Pedal Board.... To build or Buy?

beggar_guitar

beggar_guitar

New member
The title pretty much says it all... Am I better off building a pedal board or buying one? What makes them so special when you buy them, as in what features do they have? I have seen some with adjustable levels and what not.

I don't have a lot of pedals right now. Channel Select, Chorus, Wah and A/B switch. I hope to acquire a few more soon. I want a way to keep them organized.

Thanks
Al
 
Re: Pedal Board.... To build or Buy?

I always build them. For the price of a pedalboard, you can usually buy a good power supply AND another pedal. But building one with a nice cover is a little harder. Mine never have covers for carrying. They just sit on top of something in transit. If I absolutely needed a closed-lid, highly protective cover I might consider buying one.
 
Re: Pedal Board.... To build or Buy?

I built my own. At the time I did this because I could not find a board that was setup the way I needed it. I was using 2 amps and I had different effects running thru both amps. I had one amp with a loop and one without. Building my own was not that hard a couple of holes drilled a few dry wall screws some velcro to tie the pedals down and a decent power supply and your pretty much done. If you look in my gear theere is a pic of my board. I wired all the pedals together using George L cables. The advantage is I could cut the cable to the length I needed and put the pedals where I wanted them. I also used a Visual sound one spot to power everything. Works great!!
 
Re: Pedal Board.... To build or Buy?

If all you really need is a platform, just make one. The glue you use to attach fuzzy ozite covering is the stuff you buy at the hardware store for glueing linoleum or tiles to a floor.....like a creamy paste in a bucket. If you use spray glue, it doesn't stick hard enough, and others will soak through the Ozite.

I like the ones made by the Canadian road case company Angstrom Cases. You can order them in any size. These are $300 pedalboards that they sell at wholesale prices.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ATA-Guitar-Peda...416567351QQcategoryZ41412QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
 
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Re: Pedal Board.... To build or Buy?

Really a platform is all I really need. Perhaps with 2 levels. I do like the pedal boards with the slant for Wah/Volume.

I know I may sound dumb... but What benefit is there in buying a pedal board? What features do they have that make them worth the $$?
 
Re: Pedal Board.... To build or Buy?

If you have just a couple pedals, then you don't need much at all. This seems to work just fine for this guy. ;)

ZW's pedalboard

Granted, that shot is from about 2004 so there's a few changes as far as pedal goes....well, everything but the Rotovibe...lol, but that board is still in use.
 
Re: Pedal Board.... To build or Buy?

The professional boards usually don't give you anything but a high quality platform and lid. It's expected that you'll also pay big bucks for a power supply.

If you've only got a few pedals, it's overkill. Look up pedal board on Ebay, sort highest to lowest, and see which one suits your needs......probably a smaller one with a built in power source and bag type case. Sometimes, it's just better to buy one than make one, just because you'd be surprised at how fast the materials add up.
 
Re: Pedal Board.... To build or Buy?

I just have a piece of MDF now that takes my wah, OD and tuner, with a mains box. I use cable ties to keep them down. I drilled holes to loop the cable ties through. With such few pedals i made the board nice n compact so it fits perfectly into one of my backpacks. I then had some fun painting the board orange and black. In the past i have used a larger pedal board. Only differences are it took more pedals, was made of ply and was painted metallic black.

I think the main advantage of having a bought pedalboard is that they tend to have some kinda of lid so the pedals are safe, but its not rocket science to make one yourself. As long as you have basic woodwork tools and arent too sloppy its pretty easy. For needing so few pedals id recommend making it yourself. My current one only cost 50p for a large MDF off-cut which they then cut to size for me and gave me all the pieces. The expensive part was the paint!
 
Re: Pedal Board.... To build or Buy?

I've built 'em but they didn't have a cover, so now I buy 'em to get a lot nicer board for a little more money.

Rock On ~ Kac
 
Re: Pedal Board.... To build or Buy?

Build it!!! You can get pretty creative if you want to. In highschool I made a pedal board out of an old skateboard deck, using pieces of rails to hold the pedals in place. Ahh rails...good times. Anyway, when I started gigging I made a pedal case out of an old brief case that I got at a thrift store. I installed a power supply and had the cord coming out of the back. I hid the wires/cords under foam so it didn't look like an electrical octopus.
 
Re: Pedal Board.... To build or Buy?

Building a pedal board is fine if you only want to have a couple of pedals . . . when you get a bigger board though, having a properly built aluminum chassis is a real godsend. Those pedals weigh enough without you strapping 20 lbs of particle board to the bottom of them . . .
 
Re: Pedal Board.... To build or Buy?

It sounds like you could build one and be happy with it.

As stated, professionally made boards will generally have a lid and the more expensive ones will have a built in power supply.

~MkF!
 
Re: Pedal Board.... To build or Buy?

I've built a couple of pedal boards... and to be honest with you, they were a pain to haul to gigs. I found a reasonably priced one (<$40) at Rhondo Music - aluminum case with a lid - and it makes traveling to gigs so much easier. For the price it couldn't be beat.
 
Re: Pedal Board.... To build or Buy?

unless you want to spend a decent amount of money you can get a nice ass pedal board, but if your not lookin to spend much building your own is the better option. that way you can design it any way you want to.
 
Re: Pedal Board.... To build or Buy?

For $140, I thought the Pedal Train Pro SC was a great pedalboard. It's huge (great for when you have more than 8 pedals running), has a unique aluminum frame, and a decent case.
 
Re: Pedal Board.... To build or Buy?

+1 on the pedaltrain bandwagon . . . best 120$ I've spent in ages . .
 
Re: Pedal Board.... To build or Buy?

Decided on building one for now. Well what I had done is taken an older hard case that was in poor condition and I am converting it into a pedal board.

It is a Gator case that was built to come apart and one half act as a guitar stand. It had a hinge and folded in half. All I am doing is reversing the hinge, and realigning the clasps. Maybe it will work as well as I envision... I will post pics when I get my camera back and get some ideas from you guys.

I would rather do away with the hinge and it come apart as 2 boards. Otherwise it will be a long pedal board (length of a guitar case), and I don't have enough pedals to justify that long of a board. Until I have enough to populate both boards one will act as a top and double as a riser to raise the board. ( I doubt this makes sense without seeing it)
 
Re: Pedal Board.... To build or Buy?

My buddy John builds alot of them if you write him he can probably steer you in the right direction. Here is his user name STRATDELUXER97
 
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