Pedalboard infrastructure

[ErikH]

I'm using a Pedaltrain again with power and patch cables running underneath. Works for me. I discovered the other day that the power supply that is for the Tech21 Fly Rig 5 v2 has enough mA to power the rest of the board without issue. I'll go that route at rehearsals but at live shows, I'll most likely use the pedalsnake since I'll still use my amp as a reference monitor so will send power and signal to the amp through that.

Having tidy pedalboards is all well and good but when I look at some boards of top touring players, look at EVH's last board and what Neal Schon uses these days and even Jake E. Lee and Paul Gilbert, they are flat boards with pedals on top and things easily accessible. They are not tidy. My smaller cutting board turned pedalboard is like that when I use it. But I do like the Pedaltrain setup.

[alex1fly]

I appreciate the guidance and photos! Though now I'm reminded of why I haven't built a pedalboard yet in 20 years of playing - so many variables! I need a pedalboard consultant, lol.

I don't yet know how many pedals. Depends on if I phased out my digital multi-effects board. Effects I use regularly are wah, volume, 1 or 2 modulation, octaver, compression, a couple of delays, reverb, and a couple of dirt options. Plus a preamp. Many of those are available on the digi MFX board. If I kept the MFX board, I'd probably want to add a looper and a dedicated reverb/delay. So Preamp + MFX board + Looper + Reverb/Delay. Or just add a Fly Rig type deal which could replace my preamp and reverb, making my setup be MFX + Fly Rig + Looper. No idea about proprietary power supplies or other specific needs that pedals have.

[ErikH]

Since you mentioned a Fly Rig, here's how I laid out my board on Saturday. Since I got my Fly Rig I hadn't really put it on the board until I had decided what overdrive(s) I wanted out front and such. Now that I've done that evaluation, it was time to finally get it together. My amp footswitch was on the top rail where the delay is so I was originally going to do a simple swap; Footswitch for Fly Rig but the profile is much lower than the Boss pedals so I had to move it all around. Makes more sense this way for me since I use the Boost function on the FR in post mode.
I may move the delay down next to the Overdrive but I left that room there for plugging a 1/4" cable in to the output. I might just put the Pedalsnake tail in place and leave it there but disconnect it from the snake when I don't need to use it. Sort of a modular setup. I want to be able to use the pedalsnake or not and I can do that now but have a few adjustments to make underneath. But it is fully armed and operational.

[Mincer]

I keep mine to the smallest I can get away with. Less that can go wrong. I also don't put the pedals so close together that I can't unplug them easily, since there will be a short 3 minutes before you start your set.

[alex1fly]

Is that a pedalboard in a padded case? Or is it one unit?

[PFDarkside]

I appreciate the guidance and photos! Though now I'm reminded of why I haven't built a pedalboard yet in 20 years of playing - so many variables! I need a pedalboard consultant, lol.

I don't yet know how many pedals. Depends on if I phased out my digital multi-effects board. Effects I use regularly are wah, volume, 1 or 2 modulation, octaver, compression, a couple of delays, reverb, and a couple of dirt options. Plus a preamp. Many of those are available on the digi MFX board. If I kept the MFX board, I'd probably want to add a looper and a dedicated reverb/delay. So Preamp + MFX board + Looper + Reverb/Delay. Or just add a Fly Rig type deal which could replace my preamp and reverb, making my setup be MFX + Fly Rig + Looper. No idea about proprietary power supplies or other specific needs that pedals have.

Are you wanting a board to be able to transport it easily? The primary reason for mine was to be able to throw it in the Pedaltrain case and easily transport it. A side benefit for me is once I have a fixed board I focus more on playing instead of swapping pedals in and out.

[ErikH]

Is that a pedalboard in a padded case? Or is it one unit?

The pedalboard is inside the hard case. Was too lazy to take it out for the photo.

[Erlend_G]

Hey guys-

Are going to leave: Volume pedal "loose"- to position it where I need it-

Preamp- Chorus- Fuzz-

nothing more than that-

but still- EQ, delay and Reverb in the effects loop-.

I hope to feed the most pedals, with the least of adaptors .

-E

[EmiAba]

I bought a palmer pedal board 40. It has a reasonable price, it's lightweight and sturdy, it has room for 10 boss size pedals. The chain goes like this: mini wah first then mxr gt od, mxr badass distortion, tc electronic mini sparkle. Mxr phase 90, boss ce chorus, tc electronic flashback 2, tc electronic hall of fame and at the end boss tu3. All pedals are driven by true tone c12. I spend a lot of time and effort to find out a good compromise to get the output I had in my mind. I think I want to add a Looper to switch between different sounds

[Mincer]

My 2 boards are about 18" X 13". Small enough to not require a big case, and carry over 1 shoulder. Right now, I have a multi effects, expression pedal and digital car clock on each one. I have assembled pedalboards of individual pedals before, but the wiring can be a mess (especially if something goes wrong at a gig, which is where everything always goes wrong). These individual-pedal based boards sound great, but they are bigger, but usually not big enough to have everything I want. It isn't worth the compromise to me, so I went back to the multi-effects.