Results 1 to 12 of 12

Thread: I guess I need a board.

  1. #1
    Forum Member mike inwis's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Posts
    21

    I guess I need a board.

    Hi all.

    I never expected to end up with so many pedals. It seemed to start off harmless enough. I always told myself to stop before I had to many, but it happened and now I need to build my own, probably not a good choice or buy one - maybe used. I have a few pedals that are not the usual size like an old fuzz face and a couple others. I really don't want to ditch them for something else just because it fits neat on a board. I guess I may have to though, or not even use them. I'm just learning the right order to chain them and have heard some smart things about not being dependent upon one point of failure in a board. In other words, if you daisy chain and one fails then the rest do right? Perhaps if I just got pointed in the right direction I could figure this out. I have it in my head how I'd like it to be, but non of the prefab boards seem to have enough room, or even funky 18volt supplies. I see a couple, but I guess I need to bargain shop. Who makes a good, cheap, power supply for starters. If I buy one I won't be so inclined to build my own using all those 9volt adapters. I never expected this, but it happened. Heck, I got 2 more just this week. I couldn't resist a new tuner and a phase 90 that was $50 on Reverb.com. I guess there's around a dozen that I want to use. Two are 18 volt, any ideas please. What about using two smaller ones? Thanks, Mike

  2. #2
    Forum Member Rickenjangle's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Rochester, NY
    Posts
    6,131

    Re: I guess I need a board.

    Mike, Pedaltrain makes boards of all sizes, and they come standard with padded gig bags as well...

    You can even virtually build your board to "test and see" if the pedals you have will fit. Check it out here: Pedaltrain

    As for power supplies, well, I doubt they make reasonably-priced ones that offer 12 outputs, including 18v. You'll probably need a pair of them, like these: Powertrain1250.

    "I'm gonna find myself a girl
    that can show me what laughter means
    And we'll fill in the missing colors
    In each other's paint-by-number dreams..."

  3. #3
    Forum Member ch willie's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    8,163

    Re: I guess I need a board.

    Get a couple of DC Bricks for power. Vurrry dependable.
    If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison

  4. #4
    Forum Member S. Cane's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    Ever heard of José Carioca?
    Posts
    4,651

    Re: I guess I need a board.

    Since I'm an analog player all the way, I got a lot of pedals too...

    My band plays a variety of styles and I get to choose the ones I need for each rehearsal blocks, so I'm good with my small Boss BCB 60.

    Do you really need them all together all the time?

    Remember, if they aren't all true bypass, you might have somtpe trouble with your tone if the chain is too crowded.

  5. #5
    Forum Member phantomman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Ten miles from the Mexican Frontier, in Arizona
    Posts
    7,297

    Re: I guess I need a board.

    Quote Originally Posted by de Melo View Post
    Remember, if they aren't all true bypass, you might have somtpe trouble with your tone if the chain is too crowded.
    Correct.

    Non-bypass pedals can eat up a lot of a guitar's fundamental tones. Then factor in the insertion loss of each patch cable and the total amount of attenuation may be a real game changer.
    "When injustice becomes law then rebellion becomes duty."

  6. #6
    Forum Member jrgtr42's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    1,174

    Re: I guess I need a board.

    I keep about 8 pedals in my chain - tuner, wah, 3 flavors of distortion, chorus, phase and delay.
    I have spares of each that I'll swap in and out as I feel.
    I have a board that has outputs for most of them, but they're only 12volt outs. I have a couple pedals that take other voltage, so I use individual wall warts for each of them. I have an extension cord that has 3 outs, so I can run them through one plug.
    I've been accumulating more pedals too - my excuse to SWMBO is that they are a lot cheaper and easier to store than guitars (and easier to hide new ones from her too s: )
    ********************************
    "Do you call sleeping with a guitar in your hands practicing?"
    "It is if you don't drop it."
    - Trent Lane, Daria, Episode 1-2.

  7. #7
    Forum Member Old Ranger's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    East Texas, USA
    Posts
    557

    Re: I guess I need a board.

    Roger's right about keeping the cables short. The longer they go the more capacitance they create and suck the tone right outa your rig. Found that out the hard way long ago when pedals were new and we were all young and stupid.

    There for a while I was a real slave to pedals. Then as my board grew to receive it's own zip code from the USPS, I did something to fix that. What I did was this; When out doing a gig, if I used any single pedal less that twice in the entire show, then I pulled it from the board. I went from well over 9 pedals down to three. Distortion, delay, and chorus. That was it. I found the others to be totally unnecessary and the board was small, simple, and easy to maintain and used almost no extra tone robbing cables.

