Everything you ever wanted to know about Peadalboards but were afraid to ask

[spookstrickland]

Ok Pedals are probably my biggest obsession but Peadalboards have to be number 2.  So lets talk about them.

Do you use one?
Does it aid or stifle creativity?
Homemade or Premade?
Wood, plastic or Metal?
Carrying Case or a bag?
Velcro, Zip Ties or Chain Links?
Batteries or Powersupply?
Patch Cables?



Do you use one:  Yes.
Does it aid or stifle creativity:  Sometimes I do feel locked in, cant change pedal order quickly to experiment at Jam sessions.
Homemade or Premade:  Homemade, but Im liking what I see of the G Bone Line
Wood, plastic or Metal:  Ive used wood and Metal.  Wood is great for using the bike link mounting system.
Carrying Case or a bag:  Suitcase, bags kind of scare me, seems to easy to get your knobs broke off.
Velcro, Zip Ties or Chain Links:  Pedal Links and Velcro.  Used to use Zip ties but just did not look clean and had a couple bad brands that kept breaking.
Batteries or Powersupply:  Powersupply unless its an old pedal.
Patch Cables:  Just off the shelf pre made.


Ok now you, and feel free to share any comnents, tips, ideas or pictures of Pedalboards.

[jibberish]

i'm still thinking about how I will set up my pedals for performance.

The very biggest problem I have is re-tweaking pedal settings, especially during a song.
The first time I hit that snag was when I first tried out my son's memory lane.  it has a bunch of footpedal inputs for good reason.
it also has a large footprint and very large knobs for the same reason: so you can tweak with your foot.

I remember someone was dissing the memory lane and those big nasty knobs. heh. those are for foot tweaking.
anyway, when I experiment and work on stuff, I set my pedals on like a tall speaker stand or the piano bench etc, so I can tweak by hand.

In my dream world, every pedal would have like a PC 4-wire CD drive power connector that an external stomp switch could be added to.
this plug-in switch would bypass the internal one and still maintain true bypass or w/e original mode (buffer for example) was there before.
Then you would have a music stand looking thing with all the pedals(the "pedalboard" per se) you could easily reach and just a bank of stomp switches on the floor.

so yeah, i'm still up in the air on this whole deal.....

[fallen]

Some people do put their pedals up high and it makes sense to have some pedals accessible for some styles of music. Or instead of building one huge pedalboard have a floor one and one higher up for effects you want to tweak. Helios Creed used to keep his pedals in a suitcase that he put on a bar stool so that he could tweak knobs on his delays. Nels Cline has some crazy setup where a bunch of pedals are on the floor and then he has a bunch more at waist level on a road case for noise making... Or use some expression pedals to blend in fuzz or control delay feedback or time. Mission makes some cool dual expression pedals so that you can do multiple functions with one expression pedal.

Personally I just run a small board and turn knobs with my foot if I really need to. I have found that most of my pedals don't loose their settings in the gig bag, or only move a little bit. Bags are a lot lighter and the board protects the pedals from the bottom, cords and stuff cushion them from the top. I just treat it like a guitar in a case and wouldn't put it wedged between cabinets or anything like that.

If I want to experiment with different sounds I just leave enough patch cable so that I can switch in different size pedals with different jack placement and there isn't any problem making them fit, I swap the fuzz out all the time (top right), and the first pedal in my chain (bottom right) is usually an auto wah but sometimes a synth or octave or whatever. Using velcro makes it really easy. I used to have a wood board with chain links and it was extremely solid but it was pain to change anything. If you never change pedals it might be a way to go.

[RacerX]

Do you use one? Yes.

Does it aid or stifle creativity? Neither. It's purpose-built to attain certain desired tones & effects. Most pedals have marked settings.

Homemade or Premade? Manufactured.

Wood, plastic or Metal? Metal seams/corners, plywood w/ plastic covering (flight-case stylee). Removable top.

Carrying Case or a bag? No.

Velcro, Zip Ties or Chain Links? Velcro.

Batteries or Powersupply? Power supply.

Patch Cables? Yes.

[Lumpy]

George L cables are good for tight spaces, so you can squeeze as many pedals onto your board as possible.

[liquidsmoke]

I had connectivity problems with the cut your own George L cables. Now I use a variety of sizes from various manufacturers and it works great, I just avoid the shitty ones that have smaller plugs. Little loops in cables that are too long help clean things up.

The king:



No stifling but I'll admit that if you've got everything velcro'd down hardcore it's a pain to reposition stuff if you want all the cables to look neat and tidy. Still, the king.

