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I'm curious about your Pedalboard


wraub

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Not the pedals, the actual board.

 

I am thinking of just making something for the pedals I have been acquiring, as I am not so pleased with the options I have seen thus far.

 

What do you use for the board/power supply in your set-up?

 

Peace,

 

wraub

 

I'm a lot more like I am now than I was when I got here.

 

 

 

 

 

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When I was doing the complex sax electronics I used to build my own. Velcro, aluminum plywood, sundry shaped and ground parts, platuea'd second row, closing lids - sliding out of a rack even - the whole schmear... When I did some quick and dirty mods sometimes black widetip marker blended right in with the original satin black spray paint ; }

 

As far as power: it sucked when various pedals had different voltage requirements and polarities (if DC). I usually was able to find a transformer or two that could supply everything I was using, and soldered all the proper connectors in place, or even mod'd the pedals to accept something I liked better.

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I built this a few years back.

 

I've since gone all rack, so I don't use it anymore.

 

-Paul

"You look hopefully for an idea and then you're humble when you find it and you wish your skills were better. To have even a half-baked touch of creativity is an honor."

-- Ernie Stires, composer

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mound: I've since gone all rack, so I don't use it anymore.
Yes! After decades of pedals, odd-shaped units like the original Echoplex etc, rack units, the systems I put together always evolved. As the state of the art moved forward my rigs would take two steps forward and one back in terms of ease of use and ease of setup. At one time I was driving synths with pitch-to-MIDI convertor, using arpeggiators that practically were live interactive sequencers, using various digital and analog looping and effects in a complex routed matrix feeding a quasi 4-bus mixer board (original Mackie 1604), and driving FOUR BIAMPED Barbettas.

 

When I got into bass I wanted to be able to orchestrate and pull some of the same textures and density up. I was pleased to find a couple different multieffects preamps that were pretty good at internal routing and had mostly good algorithms that could be leveraged to sound like better pedals. I decided I was going to draw The LIne again: that I wouldn't get too much footprint on the floor and wouldn't go past 4 rack spaces NO MATTER what - and still have extended range high fidelity clean and distorted bass tones.

 

Nowdays, the V-Bass and a single space for a 1400 watt power amp are all I need to drop jaws sometimes (in combination with techniques) as well as do the garden-variety effects treatments. If I was to get into serious solo looping I would attempt to keep it as simple as possible while not sacrificing fidelity and color. I'm much happier with less pedals and more flexibility than pedals usually afford.

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Just finished building mine. I'll probably post pictures of it in a few days, once I can get a camera. My "board" is actually an old street sign, 35MPH, that I've drilled holes through. Following the advice of Erik in an old thread, I ran cable ties through the holes and around the pedals, pulling them tight to the board. This combines with the rubber on the bottom of the pedal for enough friction to keep the pedals extremely solid (I'm storing it vertically) and doesn't involve having to rip anything off of them. The whole thing is powered through the LS-2 mixer pedal, which I use for a complicated set of loops, but you could run it off a TU-2 or NS-2 just as well.

 

Put some pads on the bottom of the sign so it doesn't scratch the floor, and it actually looks really good. Very punk. I'll add handles to it in a day or two and be good to go.

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Thanks to all for the answers so far.

T-Dub, that "sign-board" sounds cool, punk in a good way. Pics, por favor.

 

I have been toying with a plan for a bit now, should be a cheap build.

The power supply is the expensive part. :D

 

Peace,

 

wraub

 

I'm a lot more like I am now than I was when I got here.

 

 

 

 

 

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One of my buddies made a pedal board out of a "One Way" sign that blew down during a storm.

 

He uses a VooDoo Labs Pedal Power brick thingy to give his pedals the juice, and he drilled holes in it so he could zip-tie his pedals down. It works for him.

 

#6 and I both use SKB pedal boards. Ya know... the smallish ones. They're supposed to hold six pedals, but we had to mod out the boards a little in order to make them a more road-worthy. We added a ton of gaffer tape. BTW, the bass pedal board holds a Korg DT-10 pedal tuner, a Mesa V-Twin pedal and a black power strip. It's simple and pretty rugged.

\m/

Erik

"To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting."

--Sun Tzu

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I use this (the small one, although I'm wishing I got a larger one) for a pedal board/case):

 

http://www.rondomusic.net/pedalcases.html

 

Right now I'm using batteries, but after I get a couple of other projects done, I'm going to build this:

 

http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/Spyder/spyder.htm

 

Gonna use it as a combination power-supply/rear-row elevator. You know, velcro the supply to the board, and velcro the pedals to the top of the supply. Should make a nice neat package. The one or two effects left over will be battery-powered (my fuzz/distortion/drive effects).

 

It's definitely the best deal going if you're a DIY'er.

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Here's one of my old effects systems:

 

http://users.net1plus.com/scottm/HomeComputer.jpg

 

Zarkov, please notice the early use of flux capacitors was hidden to prevent other CURRENT artists from LEAKING the SHOCKING technology.

