Ignore the effects until last

Delay and reverb settings are the most visible difference between two chains and usually the least important to the core tone. Get the amp and drive right first — the ambience is quick to match once the front of the chain is in the right place.

Compare on your own platform

The switcher above re-expresses both chains in your modeler's blocks, so you're comparing what you'd actually dial rather than two hardware rigs you don't own. If your unit isn't listed, the pedalboard view shows the original hardware for both. More on how that translation works on the platforms page, or browse the full archive to pick a second recipe.