[zachoff]

Do you use one?  Yup
Does it aid or stifle creativity? Aids in rocking.  I don't get too creative with it.  Have my vocal processor, disto pedal, and tuner.  Also a delay, but I'm done with that pedal and it's going away.
Homemade or Premade? Premade
Wood, plastic or Metal? Metal
Carrying Case or a bag? Neither.  It's all velcro'd on there and transports w/o a case
Velcro, Zip Ties or Chain Links?  Velcro, though zip ties seem like they'd be better.
Batteries or Powersupply? Power supply, but also have batteries in them in case a connection gets lost.
Patch Cables? Little 6"ers from pedal to pedal except the vocal processor... That gets XLR.

[liquidsmoke]

Have my vocal processor

Yes! I used to do this too. And my in ear transmitter thing. It's nice and easy to have all that shit on a powered board.

[black]

Been Rocking this model SKB for a decade.



Sturdy, durable and hassle free.
The money saved on batteries can easily support a casual drug habit.

[spookstrickland]

Been Rocking this model SKB for a decade.



Sturdy, durable and hassle free.
The money saved on batteries can easily support a casual drug habit.

Whats the dimensions on that board?

[Jor el]

   At first I read that as " Whats the dimensions on that broad? "

[black]

Right here Spook;
- Mount Dimensions: 27 in. x 15 in.
- Overall Dimensions: 28 3/4 in. x 20 1/2 in. x 6 1/4 in.
- Weight: 23 lbs.
- Warranty: Lifetime

Here's a link that lets you scope it out up close.
http://www.zzounds.com/item--SKBPS45
Kind of looks like SKB has stopped production, but check the innerwebs and Music-Go-Round (if there is one near you). I know a guy who found one recently at Music-Go-Round for a decent price.

[spookstrickland]

Right here Spook;
- Mount Dimensions: 27 in. x 15 in.
- Overall Dimensions: 28 3/4 in. x 20 1/2 in. x 6 1/4 in.
- Weight: 23 lbs.
- Warranty: Lifetime

Here's a link that lets you scope it out up close.
http://www.zzounds.com/item--SKBPS45
Kind of looks like SKB has stopped production, but check the innerwebs and Music-Go-Round (if there is one near you). I know a guy who found one recently at Music-Go-Round for a decent price.

Thanks, im going to check that out!

[showdown]

Do you use one? Yes
Does it aid or stifle creativity? Neither, but it cuts down on setup time.
Homemade or Premade? T-Rex Tone Trunk
Wood, plastic or Metal? Steel
Carrying Case or a bag? Shitty quality original bag
Velcro, Zip Ties or Chain Links? Velcro and zip ties
Batteries or Powersupply? T-Rex Fuel Tank, velcroed under the board
Patch Cables? Combination of premade and homemade (hard RF cable with George L plugs).

[Danny G]

I've been building my own boards since the early 2000s.

I like the simplicity of a lift-off lid, and woodgrain looks nice.

Fast forward 10-15 years and I do see the benefit of a board that goes in a separate case: Shock absorption.

I could use a slightly wider board for guitar. I could use a smaller/lighter board for bass. Need to replace the plastic protecting the painting (first painting ever by my ex-wife, she let me keep the board. The painting is awesome) on my smaller aux guitar board.

I have work to do...


Sent from a can on some string using Tapatalk

[Lumpy]

I use a pine board from Home Depot painted black, which I carry in an old Samsonite suitcase. I use velcro, bike chain links, and zip ties to hold things down. A lot of velcro lately, but zip ties on some bigger pieces and Digitech pedals have slippery rubber bottoms (not good for velcro) and recessed screws (not good for bike chain links) so  I use a zip tie. I use bike chain links if I don't want to mess up the paint or a sticker on the bottom of a pedal, or if it's an expensive piece that I'm concerned about theft, so I screw those into the board.

If I was in a successful touring band, I could understand using an expensive pedal board and case (roadies might be handling it, etc) but I'm not.

[mortlock]

Do you use one? no
Does it aid or stifle creativity? neither, I don't use one.
Homemade or Premade? neither, I don't have one.
Wood, plastic or Metal? neither, I don't own one.
Carrying Case or a bag? I have a bag I carry pedals in loose.
Velcro, Zip Ties or Chain Links? neither.
Batteries or Powersupply? both.
Patch Cables? yes.

[Pissy]

I used to not have one, then I realized when I had had one too many right before our set that I was never again going to try to set up and move and position all those pedals in that state again.

So I got a pedalboard, and kept drinking.

[eyeprod]

I use a wooden board with office carpet stapled on it and some rubber feet screwed on. It's use is to provide some sort of semi-organized portability. There is no creative value to it whatsoever. I used to put some velcro on pedals, but not anymore. I move stuff around all the time at home. Use whatever patch cables I have lying around, which is a mix of semi-fancy and el cheapo. I have a one spot with a chain, DMM power supply if needed, and one fuzz pedal that can't work with the (-) tip chain has a battery. No case.

Mine doesn't do much, but I like it much better than not having one. Something about pedals scattered on the floor doesn't sit right with me.