Pedal boards... again...

[NegativeEase]

Re: Pedal boards... again...

Last night my pedal board didn't work all the way through, after turning it on. It was a power jack on a pedal.

In the time it took to lay my pedal board out, turn it on, diagnose the issue and fix it, I would have still been connecting up the individual pedals and wires -In the "no Pedal board scenario" wouldn't have even identified the issue with the pedal yet.

Pedal boards are a huge times saver for transport and gigging issues. -So thats their real value to me.

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Pedal boards... again...

I'm not really a pedal player. Other than a tuner I generally have zero or one other pedal when I play live (which is almost never these days). But I totally agree with NegativeEase on this one: more than two pedals should probably be on a board and more than three or four it's kinda required.
The problems come when someone crams too many pedals too close together.

 

[SAguitar]

Re: Pedal boards... again...

This is the board I use on a typical gig situation. All overdrive pedals are subject to change, I tend to swap them out fairly frequently. It has been remarkably dependable.

 

[Jacew]

Re: Pedal boards... again...

You can put together a good board for playing outside the house with 1-spots. I've been using 1-spots for more than fifteen years now, and am currently powering seven pedals with two of them. No noise issues from my board. Quick and easy setup when gigging. I can run all the pedals from a single 1-spot in a pinch if a problem was to arise.

What issues specifically have you run into with 1-spots while playing out? I've heard of certain poorly designed pedals introducing noise into a daisy chain . . . if you've got multiple extremely high current draw pedals and didn't figure out your power requirements you might run into issues too. Aside from that what is there?

Well, you never know until you it happens.

I've done some setups with daisy chaining (as well as all sorts of audio looping stuff) and generally it seems 50/50 chance of working fine or introducing noise, or other issues. Currently my mini board uses daisy chain and does have significant hiss. It goes away if I remove either one of two pedals that apparently don't like each other.

Same as buffers. More you have linked, more chance of issues caused by them.

 

[Francois]

Re: Pedal boards... again...

one is battery powered and has sunface, dirty little secret mkii, and vapor trail.

I like that one !

 

[Francois]

Re: Pedal boards... again...

I do not have a pedal board. But I use lots of pedals. Anyone else ?

The thing is although I often use certain stompboxes (TS808, Vapor Trail, Phase 90...) I do not want to have a fixed setup. I try different things all the time.

(And I walk to the practise place with one (or two) guitars, a bag of pedals and cables. I do not want to carry more stuff.)

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Pedal boards... again...

I do not have a pedal board. But I use lots of pedals. Anyone else ?

The thing is although I often use certain stompboxes (TS808, Vapor Trail, Phase 90...) I do not want to have a fixed setup. I try different things all the time.

(And I walk to the practise place with one (or two) guitars, a bag of pedals and cables. I do not want to carry more stuff.)

IMO, that’s the beauty of a good pedalboard. It should be modular so swapping pedals is fast and easy. My Pedaltrain Mini, wah, power cable and guitar cables go in the soft case and it’s quick and easy to setup. Having the TRex allows me to use different voltages if needed (9VDV, 12VDC, 18VDC, even 9V AC) and I still think minimizing cable insertion and bending makes patch cables last longer. However, if that kind of setup would stress you out when setting up, playing or troubleshooting, you need to use what best for you.

 

[Jacew]

Re: Pedal boards... again...

I do not have a pedal board. But I use lots of pedals. Anyone else ?

The thing is although I often use certain stompboxes (TS808, Vapor Trail, Phase 90...) I do not want to have a fixed setup. I try different things all the time.

(And I walk to the practise place with one (or two) guitars, a bag of pedals and cables. I do not want to carry more stuff.)

Wouldn't carrying and connecting single board be much easier than carrying bunch pedals and reconnecting everything everytime?

I used to do that and that's why I built my board. I have 9 pedals (I think) on it, and only use 4 of them with any regularity. It's just much easier not having to wire stuff again if I'd like to try delay for instance for one piece.

 

[LLL]

Re: Pedal boards... again...

Meh.. if you're needing tonal variation live, why not just do a rackmount rig instead of running your signal through a bazillion stomps?

ADA MP-1, Alesis Quadraverb, ADA B200S all in a 4 slot rack case

2x Seymour Duncan 1x12s (stereo)

...and a Two Notes Torpedo C.A.B. M that sits on top of rack case

ADA MC-1 MIDI controller to switch tones

No tone suck, no funky impedances to deal with, no goofy tap dancing.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Pedal boards... again...

that sounds like a lot to carry. i can do my typical loadin in one trip. two guitars (or one if im super lazy and it has fresh strings), 1x12 combo, bag of stuff, and pedal board case.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Pedal boards... again...

That certainly is a lot of crap to carry. It's also a terrible approach for somebody who like tweaking stuff on the fly. I tried the preset thing, didn't even work for me messing around at home. A pile of pedals is way easier. Which brings me to...

I finally bought a pedal board. I was at Walmart, and bought a white plastic cutting board and a pack of 3M Command strips. I wanted Dual Lock, but no brick & mortars carry it. I'm taking Aceman's advice to keep my volume & wah pedals separate, and am going to make the board semi-modular. Pics to follow...

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Pedal boards... again...

Anybody know a better deal than this for building custom patch cables?

https://www.amazon.com/GLS-Audio-Profile-Pancake-Speaker/dp/B003UIC78W#customerReviews

I'm in no hurry, have no interest in solderless, and I plan on cannabalizing some unused cables, so 20 right angle plugs for $25 seems like the way to go.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Pedal boards... again...

I get dual lock at Home Depot. I've also used cutting boards. I am using some spare plywood for one, and a used Pedaltrain Jr for the other.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Pedal boards... again...

I get dual lock at Home Depot.

Figures. The one place I didn't check

 

[LLL]

Re: Pedal boards... again...

That certainly is a lot of crap to carry. It's also a terrible approach for somebody who like tweaking stuff on the fly. I tried the preset thing, didn't even work for me messing around at home. A pile of pedals is way easier. Which brings me to...

I finally bought a pedal board. I was at Walmart, and bought a white plastic cutting board and a pack of 3M Command strips. I wanted Dual Lock, but no brick & mortars carry it. I'm taking Aceman's advice to keep my volume & wah pedals separate, and am going to make the board semi-modular. Pics to follow...

The wife helps carry. :cool3:

As far as tweaking, generally do the tweaking at home and make presets; up to 128 presets if needed.

A tone for every and any occasion already programmed in and ready to roll, but there's no way I'd ever use nor need all 128 presets.

Need to tweak on the fly? - no different really from bending over your pedalboard and adjusting knobs... maybe a slight speed increase with just a knob versus "edit button -> tweak -> etc". But if you do your homework and make your presets right the first time when configuring, no need to tweak.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Pedal boards... again...

No pedalboard for me these days. I few years back I had sold all my pedals since I wasn't in a band. When I ended up back on guitar from bass in my current band, I decided I needed an overdrive and at least a crybaby after a few rehearsals and a gig to give a little more tonal variety. They run off battery and setup is no different than if I had a board so, why bother. I still have the Cuisinart cutting board (with handle) that I used for years and another one made from a shelf piece from Home Depot. I've gone the Pedaltrain route from the Pro to the Nano and really like the simplicity of what I have going now. Heck, look at Joe Bonamassa. No pedalboard and like 3 pedals out front all run on battery. Simple.