# pedal Board Suggestions!/



## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

ok..i've outgrowned my pedal board, wich is this little thing here.

http://www.gatorcases.com/productsdetail.aspx?LID=18&PID=169

anyone can suggest a better one?...larger actually. no need for power, i can still use the one in the Gator. i'll run between 8 and 10 pedals with Wah WAh on it. pedals are mostly MXR size, and the double width ones like the EVH flanger.

thanks for your sugestions


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## axestronomer (Mar 1, 2007)

I am very pleased with the board I obtained from here http://www.coastpedalboards.com/


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

axestronomer said:


> I am very pleased with the board I obtained from here http://www.coastpedalboards.com/


yeah..seen those, not in love with there construction realy for the price they sell.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

I've got a Pedaltrain PT-2 and I love it.


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

hollowbody said:


> I've got a Pedaltrain PT-2 and I love it.


How do you fix the pedal to the board?...you add your own velcro?


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I've said it before, but it bears repeating.

ANY pedal that uses a momentary switch and FETs for switching can be easily adapted to an external paralleled footswitch that can be situated anywhere you want. You can pop a hole in the side of any Boss, DOD, Pearl, Ibanez, or Danelectro pedal (or similar), install a little mini phone jack, and run a cable (shielded or unshielded) to a secondary momentary switch (and there are stompswitches that have momentary action, too) which can situate the bypass switches for a whole whack of pedals in a more compact, usable space. Imagine the bypass switches for a dozen pedals all situated in a bank roughly the size of a small-ish computer keyboard (or whatever spacing works for one's size 14 Doc Maartens).

You might say this mod drops the resale value, but the thing is that - assuming one does it neatly - it leaves the pedal completely unchanged in its functioning if you DON'T wish to use the "outboard bypass" function.


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## axestronomer (Mar 1, 2007)

al3d said:


> yeah..seen those, not in love with there construction realy for the price they sell.


Hmmm. That's odd. Mines built like a tank.


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

mhammer said:


> I've said it before, but it bears repeating.
> 
> ANY pedal that uses a momentary switch and FETs for switching can be easily adapted to an external paralleled footswitch that can be situated anywhere you want. You can pop a hole in the side of any Boss, DOD, Pearl, Ibanez, or Danelectro pedal (or similar), install a little mini phone jack, and run a cable (shielded or unshielded) to a secondary momentary switch (and there are stompswitches that have momentary action, too) which can situate the bypass switches for a whole whack of pedals in a more compact, usable space. Imagine the bypass switches for a dozen pedals all situated in a bank roughly the size of a small-ish computer keyboard (or whatever spacing works for one's size 14 Doc Maartens).
> 
> You might say this mod drops the resale value, but the thing is that - assuming one does it neatly - it leaves the pedal completely unchanged in its functioning if you DON'T wish to use the "outboard bypass" function.


i THINK you are in the wrong thread..LOL


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

al3d said:


> How do you fix the pedal to the board?...you add your own velcro?


Nope, there's a roll of velcro (hook and eyelet sides) included. It's pretty lightweight, but still really sturdy. I can't imagine ever needing a different or better one.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

al3d said:


> i THINK you are in the wrong thread..LOL


No. It's the right thread. People start talking new pedalboard when the physical space required to make use of their existing complement of pedals starts to be a problem. I'm just pitching a different solution to that problem. The button doesn't always HAVE to be where the pedal is. If you could pack a bunch of remotely switchable pedals close together in the back row, and stick a row of momentary buttons in a nice neat package at the front, that may make certain pedalboards that seem, at first blush, to be unworkable, workable.

Remember, the challenge is not JUST having enough physical space to stick all the pedals. Their location has to be such that getting to them in a timely fashion is not disruptive to one's playing. If the pedal and the bypassing can be physically separated, then that second challenge can be minimized.

You have to think about your pedalboard the way car designers think about a dashboard: one needs to be able to see and get to the right things at the right time with as little error as possible.


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

mhammer said:


> No. It's the right thread. People start talking new pedalboard when the physical space required to make use of their existing complement of pedals starts to be a problem. I'm just pitching a different solution to that problem. The button doesn't always HAVE to be where the pedal is. If you could pack a bunch of remotely switchable pedals close together in the back row, and stick a row of momentary buttons in a nice neat package at the front, that may make certain pedalboards that seem, at first blush, to be unworkable, workable.
> 
> Remember, the challenge is not JUST having enough physical space to stick all the pedals. Their location has to be such that getting to them in a timely fashion is not disruptive to one's playing. If the pedal and the bypassing can be physically separated, then that second challenge can be minimized.
> 
> You have to think about your pedalboard the way car designers think about a dashboard: one needs to be able to see and get to the right things at the right time with as little error as possible.


OH...ok ok i see where you'Re getting at.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Building a pedal board is pretty simple stuff and can be done with basic hand tools.



















