Need help choosing pedalboard size! (pics) Advice please.

[RockStarNick]

So, I'm in the market for a new pedalboard. I've decided to get a nice Trailer Trash ProSeries board. Lately, I've been doing a ton of fill-in gigs with a wide variety of cover bands, as well as a lot more studio sessions at a local recording studio. So I want a board that can cover all bases, but still be reasonable in size and super portable. I'm not a touring pro, by any means. But I've been doing a bunch of "professional" paid gigs, both live and in studio lately.

I can't decide between the 12x24, and the 16x28 board.

If I went with the 12x24, I could keep the majority of the board consistent from gig to gig (tuner, wah, comp, timeline, Mobius, Reverb), but I'd have to swap out the footswitch in place of drive pedals for a single channel amp situation (rehearsal room, studio, rented backline, etc).

But, if I went with the 16x28, I'd be able to add in some more goodies. Octave, Fuzz - and have the ability to keep my "grab and go" drives on my board at all times. And never have to swap stuff out. The drawback is that it's a bigger board. Not nearly as portable as the smaller one. But, to be honest, I'm not sure exactly how much I'd REALLY use the octave or fuzz.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Is swapping pedals out too hack-y?

I want to order this board ASAP, but I've hit a roadblock in choosing the size.

 

[JerEvil]

Man just get the big 'un and be done with it.

 

[SDMF38]

I'd go ahead and get the big board it'll be easier in the long run. I purchased a pt jr thinking it would be large enough and it's full now and I want to add more pedals.

 

[Enjolras56]

Man just get the big 'un and be done with it.

I concur. Looking at your board, you're not a minimalist and you're gonna want the flexibility to add a thing or two. The 24" looks good, but leaves you no room.

Great call on Trailer Trash by the way!

 

[RockStarNick]

I'll be honest. The one thing holding me back from ordering the 16x28 right now is the fact that the soft-case that you get is 2" too big on the top and bottom. If it was a snug fit, I'd buy this thing immediately.

Is that insane?

I don't really need the ATA case, but I'm going to be slinging this thing in and out of my car, gigs, and rehearsal multiple times a week. And having that board slop around inside might drive me crazy.

 

[steve_k]

I'll be honest. The one thing holding me back from ordering the 16x28 right now is the fact that the soft-case that you get is 2" too big on the top and bottom. If it was a snug fit, I'd buy this thing immediately.

Ultimate OCD....

 

[RockStarNick]

I'll be honest. The one thing holding me back from ordering the 16x28 right now is the fact that the soft-case that you get is 2" too big on the top and bottom. If it was a snug fit, I'd buy this thing immediately.

Ultimate OCD....

Dude you have no idea... I'm horrible.

 

[steve_k]

I'll be honest. The one thing holding me back from ordering the 16x28 right now is the fact that the soft-case that you get is 2" too big on the top and bottom. If it was a snug fit, I'd buy this thing immediately.

Ultimate OCD....

Dude you have no idea... I'm horrible.

Well, my advice would be go bigger than you think you need. Cramped up pedalboards suck. Pedals turned every which way to fit on a board. In the house, this is fine. Playing live though, I got to have a bit of real estate between stuff.

 

[JerEvil]

I'll be honest. The one thing holding me back from ordering the 16x28 right now is the fact that the soft-case that you get is 2" too big on the top and bottom. If it was a snug fit, I'd buy this thing immediately.

Is that insane?

I don't really need the ATA case, but I'm going to be slinging this thing in and out of my car, gigs, and rehearsal multiple times a week. And having that board slop around inside might drive me crazy.

Actually I think the word you're looking for is ridiculous.

 

[21_guitars]

+1 on the larger board as Steve stated, give yourself some room that way you can add or switch pedals.

 

[satannica]

It depends where you play. If stage space is an issue, get the smaller ones. If not, get the big one and be done.

 

[university81]

having extra space is never a bad thing, at the same time a smaller board will restrict you to the essentials which can be a good thing as well (i sized down from a pedaltrain 2 to a junior which suits me fine in the end)

unless the places you play are a tight fit, i'd certainly go for the bigger board, you'll have room to experiment should you want to

 

[RockStarNick]

I'll be honest. The one thing holding me back from ordering the 16x28 right now is the fact that the soft-case that you get is 2" too big on the top and bottom. If it was a snug fit, I'd buy this thing immediately.

Is that insane?

I don't really need the ATA case, but I'm going to be slinging this thing in and out of my car, gigs, and rehearsal multiple times a week. And having that board slop around inside might drive me crazy.

Actually I think the word you're looking for is ridiculous.

Ridiculous. OCD.

I hear these words often from friends when describing my personality.

 

[rcm78]

Hey Nick, Why not build two purpose built boards? One for the Bogner, and one for the front end of a clean amp...

I just picked up a Hot Rod Deville and am beta testing pedals for a front of amp board. It will be seperate from my Bogner Board...

I'm seriously considering centering the board around a musicomlab switcher, with the timeline/mobious, and Bogner Reb/Blue combo...

 

[RockStarNick]

Hey Nick, Why not build two purpose built boards? One for the Bogner, and one for the front end of a clean amp...

I just picked up a Hot Rod Deville and am beta testing pedals for a front of amp board. It will be seperate from my Bogner Board...

I'm seriously considering centering the board around a musicomlab switcher, with the timeline/mobious, and Bogner Reb/Blue combo...

That's actually what I'm doing currently. I have two identical PT2 Pedaltrains. But I was hoping to condense to one board, sell off my duplicate pedals, and cash in.

 

[rcm78]

Nick, What did you use to put those boards together? Is it available online?

 

[RockStarNick]

Photoshop. I'm a graphic designer, so I'll just image search for pics of the pedals, and then hack together a layout mockup.

 

[RG955TT]

Look at the PT-3. I went from PT-2 and going from 24x12 to 24x16 made all the difference in the world and yet its still pretty compact and manageable

 

[rlord1974]

I'd go for the smaller board personally.

I had a big board and, well, it turned out to be just too big. Too heavy. Too cumbersome. Too expensive to leave lying around on club stages where some skid mark could lift some of your pedals while you're backstage having a bevvie. And it took up too much stage real estate. Plus, I found I wasn't using half the pedals on the damn thing. Sure it LOOKED nice, but it was not practical AT ALL. If you don't THINK you're going to use the "extra" pedals you can fit on the larger board, you in fact WON'T use them. Don't waste your money, back and stage real estate on a board full of pedals you're not going to actually use at your gigs.

I subsequently had a nice, compact board built which measures about 24" x 12" and only has pedals on it that I actually use at every gig. It's light, portable, has a reasonable stage footprint and does not result in me leaving $4k sitting at the front of the stage, begging for said skid mark to help himself to a couple of $400 pedals.......

EDIT: Here's some pics.......

I went from this:

To this:

And am MUCH happier now.

 

[Mr. Willy]

I'd go ahead and get the big board it'll be easier in the long run. I purchased a pt jr thinking it would be large enough and it's full now and I want to add more pedals.

I'm in the same boat. If I did it over, I'd just get the PT Pro and hard shell case. It's worth it.