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Originally posted by nosamiam:

I use this (the small one, although I'm wishing I got a larger one) for a pedal board/case):

 

http://www.rondomusic.net/pedalcases.html

Those look like a really good deal! Are you happy with the quality? I don't think I've ever seen a pedal board/case for that cheap.
All your bass are belong to us!
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Originally posted by   :

Here's one of my old effects systems:

 

 

The caption for that photo is astounding. Glad my home computer doesn't look like that! :eek:

 

Nameless-Wonder: Was that big wheel what you used in lieu of an expression pedal? :D

 

wraub, where are your thoughts on this?

 

Oh yeah, I don't use a pedal board. I only have a couple of pedals anyway. I use an EBS power supply -- similar to the Godlyke in size but powers fewer pedals.

 

Peace.

--S-Dub

spreadluv

 

Fanboy? Why, yes! Nordstrand Pickups and Guitars.

Messiaen knew how to parlay the funk.

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Originally posted by   :

Zarkov, please notice the early use of flux capacitors was hidden to prevent other CURRENT artists from LEAKING the SHOCKING technology.

We true scientist-rocket guys can't accept any technology without at least one Jacob's Ladder device.

 

I thought I saw the label "Ashdown" under one of those meters.

 

Wraub - have your Ace friend get you a few old cabinet doors, and make your own. You could even use the hinges to make the cover open 90 degrees and stay in place - thereby protecting your pedals from "customers".

 

Tom

www.stoneflyrocks.com

Acoustic Color

 

Be practical as well as generous in your ideals. Keep your eyes on the stars and keep your feet on the ground. - Theodore Roosevelt

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Greetings all. I appreciate your responses.

What I have been doing is looking at the many offerings I can find online, and at local stores.

First looks have lead me to the under-designed, the over-designed, and the outrageously expensive custom-built options.

I definitely am having a hard time finding just what I want, so I will probably build it myself.

I have a semi-reliable source for free plywood pieces, and the rest of the necessaries aren't all that spendy.

I have a couple of designs in mind.

 

Maury-thanks for the CNB info, hadn't heard of them.

 

Jeremy-thanks for the Godlyke link. I had actually been considering those.

 

Erik-when you say the SKB needed "road-worthiness" attention, was that a design of the pedal board issue, or more of a user-caused thing ? :D

 

nosamiam- That is indeed a good deal! I think if I was not building my own, I'd likely go for that.

How do you like its quality?

 

Green one- I like that rig, but I can see why you gave it up.

There's no room for a big TV set.

 

DONUT- I have looked at the Furman. You are right, looks like a pretty good system. I think it's more than I need at present, though.

 

Zarkov- Actually, old cabinet doors can warp pretty easily, and that's a path I'd rather avoid.

Plywood is better for this app.

But I like the hinge idea, I had been toying with using that.

 

Fred TBP- About that wheel, Freud may have said, "You seem to have delusions of driving a boat. Tell me about your Mother's boat."

 

Peace,

 

wraub

 

I'm a lot more like I am now than I was when I got here.

 

 

 

 

 

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Erik-when you say the SKB needed "road-worthiness" attention, was that a design of the pedal board issue, or more of a user-caused thing ?
Well.... While we DO try to take care of our stuff, some product design ideas are sort of obvious disasters waiting to happen.

 

The SKB pedalboards are definitely cool, no question. I like that they have a proprietary system to deliver juice to practically any type of pedal. However, the included wall-wart plug that powers the board is attached to a very thin, wimpy cord. It's the kind of cable that would snap if I looked at it sideways. So... we took care of that issue before we played a single gig.

 

Our solution was pretty simple: we velcroed real power strips (black ones) to the boards and plugged the wall warts into those. Then we taped the wimpy cables down to the sides of the boards. This allows us to run a real, burly (black) extension cord from the power strip rather than using the little guy that would almost certainly break immediately. It also gives us extra power sources at the front of the stage, which is never a bad thing.

 

This is an example of what we typically call "preventative CMDN maintenance."

 

BTW, if I was gonna do it over, I'd probably go with NYC Pedalboards because they look f-ing bulletproof, and I hear Mike (the proprietor) is a durn nice fella. No, I don't know him, but every report I have read seems to indicate he's a pro on every level. I may have to upgrade to one of his boards just on principle alone.

\m/

Erik

"To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting."

--Sun Tzu

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Erik- thanks for that, mucho informativo. Helpful, as well, to know more about the SKB design.

Is the black power strip any louder? :)

 

I have also heard swell things about the NYC boards.

 

Peace,

 

wraub

 

I'm a lot more like I am now than I was when I got here.

 

 

 

 

 

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No worries, my man.

 

It kinda ticks me off that SKB thinks little bitty power cables like that are acceptable, because most sensible manufacturers know better.

 

BTW, they work fine with our mods, but I'm seriously considering one of those NYCPedalboards anyway. They seem to be more pro.

 

And nope... that black power strip ain't louder, but it doesn't call attention to itself on a darkened stage like a regular white one would. We're all about the stealth, my man.... we sneak up on you... rock yer balls off and run away before you know what happened to you.

\m/

Erik

"To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting."

--Sun Tzu

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The BOSS BCB-60 Pedal Board is what I use. I had an older version of this board that I used for years. I got the newer one recently. The new version has foam inserts that you can customize to fit pedals other than Boss pedals. Additionally, it's got a good power supply system. It may be worth checking out.

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