Shouldn't cost more than $20.


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

Milkman said:


> Building a pedal board is pretty simple stuff and can be done with basic hand tools.
> 
> Shouldn't cost more than $20.


This is what i'm actually gonna do finaly.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

al3d said:


> This is what i'm actually gonna do finaly.


Good for you.

Measure twice, cut once.


Good luck.


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

Milkman said:


> Good for you.
> 
> Measure twice, cut once.
> 
> ...


oh..I'm quite handy when i have time.....redid all my house's interior myself....from windows to floors to walls to plumming..etc etc

i'm actually gonna do the board with left over hardwood oak boards.... nice and shiny.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I can recommend Lee Valley Tools as a place to get those detachable hinges that let you simply slide the top half of a "suitcase-style" unit off and stow it somewhere. http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/page.aspx?c=1&p=40450&cat=3,41241 Not cheap, but a real convenience.

If somebody knows of another place that has a better or cheaper selection, let me know!


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

mhammer said:


> I can recommend Lee Valley Tools as a place to get those detachable hinges that let you simply slide the top half of a "suitcase-style" unit off and stow it somewhere. http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/page.aspx?c=1&p=40450&cat=3,41241 Not cheap, but a real convenience.
> 
> If somebody knows of another place that has a better or cheaper selection, let me know!


Qparts has them also. That's where I got mine (and at Qparts they ARE cheap).


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

I made mine out of an old suitcase from Goodwill. It's done the job for the last 10 years or so but lately I'm thinking that it's time for another - either bigger or smaller - I can't decide.










Funny ... I'm looking at this pic and only three of those pedals are still there ............... oh the GAS


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## WEEZY (May 23, 2008)

*Pedaltrain PT2*, I have one and love it. I previously had a home-made one that ended up costing me the same as the PT2 after all was said and done. Plus, the Pedaltrain is very lightweight, nicely angled to access the back pedals easier and comes with either a soft carry-case or a hard, silver case for a few extra clams. I have the soft case and it's perfect - it has a pocket for cables etc. and extra padding to protect the pedals. After years of a using a heavy, home made pedalboard that I hauled around in a cumbersome Rubbermaid bin, this is a big step up. 

I think I paid around $95 for it new....

g'luck!


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

Yeah, I made my GF a cheapie board out of some shelving someone was throwing away. Got out the Circular saw, cut to size, painted black, threw on some velcro and good to go. I'm looking for a case for it now.

@ mhammer

I was actually thinking about this a lot lately, because I currently have 4 large EHX pedals on it and they take up an awful lot of space. What is the process like for pedals with mechanical switches?


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

hollowbody said:


> @ mhammer
> 
> I was actually thinking about this a lot lately, because I currently have 4 large EHX pedals on it and they take up an awful lot of space. What is the process like for pedals with mechanical switches?


It depends. Not all stomp-switch equipped pedals are the same. A great many of them do the actual switching directly in "true-bypass" fashion. But you'd be surprised how many other - most often modulation or delay-based pedals - use only part of the stompswitch to actuate a FET somewhere. In other words, they can often work like a Boss even though they feel like a Fulltone. 

Perfect case in point are chorus, flanger and phaser pedals. To cancel the effect, all you have to do is lift one little connection between the phase-shifted or time-modulated signal and the mixer stage where the wet and dry signals get mixed to produce the effect. My old Boss BF-1 flanger uses part of a stompswitch to actuate a single FET to do that. I think the CE-1 works more or less the same way, and very often all analog delays do is cancel the delay signal without changing what happens to the clean signal path.

That FET-by-footswitch thing further separates into two forms. The Boss/DOD/Ibanez model uses a flip-flop circuit so that it only takes a momentary tap to change the state of the FET (off-to-on or on-to-off) and hold it in that state. With pedals using the same approach as my BF-1, there is no flip-flop or momentary switch. The stompswitch is used to apply or remove a voltage to the FET to change its state.

The Boss/DOD/Ibanez type is easiest to modify for remote switching, however the other type is only a little bit harder. Since the switch only controls something on the circuit board that does the actual switching, you can still situate the switch remotely. You just need a different kind of switch. What the nature of the switching might be in your large-footprint EHX pedals, I don't know. EHX is not entirely averse to using the stomp-plus-FET approach, but they don't use it very often.

The other tact to try, is to use stompswitches mounted up front for selecting loops. So the delay pedal itself may be in the back row, but the button for calling it up may be situated in the front where you can get at it easy. The downside of that is it involves more jacks and patch cords. Still it might be the ideal solution for some people.


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## Clit Torres (Dec 14, 2007)

*Rocksolid*

Just another suggestion
http://www.rocksolidboards.com/

They've got a sale going on right now. I've had an RS-30 for about a year now and it truly is rock solid. I'm getting ready to order an RS-18 cause I'm putting together a little grab and go board.:rockon2:


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