special ed Posted February 8, 2004 Share Posted February 8, 2004 ive been playing off and on for about ten years and finally aquired a good assortment of pedals. i now need a pedal board but know absolutey nothing about them. so what makes a pedalboard good? and does it serve any purposes other than just sticking your pedals to it? do they have power strips and patch bays in them? any ideas on how to build them? i know these are stupid questions but i have no knowledge about this. any help or advice is appreciated. peace out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teahead Posted February 8, 2004 Share Posted February 8, 2004 Here's a couple of links for pedalboards at various prices. The first two are from analogman.com Pedaltrain pedalboards. and NGM Pedalboards Here's a good cheapie from Indyguitarist too... Indyguitarist pedalboard. Scroll down the page that you are linked to, the pedalboards are at the bottom. Depending on your pedals, you can choose the right one for you, with or without power supply. Be carefull though because some pedals sound much better powered by battery than from common power sources. When you do get one, you'll wonder how you ever did without it for all that time! Pedal Clips Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Gug Posted February 9, 2004 Share Posted February 9, 2004 Don't get a soft nylon one from Electo-Harmonix. Great price on eBay, but it appears as though the soft sides allow for tweeking of the knobs during transport. Kinda bummed about that. However, I'm glad I got it, as I now know I like the idea of a "board". I'll live with this one for a while, I don't trhow mine around in my car too much. Mikegug www.facebook.com/theresistancemusic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicalhair Posted February 9, 2004 Share Posted February 9, 2004 I'm in the middle of putting my own together. I just velcro-ed the bottom of the stompboxes that are going on it. I already had a 3/4" piece of Aspen 18" X 36" that I glued and stapled a cheap 24" X 36" floor mat that works well as one side of velcro. Some of the stompboxes I'm just pushing onto the mat but others I'm stapling better velcro peices onto it and even raising some of them up on other pieces of floor mat stapled down to the board/mat surface. A Voodoo Labs pedal power II powers the pedals, and there is room for the amp's foot switch. Rather than pack everything in tight, I left space of changes and future changes. I'm going to crash shortly and finish it up tommorrow some time. Then I'll figure out some way to protect it from the elements-- which was worring about, but I've seen a few ways to solve that aspect, but I want to start using the pedals in this pedalboard way and troubleshoot the layout and such things before I 100% finish it. check out some comedy I've done: http://louhasspoken.tumblr.com/ My Unitarian Jihad Name: Brother Broadsword of Enlightened Compassion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derwreck12 Posted February 9, 2004 Share Posted February 9, 2004 It's true that once you get a board you will wonder how you did without it, but the case itself isn't all there is to it...Finding a good way to secure the pedals and ESPECIALLY the wiring are super important parts.If you can afford I would always suggest taking it to a pro for the wiring and mounting because they'll think of things you never would (raising pedals that are hard to reach between others..etc)But here are a few tips: 1.Make sure you have your signal path figured out first...For instance, you probably want a noise cancelation AFTER your distortion,but BEFORE your delays so it doesn't kill your repeats...do you want to hit a compressor before or after your distortion???...blah,blah....This stuff you might already know from using the pedals before, but it is VITAL to your sound. 2.Don't cheap out on the wire or connectors...the "George L" stuff is good if you don't know how to solder, but if you do I would suggest some Mogami cable and some right agle plugs...it'll take you a day to solder but you'll know it's sturdy...good wiring also helps prevent unwanted noise...also make the connectors as short as possible. 3.When it comes to mounting don't be fooled by normal velcro...oh yeah it'll work the first 2 weeks or so but then things go BAD.I've found the best thing to do,if given a plywood board, peel the rubber bottoms of of your pedals(it's much easier to stick something to the plastic or metal than rubber) then go buy about $80 worth of heavy duty velcro...you'll know it when you see it because the locks are HUGE...attach the pieces to your board and pedals with super glue and you will NEVER have a pedal fall off...you'll have to stand on the pedal to lock the velcro in and if you ever need to take one off...lets just say you'll need a flat head screwdriver... "If you put a hungry ferret in your trousers, he'll run around. You'd be amazed at the energy."-Nigel Tuffnel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coyote Posted February 9, 2004 Share Posted February 9, 2004 I used to have a pedalboard some years ago. I eventually got tired of being at gigs where I was only gonna use two pedals, but having six of 'em along. And the AC power supply was always problematic, inducing extra noise.... I went back to just keeping the pedals in a bag along with connector cables, and only taking out the ones I'm gonna use. As long as I have enough fresh batteries, everything's cool I used to think I was Libertarian. Until I saw their platform; now I know I'm no more Libertarian than I am RepubliCrat or neoCON or Liberal or Socialist. This ain't no track meet; this is football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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