    ***Of course I no longer need pedals as I have a device that was made in a secret lab by the last remaining NASA Nazi electrical engineer shortly before his demise. And naturally I have to keep it in a secret lead lined vault to avoid detection by Roger's spy planes! ***
    I forgot what I was going to say...

  8. #8
    Forum Member phantomman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Ten miles from the Mexican Frontier, in Arizona
    Posts
    7,297

    Re: I guess I need a board.

    Quote Originally Posted by Old Ranger View Post
    ***Of course I no longer need pedals as I have a device that was made in a secret lab by the last remaining NASA Nazi electrical engineer shortly before his demise. And naturally I have to keep it in a secret lead lined vault to avoid detection by Roger's spy planes! ***
    LMMFAO

    You do know that I have a Loach hangared at the local FBO, right?



    "When injustice becomes law then rebellion becomes duty."

  9. #9
    Forum Member Old Ranger's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    East Texas, USA
    Posts
    557

    Re: I guess I need a board.

    Copy that. I've heard 'em overhead but my old skills of evasive maneuvers have outsmarted them. The NVA never found me either, and I'm still on the move.....
    Though at my age it's pretty damn slow!
    I forgot what I was going to say...

  10. #10
    Forum Member S. Cane's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    Ever heard of José Carioca?
    Posts
    4,651

    Re: I guess I need a board.

    How about alien pedals built with remains of Roswell oh nevermind...



    you guys scare me, dude!

  11. #11
    Forum Member Old Ranger's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    East Texas, USA
    Posts
    557

    Re: I guess I need a board.

    With all clowning around aside, and back to Mike's situation....

    When I started playing there were about three different pedals made. Maybe.. They simply were so new to most of us kids that we just never thought of them that much. Later, in the '70's, pedals became big business and stayed that way... Yet when I got my first pedal I thought that was going to be enough. Then more followed. Soon I "thought" I needed gobs of pedals in order to play. My pedal board grew to have it's own gravitational effect on the planet. And in fact was a real pain in the ass to move, use, and handle. In short things were out of control.... Thus I followed my method listed in my other post with the idea that I had more than I really needed and must trim the fat. Three are plenty and take up no more space than a standard 33 1/3 record album. The board sits easily in a medium-small nylon tote-bag, and is a snap to set up, transport, and use. A simple 1-Spot power supply with a short daisy chain hook up and short cables to link the effects. Whole thing is well under 10 pounds case and all....

    When I'm watching SNL or any of the late shows with bands performing on them, like any old guitarists I'm checking out their guitar player(s). What simply mystifies me is the size and content of the effects board lying at their feet. DOZENS of pedals on MASSIVE BOARDS! What the hell for? Do they REALLY use ALL them? I seriously doubt it. So if advice from an ancient guitar player holds any water in this thread, I highly recommend taking a SERIOUS no B.S. look at your pedals you're using now and ask yourself it you really need all of them. Or are you just following your GAS and gear lust combined with the unfounded idea that you must have dozens of pedals to play. In the end your tone will improve with less cables, pedals, and clutter in your signal path. And best of all with your tone cleaned up, you'll be able to better hear your true tone and then clean up your actual physical playing of your instrument, which in fact, IS your tone! Food for thought......

    Okey Doke, I lost my balance again and fell off my soapbox... Hate it when that happens..
    I forgot what I was going to say...

  12. #12
    Forum Member phantomman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Ten miles from the Mexican Frontier, in Arizona
    Posts
    7,297

    Re: I guess I need a board.

    Quote Originally Posted by Old Ranger View Post
    Okey Doke, I lost my balance again and fell off my soapbox... Hate it when that happens..


    Great post Ranger, with much truth to be weighed.

    Hell......my first "pedal" wasn't even a pedal. It was one of those Jordan Bosstone's that plugged into a guitar's output jack, with the audio cable plugged into it. A real PITFA to use with a Strat but I had a Melody Maker at the time so it wasn't a factor. When I ditched the Gibson in favor of a Strat, the new guitar rated a new fuzzbox so I picked up a Vox Tone Bender. Much easier to manipulate and easier on BA90's as well (that Bosstone ate batteries!).
    "When injustice becomes law then rebellion becomes duty."

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •