Behold: the Mega-Board!

Re: Behold: the Mega-Board!

Kam said:
Ya know, I've been considering an M5 for just this reason. The next step for my own board is to add a few modulation pedals, but I'm not sure how much I'd even use them. The M5 seems like it's pretty much designed for that kind of situation.
Click to expand...

I had an M13 a couple years ago, but decided in the end to go to a standard pedal-based rig.

I found that once I'd acquired all the pedals you see there on the board, I still had occasional desires for a few others: pitch shifters/harmonizers, synth-y filters, tremolo, and so on. I decided that:

a. It made no sense to buy a dedicated pedal for an effect I'll use in, maybe, ten seconds of one song.

b. Even if I did justify that, I would very quickly run out of board space.

c. I actually really liked most of the effects in the M13.

The M5 was the natural result of that thought process. I made sure it had its own dedicated switch on the looper because I've heard bad things about its bypass tone (never had a problem with the M13's bypass though).

So far it's working out great. I set up a couple patches that I'd relied on in the M13 days, and a couple more to add a bit of "secret herbs and spices" to some of our newer material. I'm sure I'll add more as I go.

Also, that's the biggest ****ing amp footswitch I've ever seen.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's huge. Kinda ridiculous actually. I think they could have made it a wee bit smaller and still made everything nice and comfy. I got everything to fit on the board though, so I'm not too upset about it.

That's a really great board, man. I really love how it doesn't look like you just walked into a music shop and grabbed a bunch of pedals you liked the look of just so that it would be done. It just reeks of time well spent and real attention to detail.

I'm sure it also reeks of salt and vinegar crisps. :p

Anyways, nice work, man. :beerchug:
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Ha ha, thanks, though I don't usually eat chips/crisps with my feet. I suspect it reeks of whatever I walk on all day: crappy government office carpet, concrete, and the bones of my enemies.
 
Re: Behold: the Mega-Board!

ratherdashing said:
I suspect it reeks of whatever I walk on all day: crappy government office carpet, concrete, and the bones of my enemies.
Click to expand...

hahaha...nice touch!!! i gotta sig that...it reminds me of my daily routine as well!
 
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Re: Behold: the Mega-Board!

ratherdashing said:
I also have a "patch panel" tucked under the board, which has an in and out jack, and a home-built JFET buffer on the input. I mounted it on the left side because I'm a lefty, and I hate having to plug in on the right of the board.

1. Patch panel input w. buffer
2. Looper, which has:
- Tuner out
- Main (bypass all)
- Comp loop (CS-2)
- Drive loop (Raptor and Manx)
- Mod loop (phaser, flanger, and chorus)
- M5 loop (duh)
- Delay loop (both delays)
3. Patch panel output

The idea is I turn on or off the pedals I need before a song, and engage/disengage them with the looper.

I've played with it a bit over the past few days, and I'm very pleased with it. It's much easier to stack pedals and flip them on and off now that most of my stomps are on the bottom row. I put the Nova on the bottom row to make tapping the tempo easier. The M5's isn't as easy to reach, but it's still do-able, plus I don't tap that as often.
Click to expand...

I am not understanding, please walk me through. so the new long pedal with all the switches is a remote control for your pedals? what is the loop? what is the "patch panel"? all those pedals and buttons are intriguing to me! good to see you are happy with it, quite a collection. :)
 
Re: Behold: the Mega-Board!

everdrone said:
I am not understanding, please walk me through. so the new long pedal with all the switches is a remote control for your pedals? what is the loop? what is the "patch panel"? all those pedals and buttons are intriguing to me! good to see you are happy with it, quite a collection. :)
Click to expand...

That box is basically a bunch of effects loops. Your guitar signal goes in one side and out the other, and you can turn any of the loops on/off. So, you connect a pedal to one of them, leave it on, and then use the loop box to bring it in and out of the signal path.
 
Re: Behold: the Mega-Board!

I have an aversion to knob twiddling and tap dancing so I feel rather faint looking at that board.

I did a gig a while ago and the guitarist in the other band had a similar board. Come showtime he hit a chord and got no sound at all. He was frantic and was desperately checking his connections, changing leads etc. I suggested he plug his guitar straight into the amp which is how he found out that he'd turned the volume on his guitar to zero.
 
Re: Behold: the Mega-Board!

richard parker said:
I have an aversion to knob twiddling and tap dancing so I feel rather faint looking at that board.

I did a gig a while ago and the guitarist in the other band had a similar board. Come showtime he hit a chord and got no sound at all. He was frantic and was desperately checking his connections, changing leads etc. I suggested he plug his guitar straight into the amp which is how he found out that he'd turned the volume on his guitar to zero.
Click to expand...

That guy is a moron, it has nothing to do with him having a pedalboard.
 
Re: Behold: the Mega-Board!

That.s not a MEGA board... it's the MUTHA board! lol Nicely thought out and put together, and by the sound of the vid it works a treat! Great stuff.
 
Re: Behold: the Mega-Board!

FretFire said:
That box is basically a bunch of effects loops. Your guitar signal goes in one side and out the other, and you can turn any of the loops on/off. So, you connect a pedal to one of them, leave it on, and then use the loop box to bring it in and out of the signal path.
Click to expand...

cool thanks :thanks::approve:

that is pretty sweet cause you can alternate lets say two effects loops and keep one out of the signal chain, and less pedal dances :banana:
 
Re: Behold: the Mega-Board!

:bigok:

One of my predecessors in the band had a 4-5' long piece of plywood covered with pedals. I can't imagine the pedal dancing required for that board.
 
Re: Behold: the Mega-Board!

I need to make a couple of minor tweaks to this.

- The tuner mute switch on the loop box isn't as good as it could be. When the main switch is off you get tons of hum, and when the main switch is on you can hear the signal a leetle beet. The good news is I know exactly why this is happening and it's a very simple fix (I need to wire it so that it grounds the output when the tuner is on).

- I think I'd like the M5 and Nova Repeater to change positions. Reason is that it's a bit awkward to change presets on the M5 where it is. The Nova is tall enough that I'll be able to reach the tap tempo over the loop box.
 
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