# Hi,New member, please help setting up pedalboards.(last minute details)



## Bobby1note (Jan 6, 2014)

Hello everyone. I'm so happy to have found this great Canadian forum. I've browsed quite a few threads here, especially over the last few weeks. I've been trying to learn as much as I possibly could about pedals, in order to complete a couple of pedal-board projects

First off, I've been playing acoustics for the last 50 years or so. This is my first journey into the world of guitar-effects, and after weeks of research, I've finally purchased a boatload of effect-pedals and equipment. (pedals, pedalboards, power-supplies, cables, etc.) By the time this project is over, I hope to have assembled two pretty respectable boards; one for acoustic guitar,,,and one for electric guitar. Some of this gear has yet to arrive, and I'd like to be fully prepared for their arrival later this week.

My question to you folks is this; what are those last-minute details that get overlooked when putting together that first pedalboard? I've got a dozen or so shortie (6") cables (Fender) for linking the pedals, and I presume I'll need a few longer ones, depending on the final layout of the boards. Since I'm 50 miles away from the closest music store, I thought I'd check in with you guys, to see what your thoughts were, when you first went through this experience. One example, I'm thinking about A/C power at the board, for the power-supplies. Perhaps I should also buy extra velcro, etc (3M). Anything you can suggest will be helpful at this stage. I've got a shipment arriving from 12th Fret, and I could always ask them to throw in a few extra items.

The pedalboards are as follows;
*
acoustic pedalboard*; 

PedalTrain Jr. SC with a FuelTank Jr. power-supply. (5x 9v/120mA)
PolyTune2
Radial PZ-Pre
FlashBack Delay
Corona Chorus
Hall of Fame
Ditto
VoiceLive Play,
and possibly o'drive. ( I have an Xotic SL(super-lead), and an Ibanez TS9,,,, not sure if I'll use either on this board)

*electric pedalboard*;

PedalTrain 2 w/SC, with a VooDoo Lab 4x4 power-supply (4x 400mA (2 are either 9/12vdc), and 9vdc 4x 100mA.
Sonic Research ST-200 tuner
Xotic BB+ Pre & boost
Xotic SP compressor
Xotic SL (super-lead)
FlashBack X-4 delay
Strymon BigSky reverb
Strymon Mobius modulation
RockBox Boiling-Point O'drive
JHS Mini-Bomb (clean boost).

That's it for now. I may add a VooDoo Lab switcher, and maybe a fuzz. The nice part about this project, was starting with a clean slate. I've got a lot to learn, especially the differences between analog vs digital FX, but I think I'm off to a pretty decent start. I certainly hope I've not forgotten anything,,, but I probably have,,,,. Any advice you can offer on those "last minute items" will be greatly appreciated.

Thank You,

Bob


----------



## keto (May 23, 2006)

You don't mention your amp(s) but if they have an effects loop, you'll need extra guitar cables (2) long enough to get from the back of the amp to your board, if you want to use the loop(s) - typically for modulation and delay/reverb, though a clean boost can also work very nicely in a loop (as can an EQ).

I don't know about the drives and boosts you list as I don't/haven't owned them, but some are usable and very nice with 18v, as it gives them more clarity and punch - the OCD and the Crunchbox are 2 examples I would cite off the top of my head. So, an 18v wall wart (well labeled!) might be handy to have around, or not.

You mention velcro, which is loops one side and hooks the other. Take a look at 3M Dual Lock, which is sorta mushrooms but both sides the same. Expensive, but from the looks of your rig probably not a big issue.

If you are reasonably handy with a soldering iron, look at picking up either some instrument cable and some pedal ends or a kit of them - then you can customize the length of your cables as you need. It can be a bit of a fiddly time consuming job, but I find it well worth the effort. Also, even if you don't, look at some higher quality cables than the Fenders.

I don't have by far the neatest boards but one thing I do like to do is manage the cables under the boards. I use a sorta velcro wrap around thing, I don't know exactly what it's called but it's about 3" long and 3/4" wide, and wraps around a bundle of cables and sticks to itself. Benefit for me is that I don't have loops of cable hanging down getting snagged on things when I pick up my board, or managing cables that would otherwise be under the feet or edges of the board.


----------



## Bobby1note (Jan 6, 2014)

Thanks Keto, I appreciate those suggestions. I've got quite a few instrument cables here, so I should be fine for running some of the effects thru my amps' FX loop. I'm thinking though, that I should have bought more shorty pedal interconnect cables, possibly in various lengths like 10",12" etc.. 

As for the amps, there's a bunch in the music-room, and that should keep me busy experimenting for a good while. My tube amps are a Mesa-Boogie Mk.III combo, a Fender SuperSonic Twin 100w/25w), and a Fender Hot-Rod III deluxe. I ordered a nice hand-wired Vox AC30HW2x last May, and it's still on back-order. I've recently started to think about a Dr.Z, or possibly a Carr combo. Something that weighs less than the Boogie or the AC30, with great cleans. I've got a few solid-state amps; an old Roland Jazz-Chorus JC-77, a Fender Mustang 4, and a Fender G-DEC Thirty. I've also got a nice lil' AER Compact 60/2 for the acoustic stuff. Got a few bass amps too.

