My pedal board... or lack thereof.

[TimSz]

Hey guys and dolls.

I have been slowly figuring out what pedals I like enough to permanently own for my own personal use. I have come to a final decision on some pedals that make sense to me.

Amp > BB Preamp > MXR Vintage '74 Phase 90 w/true bypass > MXR M169 Analog Delay > EB Wah > Korg Pitchblack tuner w/true bypass > Guitar

I'm pretty sure I've figured out the order of everything too. What I'm curious about, and looking for insight into, is the following:

1) Is the order correct? From what I've read, heard and figured out, distortion pedals should go first because they control the overall volume of the guitar output into the amp... I believe. Next should be the modulation pedals, and then the time based ones. I have read that the wah can go before the distortion to affect the actual distorted sound, or after it to affect the guitar itself. I find that I like it as close to the guitar in the chain as possible. Finally, just before the guitar itself, I throw the tuner.

2) What pedal boards do you guys use? I want something that will fit all of my pedals, and be compact. If it's powered, great. If not, I can daisy chain using the extra ac slot in the tuner, or get a DC brick.

Thanks in advance.

Tim

 

[sith]

You should put tuner first, wah second,than preamp-> phaser -> delay... but, you can always experiment

 

[TimSz]

Putting tuner first, do you mean first in line after the amp, or first after the guitar?

 

[greenwizard]

First after the guitar

 

[TimSz]

Yeah, thats what I was getting at.

 

[TNT]

After a few custom boards, I now use a "Core" pedal board. This particular model has a compartment for a power strip.

I also like the fact that it is protected (encased) when transporting.

 

[RobW]

I've been using this Gator pedal board w/ power supply, which has been great:

(I have the black case, not camo..)

Buy Gator GPT Powered Pedalboard with Carry Bag online at Musician's Friend

 

[TimSz]

The only thing I'm seeing to be a downside to your suggestions is that I don't particularly want to velcro my pedals. I want to maintain the initial integrity of them... Keep 'em coming though.

 

[SteveB]

I use a sheet of plywood covered with velcro loop material (attached with spray adhesive and stapled on the back of the board).

I put some velcro hook material on the bottom of the pedals.

Works great... you can build your own case to tote it around if you want, but I just tend to throw it in my car as-is.. the pedals are attached firmly enough that they don't come off without effort.

I use a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 for powering the pedals.

You might consider an Ernie Ball volume pedal right after the guitar.. it's got a tuner out, so you can throw the tuner there and tune with your volume down.

 

[TimSz]

I was debating the volume pedal, but after a while I decided that I would much rather use my volume knob on the guitar. I just don't really need a volume pedal. It's redundant for my needs... good idea though.

 

[JMB27]

Pedal Train

AC Boost, RC Boost, J-Drive, Flying Dragon, MXR Dyna-Comp, Boss Chorus and Boss Flange (circa 1987) and a Dan-El-Ectro De-lay

Order?

just hook'em up and keep movin' 'em til it sounds good, eh

cheers always, eh

Joel

 

[RocketRalf]

There's one big problem, it's all backwards!

Thinking as first=guitar and last=amp:

I think I'd want to have the phaser before the delay, because I think of a phaser to be more inherent to the sound and the delay more of an ambience, but it all depends on if you want the phasing effect to be different on the delayed signal or sync'd.

Are you using the preamp for distortion or just to boost the amp? If your using it for distortion, it should be after the wah, so you don't distort the delayed signal, you delay the distorted signal.

Depending on the situation and the desired effect, I'd also experiment having the phaser before the distortion, that way it will be more of a light tint inside the distortion than a wrapping effect.

BTW I really like your simplicity, I'm working on building a rig just like yours, one piece at a time. So far I've just got the guitar, the amp and the tuner but I have a distortion pedal on my way, somewhere in the mail between Florida and here.

 

[TimSz]

I should actually stipulate my plan with these pedals.

- I plan on combining the distortion pedal with every other pedal.
- I will not combine the delay with the phase.
- The wah will be combined with every other pedal.
- The tuner will not be combined with any other pedal.

As such, I'm only particularly focused on where the distortion and wah go. The others I have thrown in the middle just to have them in there. I will use each individually, but as I explain above, never do things like combine the phase and delay at the same time. I am not looking for some ambient vibe.

