My First Real Pedalboard- I Want Your Advice

[whoatherechunk]

Alright guys, well I first started with perhaps five pedals those being : Morley Little Alligator, MXR M-80, EHX Mistress, Bassballs, and the Boss OS-2. Well now the thing is that I have expanded and I believe that it's time to perhaps purchase/build my first pedalboard. Unfortunately, this is pretty darn huge and I do want to link up everything together because I do use each pedal. Problem is I haven't purchased enough patch cables. Perhaps I should go ahead and buy a batch of them from Butch at Bayou. But here lies the problem. The conflict is the physical arrangement of the pedals to save size and the patch cable lengths because obviously some pedals are going to be further away then others.So yea, I probably sound like a rambling moron but I just want a little bit of your guys ( All youe pdalboard veterans ) direction. Again...I have never used all pedals at once but if I were to line up everything that I have it would probably go: Bass> Line 6 FM4 +Expression Pedal>Bassballs>EHX POG> Boss PS-3>Polish Love> Supercollider> Boss OS-2> Mxr M80>Boss PH-3>EHX Deluxe Mistress>EHX Clone>Digitech Digidelay>Morley Little Alligator>Amp. What do you guys think about the order? I'll have to wait until I get all the patch cables I need to work it all up at the same time but yea what about the lengths?!?!?! .

Here's my arsenal of effects:



It's going to be a ***** to fit everything on a pedalboard but that's what I hope to accomplish. I've been thinking of buying a custom case from New York Case Company but I want to see what you guys say. I have four gritty pedals on their but each has their own thing about them that I love. I want to incorporate them onto the same board but perhaps I'll have to ditch one of them to save space. Sorry for the long post. Thanks guys.

[whoatherechunk]

I totally forget to include that I'm going to need a pedal powering device! I think the Voodoo Power might be best since I have a Line 6, crazy voltages with some of the EHX pedals, and I have a bunch of normal 9v pedals. What do you guys recommend for the pedals I have? Perhaps the Dunlop DC Brick is best? Eeesh....

[SpankyPants]

I recommend that you get all of the smaller versions of your pedals (EHX EM, Bassballs, Supercollider, POG).

That'd make it a lot easier to buy a pedalboard, saving you space, money, and effort.

[whoatherechunk]

eeek. that's true. i'd keep the pog though because i use it for organ effects and 2 oct. up. as for the supercollider i just bought it . i think the new electric mistress circuit has changed (correct me if i'm wrong) and well getting a new bassballs would be a hassle haha.

Originally Posted by SpankyPants

I recommend that you get all of the smaller versions of your pedals (EHX EM, Bassballs, Supercollider, POG).

That'd make it a lot easier to buy a pedalboard, saving you space, money, and effort.

[SpankyPants]

Sell the bassballs... and you'll have almost enough to cover a used nano balls. Do the same with the Supercollider.

Keep the POG for the 2 octaves up, but try an SEM if you can to see how you like it.

It just takes some patience, saving up, and strategery.

[Crabby]

Break up your pedals in catagories and then decide if you need more then one pedal for each catagory. For instance:

1. wah/volume pedal
2. filter/auto wah
3. compression
4 overdrives/distortion/fuzz
5. modulation (chorus/flange/reverb/phase/synth)
6. delay
7. preamp/d.i.

Add up what you have for each catagory and decide if the pedals you have cover your needs and wants. You may find that you can thin the herd a bit or may find you need better representation for certain areas that are of improtance to you.

The above list works very well for myself and many others as a way to organize and place your pedals in order. I have found through much trial and error that the order listed above works the best for me. Might help you to organize your pedals.

It can be a daunting and time consuming task to get everything in the best order on your board and actually fit on the board. It is always possible to have a tidy, professional looking pedal board that is functional and makes sense but some advanced planning is important.

Good luck and make sure to post pics of the final result!

[bassman1185]

I don't know if Bayou Cables gives you the option to make your own, but a lot of us (including myself) like George L's cables because you can make them all custom lengths. If I didn't have George L's on my board, I'm sure I would have to lose at least one pedal to make room for all the unnecessary cable of standard-length cables.

[McHaven]

Originally Posted by bassman1185

I don't know if Bayou Cables gives you the option to make your own, but a lot of us (including myself) like George L's cables because you can make them all custom lengths. If I didn't have George L's on my board, I'm sure I would have to lose at least one pedal to make room for all the unnecessary cable of standard-length cables.

I agree with this. When I had my huge board, I organized the pedals on the board how they best fit, not necessarily the order I wanted them in.

For instance, on my PT-Pro, I had my huge DEM on the far top left corner, however, it came after my chorus on the right. I just used a custom length cable to get it in the right order. The pedalboard looked better and had still had the signal path I wanted.

So, find a board you can fit everything on, organize it to where it looks good and you have all your power stuff figured out, then buy a cable kit.

[pickles]

The first thing you need to buy is a bypass loop strip. If you run through all of those pedals, your clean tone will be stripped down to nothing. Set up groups of pedals on bypass loops so you can set up a multi-pedal sound and switch the whole thing in and out. That will probably help with some of your layout issues as well.