The SFX-07 is an incredibly flexible effect and, as a result, it can be
worked into your setup in a variety of ways. Let’s examine a couple of
possibilities.
Between Guitar and Amp
Take the ¼” mono instrument cable from your guitar and plug it into
the Trem’s Input jack. Run another cable from the Shape Shifter’s Output
jack to the input of your amplifier. Set all the controls to 12:00 for
starters, hit the On/Bypass footswitch, and listen to how cool your
guitar sounds bathed in the Trem’s pulsating, undulating goodness.
If you have other stompboxes in your chain, such as distortion or
chorus pedals, experiment with placing the SFX-07 Shape Shifter
before or after them. You can’t really go wrong, but the character of the
tremolo effect will change depending on where you put it in your signal
chain so see what sounds best to you.
In an Effects Loop
The SFX-07 Shape Shifter will sound different depending on where you
place it in your signal chain, i.e. before or after distortion. You might
want to try it in your amp’s effects loop. To do this, run a ¼” mono
instrument cable from your amplifier’s effect send jack to the Input of
the Shape Shifter. Run another cable from the unit’s Output jack to the
effect return jack on your amp. This puts the effect post-preamp, making
it react more like traditional amp tremolo. Some effects loops—
particularly those in older tube amps—are expecting line level signals
(like the signals from most rackmount gear) and thus gain the
reputation of not “playing nice” with certain stomp boxes. The
Shape Shifter is designed for instrument level signals, but can accept
maximum input levels of ~2v. If your level drops, or your tone gets
weird when running the SFX-07 in your loop, then by all means get
it out of there.