I think the compact pedal board is great, because I only have pedals I like and will use on a regular basis. I was debating a Hughes and Kettner Rotosphere, but can't justify spending five hundred dollars for a rotary pedal.

 

[TNT]

Jimmy,

In my rack is an Eventide Harmonizer H3000 D/SE, Korg Tuner, Furhman Power Conditioner.

So when I wanted to have a (rack-less) "pedal" set up it was quite a daunting task. There's only so much room on a board.

I settled on a: Boss Tuner/Power supply>Morley Custom George Lynch Wah>Boss Flange>MXR Custom Script Phase 90>Damage Control Time Line Parametric Delay

That's it - it fits all on my large Core pedal board. I love, even compared to the Harmonizer!!!!

 

[TimSz]

With this Core pedal board, how does one mount the pedals to the board? If it's velcro, I am not keen on it. I am looking for something maybe with foam so that I can cut out slots for each pedal and tuck them in nicely. Something like that would do exquisitely.

 

[leftyguitarblue]

I've been using this Gator pedal board w/ power supply, which has been great:

(I have the black case, not camo..)

Buy Gator GPT Powered Pedalboard with Carry Bag online at Musician's Friend

+1 -very strong, takes a beating.

 

[TNT]

Jimmy,

Yeah it is Velcro, but let me say this; I personally built several "indestructible" pedal boards. All pedals and related appliances were "bolted" down, way overkill, but I like it that way.

So, when I went to Velcro I wasn't sure if it was going to do it - but oddly enough it is okay.

I Velcro 50% of the underside of the pedal, so when I open the lid to set up, "never" is there a pedal out of its precise place. Even after throwing the board in & out of vans, etc. . .

But, if I had my choice I would 'bolt" down rather than Velcro - you never know when a suicide bomber may hit your gig.

 

[Tim O'Sullivan]

I use a Pedal Tote Board:

Whilst I had to get the big one to accommodate my Line 6 controller, you can get a smaller one and they are a great bit of kit.

 

[floyd99]

i had a custom roadcase made, but as yours will be smaller, an off the shelf pedal board case will be fine.

I dont like using velcro because it actually works TOO good. The top quality large stitch velcro actually sticks like s#%t to a blanket... so when you want to pull the pedal off, it actually takes some effort as you can't just pull it straight up vertically, and when there's other pedals and cabling around, getting the leverage can be tricky. Having said that, velcro might suit you. Don't worry about sticking things to your pedals.. the double sided velcro does come off quite easily, and if there's any sticky residue left, just clean with eucalyptus oil or something and you'll never know the tape was there.

What i use is cable ties/zip ties and drill holes in the pedal board base. Works brilliantly and removing a single pedal is as easy as snip. My base is riddled with holes but who cares. you can't see the holes, as everything is black.. and in my case, the pedal board removes from the roadcase, so it's just a piece of thick ply covered in carpet with some handles - easily replaceable should it get overcome with holes like swiss cheese.

Note that my signal path is not simply daisy as they lie on the board..

Guitar -> Boss NS2 Noise Gate ->
MXR Phase 100 (vintage) ->
Fulltone Clyde Wah ->
MI Audio Blues Pro overdrive ->
Boss SD1 overdrive ->
Boss DS1 (vintage) with Monte Allums mod ->
Boss CE5 Chorus ->
MXR Dyna Compressor (vintage) with M.Allums mod ->
Boss TR2 Tremolo ->
Ernie Ball Volume pedal -> back to NS2 return ->
Boss DD5 Digital Delay ->
Boss RV3 Reverb/Delay ->
MXR Micro Amp (on permanently to boost signal chain)

Tuner comes out of the EB volume pedal tuner output permanently on.
Voodoo Labs Power supply
George L's patch cables

 

[TimSz]

Holy Craposaurus. You have a lot of pedals. I've been doing some more research and there's a type of pedal board that the local chain guitar store sells by the name of "Stagemaster". It comes with two foam inserts, so I can actually cut foam to stick my pedals in exactly. The only thing I'm looking into is if a EB wah will fit into it. Can someone tell me what size the wah is? Is it the size of the JR volume pedal? Regular size volume pedal?