Pedalboards for guitar

[susiwong]

Since the recent guitar- and amp threads, as well as the DIY forum, have turned out nicely, how about a little pedalboard thread ?
Let's share and discuss some ideas and concepts !

To get the ball rolling here's some info about my new main pedal board, finished today.
Well, almost ...



Concepts :
- the board serves as front end for a small MIDI rack , Marshall JMP-1, TC G-Major, 19" tuner
- analog pedals (always on) switched in and out of the path using a true bypass MIDI relay box
- Wah switched manually (modded for true bypass)
- Boss FC-50 MIDI pedal sending patch, MIDI volume and 3 on/off controllers (the 3 footswitches & LEDs I added to the FC-50) to the rack
- volume is post distortion, post compression, pre delay/reverb so it doesn't change the basic tone/OD (that's what the guitar's controls are for), making violin- or pedal steel swells a breeze
- presets are organized in banks of five, A/B switches between rhythm and solo
(technically we're talking banks of ten, of course)
- the dual momentary footswitch behind the wah does bank up/down
- pedals mounted using Velcro for quick maintenance/exchange
- custom made patch cabling with HQ Klotz cables and Neutrik/ReAn plugs
- cabling will be tidied up after the test phase
- the OD pedals are boutique clones built by a good friend of mine, hand selected components, fine tuned to taste
- T-Rex power supply, the best, a bit overqualified, but hey ...

Signal flow :
- Vox Satriani Wah, true bypass mod
- LoopJack MIDI relay box (buffer disabled)
--- L1: Pegasus (Klon Centaur), lead boost into crunchy rhythm patches
--- L2: BigDee aka Katzendrive (Zendrive) for singing Dumble style lead into clean amp tone
--- L3: Binford 6400 ("more power" anyone ? ... you guessed it, a Tim in Timmy's clothing) - brand new, for that subtle, almost clean country crunch
--- L4: Fulltone ChoralFlange, these lush tones only come in analog

- 19" rack
--- TC does comp, gate, EQ, digital chorus, volume, delay and reverb
--- tuner always on but not in the main path

- either tube combo (only power amp & speakers, mono) or Mesa 50/50 & 412 (stereo), depending on stage size
- the HornyBee (BJF HoneyBee) OD will be needed for another setup, it has meanwhile been removed

------------------------------------

That's it basically, looking forward to learning from your ideas and tricks,
susiwong

[Hink]

this should be fun, some people have some serious pedals

(modded for true bypass)

[xtp]

I am going to get one of these at some point.

Its a 5 amp solution to pedal board powering. i find one of the biggest issues is a good powering solution, esp when you have pedals of different voltages, and high current requirements.

http://www.thegigrig.com/acatalog/index.html

[Rock Hardbuns]

I miss my boss FC50. Seems controllers like that are hard to find these days unless you want two rows and a wha pedal.

[justin3am]

Wow, that Loop Jack thing looks very cool! Are they still made? Can't find much info.

A few weeks ago I started designing a pedal board for my modular synth. I'm waiting on parts for a custom patch bay which will allow me to patch between FX on the fly without ever really breaking the signal chain (unless I want to).

My pedals aren't anything special:
Boss DD-6
Boss PH-3
Boss OS-2
Boss RPS-10 (circuit bent /w foot switch)
Boss RSD-10 (circuit bent /w foot switch)
Danelectro French Toast Fuzz
Dunlop Crybaby 105q
Earthquaker Devices Hoof Fuzz
EH Big Muff
EH Memory Boy
EH Memory Boy Deluxe
EH The Worm
EH The Clone Theory
Eventide PitchFactor
Line6 DL4
Line6 DM4
Realistic Reverb (/w footswitch)

Nothing really boutique... I'm mainly using this stuff to degrade sound. I'll take a picture when I get home but right now I'm lacking the board part of this equation.

[susiwong]

I am going to get one of these at some point.

