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First Pedalboard!

Home › Forums › Discuss Your Gear › First Pedalboard!

  • This topic has 13 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 6 years ago by John H.
Viewing 8 reply threads
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    Posts
    • October 10, 2019 at 11:34 am #146921
      Dave K
      Participant

        Hi All, check it out! I found this piece of wood just sitting behind some cabinets in my basement. Looks like a shelf to something and was most likely left there by the past owners. When I saw it I immediately knew what I was going to so with it. Pedalboard time!

        First I planned out where I could put some holes for cables while allowing a power supply to be mounted below the board, then drilled 6 holes (3 for each side of PS) with a 3/4 inch boring bit.

        Next I sanded it all down a bit, just scuffed it up really, and put some primer on it that I had laying around. I then painted it with 2 coats of a dark grey paint that I also had laying around.

        Next I ordered a roll of 4 inch wide Velcro. This would allow me to cover the entire top with the loop side since the shelf is exactly 8 inches front to back (about 28 inches wide). I also ordered adjustable feet (that swivel), and installed all four on the bottom. This would allow enough ground clearance to mount the power supply on the bottom.

        The power supply is a BBE Supa Charger that I got off of Reverb used. All outputs fully isolated for a great price. I also sawed/chiseled out a section of the lip in the back so the back of the Power Supply would be exposed for the plug, voltage selector switch, and fuse access. I mounted the Supa Charger to the back using 3M dual lock strips.

        Now it’s time to add the pedals. Continued (I can only add 4 pictures on this post so will post the others below)…

      • October 10, 2019 at 11:44 am #146926
        Dave K
        Participant

          Ok, so I took the board up to my attic/man cave where all my electric rock and roll guitar stuff is, and started putting the pedals on the board. Also, I want to mention the I cut out slits in the velcro over the holes that I drilled so I can get the cables through from below the board to the pedals. I added a ‘cable clip’ on each side of the power supply on the bottom of the board to manage the cables a bit better.

          As you can see in the last picture, applied the hook end of the velcro to the bottoms of the pedals and attached them to the board, plugged everything in, turned on the amp, everything worked great!

          Definitely a fun project, and the board cost me the price of the velcro, 3M dual lock strips, and the legs. The power supply was by far my biggest expense.

        • October 10, 2019 at 12:13 pm #146931
          Billy
          Participant

            Well done Dave, the wiring is certainly neater than my home made pedal board. I have noticed that you are missing a tuner in your line up, so one to think of as a future add?.

            ..Billy..

            • October 10, 2019 at 2:06 pm #146936
              Dave K
              Participant

                Thanks, Billy! A tuner may be a possible add to the board one day, but right now my clip on serves me pretty well.

            • October 10, 2019 at 3:36 pm #146940
              sunjamr
              Participant

                Looks a lot my mine. But I have connected all my pedals in series using short cables, so I only have one input from the guitar and one output for the amp. I also have a Boss LS-2 line selector as first in the series, so I can turn off all pedals at once and play clean.

                Sunjamr Steve

                • October 10, 2019 at 8:34 pm #146971
                  Dave K
                  Participant

                    Steve, are the short cables you mention different than the short patch cables I am using here to connect each pedal? One thing that may look different on mine is the flashback and boss looper are connected through the effects loop, while my other pedals are connected to the front of the amp.

                    • October 12, 2019 at 5:04 am #147056
                      sunjamr
                      Participant

                        Oh yeah, I see them now. Being black on black, they didn’t show up on my screen. My cables are red.

                        Sunjamr Steve

                  • October 10, 2019 at 3:53 pm #146945
                    James B
                    Participant

                      Looks professional Dave. It’s always rewarding to do a project with stuff you’ve already got and not make three or four trips to Home Depot!

                      James

                      • October 10, 2019 at 8:38 pm #146972
                        Dave K
                        Participant

                          Thanks, James! I counted 0 total trips for this!

                      • October 11, 2019 at 1:22 am #146986
                        6stringer Pete
                        Moderator

                          it looks really nice if you want to get more than 4 pictures post your thread and then upload again and then go into edit and then post for more pictures and if you want and then post it and if you want more pictures repeat the same process over and over again

                          The melody of the notes is what expresses the art of music . 🙂 6stringerPete

                          It really is all about ”melody”. The melody comes from a language from our heart. Our heart is the muscle in music harmony. The melody is the sweetness that it pumps into our musical thoughts on the fretboard. 🙂 6 stringer Pete

                          Pete
                          Active Melody
                          Forum Moderator

                        • October 11, 2019 at 9:05 am #146995
                          Billy
                          Participant
                            Dave K wrote:

                            Steve, are the short cables you mention different than the short patch cables I am using here to connect each pedal? One thing that may look different on mine is the flashback and boss looper are connected through the effects loop, while my other pedals are connected to the front of the amp.

                            Dave, imho you ideally want all your pedals going to your looper, you won’t be able to add them to the loop otherwise..

                            ..Billy..

                            • October 11, 2019 at 10:49 am #147002
                              Dave K
                              Participant

                                Billy, I guess it depends on what you want to do with your looper. For me, I like having it in the effects loop so what ever loop I record is not at all effected by my pedals (or channel of amp) when getting whatever lead sound I want for playing over the loop. I will typically dial in whatever sound I want for my loop before recording it, so I don’t need to manipulate it after. But again, it depends on how you want to use it.

                            • October 13, 2019 at 3:38 am #147090
                              snakechisler
                              Participant

                                Nicely done, putting my suff on a board and just getting organised changed everything for me not having stuff dumped on the floor.

                                I run my time effects and looper through the send return when I’m recording but tend to not do it at other times (laziness and the amp never overdrives anyway and the board gets moved at various times).

                                Thanks for the tip on the TC by the way I’ve saved the presets to favourites but not tried them yet.

                              • October 13, 2019 at 9:21 am #147097
                                John H
                                Participant

                                  Dave good job on the pedal board. Looks like you are going out on the road for some live shows. I too have the Boss Blues Drive and the Flashback pedals. The Boss BD-2 is head and shoulders above all the others. Always good to see what you are up to. Be well.

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