Racks & Pedal Boards

[petejt]

There's probably been thousands of threads like this- but I'm just wondering what do you folks use for effects, and how are they set up?


Mine is mostly a pedal board, but houses a 1U rack unit inside it. It's still a work in progress, as I've just got some temporary cheapy patch cables. Also I need to include my wah-wah pedal. Inside the board will be my DMC GCX MIDI Switcher, with all the pedals in its loops.

The guitar goes into the tuner, then through 5 of the pedals.

• Electro Harmonix POG
• custom "Butta Face" fuzz pedal (built by JohnnyC)
• Electro Harmonix Worm phaser
• Electro Harmonix Deluxe Electric Mistress flanger
• Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo

The 5th pedal splits the signal to stereo. One side is 'dry' and goes to my MarkIV (via the DD-20 stereo delay pedal). The other side goes to the Danelectro Fish & Chips graphic EQ pedal and a Neunaber Chroma Chorus pedal set to 100% wet mix, then to my old Marshall JCM 800 amp (also via the DD-20). I've got two 4x12 cabs both running in stereo. I'm still in the process of wiring them up though. I need to get two new speakers. More on that later.

 

[eternal_idol]

my ocdness would go into overload if i owned that pedal board... sorry dude..

cool looking regardless


i normally used one pedal... just one the floor... the pedal doesn't have an ego... he doesn't need a whole board to himself.

 

[Ventura]

Um... I'm a neat freak, I'd go apeshit on that board - in a good way, I'd be in there with monorail and George L ends and zapstraps and pliers - tightening it up. But that's just me.

On the flipside (here comes the irony) I don't even HAVE a pedalboard. Absolute exercise in utter futility. I have about 14 maybe 15 CHOICE stomps - some require mono/stereo in/out, some require parallel loops, some require serial loops, some require to be in front of the amp. It's doable, right? Sure. Then I say "okay, we need to work on several amps, some of them themselves being stereo..." that's when the proverbial hat got thrown in, and I bought an Axe-FX Ultra to do the dirty work, front and rear on at least a couple of my amps.

An engineering nightmare. It could be done, but as soon as I wanna change the amp that the pedalboard is feeding - game over. Epic Fail.

So - in light of my LACK of pedalboard chutzpah, nice work bro!!

V.

 

[petejt]

Um... I'm a neat freak, I'd go apeshit on that board - in a good way, I'd be in there with monorail and George L ends and zapstraps and pliers - tightening it up. But that's just me.

On the flipside (here comes the irony) I don't even HAVE a pedalboard. Absolute exercise in utter futility. I have about 14 maybe 15 CHOICE stomps - some require mono/stereo in/out, some require parallel loops, some require serial loops, some require to be in front of the amp. It's doable, right? Sure. Then I say "okay, we need to work on several amps, some of them themselves being stereo..." that's when the proverbial hat got thrown in, and I bought an Axe-FX Ultra to do the dirty work, front and rear on at least a couple of my amps.

An engineering nightmare. It could be done, but as soon as I wanna change the amp that the pedalboard is feeding - game over. Epic Fail.

So - in light of my LACK of pedalboard chutzpah, nice work bro!!

V.

haha! no worries Until I get some Lava Cables to make proper fitting patch cables, the GCX & MIDI footswitcher programmed, velcro, and my speakers done up- the pedalboard is just rough & ready for me. The wooden board is just so they're not on the floor!


I do have a Sound Sculpture Switchblade rack unit, which lets you change the order the pedals are in, even do parallel routing etc. But I busted the fuse in it so it's still sitting on the shelf...........


I tried some of the effects in the MarkIV effects loop, but found I prefer how they sounded when in front of the amp. I tried line level rack effects too and preferred the pedals. The Marshall doesn't have an effects loop, so this works out the best. If I REALLY want, I can just slave the amp into a load box, then take the line out signal into the effects, then into a stereo poweramp. But I don't want to overload with gear- this is more than enough! I'd do it for a wet/dry/wet setup though.

The main reason it's stereo- so I can have a chorused signal where the wet and dry signals stay separate, otherwise it all mushes together.

 

[sombersoul]

On the flipside (here comes the irony) I don't even HAVE a pedalboard.

So - in light of my LACK of pedalboard chutzpah, nice work bro!!

V.

My pedalboard has been growing and shrinking over the years. I first had these aluminium cases, then moved up to Pedaltrain boards in various sizes with the Voodoo Labs Pedal Power. What's on it? Tuner, two dirt boxes, delays and a phaser. How often do I need any of these stomps? Phaser and delays marginally, dirt boxes never.

The other day (and after listening to my Shiva recordings) I had the epiphany to go without a board! All these years I've been unhappy in an OCD kind of way, always trying to find a better arrangement on the board and better stomps. Yes, I like pedals, i.e. to have them in my collection apparently. But when playing, I find it most inspiring to just have the amp and yourself (and the Shiva has reverb too - that's all the cleans need). So, I'm beginning to think that less is more, and I'm simply taking ONE BIG factor out of the equation. Most amps sound more direct anyway, if you go guitar > quality cable > input.

I'll build a nice big board for home-use instead. With all the 20.000 delays, loopers and other stomp boxes, so I can go crazy in my bedroom. Maybe I can go solo with some weird ambient/noise/drone/ethereal kind of one-man-project.

Let's see. Or it's possible I'll cave in in a few weeks and instead get a monster-sized board to compensate.