I think I know that narrow 3/4" velcro-strip product you're talking about. I've got a bunch here, that I use for mic-cables and such. There's a clasp(?) at one end, and you wrap that strip around your cables, pass it through the clasp, pull, and fold it back onto itself. I probably have a couple dozen of those laying around. Do you like those better than zip-ties?

I'm not sure what I'll do about A/C. For now, I'll use the transformers that came with the Strymons and the Radial PZ-Pre, and I'll just plug those into some sort of power-bar. I'd kinda like to do it discretely if possible. I guess there's not much room for power-bars and transformers, under those smaller pedalboards. The Strymon BigSky's power-supply is 9v/660mA, and the Radial PZ-Pre I believe is 15vdc 400mA with center-positive. The Mobius hasn't arrived yet, but I presume it uses the same power-supply as the BigSky.


----------



## keto (May 23, 2006)

I used to attach a power bar right onto my PT board, with zip ties. Best pic I could find, not very good unfortunately


I like zip ties but not for some things. Pedal cables and pedal power supply wires, I don't want to cut them when I snip the zip ties when I rearrange my board (which I do very frequently). I'm scared if I use zip ties then one of these times I'm gonna slip and snip the wrong thing.

I can't remember if it's VooDoo, but *someone* makes a multi-unit pedal power supply that's made to power all the high current requirement pedals, so you can get rid of the wall warts.


----------



## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

My Gator pedalboard power supply will power 9V and 18V pedals. I don't have any 18V pedals but the power is available.


----------



## keto (May 23, 2006)

Yeah, so do Dunlop DC10 Bricks - [email protected] 9v, [email protected] I've run 2 of them on a board for years (had 3, sold 2, bought another one lol), at times fully loaded. They've never run outta juice (though I haven't used any *really* high draw pedals), and I have no extraneous noise I can attribute to them despite them not being isolated outputs. Have had no failures or QC concerns. Some people pooh-pooh them because they aren't isolated - I'm not saying that's an invalid opinion by any means, but it has been no issue for me.


----------



## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Get another set of brackets, if you're putting more than one power supply under a PedalTrain.
They only come with one set, even the Pro that I have.

When I ordered my board and power, it came really quickly, 
then I waited month and a half to get the other brackets.
Get them to pull them from another board, if they don't have any spare on hand,
don't wait for them to order, it'll take some time.


----------



## Bobby1note (Jan 6, 2014)

sulphur said:


> Get another set of brackets, if you're putting more than one power supply under a PedalTrain.
> They only come with one set, even the Pro that I have.
> 
> When I ordered my board and power, it came really quickly,
> ...


Nobody that I've seen, even carries the brackets here in Canada. Heck, I'm even having trouble finding parts for making my own interconnects. Cable is not an issue,,, it's those tiny right-angle plugs that I can't find. There's always George L's kits, but I'd like to find this stuff right here in Canada.


----------



## keto (May 23, 2006)

Bobby, are you talking like the Lava ELC right angle plugs? http://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/lava-mini-elc-cable-pedalboard-kit-with-right-angle-plug The owner of this forum, Scott (aka guitarscanada ), carries them. I don't see any in the ebay store right now, but he can certainly get his hands on them - he gave me a quote on them a couple weeks back. Or did you mean the pancake/flat style connectors like this?


Scott can get the Lava branded /Switchcraft but they're quite expensive, around $4+ per ea. The ones in the pic above are generic/no-name, I get them for under a buck apiece locally and make my own.


----------



## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Scott @ http://www.axeandyoushallreceive.com/ 
carries a few different kinds of kits and also the ends.
I don't know if he deals with GLs.

Charles @ http://www.electricmojoguitars.com/lava-cables/ deals with Lava too.

Lava has a new kit out that's cheaper and supposedly easier to assemble.

The brackets have to come from Pedal Train and only dealers can order them, or you make some of your own.


----------



## Bobby1note (Jan 6, 2014)

keto said:


> Bobby, are you talking like the Lava ELC right angle plugs? http://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/lava-mini-elc-cable-pedalboard-kit-with-right-angle-plug The owner of this forum, Scott (aka guitarscanada ), carries them. I don't see any in the ebay store right now, but he can certainly get his hands on them - he gave me a quote on them a couple weeks back. Or did you mean the pancake/flat style connectors like this?
> 
> 
> Scott can get the Lava branded /Switchcraft but they're quite expensive, around $4+ per ea. The ones in the pic above are generic/no-name, I get them for under a buck apiece locally and make my own.


