Compressor before or after

Where would you place a compressor in tyhe effects chain? Before or after distortion/overdrive boxes? Why?

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Compressed distortion = more touch-response in the resulting tone (as your distortion is "seeing" the naked guitar signal), but the possibility of hiss during quiet playing.

Distorted compression = consistent, synth-like, tone (no matter how hard or soft you play), still the possibility of hiss (and other odd artefacts) if your compresser is noisy.

Both are great for encouraging feedback (and discovering whether your pickups are microphonic or not).

I put mine before. Because it sounds good that way. Plus if you put it after, when the compressor amplifies the fading signal, I'm guessing it will increase noise or hiss from the gain boxes significantly.

Me too. I like chorus, wah, distortion/od, compressor, delay.

And there's the rub. What does compressed distortion sound like, and what does distorted compression sound like?

Oh, another reason to put the compressor first. If you don't, as your signal fades before the gain boxes, the amount of distortion will decrease and you'll just be sustaining a less gainy and noisier sound with the compressor.

I always put mine as the first in the chain, regardless of which other effects come afterwards

I like od into compressor. I can get that singing sustain that grows and the then slips into feedback aka Trey Anastasio.