 

[university81]

those cables would drive me nuts =0 but interesting setup

i use my pedalboard for all my tones pretty much, with a solid clean amp as a base (in my case a hiwatt custom 100 from the 70s)

barber tone press-->tc polytune -- > bypass looper --> (bb preamp -- blackstar ht dual) loop 1 --> loop 2 : line6 m9 --> loop3--> : flashback delay-->boss dd-6


i use everything on my board, on a pedaltrain 2 , if it was any bigger i'd buy more pedals =0 so the size is a good thing


i tried rack FX stuff for a bit, and i use that at home now for practice, effects sounded decent i just miss the tweakability on the fly

 

[Death by Uberschall]

PP2+ under the board powering everything except the Reverbulator (24v). The OCD pedals and MXR flanger are set to 18v, the Analogman Bi-Chorus and Behringer mini mixer are set to 12v, all other pedals are at 9v. Board measures 36x18.

Each of the effects (except the Bad Horsie II, Decimator G-string & tuner) are in there own loops which are "preset" assignable in any combination and/or can be made to be an add-on to an already activated preset. Both of the OCD's are in the same loop, one just feeds into the other. All "looped" effects pedals stay on all the time. All loops are true bypass when not engaged. The switching unit also handles the amp channel switching and amp loop function as needed (loop stays on all the time though). So basically it's "one button" activation for each of my main sounds. The bottom row and one of the upper row buttons are my main sounds. The other top row buttons are my "add-ons" as needed. Stepping on one of the main preset drops the activated add-ons, really simple for stage use. Basically there is the "A" group of loops (7 loops) for the effects before the amp and the "B" group of loops (3 loops) for effects in the amp's effects loop. One thing that I had added to the switching unit was a common return for the "B" group loops. The Reverbulator and both MXR Carbon Copy's are the "B' group. What this allowed me to do was feed both of the Carbon Copy's outputs to the mini mixer which then feeds the "common return". That way when I switch between presets that change which delay pedal (main or long/solo) is active, the previous delay's input is shut off, but the effect's output does not get cut off and naturally decays away. I may go back and set the Reverbulator up the same way, but right now it just loops back in and then feeds both the Carbon Copy's as needed. The mini mixer also allows me to set my solo level a little higher for a solo boost that follows the presets.

There's so much I could keep talking about with this board, but it would get very long winded. So if anybody has any questions about the routing of the effects, or what any particular effect is used for, etc., just ask. It looks complicated, but it's really simple. Power plug on the side is just a male 3-prong. So any 3-prong extension cord works as the power cord.

 

[Ventura]

PP2+ under the board powering everything except the Reverbulator (24v). The OCD pedals and MXR flanger are set to 18v, the Analogman Bi-Chorus and Behringer mini mixer are set to 12v, all other pedals are at 9v. Board measures 36x18.

Each of the effects (except the Bad Horsie II, Decimator G-string & tuner) are in there own loops which are "preset" assignable in any combination and/or can be made to be an add-on to an already activated preset. Both of the OCD's are in the same loop, one just feeds into the other. All "looped" effects pedals stay on all the time. All loops are true bypass when not engaged. The switching unit also handles the amp channel switching and amp loop function as needed (loop stays on all the time though). So basically it's "one button" activation for each of my main sounds. The bottom row and one of the upper row buttons are my main sounds. The other top row buttons are my "add-ons" as needed. Stepping on one of the main preset drops the activated add-ons, really simple for stage use. Basically there is the "A" group of loops (7 loops) for the effects before the amp and the "B" group of loops (3 loops) for effects in the amp's effects loop. One thing that I had added to the switching unit was a common return for the "B" group loops. The Reverbulator and both MXR Carbon Copy's are the "B' group. What this allowed me to do was feed both of the Carbon Copy's outputs to the mini mixer which then feeds the "common return". That way when I switch between presets that change which delay pedal (main or long/solo) is active, the previous delay's input is shut off, but the effect's output does not get cut off and naturally decays away. I may go back and set the Reverbulator up the same way, but right now it just loops back in and then feeds both the Carbon Copy's as needed. The mini mixer also allows me to set my solo level a little higher for a solo boost that follows the presets.

There's so much I could keep talking about with this board, but it would get very long winded. So if anybody has any questions about the routing of the effects, or what any particular effect is used for, etc., just ask. It looks complicated, but it's really simple. Power plug on the side is just a male 3-prong. So any 3-prong extension cord works as the power cord.

He strikes again!!!

JUST when I get these glistening beautiful images out of my mind, ya post 'em again and it gets me all horny to have my pedals all lined up just like you have 'em... DAMN fine board. I always say it, seriously a tight set up man

V.

 

[roadifier]

I don't really use any pedals in a pedalboard. All I use use is a ts9 and a decimatir in a rack. I am anal about my pedal boards, and I always have to rearrange it, because I'm never happy with the arrangement. So I got rid of it, and have my Pedals racked, and only use a midi pedal with FX unit and some loop switcher in te rack.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

He strikes again!!!

JUST when I get these glistening beautiful images out of my mind, ya post 'em again and it gets me all horny to have my pedals all lined up just like you have 'em... DAMN fine board. I always say it, seriously a tight set up man

V.

Thanks man, I love my current set-up.

 

[vchizzle]

I use to have a shit ton of pedals. I kinda got tired of pulling this awesome pedal out to add another in. Live, I have an Axe-ultra that does everything. At home I use a Line 6 M13....I've always like the L6 fx, so it seemed like a great way to go. I honestly enjoy tweaking actual pedals more...but the M13 is close enough to that so....