I was hoping to find something like the George L's, but I want to order in bulk. I'm thinking of at least30-40 connectors at a time. The $6.-$7. a piece retail price, is ridiculous IMO. Even the "kit", with only 10 connectors for $79. is insane. That's only 5 interconnects,,,,

I must be in the wrong business. :acigar:


----------



## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

I wasn't aware until after I'd bought my kits, but you can get a "super" kit from Lava too.

I'm not aware of the total cost new, as I got one used.
I think that there was around thirty ends and 30' of cable.

- - - Updated - - -

You could go that route, or with the pancake plugs that keto had mentioned.


----------



## TWRC (Apr 22, 2011)

You can actually order the brackets from Long and McQuade as I have in the past. Heck, they even have some in stock - at least in Edmonton anyways.


----------



## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

If you can't find the brackets or possibly don't wan't to wait for the order to come in, make your own. I purchased a length of 1/8" aluminum angle stock, 3/4" x 3/4", from Canadian Tire but many other stores will carry it as well. It cost me less than 10 bucks for 2 feet, I think, and after making 2 sets of brackets I have plenty left for future projects. Here's a couple pictures of what I made. I used the existing power supply screws to mount the units so no extra holes need to be made.


----------



## Bobby1note (Jan 6, 2014)

sulphur said:


> I wasn't aware until after I'd bought my kits, but you can get a "super" kit from Lava too.
> 
> I'm not aware of the total cost new, as I got one used.
> I think that there was around thirty ends and 30' of cable.
> ...


The pancake plugs seem to make the most sense at the moment. I'm still researching this stuff. The mark-ups on consumer audio cables are absolutely ridiculous. Bulk pricing at Lava didn't look much different than the per-unit pricing.

There's an outfit called MG Electronic here, and I'm going to stop in to see what they offer. I'm fairly certain they stock those plugs, and, I can buy raw cable from any number of electrical supply outlets. I'll post what I find, but it may be a week or two before I go there.


----------



## elliottmoose (Aug 20, 2012)

Bobby1note said:


> I was hoping to find something like the George L's, but I want to order in bulk. I'm thinking of at least30-40 connectors at a time. The $6.-$7. a piece retail price, is ridiculous IMO. Even the "kit", with only 10 connectors for $79. is insane. That's only 5 interconnects,,,,
> 
> I must be in the wrong business. :acigar:


The economical way would be to solder your own. Even buying an iron on top of your cable and connectors would be cheaper than buying that many George L's. 

On the other hand, I've got both George L's and Lava on my board (about 24 total) that I've slowly added to and both solderless systems work well and have never failed (though I find the George L system easier, and the Lava system more beefy).

Depends on your budget.

Ballpark:
cheap:
-Soldering supplies= $20 
-Cable: $2/ft*60ft = $120
-Pancake connectors: $1.50*40 = $60
Total $200 but probably longer to assemble

George L
-Connectors: $6 = $240 for 40pcs
-GL cable: ???
Total: $300+ I'd think.

Kind of depends on how much time you have to kill.

Oh and either way it's always nice to have a way to test your handiwork: a digital multimeter is great and usable for other things but there's other ways of checking your cables are working I'm sure.


Sent from my iPhone


----------



## elliottmoose (Aug 20, 2012)

+1 for GuitarsCanada Shop too!


Sent from my iPhone


----------



## Bobby1note (Jan 6, 2014)

vadsy said:


> If you can't find the brackets or possibly don't wan't to wait for the order to come in, make your own. I purchased a length of 1/8" aluminum angle stock, 3/4" x 3/4", from Canadian Tire but many other stores will carry it as well. It cost me less than 10 bucks for 2 feet, I think, and after making 2 sets of brackets I have plenty left for future projects. Here's a couple pictures of what I made. I used the existing power supply screws to mount the units so no extra holes need to be made.
> 
> View attachment 6731
> 
> ...


Beautiful work Vadsy, that's a great idea. I've got a complete workshop, and aluminum is so easy to work with.

- - - Updated - - -

Elliotmoose,

I've got decent soldering irons here, so that's a good start. Seems to me I also have an articulating clamp, for holding/positioning small objects. I've also got some LokTite for the small screws on the pancake plugs. I'm retired, with wayyyy too much spare time on my hands. (If I can ever quit shopping for stuff. :smile-new I've also got a cable tester, and a good VOM.


----------



## Bobby1note (Jan 6, 2014)

Well,,,, it looks as if I'm going to bite the bullet on either the George L's, or a Lava-Cables kit. Try as I may, I can't see another way of keeping my current pedals on a PT.Jr. When they're not hooked up, the pedal layout looks really good, and fits the board well. Spacing "looks" OK, but it's not. It's either one of those kits, or,,, move up to a bigger board.

My 17" P.T. Jr. has still not shipped,, so I think I'll change that board, and go with a 22" P.T. 1, or,,,, a couple of P.T. 20" PT. Mini's. Making my own board, has also become a distinct possibility.


----------

