My first pedalboard

[BartmanPDX]

I've played bass on and off for over 20 years, but I've never owned a pedal board until now.

I've been playing with a cover band for a year now, and we do a fairly wide variety of styles, so I began to think that it would be useful to add some more options for my tone.

I've had an EBS valvedrive for about a year, and while I like its soft overdrive sound, it didn't really deliver the nasty crunch I was looking for. I had tried a friend's B:Assmaster and really liked it. Then around my birthday, one with the expression mod popped up on the TB classifieds, so I snagged it. The expression pedal allows me to adjust the Assmaster from just slightly crispy to full blown crunch, and I'm loving that feature. I can start out a song with just a hint of crunch and gradually dial it up during the song to a full roar by using the pedal.

I'd also played around with a friend's Groove Regulator and found it to be the first envelope filter I really liked (admittedly, I don't have as much experience with these). I got an EBS Multicomp and put the whole shebang into a Pedaltrain Jr with a Voodoo power supply:



I wanted to put the compressor first in the signal chain, but the expression pedal (I wanted it mounted on the board, on the right side) blocked the input so I put the Groove Regulator first. Then into the Multicomp, and then on to the Valvedrive and finally the Assmaster.

The Valvedrive presented a problem in that it is tall (so it ended up on the back row as its height made a pedal behind it too difficult to stomp) and it needs a lot of power. It needs too much current for the Voodoo outputs. I wanted to be able to plug the pedal board into a single outlet without having to deal with the Valvedrive's wall wart, so I came up with a solution:



I got a 1-ft extension cord and plugged it into the front outlet on the Voodoo, running the cord down through the Pedaltrain. Then I mounted the wall wart from the EBS with velcro to the back side of the front of the Pedaltrain and plugged it into the short extension cord, further securing the whole thing by means of a velcro strap around the wall wart and the PT chassis. I had cut out the section of velcro on the top surface of the pedaltrain so that the strap didn't provide an uneven surface for the expression pedal to mount on top. It's sturdy and now I only have to plug in the Pedaltrain and everything has power.

Anyway, it's got nothing on the amazing boards I've seen here, but I think it's a good first step for me and fits my comfort level.

I've still got room for one more small pedal, possibly an Octabass or a small chorus. Any suggestions?

[J. Crawford]

Looks good. Im dying for a 3Leaf...

[jufros]

Put the B:assmaster before the groove regulator in the signal chain. From my experience with fuzzes and filters, that's really the only way to go.

[nad]

Nicely done with the wall wart. I've had to do funny things when I've have my Blue Ringer on my board, similar to that but not as well executed.

[RickenBoogie]

That's a great first board, and the solution with the power supply is genius.

[warwick.hoy]

Originally Posted by BartmanPDX

I wanted to put the compressor first in the signal chain, but the expression pedal (I wanted it mounted on the board, on the right side) blocked the input so I put the Groove Regulator first. Then into the Multicomp, and then on to the Valvedrive and finally the Assmaster.

Nice Board

Of course this isn't an in stone rule but the rule of thumb is to put compression after dynamic controlled FX such as Envelope Filters.

I snipped your last question...but...you got filter...you got fuzz...what next? Octave. Put all three together and basically have a Bass Synth.

Originally Posted by jufros

Put the B:assmaster before the groove regulator in the signal chain. From my experience with fuzzes and filters, that's really the only way to go.

Doesn't the 3leaf have an FX loop for things like fuuuuuzzzzzz? That's where I'd put it.

YMMV

[Jerry J]

Those flat interconnects worked out nice.

I might suggest a Japanese apartment just for grins.

[BartmanPDX]

Thanks for the responses!

Putting the fuzz into the effects loop on the GR would not allow me to use it w/o turning the GR on, AFAIK. I want to be able to operate every pedal individually. Experimenting with the GR and the fuzz, I preferred the way the GR worked better in front of the fuzz pedals.

Jerry, since the pedals I've used are true bypass, I'm not sure I really need a Japanese Apartment, do I?

I'm still thinking Octaver or Chorus, but I ought to spend more time with some of them to figure out what I'd use the most.

[Jerry J]

Originally Posted by BartmanPDX

Thanks for the responses!

Putting the fuzz into the effects loop on the GR would not allow me to use it w/o turning the GR on, AFAIK. I want to be able to operate every pedal individually. Experimenting with the GR and the fuzz, I preferred the way the GR worked better in front of the fuzz pedals.

Jerry, since the pedals I've used are true bypass, I'm not sure I really need a Japanese Apartment, do I?