Its a 5 amp solution to pedal board powering. i find one of the biggest issues is a good powering solution, esp when you have pedals of different voltages, and high current requirements.

http://www.thegigrig.com/acatalog/index.html

The GigRig stuff is cool, a very pro solution.
I like the solderless concept, too.
It's a bit oversized for me though.
If you are fine with 5x 300mA the Chameleon is perfect, all outs galvanically separated and completely trouble free. I once had it running a bunch of 9V pedals (analog & digital) on daisy chain, including an old Boss ACA CS-3, a very picky reverse polarity Fulltone germanium fuzz, 2 TC 12V/300 mA hogs and a 12V AC Tubeman - perfectly clean.
For the pictured board I'm actually planning to replace the Chameleon with a cheapo Thomann PSU , I already cured its ground loop issue and have yet to mod two diodes to get the voltages up to spec.
The Chameleon's flexibility would serve me better in the studio.
Ymmv,
susiwong

[susiwong]

I miss my boss FC50. Seems controllers like that are hard to find these days unless you want two rows and a wha pedal.

Fortunately they are cheap on the s/h market and virtually indestructible.
Dead easy to mod for onboard controller switches and MIDI cable phantom power, too.
Ymmv,
susiwong

[susiwong]

Wow, that Loop Jack thing looks very cool! Are they still made? Can't find much info.

A few weeks ago I started designing a pedal board for my modular synth. I'm waiting on parts for a custom patch bay which will allow me to patch between FX on the fly without ever really breaking the signal chain (unless I want to).

My pedals aren't anything special:
Boss DD-6
Boss PH-3
Boss OS-2
Boss RPS-10 (circuit bent /w foot switch)
Boss RSD-10 (circuit bent /w foot switch)
Danelectro French Toast Fuzz
Dunlop Crybaby 105q
Earthquaker Devices Hoof Fuzz
EH Big Muff
EH Memory Boy
EH Memory Boy Deluxe
EH The Worm
EH The Clone Theory
Eventide PitchFactor
Line6 DL4
Line6 DM4
Realistic Reverb (/w footswitch)

Sounds like a nice PSU challenge.
Interesting collection !
Vermona LoopJack here :
http://www.loopersparadise.de/en/pro.php?p=186
I was lucky to score a s/h one @ half price, local pick up.
Unlike the above specs suggest it works just fine @ 9V, too.
Very well built and easy to program.
You can chain them, too, for more loops.
Ymmv,
susiwong

[Hink]

Sounds like a nice PSU challenge.

I was going to go there but they didn't accept me I ended up going to WAU instead


'What's Amatter U'

[susiwong]

Sounds like a nice PSU challenge.

I was going to go there but they didn't accept me I ended up going to WAU instead


'What's Amatter U'

I ain't going anywhere as long as my car still works.
Lol,
susiwong

[Muzik 4 Machines]

3 times i read pedobear for guitars lol

here's a shot of my old one when i used to play guitar

left to right
top:dd5, dd3, danelectro rocky road modded with second FS, boutique jimmy page fuzz (cant recall the name)
bottom: ds1, xt2, volume, ls2, ls2, pw10, fz2, ge7
not shown, the fx loops of the second LS2 (loop a was a kaoss pad and loop 2 was the mfc 42 rat, oc3 and harmonizer and blue box), 1st ls2 had delay rotary on 1 loop and the v wha on the other cause the v-wha silences audio on switching on/off

also not shown is a TU 2 (far right)

after the band broke up i took a few and built my home/recording board (which is still partly intact somewhere)

left to right

on the ground: ge7(left) and v wha, GDI and compressor (right)
top ch-something and ns2, tuner and AB switch to switch the tuner
bottom: mini grail, dd3, ds1, pw2, xt2, fz2, volume


and here's a picture of my pedalboard for live electronics


rat, wha, comp and tempodelay on the ER1, the expression controls the dry level of the SL20(not shown) which slices the mks50

[justin3am]

Sounds like a nice PSU challenge.

Luckily PSUs are my specialty. I have a prototype based on a single 8amp switching supply that I'm going to use. 20 individual regulators with selectable output voltage for each of 15dc outputs and 5ac outputs. It works fine so far.