I'm still thinking Octaver or Chorus, but I ought to spend more time with some of them to figure out what I'd use the most.

The reason I mentioned the keeley bypass is you were saying the other night that you were having some issues with your tone. The only thing new in the mix was the pedal board. From what I've read, even true bypass can have an affect. I had brought loop pedal for you to fool around with on Saturday.

Hey and I can hook you up on an octave and a chorus to fool around with. Just to see what works for you. BUT you've got to teach me the bass line to "what is and what shall never be".

[BartmanPDX]

Originally Posted by Jerry J

The reason I mentioned the keeley bypass is you were saying the other night that you were having some issues with your tone. The only thing new in the mix was the pedal board. From what I've read, even true bypass can have an affect. I had brought loop pedal for you to fool around with on Saturday.

Hey and I can hook you up on an octave and a chorus to fool around with. Just to see what works for you. BUT you've got to teach me the bass line to "what is and what shall never be".

No problem. The tone thing had to do with some settings that got changed on the pedalboard. It's not really affecting my tone now that I've figured out what I was doing.

It would be great to mess around with some more pedals. I've been kinda busy recently with my daughter's medical situation and haven't had a chance to go down to some stores and try stuff out.

[JSK5String]

Dude, if that's truly your 1st board, very nice effort!

[TheMutt]

Sweet looking board! I wish sometimes that I had waited on getting a B:Assmaster until after they released them with the frequency mod and came standard with expression input... ah well...
As far as octavers and chorus pedals that will probably fit there, you have a few choices: (although I'm sure that there's a WHOLE LOT more out there, but here's a list to get ya started! )
BOSS OC-2/3
EBS Octabass
M.I. Audio Polyanna
MXR Bass Octave Deluxe
ModTone Deep Drive
Guyatone MO-3
BYOC Analog Chorus (you can get it from Axe and You Shall Receive pre-made)
BOSS CE-5
BOSS CEB-3
BOSS CH-1
EBS Uni-Chorus
Analogman Mini Chorus
Digitech CR-7
Visual Sound Liquid Chorus
ModTone Aqua Chorus

[Jerry J]

Bart, where did you find the short TRS cable?

[BartmanPDX]

Originally Posted by JSK5String

Dude, if that's truly your 1st board, very nice effort!

Thanks! I spent about a month lurking this effects forum and planning/thinking/scheming before I started putting it all together.

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the possible choices for chorus and octaver. I've got a lot of listening to do.

Jerry, I found the short TRS cable to connect the expression pedal at 5-star guitars. They had a multipack of multicolored 2' TRS patch cables opened and the black one was still there and cost me about $3. It was a little too long so I had to wrap it around one of the planks of the pedaltrain, but it works fine. I may some day order up a custom made one with the right length but I'm in no rush.

[arbitrary]

Originally Posted by BartmanPDX

Thanks for the responses!

Putting the fuzz into the effects loop on the GR would not allow me to use it w/o turning the GR on, AFAIK. I want to be able to operate every pedal individually. Experimenting with the GR and the fuzz, I preferred the way the GR worked better in front of the fuzz pedals.

That's not necessarily true. After speaking w/Spencer you can do something similar w/the 3leaf as you can w/my pigtronix ep-1 using the trigger input/loop. I'll see if I still have the pm from him.

I'm thinking back when I played w/the Orphans if there was a pedal that I used that you don't have on your board (I'm actually paring down to a smaller pedal board now!). I would say either a chorus or a phase. A phase pedal can get damn funky!

You might want to also look into getting rid of that huge expression pedal and picking up a devi ever peep.

[BartmanPDX]

Originally Posted by arbitrary

That's not necessarily true. After speaking w/Spencer you can do something similar w/the 3leaf as you can w/my pigtronix ep-1 using the trigger input/loop. I'll see if I still have the pm from him.

I'm thinking back when I played w/the Orphans if there was a pedal that I used that you don't have on your board (I'm actually paring down to a smaller pedal board now!). I would say either a chorus or a phase. A phase pedal can get damn funky!

You might want to also look into getting rid of that huge expression pedal and picking up a devi ever peep.

Right now I'm liking the way things are set up. If I feel the need for more pedals I can always bump the expression pedal down to floor. I've got about everything I want right now though a phaser or chorus could be interesting.

I'm loving having the expression pedal controlling the fuzz. It works great on songs to ramp things up and down. I use it more than I ever used a volume pedal, oddly enough. The ever peep is cool but not for me -- I like an actual pedal to step on.