Interesting collection !

Thanks!

Vermona LoopJack here :
http://www.loopersparadise.de/en/pro.php?p=186
I was lucky to score a s/h one @ half price, local pick up.
Unlike the above specs suggest it works just fine @ 9V, too.
Very well built and easy to program.
You can chain them, too, for more loops.

Fantastic! Thanks.

[Unfocused]

I used to be a rack guy. I just sold off the last of my rack stuff and the rack itself. The only thing I kept from that rig is an old ART X-15 Ultrafoot, ostensibly as a MIDI controller for my amp sims (Izotope Trash and freebies. Would like to add Vandal to the sims, but low $ right now), but I haven't used it in years.

Honestly, complicated rigs are just a drag to me anymore, but if I were to expand my rig it would be through the pedal route (no more integrated systems--they sure can do everything, but none of it superbly). My current rig is super simple:

Visual Sound Jekyll & Hyde --> DOD FX-17 Wah/Volume Pedal --> Boss DD-20 Delay--> amp

I barely use the delay, only use the volume pedal to adjust volume to taste anymore (never the wah), and feed it into an ultra-clean amp (typically my Roland jazz chorus).

I've really been digging the simple guitar-->amp tone. I really enjoy the tones of just my guitar (a tonal chameleon if there ever was one) when I'm just noodling around. Any time I actually record something (hah!), I just use amp sims to fill in the colors I need if it ain't clean. I'm still looking for certain sounds though (anyone get a Metallica sound out of a hollowbody? ), so my rig could grow/change slightly in the future.

But enough of my yackin'...


-u

[susiwong]

I've really been digging the simple guitar-->amp tone.

Tone is very subjective and so are the equipment needs.
I would definitely claim to be a simple guitar-->amp person, too.
The board shown is on the more complex side for me, depending on job I use simpler setups, too - I might put up an interesting, much smaller setup next in this thread.
Sometimes however you need high tech to achieve a certain simple result in a convenient way.
The reasoning behind the above board is as follows :
- flexibility, being able to have believable versions of the most common simple tones, a must for any serious cover work (I mostly do modern country, southern rock, classic rock and related styles)
- immediate, fool proof switching - when you're expected to approximate several original guitar parts rolled into one (which is the rule) there's no time for tap dancing.
In a typical 3 guitar southern rock setup doing original stuff on the other hand I'd be happy with a 50W Marshall half stack (1987 or 2204), Klon and a good quality, simple delay (Mad Professor etc).
- volume control, delay and reverb (in that order) have to be behind the preamp in the loop to get a "clean", "pure" overdriven tone with FX
- no excessive FX orgies to be expected, the three OD pedals are never getting combined.
Klon = lead boost for crunchy Marshall tone
Zendrive = Dumble emulation, in front of a clean tube tone
Tim = that tiny hint of clear overdrive so popular with guys like Brent Mason in modern country, also using a clean tube tone
- add a tiny bit of delay and reverb at times, maybe a chorus for cleans
- compression and EQ can also be quite useful for certain signature sounds, in small doses
- with a good F-style and a good G-style or my PRS DGT I can go from Brent Mason to Knopfler to David Grissom to Allmans to Skynyrd to AC/DC to Rainbow no problem, every one of these tones sounding authentic, pure and simple (wish the same could be said about my playing )

So this is my "best of classic guitar tones" collection, not a "mangle tones like nobody did before" setup, horses for courses

Ymmv,
susiwong

[Hink]

I use very few pedals, I doubt I'll ever use delay pedals...even in the days of playing live I didn't use pedals (in fact two of my guitars had the letters 8NEFX on the front). I liked getting a little reverb from the board and back through the monitors. I currrently have the most pedals I have ever had now

home built ts replica with mods
boss turbo od
digitech screamin blues
boss ch-1
sannsamp gt2
tech 21 comptortion (sux)
mxr dist +
radail aby box
boss ns-2

and if you want to count it my pod xt live